This is a photo of actor Jeff Garlin holding a box of doughnuts, standing next to Leo Murphy, the Propmaster from Robocop 3 (shot here in Atlanta back in 1991). Now, I know that it’s Jeff Garlin, because I remember taking the photo. But… there’s no way that you can tell that it’s Jeff because the film was “skunked”, obliterating part of the image, which was often the case of Polaroid film on set..

Yes, the title of this post sounds exciting and dirty, but it is in fact a very accurate description of some special effect chairs that were built over at Scenario Custom Scenery a few years ago for a set of commercials for Badcock Furniture. I personally worked on the first chair shown in this video…. check it out and I’ll explain a bit more afterward:

Okay, in the first part of that video you saw a chair’s upholstery being sucked up into a vacuum cleaner, right? Well here’s how it worked…. Continue Reading

Are you worried about the Writer’s strike? Not me, buddy… I’ve got my mailbox.

You know, that dumpy 40 year-old black metal box at the end of the driveway? Mailbox? The thing into which my Federally-sanctioned mail carrier typically inserts the mail I love (paychecks, magazines and the occasionally mis-delivered Frederick’s of Hollywood catalog) and mail I do not love (bills, bills and bills). But lately, our mail carrier (let’s use a little creative license here and call her “Betsy”)…. Betsy has started bringing me the most unusual mail for the past week or so and I must confess that I’ve become quite hooked.

Of course, for you folks who don’t enjoy episodic serials like “LOST“, and may think that J.J. Abrams is a local DDS, this may be a concept that’s Continue Reading

Tonight my Dad gave me an old program to a puppet show that he took me to in Atlanta back in the 1970’s. I remember that it was a production of one of Aesop’s fables: the Fox and the Grapes. What I didn’t know about the show hit me right between the eyes when I opened it… the very first person listed in the credits was the Technical Director, Dwight Creel… as in my friend and former boss, Dwight Benjamin-Creel. If you’d like to see the program in its full glory you can download it from this link!

I finally had the time today to sit down in the living room floor and set up an old-fashioned film titling system that filmmaker Troy Miller FedEx’ed to me this fall. I totally owe him several T-shirt designs even if I never exactly figure out a use for this thing other than as a nutty desklamp. But for now, read on and let me take you for spin around this contraption…
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This weekend marks the 3rd Annual Dixie Film Festival, an event founded by Randy McDowell, an energetic young filmmaker who splits his time between Georgia and California. In its 2nd year at Georgia State University’s Cinefest Theatre, the Dixie Film Festival has plenty of room to grow but I have to say that I’m impressed by Randy’s chutzpah and the intensity that he and his staff have put into the festival this year. Last night I attended a screening of the film Hot Tamale, directed by Michael Damian of ‘The Young & The Restless’ fame, and was delighted to observe the very first presentation of The Magnolia Award to actor James Best, for 50 years in the film business (you can view the video I shot over on YouTube). Mr. Best also screened a short period piece entitled ‘Hell Bent for Good Times’ (I only spotted one anachronism).

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My friend Lynn Lamousin, a dry wit if ever there was one, announced this week that she has released her 2005 film-noir sock-puppet comedy “The Lady from Sockholm” on DVD. Playing in dozens of film festivals around the United States and around the world, “Lady from Sockholm” is a delight for kids and grownups alike and has been recognized as the world’s first and only feature film entirely starring sock puppets. If you’re interested in buying a copy, the DVD’s are Now On-Sale through a subsidiary of Amazon.com, you’ll be darned happy you bought this yarn!! If you’d like, I could probably even get her to sign your copy. Just let me know!

While I was clomping around the dealers room DragonCon in a cardboard box yesterday some folks came up to ask me if I knew Katie Troebs (the answer was of course “Yes”). They said that she’d told them to be on the lookout for me, which leads me to suspect that one of those folks was the production designer for the remake of Revenge of the Nerds that’s set to start shooting here in a month or so. Most of you guys already know that McG, who finished shooting We Are Marshall here in Atlanta a few months ago is one of the producers of ‘Nerds. I don’t know how much the world needed a remake of that movie, but someone has to stand up for the Nerds…. so until my romantic comedy set at a con goes in front of readers again this fall, ‘Nerds will have to do~

Update: a little birdy has informed me that there will be a guy wearing a cardboard robot suit in a very recent rewrite of the ‘Nerds’ movie… homage or hijack? Time will only tell!