I write this at a period of great reflection in my personal life. Putting a substantial amount of thought into what it means to be alive - what it means to live a successful life - will lead your mind down some dark paths. But also some surreal ones. And ultimately, the destination is hopefully right where you are, or at least where you want it to be. More on that later.

There are a few areas we are pushing in the EMB program at NKU. The most visible is NorseMedia. When the campus cable television station was given to the Communication Department in July, I had high hopes. What I didn't realize is how much we could do in so little time. Of course, I say 'we' when in reality I mean Sara, John and Paul. Makes me feel better to include myself with these three. If you live in Kenton, Campbell or Boone counties you can see their efforts reflected on channel 18 of Insight Cable. If you live outside those areas, sit tight. We hope to be able to program to you sometime soon.

What you'll currently see on NorseMedia TV is part of our archive of the Studio 89 live concert series, telecourses in support of on-campus classes, a weekly sports roundup program, slides with information about NKU events and programming, and overnight Deutsche Welle (German) television. We have recently hired three students to create media (look for short docs on the Student Union, the Bank of Kentucky Center, and the Communication Department ) and hope to have our fourth hire complete this week. Add to this Sara's project class dedicated to creating more outreach docs for NorseMedia TV (look for one on the state of filmmaking and digital cinema in Greater Cincinnati and one on PINK - the Paranormal Investigators of Northern Kentucky) and I believe this is a night-and-day improvement to what has been offered in the past on NKU's television station and it all is due to the NorseMedia faculty, grad assistant and students.

Next up, some new freshmen are starting up the Norse Film Society. I am very excited to help create a student organization dedicated to education, appreciation, critique and creation of digital cinema projects on campus and in the region. More info on this - and most things EMB - can be found on the EMBatNKU Facebook group.

That's enough for now. Teaser: we're pushing forward on discussions about sustainable film and video work in the region, our Center for Informatics (C4I) building is continuing to come together, the summer movie class' project is almost complete, and much more. Talk at ya soon.

The coming year in EMBatNKU is going to be one of the most challenging ones in our history. It will doubtlessly be the most intense year since in my six years at Northern. We have everything that we have always had going on - 200+ majors, production classes, theory classes, writing classes, live productions, movies, documentaries ... all of it. Add to that programming a 24/7 cable television station - what we've re-branded "NorseMedia18" - the newest part of our NorseMedia effort. While there's no way we can create nearly 168 hours of original television media each week, what we can do is program our station like the web - create as much interesting, quality informational and entertainment programming as we can and intersperse that programming with information and data about NKU and our region. And that's exactly what we're going to do.

To help us with this challenge we'll have three additions to our program in a week. Two new lecturer positions - one concentrating on single-camera production (Sara Mahle, from Media Bridges in Cincinnati) and one on multiple camera (John Gibson, from Murray State) and a graduate assistant (Paul Weber) who will run the 'office' and production staff. Oh, yes, the "staff." We'll have at least one work/study student, and hopefully a couple more (hiring notice should be posted on Monday the 11th). Plus we'll have some paid freelance opportunities. All that in addition to class and many volunteer opportunities for our students. The only definite thing is that no one really knows what the year's going to bring. But we do know we are going to be busy.

Now, as for why we rock.

We have a good thing going in EMBatNKU. I say this from the perspective of someone immersed into media production at Northern. I also say this as someone who has had the busiest summer of his academic career. But mostly I say this in response to an intensive three-day session on the future of digital media, put on by the International Radio and Television Society (IRTS) and hosted by Disney|ABC in Burbank.

A colleague from another university and I were talking this morning as we were checking out of the hotel. One thing that struck him was hearing several others discussing how their programs will have to start thinking about how to address this whole converged media thing. Like media production and theory at NKU, his program has been working toward a media-anywhere-and-everywhere reality for a while now - they're much like us. The programs which are just now considering what to do about computerized/handheld/web media are so far behind the curve that they're going to have to run like crazy just to see the crest of the curve, let alone get ahead of the curve. While they may make it over that crest, we don't have that here. While I try to keep us from the bleeding edge as much as possible, I don't mind being on the leading edge of media production realities. And whether it is Apple, or Disney|ABC, or any of the other major media creation companies and individuals that I've had the good fortune to speak with, media production is now about telling stories on all four screens - handheld, web, TV and cinema. Each has it's own purpose, and it's own aesthetic. And the best media creators over the next 20 years will understand that, and be able to tailor their media to format, and target the format depending on the message.

It's all about story. But it is also show BUSINESS.

The executives at Disney|ABC spend a considerable amount of time thinking about how to monetize their product. The next blog will be more about that and how I see it applying to our classwork and to NorseMedia.

Wow. What a year it has been so far. So, the last time that I wrote the spring semester hadn't yet begun. My, how much has changed.

Most significantly, the Department of Communication - and to a large extent the Electronic Media and Broadcasting program - have been given NKU's Channel 18 as part of a cost-cutting reorganization in response to the Commonwealth's budget reduction. This is an incredible opportunity but also a great responsibility. Our students will now be creating most of the media going out to Northern Kentucky on our cable station. We'll be making media about NKU and the region, leveraging the intellectual power and social consciousness on campus. We will also spread the media over all appropriate outlets: the internet, on handheld devices, on the television and in the theatre.

On July 1 the "old" Channel 18 shuts down. We'll primarily run a slide show of "Coming back soon!" images for a while as we begin to understand the playback system and staff up. And speaking of staffing up - we will be hiring two new faculty members to help teach about television media creation and run Channel 18. If we can find the right people we'll have a producer/director and an engineer on staff for the fall. Eventually, each will teach a course or two a semester based around their areas of expertise. We'll also gain a graduate assistant to help run the 'office' and have a handful of student workers. Yes, we'll have the chance to employ some of our best, most talented students inside the department. Channel 18's new focus is on NKU and the university's connection to the community.

Beyond this great news - and this has been incredible news, especially in our current fiscal environment - we've had some other wonderful things happen in EMB. The "Pathways to Tomorrow" project that we put together in January recently won a Bronze Telly in the professional interactive media for government relations category. We are into another season of Studio 89, and are nearly complete with our latest digital cinema class - this one with a client. Our two movies (on plagiarism and copyright infringement) will be used in junior high and high schools throughout the region.

I'm going to cut this short right now, but I'll be back more frequently with updates about the EMB program, filmmaking in Cincinnati USA and other cool things happening in the College of Informatics at NKU.

A message to my filmmaking friends -

 

I've been involved with the Cincinnati Fringe Festival's 'Film Fringe' component (I'm the producer/curator/poobah) and would love for you to consider submitting something you've created recently. The film screenings will be mixed in with the Fringe Festival's live theatre this year, hopefully creating a more organic, holistic artistic experience. Plus it just sounds like a bunch of fun to have live theatre, art and film all mashed up together.

 

The submission deadline is Jan 15, but I expect that to be lengthened by one week. So think about submitting that (short) cool-but-kind-of-strange video, Hollywood-ish sellout flick, or personal cinematic masterpiece. I look forward to seeing your entries on the Fringe!

 

Chris
----

Call for Entries: Cincinnati Film Fringe Festival
 
Cincinnati Film Fringe, part of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, is a showcase of short digital cinema that celebrates the edge of entertainment. We are looking for films less than 30 minutes in length, but will consider projects up to one hour in length. Films may be experimental or more traditional. They can span any genre. They need not premiere at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, but premieres are always welcome. Documentaries are welcome and encouraged. Basically, we're looking for quality, unusual digital cinema to augment our live performance and visual fringe (art) offerings.
 
Selection of Projects:
 
The Film Fringe Selection Committee selects projects based on the following criteria:
 
* Social, aesthetic and creative content of the project.
* Ability to screen work that would traditionally not be seen in this region presented in an innovative style.
* Ability to properly fill out the application and have less than 3 spelling and grammar errors.
* Ability to provide significant bribes to the Selection Committee, Producing Director, and/or organizers. (Cash is not the only bribe that will be accepted...think vacations, computers, Wii consoles and games, and in some cases - just compliments). This part is just a joke. Not really.
 
We encourage submitting works that demonstrate the avant-garde spirit of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. Preference will be given to works that would not/have not normally been screened in the Greater Cincinnati Region. The Selection Committee will review all project applications, select appropriate projects and determine screening order. The filmmakers selected retain full artistic license and freedom for their work.
 
For more information and to download an application, visit the Fringe website at http://www.cincyfringe.com.
 
Hope to see your film on the Fringe.
 
cincyfilmfringe@gmail.com
 
Cincinnati Film Fringe
.part of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival
..which is part of the Know Theatre of Cincinnati

Virtual Greetings, All …

I write this from a strange state. Yes, I'm in Indiana right now, but that's not what I mean. Life has been strange lately.

I'm in an upscale-hotel-like hospital as I type. Well, not really in the hospital, but in an kind-of-enclosed-but-not-really-enclosed area with tons of natural light and huge fake bamboo, and where I can see my father-in-law's massive wood door through the 10 foot glass wall looking into the post-surgery wing of a suburban Indianapolis hospital. We keep calling the hospital the 'hotel' by Freudian slip. But that's by (wonderful) design - this place feels like a hotel from the original artworks in the lobby (excuse me - the "gallery") to the theme decor - bamboo and earth tones. Makes you forget that you're there to visit someone who just had a kidney removed.

Arthroscopic kidney surgery. Did you know that existed? I didn't. Well, it does. A little incision, some robotic slicing and dicing, a scoop out here and there - and boom! 90 minutes later you're sewn back up and in recovery, sans kidney. BTW - he's doing well from the surgery. Not as well dealing with the pain medication and other aspects of his health. Thanks to all who have expressed concern.

Life is also strange because (barring me doing some horridly illegal thing before the NKU Board of Regents meets again) I've been granted tenure at Northern Kentucky University. That's a humbling thing. For a group of people for whom you have great respect to say, "hey - you do some good stuff and we'd like you to be around here for as long as you want to be around here," … wow. If you've read past blogs you know that I love what we're doing at NKU. At the whole university (with our outreach to the community push) but also with Informatics and especially in EMB. We've just got a good thing going. And I can't believe I get to be a part of it for as long as I want to. So if you're a student just waiting for me to get fired - sorry! I'll be here!

Speaking of that kind of thing (students waiting for me to get fired) I recently have had a couple of cantankerous e-mail conversations with a couple of advisees. I feel that I need to clarify that the role of an academic advisor is not to make all your academic decisions for you. It is to help you make the best decisions for yourself. Demanding via e-mail that your advisor should pick you out the perfect classes in the perfect schedule (oh - during finals week no less) after you've skipped a few scheduled advising appointments…? Yeah - doesn't happen. We work with you to get the most out of your academic schedule. "With" being the operative word there.

Finally - Wii! After having found a Wii (in Hays, Kansas - I'll post the story here some time if you want) over Thanksgiving I finally have had the time to play a little bit now that grading is done. Nintendo has done something right. The Wii Sports, Wii Play, Boogie (Zoa loves to dance) and Madden are all great. The controller even gets Kim playing and she generally dislikes all things videogame. Lots of fun.

So there - an account of strangeness in life and a rant thrown in for good measure. Sounds like a perfect blog, huh?

I hope you have a wonderful holiday and a completely restful break. Recharge those batteries, because classes start up again on January 14!

It has been a month since my last blog entry … too long for an active blog. So I sit down to write and start to wonder what I should write about. I've reviewed the past few weeks of my life and a few things stand out: Google introducing a presentation (or "PowerPoint") aspect to their online documents program, the start of the new fall TV season, and The Book.

The past four weeks of my life have mainly been filled with writing and organizing my tenure book. The Book (capitalized out of respect - this one weighs in at 9.2lbs - not counting the 5+lbs of supporting and previously reviewed student evaluations) is basically a written case to keep me employed at Northern Kentucky University. And this is the biggie - if this one goes through I'll be employed for as long as I'd like to be employed. Yes, tenure is the "job for life" thing that appeals to many in academic life. But it is also more than that.

Guaranteed employment is not the most important thing about tenure for me. It is an affirmation that I'm doing Good Work for the university and community. Good enough work to want me around, and I like what the university is all about. Groucho Marks once quipped, "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member." I have to admit in most aspects of my life I'm right there with Groucho. I don't join groups or organizations easily. I wasn't in a fraternity in college. I like to work with people I know and trust. I am active in a couple of professional organizations (the Southern Ohio Filmmakers Association and the Broadcast Education Association) but that's about it. So why do I want to join this organization on a 'for life' basis?

It's funny, but it really became clear to me when I was making a call back to my grad school - The American University in DC. I love that school. Great place, great city. The only school of which I've thought, "yeah, if they called I'd be interested." But in looking over the curriculum there, the focus, the mission … it's not here. The SOC at AU does a great job in a wide-net liberal arts and politics school with well-connected people in a well-connected city. An expensive school in an expensive city. And of course that limits access.

Russ Proctor (from the SPE program) is fond of saying that NKU provides a "private school experience at public school prices" - I'm slightly paraphrasing there. But he's right. Our focus is on providing the best education we possibly can with the resources we have available. And I hope we continue to do so as we become more well-funded and outfitted in the new building. I like being available for most anyone who wants to learn how to tell stories with media. That's why I want to join this group for life.

Some thoughts on the new television season. "Life" is excellent. Nice twist on the 'wronged cop' storyline. Of course, the Zen aspect is interesting to me. "Dirty Sexy Money" is surprisingly good for such a sleazy title. "Chuck" has potential, but feels so slapped together and tries to be so cool that I feel it might implode. "Bionic Woman" and "Moonlight" look to be mildly interesting reincarnations of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" - just with high-tech gizmos and a darker palate. This week brings "Pushing Daisies" and "Cavemen" to ABC's lineup. The former looks to have a great chance at being the best new series and if they embrace the ability to make social commentary on race and social stratus the latter has a chance at being better than the literally-a-commercial-spin-off that it is. But from their advance press I fear "Cavemen" will shy away from controversy and try to be mainstream.

Oh, the third season of "The Unit" has started extremely strong. It's the only show my wife and I agree upon - and that says a ton. Especially since it's David Mamet - she severely dislikes most of his work, and I love it. "Boston Legal" has some additional promise with a reconfigured cast too.

Just a quick thought on Google's online "Documents" tools: high-quality programs are now becoming available online. The cost of creating word processing documents, spreadsheets and presentations is now, if you're enterprising and live near a library with free internet access - absolutely free. And if you own a computer you can do so much without ever touching Office. I love Office, don't get me wrong. Outlook schedules my life. But Google's tools are extremely strong for free, online programs. When they get the "Google Gears" (offline use of their programs) operational it'll be a great tool for students and small businesses.

Combine those programs with the XO laptop (the fabled $100 laptop for developing countries) and you have more informational and educational power in "everyday" hands than ever before. At risk of sounding overly grand, I believe these kind of developments bode well for humanity. To help the cause, you can donate a laptop at the One Laptop website. Or, for two weeks in November they're doing a "give one, get one" promotion. You give a laptop to a child in a developing country and get one for your own child. Two computers for $400. Yes, they're limited computers compared to even the cheapest PC, but they are incredibly well-engineered for the purpose they serve. The networking power is great - and the power-control technology is incredible. How many computers can be energized by a foot pump? Just a great concept.

On a less good-for-the-future-of-mankind-but-still-very-cool note, Celtx is an open source screenwriting and scheduling program. Totally free, Windows, Mac and Unix, and works extremely well. There are some niceties in Screenwriter and Final Draft, but at NKU we generally use Celtx because of the cost factor - even though The Lab is outfitted with Final Draft 7 and AV. Open source rocks.

Now I go back to grading. Teaching I love. Grading … not so much.

Part of my reason for working from home today - beyond the pure ability to do so - was to allow the repair tech from GE to come and fix our oven. Now, we've been without our oven for … oh, four months or more. Turns out you can cook many, many things without a oven. The stovetop and a covered Calphalon wok works as a makeshift oven substitute, and a griddle can firm up some items that may leave the microwave a bit soggy. But frozen mac and cheese just isn't as good without the crunchy brown top you get inside an oven. There is no microwave substitute there.

So, anyway, I stayed at home to get the oven fixed. And Tom, the repairman, arrived with an interesting piece of gear. He had a touchscreen Panasonic Toughbook with an attached credit card reader/receipt printer. The Toughbook, if you haven't seen one, is built like a tank and looks like a secure briefcase. It's designed to handle falls and spills and general misuse. The kind of stuff that an appliance repair technician might do to it. It also has a built-in Verizon broadband connection. If you know me, you know I had to ask about his setup.

Turns out that Tom is one of the few early adopters and trainers for GE with this technology. He's been using it for a couple of years and he is still enthused about what the technology is able to do. Beyond the now immediate scheduling and billing capabilities that the Toughbook gives him, the real advance has been with training.

GE doesn't have a ton of repair reps everywhere in the world. Makes sense, right? Cincinnati has quite a few, as you'd expect. Same with Columbus. Dayton's only got a couple. Akron, one. Fort Wayne, one. You get the idea. Well, if you're going to train the repair people on all the new models (to answer questions like "where's that one hidden screw in the back of the drip pan on a Hotpoint Model RGB532BEW3WH, the one screw that you'll need to remove to get to the gas glow rod?" - can you tell that I was listening to what was wrong with our oven today?) you have to train folks frequently. And to have the repair techs gather in one location is fine for large cities - the distance to the central office is part of their regular commute - but that's a lot of travel for the smaller and rural markets. Either Tom's driving everywhere for one-on-one sessions, or a bunch of techs are traveling hundreds of miles - and losing at least one full day of repairs - to take in a two hour training session. Wasted time, money and fuel.

So while Tom still does in-person training in Cincinnati and Columbus, he'll do an over-the-internet PowerPoint presentation for the one-and-two-tech places. They'll all see his presentation as he gives it live, and they are able to ask questions for immediate response. Instant training at a great cost savings.

And then - and here's where I get excited - they can also go to their secure servers and stream video of how to perform repairs. From anywhere. Tom said they used to see new models in the field before getting training on how to fix 'em. Now, if that happens, he can pop open the Toughbook, instantly connect through the broadband Verizon modem, and see exactly what he needs to do to get to the malfunctioning part. The video can also help prod his memory on ancient models. And, of course, all that media has to be created, programmed, and designed for the web. That's electronic media and media informatics, baby!

I could see Tom's excitement over the potential uses of the technology. How it makes his life - and the lives of the coworkers he trains - easier. The main problem for him was the adoption of the technology by the "older techs" as he called them. Tom is 59. He says that the young guys - those under 30 or 35 - get it. They gobble up the media informatics. The older ones just want to use the computer to print out their receipts. And that's normal. But what we're foreseeing in the College of Informatics is the future where the use of technology is commonplace - where costs are cut but services are improved - through the use of media and informatics. And that's what makes what we're doing and where we're heading in the CoI just a ton of fun.

As school begins for kindergartners to college students - and summer ends - some thoughts...

Thought 1: Summer is too short. Or, more likely, I need to be more productive during the summer.

Thought 2: Most people need naps. Our daughter has started kindergarten, which means no more naps. And while she's still an extremely agreeable girl, the difference between nap-Zoa and no-nap-Zoa is remarkable. If a nap can make this much difference in her demeanor I imagine it would do wonders for most folks.

Thought 3: I'm of the opinion that the belief in any birthright is the basis for most of the strife in the world. Your birth gives you the right to breathe and grow and hopefully live in peace. That's it. Everything else is earned.

Thought 4: A self-realization, really. I have less and less patience for lazy or disagreeable people. Life's too short and the frustration in dealing with folks like that just creates wasted time. I'd rather do it myself.

Thought 5: A corollary to 4, I suppose. Motivated people rock. Case-in-point: our new prof, Denis. We talked about his idea of working with a KY documentary house. Then a couple days later he had made contact and started the process. That, quite frankly, is the proverbial "breath of fresh air" for me. An idea that holds benefit for our EMB students was explored - and it wasn't me who had to do the exploring. Brilliant! This makes Chris very, very happy.

Thought 6: I hope your semester goes well. And I hope to be able to show everyone some of the "Forgetting" project soon.

I'm sitting on an American Airlines S80 jet, flying to Cupertino to meet with some folks from Apple about the College of Informatics, the Center4Informatics and how we feel that Apple might fit in with that vision.

As I think about that last sentence I need to re-phrase. I'm not seated as much as wedged into the "E" - or center - seat on an American Airlines S80 flying tube of aluminum hurtling miles above the surface of the earth. We just passed over Albuquerque, or so the pilot informed us. From the center seat I don't hold any control over the windows, or can I see out of the open windows. So we may actually be near Seattle. Or Costa Rica. But either of those would add significant time on the trip, so I hope we really were over Albuquerque.

I rarely fly American Airlines. I don't see that changing in the near future. Beyond there being no in-flight entertainment AA has begun 'nickel-and-dime-ing' their passengers. Bags of cashews are $3. A bottle of water is $2. I understand that the airline industry is supposedly incredibly competitive, but this kind of treatment isn't going to win me over as a customer. I'll gladly pay more for a bit more elbow room and some kind of interruption to the 5 hours of sitting that is a left coast flight. Mentally I'm already booking with Delta for Vegas in April.

Our day and a half of meetings at 1 Infinite Loop come during the week before classes start - a particularly crazy time to be away from campus, especially when just yesterday - one week from the class start - I was scrambling to fill a teaching position after a prof walked away from her class. She got an opportunity to move to the University of Missouri. Oh well. After some serious shuffling of personnel we now have a full stable of professors, but students entering classes next week may be surprised by the person standing at the front of the room. The EMB 100-003, MWF Media Literacy class probably won't be affected too much by Eileen Drust taking over for Denis Mueller, but the EMB 140-001 TR Aesthetics class may be a bit relieved to find that I'm not teaching that section when Denis walks in. And the EMB 260-001 TR Writing for the Media class will probably be a bit disappointed when I show up. But the classes are being taught by profs who have a deep interest in those subjects, and that's what I care about.

This is going to be an exciting school year yet again, and not just because we'll find out if I'm going to be tenured (and thus inflicted upon impressionable youth FOREVER!) but because by the end of the academic year we should have at least preliminary plans for the Center4Informatics from the architects. While this is an exhilarating prospect - designing a building for what we do - it is also an exhausting project. And ground is still a year from breaking.

OK, we are heading west. We just passed over the Grand Canyon, and I caught a glimpse. Whew - heading in the right direction.

Other random thoughts:

On the way to the airport this morning (at 4:30 am) pulled through the intersection of Delta and Columbia Parkway. As the light from the intersection faded away I saw two deer standing in the right hand lane of Columbia. A fawn was catching a quick bite from mom, right there on the road. Just added some perspective about who really is in charge of this planet - no not the quadrupeds, but something higher. God, Allah, Mother Nature, Tao, Chaos - in my mind they're all names for That Which Puts Humans Back In Their Place.

A "Forgetting" update. I've had a few folks inquire about the status of the Forgetting Project. I've begun moving the HD footage to SD, which is providing an incredible amount of flexibility in the image composition. Since I'm (essentially) using the higher pixel count of HD on a smaller screen I can alter framing without blowing the image up, and therefore without degrading the image clarity. From that we'll clean up some sound, I'm toying with an additional scene idea, and we'll add interviews with Alzheimer caregivers and their families. After so much time and energy dedicated to teaching and meetings and planning and negotiating on the NKU campus it is absolutely wonderful to be refocused on a creative project.

The 48 Hour Film Project is complete for 2007. We once again had some incredible movies and some ... learning. The winning movie, "Held in Sway" by Mirepoix Pictures, was really a piece of art. I have high hopes for it in the international portion of the 48HFP. I hope that everyone who attended the group screenings at the Carnegie and the best of at the Cinema De Lux enjoyed the events. Got to say that the screen at the Showcase Cinema DL was awesome. I'll be working on similar digs for next year. For more info you can go to my 48HFP site or the official page.

OK, I'm off for a while. I'll write more once I've been inside the Apple empire ...

I write this blog offline. Zoomtown has been down in my part of town since Friday. There's a broken part that they tell me should be delivered today. Now, I've been on Cincinnati Bell's high speed network for over ten years – I was a beta tester when we first arrived to town – and this is the first major outage I've had. Not bad for a company trying to keep such a wide area network going. Still, I'll be very, very happy when the connection is returned. It's amazing how many times we've casually wanted to access the internet and how much a part of our daily lives it is. Guess that's a positive statement for Informatics.

In the midst of recruiting over 60 teams to this year's 48 Hour Film Project I've started working on the Alzheimer's project again. I can't believe how busy it has been – that I haven't been able to work on it until now, when Jarrod got the rough cut and audio sync done in December. Academic life is supposed to be slow and relaxing, right? After all, I only teach three classes a week for a total of seven and a half hours, and have summers off. And yet I really, really haven't had the chance to dedicate time to what really is the most important project I have going. The EMB division is important. And the new C4I building. But this movie has personal as well as professional meaning to me. I suppose that's factored into why I haven't been able to work on it.

As many of you know, my dad has Alzheimer's Disease. He's 63 years old and has probably had it for 10 years or so. Like all families, we can see the signs now but completely missed them at the time. Over the weekend my wife was going through some of our storage bins looking for a fife I had in my boyhood. She found a card my father gave me on my graduation from high school … what strikes me is how ruthless this disease is as it hardens the mind – in essence regressing the victim back in time to where thoughts are more simple. My father is a brilliant man – you can see it in his words he wrote over twenty years ago. And you can see glimpses of it as he plays with my daughter now. It brought me to tears when I read the encouragement he gave me on that card, and gives me a sense of melancholy as I think about it now. But that's mainly due to my sense of loss – the loss of "Dad-that-was". And that loss is significant. But he is still an amazing man, and a wonderful Pappy – or grandfather. My daughter loves him more than anyone outside of Mammy (grandma) Kim and me. And for that I'm happy every single day.

So, work continues on the Alzheimer's project. I've moved away from referring to it by the working title, "The Forgetting Project" as that title is similar to the title of an Alzheimer's documentary, "The Forgetting". But we need to call it something. "Simple Thoughts" is my current favorite, but that will probably change. Anyway, to keep information flowing (or, really, to start info flowing) about the movie I've set up a MySpace profile for Red Thread Media – the production company I started to create "media with a message." Eventually there will be more details on the Red Thread website (www.redthreadmedia.org) but for now (since I don't have time to design and program the site) most of the info will come through MySpace. The profile is located at http://www.myspace.com/redthreadmedia. If you're a participant in the movie, or just want to know what's happening with it, check these two online places out.

I'm off to talk with another high school filmmaking class. More as we approach the 48HFP this weekend.