Women in Art

It takes about 3 minutes and it is very very cool.

Well that didn't work...

"I'll try and write every day for 2 weeks."

Yeah. Right.

It was a nice idea but one that was based in some kind of quicksand reality. It's not that I didn't want to write. In fact I've been fully prepared constantly thinking of new and interesting topics to write about. But still, no go. And I don't exactly know why. I'd like to say I was shooting a film in Tanzania. I'd like to say I was tucked away in some B&B in the woods with some pretty young thing. I'd like to say I was on a coast-to-coast road trip. But none of these would be true. The reality is - most likely - come the end of the day I just forgot to sit down and put my 30 minutes in.

Today I make up for that. Today I write about the abortive attempt at shooting a short little 3-minute YouTube film about me trying to write a song. I call abortive because not only did I basically get nothing out of it, but I actually walked away feeling like I was more of a looser than I do on a good day. Nice.

So the idea was Adam tries to write a song. Well, I'm familiar with that. I've been trying to write a song for the last 2 years with little to no success. Sure I come up with some cool chord progressions. Sometimes I even have a momentary flash of poetic inspiration, but in the end the song never comes to fruition. All I end up with are a couple cool chord progressions and heartfelt esoteric "I wish you were here with me" drivel. And oh what drivel it is!

So, I thought this would make a funny little YouTube movie thing and I would begin the journey of creating my own work and putting it out there for the world to see. Saturate the market, so to say, with flickering images of Adam Donshik. This way I would be taking my friend Jeremy Toeman's advice and do something to create interest in me as opposed to waiting for the phone to ring - and may I say I am not waiting for the phone to ring.

OK, the basic premise is this: when I go to write I tend to do everything but write. I watch TV, play a little, watch more TV, get something to drink, play a little, clean the cat litter, make a phone call, kill ants with Formula 409, make my way back to the guitar but get distracted by an overwhelming need to clean my closets, etc. You get the point. It's not that I have ADD - which I was diagnosed with - it's that I don't really have anything to say. Which is also a lie, but one that I seem to be adept at propagating.

409 does a great job of killing ants on contact. Try it sometime.

Well, my friend Mary, an accomplished filmmaker in her own right - check out her film that's ripping up the festival circuit What Hot Guy? - was kind enough to come over and help me out. Two hours and 1 60 minute tape later I had little more than me scrolling through the 2400 contacts in my cell phone looking for someone to ask out, a humiliating concept without it being taped for all posterity. I'm sure one of these days I'm going to sit down and edit something out of it. They do say directing happens in teh editing room. Of course I don't know who they are so I don't really give the statement much credence.

What did I learn from this debacle? Ok, that may be a little strong. What did I learn from this experience - 'cause you gotta learn something or it wasn't worth it... What I learned was this: I need to draw up a shot list before embarking on a video journey or I ain't getting nowhere. BUT I DON'T WANNA. Too bad.

I'm sure I'll make another attempt in the near future to put something together. Christ I think I know how to do everything better then the ones who are doing it already... now I've got to put my money where my mouth is. I am no longer a passive observer but instead an active participant in my life so I think I should act accordingly.

Well, that's all I got for now. Not really that interesting today. But we can't always change the world now, can we?

OK, I'll try to edit something together ASAP and put it up. Check back periodically.

And this time I will try and write more often. Funny shit just happened and once I find out where it all lies I'll write about it.

Till then...

The Dawning of a New Day

I've decided that I am going to write something here on a daily basis for the next 2 weeks. It's going to be a challenge. Blogging seems easy enough. You sit down and start typing and the words appear on the screen and, wow, you've got something. But what becomes difficult is the sits power it takes to write something. Kinda like the idea that if I take 30 minutes to write something is that 30 minutes I have to subtract from something else I was going to do? Is that an additional 30 minutes I could have spent watching the finale of LOST or browsing Chemistry.com hoping their advanced matching system has found me Ms. Right? 30 minutes. OR am I afraid that the allotted 30 minutes may explode into something more significant like 45 or 60 minutes. Then I might be dipping into precious sleep time - which there never seems to be enough of around season finale time.

So what is 30 minutes really? When you're with someone special its too short. When you're waiting on the 405 to go 2/10 of a mile its forever. But today its the allotted time to write something that hopefully, at some point, means something.

I think I wrote in some earlier post that I started this because I figure since I'm a writer, of sorts, I should write and what better forum then the world wide web? Well, it's entirely possible this and the handful of TV shows I've been on could be my living legacy. So, for those of you who've been on board, thanks for sharing and continue to do so into the future. You are part of my history as I am now a part of yours.

There's where 30 minutes makes a difference. If I can put some thought of mine down that has a lasting affect then I did something of note today. Change the world one 1 and 0 at a time. Infect one's way of thinking. Change the path of one's decision. 30 minutes to change the world. And I don't even have to save a cheerleader.

Perhaps in this 30 minutes the pain of life could dissipate long enough for one to see the flowers, smell the air and realize that all is not bad and all is not crashing down around like an Iraqi city under siege. Perhaps in this 30 minutes could swallow whole the nagging feelings of cowardice that holds one back from making the call that could change their life forever. Perhaps in this 30 minutes i will get the inspiration to get up, walk out of work and finish the incomplete jobs that sit waiting for me at home. Perhaps. Or this 30 minutes will just be a respite from life and a mildly poetic, mildly philosophical look at nothing in particular but the time it took for me to sit and type this. Just imagine what will happen when I start podcasting...

Thank you for taking the 30 minutes to sit and read through this. Know that this is just the beginning, a dawning if you will, of a new day...

New Demo Reel

I've reedited my demo reel - again. Check it out!