Me and Elaine Murphy

Five years ago, my new wife and I move in to a new home and re adjusted to our new life of having 5 children together. Luckily, it was in familiar territory, it was near the older neighborhood I used to live in 11 years before that (during my previous marriage).

In the Mormon Church in Utah, that means I still live in the same regional congregation. Same stake, different ward. Fortunately, my new wife at the time had no problem mingling with the same people I had mingled and bonded with years before (with a two year hiatus in between), in fact, I think Stephanie became more friends with my friends then I was. What a blessing.

In my new new ward, I became a home teacher to a woman, Elaine Murphy, who is home-bound because of her health. She has an interesting history and I have had such a joy in becoming acquainted with her. She was a missionary using her nurse abilities to serve in Tonga. I have a place in my heart for the islands because of my study of Niue Island near by. She became the dean for the College of Nursing at BYU.

When we go to see her, she is always beaming with gratitude, and her sweet voice strives to recall things of the past that are slowly becoming a mystery to her. Yet I know in the life beyond she will be met by many who she influenced in her life and her memory will be refilled again with the wonderful things she experienced in her life.

I usually take my son Parke to home teach with me, giving her a short lesson, catch up on what her family is doing and an offer to help when we can. And even Parke, the impatient teenage that he can be (just kidding, Parke) has grown a certain admiration for this little lady. But for Christmas, I decided to bring my lovely wife, Stephanie, who, I feel, has the same type of heart as that of Elaine Murphy, and make home teaching a wonderful experience.

Test, test

This is a test to see how this new blogger works from my iPad.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

THANKSGIVING AND BEYOND...

Just so you know, I might be moving my blogspot to another name.  Not yet, but I will let this blog know.  I am trying to find a simpler way to make blogs from my iPad and this account seems to be problematic in hooking up with my e-mail. It's complicated.  

Anyway, just got back from Vegas (over a week ago).  My mother went home for the week from her cancer treatment center in Phoenix for Thanksgiving.  My dad, who I think can't live without mom, was missing her. So Steph and I drove down to see both my sisters and my parents. It was warm (it's 30 for a high now in Utah... winter has arrived). 

It was a wonderful time.  My mom looked great.  She continued to watch what she ate, even during Thanksgiving.  My sister Connie, who made the whole meal, made a dish just for her.  I am proud of my mom for taking the steps she needs.  I sit and think if Steph or I was diagnosed, I don't know if I could change the eating habit, but I would certainly not take chemo. 

I then got to see my sister Pam for a bit.  Her son, who has autism, is a good kid.  And one thing he has done well is play the drums.  So she got him a drum set for Christmas.  I had fun putting that together and playing on them for a short while.

Steph, my dad and I took a little road trip down to Hover Dam to see the new bridge they built.  I remember taking trips passing the dam.  It took forever because the road was a single lane.  There is now two ways to get through the dam and the engineering is remarkable. 

Now that I am home, business is on.  Steph and I are remodeling part of our home.  I have totally repainted the bed room we are moving into.  We moved Stephanie's girls around, giving them their own room. So we took their room and repainted it totally.  It looks great and nice to see what can be done.  I just wish I had more time to get it done faster.  I don't like living in the middle of messes. 

The Last Eagle Scout is almost done.  Just got a few effect shots today and waiting on the music.  Oh, these artists... they work on their own time (I know, I am just as guilty).  Hoping to make the first showing at the LDS Film Festival.  Then, on to other places (LA, Washington DC, Dallas to name a few).  We shall see.  I am eagerly writing a sequel. 

Phoenix part 2

I have been here for about 4 days and it has been interesting.  In the above picture is Robyn Openshaw, otherwise known as the Green Smoothie Girl.  She has been studying under Doctor Lodi at the Oasis of Healing while mom (on the right) checks herself in.  It has not been easy for mom, a 76 year old woman having to change her eating habits in order to save her life from the ovarian cancer she was diagnosed with 2 years ago.  She went through 3 rounds of chemo and it did nothing but make her feel crappier.

So we are now here where mom is handed a green drink every morning and a smoothie later in the day.  They do give her some kind of something to eat for dinner, but I wouldn't have the patience.  Some of it is actually not bad, and I think this is the best thing for her right now.  I am learning as much as I can in the case that Steph or I get in this situation.  NO chemo, I am dead set against it.

We have met a number of people with illnesses that are serious, cancer and leukemia.  One woman in particular, Christine is a beautiful 40 year old woman with a family of 4 children and she runs several business.  When she found a lump in her breast a few months ago, she chose to come here rather then go through chemo or radiation.  It has made her come closer to her family and to God.

The doctor gave us a great speech about his mission.  Dr. Lodi is an interesting fellow and he definitely IS on a mission. I will not be surprised his life will be made into a movie.  He told us tonight how he has no friends because he lives what he believes.  He feels doctors are living a lie (not all intentionally) and quit his own practice to focus on helping people with cancer naturally.  In his personal life, he has a fiancee who is dying of cancer herself and will not go the natural way, but is on chemo.  But she's dying of the chemo.  So his mission has become personal.

Robyn has been checked in as if she was a cancer patient herself, so she is doing pretty much everything that my mother is doing.  She understands much more how this all works (plus she is very adaptive to the food and green smoothies and juices they are providing).   She has been learning a lot and I am honored to be here filming all of this.

Oh.. and I miss my wife.  Love you Steph.

More later...

Phoenix with my Mom

Kind of a long day.  Today is the start of a new journey for my mother.  She has been fighting cancer for the past two years and made a turn around that was basically timely.  I am still working on the whole story, but here is the scoop:

I have been doing a TV Pilot show for the Green Smoothie Girl, Robyn Openshaw.  While in post now, (which I am looking for a good voice over talent to cover) Robyn came to me about a new documentary about the effect on cancer while eating raw foods.  She started meeting with these cancer treatment centers that fight cancer naturally in hopes of getting to the meat of the problem.

All at the same time, my mother has been doing chemo for the past two years with little or no results.  Actually, she was told her numbers were good at one time, then told she was going to have to get used to it for the rest of her life.  Then, she heard the doctor accidentally talk about medicine that would be given to a younger patient.  She confronted the doctor and they had no answer.  In other words, there was rationing going on. (Like I said, still piecing the story together).

Now my mother has had enough and is going to take Robyn up on her challenge to meet with the place called An Oasis of Healing in Phoenix.  I decided to be a part of this documentary on my own merit.  I flew to Vegas this morning and then drove down to Phoenix with my mother and we are now in a condo. My mom will be here for about a month, with no idea what she is getting into.  I will be here for a week as well as Robyn, filming and researching.  I also brought the editing system down with me to see if I can finish The Green Smoothie Girl Makeover TV Pilot while I am in the mind-set (Blendtec has been keeping me busy.  A new blender is on the way.  Will be for another Blog post).

So I will keep this blog updated on the events of the day.  I have shot a little video so far, mostly of myself on the iPhone talking about the drive down.

FALL AGAIN...

This time of year always brings a number of anniversaries. And this year new ones will be created.  It was Halloween of 2005 that I came rolling into Utah after living in Virginia for two year with a series of emotional challenges.

Divorce comes to mind, but also comes a renewal of life.  I came to Utah in my car with only the things I could carry (namely, my computer, my clothes, etc).  The following day, I had a meeting with a blender company to see if we were a "fit" for me to work for them as the video producer.  I had a great meeting and was hired 10 minutes later.  Then, I left to find a place to live, right across the freeway, and just like that... life started over for me.

Knowing that I had much to explain to the hundreds of friends I had left two years earlier, I didn't run to any of them for quite a while.  In fact, when I first came back the night before my interview, I got a hotel instead of the many options I could have taken.

But after a little pain, things got better and I moved on. A year later, brave enough to meet with women again, I met the love of my life, probably the sweetest woman I have ever known (even after now being married to her for 5 years).  We work hard to still be "boy friend, girl friend".

Another landmark for this time of year.  It was 5 years ago November 2 that I posted the first WILL IT BLEND episode. What started as a joke and a "let's see what happens" to the new venue called Youtube, had turned into a phenomenon that we have had to work hard to control.  After 130 episodes, 300 million views on youtube and the website, many awards and being used as a prime example in college text books, not to mention the growth the company has seen from the success of this web series, we were just recently named by Ad Age magazine as the most successful campaign in the history of Viral Marketing.  It has definitely raised my level of confidence and ability to execute other things in my life. In my opinion, it is time to move on.  In Tom Dickson's eyes, it has only begun.  Huh...

The Last Eagle Scout is now scheduled to have a premiere at the LDS Film Festival, but I have had to hold back that news because things keep interrupting the final parts of post-production.  I am told we are well on our way, so when I feel it to be right, I will announce it.  My dream is to premiere it at the LDS Film Festival, which is the last week in January, then release in three markets the week or two after, Salt Lake City, L.A. and Dallas (the home of the Boy Scouts). We are now also looking at Washington DC and others.

While I was healing from the hernia operation, I took advantage of the percocet-induced time I had and quickly wrote the sequel to The Last Eagle Scout.  Amazingly enough, I wrote the whole story late one night.  There is so much happening in this country that concerns me that I just took the next chapter to the next level.  More controversial, more action and faster paced.

We shall see what happens.  But for now, the photo below speaks the truth.

"Don't have a hernia about it!"

I remember as a kid saying that kind of dialogue, encouraging people to not worry about what ever they are worrying about.  Looks like I did that myself.  Eat my words.

I have been carrying a hernia about a year or more.  Not sure why.  I was going to the gym pretty regularly and lifting weights, could have been that.  Or, just the stress of having a merging family about the house (who I love very much).  In either case, I got it, and I needed to do something about it.

In this photo, I am noticing how lucky I was to have a dial that controls how warm it is in my crotch. A little air vent that puffs up my belly with warm air.  Plus, I think I was high as a kite in this photo and about to go out for an hour or so.  Didn't remember the operation at all.  Love that!

Now I am home recovering, trying to recoup all of my thoughts and on-line marketing as I prepare for the release of THE LAST EAGLE SCOUT.  The LDS Film Festival is around the corner (January 25-28) and that might be my release time.  Still making sure.  Waiting on music and effects.  And I am eager to start writing the sequel.  Or what ever film is in me.

As you can tell by my writing, I am high on the good stuff.  This is an excellent time to write, when I am high on medication.  I have been watching other films, getting inspired.

While this is going on, I now also have to worry about my mother.  Her tumor has grown bigger (ovarian cancer) and Connie (my sister) and I are feeling like mom has been lied to about cleaning out her cancer.  So we are going to do this naturally.

Let me back up.  I have been doing work with Robyn Oppenshaw, otherwise known as THE GREEN SMOOTHIE GIRL, on a few projects in cooperation with Blendtec.  She has a new one where she is dealing with healthy eating curing cancer.  She was looking for a few subjects who would go to one of these high run, natural cancer treatment centers.  I was able to get my mom on that list.  So in November, I will be spending a week with her (and camera in hand) and following what they do for her in helping cure her cancer.

Obviously, this will not be a cure-all, but I will say it will probably be much better then the crap she keeps getting with chemo.  That stuff is terrible.  This documentary will probably be controversial in that Robyn is on a mission to uncover the cancer epidemic.

I will keep updating on this blog what I see.  But as for my mother, this journey is now personal.

Ahhh, Fall.

I Love it when Fall comes. Parke and I were looking at our iPhone temperatures over the next few days (we have a camp out on Friday). Either we have been spoiled with the 80 degree weather we have been having or something is wrong because we are about to get a major change in the weather (possible snow as low as 6000 feet by Wednesday). Ick!

Over the weekend we had no younger kids to attend to, so Stephanie and I decided to play. Play!? Yes, something I haven't done in a while. I figured before it gets cold and depressing, we should take advantage of the warm weather.

Friday night, Steph and I decided to try out Parke's scooter I got him and rode to the movies. First we went to the cupcake store (my new guilty pleasure, gotta love the red velvet cake) and bought a few treats to sneak into the movie theater. I accidentally left the key on the scooter (battery died), so we ended up rolling the scooter to the theater (good thing it was across the street).

We went to see COURAGEOUS. I have been very impressed with Alex Kendrick films (Fireproof, Facing the Giants, Flywheel). Especially with his focus on the message. You notice that his films have not always been the best technically, but his message rings true (and each film has profited financially). I actually was able to contact Alex and tried to get him to play a small roll in THE LAST EAGLE SCOUT. He respectably declined, saying he was too busy doing Courageous, which I totally understand.

So the question is, in comparison to LDS Cinema, why is it that his films, which are half good, really preachy and sometimes bad acting, can do well. Where as most LDS films, which are always worried about being "too preachy" and looking good technically, can't do well financially? I still remember film after film, people from LDS Film would always blame LDS Cinema's failures on being "too preachy" or "not good enough technically", "not enough money" or "bad acting". Alex Kendrick has suffered all of these, and yet the Lord continues to bless him with the finances to keep making movies.

My number one answer (besides audience reach, etc) is one word... spirit. When I watch the behind the scenes of all his movies, you hear the discussion go with the way of God. "This is God's movie" or "The Lord helped us" or you see them praying between takes.

In LDS Cinema, I am afraid the focus has always been on "me". My performance, my movie, my vision, and very little "God" involved in the making of LDS Films. That is just my opinion. I am just as guilty of this. As I have made THE LAST EAGLE SCOUT, I have tried to focus on message and the Lord helping me (even though this film is not LDS Cinema stuff). I am still dealing with The Constitution and freedom, both gifts from God, and I have had to be on my knees alot, repeating in my mind that that the Lord is in charge.

The next morning, my assistant at Blendtec, Kyle Jacobson, just finished his first short film he produced. It was a sweet film about a boy who falls in love with a woman who writes on a white board. The film starts out with him just goofingly writing "Hi" on the board. Then, the board writes back "hello". After a while, he keeps writing messages to someone that isn't there and builds a romantic relationship with the person writing. It is a cute concept and I personally think he can make it into a feature film, but we shall see.

Back to the weekend, Steph and I rode trax to downtown Salt Lake City. It was Conference weekend, but we didn't have tickets. We just wanted to see the camaraderie that usually comes with downtown SLC. We went to Deseret Book and saw TC and the cast of 17 MIRACLES signing autographs of the film on DVD. It was good to see him again, it has been years. He is one of the best guys to work with/for in film and he deserves all the success he has gotten on 17 MIRACLES.

So now, I look at the weather and realize that our camp out this weekend might end up being an early Klondike. I just realized that I am going into the hospital on Wednesday for a hernia operation. No worries. Just a day in the life.

TRIP TO L.A.

Steph and I took our 4th trip to LA in the last 2 years since we are part of something I cannot discuss. But every time we go, I realize two things: 1) how much I would never want to live here and 2) how many friends I either already know or have made going there.

The other thing I noticed this last trip was how much freakin' movie advertisements there are... everywhere. Getting into the marketing part of THE LAST EAGLE SCOUT, I am looking at how much everything has got to cost and I can see millions of dollars in ads (buses, billboards, cabs). Tons of creative ways to let me know that the Smurfs are now on the big screen, or this new Harry Potter movie is "the end".

I went to a few events to promote THE LAST EAGLE SCOUT, and have drummed up enough grass-root support to justify a theater opening in LA. So we will officially open in SLC and LA. Dallas will have to wait, but will probably be the second or third week.

Speaking of Drumming, we got to see our old friend Alfonzo Rachel, who takes on a small role in TLES as a guard at a booth at the Mexican border. He is also a drummer, so he played in a band with Gary Graham, who we also have become friends with. I remember Gary in Star Trek playing a vulcan ambassador on the Enterprise series.

Another new friend we made was Lloyd, a friend of my colorist George. Lloyd just finished his independent feature, can't remember the name of it at this writing (sorry about that, Lloyd). But he held a showing in LA and supposedly got a good response. I wish him the best.

We also got to talk more with Bill Whittle, who is a producer with a new company Declaration Entertainment, a film company that is producing some new material with some similar patriotic themes at THE LAST EAGLE SCOUT. The first is called THE ARROYO. We wish him the best with his projects as well.

It was a little different since this was kind of like a "party", I did get a chance to hang a few 8 foot banners on TLES, pass out material and talk about the film on the microphone. I got a ton of good response after I talked. (I just hope the guys who were drunk remember me).

Trip To Dallas

I recently went to Dallas on a business trip for Blendtec. We are associated with a chef back in Utah named Todd Leonard. He is a big fan of Blendtec and he was going on a national championship with the ACF . So it was a perfect fit that we should sponsor him. He is an awesome chef!

I also took the opportunity to take my sweet wife. Stephanie had never been to Dallas, except for midway points flying to South Padre Island.

I have high school friends there, so my first choice was one of my best friends, Bob and his wife Lori. Bob is a drummer, I learned drumming from him. Bob has practiced his art for years and I would choose him first over anyone. So we had musical flash-backs of entire albums of Rush, The Police, Yes and The Cars. He says he would want to start a Cars tribute band because he feels they had a lot of music that had been under exposed. I agree.

Steph and I spent most of our time at the Gaylord Texan (love the name). We went to the Grapevine Historical district, and we also looked for a theater that would take The Last Eagle Scout, which is one of three cities I am opening in: Salt Lake, Dallas and LA.

Dallas also has some ghosts that I have had to conquer. The last time I was here, I was packing up things from a storage unit from a short-lived marriage that changed my life forever. Yet it was so short, I have since forgotten most of it's moments. I have attempted to write these down for the time when I will need to recall the events. But while here, I chose not to visit those ghostly locations, even though there was time to do so. I chose to look ahead and focus on the work at hand, namely my film, my friends, and watching my wife riding the mechanical bull at the Gaylord.

WILL IT BLEND - JUSTIN BIEBER

This was one we (I) wanted to do months ago. We sometimes are behind the curve on these videos. But as we are planning the next few months of WILL IT BLEND videos up till our 5th anniversary in November, we are getting a little better about looking ahead and seeing what is hot.

We have recently gotten comfortable blending a new Apple product or the latest video game, but we have had to be a little more creative. Just for a teaser we have a big one coming up in November, of which I can't talk about, but it is probably one of our most requested blends ever.

But back to the Justin Bieber video. I have a new assistant now at Blendtec, Kyle Jacobson. He is a 21 year old kid who is really looking to get into the film business. He came on board after I met him at the LDS Film Festival back in January and he insisted on helping me.

Finally, I gave him the challenge and he started working with me on the Green Smoothie Girl Makeover TV Pilot Blendtec had me producing. Then he just came and worked for free over a two month period. I try to tell him everything I know about the film business... like don't waste your money on film school. Just work with someone in the business for free for a while and you will figure out what you want to do.

Finally, my boss Julie just come up to me and said "why don't we just hire him". And so we did...

So as Kyle and I were purchasing the Justin Bieber crap at the various stores, Kyle would tell the cashier that I had been "waiting for this (video, CD, doll, etc) for a long time, making me look like a Justin Bieber fan. Then, each time I would just cringe and try and defend myself, as if I was accused of being gay, or wear pink or something like that.

So what is this hatred people have for Justin that makes things like blending him such a fascination? The same with hating Rebecca Black or Sarah Palin. I think there is more "hype" on the end of haters then the actual truth. I think there are good marketers that successfully create the "ew" aspect of hating people and things.

I actually saw Rebecca Black sing the National Anthem on Good Morning America and she actually did pretty good. Granted, the song was written poorly, but it wasn't intended for major release. It was an independent recording. I am sure it was just to get Rebecca to practice her art of recording (from what I understand).

Just like I read many of the comments on the WILL IT BLEND videos and laugh because of how far from the truth people make certain things of the show. I strive to be careful before I make judgment on people. It is too bad we are now in a society where people can create a poor image of someone in mere days or even hours.

NOMINATED FOR UTAH ENTERTAINMENT CHOICE AWARDS

Not very good at accepting awards. My main goal in life is to produce good material and get people to think (and make a living). But it has never been my goal to win awards.

But I received a message from someone on Facebook telling me congratulations for being nominated for the 2011 Utah Entertainment Choice Awards, I think mostly for my work on WILL IT BLEND. Between Blendtec and I, we have received many awards for WILL IT BLEND and I am glad for that. But I am hoping to move on and be known for something else. It's the old Leonard Nimoy is Spock syndrome.

But one thing I have accepted and that is that all film making is marketing, no matter what form it is. I am hoping that for the release of THE LAST EAGLE SCOUT that I will have learned a thing or two about marketing that I didn't learn on the other films I made, mostly from the things we did right on WILL IT BLEND.

The other thing I am not good at is schmoozing. I am very lucky to be in a better position then I have been in the past to where I don't need to pander to people for money for a movie or a my next video production job (knock on wood). Stephanie is way better at talking to people, getting to know them, and actually caring for them (not being fake).

In other news, the GREEN SMOOTHIE GIRL pilot Robyn and I have been shooting has been going well. As a reminder, we picked 3 women locally who chose to change their lives through healthy eating. Kind of a "makeover" show. At first, we were doing 3 episodes with each group of people, but as the drama has unfolded, we might make this a 2 hour pilot that won't be a traditional reality show. More on that in the future...

NEW ARTICLE ON TLES

As we get closer to release time for TLES, we will start our viral campaigning. Here is an article I wrote for Big Hollywood.

WILL IT BLEND - THE iPAD 2

We had fun with this one. I wrote around the keynote speech that is always given before the release of a great new Apple product. We hired my old friend Alan Peterson (who plays Ron Erassmessen in The Last Eagle Scout) to be Steve Jobs again (returning fresh from his appearance in the blending of the iPhone 4).

Then we went to the Scera Theater to film the speech in front of no audience and a fake screen in the background. I had just come back from Las Vegas by plane and was a little late. We had very little time and my new assistant, Kyle, was awesome in getting all the equipment there before I showed up.

Then Tom, being the engineer he is, had to make sure we could break and blend the thing. Luckily, we had done it before. We actually shot the blending back at the Will it Blend set in front of a black back drop because we only had the Scera Theater for 3 hours and we only got through the opening. So we filmed everything before and everything after the blend. But you will notice you never see the blending and Steve Jobs in the same shot.

The great thing is I am now mostly shooting with 2 cameras now (sometimes 3) all in High Definition. (thanks Blendtec).

Quickly, the reviews from everywhere have enjoyed something a little different from the normal Will it Blend. Mostly love the Steve Jobs appearance. Enjoy the madness.

PINE VALLEY, UTAH

It has been along since I have entered a post on this blog. I have spent most of my time on Facebook, mostly with business. I have many thoughts and hope to catch up on some.

This cabin is one of the things on my mind. My parents moved to Vegas a few years ago from Virginia to live near my sisters and call it quits. But my dad's brain continues to function like it's 35. He's always has something he wants to do. I imagine I might be the same. I hope.

Pine Valley is a place in Utah where even many long-time Utahn's might say "where is Pine Valley". Look it up on Google. It is down south between Cedar City and St George. I was surprised how green it was with all the pine trees and beautiful surroundings, being in a desert.

My parents got the tip from on old friend from Virginia who now lives in St. George and my dad moved on it quickly. First he bought a small house, about 5 bedrooms (if you think that is small). Ok, maybe I should say average size. Whatever.

I call it small, only because of what my dad did several months later. The picture you see here is a newer cabin he bought after the other house (keeping them both). Using the house for our family use and this cabin for rental. His thinking was that Pine Valley was a nice small get-away with the one country store and no stop light, and families coming up for family reunions... yet no place to rent or stay.

So he just closed on this cabin with a steal-of-a-deal. This 10 bedroom, 10 bathroom, 10,000 sq ft house was for only $650,000. The previous owner put more then 2 million in it and then toppled over. It still has work to do in it, but it is a beauty.

I just walked through it with my sister and my lovely wife and it was fun watching the ladies imaginarily decorate it. They had tons of magazines with pictures of homes, hoping to find some kind of match. It was definitely a dream-builder for Steph and I as we eye a new home in the coming years where we can call it for a long while.

It will be up for rental this summer, hoping to cater to families who are looking for a different kind of experience.