Hen House Media Blog

My Past Colleague: Bob Ayer

2009-06-22T15:08:00.002-04:00

I lost many people close to me this past month.

Two of them were very close family and one of them a friend.

At some point, I will take the time to talk about my family, but right now I am still too raw and wounded by their untimely passing.

Instead, I am focusing on the friend. Partly because he was an industry colleague and secondly, because I am still in a state of complete shock and therefore find it easier to write.

His name was Bob Ayer and he was an incredible colleague for many reasons. Bob came into my world as my One Inch Tape Operator, the person who set up the ADO to my needs, etcetera. When we parted ways, we did so as fellow producers.

His quiet demeanor and his sly smile were the distractions to his extreme wit. If you weren't careful, you would miss the joke.... most people did.

Bob was simply the easiest person I had ever been around. He didn't appear to have a care in the world. That is not to say that he didn't care, because he did. He cared a lot. What I mean is, he just simply didn't appear to let the world get to him.

Now, I know that Bob had a lot going on. Probably more than one might suspect, but he was just easy to be around. He was never one of those people that brooded, held a grudge, or broadcasted every one of life's inequities. In the years I knew him, I think he only talked "trash" about one person and in doing so, made it completely clear that his anger was based on his own prejudices.... that was just the kind of guy he was.

As for producer? Bob was just this guy... you know? He never felt that the job he did was anything more or less than what it was. He enjoyed meeting with clients, enjoyed lugging the gear, enjoyed shooting the image, and in the end, I think he just enjoyed being around his colleagues.

I am one hundred percent certain that there were tons and tons of things he hated about the job. But the one thing I know for certain is that when Bob walked in the room, he smiled and in doing so, made others smile as well.

Hey Bob ..... "Bingo-V" had me cracking up for years. Thanks for the memories.

-Bryan

Hen House Tweets

2009-05-29T11:47:00.002-04:00

Which is kind of fitting seeing as we have chickens all over the office. We love Social Media. Chickens are by nature a very social animal, as are the two owners of Hen House Media.

We've been helping our clients navigate these waters as well, eventually showing how all of the marketing efforts really work in tandem together. We'll often see disconnected marketing efforts, many times because of the speed at which things are happening these days. We push our clients to spend an extra 10 minutes to get their ducks in a row. If all the messages are aligned across all media, they'll experience greater success, especially during times such as these.

Hen House Media provides award winning video and digital media production, but we bring all of our disciplines and partners together for the benefit of our clients.

Congratulations to our Friends at BioTek

2009-05-21T08:26:00.002-04:00

Attended VT Business Expo yesterday and caught up with some old friends and made some new ones. At 10am, Governor Douglas announced the Deane C Davis Award recipient for this year. One of our clients, BioTek Instruments, was one of the nominees. While they did not take home that award, in our minds they are winners. They represent what we should all strive to become as businesses in this great state, and it is a true pleasure to know them and to work with them.

We congratulate Seventh Generation and this year's winner National Life as well. One of the great things about the Expo is you get to witness first hand the innovation and quality that is happening all around our state. Over the last few years, we've met companies who are doing some incredible things right in our backyard. Kalow Technologies created, among other things, a 3-D prototyping system right in North Clarendon. LED Dynamics, in Randolph, had some amazing lighting solutions on display. And, of course, BioTek, right out of Winooski, has become a global leader in microplate instrumentation. Can't name them all here, but the point is, we have a state filled with amazing and innovative people. They are creating jobs, great products and in many cases, driving technology.

There are some great opportunities out there right now for all of us to band together and make each other stronger, and by default, Vermont as well. Thank you to the VT Business Expo. I for one am inspired.

Hen House to Attend VT Business Expo. Film at 11.

2009-05-20T08:13:00.003-04:00

For Immediate Release

Hen House Media will be at the Vermont Business Expo. On the agenda will be a tailgate party in the lobby of the Sheraton as the "men of the hen" (phrase coined by Mark of Interrobang Design) paint there faces to root their client BioTek Instruments of Winooski. BioTek is in the running for this year's Deane C Davis award. Good Luck to our friends and we will chanting as if at a South American Soccer game.

After that it's on to the red carpet for mingling, networking, catching up with old friends and making some new ones.

The Expo runs today and tomorrow at the Sheraton. Just $10 gets you in to a great networking opportunity

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters joins the Hen House Family!

2009-05-14T10:37:00.002-04:00

More details to follow, but we are proud to welcome this great Vermont company to the family.

Hen House Media Produces New Series

2009-05-11T08:59:00.002-04:00

More info will follow in the coming weeks, but we are currently in production on a news series that is both television and web bound. It's called Vermont Taste. We are really proud of what we've put together and currently have a sales and marketing effort underway. More to follow!!

Vermont-based video production company tells the story  of one of Vermont’s “best places to work”

2009-05-06T11:53:00.001-04:00

SOUTH BURLINGTON, (5/2/09) -- Hen House Media, LLC, an award-winning video production company based in South Burlington, is helping one of Vermont’s “best places to work” tell their story through video.

BioTek Instruments, which received Vermont Business Magazine’s top honor in April as the best place to work among Vermont’s large employers, first hired Hen House Media almost a year ago to “capture the essence of their brand” for the company’s 40th anniversary last August.

No small task, particularly when the client is a large, international company with offices on three continents. But, according to Johnny Mendez, who co-owns Hen House Media along with Bryan Agran, the challenging project was an ideal fit for video.

“The story they wanted to tell was unique and emotional, and impossible to convey in print or in text on a website,” explains Mendez. “They needed video.”

The 14-minute anniversary piece drew from 20 separate interviews with BioTek customers, partners and employees, as well as hours of background footage. All in all, the project took nearly three months to complete, taking the Hen House crew from BioTek’s Winooski headquarters to Washington, DC, and back again.

The final product served as a rousing introduction for the company’s anniversary celebration in Burlington and around the world, and was just the start of a long-term marketing partnership between BioTek and Hen House.

“Hen House instantly understood our message, felt our culture and became a part of our team,” says Julie Murray, Marketing Communications Manager at BioTek. “Their enthusiasm and commitment to our projects has resulted in high quality videos that have become prime marketing tools for conveying the BioTek brand.”

After the August celebration, the anniversary video continued to work hard for BioTek, getting a lot of play on the company website and in sales meetings. In one case, it even helped BioTek recruit a top employee from a competitor. As that employee put it: “Who wouldn’t want to work at BioTek, after seeing that video?”

Mendez and Agran heartily agree, but not by way of self-promotion.

Says Agran: “In the process of making this video, we completely understand why BioTek was voted the best place to work in Vermont.” Mendez adds: “It was easy for us to believe in their company, because everyone we talked to – whether it was someone inside or outside the company – used the same words to describe their experience with BioTek.”

At the end of 2008, BioTek came back to Hen House and asked for a sequel, in the form of a more technical sales piece, which, they assumed, would require several more interviews. But in fact, Hen House only had to shoot one more conversation – with the new employee BioTek had recruited through their anniversary video. The rest of the material came from the original shoots, in which the Hen House crew had thought ahead for just such a contingency.

As Agran explains, “We try to anticipate our clients’ needs by learning as much as we can and asking the questions they aren’t even thinking about yet. This is where our broadcast background, and our experience working with all types of businesses, comes in really useful.”

So from that same original footage, Hen House created a sales package made up of three separate, four-minute videos, focusing on BioTek’s background, customer service, and R&D. Each individual video was designed to exist on its own, but the three parts could also play seamlessly back-to-back.

The design of the piece in three parts allowed BioTek to take full advantage of all avenues of distribution. The separate pieces played well on the web, Mendez explains, where attention spans are shorter and where content is categorized by theme. The video focusing on R&D, for example, was integrated into a website page with more information on that topic.

In addition to formatting the videos for the web and for sales presentations, Hen House also exported them for the iPhone, so that BioTek management could always be prepared for an impromptu sales meeting. As Mendez put it, “This allows the director of business development to carry his brand in his pocket. So if he meets a key prospect at a conference, or even in the hotel bar, he’s ready to market his company.”

That is where Hen House excels, say Mendez and Agran.

“We’re digital media specialists, so of course we can cover all of those distribution channels,” says Mendez. “But it takes more than a familiarity with digital formats to communicate effectively across all of those media,” he contends. “Whether it’s played on the iPhone, on the Web, or forwarded around the world in an e-mail, it takes a well-produced video to elevate a company’s brand. And that’s what we do.”

...And Then There Were Less!

2008-12-30T09:58:00.003-05:00

We had another Chicken loss.

One of the original members of Chez Hen House disappeared.

Last week, one of my chickens was feeling rather odd... well, actually, I assume she was feeling on, because I really dont know just by holding her. She felt fine. But, she behaved very odd. Easy to pickup, a little fidgety, but this chicken appeared to have a case of High School "Senioritis". Was present, but didn't seem to give a damn.

A day later, she disappeared. I have to assume scavengers got her. But it is also possible that she just up and left, with an attitude of "who cares" thrown in nonchalantly, but heck I am no chicken doctor. In fact, I am no human doctor either...although my ability to diagnose humans is pretty damn high.

The odd thing is, there is literally no sign of struggle when these little birds go missing. I have to assume if something attacked a bird the size of a football (the bird that is) it would leave some trace... feathers, blood, a piece of denim from their "bad-boy" ensemble. Whatever.

Point is, if something took these birds, it did so in a very clean way. To date, we have lost a handful of these animals and usually under the age of a few weeks, no like this one. this one was a matriarch, which is why it is disappointing to say the least.

Perhaps it was the copy of the Wall Street Journal I left for it. Perhaps that sent this bird over the edge and it ran away, I don't really know.

All I can say is she was muttering Buh Buh Bailout! The last time I saw her.

Something is running foul amongst my fowl and I need to get to the bottom of it.

Good bye little lady, and Godspeed wherever you are going.

Our thoughts are with you.

-B

The Intern's New Website - From The Intern

2008-12-23T12:23:00.002-05:00

This would officially be my first Hen House Media Blog posting, high-5 me!

My name is Brian, and for the last few months I have been interning at the HHM studio. If you ever call, I answer the phone as Chris because it gets confusing having Bryan and Brian in the same office. :-) I am originally from Atlanta, Georgia and came up to Vermont to go to Champlain College where am majoring in Multimedia and Graphic Design. In May of this coming year I will be graduating (YAYz) and secretly hope to get a paid job at Hen House (shhh, don't tell Bryan and Johnny).

Last week I finished up with my fall semester and realized that I now have the free time to do stuff that I have wanted to do for 15 weeks, but never had the time. I have a long list of designs and personal "chores" to do for my portfolio that I never had time to do during the semester. Two days ago I finished the first thing on my list, reinventing my website (swichkow.com). I'm excited because it now looks pretty and was optimized to be seen by search engines like Google. Although I do video shooting and editing for Hen House Media, in my free time I enjoy print design and still photography. I created my website as a portfolio piece and to get some freelance work on the side.

Feel free to check out my website and let me know if you think it's as great as I do.

Cluck cluck . . . cluck - cock-a-doodle-doo!

Intern: Over and Out

Strange Days? Heck, Strange Week... Here at Hen House Media

2008-10-30T12:03:00.005-04:00

Strange times call for drastic measures.... sometimes.

Strange times ALWAYS call for unique thinking.

This week at Hen House Media, we were "walloped" by multiple issues and each one was stranger than the previous. Perhaps we owe this to Halloween or the elections. But one thing is certain.... "ain't no Pumpkin Pie" and "ain't no politico in the Oval Office" gonna save Hen House from the "Forces of Strange"

PART ONE: Aye Captain, there be Gremlins in the works!

Okay, early this week, Johnny's desktop hard drive conked out. I believe it was file-structure corruption, but the result was horrendous. We lost access to the drive, and any saved Data on it.

Thankfully, a very decent program was able to "see" the unmountable drive and allow for an overnight data recovery.

This was an awsome piece of software to fix a hardware problem... but it took time. And thankfully , NONE of our client data was lost.

Now, you are probably thinking to yourself "Hard drive failure is not strange..." No it isn't. But what is strange about this failure are as follows:

1. We are between 2 massive jobs. - Timing works to our advantage
2. We recovered needed data - But even if we couldn't, no client files were ever in jeopardy
3. This failure came as we were about to implement an entire system overhaul for redundancy purposes.
4. This failure actually exposed one extra vulnerability to point number 3... and that is now part of our implementational "roll-out"
5. We lost time, but nothing more.

As frustrating as this all is/was, no major harm (knock on wood).

PART TWO: Want to get Capone? Here is how you get Capone... use a Bat!

Small mouse dropping suddenly make you aware that you might have a small rodent problem. Right?

WRONG?

At Hen House Media, the video production company near Burlington, VT, we know that small rodent droppings indicate that you have a problem. It is up to you to determine the size of the problem. May not be small.

We noticed chocolate sprinkle sized mouse droppings on our window sill, right under our AC. The neat thing is, we were going to remove our AC for the winter anyway, so we knew that we could seal up the hole that may have helped the mouse gain access.

Now, we are two stories up, so this must have been one industrious mouse... right?

Hmmmm.

As we removed the AC, the thought became clear: Are we going to find a nest? Are there going to be babies? Are there going to be carcasses? Who knows, but we continued with the uninstall. We needed to remove acustom wooden frame that held the unit.

As we did so, the idea crossed our minds (collectively): Could this be a bat?

As we carefully opened the wooden frame, we found nothing. Nothing but a pile of those little chocolate sprinkles.... which indicated -- Home for a mouse.

As Johnny removed a beautiful cross piece of wood, we heard the noice... and it will haunt him forever.

He heard the sound of a small grunt. That grunt of a very disturbed little animal, or perhaps that of a small, but tough truck driver. Then he saw it.

The body of a well fed bat.

This bat was still sleeping, but not happily, and not for long.

We quickly called in ALL reinforcements from the business next store, and with a four person crew (three working, and me holding a rolled up magazine, ready to protect myself if need be) we replace the inner wood, knocked out the outer wood, and allowed the bat to seek new refuge without much fuss.

He left the Hen House with no further coaxing.

We felt disgusted, but also happy that Hen House Media had given safe harbor to a bat that was healthy, strong, and a dedicated member to the fly-control population.

In a time of Bat die-off in the North-East, we felt somewhat relieved to know this bat was doing well and all we now had to worry about was the Hantavirus we had been breathing in all summer long.

f

Hen House Media: Chicken's EVERYWHERE

2008-08-25T14:17:00.003-04:00

What was once described by a client as a place with "...chickens everywhere," in reference to our offices has now become a description of my home life.

While in the midst of building a modest hen house for four chickens (and we only had two) this has suddenly become an insane venture to house six little cluckers, and all before time runs out. Why? because they are living in my house.

Oh, one turns out to be a rooster. ¿Did I mention that?
So, actually, I have six chickens, one hen, a partially built hen house and a house over run with these cute, but foul little fowl.

And now, the wife likes them to stretch their little scaled feet, so she lets them around the small, but functional house. And me, chasing them around with paper towel, oxy clean, and a nagging desire to get them back in their cage because "break time" is over birds... back to being birds.

Thankfully, my older child sees the madness and my younger child sees my panic as she explains that what they really need is little chicken diapers. That might solve everything.

Hen House - The construction, continues.

-B

Hen House: The Build

2008-08-05T19:57:00.003-04:00

Hen House Media strives to "right the wrongs" of video production. By working with clients, we create a more synergistic approach to media, but enough of that. I am not here to pitch media and content creation.

I am here to show my exceptional skills as a Master Carpenter, Farmer, Blogger, and Chicken Owner. I figure, that if everyone is trying to be a video producer and post to the web, perhaps it is time I try to do everyone elses job.... Lets see how I make out.

Day 1 of the build:

I framed a nice chicken coop and plan to make a "chicken tractor" to move about my lawn. This will enable my birds to run with grass between their webbed toes. While I only have two at the moment, my wife plans to get two more.

Since I forget the type of chickens, I will have to report on them later... this is a crime and I am mildly embarrassed.

Dimensions:
So, I framed a 4' wide, by 3' deep structure, with the front 4' tall and the back 3' tall. Why? I dunno. I am the expert on this project, so I do what I feel like.

Actually, it made some sense at the time. A structure with four birds, a lamp for the coldest of days, a heated water tray for the same, a nesting box and a roosting bar. All tolled, I figure a base of 4x4 should be more than sufficient and the height is for safety of the lamp.

If anyone understands this, then you are probably more well versed than I am.

Specifics:

I want a sliding snap out tray for the bottom. This will hold newspaper. There will be chicken wire 2" above the "floor" so poop will fall through.

One side will have a sliding 1-1.5 foot door through which I will load food and water. It will slide and lock. Maybe plexi.... So the little buggers get light and I can see that they are not by the door trying to get out.... Thoughts anyone?

There will be ventilation screens at the top with flip down wood, covering. Can be propped open on warm days, shut on winter days.

Back will come completely off via snap latched. Why? Cleaning in the spring. That thing is gonna be way too dirty... will need to be hosed out I suspect. But then again, I have no real idea.

The back will also have a hinged backplate that accesses the nesting box. Eggs my friends, eggs

Ohhhhh, Bantams. I am raising Bantams and it just came to me. Small eggs, but good from what I gather.

Okay, looking down from the top. Front on the bottom. Here is the proposed layout.

Door is bottom center

Bottom left, water and food with slide door on the left wall to access

Straight back left to a little past center is nesting box. One big one. Behind that is a hinged door with clasp lock to access eggs.

The to right, against the wall, is the roosting bar.

Sound good?

More to Follow.

-B

Hen House: The build (Media)

2008-08-05T19:54:00.000-04:00

Gonna Build me a Hen House (Media)

2008-07-21T14:41:00.002-04:00

Hi All,

Looking for good, simple plans to keep a few chicken alive this winter.

I will post construction images when they occur.

Please keep in mind, small land size, lots of hills and lots of predators.

Thinking full frame of chicken wire and a smaller coop inside.

Frame of 1x3's? Then a small building within the frame of wire. Make sense?

-B

Jet Li, Make Way for Jet-licious

2008-05-02T11:25:00.003-04:00

For this post, and complete understanding, we need Sam Elliott to narrate and Jeff Bridges to Star...

STRANGER

The Dude got out of his car at Exit 16 off I-89 in New Hampshire. He was one for fillin' up the gas tank, only after the needle got so low, you had to crawl under the dash to see where the little red hand pointed. But the Dude was also aware that while things needed a fillin', others needed the opposite of care.

DUDE
(Entering Exxon/Mobile talking to people at register)

Hey, you guys got White Russian Green Mountain Java? No? Damn. Allright, point me to the head if you'd be so kind.

STRANGER

Now, of course, the Dude would have no way of knowing his own destiny as he entered the restroom to take care of business. But upon completion, personal hygiene was about to give way to the discovery of a lifetime. So, after thoroughly washing his hands, the Dude reckoned that the little metallic push button on the side of the hand blower was as normal as normal gets.

DUDE
(Exiting Bathroom chuckling like a little girl)

MY SKIN -- IT RIPPLED (raising hand to face). It rippled like one of those space guys in a centrifuge... you know man? There cheeks get all ripply. That was me, only it was my hands. Whoa, where can I get me one of those hand blowers.

TRUST ME FOLKS, EXIT 16 BATHROOM OFF OF I-89 in NH. The Hand Dryer is worth it!!!!

We Love Space Chickens at Hen House Media

2008-03-27T10:10:00.002-04:00

'Nuff Said!

Bat Die-Off in Vermont - Cause - Prevention - Disaster

2008-03-26T09:07:00.004-04:00

We live in the North East Corridor and are beginning to see a problem with serious ramifications.

There has been an immense and rapid die-off of the local bat population. It appears that the bats are emaciated, flying during the day, not hibernating, and speckled with a white fungus. In short, the one's stricken with these symptoms are already dead, they just don't know it yet.

This leads me to be consumed by the short sightedness of the scientific community. They are desperately trying to find out what the sickness is. And perhaps in doing so, they have forgotten the very basics of scientific insight.

As I suspected early on, scientists now believe the fungus is a secondary symptom and not the cause of the die-off.

This lead me to beg for two more paths of inquiry:

1. Look at changes in the food chain... not necessarily disease, but any element that would cause the bat to slightly shift its dietary habits. Much the way ciliac disease causes absorption incompatibilities, is it possible that the bat is not getting nourishment because what it is eating is preventing absorption. This wouldn't necessarily be a symptom of disease, but of a mild dietary shift

Unfortunately, it is easier to study this element in hindsight.

2. When looking at the food chain, has there been ANY significant die-offs, population control above or below the food source. This requires scientists that are not studying the bat populace, but more importantly, the insect populous. In other words, invite the entomological community into the discussion and have them focus JUST on that element in the food chain.

3. That brings the discussion to the fungus. Look at the safety catches that keep that fungus in check. To know the nature of the fungus life-cycle/food chain, may provide more valuable in connecting the dots.

4. Don't actually expect to connect the dots. Think about the human condition. If suddenly a huge portion of the population went crazy and we made the connection to prions in our beef supply, voila.... we would have a solid connection point and could back it up by observing the behavior of vegetarians. But if vegetarians suffered the same fate, it wouldn't necessarily rule out prion interference. However, prions in the beef would be part of the over-all situation.

Whatever is happening to the bats may exist on many levels. By all means, see if there is a pathogen. Study the blood samples, hair samples, etc.... but by not having a dedicated team of scientists studying the food chains of the foods supply and the fungus itself, we are heading down a very dangerous road where all we may do is shrug.

The way I see it, we have a very short time to unravel this mystery.

-B

Irresponsible Journalism? Meat Recall and Local/National Coverage

2008-02-18T10:45:00.003-05:00

Far be it from a "blogger" to report inadequacies in our journalistic brethren... but since Hen House Media uses a blog as an online diary, and not to pontificate (okay, we do in fact pontificate regularly), I think it is time to take a nice little potshot.

Yesterday, all major local and national media outlets talked about one of the largest recalls of Beef in US history.

NOT ONE OF THEM.... talked about how it affects the local market.

So, scare me, why don't you.... But don't give me enough information to help myself.

The "sick" animals are being fed into the food chain with potential disastrous results, and the consumers are not being given ANY information to help.

I expect that the national broadcasts would not go into depth on how it affects the local marketplace, but I expect more from our local CBS, FOX, and NBC affiliates.

I truly hope for the sake of all of us, that the local news organizations have already started the ball rolling on in depth reporting. If our health is at risk, we need to be given the tools to protect ourselves. That comes from knowledge. I rely on my local news station to provide me with that.

Please forgive me if I am jumping the gun here. Lets hope the next few days yield better coverage.

-B

Instant Karma got us... at the Hen House!

2008-02-15T08:15:00.002-05:00

Okay,

So within 24 hours after laughing at "Mr. Technology" crying his eyes out on the last post, Hen House gets blasted with NO TELEPHONE SERVICE.

I'm not cryin', but I am feeling very uneasy. So, for the Karma Demons out there, I repent, I repent!

I get it.

So can you now restore our phone service?

Please.

-B

Cell Phone Lifestyle

2008-02-13T12:17:00.003-05:00

Hah,

I still don't have a cell phone (although I love my skype).

If you are an addict to the techno-lifestyle, watch this.
You will need to commit some time to watching, but not as much time as a returning emails on your Blackberry.

Redbook Magazine Turns to Hen House Media

2008-02-07T08:27:00.000-05:00

Okay, the title is not misleading, but might contain a bit of hyperbole.

RedBook magazine, the February 2008 edition, asked me, what I thought was important in the way a woman looked. While the questions were varied and intense, my answers were not.

Simplicity. Its all about looking natural and looking like yourself.

I suspect this is good advice for all of us. Heck knows that I am no fashion plate, so I prefer not to be against the ropes when I answered.

I suspect that we all (male and female) want to look as good as we can. It's when catering to that look starts to take a front seat to everything else...thats when we get into trouble.

I enjoyed my encounter with RedBook. Nice people, good questions, and very respectful.

We didn't make this, but should have!

2008-02-04T11:30:00.001-05:00

Hen House Media prides itself on having a bit of fun with its clients, customers, friends, and family.

...And while life may not always allow for it, we try to get really stupidly creative in our free time (as well as on the job).

Below is a video link that a friend sent us (Thanks Brian B.) We did not make this, but should have.

So, sit back, relax, and enjoy.

-B

OHHHH MMMMYYYY

2008-02-04T11:27:00.000-05:00

First of all, let me start by saying that Hen House Media is headquartered in what is definitively Patriots country. It's also part of the Red Sox Nation. I hail from NYC, and while I absolutely love living and work here in this beautiful state, I still hold on to where I'm from. It's a source of great pride to be a New Yorker born and raised. It makes things pretty interesting around here when you end in a sports conversation with a potential client and you happen to be either a Mets fan or a Giants fan. The '86 World Series is still a sore subject around here. Even though the Sox have exploded, winning 2 of the last 4 WS titles, including last years', it's still a sore subject.

Now, I'm in for bigger trouble. Last night was incredible. And I will mirror Terry Bradshaw's comments during the post game show that this by far is the greatest Super Bowl I have ever witnessed. It topped the 1990 Bills/Giants title game (remember WIDE RIGHT?) and even topped the Patriots/Rams game that also went down to the final seconds. Unbelievable.

Even the show itself was one of the best. From the National Anthem sung by Jordan Spaks, whose father, BTW, was Phillipe Sparks who played for the G-men from 92-2000. The halftime show with Tom Petty was awesome. They finally got the Halftime show right. and don't get me started on the game. I thought I felt the warning signs of a stroke coming on at one point.

Thanks to the Pats too for a great season and sorry the perfect season didn't work out. But you gotta give it to the team that wasn't given any credit all season. They played with heart. Fitting they played the game in their "AWAY" jerseys.

Anyways, enough rambling. After all it is just a game. And as great as it is to share in the victory, the Giants aren't going to be sending me a check anytime soon. Unless, of course, they need some video production work done. Yo Eli, holla at ya boy.

J

Need Ham

2008-01-31T20:22:00.000-05:00

Dude People,

Some Chicken in Mejico laid green eggs. I sh*T you not. They're all "The pollo is blessed", and I'm all like "Yo, homey, that chicken laid green eggs."

Sweet.

J

Indy 4.... I am on a movie kick.

2008-01-30T10:28:00.000-05:00

I'll try not to do too many movies because that would be silly to turn this thing into reviews. But I will tell you why I have movies on the brain, I just don't get out all that often.

So, here it goes:

I have to say, I am looking forward to Indian Jones 4.

These are fun films, with a little bit of thought behind them and what that yields is a high impact Action Adventure that you are not embarrassed to say you saw.

I remember the first film. I remember the commercial/teaser which was very nondescript. I didn't think that it looked all that good, then I went and it kicked me in the back of the head hard.

It was the first time in my young life that I specifically remember not having anything given away about the story. In essence, the teaser sold the idea of the time and type of adventure without giving up the adventure itself.
I am looking forward to the latest romp, because I do believe it will be the final and I do believe that they are not milking the series for simple profit.

The story, which I am staying away from, is more likely about change than it is about adventure itself. Perhaps that change is the adventure we all seek. Who the hell knows. All I do know is two of the costars. I think that in-itself is a spoiler, but not too much of one.
I believe I already know the "feel" of the story and the nature, but not the story itself. I have not been this excited since I walked out of the theater after having just seen Raiders.

If I am right, I feel this will be a satisfying conclusion to the series. Hopefully it will leave us wanting just one more adventure, but knowing that it is now up to whoever/whatever comes next. The way that 3 showed us what came before Indy, the next will show us what comes after.

I am not reading or listening to a damn thing because I want that sense of adventure that the original instilled. I expect only a few things from this installment. I expect new bad-guys (hard to top Nazis... perhaps they will pass the baton within the film itself?), I expect more poignant moments as Indy tries desperately not to repeat his past, but still live up to his own brand of machismo, and I expect a really stupid-fun adventure that I can feel proud to say "I saw that in the theater."

-B