Category Archives: people

The aesthetic and what’s next?

So we’ve pre-released the sfx reel and shared a little history. Now what? There are 4 sheets of newsprint in the backroom covered with to dos, here’s the jist. Two archival and non trivial projects are in the queue for … Continue reading

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V 0.9 Trickster Pictures SFX reel

This is for my extended inner circle of creatives, both producers that might have a micro budget and/or good things to trade and artists that might have a wild idea or fancy getting hired to help. Please upgrade your browser … Continue reading

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Canyon Princess

Premise “Up on the canyon edge, there’s a ship that sails the sky. They say it carries a thousand ghosts who once ate black gold and lived as gods. Big waters brought it here before my grandmother was born. We … Continue reading

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Uturnpike’s drift

Premise Mysterious rows of snow covered cars snake into the distance. What happened here? Was a neutron bomb exploded nearby? Were the drivers raptured away by the returning Messiah? Why are the cars bumper to bumper in both directions? Unturnpike … Continue reading

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Commando Kill

Premise CK is a black ops super warrior run amok. His self determined mission is to bring down technical civilization by crashing key elements of infrastructure. He’s forever skulking around power stations and military installations, tossing precise sabots with economy … Continue reading

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17 months for 3 minutes

That’s how long it took to develop the (preview) of the motion graphics and special effects reel, from inception to launch. Let’s see… that’s 170 days per minute, 3 days per second or 2 hours and 15 minutes per frame. … Continue reading

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iCar, Our dystopian Detroit

We decided to open the reel with the sync sound of iCar. This plodding and awkward scene provides a counterpoint to contemporary SFX reels that are all about speed, zing and blitz… zzz. Back in the 80s when I was … Continue reading

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Behind the scenes

Here’s Version 0.9 of the Trickster Pictures SFX and Motion Graphics Reel. Please upgrade your browser   Excerpt from Kellys’ secret blog, December 2009. This is an outreach to potential clients, based on bliss projects. The theory is that if … Continue reading

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Your art or your life

In the past I’ve been insecure about my work. A nice way to say it would be that I had high standards, I didn’t want to be a party to schlock. I’ve seen some exhibits and shows and felt embarrassed … Continue reading

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Party of parties

I am somewhat recovered. Patrick and I did yoga at 8:30 am Friday morning and then I spent the day getting ready. By 8:00 pm Dede’s and Dan’s Not So Good Friday Party was starting to swing, by 10:00 throttling … Continue reading

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Getting the lads to blog

This is mostly directed to Jonathan with a heads up for Patrick, the other 2 directors on the motion graphics reel. This is all issues we’ve discussed before, eg documenting lessons and process. The car renderings must be 3968×2288, not … Continue reading

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R and D for Science Fiction Musical

Gosh, it’s nearly midnight, but I’ve gotta write a report on the recently initiated R and D for the Trickster Pictures project, Science Fiction Musical. James Weston and I are making narrative dance projects by recruiting talent from Mykl Werth’s … Continue reading

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Training invitation

An invitation to get ready for future projects with the Michigan Movie Cooperative. Hi, Dan here. As some of you know, I’ve been training these past few months for film making and stage performance. The goal is to develop a … Continue reading

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Combat Mime

Digital and analog special effects, creative financing, and stunt training are some of the initiatives in play as we ramp up for future movie challenges. The ability to perform safe stunts is essential, whether choreographing a fight scene, simulating a … Continue reading

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Party theory

What is a party anyway and Why do I keep having them?  These questions are surprisingly sticky, fraught with dangerous revelations and dark discoveries. With not a little trepidation I turn my attention to look, to document, to understand. Though … Continue reading

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Seen from Space

Here’s the re-entry guidance beacon I propose constructing on Crystal Lake for the Year of the Rabbit New Year Party. The moon is only 6% illuminated and sets by 8:30 pm, so we can expect a dark night perfect for … Continue reading

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Encounters… with an annoying blowhard

“Encounters at the End of the World” is my first encounter with Werner Herzog. The title of the movie has a double meaning, referring both to Herzog’s NSF sponsored visit to Antartica, and his cliche assertion that humanity is doomed. … Continue reading

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Front row epiphany

It’s 4:00 am, and I’m up in the loft listening to the rain and the ghost furnace. The house has a hydronic heating system, but the furnace / boiler is toast and needs to be replaced. The wood stove is … Continue reading

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Trickster fx reel

The lads and I are assembling a motion graphics and fx reel. Making a range of support services available to other Michigan film makers could be a lucrative niche. The idea is to repurpose elements from past and current projects … Continue reading

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Bad god, I mean dog!

On deciding to leave NYC and return to Michigan, I had a plan – to finish open projects. That was a positive way of saying, let’s not start any new projects. I fancied how it might feel to get caught … Continue reading

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Tai Chi with Dan Kelly

As R and D for the top secret Kung Fu Dance and Science Fiction Musical project, Dan is leading Tai Chi practice twice a week. x x Tuesday and Thursday 7:30pm – 9:00 pm Studio on Main in Frankfort, Michigan … Continue reading

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Integrity trap

Yet another iteration of a mistake I’ve made before.  Perhaps by sharing the shame with my imaginary audience, I’ll find a way to uninstall the pattern, permanently. Some years back I had this terrific collaborator, let’s call her L. She … Continue reading

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I’ve cloned myself

Just over a year ago I started cloning myself. I am amazed to announce that the process is complete, pretty nearly. As long as I am alive and ever changing my clone is also a work in progress. Last night … Continue reading

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Revisiting ondesire design

Here’s the state of the art. Bounce rate has been *bouncing* over the last 5 days. When it hit 70% on March 15, I almost flipped. I waited another day without making any changes and sure enough, it dropped back … Continue reading

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Bounce rate rebounds

Jonathan, Luke, Steve and I were looking at analytics for ondesire.com last night. After posting the Premise page on Friday, bounce rate shot back up to 40%. The point of looking at bounce rate is to see how effective the … Continue reading

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Bounce rate drops at ondesire.com

Bounce rate has dropped from 40% to 10%, whoo! Congratulations team, landing page analysis and revisions are a success. We’re generating a trickle of new visitors by selective follows on Twitter every day. From analytics it was pretty clear that … Continue reading

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Flyboy via iPhone

Just finished reading Jim Munroe’s FLYBOY ACTION FIGURE COMES WITH GASMASK as a text file on the iPhone. Good times! Check out his other story downloads at http://nomediakings.org. Scrollariffic!

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Deconstructing doom

Jonathan has been questioning the veracity of the doom assertion in the ALM / artifact premise. A premise or pitch is a shorthand introduction to a project – typically delivered in less than 15 seconds (and often in an elevator). … Continue reading

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Meeting 10-03-06 ondesire landing page

We’ve had two dream team meetings, in Brooklyn (Faisal, Erica and Dan) and yesterday in Beulah (Steve Elrick, Melonie, Jonathan, Lucas Kelly and Dan). Inviting collaboration and contribution was the focus of Saturday’s meeting. Components of the ask package for … Continue reading

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Faisal’s world

Faisal dropped off his edit of DOG. In the spring of 2009 he had offered to bring out the “David Lynch ambiance” while simultaneously loping off “atrocious performance”. He felt that DOG depicted a quirky, off kilter world that was … Continue reading

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Pancakes and scrambled tofu hash with Erica and Faisal

Erica and Faisal came over for pancakes on Friday, 10/02/19. Faisal’s version of the DOG edit, ostensibly the reason for our reunion, remained untouched. Instead we talked… about advancing our craft, social presence, Around Lake Michigan, redefining projects, new collaborations … Continue reading

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ATD facilitators

On December 13, 2008 I attended an Awakening the Dreamer symposium at Boricua College with Melanie Ida Chopko, aka Melonie Amazing. On Valentines Day weekend 2010, I trained with 34 others to be a symposium facilitator. The symposium is a … Continue reading

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Dream team

The primary lesson I learned making Daughter of God or DOG is this – finishing a movie by yourself takes forever. To complete DOG and support ALM this year, I’ve assembled a team of two knob spinning freelancers and five … Continue reading

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Visit On Desire

Last year my documentary about sailing around the Hawaiian Islands morphed into a documentary about sailing around Lake Michigan. In September of 2009 I soloed 300 miles on the 16 foor catamaran Hello World, searching for sustainable civilizations.  The plan … Continue reading

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ALM guide – inherent

There was another way of doing things once, a way that has become marginalized and almost forgotten but perhaps not quite totally annihilated. A way that isn’t self destructive. We all know the legend… the native people of several continents … Continue reading

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Compelled

To make a quick post before night night. I’ve been implementing the blogging structure and it… might… just… work. Three blogs all criss cross posting, logging into each other with usernames that match the blogs that the posts are coming … Continue reading

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Confused!

I thought I had a plan for making the mothership blog, but not quite. Now I am confused. Here’s a little map to illustrate the flow. FORUM collaboratory || feeding BLOG Mothership (holyboners.com) BLOG Daughter of God (dogthemovie.com) BLOG Around … Continue reading

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Standby for fireworks

Year Chinese New Year Begins Animal Sign 2007 February 18 Pig 2008 February 7 Rat 2009 January 26 Ox 2010 February 14 Tiger 2011 February 3 Rabbit 2012 January 23 Dragon 2013 February 10 Snake 2014 January 31 Horse 2015 … Continue reading

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The team

Making movies – I’ve discussed how much work is involved and how there’s not enough me to go around.  I need to amp up 1) art / production and 2) fundraising and outreach. I am in the process of contracting … Continue reading

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Am I a good friend?

When you love a lot of people, how do you keep the connections fresh? This is a quandary for me as I’m blessed with a large extended family. Blogs help me make big chunks of my life public. With the … Continue reading

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ALM guide, becoming miraculous

introduction for character Dan Kelly (becoming miraculous) During intense experience I often get a clue about my full potential, what I am capable of. If I get into a situation that calls for a little something extra then lo, something … Continue reading

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Designing the ALM guide

Who is this character Dan Kelly, ALM guide? Why is the audience intrigued by his journey? Based on my discussion with Andrea, I can’t assume the audience will understand my assumptions and motivations regarding ALM. The 900 lb gorilla in … Continue reading

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Coherent plan – objectives (DOG)

2.0 Objectives 2.1 Objectives common to both projects… 2.2 Objectives of DOG 2.2.1 a daring and decisive edit why – I don’t need to emulate the same movie that’s already been made over and over. I give myself permission to … Continue reading

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Xroll

What does memory look like? What do thoughts look like? What is the magic ingredient that makes reality real? I dunno. Let’s make some language. We’ve already got B roll, an antiquated term for supplementary footage used to cover audio … Continue reading

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Storycorps flash!

I had a flash today while listening to a Democracy Now report on http://storycorps.org, a huge oral history project catching the compelling eloquence of regular folks. That’s sort of what ALM is about too – finding extraordinary answers to global … Continue reading

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Where’s Faisal?

Dern that boy, I thought I told him to mind the store. Well, here’s a taste. Your humble Director is way up in Northern Michigan yanking miracles out of his butt, a half dozen a day practically. Mostly concerning the … Continue reading

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Personal finances and whuffie

An unproductive visit to the outhouse this morning as far as bowels were concerned, but the brain – oh the brain. I receive $2000 a month in investment income. The initial investment was actually emotional, but it’s since been converted … Continue reading

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Desire and Faisal in the house

Beulah, Michigan In December of last year I heard from Kai, captain of the 26′ Sloop Desire. He was planning to set her up for future adventures starting with a shakedown cruise in the Hawaiian Islands, and did I want … Continue reading

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Glorious 8 Fold Protocol of Creation

Brooklyn, New York “Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.” Groucho Marx This is a long update. There aren’t any pictures. There are only a few funny parts. It’s primarily targeted at those of you who imagine … Continue reading

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The Venus T5 and the currrent state of emergency

Brooklyn, New York I distracted myself this week by doing some cloning. I’ve been a chef de la saveur électronique for lo these last 25 years, generating a great feast of tasty data. With the exception of a stack of … Continue reading

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