London screening of PASS THE SALT, PLEASE @ 11 am CST.

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"The Wheel" and other shorts in...The Milwaukee Show!

Wheel from John Roberts on Vimeo.

I checked out The Milwaukee Show last night at The Oriental downtown, part of the shorts program for the Milwaukee Film Festival. Alone in the balcony, with my large Coke and popcorn, listening to the organ dude playing near the stage, in the main theater of the 84-year-old Oriental Theatre...truly enjoyable experience.

Now - the films. I'm not gonna rain on anyone's parade here. Creativity is creativity and the amount of work it takes to make a film is mindboggling. That being said, some films I enjoyed better than others. Some I thought, "hmmmm....really?"

My favorites of the bunch:

The Wheel - by John Roberts, steampunk meets Tim Burton, my favorite of the evening. Roberts has a future in filmmaking. Here's a short article on the making of the film.

Missed Connections by Susan Kerns & Kara Mulrooney, Internet dating set to music at The Gobbler (if you're from WI, you get what I mean, sort of)

Documenting Westphal by Kurt Raether, funniest one of the bunch, a 73-year-old man intent on running for the governorship of Wisconsin is documented on film. One thing that puzzled me was the filmmaker seemed to be apologizing for the film (during the Q&A following), like he didn't know what he was in for and regreted getting involved with the guy. That's dumb - you got a great movie out of it. Stupid.

Don't Go by Michael Hawkins-Burgos, comedy about a houseguest who comes - and goes.

Everday by Blyth Renate Meier, doc short on the everyday ritual a cancer patient goes through, poignant, moving, tugs at your heart

You can read about all the shorts in The Milwaukee Show here. Unfortunately for you, Thursday's screening was the only screening.

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TGIF! presents...The Slowass Sloth

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PASS THE SALT, PLEASE goes Hawaiian!

The Hawaiian International Film Festival runs Oct. 13-25. I had wanted to attend but it overlaps the Austin and Chicago Film Fests. Dang. Here's a link to our film. And if you plan on attending and need to brush up on your Hawaiian, click here.

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PASS THE SALT, PLEASE screening at the Milwaukee Film Festival.

A photographer hired to take PR shots by MFF took these. I don't know his/her name though...either Kim Bednarski, C.J. Foeckler, Scott Winklebleck, or Art Montes.

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Dried cockscomb.

I was given three cockscomb from my best friend from high school, Justyna, for my birthday. Little sneak left them at my doorstop (she drove in from Chicago) while I was at work. Gorgeous. So I tried them and voila!...they look as though she just left them.

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Your Milwaukee Brewers! Central Divison Champions!

McGehee and Fielder celebrating. This is the first time since 1982 that the Milwaukee Brewers have won their division. Playoff time. Wonder what the cards have in store for the Brew Crew??

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"You can't beat our Dickey!"

I've had this picture for several years, given to me by my college buddy, Todd. It's the "Battle of the Bays" in 1985, maybe. Tampa @ GB...big snowstorm. My parents were stranded in Stevens Point with my brother who was attending college there. Lynn signed this a week ago during an appearance in Cedarburg, WI. Thanks, Lynn! Always loved you as a QB!

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Dazed & Confused.

Fine. These guys (and the girl who was freed earlier) endured much while imprisoned. Fine...I get that. But WHY choose to hike in Iraq - then accidentally cross into Iran - when there are hundreds - no...thousands of safer places to go hiking?

I don't believe their story. They were there for another reason. Whatever it was, they weren't simply "hiking". No one is that stupid.

And if they were just "hiking"...I think of the time and resources that were put into freeing them and it's mind boggling, not to say anything of the emotional stress they endured and the stress they put their families and friends through? Go right ahead and call me heartless. You don't think at some point someone's gonna say to Frick and Frack, "what were you thinking"? Like I said, I have not doubt what they endured in prison was horrifying. But they should've thought about that while they were perusing TripAdvisor.com and came up with a different game plan. I looked up several "best world hikes" on the Internet - Cinque Terre, Italy...Kilimanjaro, Tanzania...the Appalachian Trail, Patagonia, Iceland, Alaska and so forth.

None of these sites mentions Iraq.

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The Best Damn F*#@ing Midnight Program Ever. Sh*t. opens at The Oriental!

This is the shorts program our film, PASS THE SALT, PLEASE, was screened in - one of several shorts programs in the Milwaukee Film Festival.

A bunch of us met beforehand at Hotel Foster for drinks and conversation. Great bar. I wanted to say thanks to Mom, Dad, brother Jas, Uncle Bob & Aunt Ev, Tom, Ashley & Scott, Mike & Linda Wilbur, Art & Kathy, Gary & Kim, Jen, Carol, Aunt Karen, Brian & Jill and their friend (Trina? dammit!) Rick, Michael & Koren, Bryan, Alex and Derek for coming out so late to support the film.

For those of you who couldn't make it or had tickets but fell asleep, MFF added a 2nd screening this Friday, Sept. 30...yes, at midnight. Click here for tickets. The Oriental Theatre is absolutely a palace!

Left to right: Gary Benser, associate producer of PTSP, me and Art Edstrom, one of our executive producers of PTSP. Art and I went to high school together and Gary's a theater buddy from Cedar Rapids who acted in the world premiere of the play version of PTSP in Cedar Rapids.

Dad and Uncle Bob.

Mom.

Art and Kathy.

The lobby of The Oriental Theatre.

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Pump up the jam!

Yes - on the day of the Milwaukee premiere of our short film, I canned ten 8 ounce jars of black raspberry jam...berries picked right here at Glen Mar. Messy business, canning jam. I'm still finding clumbs of raspberries all over the kitchen. It turned out excellent.

Speaking of pump up the jam, click here.

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Milwaukee premiere tonite of PASS THE SALT, PLEASE at MFF!

It's time, baby! Our film screens tonite at the Milwaukee Film Festival - my hometown. Very excited. 40+ friends and family will be in the SOLD OUT 250-seat Oriental Theatre. That's me and my brother (above) at the opening night party Thursday at Discovery World. Very nice shindig. Aunt Ev and Uncle Bob attended as well.

Oh...a second screening was added on Friday, Sept. 30th at midnight. TEAM SALT likes that.

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TGIF! presents....Lightfoot's "Song for a Winter's Night"!

My brother and I saw Gordon Lightfoot at The Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee last night. What more can I say? We saw. He sang. Magic. This is one of my favorites.

FB users click here for video.

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...just another day at the office.

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GIDDY UP! PTSP goin' to Austin Film Festival!

Shorts 8/Relationships - view list here. AFF has release the timetable yet so I'll keep you posted.

Never been to Austin but I will be in attendance. AFF runs Oct. 20-27. I was perusing "Austin" on the Internet and came across the insanely successful Austin City Limits. Did you know that Gordon Lightfoot never appeared on ACL? Odd. As my brother and I are seeing Gordo tomorrow evening at The Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee, I thought it would be appropriate to share Lightfoot's most famous song with you.

Have announced 11 of the 13 film festivals our short film, PASS THE SALT, PLEASE, has been invited to. We hope for more. We're greedy that way. Besides, our award-winning graphic artist, Doug Tomich (Babel, June, No Country For Old Men, True Grit, Doubt, Little Miss Sunshine), gets irritated every time our director makes him place a new set of festival laurels on our film poster.

Now get with is, ACL!

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Festival badges. Gold.

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,

Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,

Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,

Thirteen film festivals and counting Team Salt has come by,

One festival badge for Jeffrey James Ircink high atop the short film

PASS THE SALT, PLEASE he rides,

In the Land of Milwaukee where the Milwaukee Film Festival lies.

One badge to rule them all, One badge to find them,

One badge to get him into any damn festival event he wants (and then some!)…

In the Land of Milwaukee…where the Milwaukee Film Festival lies.

Get your tix here for the Midwest premiere of our short film, PASS THE SALT, PLEASE, at the Milwaukee Film Festival. Show time is this Saturday, Sept. 24th at midnight at the historic Oriental Theatre.

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PASS THE SALT, PLEASE hits the Windy City!

"My kind of town, Chicago is...", hmmmmm....you know the song. Our short film, PASS THE SALT, PLEASE, is an official entrant in the 47th Chicago International Film Festival, North America's longest running competitive film festival (1964).

Follow this link to our film - from there you can click to the main page, ticket information, party information, etc. The festival is October 6-20 and PTSP screens on Friday, Oct. 14 @ 7:10 pm. I'll be in attendance. That's 10 film festivals so far - and 3 more that we can't tell you about until the news is public.

Now listen to Frankie and shut up, will ya.

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Salsa!

Thanks for the tomatoes, Bill. (Co-worker at my summer job. More of a boss really. It was his recipe so I had to use his tomatoes) Left the jalapeno peppers out but it turned out excellent. I like my salsa chunky - don't like sauce dripping off a chip, you know? 4 quarts. And I'm not sharing.

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Russian sage.

Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov? No...the plant. By far my favorite and most successful planting this Spring. It's held its color all summer. A definite must for any garden enthusiast.

How unnatural it is to ask, ‘Why does that which exists, exist?' and yet how completely natural it is to ask, ‘Why do the living die?‘

Now that - was Fyodorov.

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TGIF! presents The Best of Coppercab!

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New York(perhaps), London (YES!), Paris(no), Munich(maybe), everyone's talkin' 'bout, mmmmm PASS THE SALT, PLEASE!

We're headed to London for the Raindance Film Festival! That's 9 festivals thus far (Milwaukee, Orlando, Rhode Island, Sydney, Warsaw, Palm Springs, Big Sur and Los Angels ShortsFest) and 3 more I can't tell you about just now. Here's the Raindance site and here's the link to our film.

(Below) The Raindance Film Festival trailer:
2011 Raindance Film Fest Trailer from Raindance Canada on Vimeo.

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Black cherry tomatoes.

Per my friend Joey's request...my canning experiment with black cherry tomatoes. Two large popcorn bowls full of tomatoes cooked down to two jars.

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TGIF! presents...The Saltshakers' "Please Don't Walk Away"!

Talk about a faux 80's flashback, this Milwaukee band started about 9 years ago and I just heard (for the first time) this song, "Please Don't Walk Away" on 88.9RadioMilwaukee. Check out their website here.

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Black cherry tomatoes anyone?

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Peyton. Streak. Done.

Good. That means the Brett Favre consecutive game streak will remain intact for longer than while. Here's the story.

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Cabbage patch Jason.

Brother Jason at the Glen Mar gardens.

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Cockscomb.

Or "Celosia cristata", as Justyna calls them. A birthday gift from her. She dropped them off while I was at work. Sneaky little bitch.

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John Axford. Brewer closer. Cinephile.

John Axford, closer for the Milwaukee Brewers, studied film in college and apparently is interesting in pursing a career in film when he gets out of baseball.

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PTSP headed to Milwaukee Film Festival!

Our short film, PASS THE SALT, PLEASE, will be showcased at the 3rd Annual Milwaukee Film Festival as part of the "Shorts:  The Best Dam F*#@ing Midnight Program Ever. Sh*t." program.

MFF is running this program ONCE - and the venue is the Landmark Oriental Theatre in downtown Milwaukee on Saturday, September 24 at Midnight. Not sure why they're running this particular shorts program (there's 4 different programs) only once. Probably too racy. Whatever - suck it up.

Point is when tickets go on sale, you better GET THEM NOW!

Tickets go on sale September 8th. $10.  Seniors get in for $9. You can purchase tickets 3 ways:

1)  Online at the festival website here.
2)  By phone at 414-727-8468, 11 am - 6 pm, 7 days a week
3)  In person at any of the venues - Landmark Oriental Theatre, Marcus North Shore Cinema (Mequon), Marcus Ridge Cinema (New Berlin) or Landmark Downer Theatre

See you there!

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TGIF! presents...Dusty Springfield singing "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life"!

Forgot about this song until I heard a story on NPR's Fresh Air. Here's the song. It was written by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman with original music by Michel Legrand for the 1969 film The Happy Ending. Fresh Air ran this story on the Bergman's today. The song was nominated for an Academy Award in 1969 but lost to "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head".

It's been recorded as both an instrumental and vocal arrangement by many artists. Dusty's is my favorite.

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