Wrapping up the year... so long 2009

It's been another pretty solid year for Triple Sticks Productions. We're still pushing for more success and that hopefully will come in 2010. We have a lot planned and some of it, you'll start noticing right away!

When I look back at 2009 I'm struck by the amount of films I saw in a theater... better, but not nearly enough, have to get there more often. But on the same front this year I discovered "Netflix" and have watched more films ever because of it!

Of the films I saw in the theaters... my top three... hands down, "Up in the Air," "The Wrestler," and "Milk."

As for what I saw via "Netflix" the tops this year: "Weeds (seasons 1-5), " "Gran Torino," "Man on Wire," "Changeling," and, "The Reader."

Mix all of those in with so much stuff that I watch on TV and on cable and it's been a full year.

I'm not sure what 2010 holds for me and the company... but that's what makes getting up everyday so exciting. For all of you who've followed us this year, thank you. And we hope to do more, be better, and continue to create as well!

Have a Happy and Safe 2010!

Thawing Out... What's the Big Deal?

OK I grew up on the East Coast... Brookline to be exact and snow was never really that big of an issue, just something you dealt with. So when I moved here to Silver Spring, realizing it was a little bit South of Boston... home of Steamers, Lobster, and Great Pizza... I still figured they would know how to deal with inclement weather. But that wasn't the case this weekend!

We had a blizzard hit us late Friday night that pounded us with snow for about 48 hours. The city and area was totally shut down on Saturday and while the snow had stopped by Sunday, things were still moving at a snails pace.

Today, Monday I had to get up early and venture out into the real world and deal with the snow, which to me was no big deal, but I am amazed at how many folks from this area, cannot do the simplest things in the snow like... turn! People see a little of the white stuff on the ground and immediately turn into the worst drivers since... since... well, since Boston drivers!
Well my stuntman driving skills, developed on the crooked streets of Boston through sleet, snow and rain have helped me all over the world and they helped me today. I've landed at one of my favorite mobile offices... I'm getting some work done... and since there are still not a lot of folks out here, it almost feels like I have a city to myself.

So thanks snow for making it a white Christmas this year... and to all of you out there in this area driving... if you can't do the snow thing... stay at home... for all of us... please?

"Up in the Air"... Worth Every Penny of it!

I am a George Clooney fan... have been always will be!  I had heard a lot about "Up in the Air," and it definetly lived up to the hype and more so.  If you've ever flown for business, you'll love this film... if you're over the age of 25, you'll love this film.  And if you just love a great film, beautiful story telling and great performances... you guessed it, you'll love this film!

When I set out to become a filmmaker, I guess I wanted to make films more like the new hit, "Panic Attack," although for my day it was more like the original "Star Wars."  But over the years I've developed into a filmmaker that loves quirkier, characater driven films.  The last two I've made were those kinds of films.

I hope more and more people see "Up in the Air."  Yes I plan to see "Avatar" and I suspect it will be good as well, but this film is more about the story and people and the kind of film I'd like to make and see more of!

$300 and Counting!

"Fede" Federico Alvarez is living the dream! From this $300 short film on "YouTube," he's landed a deal with Sam Rami... that's how you keep the dream alive!

It's a four minute short featuring space ships, huge robots and great special effects. Robert Rodriguez made his mark with a $7,000 feature with "El Mariachi," now Alvarez and company have done it with "Panic Attack." Check out the short and let me know what you think... post a comment!

A Great Story to Give Us All Hope!

Check it out... nice to see the dream is still alive!

http://news.yahoo.com/video/entertainment-15749636/youtube-short-lands-budding-director-30m-movie-deal-17190532

Downtown... It's All Downtown!

Spending a little time... downtown of course and doing some writing here today. Odd place, because it's not my official mobile office location... aka Starbucks, but trying Panera again. The good, free internet, the bad, some times it runs slow so that jams up Pandora Radio, which I love listening too while I work, so songs start and then stop mid phrase... pick up again... stop... it's all very frustrating.

By the way, the building downtown... the Lee building, is not related to me in anyway, but it's a really cool Art Deco like building and at night the Lee lights up, so I really dig that.

In addition to spending some time working downtown, I'm going to check out the new Clooney film, "Up in the Air." I'm a Clooney guy... I've loved him since "Facts of Life," and usually love watching him work, so I hope this one lives up to the hype.

The best part of it all is I get to see the film at the AFI theater where... downtown... so I'm happy about that! Haven't seen a bad film there yet!

Sending a Little Love and Guilt... Mom Style!

OK so I have been working on this special DVD for "3 Days..." and I've been asking very politely some of my cast and crew to shoot some interviews for it and a lot of them have said yes! Now yes and getting the interviews done don't always go hand in hand, so with the help of a FlipCam, I put together a little clip to encourage them to send their stuff in right away.

Now I realize it's not going to win me an Independent Spirit Award or and Academy Award, but hopefully it gets my point across in a fun, joking, yet somewhat serious way. And the bottom line, it was all in good fun... thanks guys!

P.S. Get your interviews in quickly!!! lol

At The Mobile Office, But There's No Pam, Jim or Dwight!

The holidays have begun and everything from now until the end of the year seems to be trying to slow down. I say trying, because some places do put it on cruise control until after the first, but I can't... still too much to do.

Last week, not a bad one getting some quality work done on the "3 Days..." DVD, but still more to do. This week I hope to get some more editing and a maybe even some shooting done. I hate to keep bothering my cast and crew, but a couple of folks have said they'll shoot something for the new interview segment, but haven't received it yet. I hope to knock that out as soon as possible, because I'd love to have them be a part of it all.

I have an idea, using my FlipCam that I might try today to see if it will work to kind of guilt them into getting things in the mail! Keep your fingers crossed.

That Time of The Year...

The red cups for the holidays are in full effect at my favorite mobile office and the end of the year is nearing! It's funny, some folks get really excited to see the red mugs, I suppose it's a nice touch.

Yesterday spent a good bit of the day editing one of the "extras" segments for the "3 Days..." DVD. It came out pretty good! Still more to do, but I feel like it's going in the right direction. I hope that I can finish all of the editing by the middle of January, but of course some of that depends on others who have some interviews to pass along. If I can just get those last few interviews in, I can really start to look long term for a release date.

So let me get some work done here and keep the train heading in the right direction!

Editing, Editing and More Editing!

Getting some good work done on the "3 Days..." Special Anniversary Edition of the DVD. Knocked out one interview today and putting together some ins and outs.

Have a couple of more interviews from cast/crew members coming and hopefully will shoot one interview later this week or next for the project as well. It's coming along slowly, but it's been a blast revisting the film and the project and I think folks are really going to like what they see!

Going Old School... Ding, Dong, Ding!

Hanging out at my mobile office this morning and in addition to some good coffee, I'm listening to Pandora Radio and Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell," is on and that brings me back... way back! That's 8th grade for me folks, 1979 Disco was king!

Have some stuff to work on for "3 Days..." looks like I'm going to be getting a couple of interviews coming soon which will be great. I have a couple of things to tape on my end as well, so I'll knock those out at the beginning of next week and then I should be able to sit down and do some serious editing. I really want to have a rough cut done before the Holidays and then lock everything up near before the end of January.

The stuff I have right now is pretty good and I think when everyone sees this DVD they'll really like the tons and I mean tons of extras with this bad boy, so that's nice, especially for all of those who worked their asses off to get this film made... thanks again folks!

Anyway time to get to work... Bell, Biv, DeVoe... 1990... "Poison" how can you not work with all of this great music! (All of this found on Pandora Radio, all I did was hit Klymaxx as my radio station!)

The Breakfast of Champions?

Big morning, joining the Twitter Nation... it'll be interesting to see how this all works, but so far so good. If you want to follow me there, just click the link next to the blog for Twitter and you can link with me there or go to: www.twitter.com/MDavidLeeIII and you can use that link to follow me.

I hope this week will be kind of busy, I need to really push myself on a couple of things... working on the logo for TSP and of course the 10th Anniversary DVD for "3 days... 3 hours... 3 minutes... 3 seconds..." I have a lot done, but still have a lot more to knock out. Hopefully I'm going to be getting a couple of interviews from some folks on the Left Coast and then there is someone out here I should be able to hook up with soon and lock down their interview. I will say, I like where things are going with the overall DVD though.