Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: amy winehouse, annalee, annalee autumn, blow up doll, dom, dominatrix, intervention, japan, kauai, new orleans, sex doll, short films, spoof, the hungry ghost, vampire
Here are a few of my favorite short films. ALL of these short films I have shot, directed, edited and color corrected myself. Right now I’m writing a feature film (almost done!!) so that I can graduate into making movies on a bigger scale. Very much looking forward to that adventure!
I feel like I don’t have enough time to do all the things I want to do. The “logical” thing (to my brain) is to quit my day job. That gives me another full 40 hours a week. Today is 3/22/11. Exactly a month ago I consciously decided to turn my attention away from my day job and put my attention ON to the things I love: my creative life. I decided I would GROW the parts of my life that I love SO big that they squeeze the full time day job out of existence.
It’s been a month and I’m amazed at ALL the actions I’ve taken creatively. My inner critic tells me I’ll be too “tired” to show up. But when I DO show up at that thing I’m not tired. The trick is staying present.
I shot and directed a music video for a close girlfriend. We shot for 13 hours. The footage turned out so beautiful. I’m super stoked at my Canon Rebel T2i. I highly recommend it. So now I’m editing the video. I find that with every big project, there’s a point where you just have to get down on the mat and wrestle it. That’s where I am now. On the mat.
I did a final copy edit on a novel I wrote FIVE YEARS AGO. I’m excited and scared because there is SO much truth in the novel – I’m scared I’ll be judged. But the truth is it’s EXACTLY the book I’d want to read if I hadn’t written it. That’s the thing – for every piece of art or kind of art, there’s someone who will love it. AND I also decided to make my art entirely to amuse myself, which I think is the most honest thing I can do!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: amanda hocking, dan phillips, e-publishing, living your genuine life, self publushing, TED talks
Well, EVERYTHING is possible. I’m so inspired by Amanda Hocking right now because she opened up my world to a new possibility. A business model that works. I was about to write “for her” as in, what she’s doing will work for her but not for me. BUT THAT’S THE THING. It all comes down to beliefs. A good chunk of the life I’m living right now was created from OTHER people’s beliefs about me. Mostly my mom’s. I think that’s a common mistake. But instead of being mad at myself for it, I acknowledge the information, I get clear on what MY beliefs about me are and I create, manifest, move forward from THAT place.
I was watching a TED talk given by Dan Phillips who builds unique houses out of recycled materials and he surprised me by talking about the PSYCHOLOGY, philosophy and science of WHY we have a “herd” mentality. He wrapped up by daring everyone to live “YOUR life the way you want.”
I felt like he was talking to me. Challenging me. And I thought “HOW much happier, contented, and at peace would I be if I was living the life I want. What a powerful example that would be. And more than that, what a beautiful, honest gift that would be to give myself.”
And why not? ANYTHING is possible.
I feel like I don’t have enough time to do all the things I want to do. The “logical” thing (to my brain) is to quit my day job. That gives me another full 40 hours a week. Today is 3/22/11. Exactly a month ago I consciously decided to turn my attention away from my day job and put my attention ON to the things I love: my creative life. I decided I would GROW the parts of my life that I love SO big that they squeeze the full time day job out of existence.
It’s been a month and I’m amazed at ALL the actions I’ve taken creatively. My inner critic tells me I’ll be too “tired” to show up. But when i DO show up at that thing I’m not tired. The trick is staying present.
I shot and directed a music video for a close girlfriend. We shot for 13 hours. The footage turned out so beautiful. I’m super stoked at my Canon Rebel T2i. I highly recommend it. So now I’m editing the video. I find that with every big creative project, there’s a point where you just have to get down on the mat and wrestle it. That’s where I am now. On the mat.
I did a final copy edit on a novel I wrote FIVE YEARS AGO. I’m excited and scared because there’s SO much truth in the novel – I’m scared I’ll be judged. But the truth is it’s EXACTLY the book I’d want to read if I hadn’t written it. That’s the thing – for every piece of art or kind of art, there’s someone who will love it. AND I also decided to make my art entirely to amuse myself, which I think is the most honest thing any artist can do!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: annalee, filmmaker, indie director, lost boys
I remember seeing the movie The Lost Boys and thinking, “I can do that.” I was 11. My best friend, April, and I saw the movie tons of times. We even brought her pink Esprit tape player so we could record the audio of the movie. You can hear me saying, “Pass the Hot Tamales,” then you can hear the candy sliding across the cardboard box.
My mom’s new boyfriend owned a company, so they had computers. (This was long before people had computers in their houses.) One weekend, I told him I wanted to go to his office and write. I love that I knew even then that a screenplay had to be written on a computer. I don’t remember ever considering writing it by hand. So, while other kids were playing in the pool or whatever, I went to his office and wrote my first script – in DOS. DOS is what existed before Microsoft came along and made computers pretty and easy with “Windows.”
The screenplay was about two 11 year old witches. Even back then I thought about where in my small town it could be shot – I was already thinking like an indie director. We had this great Drama department at my junior high school and we had to shoot little movies with those (then) enormous video cameras. I was even editing tape to tape back then. On VCRs. I’m not really even sure where I picked all this up, because no one in my family were writers or filmmakers.
It amazes me now that I’ve always been doing the same 3 things: movies, music and writing. Why that amazes me is because from age 13 to 33 I spent questioning whether or not I was worthy “enough” TO be doing those things. When all along, I was doing those things. I’m grateful that hindsight is 20/20 and that life is long.
I’ve made a decision to stop questioning (anything) and just create a body of work. Since I’m a writer, I felt it should be documented somehow, and a blog seemed like the perfect way to capture the process as it happens. 
