When we had actual farmers, and not agribusinesses, the farmers would work a plot of land until it was time for the land to lie low and gather its strength (minerals and other plant nutrients) back into the soil. I feel like that plot.
I also think that a fallow “period” is perfect for a writer (of English, at any rate). Not only is it is an unspecified length of time, it’s the punctuation mark that signifies the end of a complete thought. Once upon a time, there was one space in between typed words, and two spaces in between sentences, occurring immediately after the period. A perfect place to lie low. Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s a “little” film meant to do very BIG things. It stars, among others, Adam Savage from The Mythbusters! This is the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s End of Year Appeal video for 2009. Visit them at www.eff.org.
Happy New Year! Now let’s nap for a couple of weeks. That’s how I feel every January. I used to try and get things done in this time beyond time with disastrous results. One year I severely cut the index finger on my right hand. Holding your finger up in the air (to avoid painful throbbing) makes it look like you have some important point to make but it makes doing anything of importance impossible. Several years started with long drawn out colds or flu. And there are other forms of early year inertia that I’m sure I have conveniently blocked from memory. Read the rest of this entry »
It wasn’t until I was 33 years old (and I’d been living in San Francisco for 8 years) that I realized, “Hey. I’m a freaky artist type!” I’d always known I was interested in artistic endeavors, and so I set off to find out what particular art suited me best.
I studied guitar with a near virtuoso Berklee School of Music grad, and wrote a few songs. I studied drawing with world-renowned monumental sculptor Aris Demetrios. I studied acting at ACT, a nationally acclaimed school, and performance at the Marsh, a local guerrilla theater, where I wrote and performed my own shows. I wrote three novels and a handful of short stories.
For each of these arts, I studied and created with singular focus and vigor. Always, however, my passion would wan, and I would find myself asking the question, again and again, “What am I meant to be doing?” Read the rest of this entry »
This was the most traditional wedding we’ve filmed. The ceremony was at a Catholic Church in Sacramento. The sound was wonderful and the lighting was decent. Oh yes, and there was a Children’s Chorus and a Mariachi Band and a fantastic reception in an atrium of a library complete with whole roasted pigs and 300 guests!
This is a Victorian version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller performed at the Dickens Christmas Fair in San Francisco this year (2009). We shot with 3 cameras, with Jo up in the scissors lift and Robert on the ground with Ian. It was a great time with wonderfully talented people.
And here’s a revealing look behind the scenes … “Under the Headstone”
foolish tree films was called upon to film this evening of pieces created in “the field,” a peer-performer workshop for developing new work. This is excerpts from the performance on December 12, 2009 at The Garage performance space in San Francisco.
You can purchase a DVD of all the complete performances here: Field All-Stars December 2009 DVD
This was the very brief, last minute wedding of a lovely couple who had been together for 30 years! It took place in the middle of a Marines Toys for Tots Foundation benefit party in December of 2009.
Ray’s wife, Julie, threw a huge surprise 50th Birthday Party for him at the Beale Street Bar and Grill in San Francisco with a live band and a very live performance of her best Tina Turner! A fun, diverse, truly San Francisco kind of party.
One of the main projects for 2010 is going to be getting a full length documentary made about Bill Nemoyten, The Hornman. His life is a testament to the power of music and the arts to transform lives for generations. He also happens to be our Jo’s dad (Jo is our CEO and co-owner). For his 80th birthday, she gathered some of his stories into a book and Ian (our Chief Filmmaker and co-owner) made this short film about his life.
If you are interested in investing in The Hornman Documentary Project, please contact us.
