BlogDogIt

It's a picture + a few lines of text blog, featuring history, art, old photographs, maps, and more.

Dutch.Man.Amersfoort.Creative.IT.Music.History

 The World upside down

The convention that North is at the top on most modern maps was established by the Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy (90-168 AD) and was adopted by other cartographers.

Happy Halloween!

ButterMyButtons

Sometimes when playing pool it really helps to have a bridge stick around for those hard to reach, across the table cue shots. No self respecting billiard parlor would be complete without one. A while back I picked up a couple of shorty pool cues with the intention of fitting one with a bridge head while keeping the other one for the "why is there a bookcase here?" shot.

Today I finally decided I would take care of my "lack of bridge head" problem. I do have a scroll saw and figured if I couldn't use it to cut out a bridge head, what's the point? So I hop on the friendly interwebs and search for "billiards bridge head template" (thinking surely I can not be the only scroll sawyer with this idea.) I turned up some pictures but not a template per se. 

I found a head-on shot of a bridge head with the shape I am most accustomed to and PhotoShopped it into a two-color image and printed it to size. Click on the image below for a PDF template - ready to print out.

Download Template: BridgeHead.pdf

I cut out the printed shape and headed out to the workshop to find a piece of quarter-inch plywood to impart this shape unto. The scraps I had on hand were slightly too narrow (and I would not waste anything larger on this project.) A glance in the right direction revealed a "drop" of quarter-inch plexiglass that would be just the ticket. This plexi had its protective paper covering still attached. I laid the template shape on the plexiglass blank and spray painted over it to transfer the outline.

A slow and steady pass through the scroll saw, a stop at the drill press and some judicious sanding resulted in the handy-dandy bridge-headed shorty pictured above. For the record, the first shot taken with this device in a real game resulted in the successful pocketing of the desired ball - what more do you want?

Chuck Menville and Len Janson's
Sergeant Swell of the Mounties (1972)

Sergeant Swell of the Mounties is a short film written and directed by Len Janson and Chuck Menville, with Menville starring in the title role.

The film is said to be a spoof of the '50s television series  Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. It relies heavily on the use of the animation technique known as pixilation (using human actors as stop-motion puppets.) It also relies on silliness and corn ball humor, often venturing into stereotypical humor in search of a laugh (that it very often finds.) This independent film was introduced at the Ann Arbor Film Festival in March of 1972.

I have actually owned this film in Super-8 format (w/mag-stripe sound!) since the mid 1980's. After viewing it so often on the silver screen it is a little disorienting to see it on this small embedded video screen, but it's not like that is the only disorienting thing about this film. Do you have 16 minutes to spare in the quest for a good time? Mount Up! and give this little classic a try.

Claire and Brodyn racing their invisible cars in a single lap feature. Winner take all!

Luckily Papaw had his camera on hand to capture
this sibling showdown!

[Stop-Motion Animation Above is 150X113 scaled to 350X339]
[320X240]-Downloads-[640X480]

When I headed off to Fandom Fest I was on the lookout for a story. With video camera in hand I was able to collect enough shots of the event to give some indication that there was a lot going on. [see: FandomFest GrabShot] There were tons of people in attendance and you never knew what might be in store for you around every turn.

Turning around at one point I spied the word "lucid." emblazoned on a jet-black tee-shirt being worn by the red-headed gal that was manning the Big Biting Pig Productions booth. At that very instant I remembered that "lucid." was the title of an indie horror film that I had every intention of seeing. Having lost track of the schedule of events and fearful that I might have missed the screening I inquired at the booth and was told the film was showing "at this very moment," that it probably just started and if we hurried, my brother and I would not miss much (if any) of the feature. The helpful exhibitor in the "lucid." tee added, "I probably should be there too,  seeing how it's my film and everything... I have no idea where it is screening though."

Having scoped out the screening rooms earlier in the day, I knew exactly where it was and said, "if you follow us we will take you right to it." (It was just downstairs from our present location.) Making our way to the screening room we entered the darkened space where the magic was already in progress upon the glowing screen in front of the more punctual attendees. Our red-headed tag-a-long stopped us in the back of the hall and whispered, "this is what you've missed..." and proceeded to explain the scenes we had missed and the development of the plot to this point, then kindly offered us to please have a seat and enjoy the film.

It would not be until the rolling of the credits at the end of this clever bit of cinematic thrill ride that I would learn the name of our friendly host and usher - PJ Woodside, Writer, Director, Producer and more! This was my introduction to Big Biting Pig Productions. This was the story I needed to tell...

The new standard for independent Horror Films

STEVE HUDGINS is the founder of Big Biting Pig Productions, Steve is not only an accomplished actor in front of the camera and on stage, he is also a director and an award winning writer.
In addition to writing the screenplays for "Maniac on the Loose", "GoatSucker", "Hell is Full" & "Spirit Stalkers" and directing those movies, he also co-wrote the stage play "Killer Cast Party" with creative partner PJ Woodside and directed the World Premiere in 2009.
Steve Hudgins was recently referred to by Friday the 13th writer Victor Miller as a "Horror Meister to reckon with."

PJ WOODSIDE, a co-producer with Big Biting Pig Productions, has won awards as a director, actor, and sound editor. "Lucid", her latest film, featuring Bill Johnson of Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, [has just been released.] She is also the writer and director of the films "The Creepy Doll" & "Widow" and has written several stage plays. Her first screenplay, "Cajun P.I." was selected from thousands of entries to be performed as a Radio Play at the International Mystery Writers Festival in Owensboro, KY.
She holds an MFA in fiction writing from George Mason University and has published in both fiction and non-fiction. In addition to partnering with Big Biting Pig Productions, she runs her own video editing business, PJ's Productions, which produces book trailers, music videos and other projects. You can find her work at www.pjsproductions.com

Excerpts from "worm in my mouth"

...
My worm scene was only added AFTER I’d been cast.  Steve Hudgins, the writer and director of this one, said he’d done a revision to the script, and would I, WOULD I, mind putting a worm in my mouth.  Only one.  How could I say no, right?
...
I will tell you what worms taste like.  Dirt.  That’s not too surprising, since they come from the dirt.  But wait.  Worms actually make dirt.  And how do they do that?  By processing organic matter through their bodies.

That’s right.  Dirt is worm shit.  And so when you put a worm in your mouth and it tastes like dirt, basically the worm is doing what all your sworn enemies wish they could.
...
We got what we needed in about ten takes, and honestly, I would have done it twice as many if asked to.  Once I got the hang of it, it was kind of fun.  The worm and I bonded.
... [ Read It ]

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