Uh...

So. Did everyone vote?

Yeah. I'm terrible.

I already make the excuse too often... ...what can I say? I write nearly all day, everyday...sometimes the old blog suffers from months of neglect. Not the longest I've gone, but certainly a qualifier for neglect.

On Saturday, 01/17/09 I'll be heading out to finish Wid Winner and the Slipstream. It has been an epic journey of self awareness, growth, reassurance that I'm interested in quality over quantity and two road trips across the country to capture a magic that can't be "make-believed" in any studio setting......

I'm in the midst of much introspection and prayer for many things - A project that I'm trying to get off the ground; a potential little league team that I'd be coaching; a new job that I'd love to perform that doesn't involve sitting at a computer all day; a motorcycle to sell; debt to work out of - ultimately surrendering completely to God's will and just enjoying the wild ride.

We went to Missouri for Christmas, and regardless of the work that I had to take with me, the trip was worthwhile. New Year's Eve with my family and the LSU Tigers was my idea of a perfect evening...Praying for a few more moments like that in the near and distant future as well.

I'm excited for 2009. Very excited.

If You're Coming From facebook...

...scroll on down for the information, or just save yourself some time and click on my name.

James Sheldon

However, this entry is about the stock market. Thus the red...for the color of the market these days. You know, I've waited a long time to be able to afford some stock, and hot diggity, I'm buyin' some on Friday. I'm confident the market isn't going to crash, but if it does, it's not like I won't have spent more on an overpriced dinner in NYC before.

What am I buying? Well. Let's just say it's iconoclast in American culture. That the next 5 years should let me know how wise my investment is, and the following 10 should afford the plastic surgery that I've longed desired. (Yep. Butt implants.) And there is another company that should benefit from the future of alternative and renewable energy that is selling cheap, so I think I'll begin to slightly diversify.

Anyone else investing in the downtrodden market? It's got kind of a fun, Grapes of Wrathy feel, doesn't it? (C'mon, what am I supposed to do, be depressed like the economy? I did the depression thing in college. For me, it's the best of times even IN the worst of times...yes, I know that's from A Tale of Two Cities. Hot diggity. And one more time - hot... ...diggity. No doubt.)

Hoppin'

I'll be all over during the summer, and thought a little update would be appropriate.

That being said, I'm gonna pause and share a little somethin' - somethin' that I read earlier today:

I woke up this morning to watch Empire of the Sun for the first time. Being a HUGE Spielberg fan (please don't bring up the latest Indy installment, I'm still in mourning...) as well as a MONSTER Christian Bale fan, I can't believe I hadn't seen this film before today. Regardless, I caught it on HDNet, bumped from its life in 35mm to HiDef, and it was absolutely gorgeous for a film that is 21 years old. Knowing it was Christian Bale's first leading role I was reading up a bit on America's favorite British superhero. (He's Batman, if you were unaware.) I was informed by the age-old eye to word combination that Mr. Bale was in deep financial duress a few short years ago - even amidst a film career that had blossomed for over a decade. Why bring this up? The last few months have been a wonderful financial struggle...which I pray is coming to an end. Regardless, reading of the struggles of a contemporary that I truly admire, the light at the end of the tunnel seemed more apparent.

SO.

The next few months...I'll be picking up where I left off last year in San Francisco at the Major League Baseball FanFest. Due to the popularity of the game, and the growing popularity of MLB's RBI Initiative (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities), KPMG, the corporate sponsor, has been booking me right and left to work my hosting mojo - I love them for it. I'll even get to team up with good ole Nicholas Coleman in NYC for the 2008 All-Star Break and MLB FanFest.

If you find me somewhere in transit, I'm always game to connect.

I'll be in Atlanta on Wednesday 11 - Friday 13 of this week. NYC July 10-18, and Phoenix at some point in August for a couple of days. There are dates out here, and stuff may be added after they get a dose of my 2008 awesomeness. In between all these dates, I'll be finishing up Wid Winner and the Slipstream, which I'm more excited about now than when the project began. Got some re-writes from Alex "Sascha" Gaynor this morning, and I got a little excited while reading them. I still owe some video evidence of this project, don't I? As my mom used to say, "Hold your horses."

Harry Callahan, Party of One

I got tired of having no picture associated with my blog, so I thought a beastly .44 would suffice. It does make me think of Inspector Harry Callahan...aka...Dirty Harry for those of you unfamiliar...if you don't know who Dirty Harry is, seriously, climb out from underneath your rock, step away from the computer or at least use it to do a little research.

So'z. I'm off to the gym, where my training regimen has been more intense as of late. I've got a goal set for June 14th, and from there I'll set another for August 1st. Bottom line, I'm shooting for optimal health by fall. BUT, before I head off to the gym, I thought I'd ramble about American Idol.

All season I've liked David Cook. In truth, he's probably the first performer that I've enjoyed on the show. Last night during the American Idol finale, he was up against the smooth voiced teen, David Archuleta - you know, the kid who ALWAYS holds the mic in his left hand while gesturing with his right and tossing in occasional knee bends and closed eye vocal riffs? Yeah...him. Well, he was clearly the "favorite" last night, however lacking in diversity and texture he may be...he's 17. Anyway, I feel like I witnessed the first American Idol that was "thrown."

Now, really do I believe that David Cook threw the game? Highly unlikely, but it would just go to prove how smart I think he is. What's one thing all Idol winners have in common? A crap first album produced by an arbitrary label that comes with your Idol winning contract. Look at the biggest successes in Idol history. Though a couple ladies have gone on to success, Clarkson and Underwood, no Idol winning dude has done anything worth writing home about. And Kelly Clarkson was already frustrated with the label after record #2...

Looking at Idol success, so far Daughtry has set the bar for the gents. Didn't he finish 4th or something? Maybe 5th? All this is to say that David Cook not winning the competition would be the winningest move for his career as a musical artist. Thrown? Hmmmm...depends on your perspective. At least he'll be able to sign with a label of choice and maybe write some music instead of singing stuff from a can.

Holy Holbrook...Thar's Wigwam's in Them Thar Hills

Have you seen the movie CARS?

(I'm all out of order, so bear with as I confuse the days and speak of them in retrograde fashion.)

I was working in the desert this week, and I kept thinking of Lightning McQueen, but more specifically of Doc Hudson (aka Paul Newman).

If you haven't checked out this animated gem, I highly recommend it. I've yet to see a Pixar flic that I didn't enjoy, and because of my sweet spot for motorheads, I really, really loved cars. In fact, the film was about three of my favorite things: Cars, the western American desert and getting off the beaten path.

It's crazy to see and experience the world that existed before Interstate 40 dominated eastern and western travel through the Wild West. Much of what once existed is now found in piles of rubble or as ruins of rock and grout. However, the small Arizona town of Holbrook offers one of the coolest Old Route 66 sites you'll ever see, and when you DO see it, you know immediately how those Pixar dudes scored their motivation to hammer out this, James Sheldon's favorite, Pixar effort. (Maybe if I keep writing Pixar, people will find my blog about Pixar as opposed to the official Pixar site! That would be Pixariffic!)

So, we picked up some montage stuff on Sunday at the Wigwam Motel, and got a little bit closer to becoming a full piece of fabric on Wid Winner and The Slipstream. After Alex (who I'm now calling Sascha) got what he wanted (and you can always tell that he got what he wanted, because he smiles real big and bats his irresistible lashes), we travelled back east toward the world's cultural epicenter, LA. Did I say epicenter? I meant blackhole...

On our way back, I know Sascha Gaynor was hoping for a few more slices of incomparability, and the "betchas" (I betcha) were swirling through the production vehicles as we approached the famous Ghost Town of Two Guns, Arizona. The stop here would become an epic journey across (we didn't know at the time that it was) an old, abandoned portion of Route 66, the historic Route 66 Bridge over Canyon Diablo, as well as include some stellar shots at the old Two Guns Zoo, where I got to do what all actors live for...throw rocks and get sunburned while being photographed...if that sounds sarcastic, let me reitterate...that, to me, is about as close to perfect as a day can get.

So...what about Saturday? Saturday was THIS. Two fellas in the middle of the desert, talking about Tang, Freeze-dried Ice Cream and surrounded by petrified wood, erotic mannequins and horny ostriches. If you were excited about the prospects of a movie about a homemade time machine, it only gets better when you think about this guy:

Don't ya just wanna take a sword and whack his head off?

Happy VD (an update)

Remember ye olde days, when STDs were referred to as VDs? And now it's Valentine's Day. In all fairness, Valentine's Day is more likely referred to as V-Day. Either way, maybe it's more than coincidence? I bet there are more STDs tomorrow nation-wide than there are today... ...ewwwww.

So, my softball team - STD free! Yep, I'm in the midst of a winter season, and playing on a team called The FundaMentals. We do, in fact, play pretty good fundamental ball. The problem is, we've got a lot of baseball players now playing softball. It's like putting a baseball on a tee and saying, "don't swing unless it's close"...nobody wants to take a walk, and thus, we don't have a win. The entire league is playing for a post season tournament seed, so even if we lose every regular season game, I would feel incredibly confident about the squad we put on the field - even as the worst tourney seed. However, I don't see it happening...I think our bats will heat up on Saturday and we'll knock one into the W column. That's the way it goes for an expansion team.

A couple weeks ago, I played a set at a new venue called Grace Cafe. Appropriate for a dude that has the word GRACE inked into his left forearm. It was hosted by the Glendale Church of Christ, and the environment was fantastic...not to mention the warm reception from a forgiving audience. And who can turn down free Starbucks coffee, a spread of home made cookies and free Wi-Fi? The crowd was mixed from homeless individuals to teenage skaters, and that was a beautiful thing to see. Anyway, I'll shout through this medium the next time one is going down, and everyone can come see me what I do mediocre. Maybe within the next few months, I'll have to get a band together and melt some faces in a Christian environment!

And..........Wid Winner and The Slipstream .......... There's some footage axed into a short reel of images that I've seen. You can take my word for it, it looks amazing, and the stuff still hasn't been touched in the refining process. Needless to say, that's exciting. I'm going to do my best to get a slice of it and slap it on here...create a fanbase for this flic before we even get it finished!

Game, Set and Match! Happy VD!

Where to Blog Next?

It's time to get rolling again. Working on a few posts that have been archived to present at the appropriate times. I believe I'm going to start hitting on it all...religion, politics...all those things I can tip to offend.

Still working on Wid Winner and The Slipstream and we're about to get rocking on some sweet action in the California desert, maybe in Arizona, maybe New Mexico and maybe back in Kentucky? We go where Alex tells us to go.

As of late, I've completed contractual duties with football.com...yep, right about the time my LSU Tigers were puttin' the super-smack on that pansy Big 10 squad from Ohio. Personally, I think the Bobcats of Ohio may have offered a better contest than the Buckeyes of Ohio State. Fo' Sho', I'm already excited to see what happens next year, when the Bayou Bengals aren't supposed to do anything... ...

As of now, I'm patiently waiting for this WGA strike to come to a close...SAG (of which I'm a member) will be following shortly if our peeps and the Producers can't come to some new and better understandings in regards to the lucrative dinero that is flowing forth from the 21st Century idiot box.

Presently, I'm still doing some writing for CKMG and thus have contributions for some pretty high profile clientele, yet you'll never see my name associated with it...which is fine by me. Absolutely fine. I am helping one of the CK project managers out with his corporate blog: green eggs and planet - I highly recommend checking it out. Other than that, yep, life has been that exciting :-) It's good, we need to renew from time to time.

Finally, sorry for shotty post-work I've done over the winter. Check back daily or every other day, and if I don't have something to offer more entertaining than this, something's very wrong, or something's very right!

By the way, if any of my two readers have any questions as to what I do, or why I do...or am I mostly crazy - please, feel free to ask.