Resolution

It is a new year and time for new year resolutions! I am sure this won't come as a surpise for regular readers of my blog but, I am going to become a full-time writer. Time away from the cameras has really taught me that is what I want to do. My movie was great because of the writing, my blog gets a lot of hits because of the quality of my writing and, its just staring me in the face. So this year, Peter Bear becomes a famous writer. Of course my videos are a big part of my work so they are still going to show up here and there when I get to them because you can still write in videos even without putting the words on the blog!

It was staring me in the face the whole time and this year I am going to make a go at it for real. I am going to do some research and see what the best plans are. I want to probably write movies more than books or novels but I will write those too. I just have to get the "write" exposure to make this dream come true.

Do you guys have tips on how to become a writer full time like that? I know I need a portfolio but I have this blog and my movie and loads of stories I wrote in middle school that I am still proud of. (There is one about a day where it rained hot dogs that I am sure I will turn into a big movie when I know it can be created with the right budget). All the peaces are in the right place but I just need those next connections.

If you have any tips other than google or craig'slist I want to know them!

Day after Christmas shopping again!

If you remember from last year, I just absolutely postivetly LOVE going shopping after Christmas Day to get various items I have had my eye on or spend some of those gift cards I get every year. This year I got a handful of giftcards for Barns and Nobles so Judy and I went to the Woodruff Road edition of the store. It is near a Best Buy and a Red Robin and a strange place called PF Change that I have never been. Judy was in a good mood and kept handing me things she thought I should buy. I ended up getting a solar powered calculater and a Rubix Cube because they were on clearance but the main thing I got was a big book on the history of cinema that has a bunch of pictures of movie sets from the whole last centurey. I dont really love books so I didn't use all my giftcards and I will be able to go back for sure.

After we left B&N, we went to Best Buy. We tried the newest video games on the screens but they are really expensive. My mind was blown to see the nintendo3DS in person because it produces images that seem like they are right in your face but without 3D glasses. I think it has a camera and I think in the future I will need to use one of those to film my next 3D movies. Judy bought a DVD of some strange expressive dancing yoga video even after I told her it was weird and that people were watching. I looked at the smartphones with data plans while she checked out because I didn't want to be seen in line with here! Those smartphones have really become something amazing. Cameras, internet, email, facebook, photos, videos, apps. They have it all. Computers have shrunk and they can now be in your phone. It is absolutely astonishing how far we have come. I am going to really push my grandmother to let me get one because I think it will change everything. I hope it works.

We had lunch at Red Robin. I ate a hamburger with a lot of delicious cheese and mayonaisse on it. I also got a cookie milkshake that was delicious. Judy had just some french fries. I don't think it was Red Robins fault because it is a quality establishment, but I got sick from my food a little bit. I am still sneezing right now actually. Oh well :(

So it was a pretty fun day after christmas shopping, but with more gift cards and plans in the plans, I think I will be going back real soon!

Did you get anything good?

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013!

My grandmother took me to visit some of her old army wife friends in North Carolina for the last few days and so I have not had time to write anything else lately, but I just wanted to tell you one and all:

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

It is a great year and a great season so let's just keep it up and have a good next year to! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The artist: a short story

Eric woke up one morning and looked around his bed. All around him were fuzzy forest animals that had gathered in his room. He looked in to the hallway and saw there were no animals there so he realized the animals must have been there for a reason. He carefully looked under his bed to not wake the animals and have a real problem on his hands. Under his bed there was just a box of old wrapping paper from the previous years after Christmas sales but there was no food for the animals which Eric thought would have attracted them their in the first place.

Eric was an artist who was best known for his realistc drawings of animals which he had won a couple of prizes for in a local tshirt contests in the last few years. He looked and started to realize that the animals on the ground looked like they were drawin with pencil and colored with crayon. These were his trademarks and he started to realize that these animals were not fuzzy as much as waxy like the crayons they were colored. They were his original creations from the t-shirt contests, all had come to life, and they were sitting around his bed.

Eric gasped and that awoken the main animal, a purple colored fox that Eric had been proud of when he drew it originally, but not now. He was afraid because the fox woke the other animals and now they were gearing up to bite or eat him. He didn't have anywhere to go, so he stood as high as he could on the bed.

But the animals were all awake and growling at his bed. They started to climb up the sheets hanging down to the floor and just as they got to Eric's feet, he closed his eyes and jumped instinctively.

Right when Eric landed on the bed, he woke up like he had been shaking by the falling version of himself that had just jumped. It was all a dream. Next to his bed was a beautiful image of a smiling purple fox that would never bite him. Eric winked at the fox and smiled.

THE END.

De ja vu

Have you ever stood up to fast and then had a light headed feeling? It is like you are not really in your own body for a minute or something. I think it is called "de ja vu." I have been feeling that way all day off and on. I tried taking an advil to stop it but that hasnt worked yet.

Here is an interesting prospective on "de ja vu" that I thought up. Imagine it is actually like that movie the Matrix and we are all just part of a big machine or something and de ja vu is when you are about to become aware of it or something. Pretty neat though isn't it? Maybe I am just some computer program or something like that and I am created by some other creature or person in another world and I am just doing things he is telling me to do. I know it sounds silly to really think about it but its a fun though and I have been feeling this alot for some reason today more than ever before.

If it was Christmas that would be interesting and I would ahve some more theories but today is just some other day. Maybe I used to be a cat in a passed life and this was the day the cat got hit by a car or something? That would make a prettty good short story!

I just wanted to share that with you . Maybe I need to drink some water or fruit juice to get some vitamins.

Distant island choices

Yesterday Judy came over and asked me the weirdest question I think I have ever heard. "What five things would you bring with you to a distant island?" I wasn't sure at first exactly what the parameters of the question were because they weren't made clear but, Judy wanted me basically to pick my favorite posessions that I couldn't live without and I could only live on a distant island and only bring those things. There are a lot of problems with this question because I would obviously need to bring food and a boat so I could get back to land and live my life but this is a fictional question that is intended to get at what your favorite things are, so I thought about it for a while and finally figured out my list.

1 guitar
If you know me you know that music and music performance and learning is a great passion of mine. I would bring the guitar because it would allow me to keep learning and playing and entertaining myself and my fellow island inhabitents. It is a classic form of art and entertainment and, I can't believe I could live without it and still be happy.

2 video camera
I know I couldn't have electricity necesarily but this is fictional so I am just ignoring that. If I brought a video camera, I could make thousands of videos about island life and start making exotic island themed films. Maybe even puppet films or wildlife documentaries. I have to have a camera with me all the time when I am in the mood and this would be absolutely necessarily.

3 laptop
I am also known for my internet use and writing skill and you have to have a laptop to get that stuff done. I could write in the sand on the island but I dont know how much space I would have on the island or how high the tides are, so my words could be lost. With a computer I could record my work for future generations.

4 RALPH S MOUSE the book
I have loved this book since I first read it in Elementary school and in certain times of my life it has been very comforting. When I read it my mind gets imaginitive and I think about what it would be like to be that small. INDIAN AND THE CUP BOARD is another great size-oriented book that would be another option. I would have to bring a waterproof version of RALPH S MOUSE to keep it safe for my constant reading.

5 rope
I needed to leave one logical open for a tool like "rope." I thought of a lot of different options (a bag of bricks, matches, paper plates, knifes, etc.) but rope seems to be the most versatile. The other things can be made from island pieces but rope is something that can only be made in a factory. I would have a lot of advantages to have ropes on the island with me, because pirates never had that kind of luxury.

So there you have it. I mentioned before that this is not exactly a complete list of what I would actually bring to a distant island because I would obviously have to prepare and bring the tools necessary to keep myself thriving on the island but, its just some fun!

What about you? What are your distant island choices?

Poetry

I have been thinking very poeticly lately and it is the highest form of art a writer can aspire to do so I wanted to share with you a couple of short poems I have been working on this week. They take time to get the wording exactly right so read them slowly!

Untitled

snowman watching
snowman smiling
snowman touching
snowman waiting

snowman wishing
snowman waiving
snowman loving
snowman melting

Cat and Mouse

The cat sits silently
Watching the clocks tick
Examining the mouse holes
Waiting for the moment
To strike!

The cat walks confidently
With the mouse in its teeth
Ready to deliver
To me!

Solar Power

Bridges burn brightly

From fearful forces

Sent by sun's shine.

Poetry is really a writer's art.

THE HOLIDAY SEASON STARTS IN AN INTERESTING WAY!!!!

I woke up early very excited today because it is one of the best shopping days of the year, "BLACK FRIDAY"! It is officially the first day of the Christmas season, which is my favorite season of the year. I am burning a mix CD of the best new Christmas song versions I could find on Youtube, and Judy is going to pick me up very soon but, I wanted to just write a quick post because I had an interesting thought!

Look at the number of the day today, it is the 25th of the month. What else has that number? CHRISTMAS DOES! I bet that means this year is going to be extra special. I don't think I have ever seen it do that before.

We are going to see what type of "door buster deals" we can get today, so wish us luck!

AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

I will not go to camp.

I can't belive this. My grandmother told me at dinner that she was going to stop giving me an allowance next year and I guess she was looking for a fight or something. I was very calm and I just said "no I don't think that is fair" and then before long she told me she was thinking about sending me to a WILDERNESS THERAPY CAMP. That sounded crazy.

Look at this https://www.google.com/search?q=wilderness+therapy+camp&oq=wilderness+therpy+camp That is what I am talking about

I thought she was joking and I will admit that it got heated and out of control but I didn't know what I did to deserve that. After an hour I asked her what got into her. She made me apologize and then after five minutes she confessed she saw an article about it in a magazine and was sort of kidding and didn't expect the reaction from me.

I laughed about that because it was kind of funny looking back. I couldn't tell if she was joking when she said she is going to make me find a job.

DVD commentaries: a history

I finally got around to recording the audio commentary for THE BATTLE FOR CREATA FOREST like I have wanted to do for the last month almost. I needed to write some bullet points to make sure and cover everything I wanted to talk about because there is alot to cover. I wont spoil anything but just keep in mind I couldn't cover all of my secrets. Maybe in the future I will write some blogs about various topics about the movie. So let me know if you have any questions about the movie-making-process.

We take all of these things in our lives for granite like audio DVD commentaries. I was wondering where they come from? So i looked into it on the internet, and it turns out commentatires have a good history all to themself.

The first audio commentary on DVD happened in 1997 for the movie CONTACT (A movie I have seen before that has a pretty cool space station thing in it, it stars Matthew McConahey) which was a big leap forward. Just kidding, it turns out the first audio commenataries were made for Laserdiscs, a type of giant DVD that was not as popular. It was first done for the movie King Kong. I think the original one obviously not the new one by the Lord of the Rings team. A company called The Criterion Collection made them after they liked hearing people talking during the process of making the Laserdisc. I have never heard of that company but I clicked on them and they make a lot of important movies so I will need to check them out.

And now commentaries are everywhere! I made one myself today!

That's a pretty interesting history, isn't it? It is interesting the kind of histories you can find when you just ask the right questions.

Routines in the movie business

Routines are an important part of life. Holidays like Thanksgiving, which is coming up very soon, and Christmas, and St. Patricks Day are routines that we follow every year to have some joy break up our year. If we didn'r have days like Thanksgiving to have all the stores close to give the workers a day off some of our routines to need rest and relaxation would be hard to uphold. We take showers and eat and wear clothes because they are the routines we are use to doing. If we did not have these routines the world would be a much different planet! The movie business also has it's own types of routines that are important to the making of movies. I am going to tell you a few of these routines and why people do them. I had to think about these for a long time to figure them out because when you first look at them they arent very straitforward.

PREMIERES, Movie premieres are big parties the moviemakers through for all of the people that were in the movie and all of the people that were interested in it. This happens also so the newspaper reviews can come and see the movie to print reviews in the next mornings paper. Premieres let the people who worked for days on the movie an opportunity to see there work on a screen before everybody else gets to see it. It is an important part of the whole process.

SAYING ACTION AND CUT, A director will say action and cut to let editors know where to start and stop the cut. It's a simple practical thing.

ACTOR TRAILERS, This is a luxury that bigger movies have and we didn't but you hear a lot of reference to it in the movies that have movies in them. They are mobile homes that let the actor sleep on set and not have to drive home so they can start early and end late without disrupting the movie. It is a practical thing that is very smart to consider.

AFTER PARTY OR DESERT, After a movie is over, the people in the premiere hold an after party that gives everyone an opportunity to talk about the movie so they don't talk during the premiere and spoil or ruin the movie for the watchers. Without it everyone would go home and go to bed or get on the internet and not have those conversations that keep friendships going and make new movies happen. If an after party doesnt happen, sometimes just some desert at a restaurant might. I have heard that movie partiies generally have chocolate cake, so that's what you have to do.

I hope these were neat for you to read. Can you think of any other routines for other jobs that are strange and need to be explained to us?

Dissappointments and recovery

I am not feeling very good today. I am probably depressed some. You know about my Kickstarter that has been featured on my blog for my great new sci-fi epic and you probably know it didn't finish up as good as I hoped. Contrary to all logic as far as I can see it, Kickstarter didn't give me any of the money to make the movie so all of my plans are currently on hold. That has me feeling pretty unhappy.

I don't know how some people become so rude or become jerks. They become meanhearted somehow. Maybe they have bad parents or angry friends that are mad at them. I don't know why someone would be like that. I know one of the rudest people in the whole wide world (his name rhymes with "Hath stew" but I won't reveal his identify here). I know another person who didn't even show up to my movie premier after being in the movie. These people just seem to come and find me and just keep being dissappointments. It is something I can't understand and it just makes me sad.

Sometimes just watching some old classic episodes of SAMURI JACK on netflix and ignoring it will take care of it. But some days like today, my grandmother won't let me watch TV and I just get so angry I have to write about it.

I don't know what else to say about it. Judy suggested I need to take a nap but that doesn't work for me. I will just go look at some cute images on google images and see how that goes.

Unless you guys have a suggestion?

Art vs. Entertainment

I liked my previous "vs." post alot (you can find it in the archive). It was probably the best blog post I have written so I wanted to continue my "vs." series here and and wanted to talk about movies and art. I have heard some people say that "certain movies are entertaining" but not "art." This is something that my grandmother says alot actually. We recently watched the new Star Trek movie by JJ Abraham. It was a great movie with great sci-fi elements, I am sure you know. But my grandmother said it was good "mindless fun" but not very "artistic".

I think that is crazy. All movies our art. They take the arts of different professions and mix them into one. Actors are artists, writers are artists, and special efffects creators are definately artists! Not to mention music is an art form and that is used in all movies! So there is no way it is not art, do you know what I mean?

Of course art can be entertaining. Garfield comics have some of my favorite art and are the most entertaining pages of the newspaper. Some art isn't that entertaining like the images of fruit bowls you sometimes see on coffee table books. I could understand the arguement being that all art isnt entertaining but it doesnt make since the other way around! All entertainment is art.

Where do you way in on this debate? Do you think there is a difference between art and entertainment? I don't but maybe you do.

Screenplay finished, lights camera action!

I really hope everyone show sup to the premiere of the movie this Friday and if you haven't please go ahead and donate to the kickstarter. The only way young artists like myself can get their passion projects off the ground is with the support of people like you!

So please do the right thing and donate $200 dollars, $100 dollars, or even $50 dollars to the kickstarter. Every little bit helps us to reach our goals. If I had a dollar for every view I got, then we'd definitely make our goal, so just think of it as payment for all the entertainment you get from watching my video sonline!

Movie tricks: shooting with one camera

I know you haven't got to see my movie yet but I wanted to tell you something pretty cool about it that we did (more info about it coming soon from a video I will post when I have time).

Most movies as I am sure you know are filmed with a bunch of cameras at the same time to get all of the angels and actions that you need to finish the story. Some movies have hundreds of cameras running at the same time but even cheap ones usually have about three going at the same time.

The cool thing we did though was imitate this style of cameras by using one and shooting a bunch of different angels with it and redo the action a bunch to get the look of having a bunch of cameras at one time. That way we can do it for cheap without having to get a second third or fourth camera!

I dont know of many other movies that do this and no one ever told me to do it, but I thought it was pretty amazing that we were able to get that higher budget look with the approach. You have to be careful about the editing to make it look right but you can get a pretty beautiful result.

Cool, huh?

The true movie visonaries

When you go to a movie in the theater or see a movie commercial you see big words saying FROM THE PRODUCER OF whatever movie or DIRECTED BY someone. On top of that you also see STARRING the actors and stuff. I have to tell you, I have a big problem with that!

I mentioned this to Judy and she said "that doesn't make any sense" but it really does. Because writers deserve that credit!!!

I'm not sure what producers do exactly but the stars of the movie read the words created by the writer and the director follows the scenes given by the writer. So when you look at it you see that writers are actually the ones who create the worlds and are responsible from the movies. It is as simple as that!

Next time it needs to be FROM THE WRITER OF this movie. When I get famous I am going to change the way it is done.

Have you ever noticed this before?

Is 3D really the future?

My mind has been thinking scientifically as you might expect from the sci-fi I am writing. I am thinking about time, dimensions, other worlds, and everything that comes from those. It just so happens that I have also got a source for a 3D video camera to film my new movie and that seems so pefrfect thematicaly when you look at it. It is almost fate you could say that we are able to make this movie in 3D because it opens up another level of immersion to the whole fantasy world in it. You can tell from the 3D test vidoes I posted last week that it is going to be fantastic to watch. If you didn't see them yet make sure to find some 3D glasses you have lying around.

Before I was shooting the movie in 3D like it has turned out, you know I keep up with technology, and I had a keen eye pointed to the developments of 3D technology. I dont have a 3D tv but I have been to some 3D movies. I saw AVATAR and ALICE IN WONDERLAND the Disney movies and they were really special but having the technology in my hands has made me think about it again. When people start getting there hands on this stuff it is going to go wild. 3D T.V.'s will be selling a bunch of copies so that everyone can do it.

I am lucky that the camera I have is the kind of 3D you can watch with blue and red glasses but that has some color limitations because of the red and blue glasses of course. Watching the videos is amazing though and you can really just capture the world like it is and watch it again and feel like reaching and grabbing what you see.

I have to say it is the critics about 3D are wrong. 3D is moving fast and I am on board with it like you should be too. Dont' let the future pass you buy! Everyone else will be on board and you will be in the dust.

ENTERING THE THIRD DIMENSION (get your 3d glasses!)

I'm very excited today because in preperation for a brand new upcoming sci-fi epic that I'm about to shoot, I've gotten to follow in teh footsteps of some of the greatest filmmakers of our time and test out a 3D camera! I did a lot of different sorts of tests with Judy as the test subject. We hit a few rough spots, but overall, we gleaned a lot of important information that's really going to help make my film a success.

I can't believe how much I lucked out in getting this camera. I was afraid that the shooting schedule wasn't going to line up and we weren't going to be able to even make any movie! But luckily one I started working my producing magic, things really fell into place. Meeting the right actors helped too.

ENJOY THE 3D TESTS!

Casting is a window to other possible futures

Judy and I had a casting session for my new movie and it was an amazing and eye opening experience. If you have never had a casting session I think you should because it brings a completely new view to all of the things you hold to be sacred about the movies you love. When you see a number of talented actors and start to picture them in your film, possibillities start to shine in front of you. It is like WHAT IF I PICK THIS ACTOR? Or WHAT IF I PICK THAT ACTOR? You see the ways each actor could start to shape the final product and how they could make you change your mind about this character or that character or this scene or that scene.

I have been thinking a lot of quality writing techniques and sci-fi lately so here is a neat way of thinking about it = every actor is a possible choice and there are thousands of actors in the world. If you have two actors in your movie you could pick a thousand different actors for both of those! So you have thousands of options to do your one movie.

Then think about all of the movies you have scene and all of the actors in them like Vin Desel or Merol Streep. The movies would be totally different if the dad from HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS or the mom from HOME ALONE were in them instead! All of the movies you know and love could be completely different movies right!? It is a mind blowing idea and one that is very rearely discussed.

So when you go to a casting session and see all of the possibile choices, every one of those actors could be in it and they would make different results. Choosing an actor is one possibiliity from a list of choices and every other option would be a different future.

Casing is a window to see that future.

Kickstarter is forcing me to write spoilers!

What is this world coming to everyone?

I was putting together the kickstarter campaign for my new classic sci-fi epic I am working on, and it was pretty much ready to go. It struck the right balance of being informative to you, my reader, but not revealing to much information to make the movie not still excited.

So, I was ready to go, but I got this message back from the kickstarter people:

Hello Peter,Thanks for submitting your project to Kickstarter.Your project is looking good but there are a few things that you will need to work on before moving forward.Provide a more detailed plot synopsis. It's a good idea to provide as much information as possible about your project. Speak as clearly as you can regarding the project you hope to create and how you plan on achieving your goals.Provide a breakdown of what the funding will be used for. Providing clarity on how backers will be helping you will be important in your success.Once you've finished updating your project, let me know and I'll have another look!Regards, Zack I don't know what to think about this. I made some changes but i definately didn't want to. It got me thinking about all the movie trailers you see all the time. The Tom Cruise movies do it the worse, I think. They just tell you everything that happens in the movie before you see it, and you just leave the theater thinking about watching something on netflix or something because you don't know what those movies are about as much. I hate spoilers. Why would I want to reveal to you my plots and work when that's what you pay your money for?! I just can't stand it, and I would expect Kickstarter to respect my wishes as an artist more than they did. Maybe I will change the plot so no one will know. How do you feel about spoilers?!

Timers vs. Freedom

People like you and me are free. That is the concept of freedom but it is just a disguise for the truth. The sun comes up and down and the moon comes up and down and hours and minutes and seconds pass. Before you know it, days are over and then weeks and months and your life ends. So if you look at it that way time is actually the thing that keeps us from being free. This is pretty mind blowing stuff isn't it?! I have been thinking very artisticly today and this is something I have been working on.

But you know what really brings it to our attention is timers. Have you ever watched a clock countdown? It tick tocks over and over until the time is up and then you have to do the next thing (whatever the timer was going for). When the timer ends you are shocked back to having to do something else. In some ways if you think about it the timer ifeels like a rope that titens around your neck.

That is why I don't wear a watch and I try to pay very little attention to what time or day it is because I want to have that freedom of not having to realize the time and how that relates to freedom. I really recommend it. Lately I have been coming face to face with it (something about my grandmother but you may remember from last year I am not going to say much about that because I don't want her mad at me on the blog) quite a bit, and I remembered more than ever that I hate timers. I choose freedom over timers.

People say time is relative. But freedom is the opposite and it feels at least real if there are no timers!

Classic sci-fi epics

As you know by now I am working on a big new imaginitive sci-fi epic film that I will be writing/directing/acting in. In order to get it right from the ground up I have been doing some research into some of the classic sci-fi classics of the past. I think there are certan things that are very important to have in any quality film but especially on screen in a sci-fi fantasy world. You've got your evil villain figures (army generals on other planets, deranged mad gods, owners of specific infused crystals and all powerful gods are the most common types) and your classic heros (usually an earth originating man to make sure and capture the attention of the main audience for the movie, if you have never thought about that before), great environments and amazing costumes.

I am going to go right out there and say it, old sci-fi movies are flat out better than new ones and I thnk I have a theory for why that happened. First and formost Old sci-fi movies were made on really small budgets. Modern movies are made for millions of dollars, but the previous generation of movies were usually made on much smaller salaries and were much more creative because you can't just throw money at the problem when you dont have money! Second, the music was always really great and imaginitive like the music from Star Wars or Fraggle Rock, stuff you can sing for years and years. The costumes were also really expertly sewn by teams of seamstresses and designers that had a great variety of cloths that have since become rarer. Over time things are harder to do and now movies tend to use computers to achieve the results. I am exciting and enthusiastic about computers but that is because I still have a grass roots approach to my work and I am not throwing money at it. What I plan to do is use some of the modern resources and my indiependent spirit to bring a new take on the classic twist!

Here is a list of great classic sci-fi movies that I would recommend if you want to get prepared for what I am offerring:

• Star Wars (there are at least 3 of these)
• Star Trek (there are at least 10 of these)
• Planet of the Apes (both of them are good)
• The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (never seen it but it looks good)
• Soilent Green (I fell asleep during this one)
• Blade Runner (I feel asleep during this one too)
• Fraggle Rock (more of a TV show)

What is your favorite sci-fi movie?

It's time to put all my talents in one basket

Okay everyone, it is time. I think the vacation is coming to an end and its time to start on my next big project. Something to combine all of my talents, my video skills, my musical talents, my writing skills, and my screen presense. IT IS TIME TO MAKE A MOVIE!

It's time to make a movie I have been wanting to make since about the time I started working on the mother jokes. A great sci-fi (science fiction) epic the likes of which are rarely seen this days. Something with heart and drama and bold artistic direction.

I don't want to spoil anythign for you but I will tell you it is going to be about a really alien planet, a forest planet, will be driven by emotion and special effects, and will by my greatest acomplishment so far! I am off to research it but I wanted to get the exitement going as fast as possible so you can start watching my blog for more details into the creative process. I wont reveal everything but I will definitely give you some good creative insights.

Now I have to think of a title!

When the internet was invented?

I just had a thought last night that I havent really had before even though I do a lot of thinking about technology and computers obviously. I was thinking "when did the internet get invented?" So I looked it up on the internet itself. It is kind of funny if you think about it. What I read about it was really interesting.

Let me set the scene for you (I have been thinking about how to do things like Hollywood movies lately), it is the late 1960's. There are three kinds of people in the world, hippies, common people, and government/FBI kinds of people in suits. The common people just work all day and try to get by. The hippies wear tie-die, listen to music like Sarah McLauglin and The Beatles, and smoke incense (it was a funny time if you have ever seen movies from the time it is crazy), and the goverment suited people were not trusted (have you ever heard of Richard Nixon? My grandma has said things about him that are hard to believe, but there was a lot fo that going on). People of all kinds listened to music and watched movies and there was no internet!

You would think the internet was younger, early 1990's or something but it was actually at this time I was describing, the times of the hippies. The first email was sent in 1971 according to the research and the internet existed then too.

You are probably asking "why did it take so long to get the internet everywhere on phones and things" and the answer is that it takes a long time to make enough computers to be fast enough for the internet and to get those computers in your phone. Some day maybe I will have a phone with the internet, but texting is sort of like that too.

It is always fun to learn new things like that, isnt it?!

How does humor work?

Have you ever wondered about what makes things funny? I have been thinking about it all afternoon. Why do I laugh when something is funny? Why don't I cry? My body probably doesn't know the difference so what makes it do one instead of the other?

I will tell you. The key to making things funny is by changing expectations from what you think to something else you wouldn't guess. That is the formula.

You need examples to support a formula plan like this one so I am going to use a favorite show of mine FAMILY GUY for examples. I am going to provide a few examples.

Example 1, The title FAMILY GUY.
The title being a funny title is realy key to setting up the show being funny (although in truth it sometimes gets serious). In this case there are many jokes at play. First the show is about a guy named PETER (which is funny to me because it is my name too) who is always screwing things up for his family. So he is not really a family guy! Another way of looking at it is that the baby Stewie is the guy who runs the family. And that's funny because babys never run families!

Example 2, Talking dog BRIAN.
I think one of the more classic jokes (commonly called "meta") is the classic talking animal. When an animal is in life it makes animal sounds and sometimes understands human commands. Having a talking animal like a dog in this case is one of those things that just changes expectations! And even better in FAMILY GUY is that the family can talk back and in some cases he is another example of a guy for the title joke.

Example 3, Historical inaccurates
Every now and then in the show there are quick flash-back scenes that show the family in different situations but the key here is that the scenes are from other movies or history that the family was not involved with. So this is the kind of humorous arrangment that keeps the show on its feet and keep the audience guessing!

So as you can see as I showed you for FAMILY GUY, we find things funny when we expect one thing and get another that is a clever twist on what we expected. I bet you hadnt thought about that!

I have many more examples from FAMILY GUY but I want you to share your own thoughts and examples below!

Double LIFEs!

If you had read all of my blog posts and are a regular reader you know that my friend Judy and me play THE GAME OF LIFE by Milton and Bradley very often. I might go so far to say that it is both of our favorite game. You never know what you are going to spin on teh wheel and how that is going to effect your family in the game. And the pay days are really fun way of spicing it up with some fake currency. If you havent played it you should go get it now. And you can do it at TOYS "R" US.

I don't know if you can get it other places but you can definitely get it at TOYS "R" US. How do I know? Well, it had been a long time since we had played. I think since before Judy wanted to find Pam Jenkins again. I was sure I put it back in the game closet near GUESS WHO and some of my old PLAYDOES and things. But it was not in there no matter how much I looked. It wasnt in my room or near the tv which would be the other places I would put it. Judy couldnt find it either and she double checked where I looked to even though I said that I was sure it wasn't there.

We drove down to TOYS "R" US and found it straightaway in the game isle. It was only $30 which is a great deal on a new copy of my favorite game. We left and came back home to open it and start playing. It has a couple of changes, mostly different designs and colors, but very much the same classic game play.

Do you know what is funny? after we finished a game, I lost a $50 GAME OF LIFE replica dollar bill under the couch. When I reached under it, I felt a familiar box! It was my original version of the game! Judy and I started laughing alot because of the fact that we didn't look there to begin with.

So we now have two games two play. And we have done some really great and inventive things. We have played them back to back but we have also done something that you really should try, we played them simultanously. While I took a turn on one Judy took a turn on the other! It is double the fun.

Have you ever played GAME OF LIFE by Milton and Bradley?

Dominoes (not the pizza)

I have news for you, having some simple fun with Dominoes can really make time fly.

I am still taking a brief highatus from the many videos I was releasing for the mother jokes and Pam Jenkins work, so I apologize for the waiting for the next video. BUT I just wanted to have a little fun post suggesting a fun activity for you to try at home.

Have you ever seen dominoes before? They are little rectangel things you can set next to each other in a long row very carefully and then just hit the end of one and watch them all fall down in order. It is a mezmerizing thing to watch happen, but it is even more fun to do yourself. Go look for someon line and you will be very amused.

Here is your big tip for the day though, you can do this at home with a bunch of household objects. How do I know? I did it today! If you have enough you can use cereal boxes, cracker boxes, DVD's or CD's matchbox's, or other things. We actually made a long dominoes out of all of these and then ended it with baby carrots that we bit the ends off so we could set them flat on the ground. It took about 3 hours but it was an amazing site to see. I can't recommend it more for you to try.

I wish I would have made a video of it but I was so focused on the dominoes I couldn't be distracted. It was amazing.

What is best during an apocalipse?

Judy came over while I was watching some Netflix and we saw something on it called THE WALKING DEAD that is a new show that seems to be very high rated on Netflix. We started the first episode but Judy got scared and we had to shut it off very quickly. But it wasnt all bad because we got invovled in a neat debate on what would happen if we were to be in an apocalipse. We decided that we would definitely lock ourself up in a house with a lot of food to survive but this quickly lead to an interesting philisophical side of our debate. What would we do for fun?!

So then I thought about it and came up with a good basic question for the whole thing: what would be best for fun, the internet, or the Playstation 2, which we came to an agreement on because it has so many good games on it. On the one hand a lot of games would be a lot of fun to keep playing back to back for a long time and you could really go forever without having to play to much games over and over. But on the one other hand the internet has got a bunch of flashgames and good resources to itself which are constantly updated. It may be obviousy to you like it was to me that you would have to pick the internet. Judy didn't seem to understand the full argument because she just started saying it was a stupid debate and that food/water/shelter was the thing most important (I put them together because Judy insisted they go together as one thing you can't have one without the other).

I would agree that food/water/shelter is important but not part of the original question and unlike the internet you can find those three all around you at all times so its not really worth keeping on your list.

What about you guys/ Do you think the internet or the PS2?

PS - I know some of you might be curious, but the duck from the egg last week never hatched and it turned into a rotten egg. Oh well!

A visit to the park

After some significant sourness latey, Judy was in a very good mood today, best I have seen in months because of her mom, and we decided to go to the park. Judy had cleaned out a little bit of trash from her car so it was a more comfortable ride than normal. On top of that the sun was out in full force, and the sign on the bank said 74 degrees. What I am getting at is that it was a rare day of beauty.

We walked around the lake in the park and Judy was very talkative and was wearing the shirt from my blog (which you can get here if you dont have one yet http://www.cafepress.com/peterbearsden), so I got the impression she was over her mom stuff that we have been dealing with lately. We found some rocks and tried to skipping them on the water. I counted five skips on my best one, and Judy got four. We also tried making a boat from a dead magnolia leave that was still on the ground from winter but it sank when we put to much stuff on it.

We went through all the trails and even tried catching some fish with our hands from the creeks. Eventually we saw a white duck (or chicken maybe) egg in a small brick grill that was in the pic-nic area. Judy was afraid that the egg might get cooked and/or scrambled if left there for to long so she picked it up and decided to take it home. That ended our trip to the park very quickly because we had to hurry back home and make it a nest which we did out of some towels. Judy got tired and I went home to write this post!

Does anyone have any tips on growing a duck egg?

Bored

I don't have much to say today but I figured if I wrote something it would at least be kind of productive. I am really bored. If my grandmother were hear she would tell me to go mow the yard or something uncreative, but we all know that doesn't work. I have a lot of ideas for things I want to do, but this is that kind of boredom where nothing seems like a good idea. So I have just been watching TV while looking at Facebook.

I think Judy is slightly upset with me. She has been strange lately and I don't know why exactly. She keeps saying her dad wants her home all the time but that is really not normal for there family. Maybe they are getting new services or paint in there house and she has to stay there.

I could go over to her house since its just down the street but her house can be pretty boring a lot of the time. She doesn't have any games or anything so I would have to bring over all my stuff for us to have fun.

Have you ever continued to refresh Facebook for about an hour and then realize that nothing is happening with the people you know? I have been doing that a lot without thinking about it.

Any suggestions for something I could do?

More bad documentary news: Looks like Pam Jenkins is postponed indefinately

I am not happy to report this. I have been calling Judy repeatedly to get her to change her mind, but she just won't do it. She didn't get any video of her trip to her old house which technicaly could have been the end fo the documentary on Pam Jenkins. I tried to think of a bunch of different options but I think we all know it would be very difficult to get hold of Pam on the phone or any other types of communication. I don't think Judy will drive me back to her house to get some good drama shots or reinacments of that trip, so that is not likely.

And any good movie needs a good ending. I know I have been releaseing it in parts on the web but the plan was to make a short documentary that could have some really strong film festival presence. However, that is just not possible any more. That is ruined. I came up with a really great idea. I would have Judy do a final on-camera interview to end it. I would ask some hard questions. Knowing Judy, there would probably be some tears which would be really great for the emotional core that I last time mentioned was missing from the joke movie.

But Judy keeps saying no and she has only been over a couple of times in the last week. I don't know what she's been doing, but i made sure she knew she was ruining my movie. She said sorry but I don't know. I almost deleted all the other parts from the previous posts but then I remembered they were pretty compelling after all.

I will have to do something else to get into film festivals like Sundance, and I've get some ideas brewing.

After giving them a fair shake, your mother jokes are done.

Hello readers1

If you saw the post I did last week, you are probably tuned in to the idea that I have been taking a break from my recent projects. Well I have an update, kind of bad news. In the last weeks, I have been a documentarian on jokes and family issues, and i have doubled as a detective. Games and music and my blog writing have really taken a back seat.

I have been thinking long and hard about it and I just don't know if i am getting enough submissions for the "your mother joke" series to really take of. I got a couple of real gems from a youtube user, but some weren't very clear, and i don't know if I can find an important center of emotion for the viewers of the videos. So I guess that means my "jokumentary" isnt going to finish. I just have to get back to the basics. There are millions of people in the world, and they all due different things. So I can't do everything, I have to leave that up to others.

But I think I've got a new part of the Pam Jenkins documentary coming up, once I can get Judy to do it. So stay tuned on that.

In honor of ending this project I wanted to share one final joke with you: "YOUR MOTHER IS SO OLD SHE MET ABRAHAM LINCON" (ending with a good one too!)

Have you guys watched ROCKOS MODERN LIFE before? I see it on Netflix but I never saw it on Nickeloden. Is it good.

Catching up on some Netflix

Whoo! The last few weeks have felt longer than normal. There has been so much going on, between working on my jokumentary, the documentary on Judy and Pam Jenkins and I think we can agree it has produced a big load of videos. There is just a lot of entertainment in there. Sometimes you just go and go and when you look back at the things you have made you start to just realize how much of that you have made.

So I have been sitting back, playing the PS2 for the first time in a while, and taking a step back generally. I don't know if I have ever told you I have one of those really neat Nintendo Wii video game consoles that was the rage about two years ago, and it has the ability to watch movies on this "app" called Netflix (which if you have never seen it, you should really try. the name comes from "internet flicks." flicks are just another slang word for movies). There is a bunch of really great stuff on there. I watched a bunch of episodes of this show called "Ted Talks" and after some of those were boring and a bit over my head, i started watching some family guy and classics like goosebumps.

I know that some shows on Netflix originated on TV from the 1990's. I also thing they have a lot of original shows, one called House of Cards that I haven't watched because it looks kind of creepy from the bloody hand on the series icon. I put on one of my to-do lists to contact Netflix about doing an original show for them. A variety show for the new generation, with a bunch of different segments. You could even imagine my two recent projects fitting right in with some other things on there. But obviously it would cost hundreds of dollars to do the show right, so I may wait to contact them after I raise some money.

Are there places to raise that kind of money online? Have you seen any other great Netflix shows (if you have heard of it).

A new game walkthrough for PS2: VAN HELSING

I decided to do another video game walkthrough! It has been a while since I have gotten my hands dirty with a really intense video game, so this is exciting.

This walkthrough covers the first section of the “Van Helsing” video game, which is also a movie staring Kate Beckinsale. Van Helsing is actually one of the only movies which made me cry. I chock it up to Hugh Jackman’s emotional performance and also the beautiful special effects rendering of Kate Beckinsale’s face in the end. (If you’ve seen the movie, you know what I’m talking about. It’s an unforgettable piece of movie history).

Also, since vampires are all the rage these days, I figured it would be a great time to break out this classic vampire game!

Judy wasn't able to help with the camera, so I set it down on the floor and then forgot about it, so I at least wanted to post this begining part and then maybe later find some time to do the middle parts when shes around.

Some stand-up comedy!

Hey viewers, in this post, I break it down with a few more mother jokes. These are maybe a little more accessible than the ones I posted a while back. I realized that those were maybe for a more elite crowd and I should really keep my audience in mind when I record jokes!

I had been focused alot on the pam jenkins documentary lately, and I thought this could be a fun routine to try, like the show I used to watch Premium Blend.

Anyway, let me know if you guys like this round of jokes! I'll keep thinking of more if you think I should do it.

Part 8: Returning to the scene of the "crime"

"THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF PAM JENKINS"
PART 8: RETRACING SCENE OF THE CRIME



This video represents another aspect of documentary filmmaking and dective work both, which is historical reenactments. This is used to give audience members a good idea of the emotional gravity of historical events, usually. But in this case, I used the historical reenactment technique to try to jog Judy’s memory.

For all of you filmmaker/detectives out there, have you had success with historical reenactments? Judy and I didn’t have much success, but I think that’s because Judy wasn’t approaching the exercise with a very open mind.

And the restaurant cleaned up things, probably moving clues and paintings or mirrors in the process.

I think this is the last part of the series, because Judy is tired of doing it, and I can't have a documentary without a main subject. If you want to convince her otherwise, I can give you her phone number and you can try calling her?

The truth about finger printing

Hey guys, this video is dedicated to the members of the justice system who slip through the cracks and are wrongly convicted.

I was researching finger printing in preparation for some upcoming work on the Pam Jenkins project, and I wanted to share this with Judy and the rest of the world. It's sort of a special feature for that series. So enjoy.

More people should really be aware of this problem and work with the Innocents Project to get the word out.

MYSTERIOUS CASE OF PAM JENKINS part 7: Jake Jenkins

"THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF PAM JENKINS"
PART 7: WHAT IS JAKE JENKINS HIDING?



I don’t have much to say about this video. I think it speaks for itself as a great example of documentary filmmaking at its best. It was a real struggle to maintain my objectivity in the face of Jake Jenkins and Judy, who for some reason is mad at me. but I think I handled myself with aplom. The best part so far, I think.

You can tell he's hiding something. Why else would he be wearing sunglasses?

We had another part with Marcy Jenkins, but my camera battery died, so I can't show you it.

Part 6: E Jenkins!

"THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF PAM JENKINS"
PART 6: THE MYSTERIOUS "E JENKINS"



This was the first of our run-ins with the mysterious list of Jenkinses who wouldn't answer their phones.

You'll notice my first tactic is I made sure to stay on the ground, out of site of the target. We could not be certain whether he was a friendly or whether he was dangerous. This has got to be one of the key rules of detective work, as we learned with the payphones. Always stakeout with a buddy. I could have probably done it on my own, though.

I am sorry for the bright video quality, my camera sometimes does that in the sun, I think its a switch I have to press or something but its really inconsistent. It's a panasonic. DO you know how to fix it?

"THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF PAM JENKINS" part 5

"THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF PAM JENKINS"
PART 5: STAKEOUT PREPARATION



Following up from our attempt to contact a Jenkins on the payphone, Judy and I set off to visit some Jenkins households to see if Pam is hiding out and avoiding Judy.

I show the snacks and other preparations for what you need to make sure you are ready in case people aren't home or whatever. You have to be prepared and viligant!

What do you think will happen? Will we meet the right Jenkins that will give us the right clue?

Part 4 of "THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF PAM JENKINS"

"THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF PAM JENKINS"
PART 4: PAYPHONE MYSTERIES



I won’t keep you in suspense any longer! Here’s what happened when we went to the payphones. We had a pretty good strategy and I made sure that Judy kept safety in mind at all times.

This is a good video to watch if you’re going to be doing any detective work. You can see that you have to be vigilant and keep an eye on your surroundings at all times. It also helps if you have a plan of attack and you know what you should be doing at all times. Judy sometimes forgets about the timetable, which isn’t good. I like to keep things loose. I like to improvise, but there’s a time and a place, and knee-deep in suspicious shrubbery and possible tails is not the place.

I suspect part 5 will be coming very soon.

Finally, part three of "THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF PAM JENKINS"

"THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF PAM JENKINS"
PART 3: HEADING TO PAYPHONE



Hello viewers! After we met Pam Jenkins, possibly Judy’s mom, downtown that day, she has really just gone out of her way to avoid Judy. And, you know, I took a look at Judy and I thought, “That is not Judy at her best.” You know, I could tell that something was off.

And on top of that, we hadn't really had a good conclusion to our "mysterous case of pam jenkins" series, So I decided that we would launch an all out detective mission to find Pam Jenkins again. I’ll explain a little more about what we’re doing in the video, as well as give you a little more Freudian insight into what’s ticking in Judy’s head. Do you think we’ll find Judy’s mom? Let us know in the comments.

If you have any tips for PI work, definitely go ahead and let me know. Or if you want to trade tips, we can do that.

Your mother joke wrap-up!

The results are in!



Hi guys, I rounded up the best of the mother jokes and guess what? I wrote them all! It was a lot of work and editing and really just reveling in that creative spirit and letting stuff flow. But I will say I was a little disappointed I didn't get more viewer responses.

I was still so energized by what I came up with that I wrote a little theme song. It’s vocals over some classic guitar chords and I think it really shows more of my guitar style since the Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls videos I released earlier were more of the type of playing I don't do as much.

Stay tuned for more jokes and keep sending yours in if you have them. Just keep them clean for a family audience.

A Nature Poem (abstract video)

The other day, I was laying in the grass in my front yard, just being at one with nature, and I took a real close look at the blades of grass next to me and I was struck by how beautiful it was. I had a lightening bolt moment and decided to make a new video for you guys!

This video is a “nature poem” that celebrates the beauty of our mother nature. You have to take a hard look and really achieve that level of inner peace before you see it, but there’s a lot going on behind the scenes in the grass or even in the trees or the clouds.I would classify it as "abstract" if I had to put a genre with it, but I think it's really for everyone.

It’s actually my voice you can hear in the poem. In some places, it’s overlapping. Now, before you ask me how I was able to sing more than one note at once, I’ll tell you – it was a simple editing trick. If you have any questions about how I did it, just message me (remember, I won’t just tell just anybody my editing secrets – you have to prove your trustworthy! : )

I am anxious to know what you think, i think this is me turning over a new leaf! Lol!

What is "meta"?

The other day, Judy and I were talking about the movie Hocus Pocus, which is one of my favorite Halloween movies. Normally I think Halloween movies are a little scary and needlessly violent but I think this one really has a good message and it really speaks to our societies fixation with youth and beauty and it tells you that youth really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Those witches keep stealing people’s youth and beauty and they’re still pretty unattractive, so I told Judy that’s what the movie’s main message was.

I know what you’re thinking? Why would you watch a Halloween movie when it’s not Halloween? Well, I found an old VHS tape that i thought had Rudolph the Rednosed Reigndeer on it  and it turns out my grandmother had taped a ABC Family 31 days of Halloween marathon over it. I was pretty disappointed, but Judy and I ended up having a pretty engaging conversation about it so I guess it was all worthwhile.

Anyway, The reason I made this video is because Judy said that the story about Youth and Beauty reminded her that one of the witches was in a shampoo commercial, and that was meta. I had to straighten her out and tell her what meta actually means, and then I figured that I might as well share the info with you guys too – in case there’s more confusion.

The cat talking is meta, though.

Can you think of any more examples?

Open call for "You're Mother" jokes

Hey guys, I was making a grilled cheese sandwich the other day and I thought it would be cool to start a new video series about “your mother” jokes! I’d love to get as many of my fans to participate as possible, so check out the video for more information.

I have had this one on my computer for a while, but we were so focused on the youtube series “THE MYSTEROUS CASE OF PAM JENKINS” (search for it to see it!) that I forgot to edit this together and post it. I have some down time now, so I think it would be good to start on a second documentary/jokumentary!

I hope you notice some of the new graphics I’m testing out. I think they add a new dimension of quality and really bring my videos up to a new level. If you want to try making some of these effects at home, feel free to send me a message. I would tell you what effects I used here, but I want to try to keep the information contained to people who could really use some good tips. There are lots of people out on the Internet who don’t want to share knowledge and build a collaborative, creative community and instead they’re more interested in being hurtful and sour. So if you can send me a message, I’ll know who you are and I can verify that you’re motives are pure.

Part two of "THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF PAM JENKINS"

"THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF PAM JENKINS"
PART TWO: SURVEILANCE



Hey viewers I'm back with the second part in this series. In this video, me and Judy meet up with Pam Jenkins, who may not be Judy’s Mom. Judy’s dad had told her the fact that her mother was dead but as this conversation demonstrates this was not the case!!1 It was quite a shock for Judy.

It’s a little hard to hear what’s happening in the video, so I decided to try to add an auditory interpretation of their conversation. (This is why it took me a few days to get it online)

Let me know what you think!

Part one of a New series: "THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF PAM JENKINS"

"THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF PAM JENKINS"
PART ONE: JUDY'S INTERROGATION



Hi everybody, I’m working on a very exciting real life documentary my friend Judy’s desperate search for her long lost mother.

This video serves as sort of a psychological profile/interrogaton of Judy, who is the subject o fthe documentary. It’s definitely a little bit "Freudian" , so if your into that than you’re definitely going to really like this.

I explore what makes Judy tick, why she’s so anxious to meet her mother. In the video you can definitely tell that Judy is getting anxious, and I point those moments out in the video.

Let me know what you think in the comments. How do you think this is going to go?!

Surprise!

HERE IS MY SURPRISE! I MADE A T-SHIRT FOR MY BLOG!



You might also notice that there are some neat new graphics in my video, to go along with the neat graphics on the new shirt! I’m trying to experiment with different ways of making future videos more “viewer friendly,” so let me know what you think of these changes!

Oh I almost forgot you can order the shirt here: http://www.cafepress.com/peterbearsden

A surprise is coming soon!

OH MY GOODNESS I AM SO EXCITED!

I can't tell you what it is yet, so stay tuned. I'll tell you this, I am going to be posting the surprise in a video very very soon!

Have you guys ever done anything on CafePress.com? Do you know how long it takes to get stuff you order from them?

Judy's old car

Okay I will be honest, I am writing this blog post to win a bet that Judy didn't think I could write a blog post about her car. I told her I could do it, and so I am.

You could see Judy's car a little bit in my "Bear on the Loose" outtake I posted last week, but it doesn't fully portray the truth. Judy's dad bought it for her a couple of years ago after she graduated high school and he apparentely got a good deal, but I am not sure its as good as he said it was.

I guess the color is okay (I think Judy likes it, but it is not my favorite), but that's just the outside. It has stickers on it on the back, things that are for bands and places I have never been. I think the original owner was someone who listens to really heavy music and probably has a bunch of different percings. The outside of it is okay, but the inside is just kind of rough sometimes when you look at it because there are stains and spills on the backseat and floor cloth. (Also Judy's dad never cleans it out, so there are soda cans under the seat from our trip to Tennessee still!)

I may take pictures some time or do a video on it, but I may have to do it when Judy isn't looking.

I win the bet!

We have a flat screen TV!

YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT I FOUND IN OUR DINING ROOM! A flat screen tv! My grandmother must have bought it when she bought her camera. I didn't notice it because it was in a big blue bag, but when I was looking for my game disc for "Civil War Secret Missions" again this morning, I found it.

I don't know why we didn't already open it, so I am going to open it and play my video games on it while my grandmother isn't here! It's going to be so cool. My videos and games are going to look SOOOO GOOOOD on it.

I have been asking my grandmother for a flat screen TV since they first starting showing up for reasonable prices in the sunday paper ads, which was so long ago I have forgotten. People my age need the newest technologies or we won't have the same learning oportunities as our friends and we will be left behind technologically. Every one has a table or a smartphone and we still have a tiny little tv I got in middle school. It played vhs tapes so I could watch rescuers or the fox and the hound on it, but  these days it has to be flat and play HD videos and blue-rays, and we are just getting it.

It can be frustrating sometimes, but at least we finally got a flat tv!

Do you guys have flat scren tvs?! Are they awesome!?

No more video game walkthrough of CIVIL WAR SECRET MISSIONS

I have bad news everyone, I was going to record the next chapter of my video game walkthrough series for CIVIL WAR SECRET MISSIONS, but something bad has happened. I can't find the disc.

I checked in my playstation and I looked all over. Maybe my  grandmothers' cat took it or something, because I know where it was but now I don't. I know I didn't move it and Judy promised she didn't. I have looked everywhere. I looked on bookshelves, under furniture. I made sure to double check the DVD collection in case it was hard to see, but I can't find it anywhere!

I am pretty upset about this turn of events, and I don't know if I can find another copy of the game. or if the game. Do you know if I can use the new copy and my old save files?

I am going to look for another game to play on my blog. Something that there aren't a lot of walkthroughs for. Give me suggestions if their is anything you want to see!

PETER BEAR 'DELETED SCENE': Bear on the loose

Hey guys, I was just looking around my computer a few days ago and found this video I made on the way to SaginMeOff's house to make his video "angry guy in my yard"

My computer died, so I was never able to finish this segment. It's a pretty cool insight into the travel process though!

It is just sort of a DVD special features thing. I thought you might like it.

Productivity tip # 2: make lists!

After last weeks tip about productivity (recap, don't use calanders) I wanted to follow up with another big one. Its sort of my big personal secret...

It's "making lists"!!!

How else are you going to remember what you have to do? I used to think of something I wanted to do but I kept forgetting all of my good ides. Then I started making lists and i have done everything i have ever thought of sense then!

I am going to make an example list for you to see how it gets done. This is general of course, and you should customize to fit your own task.

You can do a general day list and see how it makes your day go by so much faster

• Wake up
• Eat breakfast
• Take a shower
• Watch  30 minutes of TV 

Or you can make a longer goal list like this sample of mine

• finish video game walkthrough video series
• cook a chicken from scratch
• make sugar cookies
• write a blog post about lists
  

Some of those weren't on my list, but I put them for example.

I recommend keeping lists in at least 2 places: your refrigerator and your pocket. If you keep one on your reridgerator, you will always have it handy when you are cooking or reading the Sunday comics. But in your pocket is good for traveling. I sometimes for get to bring one in my pocket, but when I do I never forget it. 

Productivity tip: don't use a calendar!

Do you have trouble getting your work done? Do you wish you could just finish it up and not get distracted.

I have a simple tip for you, don't use a calendar.  That's right. I know some of you are going to disagree with me onthis. But Judy and I were talking about it. She feels like she never gets anything done and I feel like I am always working on the next big thing you know?

So what's the difference. Judy asked me if I use a calendar. No, I think that calendars are actually stifling. I do whatever i can do every day, and if it just so happens that i got it done before Friday, that's fine. I don't care if i get it done in March or Jun or whatever.

Do you see what I am getting at? What does the day or time matter when you are making progress. If you have a deadline, then do it by the deadline. But a calendar is just a grid of dates that can really just get you down when you need to be out there doing the work.

So, take it from me. Just get your work done and stop looking at your calendar. It doesn't make any difference.

Let me know what you think in the comments. I think I am onto something.