We Wrapped Today!

  We completed the second and final day of filming of our short zombie movie today.  FilmDemic is going to start taking submissions on the 28th.  Now that we've finished filming, our editor will take over the project.  I want to thank my actors, extras, make-up artists, special effects crew, camera person, equipment assistant, screenwriter, story boarder, catering, lighting technician, editor and my assistant director for your hard work!  The dailies have been amazing and I can't wait to see the finished product.
  I was the writer/director/actor for this movie, which I'll be calling 'The Smell of Fear'.  The first day of filming yielded some professionally disgusting looking zombie action, thanks to our special effects crew.  Today, we shot most of the interior shots and the dialog scenes.  Now, our editor will put it all together.  I must say, I've seen some of the past work that our editor has done and I am confident in her skills.  My movie is in good hands.  When it is done being edited, I'll submit it to FilmDemic and wait for the announcement of the winners.  After that, I'll release it on YouTube and all that.

Making A Zombie Movie!

  Here's a question for you: why do they have braille on drive-up ATMs?  Believe me, this is no slight against blind people, but it is a question Kayla and I wonder about.  Perhaps these ATMs were sent to us from Britain where they drive on the other side of the street?

  Anyway, there's a company named FilmDemic who has a page on Facebook.  They are putting on a zombie short film contest with cash prizes.  I've got some friends of mine on board in helping me to make a film to submit.  I'm using 'Alive Again' as a basis for the story.  The setting will be my house.  I'll post the movie on YouTube, MySpace, Twitter and Facebook.  Wish us luck!

Six Degrees of Common Asian

  Have you ever played that game, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon?  Well, earlier today on Facebook, someone posted asking what people's favorite Harrison Ford movie was.  Later on, in the shower, I came up with a link between him and me.
  Harrison Ford was in 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' with Shia LaBeouf, who was in 'Constantine' with Keanu Reeves, who was in 'The Matrix' with Joe Pantoliano, who was in 'The Goonies' with Corey Feldman, who was in 'Friday the 13th part 4: The Final Chapter' with Crispin Glover, who was in 'Back to the Future' with Courtney Gains, who is in 'To Kill A Memory' with yours truly!

What Has Blogging Taught You?

  I read this topic on a blog called 'Better In Bulk' at http://betterinbulk.net/2010/04/what-has-blogging-taught-you.html.  I've thought about five things blogging has taught me.

-I really am growing like my blog title implies 'Zombie Evolution'.  I recently went back and read every single blog of mine starting from the first and I have developed a voice, found more of myself and I'm more confident now than when I first started.
-I'm a more social person than I realized.  I first started my blog with no intention of interacting with people, but now I have quite a social network that includes family, old friends, old high school classmates, movie companies, publishing companies, actors, writers and special effects make-up artists.
-I have a purpose more than I ever knew.  My blog started out as 'Zombie Killer's Crazy Ideas'.  It was just a way to share some of the ideas I've come up with for stories and characters.  I ran out of those in about ten blogs, but I found I had more to write about.  When I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, my blog took on a whole new life of its own.  It became as much about me as it did about my writing, but somehow it was more interesting that way.  That leads to my fourth point.
-Writing is more interesting if you don't forget the human element.  I've always known that, but I've been making more of an effort to deal with feelings in my writing more than just concepts and fanciful ideas.  My wife has helped me to figure out ways to show what a character is feeling, through descriptions of their body language, facial expressions, etc.
-And finally, I've learned the importance of friendship.  I had lost a lot of friends when I went into the Navy and I'm just now reconnecting with some of them and finding new ones.  A favorite movie quote of mine is from 'Fried Green Tomatoes' when Jessica Tandy says that the most important thing in life is friends.  I think that's a big part of why I developed the bipolar disorder while I was in the Navy.  Now it feels good to be back home in a familiar place with people who know me.  I've even found a new hero, as I blogged about yesterday: Craig Chenery.  He is involved in books and movies and is bipolar.

What's Your Favorite Quote From A Novel Of All Time?

  My favorite quote comes from my favorite book and it's not because of the specific words of the quote, but because of the enormity of their meaning.  This was the best twist ending of all time in my mind.  I am speaking of Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.
  "Real.  Not a game.  Ender's mind was too tired to cope with it all.  They weren't just points of light in the air, they were real ships that he had fought with and real ships he had destroyed.  And a real world that he had blasted into oblivion."
  This one scene determines the entire rest of Ender Wiggin's life.  He spends the rest of his days trying to make good for all the destruction and death he caused in that one moment without even knowing it.  The entire Ender series is a huge inspiration for my own writing.  Orson mixes science with spirituality, morality, concepts of family and community, racism and bigotry.  All of this, he does through characters that you care about and run the gamut of emotions with.
  The question from the title of this blog comes from http://www.practiceofmadness.com/.  You can read more favorite quotes at: http://wordsinsync.blogspot.com/2011/01/what-is-your-favourite-quote-from-novel_04.html, http://www.stuffcatslikes.blogspot.com/2010/09/theodore-puertoriquezs-favorite-novel.html, http://criticalape.wordpress.com, http://www.carolaskan.com/2010/08/favorite-quote-from-a-novel/, http://dwilsonprice.wordpress.com/, http://drdlpenwell.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/god-tree-climbing-and-infinite-surprise/ andhttp://life4mebyme.blogspot.com/2010/08/what-are-your-favorite-all-time-quotes.html.

'The Greater Number' on lulu.com

  I have found a new hero and inspiration.  His name is Craig Chenery and he works in movies and is an author.  He is bipolar like me and loves zombies.  He lives in Phoenix!  I admire his tenacity and perseverance.  He is now in a place professionally that I want to be one of these days.
  Now I have both books available for Kindle and on paperback.  I put a link so that you can get to the shopping area of lulu.com and purchase my second zombie novel, if you would be so inclined.

I Couldn't Wait!

  I decided to publish 'The Greater Number' at amazon.com for Kindle even though the jury is still out on whether or not Sinister Press will be publishing it.  I couldn't wait anymore!  Besides, I could be making money off it now instead of waiting for however long it would take to turn it into a paperback.  I figure, people who want it on Kindle can buy it now and people who want it on paper can buy it later.  That's the cool thing about publishing for Kindle, you retain the rights to the work so I can publish with Sinister Press without any legal problems.  Now the time has come to promote this new book!