My pal Peter Darchuck is a funny, sincere, and extremely talented storyteller and filmmaker. Currently, he's a semi-finalist in "The Ultimate Filmmaker Competition." the winner receives $500,000 in cash and resources to produce a feature film. He's made it to the top 25 and is now trying to get into the top five; one of these top five finalists will then be chosen by online voting.

You can check out his entry via the links below; there's two movies there, one is his bio and contest entry, the other is a cool (and super-weird) sample from one of his shorts.

Their voting tools are a bit clunky, but it's painless. here's the abbreviated link: http://tinyurl.com/votedarchuk

and the long URL for those old-school purists out there:
http://www.ultimatefilmmakercompetition.com/contestant/peterdarchuk

you can learn all about the competition from the main link:
http://www.ultimatefilmmakercompetition.com

Thanks for your time and your vote. Feel free to forward to anyone who would be interested in supporting independent film, or post the link on Facebook if you're so inclined.

An awesome summation of the need for hope and optimism in the creative process, shamelessly stolen from Kevin Smith's Twitter. A fan asked him, "Dont you always think the next film's gonna be the big one?" His response:

"That's the director's job: to believe in their dopey vision-quest so much that it fuels not just him/her, but the entire cast & crew as well. For months. As the person everyone's looking to for answers, you've GOTTA believe. Anyone can be negative, because bitching takes no discernible talent and costs nothing. And sure: every once in awhile, you die in despair a bit, brokenhearted that your ideas didn't reach more people. But until then? You have hope that the next flick WILL reach a larger audience. You're living in hope. Living ON hope. And hope is life's sweet elixir, touching not just human beings, but every thinking organism on the planet. Living in a constant state/haze of hope = smoking God's own strain of Kush."

16:45 RTKL flook.it/c/31WbHLD Innovative architecture & design firm in Downtown LA -- creators of LA Live

19:24 Dinner @ CiUDAD flook.it/c/31WbHN1 Unique Latin-American fusion... if you're a fan of mussels, try the Shellfish Diablo

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12:36 Thinkwell (& AECOM) wins competition for re-imagining of Seoul Grand Park as "Gaia: The Living World" tinyurl.com/yckug74 #fb #in

13:55 Great piece about the Grand Guignolers, naughty puppeteers and hosts of my birthday shindig at the end of Jan: tinyurl.com/yjvlj2v

14:01 Why does Vanity Fair hate the Women of Twitter? bit.ly/5qw1au (via @feliciaday) #fb

18:19 Televise the Trial: Deadline, FRIDAY 9AM! www.couragecampaign.org/TeleviseTheTrial

20:34 COSTCO flook.it/c/31WbHCD AKA "The $200 Store"... also home to a great (and cheap!) hot dog. Only a buck-fifty for a dog and a soda!

20:49 Uhhh, sorry 'bout that last Tweet. I *know* y'all know about Costco hot dogs already... *duh*. I'm just trying out Flook: flook.it/

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A great piece about the Grand Guignolers, the naughty puppeteers who will be performing the grand finale of my 40th birthday shindig at the end of January.

13:57 RT @CourageCampaign Urgent: sign the letter to Judge Walker. Tell him to televise the Prop 8 trial bit.ly/59ody5

17:06 PhotoSpeak is one of the coolest and weirdest iPhone Apps I've ever seen, worth the $2.99, trust me: tinyurl.com/yct5sa5

17:10 This is either a very dense, strange & incredible start to a CLOVERFIELD 2 viral ARG, or fan-created hooey. tinyurl.com/yabannc #fb

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 Tonight is boys night out!  

Tina is off to see the family.  

Frank, myself and the other guys are probably heading to the dirty duck for dinner and definitely getting into a bottle of bijou and a case of beer.

Tags: travel

 It seems that Germans are the new Greeks.

In 5 training visits to China we have had two overt attempts to use Frank and Tina's trip to bypass them and get at the masters they are representing.  Both failed.  First the Greeks tried to get Li to name them his representatives to the entire western hemisphere.  No joke.  Li told them that he had chosen Frank and Tina to do that for him.  Then the crazy shrink from Chicago tried to get Liu to make him his representative to the United States for Baguazhang.  When Liu told him that that was Frank and Tina the guy started enquiring if he could be Liu's representative for Mantis, a style he had never even practiced.  Again, no thank you.

Now the Germans that Frank and Tina have been teaching for years got noticed asking the master's for their contact information.  And these people know about the other attempts!  What the hell are they thinking?

Tags: travel

 Ok, I know the Chinese are racist as shit.  I know this indirectly though by being told so by mandarin speakers who tattle.

I hate to jump to conclusions but I just can't account for the last two days without the explanation of racism.  In the last 4 visits I have never had a problem getting a cab but in the last two days I have been passed over by around 30 cabs with lights on and no one inside.  Some of them even slow down and look at me before speeding up again.  Some of them go around me to pick up chinese farther up the street.

Has the government put out an official warning that white men are dangerous this year?  Why now?  Earlier tonight it took me around an hour to get a cab home after diner.  Earlier today it took almost as long to get one after training.

China, I love you.  Why don't you try loving me back?

Tags: travel

09:40 Let it be known, I think resolutions are for suckers. But, I'm back to counting points after a short & mildly gluttonous holiday hiatus. #fb

10:52 Head exploding. Mario and Tetris in the SAME GAME! bit.ly/8zQcJb #fb

12:40 If you know a Disney Parks fan, you should tell them about mrblubird.com/ (via @Rustin) #fb

14:29 An update on my January 22nd-24th birthday shenannigans (RSVP ASAP!): tinyurl.com/yc7m6oz #in

17:55 THE GOONIES: THE YOUTUBE MUSICAL -- I think "Tubes (There's a Pirate Ship)" is, by far, my favorite tinyurl.com/yb2dkwb #fb

19:38 Some photos from our New Year's Weekend with friends: tinyurl.com/y8m2sgd

20:11 The Gaia worship of the Na'vi is simply hard-headed realism j.mp/4AgvVt (via @ebertchicago) #avatar #fb

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A reminder, folks -- I know it seems like a month away, but please RSVP ASAP if you are coming along for any of my birthday frivolity over the weekend of January 22nd-24th. The first three events of the weekend are pretty casual and you can just "show up"...

However, for the Grand Guinol show on the 24th, you should buy tickets ASAP -- not only will the show probably sell out, we're also preparing to have some VERY EXCITING AND YUMMY FREE BIRTHDAY FOOD AFTERWARDS FOR EVERYONE (hint: it's one of the LA food trucks!), so I'll need a rough head-count soon in order to make the booking. Thanks!

17:26 Saw "Fantastic Mr. Fox" again w/Zane & Jason today. Thoroughly charmed yet again, and now I want the soundtrack and the making-of book. #fb

21:57 The ultimate in uncomfortable birthday presents! hollywoodiscalling.com/

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 today we learned 7 and 8 of the earth palms and 5, 6, 7, and 8 of the wind palms.  

Ok, the wind palms are kind of simple but I think I actually like them the best so far.  They are all spinning body techniques and are wicked powerful.

Tomorrow is Taiji as usual and the final Bagua lesson, which will be dedicated to review.

The day after will be a visit to the temple of Hell and to my perennial favorite the White Cloud temple.

I'll try to get some pictures up shortly.

Tags: travel

 Well I think Ive been training for six days now.  

Suffering the first signs of burn out.  Taiji has been great for the most part even if Li has only made it to 2 classes.  Wei is a good guy and just drilling our stepping has made me realize how fundamental this is and how far I have to go.  Todays discussion of cloud hands was beyond frustrating.  Tina kept positioning my upper arm at a 90 degree angle and then demonstrating the movement with a 135 degree angle in her arm.  When I would imitate her she would get annoyed and put me back at 90 degrees.  I had been using an angle like she is demonstrating for years now and suddenly Im wrong.

Bagua is starting to fry my brain.  We have learned all 8 of the variations of the heaven palm, 6 of the variations of the earth palm and 4 of the variations of the wind palm.  Shits starting to blur together.

About my 3rd day I pulled a small muscle in my back but am 90% recovered.  Thank god.  My knees are starting to feel the effect 4 hours training per day, day after day.

Went to the Ming tombs and the Summer Palace yesterday.  Tombs ok.  Palace spectacular.

Ok, nuff for now.  later.

Tags: travel

13:35 Some ruminations on the past decade: e-ticket.livejournal.com/560003.html

14:40 Dropping in to hang with Ian & Roy — at Universal Studios Hollywood gowal.la/s/2dz6

20:18 Dinner with Seen, Matty, Ian, Roy & Jason — at Home gowal.la/s/dkU

01:49 My New Year's Eve party photos, let me show you them. tinyurl.com/yasgnjp

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