Guest Posts, Reviews & Other Rants

Hi everybody! I thought it would be fun to get all the articles that I've written for other websites together in one place (starting with the most recent). If you haven't read them, please check out the links below and let me know what you think. 

Film Courage: Cutting Room Floor Profile I got a really cool St-Patrick's Day gift from Film Courage when they published this profile piece I'd drafted for them. Karen Worden (host of the show) invited me to write up a little piece about why I started podcasting and what I thought made for a good episode.

RachelintheOC: Kindergarten Nonsense Humor author and social media expert Rachel Thompson (the original "Bad Red-Head" herself) had me draft this rant piece about adults having temper tantrums. It turned out to be a lot more popular than I anticipated and have even entertained the idea of turning Kindergarten Nonsense into a book. 

IBC: The 3 C's of Managing Expectations In another collaboration with Rachel Thompson (then with the Indie Book Collective), I wrote this factual piece about the power of effectively managing expectations.  

The Farthest Reaches: Behind the Words After appearing on my show, author Jason McIntyre invited me to be the subject of a "Behind the Words" profile on his own site. It was the first "print interview" I'd ever given and I'm really happy with the way that it turned out.

Lorna Suzuki's "A Warrior's Tale" Lorna Suzuki's "Imago" series is still my favorite indie discovery. "A Warrior's Tale" had me totally hooked from the first page and I could not put it down. This was one of the first written reviews that I'd released publicly and the first time I'd ever reviewed a book. Mine is the first you'll see in the chain.

John Paul Rice's "One Hour Fantasy Girl" The first film review I wrote was for John Paul Rice's feature "One Hour Fantasy Girl". It's a gritty and compelling character study that is also based on a true story.

Green-light This: Promoted Projects: March 25

Teddy Boy – a film by Sean J.S. Jourdan: Jakob and Helene’s quiet suburban life is completely turned upside down with the arrival of James, a young tennis player who mistakenly believes them to be his host family for a local tennis tournament. Teddy Boy The Movie: Main Page

The Sole Survivor – a web-series by Ron Purtee: A global pandemic has wiped out most of the Earth's population. Now John has to try and survive in a world where nothing is what it seems. Available for viewing on Ron Purtee's Youtube Channel

Sandra Rojas-Gonzalez (filmmaker): Sandra is an award winning, passionate storyteller producer with over seven years of experience in the public relations and event organization fields. She is a creative and observant person and excels at creating emotions that engage my audiences.

Check out Sandra Rojas-Gonzalez's Vimeo Page for her portfolio of work include the impressive silent short film “Royal Rats”.

Elite Fighting Championship IV: Night of the Champions: Thai boxing event being held at the Price of Wales hotel in Southport, England on April 1, 2012. For tickets and other information, please visit: Team Elite: Main Page

Anna and Modern Slavery – a film by Magda Olchawska: Anna, a top-notch hacker is trying to expose a gang of human traffickers whose connections run deep into the political and business circles across the globe. Currently on a crowd funding campaign to raise $12,500 to cover principle shooting.Anna and Modern Slavery: Indiegogo Page

Green-light This: Promoted Projects: Mar. 11, 2012

The Unseen Truth: a film by Richard L. Davies: Aaron Taylor sets out to convince everyone that Rhys llewellyn's death was no accident. His course will take him to edge of his sanity and to a place where he may not return from. Was he murdered or is he simply looking to blame someone? Before too long the unseen truth will be revealed but will he be able to cope with the revelations?  Fractured Moon Films

Lay Bare: a film by Gene Cuvier: Julien, an intuitive and strong-willed 20 year old, yearns to find answers after the death of his girlfriend Michaela. Having walked in the fog of his grief and guilt for being unable to saving her last year,  Julien’s memories continue to haunt him as he begins reliving the comforting and harrowing moments that led to her suicide. Lay Bare Movie

King Whack (KW) is a heavy rock band out of Hartford, CT with an emphasis on melody, harmony, and groove. Their music WILL wrap you in a thunderous wall of sound. The band features Ed Lanouette on vocals and bass and Rob Arnold on vocals and guitar.

King Whack Music

Artifice, Ruse & Erdnase: the first book by indie filmmaker Hurt McDermott. Coming soon to Lybrary.com, it is the story of a great writer (whose full identity is still unknown) who wrote about how to cheat at cards in Chicago, 1902. For more on the book and Hurt's other work, please visit Hurt McDermott's Blog

 

"The Sea is All I Know" A Review

Writer/director Jordan Bayne's “The Sea is All I Know” is a depiction of a family in crisis that is so raw in it's intensity and vivid in dialogue that you'll have a hard time believing you're not watching a documentary. 

It tells the story of an estranged couple (played by Oscar winner Melissa Leo and Peter Gerety) who are forced to make an unthinkable decision in coming to the aid of their terminally ill daughter – played by Kelly Hutchinson. While all of the players provided excellent performances, Peter Gerety's was the one that I personally found the most compelling. 

“Sonny” wrestles not only with the inevitable loss of his daughter but, also his spiritual, ethical, and personal beliefs. His own thoughts are best articulated in a scene with another character named Ghent. Sonny questions whether Jesus suffered because everyone abandoned him and utters a very powerful line “It ain't natural sending your son to the gallows!”. 

Jordan Bayne demonstrates unbelievably strong skills as a dramatic storyteller and I can't wait to see what she comes out with next. “The Sea is All I Know” clearly could have been carried as a full length feature but, the roughly 30-minute run time makes every single one of the images all the more powerful.

If you can watch this film from start to finish without being moved to the brink of tears, then so far as I'm concerned, you don't have any feelings. 

For trailers and other information on the film, please visit http://jordanbayne.com/

Green-light This: Promoted Projects: Mar. 4, 2012

The Seeing Place Theater presents “Three Sisters” March 9-25, 2012 in NYC: A young, vibrant theater company in NYC is opening an exciting production of “Three Sisters”. They're doing something risky, using Brian Friel's more comedic script (an Irish adaptation of the Chekhov classic).

The Seeing Place, an ensemble theater company run by actors, is known for daring, intimate work. Their slogan is "Voyeurism simplified". For tickets, visit The Seeing Place Theater. 

The Scapegoat (a film by Cathy Beasley): Aurelio, Sonia, and Trevor are three jewel thieves who are stuck in Venice, Italy after a heist goes terribly wrong.  They won't all make it out of this one.  One of them is going to have to take the blame for this while the other two escape.  But really what criminal is going to do that? Currently crowd-funding to cover shooting in Italy. The Scapegoat Film on Kickstarter

Only Human – Short Film by Spencer Barrett (UK): Katy is your average student, likes hanging with her friends and spending endless hours on Facebook. Her mum is not your average mum though she is a member of parliament, which on any other day might not matter, but this particular day it changes her life completely.  

Katy goes about her day as usual, but within minutes of her day at school she is kidnapped by terrorists along with the rest of her class and taken to an abandoned Ministry Of Defence Facility where she is used as a bargaining chip for the release of POW's. Though she begins to feel sternly towards one of her captors Rafiq, she quickly falls victim to Stockholm Syndrome.

Now it is up to Sergeant Henderson and his Squad of highly trained SAS soldiers to rescue her...if she wants to be rescued! Spencer Barrett Films 

Jedi Camp: This is a 6-episode Star Wars Fan Film, dealing with the very real topic of bullying. It stars Camden Toy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Leah Cevoli, with a cast of very talented 6-12 year-olds.  

The series follows a group of young "Star Wars" fans, who embark on an adventure filled summer at the first ever sleep-away camp for Jedi. Throughout their summer, they'll learn the ways of the Force and be tested by the Dark Side. When the youngest camper, Lucas discovers he has the Power of the Force, it enables him to conquer his fears and defeat his bully. Currently crowd-funding to cover location and other production costs Jedi Camp Main Page