In life, there are ups and downs. Is the goal to spend more time up than down or to find as even a keel as possible? Without a doubt, I find myself riding the waves, undulating like a fat guy’s gut during turbulence. Your faithful narrator inspires a lot of emotion in people. It seems I’m either loved or hated. What rarely happens is that I am ignored or causing an ambivalent “eh…” in most people. With some, I recognize that I am seen as some kind of antagonist, whether it be because of what little successes I’ve gotten or as some core principal that acts in the opposite of their beliefs. Either way, I don’t care too much, except when I get fascinated with the obsessive ones. I am staggered by their inability to see that their interest in me goes into a place of dementia that only the truly psychotic exist in.
When people take the amount of time it takes to write about me or post blogs, etc. I experience genuine awe. Lately, I’ve been buried in work so it’s less likely to hold my attention. I’d rather create than spend time on this other nonsense. I’ll let my work do its own thing.
On the flipside and what makes me even more fascinated are examples of the opposite. I received two emails with links that are far more compelling than anything negative said or done about me.
First, a film forum in Dallas/Fort Worth emailed me because a discussion was going on about me. When people talk about you like this:
Quote:
He seems to really care about the indie community unlike a lot of other directors out there.
I was invited to participate in their forum and post links, etc. When you make videos and have the intent to have them go “viral”, meaning get them out there and other people pass the links on and several other people pass the links on, etc. until it becomes a self perpetuating marketing. This is certainly true of my “moviemaking techniques” videos of last year. They do a lot of good and many people like them. The statistics don’t lie, and these are promoting themselves more than I am at this point. Everyday more links go to the videos and more and more requests come in for copies of the videos.
I’ve even been requested to make DVD’s for various film schools in at least 6 states so far, which leads me to the 2nd example. On INDIETALK.COM, a good online pal send me THIS LINK to a blog by Norman Hollyn, not only a professional editor by trade, but also the HEAD OF the University of Southern California’s (USC’s) Editing track at the School of Cinematic Arts. He quoted my article/book on “Editing Your Own Film”.
Now I’ve never been to film school, and I’m hardly a member of academia, nor did I ever make any significant grades at any level. How freakin’ cool is it that the head of the editing department at USC quoted me and my writing?
It’s all humbling. It makes you wonder if you’re worthy of such praise. I don’t think I am. As much as I am accused of arrogance, I am not quite that full of myself. I am no where near where I want to be at. The only critic that truly matters to me is me. I haven’t satiated that one, so I still have the drive to try harder and harder every day.
I appreciate the praise, from the high and mighty to the most common variety. In the grand scheme of things, suddenly all these naysayers start to turn into static on a channel I can change in the click of a button.
A few weeks ago, I made a conscious decision to ignore the hate mongering and focus on the positives. Combine all the above with the recent Wikipedia interview, and your narrator has a lot to be proud of and no one can really affect that. All I can do is proceed with my plans and keep on succeeding, albeit in very small ways, but I feel great about what few things do go my way. Does anyone really believe they will make me feel bad? There are always fools.
Part 3 of the UNCLE PETE’S PLAY TIME is online now. As each one goes, they get raunchier and more politically incorrect. George dared to take this journey with me and his participating elevates what I had in mind. Combine that with the contributions of TJ Cooley on the backgrounds and my new found friend J.D. Larabee for character designs, and The Boo is quite pleased.
When I later reveal how these are a piece of a puzzle that won’t be grasped until nearly a year and half from now, it will be even more significant. Just when people I know expect me to zig, I then zag, and when I zag, the next move will invariably be a zog, just because I had no idea what I was supposed to do. These UNCLE PETE clips feel like a kind of homecoming for me in my filmmaking endeavors. I started with these kinds of movies and I’ve come back to doing them and it plays a part in my master plan for the next 24 moons.
This should be enough, Charles. Surely, I’ve made my point.
– Peter John Ross
Sometimes known as Sonnyboo
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