I'm Officially Out of the Wedding Video Biz

Poor Merrill. I shot her wedding video in November and she still doesn't have a copy. I put the footage onto my computer a few months ago, but since then its been collecting digital dust.

With church and kids and little league and Sonlight Pictures, oh, yeah, and work, I have almost no free hours left in my day.

I was always the go-to guy in the family for shooting a wedding video. Hec, even did a few for people at work! And I was happy to do it.

But, the work doesn't end on the wedding day, it begins. There is getting the footage into the computer, editing it all together, making a DVD of the ceremony, mailing the DVD, keeping a backup, etc. etc. Not hard things to do, mind you, just very time consuming.

My goal is to get Merrill and Jeff's wedding video done by July 4th. With work and Gabe beginning All-Stars, that could be problematic. At the very latest, I promise to get them a copy before their first anniversary. Pathetic, yes. Reality? Probably.

Sadly, their's will be my last family wedding video. One of my younger nieces or nephews will have to pick up the mantle and carry on the tradition.

For me, it will be a nice, refreshing change to actually sit with my family during the ceremony and soak in the event, instead of worry about framing and audio and lighting and continuity. I can't wait for the next wedding when I can simply squeeze my wife's left hand as another family member starts their married life together.

Then I can turn and wave to the camera.

Club God - Compression Woes Fixed

After more tweaking and Blip.TV I was able to get a VASTLY better version of Club God on the web. Now when people go to ClubGodMovie.com, it is substantially better!

Whew.

Club God - Compression Woes

This whole compressing a high-def short and crunching it down to some web-capable viewing is painful. It’s like taking a painting by Monet and the only way you could share it with the world is to show it on an etch-a-sketch.

But, it is what it is.

What has surprised me, however, is the problem with audio syncing during this process. Both God Tube and Vimeo have audio drag in various sections. Facebook is the closest so far at keeping things accurate, but even it drifts a bit.

Frustrating. But a good learning experience.

Club God - Now Online

From the Sonlight Pictures Blog website...

Okay, I got Club God up at God Tube and Facebook and Vimeo. You Tube is being a pain in my tookis because they won't allow files longer than 10 minutes. Since Club God is 14 minutes long, well, I now have to split it up into two parts and then upload it.

To make things simple, I’ve created a webpage called ClubGodMovie.com. If you go there I will embed the best quality version I can get. I’ll keep playing around with compression and uploading. Right now the winner is Vimeo. I’m not overly happy with it, but I may be able to upload a better quality in the near future.

In any event, we all know how these things work. We need to SPREAD THE WORD.

So, if you like the movie, please go to God Tube and Facebook and Vimeo and rate the film highly so we can get more hits, more interest and more viewers.

Pope John Paul II called all of us to take the media back for Jesus Christ. You can do your small part by getting more people to watch this film. It’s only a mouse click, an email message and/or a rating away.

And, as always, keep us in your prayers! We need ‘em!

Obama Wants Federal Law Mandating Unrestricted Abortions

If he becomes president, candidate Barrack Obama wants to implement a bill he co-sponsored called the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) which would federally mandate unrestricted abortions and override any state's individual laws on the matter. Any state that would not comply with FOCA would be punished.

Now THAT'S freedom, isn't it folks? Ignore the individual wills of the people within the states and force them to do what you want. So Orwellian.

You can read about it here at Lifesite News.

Republicans strongly believe that states should be able to manage themselves. Democrats feel they, at the federal level, know better than state governors, mayors, representatives, senators... oh yeah, and the people!


Obama spews the word "change" so often you'd think he invented it. Granted, a change in Washington would be good. But, what change is he talking about? Change for change sake can be very bad, very dangerous.

What a socialist control freak.

Madulogy

It occurred to me, upon my father's passing this past Christmas, that since I was the last of eight children I will probably be attending all of my siblings' funerals.

This is not going to be easy. And, as the Bauer clan thins, it will more than likely be left up to me to give the Eulogy.

In order to expedite the process and, in typical Bauer humor fashion, I've created a Mad-Lib version of a Eulogy, I like to call Madulogy.

****

It is an honor to be with you all today.

As you know (name) was a (adjective) and (verb) (noun). To me, (he/she) was simply (noun). My first memory of (name) was when (he/she) and I went to the (noun) to (verb) the (noun). We had so many (adjective) (nouns)! What a great (man/woman/person)! I’ll never forget it.

(Name) was perhaps best known for (his/her) ability to (talent). Whenever I found myself in a (noun) with (adverb) (verb) (noun), I would only have to think back to their (talent) and it would make me (verb).

(Name) will be missed. (He/She/It) will be survived by (number) (children/pets/books). Their dedication to (church/club/on-line community) is (adjective) to all of the (noun) with which (he/she) interacted on a (time frame) basis. As a matter of fact, (name's friend's name) came up to me the other day and mentioned that without (name)’s help with the (effort) for the (church/club/on-line community) the (flag pole/park bench/parish center/art gallery/new mailbox) would not have been possible. (Name) was a (noun) among (noun)… a (adjective) (presupposition) (tangent) (exclamation).

All of you here this (time of day) know what I mean.

(Name) is (verb) (adjective) (noun) (planet). Their (noun) is a (verb) (adjective) (liquid) (pronoun) that will (airline) (cousin’s first pet) (astrological symbol) until (time frame) and (mammal) (favorite beverage) (pronoun) (noun) (inseam) (sub-conscious symbolism) is finally (metal beginning with the letter ‘P’) (adjective) (adverb) (verb) (birth weight) (noun).

(He/She) may be gone, but they will never be (shoe size) (verb) (imaginary friend’s uncle’s teacher’s street address).

As (name) used to say to me whenever we (verb)… (verb) you.

Club God Premiere

We had a successful Club God premiere at our house the other night. In all we had about twenty-five people crammed into our small screening room including one of the lead actors, Brian Shea.

Also in attendance, Father Mike came along with the Kelley's and enjoyed the film. The Miller family, the Church family, Tim and his kids, along with DC's friends, Mary and Kelly all squeezed into the house.

Now we have to finish preparing the film for distribution.

Pete holding the first DVD copy of Club God

A fun and successful night. Thanks to all who attended.

Next Up - Purgatory, USA

Now that Club God has exited the post-production phase and is entering the distribution phase, we're hard at work putting together our next project, a six-part Christian web series called Purgatory, USA.

The wacky little comedy is about Nikki, played by DC, who is forced to spend the summer with her exceptionally flaky cousin, Babs, played by Tiffany Ross.

We've already had a read-thru and just recently figured out some of the costumes we'll wear as well as do some behind-the-scenes interviews.

Dorothea and Tiffany

We are scheduled to start shooting in July.

As always, you can follow our progress here.

Michael Clayton (2007)

Michael Clayton doesn't have a lot of explosions or gun play or alien invaders. What it has is an excellent script and an impressive performance by George Clooney as the lead character.

And it's just a really good movie.

Clayton is a "fixer" in a law firm, a lawyer who fixes problems of important clients by whatever semi-legal means necessary. The wear and tear of fixing other people's problems for 15 years is finally catching up to him. He's feeling trapped, lost, and helpless. What was once an intriguing role as "fixer" he now dubs as a "janitor." He no longer really practices law and he's overcome a gambling addiction only to lose all of his money in a restaurant venture he undertook with his sporadic and previously drug-addicted brother. And the money he used to help get the restaurant off the ground was from dubious sources who are now itching for payment.

All of this pressure has built up within him, trapped in a world where neither his professional nor personal life offers any release.

And it's at this precarious moment that he gets his next assignment... to coddle a lead litigator (Tom Wilkinson) who's apparently flipped his lid. This litigator's apparent mental meltdown has put into serious jeopardy a decade long and massive lawsuit protecting a chemical company from paying people to which they may have caused cancer.

Throw in there an ambitious new attorney (Tilda Swinton) hired by the chemical company that will do anything to protect them and things get dicey in a hurry.

How can Clayton, who's barely holding his own life together, bring a brilliant, but unstable litigator under control before the law firm's greatest client, the chemical company, walks away in embarrassment?

That struggle and that pressure are evident on Clooney's face throughout the film. You never know if the very next second on the screen will result in Clayton finally being pushed over the edge. It's a great performance.

The film is directed by Tony Gilroy, who earned his chance behind the camera by penning such hits as the Bourne trilogy, and manages his directing effort with great ease. In his hands, Michael Clayton is successful as a legal movie, a thriller, a drama and a suspense film.

The film is not earth shattering or trend setting, it is simply a really good old-fashioned movie telling an intriguing story with a career best performance by Clooney.

Club God - Finished!

I was finally able to get a missing audience shot required to finish the Sonlight Pictures short comedy called Club God. You can see a still of the finished product below.


So, I have a high-def version completed. It will take a few weeks to get a regular definition version completed and uploaded to various sites like God Tube and You Tube. As always, you can read more about that and other projects over at the Sonlight Pictures Blog.

We Will Miss You Father Mike

There have only been a few priests in my life that have been both friend and counselor, a leader and humble, someone who inspires us to God's lofty standards without forgetting his own human frailty.

Father Michael Morris is one such priest. We have been blessed to have him in our parish for the past three years. As a family, my wife, children and I have shared meals and trips and rallies and private Masses and jokes and the Word of God. He's a passionate man who is willing to speak from the pulpit that which is not easy to hear, but what is necessary to be spoken.

During his time with us at Espiritu Santo Catholic Church he has grown to accumulate an immense following, while, at the same time, growing as both a priest and a man. He never goes anywhere without being dressed in his familiar black clothes with a white collar... in an age where off-the-clock priests and nuns are often not dressed in their religious clothing, I asked him why he remains "old fashioned" and his response was very wise. He said "My collar is my wedding ring. Would you leave your house without your wedding ring? If you do, you are only making yourself available, intentionally or not, to find yourself in situations that could be misinterpreted. When I go out everyone knows that I am married to the church and there is never a misinterpretation of who I am and what I represent."

If only more religious would value holy symbolism as highly as Father Mike does. It can be a very powerful statement.

Father Mike with us after the last Mass
Gabriel and DC will ever serve with him.

Father Mike is blessed with the gift of holy gab. His homilies are impassioned and full of humor, detail, life experiences, but most importantly, truth. His words challenge us and make us reevaluate where we are in our relationship with Jesus. He holds the sacraments to the highest regard, reiterates the saving grace of Confession and treats the Eucharist at every Mass as if he were indeed holding the hand of our Savior.

He instituted the Elijah Cup at three Masses at our church in an attempt to foster religious vocations. He often lead the parish in Eucharistic Adoration, attended Pro-Life rallies and headed a group to the Holy Land. He had personal experiences from his military days with the cultures and religions in the volatile Middle East. He is able to speak multiple languages and would, with amazing ease, translate the original words from which the Bible was written and explain the deeper meanings behind the original authors that has been lost when offered to us in English.

His love of the church, his love of his vocation and his love of orthodoxy was a refreshing and welcomed infusion of spirit into a parish named after the Holy Spirit itself.

After three years with us he has been blessed to be able to combine his two greatest joys... his priesthood and his love of the military. He will be leaving us soon to head over to Germany to be a chaplain.

He will be missed. .. his smile, his humor, his love of family and his endless supply of selfless energy to the parish. They say when you become a priest that you give up your ability to have a family. On the contrary. Father Mike now has an immense family of faithful at Espiritu Santo.

He is an important part of our faith community and extended family. We are happy for his next assignment and will pray that he can influence those men and women in the armed forces with the same gusto, the same commitment and the same love of Jesus that he has afforded us at our parish.

God speed and God bless you, Father Mike. You will always remain with us in our hearts and our prayers.

I'm Old Fashioned...

Okay, I'm going to sound really old fashioned here...

My daughter brought home her high school yearbook and there was a multi-page section in the middle of the book highlighting teen moms with their babies.

When the hell did that become acceptable? When did irresponsible sex out of wedlock by teens resulting in pregnancy end up being something to highlight? Is there nothing worth shaming in our society anymore?

And that brings me to another question... how does a society support a person without supporting their decisions?

The Lord knows my life is littered with the remnants of bad decisions, so I do not speak from any higher moral ground here. Trust me!

Single motherhood, for example, is a tough thing. Thank the Lord the woman chooses to have her baby instead of having an abortion. Seriously, praise God for that!

But, how do you support the woman who is a single mother without condoning societal single motherhood?

Look, I know a lot of single mothers who will overcome their challenges and raise wonderful children. And a lot of them are dealing with the father of their child who is, at best, only a detriment to that child.

But, from a big picture societal standpoint, single parenthood is not something that is statistically healthy.

Studies have shown that children learn how to live in a family by the example of the mother and how to integrate into society through the example of the father. This explains why further studies have shown that 75% of men in prison today were raised without their fathers. It also explains why children who's fathers do not go to church are substantially less likely to go to church as adults.

God designed the family unit to include man and woman, mother and father.

I'm not judging single mothers. Or single parents.

Really.

After all, being a co-parent is hard enough. Being a single one takes super-human strength.

However, I think we could all agree that raising a child without a father is a certainly not preferable. From a societal standpoint, it is very likely damaging.

But, not supporting those in need, especially single mothers, is also blatantly un-Christian.

I don't have any answers... I guess we should hold ourselves up to a higher level of societal responsibility than we do now, but it never seems to turn out that way any more.

So, I'm stuck back at my original question... How does a society help people dealing with the consequences of bad choices without, by doing so, condone those bad choices?

And this problem is not tied to single motherhood alone. That's just the example I'm using now. It applies to any social ill to which the government assists and thereby enables people to continue to make the same bad choices.

Where does compassion cross over to condoning?

From a faith perspective, we believe that God will support us through our bad decisions in the hopes that we will follow his lead to a higher calling, a more holy life. And we also believe that we will be rightly judged for all of our decisions, the good, bad and ugly.

We don't seem to do that in America anymore. We support and then we condone and then we accept and then we expect... and we go un-judged and are not called to a higher standard... instead we lower the bar one bad decision at a time until our society believes everything is acceptable and nothing is worthy of judgment or scrutiny.

It makes me wonder... when I crack open my grandchild's first high school yearbook, what on Earth will I find highlighted there?

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

This long Memorial Day weekend the family and I took a couple of hours to feast our eyes upon the fourth Indiana Jones installment. And, after a couple of days to digest the latest Spielberg/Lucas offering about oblong Crystal Skulls, I've boiled the film down to one word... silly.

The film is really just plain silly.

Not intriguing. Not trend setting. Not record breaking. Not excellent. Just silly.

I don't want to get too much into the plot, because it will give too much away, but... really? That's the best you could come up with in twenty years? Really? Just how hard did you try?

Rumor has it that Frank Darabont, the excellent writer who penned and directed The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, as well as wrote various TV episodes of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, also came up with the first real script for Indy IV. Spielberg apparently loved it, but Lucas did not.

So, Lucas and David Koepp put their brains together and came up with a story that really offers nothing original, unless of course you believe that taking story ideas from a whole bunch of previous movies (Apocalypto, National Treasure 2, Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark) and mashing them into a new movie constitutes being "original."

What they came up with is... well, silly.

However, even the weakest of story ideas, bolstered by the immense talent of Spielberg and the star power of Harrison Ford, suddenly become enjoyable and alive. Add the acting and screen chops of Cate Blanchett and Shia LaBeouf and the film becomes a nice cinematic ride.

Blanchett's character, however, offers her few opportunities to shine. Now that I think about it, she's supposed to be some sort of Ruskie mega-psychic, but I can't really remember her being successful at ever using those abilities.

Odd choice.

And only LaBeouf's character, Mutt, brings any real emotion to the film. All of the other characters simply move through the set dressings, seemingly unaffected by the amazing events that have transpired around them.

There were some other things that still bother me a bit as well. I don't know if it was due to the quality of the film print I saw or not, but the special effects looked really cheesy. I never once thought anyone was in real danger, especially during an extended car chase scene, because the effects were so obvious... odd for a Spielberg/Lucas collaboration.

And the demise of the baddies was all too familiar. The lead baddie and the lead henchman all meet their maker in events that could have been taken directly from Raiders... granted, the actual demise is different, but the the structure, the way it all unfolds made me feel like I had been here before. And that was because I had... in a far superior movie.

So, in spite of its vastly weak storyline and razor thin character development, the film is still a lot of fun simply because Spielberg, Ford and LaBeouf make it so.


So, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a fun movie, but you may find that the National Treasure films do a better job in the genre right now.

Spielberg and Lucas have left the door open for LaBeouf to take over the Indy reigns and that would be very, very cool. He's a great young actor and could bring new life into a growing, familiar genre.

Otherwise, you can wait for the next National Treasure release to get your next historical fantasy fix.

Old Vids

I spent Memorial Day going through my computer and storing a lot of files on DVD so I could free up the space for future projects (Messenger Doc, Purgatory USA, etc.). While purging I came across these stills of projects I was in a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

Pete & Leslie in The Tempest... awful.

In A Common Fate Trailer... unimpressive.

Divorce Court... embarrassing.

Hungry Howies... low point.

With Patrick Wilson in Chase Bank's
Sherlock Holmes Spoof... not bad.

Unfortunately, almost NONE of them are any close to being respectable. Sad, sad, sad. It's amazing what we do as actors starting out... just about anything.

Ugh... some of my past I wish I could delete, like the computer files I purged today.

Little League - Regular Season Ends

As the season came to an end the Cardinals finally started putting things together, winning five of their last six games. The league had a series of games to see who would represent Safety Harbor in the District 12 "Best Team" tournament. The Safety Harbor Yankees took that honor.

The rest of the teams played a season ending runner-up tournament, which the Cardinals won, winning their first game 10-0 in four innings and the championship game 15-4 in four innings. Congrats to the Cards and Coach Gannaway on a great end of the season!

For their troubles each player received a season trophy and the Cards received a runner-up tournament winning trophy. Great job guys!

Gabe got stronger as the end of the season approached. It's been a while since I posted highlights, so I edited the remaining ones together into a pretty hefty file. So, don't even attempt to download this unless you have a broadband connection. Internet Explorer is recommended.

When downloading, as soon as the page brings up the video screen, hit the STOP button (button with a square in it) and wait a while for the file to download. Otherwise it will start and stop as it downloads each small piece at a time.

The entire video file is about 3 minutes. Even in the extremely efficient compressed format of a flash file, its still pretty big. You can watch it HERE.

At the end of the video Gabe will thank you for watching, he mentions coming in 2nd (meaning winning the runner-up tournament) and then getting ready for the All-Stars.

In the video you'll also see Gabe steal second on a walk as well as hitting a line drive back at a pitcher (Christian), striking the pitcher in the face. Fortunately, the injury was minor.

On a side note, one of the qualities I love about Gabe is his compassion. In a critical game he threw a home run pitch to a friend. When he got the ball back he called time out and walked over to the opposing teams dugout and handed the player the home run ball. All of the coaches in the league still talk about that. When he accidentally struck Christian in the face with a hit, he ran over to the pitcher's mound and made sure he was okay. On the rare occasion he hits a batter with a pitch, he walks with the batter down the first base line making sure he's all right.

It's those things that make me more proud of my son than what he does in the batter's box or on the pitcher's mound. I'll take him being a better person than a baseball player any day of the week.

Gabe's really enjoyed everyones guidance and response to his highlights all season long. Thank you for your love and support!

Messenger CD Documentary

I've been asked to document the creation of our Lifeteen Band Messenger's first CD. I'll be keeping pics and progress on the project over at the Sonlight Pictures Blog.

Pete behind the camera.

Jim and Chilton rock the house... literally.

The ever-wacky Tiffany and her patient mother, Cathy.

They're a band choc-full-o talent, so we're all looking forward to the final product.

Nerd Test Results

Inspired by my brother Charles' entry, I too took a Nerd Test. The results are below...

I'm officially less of a Nerd than Charles. I can't imagine what my brother Paul's score would be. Can it go over 100%?

Updates at SonlightPictures.com

I've updated the Sonlight Pictures website (sonlightpictures.com) with a new layout for quick links to each of our current projects as seen below. We'll have more info there and at the Sonlight Pictures Blog.

Stop by every once and a while and see our progress.

Iron Man (2008)

Only one actor on the planet could pull off the lead character of Tony Stark in the film Iron Man and that man is Robert Downey, Jr. Who else could effectively play a billionaire playboy, womanizer, wunderkind, computer and mechanical genius, arms dealer with a soft heart surrounded by a thick skin of self indulgence who turns into a superhero?

Seriously. Name one other person.

To say Downey, Jr. is perfectly cast is an understatement.

The story for Iron Man is very well told, both smart and funny. It utilizes the refreshing Stark character to play against the awe-shucks superhero type and give us a flawed man we both want to be and could see ourselves being, yet know we'll never get there. We identify with this imperfect man who turns his gifts that have benefited his wallet and into something that benefits everyone.

He goes from selfish to selfless. From conceited to a man with a conscious.

Actor and director Jon Favreau from Rudy, Swingers and Elf fame, puts on his directing cap and guides us skillfully across the world and into near-fantasy as man and machine become one in the form of Iron Man.

A fun, smart and memorable superhero action flick. Bring the popcorn, bring the wit and enjoy the ride.

Rays in First Place?!?!?!

Do not adjust your sets. The Tampa Bay Rays are now officially in 1st place in the AL East.

The Rays!?! The once awful Devil Rays, now just Rays, have won 8 of 12 this month and have swept the Jays, the Angels and the Red Sox this season.

After beating the stinkin' Yanks 2-1 in extra innings last night, the Rays moved ahead of the Red Sox by a 1/2 game to hold onto first for the first time in franchise history.


I know it's a long season. I know it's only May. But, this team is vastly improved. Four out of the last five starting pitchers for the Rays have left the game pitching a shutout. That's amazing.

So, we'll enjoy this run as long as we can. Tonight Gabe and I are heading to the ballpark to watch our stud James Shields pitch against Mike Mussina, I believe.

Should be fun!