A Short Retrospective

It all started when I became enamored of the big blockbuster films coming out of Hollywood in the late 70's and early 80's. Nothing was ever so vast and entertaining. And yet, I must say, I also owe a great debt to the foreign films of long ago that illustrated that it was not all about blood, guts, and glory. Yet, it took me a while to discover Vigo, Bresson, Godard, Antonioni, and Fellini. But, I am forever in their debt. In the beginning though, it was all Star Wars birthday cakes then Rambo and later Ramones/Sex Pistols/The Clash style birthday parties. A little later on I was exposed to my first live set at Victorine Studios on the Cote d'Azur in a role on a little picture with some big stars. It opened up a whole new world I knew nothing about. Oddly enough, I then modeled in front of the Eiffel Tower at the Trocadero in Paris at a skateboarding competition. And, shot a few photos for an automobile commercial on the Croisette during the Cannes Film Festival. Not a bad way to live, I thought to myself. Mind you, this was all before the age of thirteen.

I returned to the States to continue my education, yet not before seeing the effects of war up close and personal (a whole different story). Once I returned, I shied away from the limelight. I saw America from a new set of eyes, even ultimately checking out what the People's Republic of Cambridge, Massachusetts had to offer. And, in the end winding up with a degree in hand (or at least filed away somewhere). I had always been quick to write down words on a page in almost every form. Poems, short stories, the first glimpse of a novel, etc. At first, I was paid a dollar a word for an article I wrote on the state of the technology sector (not too shabby!). Then I received multiple thousands of dollars for a few white papers I wrote about the intricacies of specific technology companies. I left that all behind to discover the theater of economics and political philosophy. I wrote about what I considered to be the truth of the market process in a world of scarce resources and individual actors.

Yet, this left me with a creative void which I tried to fill by studying painting and the arts in general. I have now returned to my first love. Film. The cinema. Movies. 24 frames per second of a 120 page script up on the silver screen. A member of the audience escaping from their daily life to be entertained, enlightened, inspired, and/or provoked to action. This audience member was now lifting the veil behind the screen. It was a world I never really left, but placed, knowingly, on the back burner until a later, more suitable date. I now continue on the journey with several projects up in the air and only time will tell where it all takes me.