Mike Sullivan’s column in today’s Portsmouth Herald has a nice article on our upcoming Digital Filmmaking Workshop, Death & Glory as well as some other “stuff” currently going on in my life…

Mike continues to be a big and generous supporter of all of my work. Thanks Mike!

This week I picked up a copy of The Rough Guide to American Independent Film by Jessica Winter. I’ve only glanced at it but the book looks promising, if only for labeling Clerks as the most overrated American indie film of all-time -“the sound is bad, the camera setups ugly, the line-readings flat and grating, and the humor pubescent – and an arrogant mood of posturing self-congratulation pervades everything”.

It was also refreshing to read about many of the myths surrounding distribution, film festivals and such over-used and hyped indie words as Sundance and Miramax. Not to mention Winter’s book wins points for writing about little-known early American Independent film (1910-54: the beginnings) as well as for correctly noting that Quentin Tarantino “ripped off every B-heist picture, blaxploitation flick and John Woo movie” in making Reservoir Dogs…mmm, if only most writers of film were as well-read and knowledgeable.

I’ll return with more thoughts once I’ve had a chance to read the book in its entirely.

This month’s Hunter of the Month award goes to New Hampshire Union Leader columnist Dick Pinney. Accompanying his recent column was a surreal photo of Dick, proudly posing as the “great” conservationist that so many hunters claim to be, alongside a number of dead ducks killed by him and his hunting party.

However, Dick wins the award NOT for the photo but instead for brilliantly titling the article “Startling drop in duck population on Great Bay” – I’m not kidding, here’s the link to the photo/article. Folks like Dick Pinney and other hunting columnists who advocate for cruelty on a daily basis only make me more determined to see that our next feature-length film, Death & Glory, becomes a reality sooner than later…