God Willing and If The Creek Don't Rise

 Too late

Once Again, It's the One in Your Hand*

 Running errands in town and suddenly, there was a C130 shooting touch and goes at the local airport.

This plane, widely used during the Viet Nam War, is really something to see, and I have a family connection, so I parked myself along side the runway to take some pictures.

And yes, once again, the only cameras I have with me are an action camera (no telephoto lens) and the one I call the fu*kin' phone. I must admit, however, even with all the abuse I heap on that phone (iPhone 12 Mini) it doesn't do too bad a job.

*The very best camera in the world is the one you have in your hand when a picture making opportunity presents itself. 

Once More Into the Breech, My Darlin'

 A short one act play of mine is about to be produced, set for early next year, and I just received the request for pix, bio and synopsis. Pix and bio, no problem. Finally got that bio thing down, but I continue my lifelong hatred of synopses. I hate everything about them. But, cruising through my PR stuff, I found this one sheet bio I made for ... (who can remember now)  and it cracked me up. So, there's that.

Winter Driving

 Snow covers the lines on the road and suddenly, it's 

Lanes?

LANES!

We don't need no stinking lanes.

And From the Heavens, Winter Arrives

 For someone who loves Montana, I'm not particularly fond of winter.

Casual Shoot

 Sometimes the camera surprises me. Not often. Not recently. Until this weekend.

Tossed off a couple of shots at an antique/craft show up in the mountains between browsing. Couldn't really see what I was getting due to bright sun and touch screen. (curse of the modern age.) Opened the shot on the computer and wow. Sharp. Saturated. 

Sony A6600, 30mm macro lens.

Just a regular old tree, but nice.

July Sunset

 

Shooting the Creek

 Went looking to video an algae bloom for the Lake pitch deck and found this surprise instead.

Still image from GoPro 8 video. I hate that camera.

Summer 2022

 Montana currently enjoying monsoon season every afternoon.

 

International Horror Hotel Film Festival

 Just returned from the horror film fest. 

Viridian Lake won 1st place in the Horror category. Trapped at an isolated mountain resort, a small band of survivors struggle to escape when a primeval entity oozes out of a lake and consumes everything and everyone in its path. Weekend recreation turns into a desperate run for survival. 

Wolf Con won 3rd place in Creature Feature, An old school Montana cop chases a murderer, who witnesses describe as a zombie werewolf, into a Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention.

George Clooney Saves the Universe won 1st place in SciFi. A space alien disguised as a movie star must get human earthlings to help him save the Universe.

The festival was in Cleveland.

Big city on the banks of a Great Lake. It's funny that I have a script about a lake that crawls ashore and starts melting people, because once we were in town, I kept asking, "where's the beach?" 

I live just over a hill from a pretty wonderful lake. 

But I'd never been to a Great Lake. I wanted to wade in a Great Lake. Multiple Uber drivers told me that if I dipped a toe into Lake Erie, I'd lose my foot. But at least the river wasn't on fire anymore.

As close as I got to a Great Lake.

In spite of locals teasing about Cleveland's environmental history, they were proud of their city and I thought it was pretty cool. We took in the touristy sites when the festival wasn't running movies.

One of the perks for the winners was an opportunity to have a table read of a scene or two from the script. The actors were all great. We had a little audio problem as there was a horror movie playing in the next room. A few lines got lost under the neighboring scary music, but I heard enough laughs to make my day.

Here is a link to the table read via You Tube as it's too big for blogger. :P 

George Table Read

Sunday night was the award ceremony. There were awards given that hadn't been previously announced. Best of each category. And Best Overall for each category. And ... 

won Best Feature and was Best Overall Script Champion! 

What can I say? Laughs and applause are far from my career normal which is usually sitting in front of computer playing with imaginary people.

I had fun in the city. Met a bunch of people who create, admire and watch scary movies. Pitched a director  without melting into a puddle of goo. Listened to an audience enjoy my work. 

All things considered, a weekend that will be hard to top.

And then I came home.

Regarding COVID while traveling -- my first trip anywhere in three years. It was a mixed bag as some were masked and most were not. Flight attendants all were masked. I masked up in the plane and in crowds once in Cleveland. Cleveland's Natural History Museum was the only place that required masks for entrance. It's a whole new world out there.

More News

Fire on the Mountain

 Run, boys, run.

Digital Still Life

I want my analog life back. Where a watch just told time. The phone stayed home, and the car minded its own business.

Last night, after dinner out, pulled into the garage and noticed a blue light in the overhead display.

What was that? Closer look – a wi-fi symbol. 

 

I don’t remember ever seeing that! 

Trying to see what pressing the wi-fi light would do, accidentally hit the SOS button instead. The car started calling emergency services and wouldn't stop. 

 

Then Siri heard the car calling emergency services and decided to call emergency services too.

 

Thankfully Montana doesn’t have complete cell coverage so neither call would connect.

Stopped Siri. Sat in the dark paging thru car manual to learn there are no directions for ending Starlink call.

 

Had to drive halfway to town to hit cell service wherein the car said, “Would you like to end this call? Say CANCEL.”

That’s not all I said.

Remember this guy?

 

No Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

No kidding.

I’m surprised the watch didn’t chime in. It tried to call emergency once after I jumped down from the pickup bed and it thought I had fallen.

All this tech care-taking is a good idea, I suppose, if and when you need it. 

 

By the by, in spite of Starlink ads that say it works everywhere – that would be where ever there is cell service. Note to self, when planning an emergency, be in town.

When not needed, it’s another potentially humiliating privacy intrusion. I wouldn’t want to unnecessarily add to emergency services workload. Or have to explain to a large policeman that I can’t control my phone. Or car. Or watch.

Big Brother is watching. With the phone. And the car. And the watch.

And I can’t even close the curtains.

FYI - to cancel an accidental SOS call from a Subaru, hold down the SOS button for two seconds.

3 Count 'em 3

 

3rd place -- Creature Feature.

1st place -- Horror Feature.

1st place -- Sci-Fi Feature.

Women at Work

 Music by www.bensound.com

Weed

 

Let It Be Spring

 Please.

Moon

 

Oh Montana