More Christmas Pics

And some more...

Pete and kids

DC and Dea in Helen, GA.

Gabe's Gator wallet.

Gabe and his new Gator blanket.

Mom making her edible Christmas presents.

Some Christmas Pics

This past Christmas we spent with my parents in NC, as my father has trouble traveling. We spent a lot of time at my niece KT's house, at my parents house and at my brother Steve's house. All in all, we had a GREAT time.

Below are some pics from the trip.

Sarah and DC


Luke


Luke in drag...


Laura making gingerbread cookies


Gabe, our fire-keeper, in his full Gatorness

Severed Rewrite - Version 4

Writing is Rewriting.

That's the axiom and there was rarely a more true statement every written... or rewritten.

I've recently finished the fourth re-write of my Christian action flick called Severed. It amazes me how much this story has grown and changed over time.

The story is much more concise and effective and tight and its Christian aspects of martyrdom has expanded over this past two drafts. There are probably a few more revisions in its life, but I think they will be minor changes this point forward.

I had also discussed with my wife changing the name to Lambs of God(s), referring to both the sacrificial nature of martyrdom as well as the seemingly opposing viewpoints of God where one religion proclaims believing means loving your enemy and for the other it means destroying your enemy... therein lies the (s) in the title.

My wife thought the name change was too controversial and would be perceived as taking away from Jesus, the true Lamb of God, which, of course I'm not. As a matter of fact, I'm actually portraying that the character's sacrifices, no matter how great to them, are extremely insignificant compared to a sacrifice which forgive the sins of the entire world. But I understood her point. The message may get lost in the controversy. But, would the controversy be a bad thing?

I don't know. Plus, my daughter mentioned that some religions are not allowed to use a capital G when speaking of God as it is offensive to them, but using a small g would be offensive to us, so the God(s) part may not work and if changed to god(s) it may not work either.

All that being said, I think the Lambs of God(s) title captures the sense of the film far better than Severed, but it may not be the right title in the end.

First things first... I have to figure out how to shoot the film no matter what its name ends up being!

Baden-Baden, Anton Benz's Hometown

Here are some pics Charles found that show Baden-Baden, Germany, the hometown of Anton Benz, our distant relative.




You can read more about Anton Benz in this previous post.

Thanks for the pics, Charles.

6-Pack + 17 Yrs x 2 Surgeries = 2 Liter

When I used to act for a living, my primary concern was making sure my product, i.e. me, was in the best shape I could be. I spent hours a day at the gym and it paid off. I was never in better shape.

The thing I worked hardest on was my stomach. We have, in our genome, a thing called The Bauer Belly. So, I was determined never to fall prey to its inevitable power and fought the insistent genetics by doing hundreds of sit-ups a night while watching TV.

While converting some old VHS tapes to DVD, I stumbled across a video of me at my peak (see below).

Well, 17 years and two intestinal surgeries later, my once proud six-pack has turned into a two-liter that no amount of sit-ups will ever fix. My flattened tummy muscles have been forever destroyed and I am left looking in the mirror wishing I could look as I once did. I mean, hell, I still sit in front of the TV, except now, doing 100 crunches would only exacerbate my already malformed stomach muscles.

Oh well, at least I can say I had a six-pack once... a long, long, long time ago.

And don't even get me started on my once full head of dark hair...

Aunt Alice Passed Away

My father's sister, Alice, passed away yesterday. She had the same firey personality as my Dad. His once large family has been reduced over time to my father, his brother Clary and his brother Bernie.

My mom's family of six now remains only herself and her sister Mary.

It must be so hard, as you age, to watch all of those you know and love to pass on to the other side. Being the youngest of eight I wonder if I, too, will be one of the last remaining of my family in the decades to come.

My prayers go out to everyone touched by Alice's bright life, especially my wonderful and wounded parents.

Her funeral will be held in Hot Springs and her ashes will be interred Kokomo, Indiana.