chris . word

Well, it’s really more than one. Occasionally when I’m bored, or avoiding work, writing or whatever, I check out a site called The Chive. If you’ve seen it, you know what it is. If not, maybe you’ll check it out sometime.

For those of you who don’t know and don’t want to check it out, let’s just say I like to go there sometimes because once in awhile a guy just wants to see pictures of girls in yoga pants and random people doing random, and often strange, things. And did I mention the yoga pants? I think I did. Okay.

Case in point on the random tip are the photos below. I had a distinct reaction to each of them. I will leave it you you to guess what that reaction was.

I also included these photos because I may start highlighting some random photos here every friday. Or, who knows, maybe more often.

Okay, continue with enjoying your Friday/Weekend.

Today is a nice day to be in Santa Monica, CA. I won’t lie to you, it’s pretty amazing. Here’s a little picture to illustrate.

As I’ve said before, I don’t make resolutions. However, for 2012 I decided to at least make some decisions about how I’m going to do things and how I’m going to live my life.

So far, it’s going well. I’ve managed to be more productive and also managed to enjoy some quality time doing as little as possible. I’m well on the way to achieving that balance I was looking for.

Another thing I would like to do more of in 2012 is take photos. With the iPhone 4S it should be very easy. The camera is great and there are several apps that help to make the pics look cooler. One is Instagram, which is what the pic above is.

I highlighted some of those apps and some of my latest photos in an earlier post. Now that 2012 is here, I’m going to be doing more with these apps and trying to take a few photos each day.

I’ve done this experiment before (taking a photo a day for thirty days I mean) and it seemed to go well. I will try to make it last longer this time around. We’ll see how it goes.

How’s your 2012 going so far?

I don’t think it’s much of a secret that I’m a film nerd. I love movies of all genres but have a special place in my heart for sci-fi. Among my favorites is Ridley Scott’s 1982 film Blade Runner.

The film, an adaptation of Phillip K. Dick’s novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” made quite an impression on me as a young man. I saw the film at a rough cut screening in San Diego after having won tickets on a local radio station and was treated to a version somewhat different from the finished product. It was a great experience.

I’ve watched the film so many times since that day and each time I still see something new in it. It was definitely before its time and not something soon to be repeated — any potential reboot/remake notwithstanding.

One of the stars of the film is Sean Young. She played Rachel, the replicant who thought she was human. During my travels in Hollywood I almost worked with Sean on a film but she ended up doing it and I ended up dropping out. At least I had the pleasure of meeting her once during pre-production.

She could not have been nicer during the meeting and towards the end even put up with a few Blade Runner questions from me that had absolutely nothing to do with the project we were talking about at the time. I enjoyed that meeting very much.

Recently, Sean put up a bunch of polaroid photos of her, and others, taken during the Blade Runner shoot. They are pretty cool and show a lot of my favorite actors as their younger selves. They also give us a glimpse into the friendship and bond that takes place during the making of a film.

I’ve often heard people in the business describe the filmmaking process as like going to war. You have a mission and you have a group of people all working together to reach a common objective. I’ve never been to war nor do I ascribe the same significance to filmmaking as I do to the sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform.

However, I get what they mean. Long hours, sometimes difficult working conditions and a sense that you’re isolated except for the rest of the people working with you can lead to that esprit de corps often talked about in military circles.

I’ve experienced the bond and friendship that comes from hours, days, weeks and months “in the trenches” and often it is an amazing experience that you keep with you for the rest of your life. It’s one of the things I miss most about working in the business, on set, helping to create something.

Still, I do like what I’m doing now. Writing is, in some ways, much harder. But is also very rewarding when you know you’ve done a good job on something. As you often work alone, you don’t develop the camaraderie and bond as you would on set but the sense of accomplishing and creating something is certainly there, and often more pronounced.

No, I don’t think I would change how things are now. I’ve got my memories of the good times and I’m still great friends with many of my comrades in arms. For me, those are enough.

I’ve moved this blog from hosted WordPress to my own server also using WordPress. Yes, I’m that cool and know how to do stuff.

However, due to the migration, things still look a bit wonky and will for a few days until I get time to fix them. So, please bare with me while I finish up the migration.

In the meantime, to thank you for your patience, take a look at this picture featuring a few of my favorite things. Enjoy.