Unprofessional Driver on an Open Course

As most of you probably got tired of hearing from me, I recently got to shoot a commercial/internal branding video for a regional arm of Chevrolet. While most of the day was consumed with my usual on-set shenanigans/notes (“hit your mark,” “memorize your lines,” “stop overacting”), one aspect that was new to me was “acting” with a car — I still had to hit a mark and face a certain direction, etc. Except now I was doing it with a three ton vehicle and oh by the way there’s a camera guy’s head next to the pile of leaves you need to drive through, so make sure you don’t crush his head in the process. You know, the kind of thing you’d trust a semi-professional, mostly amateur actor to do.

Well anyway, after a long and fun day of shooting (a day totally free of head-smashing, I might add), we came out with some pretty good material. None of which I’m allowed to show you for copyright reasons. What I can show you, however, is a behind-the-scenes look at my debut as a stunt driver. And remember kids, always wear a seatbelt.

 

Cheers,
Dustin

 

30 in 30, The Recap (and Lessons Learned)

So with a little over a week to digest the “results” of my 30 in 30 project, I thought I’d share with you some insights I picked up, and an easy place to check out all the offerings for something that might catch your eye.

Pros:
• Actual completion of the project. I’m not gonna lie (stupid saying, maybe the stupidest ever — anyone you trust wouldn’t need to say they aren’t lying, and anyone who was planning to lie to you wouldn’t call attention to their level of honesty), there were times where my not-quite-best laid plans had fallen all to hell and I didn’t think I was going to get anything out on a given day. Somehow this never happened, though I couldn’t say to you with a straight face that everything I posted was of equal quality.

• It got me doing. A shortened version of a big philosophy of mine is that the action of doing something that you are passionate about is often a greater success than the actual product you create as a result of that passion. That is to say, the very fact that I was able to force myself to make time in my life for creation again was in-and-of-itself a better accomplishment than any of my rambling writings, poor cover songs, etc.

• Networking. No, really. For as much as social “networking” is all the rage, if we’re being honest very little (if any) social networking is actually networking related. More often it’s trying to track down the hot co-workers’ bikini pics and avoiding finding out which of my friends go engaged most recently. Or maybe that’s just me. But what 30 in 30 was able to do was really open my eyes to the resources around me in terms of areas where I lack expertise (photography, directing, etc.), and force me to network with people who are actually good at those areas where I’m even more lacking than usual.

 

30 in 30, Day 30: Wayfarer

Today is the last day of my 30 in 30 self-assigned project, and I thought it would be appropriate to cap it off with the short film me and my buddies James S. and Greg K. shot as our entry for the 48 Hour Film Festival — a national short film festival that assigns its participants a random genre, prop and line of dialogue out of a hat, then requires them to conceptualize, write, shoot, produce, and edit a 5-7 minute short film in 48 hours. It’s a really cool concept, and I’m pleased with what we produced, given the constraints of the festival. Of all the things I have done on zero sleep, this is probably one of the ones I’m most proud of, and least worried about getting arrested for. I hope seeing this film completely changes your life.

I’ve included the embedded version at the bottom of the post, but since we shot this in HD, it will probably look better if you watch it on youtube’s actual site.

Click me to see the best movie of ever right on your computron machine.

Title: Wayfarer
Genre: Adventure Serial
Prop: Deck of cards
Line of dialogue: “You do what you want to do.”

 

At some point over the weekend I’ll probably post some sort of recap on my thoughts on this forced creativity of the 30 in 30 project I’ve been doing, but as a general wrap I’d just like to say that I appreciate the kind words and encouragement from the people who’ve liked what I’ve been doing, and the tolerance from people who’ve hated it. Even though it probably won’t be daily, I’m excited that I’m back in the swing of forcing myself to create even when it’s not convenient, and I’ll continue to post things for you internet people to digest when there’s nothing better around. All the best, and thanks for sticking with me.

Cheers,
Dustin

 

30 in 30, Day 29: It’s Arrested…Development

So let me just say that I spent a few minutes tinkering on my ukulele (purchased yesterday as you may recall), and figured out the theme song tag from my all time favorite television show, Arrested Development. Playing the AD theme on my own ukulele: check another one off the bucket list. I hope this inspires you to quote the best show ever cancelled nonstop for the next two weeks. Don’t leave your Uncle T-Bag hanging!

I’ve made a huge mistake.
Dustin (aka STEVE HOLT!)

 

30 in 30, Day 28: Things I Bought Today (and…Why?)

Today, I purchased a wide variety of items for my personal use. Because the internet is a vast wasteland of useless information and documentation, I’m going to share them with you. And let’s face it, if you had to willpower to resist the useless, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. So here we are, in no particular order…

THINGS I BOUGHT TODAY! (and why).

 

A videogame (FIFA Soccer 2012 (PS3))

An increasingly-rabid fan of the FIFA Soccer videogames (and soccer in general) since the early 2000′s, I can hands-down say this one is the best of the series to date. All the usual graphical improvements, but with a host of additional refinements that will really please people who love sports as much as they love pretending to play sports.

 

 

30 in 30, Day 27: The Five Best Gifts to Get Your Man

Whether the occasion is a birthday, holiday, anniversary, or Jewish high holy day, a constant frustration I hear from many girlfriends/wives is that they’re almost never sure what would be the best gift to get their man. Well fret not, considerate ladies of the world, because I’m here to tell you the five gifts that any man you’re dating would want (so I hope you saved the receipt for that 70th Anniversary Collector’s Edition of Gone with the Wind).

 

30 in 30, Day 26: Your Emo Acoustic Fix for the Day

In contrast to the last song I toyed with, this time I wanted to lay down something acoustic and pretty bare from a recording standpoint (I did everything in pretty much one take, minus the bridge vocals because they overlap slightly), so I picked a song that I’ve always sort of vibed with when I’m in my slightly more emo moods. Like most of the things I’ve been doing in this 30 in 30 project, it’s less about showing off what a stellar musician/vocalist I am (clearly not the case), and more about continuing to spur myself on creatively and stretch my comfortability with different mediums. As always, share anything you like with your friends, and please feel free to criticize all my musical flaws and shortcomings in the comments section.

Cheers,
Dustin

 

30 in 30, Day 25: Day of Rest

It’s my weekly day off from creating, and the last break I’ll have before the completion of my little 30 in 30 project. Had a nice lunch with mom and dad, and I play to spend the rest of the day sitting on the couch, watching Tom Brady win, my Bengals try to win, and people who like baseball lose more debates about which sport is best. If you’re looking to pass the time, may I recommend some of my previous posts, listed below.

 

Movies Hollywood is allowed to remake (and one of them actually happened, because I am psychic).

A collection of pictures of strangers, sent to me by a stranger.

Why failure isn’t that big of a deal (and will actually help you improve).

 

30 in 30, Day 24: NFL ProTips

Ok so I’m asked a lot about my advice for the NFL season, and while I don’t claim to have any inside knowledge, it seemed like a good time to share some of my tips and tricks for the real life and fantasy pro football season.

Tip 1) Don’t overpay for Chris Johnson. One of my fantasy football drafts was an auction draft, and I got Chris Johnson for about $10 under what he was worth. This is good fantasy math, but terrible regular math. But be wary, guys who just held out for big contract extensions rarely live up to their new dollar value right away.

Tip 2) Pick a good RB corps: it’s a run-heavy league, make sure you’re not left in the dust! Or worse, other clichés! Manage your team’s running backs like the Baltimore Ravens manage theirs: a solid rotation of three good backs, and a standing rule never to make eye contact with Ray Lewis.

 

30 in 30, Day 23: Bed, Bath, to Infinity, and Beyond!

It dawns on me that for all the jokes and pomp surrounding my summer cover shoot for the Bed, Bath, and Beyond circular, that I haven’t actually posted the photos from that shoot. Since technically I don’t own the rights to the photos, here are photos of the circular, which are free domain (thank you, one quarter of copyright law in college).

 

 

Hide yo kids, hide yo wife.
Dustin