I had the good fortune on Sunday night to work on the new Cursive video for their song “Bad Sects” off Happy Hollow. The director is fellow Omahan Nik Fackler who is both really nice and talented. He’s done a bunch of other cool videos for bands like Tilly and the Wall, The Faint, Azure Ray, and more…some of his work can be viewed at his website.

I don’t want to give away any details/plot, but you can create your own story based on the photos I’ve provided here. It’s more imaginative and interactive that way.

It was a fun way to spend an evening. Met some nice, down to earth Omahans who are into film (and music). Many said that they would be interested in working on any projects that I was doing in the area, which was very cool. It’s also fun and interesting to see how other sets/crews/directors work. Though it may be much smaller than L.A.’s, it’s nice to see that there’s a little film community out here.

Kyle, Oleg, Erin, Sean and I went to a College World Series game on Friday evening. North Carolina vs. Mississippi State. North Carolina won 8-5. It was very hot. Sticky hot. The smell of hot dogs and sunblock wafting through the air, signaling both baseball and summertime. It was a good time.

The famed Rosenblatt Stadium, home of the College World Series.

Kyle and Oleg waiting in the long, long general admission line to get in.

Action on the field. A fly ball being caught, in case you couldn’t tell from the tiny figures.

Erin and I wait in eager anticipation of the fly ball being caught. We could also be found cheering for our favorite player, Benji. I wasn’t cheering for any team in particular, just for the sport of baseball. I cheered for singles, doubles, triples, strikeouts, batters who were hit by pitches but walked it off, homeruns, fly ball catches, steals, everything. It didn’t matter what team you were on, as long as you were doing something active and exciting, I was cheering for you.

Besides cheering, this is what I do best at a baseball game. This followed a hot dog and an ice cold coke. Man, do I love sporting events.

Sean was hungry too, but was too lazy to wait in the concession lines.

Beautiful.

Let me give you a little backstory here. Two of my short films were selected for the Great Plains Theatre Conference, held here in Omaha, Nebraska.

In case you were wondering “what are films doing in a theatre conference?” let me assure you that they have a film section. Among the special guests attending this conference were Edward Albee, Patricia Neal (of Breakfast at Tiffany’s fame), and Rachel Jacobson, founder of Film Streams.

If you thought I was getting lazy about writing, and thus were including more photos, you were right. This post is no exception. It’s not all laziness though. Visuals can tell a story just as well as, if not better, than words. See how well film school has taught me?

Here is Mr. Albee himself. Proving that even Pulitzer Prize winning authors are just like us, this was taken right after he walked out of the men’s restroom. My first instinct was to take it as he was walking out, the stiff armed bathroom man on the sign in the background, but then thought better. I’m glad that my respectful and polite instincts won out over my paparazzi instincts…I think.

I know what you’re thinking. No, it’s not just some aging man in light jeans and faded leather and suede. Yes, it has Husker red accents. But it really is him. I swear. You’re just going to have to trust me on this.

I am seriously trustworthy and, as many of my L.A. friends can attest, pretty skilled at spotting and identifying celebrities. I have the credentials. I’ll provide references. I have witnesses.

But who needs all of that? I don’t need to prove anything to you. I’m asking you to trust me. It’s him. No more discussion.

Jamie and Erin, being the wonderful, supportive sisters that they are, came with me for the entire day. Here they are right before they were going to show my films. The excitement and tension was getting to them.

That evening, there was a gala for the conference, where they would hand out awards. It was a real classy affair. Catered, free bar, pianist, tuxedos, the whole nine yards.

As you can see, we chose to dress down for the occasion. Here is Erin on the red carpet.

Me in training for the Oscars.

Oh, and ice sculptures. How classy are ice sculptures? Erin and a penguin, who are very in vogue in films these days.

These Nebraskans are really on top of it.

Mr. Albee’s place at our table.

This night has inspired me to write a play: “Waiting for Albee.”

Erin and I sat at the furthest table from the stage in a corner. This was not only to further signal us as the weirdos who were way younger than anyone else there and underdressed or to elicit stares saying, “Are you even supposed to be here?”, but mostly to provide ease for a quick and early escape from the affair (plus we had a lacrosse championship to go to…see below).

So they started announcing the film winners first, and right as they started to announce the short film winners a large gust of wind blew in the tent, knocking down a large plant nearly on top of Erin, who was startled and started to laugh. I also found it funny that a large plant fell nearly on us, but then could not hear who they were saying, so I started to tell Erin I couldn’t hear and she continued to laugh as others at our table and around us shot annoyed and confused looks in our direction.

Erin quieted down enough for me to hear my name called for second place. I got up, again prompting confused looks from our neighbors. “Take that, I belong here! And I’m a winner!” I wanted to cry. Instead I smiled and made my long way to the stage.

This is Erin’s reaction to my second place finish. She thought I deserved better. She’s got my back.

This was taken today. I tried to re-create my moment of glory with my little sculpted prize. How cute is it?

Great Plains, here we come! Next year we are gunning for greatness, a family dynasty of Midwestern awards. The grand prize in film and playwriting. We will take it all!

Photos taken in the Sculpture Garden in Omaha (located in the Passageway). We are posing by our respective Astrological signs.

The two photos below are not their appropriate signs. We just wanted to see them make those faces.

Warning: PG-13 image below, may be unsuitable for children…or people of any age, for that matter.

Alternate Post Title: LAX: Not only an airport

We are very excited, the woman behind us is not. We were cheering for the same team, so one of us was wrong. My bet’s on us.

You should be able to infer the story from the photos, but to give you more details, this is what I did last Friday and Saturday night (photos taken on Saturday). This is a lacrosse game. This is the Midwest. This is Millard West High School beating Creighton Prep High School for the Championship 7-6. This is my life. It was quite an exciting game, actually. Erin and I attended to cheer on the Wildcats, and to support and cheer on Sean, Erin’s lacrosse-playing boyfriend (notice Erin’s jersey attire). Congrats Wildcats! Go Lacrosse!

Last night I attended the first public opening of Slowdown (Bright Eyes played a somewhat secret, more private show on Thursday night) and here are some photos:

See how excited Sean and Erin are to check it out?

The view upon entering.

This last photo is of the band Art in Manila. They were really great. The band members consist of Orenda Fink (formerly of Azure Ray; guitar, vocals), Adrianne Verhoeven (formerly of The Anniversary; keys, vocals), Dan McCarthy (McCarthy Trenching, Mayday, Bright Eyes), also on keys, Steve Bartolomei (Mal Madrigal) on guitar, Ryan Fox (The Good Life) on bass, and Corey Broman (Dance Me Pregnant) on drums. You can listen to them here. Their album, “Set the Woods on Fire,” recorded by Joel Petersen of The Faint, will be released by Saddle Creek on August 7th.

There were six bands on the bill: Capgun Coup, Flowers Forever, Now, Archimedes!, Art in Manila, Domestica and Little Brazil for $2. Wish I could’ve seen more. Tonight there are five: Mal Madrigal, The Terminals, Ladyfinger, Bear Country, and Neva Dinova. Wish I could go, but I am babysitting.

I give a hearty congratulations to Saddle Creek and its owners, Jason Kulbel and Robb Nansel. The place was really nice. Spacious, clean, good sound, nice design, lots of seating, nice lighting, a photo booth, videogames, pool, a jukebox, framed band posters on the wall, and some artwork. The opening drew an eclectic crowd, which was nice to see. It’s great that so many people came out to support it. There was also a very nice, laidback vibe (besides the people who came barreling past us, bombarding the photo booth that we were about to enter). Two thumbs up.

Another article on the opening of Slowdown from Omaha online magazine Lazy-i.

Article on the new music venue in Omaha owned and run by Saddle Creek, which is slated to open this Friday, from the Omaha World-Herald.