Meese Photographs

Been taking some Meese photos lately. Here's the start of our collection.

My Top 10 of 2008

This list is totally self indulgent. Nobody really cares what I listen to. But if you haven't heard these albums you should go out and get yourself some. They're all really quite beautiful. And if you haven't seen these films then go treat yourself.

Rod's Top Records of 2008

1. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
2. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
3. Margot + The Nuclear So and Sos - Not Animal
4. Ryan Adams + The Cardinals - Cardinology
5. Crooked Fingers - Forfeit / Fortune

Rod's Top Films of 2008

1. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (clear winner, technically released in 2007, but nobody on the planet could actually see it until 2008)
2. The Wrestler (Darren Aronofsky will always make great cinema, hands down)
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Fincher + Pitt, that's all I have to say)
4. 4 Months, 3 Weeks + 2 Days (one of the most beautiful and haunting films ever. who knew that Romanian cinema was this good, I'm so excited to explore more.)
5. Wendy & Lucy
6. Ballast
7. Slumdog Millionaire
8. Revolutionary Road

Storyboards

This past summer David and I made a short film, 'The Predator'. We've currently submitted it to 3 film festivals, the Phoenix International Film Festival, The Vail Film Festival, and the Black Maria Film + Video Festival. I just found the storyboards. They look like chicken scratch but fun, kind of like a treasure map that you'd have as a kid.


/>

Next week when I'm back in upstate NY for the holidays I'm going to make a music video with some friends. I drew these storyboards up today.

Making of The You Found Me Video on VH1

The short I directed back in August for 'The Fray Making of the You Found Me Music Video' is now online at VH1.com. You can watch it here.

'Fair Fight' finished, 6 Acoustic Music Videos, & 'The Fray: There & Back'

'Fair Fight' is finished.

80 minutes and 32 seconds.

Looks like they'll be a Target specific cut that can't be any longer than 30 minutes for some reason.

In the meantime I'm working on editing the 6 acoustic music videos for the songs Enough For Now, Absolute, Never Say Never, Syndicate, Say When, & You Found Me that I directed back in August. Feels like so long ago. Here are some low res screen captures from the shoot. These music videos look AWESOME, I'm super proud of the lighting and the textures and tones.






The band also announced the release of my photo book today.......you can buy it here!



You should definitely get yourself a copy!

Valencia - New Music Video

I was the Director of Photography on a quick bang em up music video gig in Philly about two months ago. My friend Chris called me today to tell me he saw the video on the front page of Myspace. It already has 100,000 views. Craziness.

Where Did You Go?

The Fray Update - Thursday

Whilst taking breaks from hours of editing, K Michael Esquire and I, L. R. Blackhurst the IV, like to play rounds of golf in the Office Professional Players Golf Association (OPPGA). Our course of choice is the Brickyard Open and so far I've won two season championships.

Back to editing. Film done any day now.

The Fray Update - Friday

1. Tomorrow, Saturday, the 15th, go to your local Barnes and Noble and pick up a copy of Billboard the magazine. There will be an article in there about the Fray with two of my photographs. I just saw this article online, perhaps its the same text, just with new photographs!

Billboard - Exclusive The Fray Debuting Single On ABC

2. Next Friday, the 21st, the viral video I directed for The Fray's new single, You Found Me, will premiere online first at the band's official website, and then at Amazon.com, and possibly iTunes. This will be the first listen anyone will have of the new single which is pretty awesome. This viral video is also a theatrical trailer of sorts for the documentary we're currently in post production on about the band. In case you missed my last post, the film has an official title, 'Fair Fight', and will be released with the album in February!

So excited.....

Cat Power - Where Is My Love

This is love.

Assorted Documentary Trivia

The documentary that will be released with The Fray's new album officially has a title, Fair Fight.


Assorted Documentary Trivia:
175 hours of footage
145 reels
14 months of filming
87 days in a studio
3,242 individual clips
51 pages of log notes
51 complete scene ideas
1,630 GBs of hard drive space

Too Young to Keep Good Love From Going Wrong

Yes We Can

I cried last night as I watched Obama speak. I've never been more proud, in my 28 years on this planet, to be an American.

*************

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we cant, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can.

North Dakota in January

This Video Will Move You To Tears

Found Photo

I found this photo today when looking for some other lost photos.

Why I'm Voting

Going to lay it all out. Lay it all on the line (well lay it all on the HTML of the WWW). I believe that across the board it is best to be honest about your political opinions and feelings and therefore I am going to lay out the reasons for which I am voting for Barack Obama instead of John McCain.

1. Religion

Religion can't not be involved in politics. The distinct separation of church and state is one of the founding principles of our nation. As everyone remembers from their US history lessons settlers arrived on the shores of North American hundreds of years ago to escape religious persecution. As free citizens of this nation we have the choice to practice whatever religion we choose, including the choice of no religion at all.

I am a Christian yet I will never be able to agree with the idea of my personal ideas being completely right in the moral and obligatory sense of the word. My ideas and morals are no better than the next man and therefore there should never be a reason to force them on anyone else. Obama is a man of faith as is McCain. The difference though is that McCain feels that his ideas in life are more right for every American. As he would have it every person in this land will no longer have the ability to choose which morals in life they abide by, for they will have to abide by his. He is seeking to take away the freedom of choice in reproductive rights and the freedom to choose who we want to spend our lives with, merely because he thinks those who are different than him are wrong.

To put this in layman's terms. I could say I don't like the Backstreet Boys CD but I can't say that the Backstreet Boys CD is bad because there are many people who think otherwise.

2. The Supreme Court

McCain consistently says that he will not impose a litmus test on any Supreme Court nominee yet without any uncertainty he would never nominate someone to the bench who does not share the same religious views he does. How is this separation of church and state? His litmus test is obvious.

Obama on the other hand is a Constitution expert. He has a masters in Constitutional Law and taught for years at the collegiate level his knowledge of this important document. This is why he understands that appointing judges to the bench does not come down to a personal point of view but instead what is better for the nation, not for a select group of individuals who feel a certain way.

3. The War In Iraq

Until McCain can acknowledge that the war in Iraq is illegal I will never be able to fully respect McCain as a human being. For all the service he has given to this country as a POW and as an elected official it is in times like this where he needs to admit that the principles for going to war, as put forth by the Bush Administration, and supported by him were wrong.

There were never any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Al-Qaeda was never in Iraq prior to the US invasion.

If McCain is a man of principles he should admit publicly that he was wrong. In order to deal with the future we must understand the past. Admitting you're wrong is a hard thing to do, and it takes a big man to do so. In the spring of 2004 my friend Kevin was killed in Iraq. My friend Brian just left the service after two tours of duty in Iraq. The war has left us as a nation more hated and vulnerable than ever before in history. John Donne wrote that "No man is an island". The same is said for a nation. Our nation is not more safe and better off now than we were before Bush invaded Iraq. We now have more enemies in the world. In order to regain our integrity as a nation we must apologize to the world for what we have done wrong and seek to work with those who are different.

4. Health Care

Under McCain's health care plan I will not be offered coverage and in fact will not be able to pay for it. I have a pre-existing condition. My aorta valve does not work and will have to be replaced sometime in the near future. This requires open heart surgery. I was born with this problem. In the state of Colorado the cheapest insurance I can purchase is $720 a month! This insurance is required by federal law, HIPPA and or COBRA insurance. But under McCain these programs won't exist anymore.

Obama has clearly stated that under his health care plan those who need insurance coverage the most will be offered it at an affordable price. I am a hardworking tax paying citizen. I am not on Medicare or Medicaid or welfare. Yet no matter how hard I work I can barely afford my health insurance.

These 4 reasons are why I am voting for Obama. I believe in the freedom of choice, not associated with my ideas on life being any better or more right than any other human beings. I believe in the right to be happy and to pursue success based on these freedoms. And I believe in the principle of being honest and sincere.

I know there are those of you out there who disagree with me. We can disagree and still be friends. It is our job as Americans to understand our differences and to acknowledge that neither you nor I are better humans or Americans because of these differences. We can all co-exist as long as we recognize that we are all entitled to our own personal choices in life and that I will never ask anyone to change their way of living to be more like mine. We need to each have the option in life to pursue that path which is best for us.

Never Been So Worried About My Future

I've never felt so concerned about the future. John McCain's policies and conservative radicalism don't align with my life. His ideas don't align with a popular majority of Americans.

If I could ask McCain one question it would be "How could you possibly represent me?"

upstate new york

There is a common misconception amongst New Yorkers, the city kind, that Westchester county is Upstate NY. Hell, if they're feeling crazy they might call the Catskills Upstate NY. But the truth is that Upstate New York doesn't start until you get to Albany, the state capital, 120 miles north of Yonkers. If you were making a run to Canada you'd still have 5 hours of pavement to cover from Albany north. This is Upstate NY.

I went home a few weeks ago to visit a few remaining friends in the area, saw my sister play some games, and stayed at my folks house. October in upstate is something else, an animal that makes you feel the hum of the earth and the character of your surroundings. The older I get the more I feel drawn to those places that the earth is slowly reclaiming as hers. Perhaps I am alone sometimes in this sentiment but I find these moments beautiful.

Sam "joe" The Plumber Owes Taxes, Has A Lein on His House and Doesn't Have a License to Work

Yet McCain seems to think he's an honest, upright American citizen, worthy of being a visual calling card for his tax plan. Actually under Obama his business would pay less money and he'd even be eligible for a tax break. I'm so sick and tired of McCain lying to the American people.

Here's the story from the Associated Press:

One week ago, Joe Wurzelbacher was just another working man living in a modest house outside Toledo, Ohio, and thinking about how to buy the plumbing business where he works. But when he stopped Senator Barack Obama during a visit to his block last weekend to complain about taxes, he set himself on a path to becoming America’s newest media celebrity — and as such suddenly found himself facing celebrity-level scrutiny.

As it turns out, Joe the Plumber, as he became nationally known when Senator John McCain made him a theme at Wednesday’s final presidential debate, may work in the plumbing business, but he is not a licensed plumber.

Thomas Joseph, the business manager of Local 50 of the United Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters and Service Mechanics, based in Toledo, said Thursday that Mr. Wurzelbacher had never held a plumber’s license, which is required in Toledo and several surrounding municipalities. He also never completed an apprenticeship and does not belong to the plumber’s union, which has endorsed Mr. Obama. On Thursday, he acknowledged that he does plumbing work even though he does not have a license.

His full name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher. And he owes back taxes, too, public records show. The premise of his complaint to Mr. Obama about taxes may also be flawed, according to tax analysts. Contrary to what Mr. Wurzelbacher asserted and Mr. McCain echoed, neither his personal taxes nor those of the business where he works are likely to rise if Mr. Obama’s tax plan were to go into effect, they said.

None of that is likely to matter to those who see Mr. Wurzelbacher as a symbol of the entrepreneurial spirit they hope to foster with tax cuts, but even Mr. Wurzelbacher said he was shocked by all the attention.

“I’m kind of like Britney Spears having a headache,” he told The Associated Press on Thursday. “Everybody wants to know about it.”

Just five days ago, Mr. Wurzelbacher, 34, lived in anonymity in Holland, Ohio, a single father who, as he said on national television, worked all day and came home to fix dinner and help his son, 13, with his homework.

But he became the hero of conservatives and Republicans when he stopped Mr. Obama, who was campaigning on his street, and asked whether he believed in the American dream. Mr. Wurzelbacher said he was concerned about having to pay higher taxes as an owner of a small business.

“I’m getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year,” he told Mr. Obama. “Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn’t it?”

That encounter wound up on YouTube and led to appearances on the Fox News Channel, interviews with conservative bloggers and a New York Post editorial, all of whom seized on a small part of Mr. Obama’s long reply. “I think that when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody,” Mr. Obama had said.

Mr. McCain invoked Mr. Wurzelbacher in Wednesday’s debate as a way to criticize Mr. Obama’s tax plan and wealth-sharing argument, and picked up the theme again on Thursday.

“You know what Senator Obama had to say to Joe? That he wanted to spread his wealth around,” Mr. McCain said at an event in Downingtown, Pa. “America didn’t become the greatest nation on earth by spreading the wealth,” he said. “We became the greatest nation by creating new wealth.”

After some version of “Joe the Plumber” was mentioned two dozen times during the debate, Mr. Wurzelbacher found news crews outside his home and Katie Couric on the phone.

Mr. Wurzelbacher told reporters that the company he works for, Newell Plumbing & Heating, has two full-time employees: himself and the owner, Al Newell.

Neither Mr. Newell nor Mr. Wurzelbacher responded to telephone calls. And Mr. Wurzelbacher has provided only vague information on his and the company’s finances since talking to Mr. Obama. But if the plumbing business remained a two-person company and the net proceeds — after deductions for business expenses — were shared by the two men, both incomes would most likely fall well below the top tax brackets on which Mr. Obama wants to raise rates, as would the company itself.

Both, in fact, would probably be eligible for a tax cut, said Bob Williams, senior research associate at the independent, nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, though the cut would probably be greater under Mr. McCain’s tax plan than Mr. Obama’s.

According to public records, Mr. Wurzelbacher has been subject to two liens, each over $1,100. One, with a hospital, has been settled, but a tax lien with the State of Ohio is still outstanding.

In his interview with Ms. Couric, Mr. Wurzelbacher, who voted Republican in Ohio’s March primary, said that his encounter with Mr. Obama had been prompted by his desire “to ask one of these guys a question, and really corner them and get them to answer a question for once instead of tap dancing around it. And unfortunately I asked the question, but I still got a tap dance.”

He added, “He was almost as good as Sammy Davis Jr.”

Why McCain Is Wrong

During the Presidential debate tonight John McCain said that we need to "change our culture" in regards to abortion.

I'm sorry John but you're an egotistical lunatic if you honestly believe that people WANT TO BE LIKE YOU. 54% of Americans don't want to "change their culture" to be like you. In fact 54% of Americans want to have their constitutional freedoms protected. John, isn't this what you stand for, at least you say it is. Yet you have this radical set of blinders on that limits you to only seeing the world as you personally see fit.

Unfortunately John this is not the way the world works. The world is about people being different and us accepting others for having their own beliefs. You are the most self centered self righteous self proclaimed moralist I've ever heard of. You consistently talk about how you've spent your entire life in the service of this nation. This is true. But by choosing only to represent one type of person you unfortunately haven't spent your life representing those who are different than you. People aren't going to change to adopt your points of view.

Do you not realize that Obama offers me a choice? He also offers you a choice. You're "culture" doesn't have to choose to have an abortion. But he's going to let 54% of Americans have their own belief and their own choices.

Why don't you "change your culture" and become like the majority of Americans? How would you like that?