Monday, December 24, 2007

I LIEK YER BUTTONSLOL!



Here's a photo from back in the day, of me kickin' it at Fluid. . . for more neat photos, you should check my lovey's website!Ali Dombrowski's Flickr Page of Photo-y Goodness! < That's a neat link!!1

UMMMMMM! Boh!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

"After Her, There's Nothing"







Here's some still shots of the LOVELY Fara D'Aguiar, and INCREDIBLE Morgan Greising, from a short film excercise we had to do for class. . the short film is called "After Her, There's Nothing" and it looks GREAT.

For the excercise, we had to choose from 4 dialogues, and write a scene from scratch, without changing the dialog.

We shot using PANASONIC DVX-100A (my new favorite camera), and then all the editing and post was done in FCP 6.0.2

. . . I'll post this video to youtube, and a bunch more videos, VERY soon. . . Chrismahanukkwanzica is coming soon, and i'll have some time to do some uploading.

Special thanks to Ayberk Sak, Fabrizio Schepisi, and Herrard Costales for being an AWESOME crew.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Meatyou in the Virtual World

I've been thinking about this thing for a while. . . It's not going to be funny, just really gekky, and thought provoking.
(I saw this post up on Slashdot, and it got me thinking about it again.)

When I was living at The Aspect House, there was talk of really taking a hard look at Secondlife, and the club scene there. We had talked about making a model of the house, and populating it with people who could have a house party while we were broadcasting live. This was the first part.

The next part came to me one night in while I was chilling down in The Basement Labs with Employee #6817 (who's got a new album for free DL on that website) tripping for 14 hours off some research chemical that's yet to be made illegal. We designed the concept for a system that would track a subject's movement using RFID and relative location of some sensors for use with live generative music.

The third part is an idea that I first heard from Krylen over at (((AR))), and took on as my own personal wetdream: A wearable computer, with a heads-up display, and some sort of tactile interface device that would allow me to stay online 24/7, even overlay information on the adjustably-transparent display, to enhance the enviroment I was seeing.

Now, combine all 3 parts, and what do you get? You show up at a party with LIVE DJ's (or other musical act) that's being streamed live online to a rendered version of the meatspace room that you're in, wearing a computer. The computer system in the room tracks your position, and then places you in that relative position in the rendered cyberspace room. Now, there's remote avatars from all over the world in the cyberspace room, and your meatspace HUD shows their relative postion to you.

Now, who's to say that you're not all at the same party? And, with a little work, it's technically feasible.


So, yeah.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

"After Here, There is Nothing." Script

Some Script Notes:

The role of NICK is gender neutral. He was origin originally conceived as a he, but in retrospect, the role can exist as much for a girl, as a guy.

"After Her, There's Nothing."
a short film by Mike Mazzotta. Dialog provided by Paul Warner.

INT. BEDROOM – EARLY EVENING


ELISE, a beautiful young woman in heavy black eye makeup, and Nick, an athletic young man, are lying naked in a small bed, covered by a black sheet. Nick's hands are bound to the bed, but he comfortable. They are both out of breath, Nick moreso than Elise, as they stare at the ceiling.


NICK

It's been a long time.


Beat.


Elise looks over at him cooly.


ELISE

Yeah.


Beat.


Nick shifts his body to look at her.


NICK

I never expected to see you here.


He breaks in a smile, and she looks away. She sits up slightly, looks around at the room, which is in shambles. Their hastily discarded clothes lay on the furniture, and various pieces of advanced sexual 'things' and bondage gear are visible: Balls gags, handcuffs, bottles of lube and boxes of condoms are all readily excessible. There is an absence of home things: there are no framed photographs. . .


She turns to him.


ELISE

You got a cigarette?


He looks at her, and smiles. She reaches over to the radiator at the side of the bed, and rifles through his pockets until she finds a pack of cigarettes, and a lighter, take a cigarette, economically lights it, and lays back down, smoking. Nick shakes his head, and laughs bitterly.


NICK

Some things never change.


Elise moves her head a handful of degrees, and looks at him flatly, still smoking.


ELISE

You look pretty good, considering.


Nick smiles charmingly.


NICK

Flattery?


As he leans in to kiss her, she turns her body away, gets up angrily.


ELISE

There you go. . .


Elise storms out of the room, and Nick follows her with his gaze, then lays back down, and stares at the ceiling.


Beat.


END OF SCENE.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Only in New York. . .

Do you know who the fastest gun in the west was?

Apparently (according to a drunken bum in Union Square) it's Doc Holiday. Who, between being the fastest gun in the west, and a gambler, found time to practice his TRUE love. . . Dentistry.

Here's to you, crazy bum who loves Doc Holiday. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doc_Holiday

Enjoy.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Thanksgiving, a shot of love, and The FUCKING G Train. . .


^"Atlas" by Battles

Happy Posthumous Turkey Day!

I can't stand "A shot of Love" on MTV. Blah Blah Blah Slut, Blah Blah Blah Meathead, Blah Blah Blah Whore, Blah Blah Blah Sellout. I'm guess I'm just pissed that I'd never get on a show like that. I like free booze and sex in hot tubs.

Anyway, so I've been working on this short film called "Death Rides The G Train". . . and since wrapping, I've had nothing but trouble with the fucking G Train.

Last night, I left NYFA in Union Square around 12:45am. . . I hopped the L right away (it was pulling into the station as I came down the steps), and I rode it to Lorimer St., made the transfer to Metropolitan Ave, and was stopped by a pushy little worm of a guy in an MTA Vest. (Italics for Moron)

"Sir, There's No Trains Running"
"EXCUSE ME?!?!"
"Well, sir, they're only running on one track. . ."
"So they're running?" (Both directions on one track, which sucks, but happens)
"Yes. But we also have SHUTTLE BUSES!!!" (Cue Triumphant Trumpets!)
"Uh, I think I think I'll take the train. . ."
"You Should Take The Bus."
"Well, if you insist. . ."
"TAKE THE BUS!"
". . . How often do they run?"
"The buses run every 15 minutes, and the trains. . . every 40?"
"
Ok?"
"Just take the bus you would normally take!"



I don't normally take buses. I try to ride underground as much as possible. It's warm, and it cheap, and fast. Often it's pretty fucking convenient. I try not to spend too much time on the surface world: The daystar often burns my flesh, and cyborgs roam the streets. . .

Anyway, against my better judgement, and in a state of TOTAL confusion, I step onto the mean streets of Brooklyn. I think this is a good place to take a break.


^French Pop is Impossible.

Right. So there I am, Breathing all that beautiful air, ready to be attacked by vampires, et al. . . .and I wait for 20 minutes. . .

and there's a couple of us hanging around (all not sure if we're even in the right spot to be picked up. . .) and I see it in the distance. . . Yonder, it is a bus!

AND IT'S COMING TOWARD US!

AND IT SAYS COURT SQUARE BOUND! I'm supposed to be going toward Court Square! W00T!

So it stops (!), and I get on, with Metrocard in hand (!) and the bus driver hold his hand over the card reader fare thing, so apparently the ride is FREE! Yay!


You get what you pay for. I'm riding the bus, waiting for something to look familiar, and nothing does, all the way up to the last stop, when the bus driver kicked 3 of us off the bus.

So. . . long story short, I walked to the subway station (AT LAST! The sweet, subterranean womb of New York!), took the F train to God knows where, and then took the L train FROM FUCKING UNION SQUARE, BACK to Lorimer, then made the transfer to Metropolitan Ave, then waited through 3 of the wrong trains for an hour and half, caught the Court St. Bound G train.

I got home at 4 am.

What else did I do last night? Crispin Glover's "It's Fine! Everything is Fine!" which was quite an experience. Definitely worth checking out. And his slideshow was epic win. Check him out at www.crispinglover.com



^Here's an example.


OH! And thank you to everyone at the AR house for throwing the "Welcome Back Mike" Party at Silent Cal's, and thanks to everyone who came and hung out! I'll see you all soon.

~Mike

ps. Go see Bergman Movies, but not "Monika". She's whiny.

Monday, November 12, 2007

shooting all week. . .

. . . That's the long and short of it. Been watching ALOT of David Lynch movies lately. Saw INLAND EMPIRE @ IFC CENTER, and i've come to the verdict that David Lynch is now the Anti-Godard: No Intellectual content, but purely emotional content to the point that an ENTIRE theater of people stared at a screen for 3 hours, all got up at the end of the movie, and left in silence. . . except for us smart-ass film students, who immediately burst into laughter.

David Lynch is win.


I have another post that I was supposed to post, but i haven't posted it yet, so when the post is posted, it will actually be post-dated! (Ha!)

So, yeah. I want Nick Zedd to produce my talk show. And he will (he doesn't know it yet, but he will).


Win.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

blogpost interruptus

Here's some updates. . . I'm going to try to post 2 16mm studies that I did, as well as (hopefully) an art piece that I did before I left for school. . .

I just wrote the script for a Musical Comedy called "Death Rides The G Train (a Musical)". . . I'm really looking forward to shooting for it. . . it looks like I'll be casting this Wednesday.

I was going to shoot my music video project last week, but I got pneumonia, and ended up in th hospital for a night. That sucked, but gave me all sorts of delirious ideas to drawn upon for the above mentioned script. So, it's twisted. It looks like I'm going to try and shot the music video on one of our days off.

We've just started working with the DVX-100s, which I'm pretty stoked on. I can't wait t be able to shot 10 times as much footage for what it costs me just to buy 3 minutes of film stock. I'll finally be able to afford to feed my crew.

Employee #6817 has a myspace. GO TO IT NAO: http://www.myspace.com/mr6817


Also, all this month, the IFC CENTER is running midnite screenings of David Lynch movies. . . I'll be there every week, @ midnite on Fridays, rocking out. This week is INLAND EMPIRE. see you there. . .

~Mike

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Not Tapeworm, but close. . .

Puscifer.com



Maynard James Keenan's solo project. I've been waiting for YEARS for it. And it the album finally comes out October 30th. . . fucking go check it out, and fucking support. . . It's cool to see somebody like Maynard pick up the flag for indie folks. . . to give us hope, I guess. If anyone can be wicked successful with it, it's him. Also go check out realvast.com. John Crosby is fucking amazing. . . and another indie guy.

anyway, today is another Sunday. . . we had a full day of shooting today (13 hours worth). . . we ended the day with tired actors, and a 16mm camera that had developed a taste for 56$ per roll* (stock and processing) Tri-X Reversal Film. . . so. . . we wrapped early.

We start shooting again on Monday. . . I have to be on set at 10am, I think. Maybe. Who knows. I'm fucking burned out. At leastone of the two projects we shot today went well. .

I've been reading THE SANDMAN comics by Neil Gaiman. Fucking awesome. I've definitely lost sleep.

What else?

Next week, I'm shooting a music video for class. . .and I'm using a song by Dylan and Limewax. It's gonna be intense. Guy. Chair. Handcuffs. 2 girls in bondage gear. Half a gallon of fake blood. Can't wait.

Speaking of fake blood, I edited the footage from my last shoot. . . it was definitely a center of discussion in my class. People REALLY liked it. . . unfortunately, it expose the way I had hoped, and some of the focus was a little off. . . but that's what you get when you shot 16mm with lots of preparation, and no practical experience. If there was only a way to make digital look like Tri-X, I'd be set. I could shoot DAYS worth of dv tapes, and still not pay as much as I would for 2 hours of 16mm.




. . . and I'm thinking about buying a Mac.




Ouch. It hurts to type that. I can't believe I just did. Did I mention that there's new tracks up on the Puscifer website?

Ok, to justify what I said above, (and trust me, I DEEPLY feel that it needs justification. . .) I've been giving this ALOT of thought, and I've come up with 3 things to justify my want for a Macbook Pro.

1. It's thin, light and pretty.
2. It's pretty powerful.
3. Final Cut Fucking Pro.

I can edit more footage in FCP in an hour than I could in my BELOVED Cinelerra in 5. . .

Ok, maybe that's hyperbole, but FCP is easy, and elegant. Cinelerra is a wonderfully, lovingly crafted broadsword, but FCP is a fucking lightsaber, and who doesn't want to be Luke FUCKING Skywalker (or Plo Koon, in all his piss-yellow, big alien foreheaded glory).

And, it has a really nice text engine. And some really cool feature.

and I can put it on a resume.

BTW!

Started writing some treatments this week for a couple of different projects, hopefully I can develope them into screenplays. . . one is about a crazy guy that lives alone in Brooklyn, and his finding love. . . and being MIND-RAPED by The Spectre of Death when a mistake at the pharmacy leaves him with less than the number of pills he should have for his perscriptions. ..

and one is about an young man, and an old man, in a cemetary. Both are . . . Grim Reapers, for lack of a better term, but one is far grimmer than the other.

MJK? Has he come up in conversation yet.

i should go pass the fuck out. it's been a long fucking day.

~Mike


*100 Ft/30m/3minutes

Sunday, October 14, 2007

NYC, DAY #?

Today is Sunday.
We wrapped shooting 4 shorts around 11:00pm last night. I'll post mine online sometime this week. The academy has been going really well, and my roommates are friggin' awesome. I've been here a week, and nobody believes it, especially the guys in my section. We feel like we've been there for a month, at least. We've all learned alot so far (I'm getting to be a fuckin' pro with a digital light meter and a Prokit), and I've learned more about technical filmmaking in 6 days than I've ever thought possible. fuck yeah.

Go see Bladerunner: The Final Cut if it's showing in your area. If not, travel to an area where it's showing, and go see Bladerunner: The Final Cut.


Do it nao.

An Open Letter from Mike

Hey, everybody.

I just wanted to announce that I am currently taking a sabbatical from Aspect Radio for a year to attend The New York Film Academy in Manhattan, NY. It is a very difficult school, and I feel that I wouldn't be able to fully live up to my position at AR while I'm here, so I'm taking a break for the year, and can't wait to return with fresh ideas, new skills, and amazing stories to tell you all.

I want to thank everyone for making these past two years so incredible: some of the most amazing times of my life have been working alongside all of you, and getting to know you all. There's too many people to thank. You've all helped make me who I am today, and that's not something easily put into words.

I'd like to stay in touch with everyone as much as possible while I'm at The Academy, so I'm going to keep my Mike@AspectRadio.com e-mail open. Feel free to contact me at any time, for personal stuff. As far as for Aspect Radio related stuff, feel free to send all of your inquiries to Daniel Sevelt, our Executive Producer, at Daniel@AspectRadio.com. You should all send him an e-mail, introducing yourself if you don't know him yet, and just to say 'Hi!' if you do already.

I look forward to working with all of you in the future, and I can't wait to see you all again. Again, Thank You very much for everything, and go forth and do great things.

See you all next year.

~Mike Mazzotta, AspectRadio.com

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

NYC Day 1

I moved into my apartment in Brooklyn today. Fun is! (I hate moving.)

Tomorrow I start class. . . w00t! Not so w00t is the fact that I have to be up at 7 tomorrow (PWNED) which means I should probably go to sleep sometime soon. . .



ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz. . .

Monday, September 24, 2007

Birds of Maya



BirdsofMaya.com

^EPIC WIN.

Moving to NYC, Taking a Sabbatical Year, Gonna Have a Real Good Time. . .

I leave for New York this coming weekend to attend NYFA (New York Film Academy) for a year.

Much love and respect to the ENTIRE Western MASSive, and thanks for all the rockin' times. My plans are still up the air (relatively speaking), but I am taking a sabbatical leave from Aspect Radio, as least for the next year, and can't wait to see where we're all at in a year. It's gonna be wicked.

So. . if you're trying to reach me, the best is to send me an e-mail at SCREWFILMS@gmail.com (my new personal e-mail accounts). Do it NAO.

~Mike

ps. Production has been halted on Court of Conscience. . . for now. I'm taking a break, and reimagining some of it. Also, I'm fucking moving, so that makes it tough.

pps. Check out this half-decent Fan Video for the Matson Jones song "N.E.S.F.T.O."



^/me is not associated with this video. . . I guess I'll have to write them, and see what's good with doing an ACTUAL video for them. . .

Monday, September 10, 2007

Lady Day, and one of the most beautiful sequences from live TV i've ever seen. . .



Billie Holiday

Outsiders, Lowbrow , Beauty, Getting the Joke, and The Purpose of Art.


. . . some wikipedia links i've been reading. . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Darger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_probe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Residents
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowbrow_%28art_movement%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_jamming
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_%22Wild_Man%22_Fischer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_W%C3%B6lfli
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salon_%28gathering%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Knipfel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsider_music
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsider_art
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Willis

Peacebone.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

New Things Soon. . .

. . .working on some new scripts, and Ideas for short films. . .

having some really cool ideas, and fleshing out old ones from the old sketchbook. . .

getting ready to leave for NYC. . . pretty stoked. . .

Monday, August 27, 2007

Rereading/Retiring/Returning

I bought a new sketchbook today for my birthday today. . for the past couple of years, off and on, I've been carrying sketchbooks with me, to scribble all my ideas down. . .

so, I've been going through my now retired sketchbook, while listening to Soul Coughing, and typing all the ideas for music videos, short films, and features that I've been carrying around for the past year or so. . .

I really like this sketchbook, but I've really beaten the shit out of it. . . and I'm kinda afraid that it's going to start to lose pages. . so I bought a new, smaller sketchbook, one that I can shove into one of my pockets, and carry that much easier. It'll be a welcome addition to my wardrobe, especially since I'll be walking around New York constantly thinking, starting October, when I start at The New York Film Academy. I'm already planning my Oscar acceptance speeches, but I really gotta keep my ego in check. I'm so excited, though. . . I can't wait. . . I can actually feel it in my chest, swelling as I think of it.

I'm getting jittery. . . it's hard to focus on typing. I'm going to fucking film school. I'm scared shitless. . . It's going to be amazing.

Also, Court of Conscience has been WARMLY received by everyone who's seen it so far, barring the incomplete foley. . . I'd like to finish it this week, but I'm feeling kinda burned out on that project. . . I'm sure once I start cranking away at it again, then I'll pick up some of the momentum that I've lost. ..

I feel like I'm in love, but not as warm. . . I just feel good. I can't wait to leave. . .



I'm going to miss this feeling almost as much as the people that I'm going to leave behind, but it actually feels like I'm coming home.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Billy Chaka FTW





Isaac Adamson is friggin' awesome. I remember grabbing a copy of Hokkaido years ago, and really enjoying it. If you're an otaku, and you enjoy a good dose of neo-noir, then be sure to check him out.

I'd have to say that Isaac Adamson is almost directly responsible for my absolute love for all things noir. Check him out.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

. . . a las barricadas

Black storms shake the sky
Dark clouds blind us
Although death and pain await us
Against the enemy we must go

x

Star(Dust)[constellation]


"the brightest night/i ever saw/across an empty parking lot/no stars"

~Silver Mount Zion, "Babylon Was Built on Fire/StarsNoStars"

I forgot how much I ABSOLUTELY love GYBE, and A Silver Mount Zion. . . I've been listening to "This is Our Punk Rock" during most (if not ALL) of the editing for my next piece. . . which I'm hoping will be done some time this week (it'll prolly need some tweaking at some point. . .but that's ok. . nothing lasts forever. . .)

also, go see stardust. Robert DeNiro FTW.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Muses.

M.Doughty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Doughty

F.W. Murnau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Wilhelm_Murnau

Charles Bukowski
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukowski

Bill Hicks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_hicks

Mark Sandman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Sandman

the hard part is over. . .

. . . just finished throwing together the True Crew Commercial for EROTIC.CITY, featuring a beautiful soul named Kim as the tied up girl, and her amazing boyfriend, DJ ADDAM BOMBB, as the overlooking guy. . .

. . . it was a headache, and though it's pretty cool, I think ti looks like a piece of shit, and can't wait to re-cut the footage into a non-commercial piece, using the entire Maurice Chevalier song. . . All of the footage looks great, but I really didn't have time to really take my time with it, which bothers me immensely. . .

BUT, I have another piece that I would like to finish (again, featuring Addam Bombb), that's in a similar style, a lo-fi, lowbudget, Silent German Expressionist film that i shot for exactly 27$ (Not including my camera, or use of a bar, BUT including cigaretts and a nifty hat that I enjoy wearing when I'm shooting ME stuff) called "Court of Conscience". When was the last time somebody you know made a silent movie? I can't remember. . . it'll have the same visual style as this piece, and If (When?) I do a DIY dvd release, I'm going to throw a finished version of the bondage footage in with it.

here's the commercial. I love doing things like this, to promote cool things. . .


enjoy.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

naughty girls doing knotty things. . .

I'm working on a VideoFlyer for a true crew event. . . It's a fetish party, so I did a bondage shoot in Holyoke. . .

Should be done (hopefully) by the end of the week. . .

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Abomination. . .



here's the first really dark piece. . . i really like how this came out. . .

. . . sometimes having fucked-up video files can be a good thing. . .

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

REFINERY 348 by Employee #6817

Refinery 348





Here's the video i did for Employee #6817's REFINERY 348 experimentation. . . entirely shot on single CCD Canon Elura, all digital video effects in Kino, edited in Cinelerra. . . this was a quick project, and extremely fun . . . I enjoy throwing together short projects like this. . . it's not my usual style, but It's still fun. . .

Beginning of the end. . .

. . .here it is. A blog.

. . . finishing "court of conscience" soon. . . shot an interview with Rabbit in the Moon. . ..


. . .had an idea for a near-future/post collapse story based on Sue from the Johnny Cash song. . .



. . . firing tracers into the dark. . .

:mm