A call for help, round 2

Many of you have already made donations for Trevor's thesis film. Thank you SO much. We're serious when we say that every little bit helps, and we appreciate your generosity.

But, as it stands, he and his team are still nearly $6,000 short and they have a little more than a week to raise it. To remind you, a $20 donation will get you a free copy of the DVD and a VIP premiere invite. To make a donation, visit http://sandbagsfilm.com/donateform.php.

Anyway, several of you have asked to know more about the film, so here is what it's about, courtesy of Trevor:

Our main character was essentially the Alan Greenspan of Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war, which lasted from 1975-1990. He controlled interest rates, currency production, and allocation of funds during the war. This man, Edmond Naim, was close family friends with our screenwriter. He was the only governmental official who continued to function during the war. Every other official had either been disbanded or assassinated. Today he is seen as a hero in Lebanon.

Because of the violence and death threats during the war, the only way that Naim could even travel from the bank to his home every day was via the Prime Minister's helicopter. We come to the story when the Prime Minister is assassinated. The assassins placed bombs on his helicopter which, true to life, exploded just before picking up Naim on his way home for the day.

We follow Naim through his day to his decision—to the detriment of his personal and family life—to stay in the bank and continue his work. Naim, who is a devout Christian, chose to stay neutral and fund both the Christian and Muslim governments for the duration of the war. Naim could not leave his office for four years.

This timely story is, for us, about the nature of war, the nature of religious conflict. It is about economy, economic breakdown, and what role that ultimately plays in our lives. What happens when the economy fails? How can we be heroes in the face of economic devastation? We of course feel that all of these issues and themes have something to say about what is going on in the world right now. We believe deeply in the project and in our team's ability to bring it to life.

And just fyi, here are a few notable people who have come out of AFI.

Some notable AFI Directing Alumni:

Terrence Malick (Badlands, Days of Heaven, Thin Red Line, The New World, The Tree of Life)

David Lynch (Eraserhead, Dune, The Elephant Man, Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Disney's The Straight Story, Wild at Heart, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire)

Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler)

Todd Field (In the Bedroom, Little Children)

Cinematographers:

Janusz Kaminski (Schindler's list, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, all Spielberg's films after Schinldler's list)

Caleb Deschanel (The Black Stallion, Fly Away Home, National Treasure, The Passion of the Christ)

Fredrick Elmes (Blue Velvet, The Hulk, Moonwalker, Broken Flowers, Synecdoche, New York, The Saint of Fort Washington)

Wally Pfister (Memento, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Laurel Canyon, all of Chris Nolan's films)

Again, here are the links to the film's website (if you want to see an especially regal-looking picture of Trevor) and Facebook page if you want more information:

www.sandbagsfilm.com

Facebook page

Two posts in one week? It must be important!

As many of you know, Trevor has been developing his thesis film at AFI for the last several months. There has been a positive response to his work thus far, so this longer, more involved film is an exciting challenge for him. He is working with a very impressive team. The cinematographer he's working with, for instance, is the assistant to Wally Pfister, who has been the cinematographer for many Christopher Nolan movies, like The Prestige, Batman Begins, and The Dark Knight.

This is the film that will help Trevor get his master's degree, sure, but it will also be shown at festivals, thereby jump-starting his career. The people who see it at festivals will be the people Trevor will hopefully get to work with in the future. So this is it.

Anyway, the story for this film is pretty amazing and they have worked really hard to get to this point. Trevor and his team are scheduled to start shooting next month and now it's crunch time. They have been raising money along the way, but they're still coming up short. They need $6,500 more to make it.

So we're posting this because we want to get the word out about what he's been working on and to see if you or anyone you know might be able to help. And don't think you have to donate an arm and a leg. The majority of their budget will be obtained through donations of $50 or $100. And if you can only give $5, give $5. Anything will help them make this film.

If you donate, you'll be given screen credit (which is awesome) and you'll also get your own DVD copy. So if you're interested in making a donation, visit http://sandbagsfilm.com/donateform.php.

And please pass this on to anyone who might be interested. We'll of course take whatever we can get, but small donations are where it'll count.

Thanks, everyone.

Here are the links to the film's website and Facebook page for more information:

www.sandbagsfilm.com

Facebook page

Announcing the new...

Lone Peak High School Class of 2000

VALEDICTORIAN!

I had a dream last night that I was back in high school and they made me valedictorian. Ha! There was this big surprise ceremony where they announced that, while my grades were in fact good, they were choosing the valedictorian based on different criteria this year: hard work and well-roundedness. Awesome. My brain is amazing for coming up with this. As I recall, upon hearing that I was named valedictorian, I stood and put my hand over my heart and said, "Thank you! I'm honored." And that was the end of my dream. Eat that, Matt Pierce.*


*The real valedictorian from our graduating class, and a good friend.

A Summer's Tale

To break up the bleak winter scene now upon us, now that the happy holidays are over, here is a fun story with slightly embarrassing pictures that will hopefully spread some warm summer cheer.

Once upon a time, a few months ago, I flew out to New York to visit my sister and her husband. We had six fun-filled days full of laughter and shopping and good food. The weather was perfect: Mid-70s, and when it rained, we were in stores or underground, and the humidity was perfectly reasonable. It was an excellent trip.

But on one particular day, a Sunday afternoon, we decided to take a picnic to Prospect Park and people watch under a shady tree. We ate purple pizza and played Pictionary while polishing off a pair of pungent prickly pears. (Okay, I'm kidding about the purple pizza. But I felt I had to continue the P theme that developed in the first sentence. And now that I think about it, we really should have played Pictionary under the shady tree. That's totally something we'd do.)

Anyway, whilst people watching and picnicking, we were surprised by a few small seeds that seemed to be falling more and more frequently from the tree above. We imagined some squirrel or other little rodent eating something up there and dropping the seeds in the trash (a.k.a. on us).

We almost started to think this was a little bit charming. We could picture a fuzzy little squirrel in a tree, eating a lunch of nuts and berries on a warm summer day. How idyllic!

But then something heavier and definitely squishier than a seed fell directly onto my arm while I was talking.

This:


Upon further investigation (it didn't take long), we decided it was poo. Squirrel poo is not charming; it is gross. And squirrel poo on your arm is even worse.

So my sister pulled out my camera to document this humorous rodent-poo-on-my-arm incident, forcing me to sit still and keep the poo on my arm even longer. (I KNOW that the hantavirus was slowly being absorbed into my skin, at this point.) But just as she did so, another one dropped on my right shoulder, and she captured this photographic gem:


Ah, I love it when a picture captures my innate photogenic nature, double chin and all.

And to top it off, a little poo fell on my sister's husband as well — while he was sleeping, no less. But at least he had a layer of jacket between his bare skin and the hantavirus. (I hope he doesn't hate me for posting these pictures, but don't you love his homemade eye/sleep mask? It seems so characteristic of him.)



Anyway, these pictures remind me of that warm, pastoral day at the park last summer ... and the poo on my arm. And the picture that captured my instantaneous true feelings about having excrement dropped on me for the second time, however unflattering, still brings a smile to my face.

The end.