Today I rode my bike uptown to cash in a gift certificate for a massage. I figured that a good deep massage on my hip would help loosen it up once and for all. I was a little late so I biked furiously through the crazy traffic. It was in the low 70's and beautiful out. When I arrived on...
Even before I went in to see Dr. Sarno, I knew that I wanted to make a film about his work. My partners* and I had just finished our first documentary, "Horns and Halos" and we were starting our next one when the pain started. We are all drawn to stories about individuals who stand up to problems that the...
This is some thoughts on pain and dr. john e. sarno. we have been trying to pull together a film about him and his methods. this part is more about my personal experience with him and tomorrow i will work on some thoughts about making a film....
The following is the second part of a discussion begun yesterday in regards to context and how information flows through the world in the age of blogs. We have been shooting our film for 6 years now, focusing mainly on an individual who refused to sell his home to make way for the arena project because he felt that it was...
Sometimes things move more quickly than we expect. A few weeks ago, Yvette found out that she had twin half-brothers. Friday morning was the first time in her life that Yvette had met a blood relative- her brother came to visit. On Saturday, her brother set off for NJ to meet their father. Yvette, her boyfriend, Paul, and I waited and...
Last week NY Times Local blogger (and friend of mine) Andy Newman inadvertently brought up some complex ethical issues when he wrote a story about a business that had decided to renovate in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. The problem was that the deli that decided it needed a spiffy new facade was in an historic district and the owners hadn't bothered...
I have been working on other projects a lot the last few weeks, but on Friday I got an astounding call from my friend, Yvette. A couple of months ago, I filmed with Alana and Yvette, who both contacted me after I posted my op-ed on donor issues. Yvette is an old friend, and it turns out she was adopted and...
In our nearly 6 years of working on a film about the Atlantic Yards project, we have taken great pains to avoid using our work to influence the situation. While we are not activist filmmakers, we are also not journalists and it has has not been our goal to cover the story from a "news" perspective. Instead, we see ourselves...
As much as my life is defined by my role as a father, I will be the first person to admit that I am by no means a perfect one. In fact, I'm a lot more imperfect than I'd like at times. Our older daughter is "spirited" beyond belief. Honestly, she acts like a 13 year old more than a...
For the past two weeks, my kids have had no camp or day care. My wife and i have swapped time mostly, so that one of us can get some work done. Last week, we stayed in Upstate, NY. My wife typically gets up with the kids first and then wakes me after an hour or so and goes back...
I had a really crazy second round dream this morning about my father. By second round I mean the kids had woken up at 6:30 and we had all gotten back to sleep for a little bit, so it was a thin sleep that didn't feel like sleep. In the dream, I got a few letters from American Express that had...
view the trailer When my father died 3 and a half years ago, I was in a bit of emotional shock for quite some time. Despite taking on his role as the family leader during the turmoil that followed his death, I managed to shoot a couple of short videos on my brother's little photo camera. A couple of weeks later, as...