Dance Yellow

In sunshine

outside, the Carnival

Belly dancing women

and bare-chested men

wearing feathers

spin drunken happiness

at Mariposa and 18th

We hide in our studio

making movies

with yellow umbrellas.

It's fun.

We ignore

the reality outside

make non-reality inside

and it pleases the cameras

Two worlds like

magnets repel

and the yellow umbrellas

spin

turn

dance

yellow

The camera is so happy.

Full Moon

Today was a day I learned more how to sing. I'm working on a Duke Ellington early jazz piece called "In a Sentimental Mood." Later, I went to San Francisco Symphony. I invited my friend, Hayley, who is home from college. There were three pieces: Mozart, a piece about Persephone; a piece by an English composer named Robin Holloway. He came out for the lecture about his piece. He was expressing how he wanted the music to sound...that he wanted the instruments to be talking, to be saying words. The last piece was by Schumann, his 3rd Symphony, a gorgeous piece. I learned that he became very depressed at the end of his life and died of a broken heart. Even though he was depressed, he made music that was really happy. Now, I'm home and my dad is playing Jerry Garcia and David Grisman's "Pizza Tapes." All of the above is great FULL MOON music.

Still Working on the Film

Today I got to do the voice over with the actors in my film--Sebastian Kleppe and Margaret Weir. Also, we had to drive around to find a place where we could shoot an image of Sebastian walking on railroad tracks.

When we were on the train tracks, I was afraid the train was going to come. We finished the shot and got off the track and, all of a sudden, the train gate came down and the warning bell came on and we turned to see a train coming pretty fast. I still had my camera on, so I was able to get some footage of it passing by from the safe side of the gate. That was cool.

That's show biz!

Rocketfilmmaker-xd...signing off!

The Way We Get By

Life can only be understood living it backwards, that's why you have to study History. But we have to LIVE life forwards.

Today, to prepare for my World History final paper, I watched "The Way We Get By." It is a documentary about three old people who decide that their mission is to greet Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans as they leave for the war(s) and as they return home to the U.S.A. The troops come back at all hours of the day or night. They old people in the film call themselves "Troop Greeters" and they get other older people to join them, too. The leader of them said, "We support their dedication to the country, not the reason they were sent there. When Mr. Bush said, 'Mission Accomplished!' he didn't know what he was talkin' about."

The Bangor, Maine International Airport is a main exit and entry point for troops going to and from Iraq and Afghanistan. I didn't know that. Did you?

The film is also about old age. It has excepts of these people's lives. One guy said, "When I'm waiting for the planes, I sit and think about my time on this little green planet and the opportunities I've had. Some of 'em, I blew. Some of 'em, I didn't."

The Good Guys TV Pilot

Tonight I watched the pilot of The Good Guys. My friend is on it. He's one of the cops. I liked it a lot. It was a really funny show. You could watch it, too, when it comes back on in June. June 6 or 7 on Fox Channel, same Channel as The Simpsons.

Today, I edited my film for Film Workshop. I'm beat. I'll write more tomorrow.

Your friend, Rocket

PS: Invite your friends to my blog. Then they can know about all this cool stuff.

Happy Birthday!

It's my birthday! And also my neighbor Sam's birthday, too. We had chocolate ice cream with one candle each while everyone sang Happy Birthday to us. Then, we watched Dr. Strangelove by Stanley Kubrick. Also, my mom and dad gave me Citizen Kane by Orson Welles and we watched it until we had to go to Sam's house for the birthday celebration.

A lot of my friends wished me Happy Birthday on Facebook. It was cool to get messages from all over the place.

A Beautiful Train Day...More Filmmaking

I'm still working on my film. Saturday, I went up to the foothills and shot footage of the actor who is the protagonist in it. We rode an old train and everyone was so nice to us.

One thing about me. My ears are sensitive. I had to hold my ears when the train was coming because the sound of the whistle hurts my ears.

But, all in all, it was a great day. Also, when we were done shooting, one of the docents gave us a tour of the Round House. There are only two working train round houses in the US and this is one of them. The train from "Back to the Future" was there and I got to stand where Doctor Emmett Brown stood. That was cool.

The trains blew my mind. I learned about the ring of fire which heats up the rim that goes around the train wheel. It's called a "tire." It's about as thick as a dime. The fire heats it up so that it can be slipped onto the train wheel and have a snug fit. Also, there was something called the sand dispenser. That is a contraption that drops sand onto the track to create traction so that the train can brake.