Occupy Wall Street, Pope John Paul II and TQ

2011 last 100 days

Countdown:

76 Days Left

Day: 24

15 October 2011

• Goal - 1 hour per day doing some work on the movie:

Listened to Karen Everett audio:  “Affirmations for Filmmakers” (4X)
Reviewed Karen Everett video:  “Editing the Character-Driven Documentary”

• Time: 90 mnutes

• Goal:  30 minutes per day basic music work:

Warm Ups MojoCaster

Granby Street 2X lyric swap

Dies Irae 20X - piece as a whole.  Worked on chads and octaves

Total time: 1 hour

• Goal:  15 minutes per day (minimum) exercise:

Active rest.  Turkish get ups from yesterday took a lot out of me.  I’ll have to do them more often.

   

• Goal:  15 minutes per day (minimum) scoring work for the movie:

Details:

It's Your Thing - Isley Brothes

Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing - Living Colour version

R&B chord work

E-B/D#-C#m-A. Progression work

D-sus-Em-C work

So What - Miles Davis

Total time:  45 minutes

Notes:

Not as big a Saturday as I would have hoped, but rest and recuperation are also part of the game.  I got a lot of rest, and still managed to get in music and movie work done.  Maybe I can get started on the bin organization.

I found an interesting set of graphics purporting to show the Four Things the Occupy Wall Street protesters Are Angry About.  I think it is worth a look.  As much as (ahem) mainstream media would like to portray the protesters as unfocused and lacking a central goal, note these charts come from The Business Insider, so somebody gets it.  If you match these graphics up with this clip of an Occupy Wall Street protester bringing u some very good points about wanting to see more “Jesus stuff like helping the poor.”  Wow!  I wonder why that clip never made it to Fox!

If you haven’t read it, please take a look at this letter to the editor in the 13 October Baltimore Sun.  To recap, the author, Michelle D. Breau, made a very astute connection between the Occupy Wall Street movement and Pope John Paul II’s  warning the “...all-consuming desire for profit and the thirst for power at any price with the intention of imposing one’s will upon others are opposed to the will of God and the good of neighbor.”

To reiterate,  TQ and John Paul II did not see eye to eye on many things, but on the t the dangers of concentrating the world’s resources in the hands of a few, they were in lock step.  Take a look at the trailer for TQ’s book, “A Reluctant Malachi.”  TQ states many churches have missed this point entirely.  Note how TQ’s description of our responsibility dovetails with Occupy Wall Street.  Pay particular particular to his ending statement, “The rich get richer and...”   

2011 last 100 days - DAY 4

2011 last 100 days
Day: 4

25 September 2011

TQ on the set at St. Kateri

 

• 1 hour per day doing some editing work on the movie:

Edit details:  90 minutes working on the St. Kateri footage.  Tightened some edits, added music beds and worked on TQ’s audio.

• 30 minutes per day basic music practice:

Details:  20 minutes electric warm ups and Requiem (Dies Irae) work.  Emphasized working.through the whole piece at a reduced speed, then focused on the octave work leading into the lead piece and ending.   

15 minutes working on “So What”  

Book work - Thelonious Monk for Guitar - ‘Round Midnight (the paucity of my talent on this song is only surpassed by the hilarity of the sounds produced.  Needs more work.  This book could be a 100 day countdown project on its own.

Famous Guitar Intros - “Cult of Personality,” “Walk This Way,” “Day Tripper,”

Evening Work

“Talkin’ Loud and Sayin’ Nothing” (Cult of Personality version)

“It’s Your Thing”

More Requiem work

Total time:  50 minutes

• 15 minutes per day (minimum) exercise:

Exercise summary

TRX Workout

TRX Supported Squat (arms up) 5 sets of 12 reps

TRX Contralateral Lungers 5 sets pf 12 reps (per side)

TRX Supprted Squar (arms in) 1 set of 12

Time:  15 minutes

• 15 minutes per day (minimum) scoring work for the movie:

Details:  30 minutes building St. Kateri music bed by looping.

Notes:  I thought I would have a lot more time over the weekend, but tasks expand to fill available time.  I did get a lot accomplished and I’m grateful for that.  Working out Saturday and Sunday meant I worked out seven days this week.  Even the 15 minute TRX work today was hard.  My concern is working out every day will diminish results for Viking Warrior Training (already down).  For next week I will probably make at least one of those workouts a 15 minute stretching/core session  to enhance recovery.

TQ Project Updates

TQ Project Updates
 
Just because I haven’t been blogging about the documentary (The TQ Project) doesn’t mean nothing is going on with it.
In late August, Kathleen McBlair and Jean Klein of ScriptWorks Press published a collection of TQ’s writings, homilies and rants entitled “A Reluctant Malachi.”  The book was not a surprise because in May TQ invited me to interview Kathleen and Jean (as well as TQ) about the book.  I have a short YouTube Video from that interview.
 
While the book was not a surprise, it was a wake-up call.  My initial reaction to the publication was to make plans to shoot some footage of the book signing events TQ had set up to promote the book.  During the planning stages for those shoots, my heart just was not in it.  After a lot of prayer and introspection, I realized the reason I didn’t want to shoot them was I needed to move on to the next phase of production.  
 
TQ  picked up on this well before I did.  Even before the may shoot, he was constantly asking me, “Don’t you have enough yet?”  I would laugh and say, “Probably so, but I want to make sure.”  Looking back I see I wanted to shoot absolutely everything I would need to be ready for the next phase of production.  That works for film school, but not in life.  It is nearly embarrassing that in the midst of doing a documentary about a man of great faith, and spending hours  and hours in his presence, listening to him talk about God, scripture, faith  and Christianity, not much seemed to be sinking in regarding moving in God’s time.  
 
So here I am, out of the comfort zone of shooting and in the discomfort of logging and editing all the footage I have shot.  I got so involved (and evolved) in shooting I nearly lost sight of the fact that I still had the rest of the process to go.  A very good friend, Chris Schafer, told me to watch the movie “Exit Through The Gift Shop.”  Ostensibly  a documentary about a guy making a documentary  about street art, there is a scene where the protagonist  looks at box after box of tapes he’s shot, and realizes he’s shot so much he does not know where to start in the editing process.  
 
Before I can edit, I have to fine tune the  dramatic arc of the movie.  Yes, this is a documentary, and even documentaries follow the three-act format.  Crafting the dramatic arc of the story comes down to determining what it is TQ wants and what the obstacles are to that goal.  While I have my original thesis to work with, answering those questions in the context of the footage requires a refinement of that thesis. And I thought I was finished with that!
 
So, hang on as we move to the next level.  I will spend a lot of time analyzing what TQ wants (not hard, it’s all there), finding the supporting footage and editing that into 90-120 minutes of watchable film.  Now THAT’s a challenge.
 
Thanks for checking out the blog.  Leave comments and let me know what’s on your mind.

Peace
Cal