Shortly before I joined the Director's Guild, I was given an opportunity by my good friend Mark. He was producing two commercials for S-Oil, and asked me to 1st AD both spots. S-Oil is the Korean version of Exxon, and so the commercials had very big budgets.
I have always enjoyed being the 1st AD on a commercial, and this job involved beautiful Irish dancers and two teams of cheerleaders.
At first, I wondered why he didn't want to assistant direct it himself. On the scout day, I found out why.
The entire creative team (Director, Agency Creatives, Director of Photography) were all from South Korea and they spoke little to no English. The director was only able to say "No" and "Cuto". The whole shoot went something like THIS.
It took quite a while for someone to post these on youtube.com, but a friend sent me the links the other day. I think they both turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. I definitely like the cheerleader one better than the dancer spot.
I am fairly sure that I have a gray hair or two from this job. I cannot begin to tell you how hard it is to coordinate cheerleaders and dancers into moving car formations. However, it truly was an enjoyable challenge and I know I will remember it for the rest of my life.
Inspired by the last post, long time "So Much Trouble In The World" reader Sung Ho Park has sent in this picture of what he thinks is suitable attire for his 4th period Physical Education class with Ms. Wang.
As I am sure many of you already know, President Bush recently vetoed the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) because it was his opinion that it was “too expensive”.
The recent proposal, which passed with bipartisan support in the Congress, would have cost an additional $35 Billion over five years.
Democrats enlisted 12-year-old Graeme Frost, who along with a younger sister relied on the program for treatment of severe brain injuries suffered in a car crash, to give the response to Mr. Bush’s weekly radio address on Sept. 29.
Republican opponents quickly countered with vicious attacks
Right Wing critics have recently accused Graeme’s father, Halsey, a self-employed woodworker, of choosing not to provide health insurance for his family of six, even though he owned his own business. They pointed out that Graeme currently attends an expensive private school. They have also asserted that the family’s home had undergone extensive remodeling, and that its market value could exceed $400,000. They even alleged the counters in their kitchen to be granite — and declared that the Frosts did not seem needy enough for government benefits.
* As it turns out Graeme Frost attends the private school on scholarship.
** The business that the critics said Mr. Frost owned was dissolved in 1999.
*** The family’s home, in the modest Butchers Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, was bought for $55,000 in 1990 and is now worth about $260,000.
**** The kitchen counters in the Frost household are made of concrete.
One critic, in an e-mail message to Graeme’s mother, Bonnie, warned her: “Lie down with dogs, and expect to get fleas.”
To call the Republican hate machine “fleas” is an insult to fleas.
This past evening, I had an invitation to go see "Eastern Promises" at the DGA theatre here in NYC. There was a special Q and A with the film's director David Cronenberg after the movie, so I felt I couldn't pass this up. It was a great movie, and I highly recommend that you all check it out.
Despite this special event, on several occasions I found my mind wondering off in the dark of the theatre. I knew I was missing Game 3 of the ALDS between the NY Yankees and the Cleveland Indians.
George Steinbrenner made an announcement that if Joe Torre and the Yanks did not win this series versus the Indians, it would be Torre's last year with the team. Since more than half a dozen of the Yankees are now in their mid-thirties, this could mean the end of this Yankee era.
For many years in the 90s, I had gone off of the Yankees. They seemed like just a collection of overpaid players all playing for themselves. However, in the last few years, that seemed to dramatically change under the leadership of Joe Torre. They really started to play like a team.
Ever since I was a little boy, I have been a Yankee fan. I grew up with the 70's Yankees. My boyhood hero was their captain, Thurman Munson.
To this day, I still have an easier time naming all the players from the 1977 team than I do the current players.
In the mid 70's, my dad and I were good friends with the Yankee chaplin, Father Jim Conway. He would always get us great seats, and often a private audiences with the top players. At one time I had a ball signed by all the 77 Yankees. I owed that ball to the kindness of Father Jim. Being the stupid kid I was, I used that ball for batting practice. A ball that would now be worth thousands of dollars today.
However there was another special baseball that Jim got for me.
One day, there was a rare appearance of Cincinnati Red Pete Rose at Yankee stadium. At that time, Pete was not exactly a very friendly guy. He wouldn't sign anything, under any circumstances. Nevertheless, Father Jim caught him off guard by calling out to him in the player parking lot. "Hey Pete ... this little guy is named Peter too!"
Mr Rose swung around, and then looked down at me with my new blank ball in hand. He slowly leaned down to my level. "Is that right?", he said. He flashed a wry smile and signed my ball in a unique way.
To this day, it is one of my prized possessions, and it sits in my office.
Now ... I am the antithesis of a Red Sox fan. I hate the city of Boston, and I would giggle if I heard that Ben Affleck was hit by a cross town city bus. I can however admire great baseball players. I think you would have to be a major idiot to watch the HR swing of Manny Ramirez and then deny him a place in baseball greatness.
From now on in, I am rooting for the young Colorado Rockies team, but I hope it's the Sox they face in the World Series.
