My Video of My Son

Reservoir Dogs Revisited

Quentin Tarantino has a very particular style of movie making.  His plot lines are often times nonlinear, his camera angles tell their own story, and his characters are always well thought out and brilliantly acted.  One of his first feature films to grace the silver screen was Reservoir Dogs and what a film it was.  Plot twists, raw camera filters and fantastic angles, not to mention an extremely fitting soundtrack.  This is what Tarantino would use to set up his tremendous vision of how a film should be shot.

I saw the film for the first time on DVD when I was about twenty-five and fell in love with the film immediately.  It is easily my favorite Tarantino film and tonight, April 27, 2013, the World Theater in Kearney NE showed the film once again on the big screen.  Needless to say, I did not miss the opportunity to see it as it was originally intended to be seen.  A local pizzeria sponsored the film and had special individual pizzas named after some of the main characters, the Mr. Blonde, the Mr. White and the Nice Guy Eddie just to name a few.  This was the perfect movie to see in the theater especially when it’s coupled with a few slices of great pizza and the company of my lovely wife.

Another Misconception

For everyone, friends help them get through times of difficulty and joy.  Some have friends who everyone knows, and some who few people truly know.  Then there are the ones who get a bad rep because of what society deems unacceptable.  I have a friend who, even though we have not known one another as long as some of my other friends, has been a great person and confidant.

He and I write back and forth to each other about different subjects, film project ideas we both have and different events going on.  He has supported my decision to go back to school and finish my degree, he has always been supportive of whatever my wife and I decide for the two of us and our growing family’s future.  He has given me and my son nicknames, and the best thing about his letters, he writes exactly how he speaks, dropping the Gs off of his progressive verbs like “bein” instead of “being”, uses y’all instead of you all, and uses written facial expressions to show mood.  He’s so true to himself in his writing, that in reading the letter, you actually feel as though he’s right there having a conversation with you.

The kid is great, and I say kid only because he is a few years younger than I am, and says he wants to help me teach my son how to play soccer.  He has a son of his own but unfortunately doesn’t get to see him that often, the reason is because he is in a correction facility.

Now the way I described him up until that last entry made him seem like a great guy, and he is.  The problem with our society, and I was guilty of it as well until I met Lynie, is we all consciously or subconsciously label people without really taking the time to know who they are.  We label according to the way people dress, look, their race or gender, their age, and what type of social situation they are in; all types of superficial aspects that often times blindly guide our actions.  So the next time you decide to judge someone, try to think about being more open-minded, I think the world would benefit if everybody did.

Conversation With My Father

Fathers are the typically the ones who teach their children to be tough, typically with tough love.  Mine is no different and sometimes it’s to the point that he and I butt heads.  He is the type of man who has no filter, he says what is on his mind and sometimes at the expense of relationships.  He is difficult to get along with at best and his actions have created friction between he and I on numerous occasions.

However recently I had a conversation that introduced me to a whole new story about his life and the life of his side of my family.

When I was six months old my paternal grandfather passed away from Pancreatic Cancer.  All of my family, including my mother who is now remarried, speak very highly of him and how even when he was really ill would take care of me as a child.  The side of him I never heard in the thirty-one years of my life was that my grandfather was an alcoholic.  He would hide his drinking by spiking his tea with whiskey, or chugging down a beer behind my grandmother’s back so that she wouldn’t know.

My father told my all of this not too long ago as he was explaining why he is the way he is.  He told my that towards the end, everybody in my grandfathers life had decided to intervene and take him to Alcoholics Anonymous.  But when the time came, it was my father driving, my grandmother in the passenger seat and my grandfather slightly intoxicated in the backseat.  My grandfather was mad, he didn’t want to go this was his escape from reality and my grandmother with her giant heart, was devastated it had come to this.  My father knew his father was mad not necessarily at him yet he wasn’t sure.

After my grandfather was sober, he was at the tail end of his battle with cancer and my father recalled one last thing; a conversation he and my grandfather had.  My father said, “Dad you know I love you right?” trying to rectify any hard feelings that had may have sprung up.  My grandfather replied, “Yeah I know you do.”  He and my father had a good relationship from what I understand so this would have been an extremely difficult time for the two of them.

What my father told me after that story will forever stick with me and hopefully mold me as a father myself.  He told me, because his father died before I had the opportunity to know him, my father would not let an opportunity go by to tell his child how much he loved them.  “That is why I’m so hard on you and want you to always apply yourself in whatever you do.”  I now understand what he has been telling me all these years.

An Interview With a Filmmaker (Final Column)

World War II.  Everyone has seen the films about Nazi occupied Europe and the evasive Japanese soldiers who fought in the Pacific.  For most, this is a subject that seems to have been exhausted over the years.   I too was no different, I felt this way until I saw a little known documentary produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting entitled, “West Virginians Remember World War II”.  Directed by Joel Beeson, an associate professor at West Virginia University.  This humble documentary opened my eyes to the more gritty realities of World War II; a story most of us never hear about.

Luckily I was given a chance to speak with Dr. Beeson recently about his experience as a filmmaker.  He told me that he began as a photojournalist, working for the L.A. Times but once the digital age surfaced he moved to video and audio work.  His first film was a half hour film about Willie King’s blues music festival entitled: “Freedom Creek Festival”.

After that, Dr. Beeson focused mainly on telling the stories of World War II veterans and more specifically the stories of African-American vets.  He told me that many of the African-American veterans were cautious to discuss what happened while they were overseas.  For many of them, the segregation was just as worse.  The soldiers were assigned the lowliest jobs.  Jobs consisting cleaning the restroom areas, cooking and cleaning and cleaning in the mess halls, loading and unloading of the ships and transports.  Dr. Beeson explained one gentleman’s experience; a man who at the time was a military police officer and was guarding German P.O.W.s eating at a table.  Both the MPs were African-American, and even though were members of the American military, were not allowed to sit at the same table as the P.O.W.s.

The subjects Beeson has chosen to interview in the film “West Virgians Remember World War II” recount how their lives were before the war and then once fighting broke out in Europe and Japan how the feeling of performing their duty to protect our country and freedom during this awful time felt necessary.  One gentleman recalled his role with the special weapons division and how after the loss so many marines, he stepped up and played a pivotal role fighting the Japanese who were in pillboxes all over the island.  Four men were assigned to keep gun fire on the front of one said pillbox so he could maneuver around and use a flamethrower to clear it out.  He says he received the Metal of Honor but feels that he is just keeping it safe; the real recipients were the two men who gave their lives so that he could do the job he was instructed to do.

These stories, the type of stories that don’t get told, the stories that no one truly knows, these are why Dr. Beeson directs the films he does.  He told me he enjoys the story telling process across the social divide.  Whether it be race, age or differences in experience and discovering why certain individuals tell certain stories.  Building relationships with everyone who he interviews is one of the things he enjoys the most.  Telling the stories he tells keeps what actually happened from being forgotten.  Many of the stories told about the war have been recounted by the officers, men who were Caucasian and leave out details about what the African-American soldiers did to help protect our freedom.  Before Dr. Beeson and I parted ways from our conversation he left me with one final quote; “Until lions have their historians, the hunt will always glorify the hunter” I hope that one day the “Lions” and “Hunters” will share each others stories.

An Interview With a Filmmaker (second draft)

World War II.  Everyone has seen at least one if not multiple films about Nazi occupied Europe and the evasive Japanese soldiers who fought in the Pacific.  The subject seems to have been exhausted, or at least this was the way I thought that I had until I saw a little known documentary produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting entitled, “West Virginians Remember World War II”.  Directed by Joel Beeson, an associate professor at West Virginia University.

I had a chance to speak with Dr. Beeson recently about his experience as a filmmaker.  He told me that he began as a photojournalist, working for the L.A. Times but once the digital age surfaced he moved to video and audio work.  His first film was a half hour film about Willie King’s blues music festival entitled: “Freedom Creek Festival”.

From there Dr. Beeson focused mainly on telling the stories of World War II veterans and more specifically the stories of African-American veterans.  He told me that many of the veterans didn’t want to discuss what happened while they were overseas.  For most the segregation was just as worse, and the soldiers were assigned the dirty work.  Work such as cleaning of the restroom areas, loading and unloading of the ships and transports.  He explained one gentleman’s experience.  This man was a military police officer guarding German P.O.W.s eating at a table.  The MPs, even though were members of the American military, were not allowed to sit at the same table as the P.O.W.s.

The subjects Beeson has chosen to interview in the film “West Virgians Remember World War II” recount how their lives were before the war and then once fighting broke out in Europe and Japan how the feeling of performing their duty to protect our country and freedom during this awful time felt necessary.  One gentleman recalled his role with the special weapons division and how after the loss so many marines, he stepped up and played a pivotal role fighting the Japanese who were in pillboxes all over the island.  Four men were assigned to keep gun fire on the front of one said pillbox so he could maneuver around and use a flamethrower to clear it out.  He says he received the Metal of Honor but feels that he is just keeping it safe; the real recipients were the two men who gave their lives so that he could do the job he was instructed to do.

These stories, the type of stories that don’t get told, the stories that no one truly knows, these are why Dr. Beeson directs the films he does.  He told me he likes the story telling process across the social divide.  Whether it be race, age or differences in experience and discovering why certain individuals tell certain stories.  Building relationships with everyone who he interviews is what he enjoys the most.  Telling the stories he tells keeps what actually happened from being forgotten.  Many of the stories told about the war have been recounted by the officers of the war, officers who were Caucasian and leave out details about what the African-American soldiers did to help protect our freedom.  Dr. Beeson left me with one final quote; “Until lions have their historians, the hunt will always glorify the hunter”.

A Strong Documentary (first draft)

World War II.  Everyone has seen at least one if not multiple films about Nazi occupied Europe and the evasive Japanese soldiers who fought in the Pacific.  The subject seems to have been exhausted, or this was the thought that I had until I saw a little known documentary produced by West Virginia Public Broadcasting entitled, “West Virginians Remember World War II”.  Directed by Joel Beeson, an associate professor at West Virginia University, the film’s narrative tells a story that is both informative and very personal.

The subjects Beeson has chosen to interview recount how their lives were before the war and then once fighting broke out in Europe and Japan how the feeling of performing their duty to protect our country and freedom during this awful time felt necessary.  One gentleman recalled his role with the special weapons division and how after the loss so many marines, he stepped up and played a pivotal role fighting the Japanese who were in pillboxes all over the island.  Four men were assigned to keep gun fire on the front of one said pillbox so he could maneuver around and use a flamethrower to clear it out.  He says he received the Metal of Honor but feels that he is just keeping it safe; the real recipients were the two men who gave their lives so that he could do the job he was instructed to do.

The Remains of the Storm

I was in the library on Monday night and when the tornado warning came in effect, and they shuffled everyone downstairs for our safety. In a twenty-four hour span of time the city of Kearney Nebraska had a tornado warning, a hail storm and freezing rain. To this I can only say, only in Nebraska.
The following day my morning classes were cancelled and I was expected to make it to Grand Island to meet my cousin who was flying in to Lincoln the following day. I needed to set out on my trip early so that I would beat the weather. And upon returning to Kearney on Wednesday most of the debris had been cleaned from campus. So my video is an account of all the work done to clean up.

Review of a Review

I recently read a review of the film, No Place on Earth a film about, from what the writer of the review John Anderson comments, World War II Ukrainian Jews who seek solstice underground from the Nazis.  511 days to be exact.

Anderson describes the basis of the movie all began when Christopher Nicola was spelunking in a sizable gypsum cave and discovered indications that the cave had once been inhabited.  Nicola, with both on-screen and voice over, describes how the locals were not very talkative indicating that whoever would have been living down there, it would have been Jews in hiding.  Writer/director Janet Tobias takes Nicola’s accounts and make a “mixing-of-genres” type movie.

The overall review gives the movie a desire to be seen description.  Anderson describes it as “gripping and moving” stating also that the Holocaust theme may seem played out, but this film clearly disproves that theory.  Being a fan of these types of movies and after reading this review, I am putting this film on my list of movies to see in 2013.

PowerShares Series; My Childhood Relived

Ever watched your favorite sports event and wonder what it would be like if the best throughout the years could be pit against each other?  In the game of tennis the PowerShares Series tournament just might be the closest that fantasy can get to becoming a reality.

The tournament is a twelve city tour spanning from the beginning part of October to the tail end of November.  It puts four champions in a single set, set meaning six serviced games in tennis, semi-final match with the winners meeting in an eight game championship match.  This past years participants included: Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, John McEnroe and Michael Chang, just to name a few.  Each player plays to reach the number one spot in point accumulation, with a one million dollar grand prize.

Stumbling upon this tournament was like finding a time machine.  Watching each match brought back so many childhood memories and gave me a sense of nostalgia.  Life was so much simpler back when I was a kid, and when I watch these tournament matches, it’s like I’m a kid all over again.  The only thing missing is the smell of my mother’s home cooked chocolate cookies.  Tennis matches, cookies and a little milk, those were what made many of my Saturday afternoons so memorable.  It’s those memories that make me long for the days when life was simpler.

Growing up I can remember sitting on the couch watching tennis matches between players who are now considered some of the best players ever.  As a young child it is difficult to understand the rules of tennis; the term “Love” actually meaning zero, on a serve if the ball hits the net but goes over it is referred to as a “Let” and they are given a redo.  But once it was all explained to me and I was able to follow the matches, I found myself getting more and more enthralled with each passing game, set, match.

Now that I’m an adult I watch tennis whenever I get the chance.  The PowerShares Series tournament is a great one to watch because it consists of players who, in their prime, I watched as a child.  The tournament features matches with legendary tennis pros who were not on the court together at the same stage in their careers at the same time.  Some were just entering the pro circuit and some were on their way out.  In this series of matches, the playing field is a bit more level now that each player has aged and not playing tennis as a career but rather as more of a hobby.

As I watch each individual player I am reminded of how different each playing style is different from the rest.  John McEnroe with his flawless southpaw service and methodical exacting placement of every return.  Of course now his attitude is quite calmer, down from his younger childish outbursts of constant objections to the line judge.  Andre Agassi and his menacing power and precision with almost every swing of his racket.  Then of course, Michael Chang.  A player who defined tenacity in the sport of tennis.  This is a man who, and still to this day, never gave up during play no matter how stacked the odds may have been against him.

The game of tennis is such an energetic and interesting sport to follow, let alone watching former champions play against each other once again is a treat.  Most of the player’s who participate in the PowerShares Series changed the face of tennis and this tournament is like having my childhood memories televised.