Sorry to be so late reporting on the Premiere (as if anyone actually reads this), but I just had a really busy weekend and there has been so much stuff floating around in my head the past few days that I wanted to kinda sort out before I sat down and wrote a new post.

The turnout for the Premiere wasn't great. There was maybe 25 people there - opposed to the 30-40 we had for the past two. But several people had to work or were out of town. Some people forgot about it altogether and some people had a hard time distinguishing 11:30 a.m. from 11:30 p.m. Oh well. The crowd that was there was great though.

I didn't go to sleep till around 2:30 a.m. the night before and I pulled my ass out of bed at 9 a.m. to get ready for this thing. I needed a haircut badly and I had to pay my cable bill too, which was already a couple days late as it was. That came back to haunt me later in the day when I was just exausted. I even got to the theatre almost an hour early. It was cool though. I had everything set up from the night before, so I just hung out and talked to Alice (Bill-the theatre owners's wife) for a while untill people started showing up. I was really happy that some of my co-workers from my 'real' job showed up to see the film. And this was the first time one of my parents was able to attend a premiere. Howard was there, late but there.

Sitting through those premieres are gut-wrenching. I'm so afraid people aren't going to get the jokes - or worse that they are going to get the jokes and just not think they're funny. I can always remember who I was sitting next to at the premieres. At "With Friends Like These" I was sitting next to Mikey - the real Mikey, the one Dustin's character is based on. At "Days Like These" I sat next to Dustin. And at "Holidays Like These" I sat next to my friend Jennifer. As nervous as I was, sitting there next to her calmed me down somewhat. I knew how excited and happy for me she was about the whole thing and the fact that she understood so much of what I was going throught really helped a lot. Plus, you always have to feel better when you're sitting next to a beautiful woman.

It's strange how some of the stuff that ends up being so funny when you're watching it is stuff that wasn't even in the original script. The improvised stuff always gets big laughs becuse it's so damn real. The biggest laugh of the entire movie was something I didn't write and didn't even come up with. At one point of the film, I get a beer out of the refrigerator and look around for a bottle opener. Josh grabs the beer out of my hand, opens it on his belt buckle and hands it back to me. Everyone in the theatre must have laughed at that, and laughed the hardest. That just proves that as a director, you should always listen to the ideas of your actors, producers, cameramen or whoever. You never know, they just might have an idea for the best moment in your film. A good director can just distinguish between crap and what really should go into the film. Is that me? Not quite yet, but I'm working on it.

After the film everyone came out and congratulated me and shook my hand and hugged me. I heard someone say that they thought this was the best one I had done so far, and I agree with them. The preview for "The Wild Side" got a very positive reaction and several people told me how much they were looking forward to seeing that one. I look forward to seeing that one too.

Now all that's left is to finish up the DVD to get it to the few people that want copies of it. After that ... write, write, write. I need to finish the script for "The Wild Side" and get to work on another project I'm going to do with Dave. I'm going back to the horror genre, which I'm not as good at as comedy, but I'm going to give it my best shot. If we don't try new things, we'll never grow, will we?

Thank you to everyone who attended the premiere and actually enjoyed yourself. And thank you once again to everyone who helped make this film possible. I look forward to taking it up a notch with my future projects and hopefully you all will come along for the ride.

Peace.

Thank you to Photoshop for the wonderful colors that bring this artwork to life. It only took me three hours to to half of it before Dave showed me what a damn magic wand was. Oh well ... we must suffer for our art, musn't we? This is part of the artwork for the DVD, poster, t-shirt. I didn't know I was that talented.

I should be in bed right now ... I really should. But I can't sleep. Is that surprising? No. Not to me. Tomorrow is such a huge day for me ... I can hardly stand it. The premiere of 'Holidays Like These' is just over nine hours away. I wonder if the big guys get this nervous before a premiere? Guys like Spielberg or Peter Jackson? I would say Lucas, but he seems really to just not give a shit what people think of his films anymore. I truly think that when you get to that point - you should just quit. I know the root of filmmaking is supposed to be about 'doing it for yourself' and everything ... but watching your film with an audience that 'gets it' is beyone description.

The first time I saw any of my films with any kind of an audience was in Febuary of 2004 at Shana and Doug's house (they appeared in the first two films and are mentioned in the third) at the 'Premiere Party'. There was like thirty people there ane we all stood sandwitched in their game room watching it on a 27-inch television. I was so nervous I honestly though I was going to throw up. No shit. But when the movie started, the strangest thing happened - people laughed. And not that laugh you can tell is fake but honest to God laughter. And they kept laughing. It was some of the best 24 minutes of my life.

The one thing I remember more than anything was looking over at Dave in total shock. Dave just smiled back at me and shook his head and laughed. I could tell he was honestly happy for me. I was so grateful to him because without Dave, none of these films would have ever happened. All I was before that was just an idiot with a video camera. Dave was the one that said 'Make something, I'll edit it for you.' I'm sure he regrets those words now as I have, at times, driven the man crazy with questions about the progress of projects we were working on. So I want to take this opportunity to thank him, because he opened a creative door for me that I will be eternally in his debt for.

I have no idea how many people will actually show up tomorrow (or should I say today?) and I have no idea how they are going to respond to the film, but I will say this - I love this film with all my heart. I am proud of every single minute of it and people that don't like it can kiss my ass. The preview for 'The Wild Side' that is attached to the end of it makes me think that project will go above and beyond even this one if we do it right.

I have gone through so much shit trying to get this movie done, but now that it's done it's all the sweeter. Thanks again to everyone that helped get this finished. You know who you are.

If you'll look directly below this post you will see the basic line-art for the cover of the new DVD and for the new t-shirts. It wasn't exactly what I had envisioned but I still like how it turned out. I originally wanted to add Josh and Justin to it also, but I just felt like extending it any further didn't feel right. The three of us there are basically the three main characters ... and I may still end up tweaking it and adding Josh and Justin later somewhere around the title, which I originally wanted to draw also ... but that just didn't feel quite right also.

Now I need to get to work inking this pencil art, then I'm gonna clean it up in Photoshop and color it there too. It's really exciting to know that it's all coming together and in just a few days I'll get to show the film to an audience for the first time. It's exciting because a few people from work are coming, as well as some of my family members ... and I really respect their opinions. I know not everyone has the same sense of humor we have, but people seem to like these films and I honestly belive that this is the best one. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Dave, Dustin and myself recorded audio commentary for the movie last night and I was EXTREMLEY pleased with how that turned out. This commentary was quite different from the others we've done as it wasn't so scene specific, we just basically talked about the project in general ... and anything else that popped into our heads. We were brutally honest about certain aspects of the film, and Dave talked about editing that out of the commentary but I told him to leave it in. Nothing we said wasn't the truth, and anything we said about anyone or anyting during that session, those people already know about it.

Well, I would love to tell you more, but I honestly need to get back to work on the art. Hopefully I'll have it done by tonight or maybe tomorrow. We're down to the final days ... I think I'm gonna need some Tums before it's over. Peace.

I look happy but they sure as hell don't.

Looks like I'll see the finished film in its' entirety this weekend ... and hopefully that's when we'll be recording the audio commentary for the DVD. I'm hoping to have two audio tracks - one with Dave, Dustin and myself. The other track ... if it actually happens will be the 'Drunk Canadian Commentary' track. That will basically be Dave and myself drinking a six pack, watching the movie and talking like the McKenzie brothers for the duration of the film. Sounds good in theory but I don't know if we'll be able to keep it interesting for 40 plus minutes. I guess we'll see.

I'm also working on finishing the artwork for the DVD cover. I have set myself a deadline by the end of the weekend to get it finished. I hope the hell I make it. The artwork I'm working on now will also be the artwork that will grace our new t-shirts. I should be working on that shit right now instead of doing this ... or sleeping for that matter.

On a side note, you might notice the two different links on my page. The first 'Burning Inside' is acutally the blog that used to be 'The Garage'. The other is an amazingly addicting site by a fellow Murfreesboro resident titled 'My Supposed Existence'. The blog author 'Chloe' as she is called has an amazing way with words and she also does her own comic strips. Be forwarned, once you visit you'll definitly keep going back again and again to see if she's posted anything new.

Hope to be back in a few days with more news. I'm excited as hell. The premiere is only a little over a week away. Damn I've got a lot of work to do.

Is he really that little or am I just that damn big???

There are times in your life when words elude you. There are so many things you could say at that exact momemt but the only thing that comes out is ... "Wow". "Holidays Like These" is so close to being done, it should be a porn star. (Get it? No. Oh well. I tried.)

There are just a few things left, like the opening still has to be finished and the end credits, the music still has to be addes to some parts and some polishing here and there ... but other than that ... VOILA!!! I watched all three of the films in a row last night and I was amazed at the general progression of improvement in all areas from film to film. The acting, writing, directing ... everything. It just kept getting better and better.

I am so exicted to show this film to people, as I truly beleve with all my heart that it is the best thing I have ever done. I won't have to wait very long as the premiere is only two weeks from today. Yes, that's right ... the world premiere of "Holidays Like These" will be on April 23rd, 2005, 11:30 a.m. at the Premiere Six Theatre in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I'm telling everyone I know and telling them to tell everyone they know ... hoping for our largest turnout ever.

The DVD of the film ... and all the other films for that matter will be on sale from that date forward. If you are interested in purchasing one or all of them, E-mail me at NoFailsafe@Gmail.com. Prices on the DVD's vary from title to tile.

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who worked with me on this and helped me complete it. Dustin, Dave, Micah, Seth, Kathleen, Katie, Donovan, Josh, Justin ... you guys all rock and thank you so much for everything you put into the film. Without you guys, I really would have nothing. I'm looking forward to getting to work on "The Wild Side" and taking it up another notch.

On a side note, we are filming the preview for "The Wild Side" which will be included with the "Holidays" DVD this weekend. The initial readings of the material I have make me feel really good about the future of this project and I'm looking forward to getting to work on it.

The past few days have been ... pretty incredible. I don't know where to start, there has just been SO much good stuff going on. I guess it all started Thursday night. That night was already looking to be pretty amazing because I was going to get to see a special advanced showing of "Sin City". My anticipation for that film over the past few months has just been growing and growing. So much, in fact, that I was almost afraid going into it that the film wouldn't live up to my expectations. Boy was I wrong.

At around 7:30 that night, Dave stopped by with a video tape. It turned out to be the first 30 minutes of "Holidays Like These". It was a rough edit (we still don't have all the shit for the opening credits, but I'm working on it) and he still has some stuff to do, but WOW ... it was amazing. I was so pleased with what I saw, I just couldn't believe it. I have always had faith that this would turn out to be a good film, and I was really happy with what we got when we filmed it, but seeing it put together like that ... it is something else entirely. I have to say, without a doubt, that this is the best work I have done as a director and a writer. Kudos to Dave too for finding ways to make even the smallest little things funnier. I have kicked myself the past few days for screwing around and trying to find other ways to edit the film. Dave really is quite excellent at what he does. He's worth every damn penny.

So ... the film is very close to being completed. Hopefully within the next week or so we will be done with everything and ready to show it to the world (or a few dozen people, like I said before). I have seen "Sin City" three times in three days now. Haven't liked a movie that much to sit through it that many times that close together in quite a while. And tonight is Wrestlemania. Could life get any better?