Two remarkable conversations

This poor neglected blog is collecting dust and anybody who checks it regularly, which seems unlikely, gets a sincere apology from me. There is some level of expectation of somewhat regular updates and in this bargain I have failed. I am typing words to the wind I suspect so it probably doesn't matter.

I have roused myself to write about two remarkable conversations.

Service to TheOneRing.net has opened a lot of conversational doors to me and in the last few weeks it has done so again. My first conversation was with a plucky, talented, fun woman named Kim Graham who comes from the western region of the U.S.

She invented a rather cool pair of leg extensions, the coolness of which is difficult to easily explain. They are reverse leg stilts that mimic the walking patterns of dogs or goats or mythical creatures like lizards or gorgons or satyrs. She made them on her own for her costuming enthusiast friends around Seattle.

She is also a remarkable sculptor and that talent and her strong portfolio landed her a job sculpting for "The Hobbit" films in New Zealand. By coincidence she developed these stilts that could be worn easily by virtually anybody. Previously such items for Hollywood stunt work had to be personalized to each person at great expense.

She made them usable and available to everybody, giving low-budget films and serious costumers a way to do the previously inconceivable. Her enthusiasm and spirit nearly sold a pair to me although I have no use for them. However, it even made me want to consider costuming because they really are just that cool. Weta sells them on its website and you can watch a video about them while you visit the site that sells them.

But what makes Kim so cool isn't making these extensions and it isn't that she is working on "The Hobbit," (okay well, it is actually but there is more) but that she has this incredible "can do" attitude and a self-belief and willingness to work that empowers her to follow her own dreams. It is admirable and inspiring. I will write about her for TheOneRing but it isn't likely I will be that transparent about my own personal feelings from our interview.

The photo of her is with a Norwegian troll created in her living room very much in the spirit of J.R.R. Tolkien's Ent. Most people will think this is pretty cool but she thinks it and then builds it with the help of friends. Anyway, she is a remarkable woman and while we talked for 30 minutes about her work and her Weta Legs and her good fortune to be in New Zealand, I was elevated.

My second conversation was with a man I had met one time previously on a press junket for King Kong in New York City. He was a joy to listen to at a small press gathering of a dozen reporters and when he learned I was from KongIsKing.net he expressed a desire to speak further but we couldn't put our busy schedules together in that short weekend.

He also did the DVD work for the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy extended editions which are really the gold standard for such things in Hollywood and for far more than those who are devotees of those movies. He has his own production studio and specializes in the business of telling the stories of movies.

Our entire conversation was not an interview for print or new media but for him sharing with and educating me so that at some future date I might be more intelligent should such an interview ever take place. It was shocking, delightful and informative. It also left me dumbfounded at times and shocked in both good and bad ways. I feel fortunate to have such opportunities and hope for many more.

Worst company in the galaxy?

There is currently a bracket (and I seem to love brackets) to determine the worst company in America. It isn't clear if this means the United State of America or North America or North and South America so I am just extending (in my own mind) the award to cover the worst company in the Milky Way Galaxy.

I don't know how much the candy bar paid scientists to name the galaxy after their product, and there may be worse companies on some planet in orbit around the 100 - 400 billion stars in our home in space but until they object, I am going with the bigger title.

Ticketmaster is one of the Elite 8 that are left but Apple and PayPal are surprising finalists as well. The airlines all went down but their luggage policies make it hard to choose between paying to bring my own deodorant on a trip or paying some company $15 in fees to give me a ticket to see a band. Both seem greedy and evil.

Anyway, don't miss your chance to see and vote in the Elite 8. You can see the whole bracket here.

I think eventually, Ticketmaster gets my vote for adding absolutely no value with its rip-off scheme.

Duke rhymes with Puke

Congrats to Mike Black for not doing anything at all and winning a bunch of money because Duke won the NCAA championship. Mike, for some reason, always seems to win money when I am around.

The NCAA tournament is one of the nation's great, perhaps greatest sports events. The Superbowl draws more attention in a shorter time but "March Madness" takes place over three weeks is all around the country and draws a lot of office pool betting.

I think the whole thing is great fun and I was fortunate enough to attend games in Salt Lake City this year between teams playing to go to the Final Four. Watching Butler win on Saturday was grand sport indeed. Press access is overlooked by those who do it for a job but since I am mostly in an office, it was a welcome respite.

Anyway, here is how the no-picks pool has gone:

Jody - Kansas, BYU, Sam Houston State, Northern Iowa

Larry - Pitt, Marquette, Siena, Georgia Tech

Amy - Purdue, Oklahoma State, Morgan State, Florida

Jared - Baylor, Xavier, Vermont, Old Dominion

Layton - Maryland, Tennessee, Murray State, San Diego State

Mike - Duke, Michigan State, Houston, Saint Mary's

Randy - New Mexico, Clemson, UC Santa Barbara, Louisville

Dan - Vanderbilt, UNLV, Oakland, UTEP

Mark - Villanova, Notre Dame, Lehigh, Minnesota

Sarah - West Virginia, Texas, Ohio, Missouri

Cottle - Georgetown, Richmond, Robert Morris, Utah State

Dirk - Kentucky, Temple, Arkansas-PB, Washington

HiHo - Ohio State, Gonzaga, East Tennessee, New Mexico State

Heidi B. - Kansas State, Butler, Wofford, Cornell

Kent - Syracuse, California, North Texas, Wake Forrest

Emmie - Wisconsin, Texas A&M, Montana, Florida State

Elite Eight and half of Final Four

Jody - Kansas, BYU, Sam Houston State, Northern Iowa

Larry - Pitt, Marquette, Siena, Georgia Tech

Amy - Purdue, Oklahoma State, Morgan State, Florida

Jared - Baylor, Xavier, Vermont, Old Dominion

Layton - Maryland, Tennessee, Murray State, San Diego State

Mike - Duke, Michigan State, Houston, Saint Mary's

Randy - New Mexico, Clemson, UC Santa Barbara, Louisville

Dan - Vanderbilt, UNLV, Oakland, UTEP

Mark - Villanova, Notre Dame, Lehigh, Minnesota

Sarah - West Virginia, Texas, Ohio, Missouri

Cottle - Georgetown, Richmond, Robert Morris, Utah State

Dirk - Kentucky, Temple, Arkansas-PB, Washington

HiHo - Ohio State, Gonzaga, East Tennessee, New Mexico State

Heidi B. - Kansas State, Butler, Wofford, Cornell

Kent - Syracuse, California, North Texas, Wake Forrest

Emmie - Wisconsin, Texas A&M, Montana, Florida State

How do I teach my children? (NCAA folks scroll down)

Like most parents, I try really hard to teach my children how to be confident enough and smart enough and wise enough to grow up and be great and happy people. That, in a sentence, is what I am trying to do.

Logan, in kindergarten is an affectionate, fun and confident kid. And . . . violent?

Dresden came home from school this week and told me how horrible his substitute teacher was. I tried to be empathetic but all I could gather was that she got mad at him and some others for no reason. Maybe there was a reason or maybe she had plenty of reason but I decided since I didn't know, I would just listen and hope that later he would know that I do listen to him and what he says is important.

Later in the car he told his mother the same story. Little brother Logan also had a substitute teacher and he loves to jump into conversations if he feels that he has something similar to share and often if he doesn't.

Logan: I had a substitute teach too and she had a giant butt!
(Secretly I found this funny but I can't laugh at such comments because then I am enforcing inappropriate things on many levels and this theme goes on.)

Mom: Logan I hope you didn't say that in front of her.

Logan: I didn't

At this point Shannon and I realize that isn't enough of an explanation why such remarks, ney, such observations just aren't okay.

Mom: Logan that could realllllly hurt her feelings. You don't like it when people tease you. How does it make you feel when people tease you?

Logan: I feel good after I punch them in the face

And despite how inappropriate that was, I am still laughing.

Photo of the week (or whenever), NCAA below

I took this photo (which you can click for a much bigger version in much better detail) while in Romania visiting my friend James C., who was there for around two months working. The chance to go somewhere I had not been and wasn't likely to go to again, was too good to pass up so I braved long, long, long flights to Bucharest.

James was busy working during the day so that left me free to roam Bucharest by myself. I obviously don't speak Romanian but I couldn't sit around so I went to museums and walked through the historic city. It was beautiful with some architecture that reminded me of Paris and then it was gray from its years of communism and there were always fantastic Eastern Orthadox churches to be found.

This photo was on a door on a street in an older but residential part of town. I like it and it evokes for me the sense of decaying beauty I saw. I would like to return and the tiny, tiny part of my brain that sees business opportunities, thinks this place is ripe.

The fight to make it to the Sweet 16 is on, and it is looking bloody for the favorites. I will make the latest casualties in blue to honor Kansas.

Jody - Kansas, BYU, Sam Houston State, Northern Iowa

Larry - Pitt, Marquette, Siena, Georgia Tech

Amy - Purdue, Oklahoma State, Morgan State, Florida

Jared - Baylor, Xavier, Vermont, Old Dominion

Layton - Maryland, Tennessee, Murray State, San Diego State

Mike - Duke, Michigan State, Houston, Saint Mary's

Randy - New Mexico, Clemson, UC Santa Barbara, Louisville

Dan - Vanderbilt, UNLV, Oakland, UTEP

Mark - Villanova, Notre Dame, Lehigh, Minnesota

Sarah - West Virginia, Texas, Ohio, Missouri

Cottle - Georgetown, Richmond, Robert Morris, Utah State (Cottle gets this team in this pool every time they make the field).

Dirk - Kentucky, Temple, Arkansas-PB, Washington

HiHo - Ohio State, Gonzaga, East Tennessee, New Mexico State

Heidi B. - Kansas State, Butler, Wofford, Cornell

Kent - Syracuse, California, North Texas, Wake Forrest

Emmie - Wisconsin, Texas A&M, Montana, Florida State

After the NCAA first round

After one round of NCAA games, things are a little crazy. Power conferences aren't so great and "weak" conferences like the Pac-10 are undefeated. St. Mary's is legit as are other low seeds that are gooooood teams.

A couple of our participating players were pulverized in a single round, which I don't recall happening before. Anyway, here we are:

Jody - Kansas, BYU, Sam Houston State, Northern Iowa

Larry - Pitt, Marquette, Siena, Georgia Tech

Amy - Purdue, Oklahoma State, Morgan State, Florida

Jared - Baylor, Xavier, Vermont, Old Dominion

Layton - Maryland, Tennessee, Murray State, San Diego State

Mike - Duke, Michigan State, Houston, Saint Mary's

Randy - New Mexico, Clemson, UC Santa Barbara, Louisville

Dan - Vanderbilt, UNLV, Oakland, UTEP

Mark - Villanova, Notre Dame, Lehigh, Minnesota

Sarah - West Virginia, Texas, Ohio, Missouri

Cottle - Georgetown, Richmond, Robert Morris, Utah State (Cottle gets this team in this pool every time they make the field).

Dirk - Kentucky, Temple, Arkansas-PB, Washington

HiHo - Ohio State, Gonzaga, East Tennessee, New Mexico State

Heidi B. - Kansas State, Butler, Wofford, Cornell

Kent - Syracuse, California, North Texas, Wake Forrest

Emmie - Wisconsin, Texas A&M, Montana, Florida State

Random.org & NCAA No-Picks Tournament draw on my blog (sorry regulars)

For several years, I forget how many, I have either participated or have run a low-cost, no-pick NCAA tournament bracket including this year.

Sixteen people sign up and each player gets four teams randomly selected from the NCAA pool of 64 teams with a chance to win money. It makes things fun because after the draw you suddenly have four new teams to root for. To make things fair, each player gets a 1-4 seed, and one team each from the 5-8, 9-12 and 13-16 seeds.

The longest surviving seed in the three lower groups wins its owner a small amount of money and the overall tournament winner gets all the remaining cash. It adds some tension to games with teams that usually nobody would care about.

This year rather than doing the old school drawing with paper out of a hat, I went to Random.org to generate the field instead of paper. This is a very cool true random number generator (not the artificial random algorithms) built and operated by Mads Haahr of the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin in Ireland. This sounds very impressive. Best of all and most importantly, it means Dungeons & Dragons needs no dice.

Anyway, here is the 2010 draw, forever preserved in the Webiverse in the order participants signed up. I will update whenever possible rather than flood mailboxes with e-mail.

Jody - Kansas, BYU, Sam Houston State, Northern Iowa

Larry - Pitt, Marquette, Sienna, Georgia Tech

Amy - Purdue, Oklahoma State, Morgan State, Florida

Jared - Baylor, Xavier, Vermont, Old Dominion

Layton - Maryland, Tennessee, Murray State, Sand Diego State

Mike - Duke, Michigan State, Houston, Saint Mary's

Randy - New Mexico, Clemson, UC Santa Barbara, Louisville

Dan - Vanderbilt, UNLV, Oakland, UTEP



Mark - Villanova, Notre Dame, Lehigh, Minnesota

Sarah - West Virginia, Texas, Ohio, Missouri

Cottle - Georgetown, Richmond, Robert Morris, Utah State (Cottle gets this team in this pool every time they make the field).

Dirk - Kentucky, Temple, Arkansas-PB, Washington

HiHo - Ohio State, Gonzaga, East Tennessee, New Mexico State

Heidi B. - Kansas State, Butler, Wofford, Cornell

Kent - Syracuse, California, North Texas, Wake Forrest

Emmie - Wisconsin, Texas A&M, Montana, Florida State

Celebration time!

I am so pleased to read today that HBO has given the green light to George R. R. Martin's series "A Game Of Thrones". Season 1 will have 10 episodes. Time to subscribe to HBO!

Hip hip HORRAY!

This barely has a place on my blog but it is a book I am passionate about and has the potential to be excellent drama.

If you care, you can read some more here.

Too good not to post

I read tonight that "Avatar" is one of the two favorites to win "Best Picture" at the Academy Awards. With 10 nominations I find predictions a little sketchy but there is a lot to be learned from other award shows.

I liked "Avatar" a lot. But it isn't the best film of 2009 by any stretch.

I found this little gem that is too good not to post:

CFV 426 - Avatar/Pocahontas Mashup FINAL VERSION from Randy Szuch on Vimeo.

Think you are a Tough Guy?

I saw this today, linked from a site I frequent. There are a lot of videos from several different years, including one set to "Eye Of The Tiger," but this one really gives the best over view. It also really makes me want to try this:



Anybody with me?

Another stint at Sundance

I covered, sort of, another Sundance Film Festival for the Deseret News. I made several blog entries that I thought were worthwhile but I only turned in one full story which wasn't about a movie at all but about a musician. On the plus side, when I saw her in Park City and when I saw her previously in New York, I left convinced both times that she is a future star. I do mean that.



I had terrible luck with Sundance this year, including transportation. One day my passenger side window refused to go down and my driver side window refused to go up. Driving to Park City in the snow pretty much makes this a car I just couldn't use anymore. Better, the catalytic converter on my other car (the one that didn't give out on the way to Mexico last summer) bit the dust.

When our refrigerator went out we remodeled our kitchen and when my 1996 Honda with 160,000 miles was just one repair beyond acceptable, we bought a new car. Pimped out Accord. Nice car.

Anyway the point was, I saw fewer films and wrote fewer stories than ever before and it makes me a bit sad. I did manage to see some films though.

Wow, "District 9" just got a "Best Picture" nomination from the Academy Awards. It was one of my best pictures to be sure.

I can't quite choke down Hollywood

A reporter I know was on a chartered flight with the Utah Jazz one year near Christmas when the NBA players took up a collection to give the airplane staff a Christmas tip for all their efforts to serve the team. A worthy cause for sure.

But the reporter wasn't just asked to donate, he was asked to donate a specific sum of money by an all-time great NBA player that isn't known for being subtle. The amount was uncomfortably large for the reporter who made at the most $80,000 (but likely less) a year. Meanwhile the poorest rookie on the plane made at least ten times that amount and received a daily per-diem that covered the asked-for tip three times while the reporter's daily travel expenses would barely cover the demanded donation. Other veteran players made more than 100 times the reporter's annual salary but were clueless of the inequality. The reporter, who counted to some degree on the goodwill of players for interviews, paid up.

The Golden Globes celebrated television and film Sunday night and I watched a portion of the program. I am a bit of a story-telling junkie and film especially interests me so I like to see what wins.

Ricky Gervais hosted and was funny because he didn't take Hollywood's stars or the awards too seriously, realizing the ceremony is rich, famous people getting together to congratulate each other. Still film and television is sometimes more than entertainment and stretches into art that can move the soul and enlighten the mind. Ideally, award shows publicize such films to the masses.

The stars gathered Sunday wore ribbons as a symbol of those in devastated Haiti and during the broadcast they took opportunities to remind viewers to donate at NBC.com at a special Golden Globes link to get relief money to the needy.

I can't argue with the sentiment. Apparently George Clooney, according to a few who spoke on television, didn't even want to be at the Globes and will soon be organizing a phone bank and a telethon to raise money. Again, nice sentiment. But I would like to know the combined income of all the producers, writers, directors and actors in the Golden Globe audience and I would like to know how much money they have donated to the cause. I want to know if say, 10 percent of the money made by 'Avatar' has been sent to Haiti. I would sleep better knowing one percent of its $1 billion at the box office is on its way, sent by the studios, actors and talent assembled to take kudos on television.

How about the giant sponsoring companies of the telecast pitch in a percentage of what they paid in advertising last night trying to get people to buy mascara? Maybe NBC could send five percent of its money made on the telecast to Haitians. I don't fault Clooney for setting up phone banks. I congratulate him for it but I would like to know that he, like viewers were urged to do, dug deep and gave what he could.

Maybe instead of spending money on limos last night all the stars could have taken taxies or carpooled and sent the difference to Haitians and made a dramatic statement by doing so. Such actions would carry a lot more weight than looking in the camera and telling me to look into my heart. Or, they could show up in jeans and send the red-carpet dress money they didn't spend to Haiti or donate the rental expenses of costume jewelry. If they did that and then asked me to dig deep and give what I could I would feel a lot better about it. (Yes, I realize this would hurt dress designers, jewelry folks and limo companies and I don't want an economic boycott, it is just that these things seem especially overboard.)

My favorite idea is that movie studios all get together with the support of stars and television networks (often owned by the same conglomerates) and pick a day as "Haiti movie day" when they promote and then donate all the proceeds of one day's box office to Haiti. I bet the public would support this in a big way, knowing the $10 movie ticket would help victims of the earthquake.

To be clear, we should all donate time and money and the Hollywood stars are doing the right thing by promoting help but I would feel a lot better knowing they are donating a proportional amount - or perhaps a greater proportion - than the average middle-class donor.

And, so as not to be thought of as a hypocrite, I have given time this week to helping stock and supply food for the hungry and I will be making Haiti donations as well but none of that had anything to do with prompting of stars. Incidentally, I hope I am dead wrong and would love to learn that all those big-income stars with big-expense lifestyles have already done the right thing.

Here are some stories about what citizens of Utah (none of them rich or famous) are doing for Haitians:
Out of Haiti comes relief and sorrow
Utahns assemble kits for Haitians
Salt Lake couple working to help Haitian orphans
Family's prayers answered by loved ones — safe and sound
LDS medical team arrives in Haiti
Dispersing LDS aid challenging

Fictional Frontiers

From time-to-time I am invited on a radio program that airs live in Philly called "Fictional Frontiers." The host is Sohaib, who uses the program to have a serious discussion about popular culture.

Often the discussions are live, which was difficult for me when they were Sunday mornings but recently they moved to Monday afternoons in the City of Brotherly Love, which is great for my schedule. Once I called him from Mexico on a family vacation which was pretty fun actually.

Monday the 11th of January he will air a recorded segment we did almost a month ago where we look back on the impact of Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings," movies had on the world of movies and fantasy. I can't lie, I find the whole radio-guest concept pretty fun. I can't say why exactly but I guess I like to air my views in the same way I like to blog or write for TheOneRing.net.

Since I edit and do other things for a living, having a writing outlet really helps tremendously for the comfort of my soul. I am not sure the radio doesn't do the same thing. I am told once a month, usually on the phone, that I have a great radio voice and should "do" radio for a living. It sounds fun actually but I am confident that in reality such a career might actually pay worse than journalism and would definitely be far less glamorous than it seems at first blush.

Anyway, being slightly self promotional, if you care to listen live Monday you can do so here or here. After about a week or so you can pick up the program on a podcast here where a lot of great past shows are archived, some with me, many more without. It airs live from 5 - 6 p.m. EST.

A nomination for TheOneRing.net

I spend a fair amount of energy and time building and supporting TheOneRing.net. Long story short: I had some passion, accidentally crossed paths with others who were passionate about shared interests and made some dear friends who had started TORn, a site I used and admired.

For a few years now I have presented for the site at conventions, written, photographed and helped with events around the country including San Diego, Atlanta, Orlando and New York. I have had some spectacular, memorable times. I serve as senior staff and consider it an honor to work on something great for the J.R.R. Tolkien community with people I respect.

The site has been nominated by Total Film Magazine, which I have read here and there over the years, as "Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Blog". It is a magazine and a Website I happen to think is respectable and cool, so the nomination and possible award means something.

Voting for the winner however, will pretty much pit the audience of the other nominations against the fanbase of the franchises they service. It will end up being Harry Potter fans vs. Twilight fans vs. Tolkien fans and clearly (at least to me) one group is less prone to enthusiastic voting and swamping the poll. It is challenging to match the enthusiasm of a largely teen audience who perhaps isn't widely read and may lack some perspective of where their favorite books fit (if at all) in the literature landscape. I don't mean that as an insult either. I love passionate fans.

I shouldn't care who wins, especially since the voting is done by fans and to outsiders all the sites probably look the same.

But I do care.

Can't help it.

I don't have proof but I actually don't think some of the other Websites would exist, or at least not as they do, if not for TORn. "Our" site (I have no actual ownership) owes a debt to TheForce.net. TORn came along in 1999 and helped put fans websites on the map. Anyway, I am really pulling for TORn despite knowing better.

In related news, a segment I recorded for radio show Fictional Frontiers will air soon and then be available as podcast. Details are on the site but this was in behalf of TheOneRing and I quite enjoyed the chat.

15 years ago, 10 years from now

In this photo, from the left is John, Russ (not a subject of this blog post), Rick and me. Like my bandanna?

Christmas brought one of my long-time friends back to Utah and although he was busy with family, he made a request of me and two other friends that we clear an afternoon and a night and participate with him in a ritual almost forgotten 15 years before.

All of us were unmarried back then and all of us were friends collectively and in every combination of pairs or triplicates that you can concoct. Brad (the returning friend - not pictured above) had a video class in those days in college and we made some movies to fulfill his assignments and had fun in the meantime.

Making use of some of that equipment we interviewed and video taped each other back then about our lives and our futures and hopes and dreams. We gathered again, 15 years later (instead of the intended 10) to have another taping session. Brad, John, Rick and I scheduled time away from the family and met together to do just that. Ideally we might have reviewed the old tape but one interview was lost and we watched a couple of the old college movie assignments (and wow did I have long hair) and proceeded with our updated interviews.

We are in interesting mix: A self-employed business owner (Rick), a world-traveling, high-level project manager (Brad) for an electronics retailer that all readers would know, a mechanical engineer (John) and this humble blogger. All of us married, none ever divorced (but with at least two close calls) and all with at least one offspring, all home owners and doing about what almost-40 people scattered around the middle-class demographic charts do. After a really pleasing dinner at Stoneground, we retired to tape ourselves for our personal history.

I learned a lot listening and talking and I can't begin to hope to put it all in one post. It was easy for the four of us to talk about deep and personal things, explore corners of our lives that few ever get a glimpse into and to put our thoughts about our pasts and futures down. I learned that we still trust each other and that our friendship never misses a beat despite the space of months or years between visits. There were no uncomfortable moments or uncertainty; we were as we always have been. When we do get together in larger groups with friends and family in tow, we still relate but not at the same level. Different social dynamics appropriately color how we interact.

The interviews have played across my mind a lot since they happened and I found the whole experience revelatory and inspiring, especially the subject of the future. We all agreed to meet in 2019 to take stock of our lives again. It makes me want to be better and to do more. Not to impress my friends but to make good use of my life. I think I may use the method with my children to record their lives and personalities and their visions of the future. I will refer to this event often for the next few months but I believe the experience was subtly and importantly life-changing.