Good Ol' Chaps

In the process of moving ourselves and our company to the grand world of Salt Lake, we've realized we are going to miss Lil' Logan a lot more than we thought we were.

I'm not quite sure how, but we've managed to make some really good friends up here.  Our good buddy Spack has been with us through thick and thin.  He's easily one of the most loyal friends we've ever had.  I've never met anyone that doesn't just adore the kid.  Sadly, he'll be staying behind starting his own company selling accessories for Rhinos.  

Our brothers have always been a huge help to us as well.  Especially Zakk and Tay.  They've pulled some serious all-nighters over the years with us.  In the credits of our movies we often use our brother's middle names instead of their last, just so every credit doesn't end in "Lewis."

Anyway, I've just been thinking about all the good people who have helped us along our way.   Good advice, good lunches, and really great friends.  Even though we're only moving 80 miles away, it feels a lot farther.

Maybe in one of my next posts I'll list the names of everyone who's influenced us somehow. That would be one long list.  And I'm sure we'd forget someone, and then they'd hate our guts, but then we'd apologize, and we'd be friends again and put them on the list.

This is my scooter, Stella.  I get called very explicit names whenever I ride her around town.  But it never makes me feel like a complete loser and nerd.  Usually.

This is an ad that Genuine Scooter uses to promote Stella.  It's pretty clever.

My turn again...

Rhett and I have started this new thing where we each write a post every other week. That way there's a new blog entry every single week for our huge base of cult followers to read and catch up on all of our happenings.

Not a whole lot to report on...we've gotten some good reviews on "billy." Thank you Brett and Emily Tingey.

We're planning on moving to SLC here on Oct 3rd...sweet. So if anyone wants to take us out to dinner or lunch before you'll never see us again...then send all requests to burke@rhettandburke.com. I'm pretty good at eating. I've got almost 26 years experience and I do it everyday.

Last night I was strolling through Wal-Mart with Spack and we found some self-heating hot chocolate. Sounds too good to be true...but believe me it's incredible. It's not the most tasty hot chocolate I've ever had...but the idea that you can buy a six pack of this stuff and go on a rhino ride in the winter and have hot chocolate without having to pre-heat it is pretty amazing. Life changing you could say.

Well, that's it for today...

peace,

boike

2 Year Sinus Infections

Yes, 2 years ago like it says in the title, I got an unbearable sinus infection.  I can still see the face of the snot-nosed 3 yr old that gave it to me.  Oh, how I wish I could go back in time and stay away from the little cry baby of a kid that would constantly wet himself in the corner of the sunbeam classroom.  I remember having to take the little guy to the men's room in the church.  I put him in a stall, and he just stared at me as if waiting for me to undo his pants to help him pee.  There was no chance of me going down there to no-man's land, so I just took him back to class.

Anyway, since that life-changing interaction, I have not been able to smell or taste, and my nose is always stuffy.  I've been to over 5 Doctors, including ENT's and Allergists.  I even got a CT scan, which doctors looked at and said "Wow, you're really congested."  Such insight.

The only pill that would clear me up was a Nasal Steroid, Dexamethasone.  I loved those little green pills.  They'd clear me up within a few hours, and then I could smell the lovely world around me, and taste the good food Candyce makes.  Sure the side-effects were: weight gain (I put on 35 pounds in 2 months, and have the stretch marks to prove it), osteoporosis, liver failure, asthma, bad headaches, and the list goes on.  But, man it was worth it.  I mean, imagine not smelling anything for a day.  You can't tell if you have B.O. or bad breath, and when someone says "mmm, that smells so good" I have no idea what they're talking about.  It's pretty sad really.  So, the Doctors won't let me take that pill anymore because of the said side-effects, so I must suffer with the consequences.

But, I've decided to accept this new life of mine.  Now when we eat something, Candyce will sit there and explain to me what it tastes like so I can feel like I can enjoy it somewhat.  She does a good job.  

So, if you're ever around me feel free to have bad breath, pass gas, burp, and don't wear any B.O. buster, because I won't be able to smell a thing.

Rhett

Blogging...

For real, other than me I can't think of anyone who is going to read this.....well, maybe my mom...but other than that this post will go unread. But, here it goes anyway...

It's the end of August and that means that summer is almost over. This is one of the saddest times of the year, at least for me. No more cruising with the top down, eating ice cream, watching fireworks, making illegal fireworks out of legal ones, disc golf, BBQ's, roasting startbursts over a fire, midnight walks, hot days, cool nights, derbies, rodeo's, fairs, skipping rocks, skinny dipping...just kidding on that last one....but for real.

One more thing to bring in the end of summer is the completion of "billy was a deaf kid." It's gotten some very mixed reviews from some of the select people we've screened it to. Some love it, some like it and some hate it...which is to be expected. What's interesting is some of the people who have hated it, hated it because of how some of the characters acted...and that's interesting because we based a lot of the conversation and characters off of these people who hate it. It's funny that when people see themselves from a 3rd person perspective they don't even realize that they're looking at themselves. They think they're watching someone who is oppressive, mean, and has no likable quality to them....when really they are seeing certain aspects of their real life and they won't accept that, either consciously or subconsciously. It just goes to show that people aren't aware of who they really are. People look at movies like "the Bourne Identity" and think "I'm a lot like Jason Bourne" or they think they're Leo Decaprio in "Titanic" or Keira Nightly in "Pride and Prejudice." When really we're not these always-perfect, never-a-dull-moment, get-along-great, happily-ever-after people...in fact, we're all less than perfect and that is what keeps us human. How many of us snap, for no reason, at the people we care about most? Are the majority of our arguments based on things worth arguing about? Or are they usually based on superficial things that if you stopped for a second and breathed in you'd wonder why you started arguing in the first place? I'm willing to bet it's almost always the latter.

There's quote at the end of the flick that I think sums up peoples reaction better than it sums up the movie:

"I used to have a girlfriend that thought I was the funniest man alive.
Whenever I went out with her and thought I was being romantic and
dashing, she simply used to roar with laughter - at everything I said and did.

This taught me a very basic, necessary lesson: that we really aren't
ourselves, and the impression we make on people is often the direct
opposite of the one we intended."

John Cassavetes


So there you go...that's then end of my rant...

I'm off to lunch.

ps here's a dead beaver I found under my porch one day:



peace,

Boike.

if ya smoke em' got em'

I'm sure you're wondering what that little phrase means.  Well, I'll tell you the story...

Many moons ago, I was forced into shooting a lame wedding video all by myself ( I don't remember how Burke got out of it) anyway, there was this prominent Photographer there, whom I really wanted to impress for some reason.  You know how you get around people that are really good at what they do.   You want to make them think that you know your stuff as well as be very charismatic, knowledgeable and all around very funny.  ( At this very moment I'm trying very hard to be funny and interesting with the way I'm writing this, and it's totally not working.)  In any case, me and this guy are talking for minute, and we start talking about rich people and how they get everything handed to them.  Especially if they work with cameras.  They always seem to have the best of the best stuff.  Now, prior to this exceptionally terrible wedding, Burke had been using this phrase "Smoke em' if ya got em" which I thought was a sweet little term that if used correctly, could really make you sound cool.  So the whole time this guy is talking to me, I'm reciting this phrase in my head.  I actually geared the conversation toward rich people just so I could use it.  So, when a small lull entered are little chat, I spewed out the words "If ya smoke em' got em."  The guy just stared at me.  He said nothing.  I'm sure he was trying to figure out what I just said, and why I said it.  It was awkward, so I turned and walked away.

It's been years now, and I still feel stupid.  That's pretty terrible.

We are at the final stages of editing "Billy was a deaf kid" and we think it's turned out to be a great film.  It's a little long coming in at 100 minutes, so now we are going through and cutting stuff out, to make it a cool 90 minutes.  Our buddy Spack keeps telling us that he'll turn any movie off if it goes past the 90 min mark.  And well, we must keep the kid happy.  

The big fest's deadlines are fast approaching so we might be pulling some all-nighters here to get her done by next week.

We'll post a mock trailer soon...

Rhett

That's a wrap!

So Rhetty keeps telling me I need to post something on our blog....I think I hate writing in blogs almost as bad as I hate writing in journals....I don't know who read these things anyway.

Well, we are done shooting "Billy" except for a few shots and whatnot. Not only are we done shooting but the rough cut is almost done too.

By far the most problematic thing with the whole production has been an orange couch that we put wheels on...I know it sounds weird, you'll have to wait until you see the movie. I swear it breaks every single time we shoot with it. The number 2 hardest thing has been the dadgummed weather....so far, every time we've needed to shoot outside it's rained....and every time we've needed to shoot inside it's been awesome weather...frustrating to say the least.

But we have had some good success with the film. Some scenes that have turned out completely different than we were planning...but so much better. It should out to be a great little flick.

I think every post should have some kind of picture...that's more important than the words...so here some random picture from my picture folder:

Deuces,

Pre-Production

Been awhile since we've posted something here...too many Jazz games to watch I suppose. Anyway, on May 5th -- yes yes, Cinco De Mayo --- we are starting principal photography on our new feature film, Billy Was A Deaf Kid. It's a weird little relationship movie. It's hard to describe. We honestly don't know how it's going to turn out. We have an idea about the characters and a few events here and there, but other than that it's all open. We think it will be a sweet little movie. But It could turn out to be a huge tardnuckle, and then you'll never hear us speak of it again.

The name of the film came from my dad. He told me about this book he wanted to write, oh, like 10 years ago, and the name has just always stuck with me. I have no idea what his original story was, I'm sure it's weird, because my dad is quite strange.