You don’t need to have fancy equipment to make a story. Just a creative mind and do the best of what you have in your possession. Please watch my full short film Denial and send some comments if you like…Also don’t forget to follow me on twitter and add me on facebook.

When things in your lives seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous “yes.”

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

“Now,” said the professor as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things–your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions–and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else–the small stuff. “If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

“Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first–the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.”

Press Release for Denial

I must say, if I did not know it was shot on the Canon 5d Mark II, I wouldn’t have noticed. The image quality was so good. I noticed a little more shake and some parts were a bit distracting because of it, but who cares. The told the story well, the cinematography was awesome as usual, and it was done on the 5d!!!

After watching hundreds of clips on the web, this blows everything out the water and shows that with the right combination of great lighting work, props, acting, and great content will make your story stand out no matter if it’s shot on a 16mm, 35mm, or a DSLR camera.

I’m proud to be apart of this new technology as my first camera is the 5D. I embrace and love it. Can’t wait for the new generation of cameras after this one to come out. And it better be cheaper =)

I’ll be meeting with some future partners in the near future. My manager has a lot of things going on as well and I hope his deals goes through. Also, I got a few more films and commercials that are hot in demand and will be completed by end of May Early June.

Things are going great. Also, I’ll be adding a new section on my site of gears I use with reviews about them.

The story of my life is that I have to work hard in everything I do to make something work for myself. I did not come from a rich family and people did not give me things willingly. I had to work hard to prove myself for things I want. If my life in 2009 was drawn with a graph to see my progress level, there would be a lot of swiggly lines going on the upwards trend. With what had been going on, I managed to get a lot of things done from Writing/Directing/Producing my first short film, obtaining a management contract from Credible Players in the music industry, and picking up a new skill that was needed which was Photography and Cinematography.

People look at my accomplishments for 2009 and call it a lucky year for me. But I don’t consider any of that luck. I consider that hard work that required diligence, patience, motivation, and passion. I believe with the drawbacks I’ve had, it actually stopped me from doing more on what I wanted to do. But I will hope for great things to happen in 2010.

So with that, I’d like to toast to those who read my blogs! “To inspiration, motivation, determination, and passion! Let success not be just about money, but about happiness and being content to what you love”. That’s my new year’s resolution!

Happy new year !

First of all, Major’s shot themselves in the foot for producing great singles and terrible albums in the past. They forced people to buy albums for 1 or 2 songs that they liked on the album. Now the tides changed where people have more control on what they want to buy and not buy. They don’t need to buy albums, but can download singles. Well, if Majors got it right in the beginning or stopped taking advantage of what they knew was happening, then maybe people would be buying albums and not be pissed off for making them buy terrible albums just for 1 great single. Fully albums should be expected to have quality songs.

Anyways, they set no “real” standards for the industry. There were no standard pay rates, no unions to help fight for those who are trying to break into the industry, and so much conflict of interest. They had “Uneducated” A&R’s working for Majors that couldn’t even type a damn professional e-mail. For someone that is professional, I expect someone would be able to write in complete sentences. So already, major labels have uneducated staff members to help run their business. Their ethics are poor, at least most that I’ve encountered, and were probably taking advantage of their network and contacts for their own self-interest and purposes.

In the corporate world, there are rules and regulations with regards to conflict of interest. And trust me, those rules and regulations were enforced and those who got caught, regretted it! Well in the music industry, it’s the wild wild west. Anything goes. They set their own pay rates. If you were unknown in anything, you are expected to do it for free until you get lucky with one great opportunity. Almost like a little rat looking for a crack in the dark to escape.

The industry is designed in a certain way for people to fail miserably. What if a music producer had to have a masters degree in music in order to “present” music to the major labels? What if an Artist had to go through a certain certification to get access to certain things and certain people that can help boost their career? Maybe it’s dumb, maybe it’s not. But if we had certain standards like what we have in any other damn industry like Medical, Law, Finance, and etc, maybe just maybe there would be consistency and people who have a passion for something can get into an industry that is reliable where any talented person with skills can make a living off their work, instead of having to work another job that’s consistent and reliable to support their passion. Right now, we have any JO that makes a beat think he is a “producer”. LoL….well that’s another blog

Now is the time to change. With the declines in revenue, quality, and so forth, why not go for it? Thoughts and opinions?