Filmmaking Quote #24 (Brad Pitt)

“It’s hard not to be romantic about baseball.” Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) Moneyball  Today I saw Moneyball starring Brad Pitt and loved everything about it.* It completed a week where by happenstance I followed the Brad Pitt trail. Last Saturday while on location shooting a video project I drove by Shawnee, Oklahoma where Brad was [...]

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Postcard #7 (Mark Twain’s Florida)

“Recently some one in Missouri has sent me a picture of the house I was born in. Heretofore I have always stated that it was a palace, but I shall be more guarded, now.” Mark Twain Autobiography of Mark Twain Mark Twain was born in Florida. If you want to win an easy bet throw [...]

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Brad Pitt & the Future of Journalism

As I headed home to Iowa after a week of video production in Oklahoma I made a stop in Columbia, Missouri. I’d never been on the University of Missouri campus before, but had heard about the famed Missouri School of Journalism (J-School) ever since I was a paid 19-year old photojournalist while still in college. Missouri’s J-School [...]

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Postcard #6 (Waxahachie, TX)

As I left the Baylor University campus this morning I drove by the theater building where the great playwright Horton Foote did some teaching.  Just just over an hour later, between Waco and Dallas, I drove through Waxahacie, Texas. Waxahacie may not be on your radar, but back when I was in film school took [...]

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Wisdom in Waco

This morning I was on the campus of Baylor University in Waco, Texas and on the above building I photographed was inscribed: WISDOM IS BETTER THAN RUBIES P.S. Waco Related Film Trivia: Actor Steve Martin (and co-host of last year’s Oscars) was born in Waco, as was director Kevin Reynolds (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) [...]

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Postcard #5 (Claremore, OK)

“My ancestors didn’t come over on the Mayflower, but they met the boat.” Will Rogers One of things I love discovering on the road is those out of the way small places that have been at the crossroads of big things. On Saturday I shot a video in Claremore, Oklahoma (pop. 18,581) that is not [...]

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Postcard #4 (The Blue Whale)

I know in this day and age of cable Tv and the Internet that it’s hard to see something you’ve never seen before, but here’s a photo of The Blue Whale on Route 66 in Catoosa, Oklahoma. And even if you’ve seen it before, it was just restored a couple of weeks ago. So not [...]

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Stranger than Fiction—Oklahoma

Just in case you missed it, here’s the opening paragraph of an article by The Associated Press that was printed in USA Today (September 22,2011): MANGUM, Okla.—The wife of a former Oklahoma prision warden who disappeared with a convicted murderer only to be found living with him in Texas nearly 11 years later was found [...]

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Postcard #3 (Taylor Swift—Tulsa)

As I pulled into downtown Tulsa last night I saw a steady stream of people flocking to some kind of event. It turned out that just a couple of blocks from my hotel Taylor Swift was in concert at the BOK Center. I was told the concert was sold out and was starting about the [...]

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“Home Run” in Tulsa

“Only two things come from Oklahoma…” Sgt. Emil Foley (Lou Gossett Jr.) An Officer and a Gentleman  It’s fitting a day after the football center TV show Friday Night Lights walked away with two Emmys that the Oklahoma Film & Music office announced Friday Night Lights Director Takes on Oklahoma Produced Feature Film. The movie is [...]

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