What a letdown. Hope it gets better…

I said I’d give Herm Edwards a year when he started. I didn’t like him. They made the playoffs (though losing one more game than the year before), and he blew it.

Now this year, he has successfully dismantled one of the most potent offenses in the NFL, and his defense hasn’t made up any of the difference.

Pathetic.

I have the first two of those films ready to edit! I produced and directed one film over the weekend and on Monday a friend of mine directed the other film which I also produced.

We shot in HD, but the project will be down-converted for normal DVDs. Not quite ready to produce in HD yet, but the footage is there if we ever do want to release it in HD!

The film I wrote and directed is based on the parable of the two sons (Matthew 21:28-32). I’m excited to be able to show you all a rough cut within a couple of weeks.

The other story is about a doctor whose brother gets killed moments after he leaves him. The killer then steals the doctors car, and… there’s a point later in the film where the doctor has to decide how to respond to the man who killed his brother. Carter Mason played the brother who got killed in the film

This project needs to be “in the can” by October 1, so I have time to get DVD’s ready for sale by Soularize.

So alrighty then, I’d appreciate your prayers that the editing and sound mixing goes well for this project… there’s a lot more to do, even though all the footage has been shot…

Just over a month away, and I can’t wait!

Coming up on this season of Weeds:

Zooey Deschanel (Kat – Andy’s crazy ex-girlfriend) returns for at least one episode, Matthew Modine and Mary-Kate Olsen join the cast, and Silas starts out the season on the run from the police.

Can’t wait.

One of the most buzzed-about series on television, WEEDS follows a suburban mother (Parker in her Golden Globe®-winning portrayal of Nancy Botwin) who deals marijuana in order to make ends meet after her husband dies unexpectedly. The show, which earned a Golden Globe ® nomination for Best Comedy Series, also stars Emmy® nominee Elizabeth Perkins, Tonye Patano, Romany Malco, Hunter Parrish, Alexander Gould, Andy Milder, Allie Grant, with Justin Kirk and Kevin Nealon.

Color me a bit surprised when I find out one of the Olsen twins is going to be on Weeds, one of my favorite shows.

Even better, she’s going to be part of a “newly-developed mega-church community called Majestic,” which is just outside of “Agrestic,” the name of the suburb in the show. Which, by the way, is actually Stevenson Ranch and part of the Santa Clarita Valley just north of L.A.

Weeds is one of the most well-written shows on television, and creator Jenji Kohan has proved his talent for bringing all the pieces needed for a quality television show together. The show is so good, in fact, I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt that Mary-Kate Olsen is as good a fit for the show as Kohan says. About Mary-Kate, Kohan says, “Audiences have seen only one side of Mary-Kate but here, we’ll see her in a whole new light.”

I’m very excited to see what season 3 of Weeds has in store and just how exactly a mega-church will be displayed in this most excellent television series on Showtime.

KOMO

Fans fit the battle of Jericho, and CBS came tumbling down
MSNBC’- 1 hour ago
Its official: After being pressured by fans, who sent 50000 pounds of peanuts to its New York office, CBS has brought back ‘Jericho,’ the America-after-the-bombs drama that the network had earlier canceled.
Jericho: Its renewal is official Los Angeles Times
CBS Reverses Decision to Ax `Jericho FOX News
E! Online‘- Chicago Tribune‘- Seattle Post Intelligencer‘- abc13.com

(Via Google News.)

Amazing! This show deserves being brought back. I’m amazed the campaign to bring Jericho back actually worked!

Weeds Season 2 can now be pre-ordered on Amazon.com!

Update: And now…

Click for Weeds Season 2 on iTunes!

Weeds has become one of my favorite shows, and judging from the hits from searches for the show on this site, I’m not alone. And with a pre-order price of just $25.99, I imagine a lot of you will be ordering your copy now for July delivery.

If you saw season 1 and have not yet watched season 2, you should really get the DVD’s as soon as they come out. Season 3 is likely to start in August again just as it did last year.

Why do I like Weeds so much? It’s got all of the elements of good television. Compelling storyline and characters, strong writing, consistently excellent performances from the cast, and that charm that just comes from chemistry (not just the actors but production and everyone involved with the show… some shows just have that synergy). But mostly, I love Weeds because it makes me think while often causing me to laugh… and sometimes cry.

You can watch him this Tuesday on House at 9 PM EST/PST! He’s had a good run this season, and he’s appeared on Ugly Betty, Beyond the Break, and Lost (he was the guy who punched Desmond a couple of episodes ago).

Great job, Jack!

=========

One of my favorite shows has been renewed for a fourth season. Battlestar Galactica ended with quite a cliffhanger, which I won’t spoil for you in case you tivo’d it. Let’s just say one big question gets partially answered in a way that changes everything…

Actually, now that I think about it, two big questions get partially answered in ways that change everything!

You can buy Battlestar on iTunes if you want to watch ‘em all or catch up on episodes.

So any way, I squeezed a few hours in this morning to have a photo shoot for some new headshots. That way I can audition again, and be even more busy

My favorites from the shoot

Yes… I use a professional name. Please don’t use it in the comments. I separate my acting name from my real name for many reasons, and one is when people want to know about me as an actor, I want them to find information about that if they google the name and not my many, many theological ramblings. Any comments using that name will of course mercilessly be deleted (or not approved to begin with if its your first comment!).

If you do, however, want to help me pick out headshots, that of course is fine

Warning: This show is addictive.

CBS.com has risen above ABC.com, in my opinion, as their player offers a full screen mode and the episode continually plays after the one commercial (a small price to pay for free tv ) which only comes in two or three times an episode. On ABC.com, you have to click after the commercial is over. If you’re like me and you don’t sit directly at the computer while you’re watching the show, it’s an inconvenience to have to keep getting up to click. That seems like a minor thing, but when it comes to customer satisfaction, CBS.com has my vote.

There was a little bit of a pain at the beginning, because InnerTube uses RealPlayer and it was a bit of a hassle getting the plug-in installed on Firefox for Mac. But if you follow the instructions and do a quick Google search if you get any errors, all should be well with your internet viewing experience.

About the show (mild spoilers… so if you’re going to watch the show, just do it now without reading further!):

Jericho, KS is a small, midwest town with its share of interesting persons interwoven in this borderline science fiction drama. I say borderline, because it’s more fantastic than sci-fi. The basic premise of the show is survival in a small town after the United States suffers nuclear attacks in cities across the nation. At first they think it’s just Denver, then they find out Atlanta, and then… the list goes on and on.

I won’t spoil too much more for you. I will say that the characters arriving in the town shortly before the bombs should be paid close attention to. It’s hard to tell whether they’re the good guys or the bad guys. And just when you think you have it figured out, you start to wonder again.

Catch up with Jericho at your leisure, but at least watch the pilot if you haven’t seen this show. Check it out now!

Did anyone else watch Prison Break this week?

I don’t know the show too well, I’m unsure of the person’s background, though I’m assuming he’s one of the people who broke out of prison (I could be wrong). He’s Puerto Rican, and he’s traveling in Mexico trying to get to Ixtapa. But he has no money, and he gets kicked off of the bus. A man he was talking to on the bus lived at the stop where he got kicked off, and told him if he could cook dinner he could stay the night.

He proceeds to steal the man’s car and get caught. The man tells the police he’s glad they caught him, because he forgot to give him gas money for the trip. The man then sends him on his way with money and the car. He tells him to find “grace.”

Maybe if I followed the show more, I wouldn’t have been so quick to spot the Les Mis elements and been more involved with the man’s story. But as it is, I saw it coming and was sitting back thinking, “I can’t believe they’re doing this…”

Well, I suppose if this guy is central to the show (he didn’t seem to be, but like I said, not that familiar), and he has a Jean Valjean type conversion and ends up totally transformed and becomes a major player because of his transformation, my bad feelings will be unjustified. But as it is, it seems like they abused a powerful scene from Victor Hugo for a little sidebar.

It’s official! Showtime has greenlit 15 episodes of the popular show Weeds.

Weeds became known for it’s cliffhanger endings since the finale of Season 1. The second season provided twists and turns every episode without losing any of the charm which has turned it into a favorite show for many twenty- and thirty-somethings.

Download Weeds on iTunes

  Click for Weeds Season 2 on iTunes!

Finally, the Weeds season premiere is here! There’s been a lot of buzz around this show, and I can tell you that ratings will definitely be up and continue to climb if this show just stays even keel with the quality of writing, directing, and performing of its inaugural season.

Early predictions (and some stuff from Showtime) point to Nancy staying away far from her DEA lover (cliffhanger at the end of last season) and her troublesome brother-in-law having trouble getting out of his military commitment. I’m sure he won’t go to Iraq, but it will be interesting to see what they do to keep him out of his military assignment.

I know a lot of you read this blog because of my involvement with the emerging church, so I feel like I must give a little disclaimer: Weeds in no way is a Christian show. It portrays a suburban housewife who loses her husband to a heart attack at an early age. She decides to sell marijuana to keep her family’s upper middle class (maybe even lower upper class) standing and provide for her children. I love the show’s situational ethics and the questions it brings out are provoking, no matter what your faith. That being said, it’s on Showtime. If you don’t know what I mean by that and you’re sensitive about what you watch, don’t watch it!

   Click for Weeds Season 2 on iTunes!

Ranking #1 for a search can sure change your stats. Lately, I’m getting inundated with hits for the Showtime show Weeds and the season 2 premiere.

This show has really struck a pop cultural nerve, and I have a few thoughts on why.

The main character is deeply flawed, yet there’s something admirable about her as well. She sacrifices to put her family first, even if that sacrifice is a pretty poor choice.

The show’s writers go out of their way to write quality content. They show the pretty and the ugly about suburban life, and they do it pretty fairly. This show is truly a dramedy… and sometimes, I think “tragedy” is the last half of that combo more than “comedy”… but don’t get me wrong, the show is extremely funny.

The show has likeable characters from varying backgrounds. For example, the accountant (Kevin Nealon) is a pretty staunch Republican, while Nancy Botwin (lead) I’m pretty sure is a liberal. Most of all, the characters are real. It would not surprise me in the least for them to develop a strong Christian character, for example, who does not fall prey to the normal stereotypes.

A lot of people in this country smoke weed. I thought, for adults, it was a California thing. But I was rather surprised to find out back in good ole Indiana, a lot of people I went to high school with are smokers of the wacky tabaccy. It was kind of funny as they just kind of assumed I was a smoker of weed (I wasn’t even in High School!) because everyone does it. I had no idea how pervasive the smoking of marijuana actually was. And, a lot of those smokers see it as a type of guilty pleasure. So watching the cagey situational ethics before them on television, in a strange way, helps them work out their own feelings on the subject.

I could go on, but the above are the main reasons Weeds is so popular that the net is clamoring for news of when the new season will start. It’s August 14th, by the way, on Showtime. And once again, the shows will be available for purchase via iTunes.

Download’Weeds’on’iTunes

I just was looking online at tvguide.com to see what’s on, and I realize my episode of Untold Stories of the ER is rerunning! I watch it, and it’s just so strange to me thinking that thousands of people are seeing my mug on television right now. It’s just weird.

i was watching tv last night, and as i was flipping through the channels i rested on a ‘talk show’ thing were some people were talking about the war, and i was just about to change it when one of the people said that he did not support the war because he felt it was agaisnt his christian faith and vlaues [i agree with that by the way], so i wanted to hear what he said. other guys said, ‘render to caeser what is caeser’s, and to God what is God’s’ – then he went on to explain that as christians we have a moral duty to fight this war becuase the state has asked us, and that we must render unto caeser. his ‘logic’ was that as ‘americans’ we owe the state our lives – with that, the conversation ended. the one who stood the ground on the fact that, ‘according to my faith war is wrong’ was shut-out by people clapping for the man who told him his faith was wrong and that we needed to ‘render to caeser.’ now, that bugged me because it was not very relational, and it was not a reality of scripture – let me explain what i mean.

render unto caeser:
in his recording of the events surrounding the life of jesus, matthew records jesus speaking with some jewish leaders, and jesus says, ‘give to caeser what is caeser’s and to God what is God’s’ [matthew 22:21]. this line has been used to bring christians into the political debate for almost 1,700 years. everytime i mention that i am a pacifist, i am hit with that line as if it will magicaly change my point of view and make me pick-up a gun and kill people; or declare some kind of loyality to the ‘state.’

Read more

(Via ginkworld; inside the mind of punk monkey.)

Ask and you shall receive. I searched for open source screenwriting software, and voila, I found there was a most excellent piece of software called Celtx.

The writing tools included give it a leg up on Final Draft, believe it or not. Sure, there are some features of Final Draft Celtx does not have, but the writing tools gives Celtx a leg up. And you can’t beat the price

  Click for Weeds Season 2 on iTunes!

It’s official! Season 2 of Weeds will premiere on Showtime August 14^th. (Edited: The Weeds premiere was previously announced as July 17^th)

If you have not seen it, Download Weeds on iTunes… at least the pilot episode (I’d recommend the whole season). Very rarely do I give a show an all-around endorsement for writing, directing, acting, and cinematography. Okay, so the last one it’s pretty basic shooting, but it’s all quality. The first three, however, are way above average. This show is a prime example of cable networks producing much higher quality television shows than the major networks.

A warning is in order for this show. It’s on Showtime, so expect some episodes to contain content not suitable for network television.

What intrigues me about Weeds is the way situational ethics is handled through a very difficult situation. This isn’t much of a spoiler, but if you really don’t want to know anything about the show before you see it, stop reading now. Right now. Really. Stop.

Weeds is the story of a suburban soccer mom whose husband drops dead while on a jog with his ten-year old son. Jonah, the now-deceased husband, evidently did not have much in the way of life insurance, because the family is on the edge of losing their upper middle class suburban lifestyle. The mom, Nancy Botwin, discovers she’s quite good at something that will help her family maintain their lifestyle… selling weed to the other suburbanites.

The crossover between the suburban life and the urban life of her supplier is fascinating and makes for some great storylines. Her own desire to grow a legit business out of her cover business shows Nancy does not think much of her career path, but she sees it as a necessary evil to provide for her family.

There’s plenty of other material I could write about, but I’ll stop for now. Check out Weeds on Showtime.

Download Weeds on iTunes