Wednesday, February 18, 2004
I had a great meeting today with Cliff, the local American basketball player here in Joensuu and he was on board with the idea of the documentary and was a cool guy too - which is very important. OK so what the hell do I do now? Now I have to get serious. I have to create a business plan, determine a budget, craft the story and do so in order to capitalize on the multiple market appeal. In other words, it is possible that the Finnish audience would appreciate different elements of the story from those that an American audience would appreciate, but this is something for the editing room.
So over the next few weeks and months I need to get my pitch together and figure out what kind of money I can raise. I would like to be able to get to €100K, but we will see. My feedback has been very positive from all those that I spoke to about the story. And the fact that Cliff has agreed to do it, if it comes together is just the impetus I need to get to it.
Some really cool things that I learned today: 1, he is from Hawaii and makes that his home away from Joensuu - talk about a difference of environment and visually striking. Not to mention that if this happens that means yours truly and K will be in Hawaii (fingers crossed until that happens). 2, he is the firstHawaiiann to be a professional basketball player and the first to get a full ride to a Division 1 school - Oregon State. 3, the fact that he has been playing here in Joensuu for more than 5 years means that he has some insight into the way things are and this could be great for the expose of life here as a basketball player.
So anyone out there know how to use a digital camera, lights and sound?Couldd be a trip to Hawaii and a long stay here in Joensuu. Quick, which one of those options sounds moreappealingg?
On to another topic, but a topic that is quite exciting...Amsterdam! Phil and I have been talking about going to Amsterdam for a long time now and it will finally happen. March 4-7.
Funny story this morning. Ok, everyone has had those moments when, while asleep, you fidget or jerk your arm, leg, whatever, or say something aloud. Well, this morning at around 6:30am I was sleeping and heard what, at first, I thought was a turkey gobbling. Turns out it was Karoliina in the middle of an action adventure dream where she was trying to get my attention because the woman who had just jumped overboard off of our yacht (not too shabby) was now swimming back towards us and the motor. I think that she was pretty scared because apparently that gobble gobble was actually her way of yelling "help!" Sure this sounds like it was scary and I am sure that is was, but when she realized what she sounded like and that it was just a dream, we started to crack up.
Thought I would let you know that I have become a bit of a message board basher lately. I have been reading the political discussions on the UT website and I have increasingly been attacking people when they state something stupid or ignorant. Now I do not know if it is because I am so annoyed, bored or far enough away to feel confident to tell people that they are dumb, but I have gotten a real kick out of it and truly enjoy ruffling some feathers. I guess after being able to yell at anyone I wanted to on a daily basis in New York, I feel a need to take out that aggression somewhere and I do not think it would look good if I walked around yelling at people for no good reason.
Speaking of yelling, after talking with Cliff about the calmness of the basketball crowd I have come to the decision that, come crunch time I am going to be a loud crass mofo. So what if I cause a scene. If it is for the home team and hurts the competing team than no matter what people think, they cannot say that I do not support my team.
Interesting note here, I did not use a single apostrophe on this entry. I was having the ÂÂÂ problem again with the keyboard and let me tell you, it is real difficult to write without using ÂÂs.
I guess I can feel it in the air, or maybe because we have made official plans, but I am really looking forward to this spring. K and I will be flying straight to Dallas on the 21st of May and will go to NYC on the return to Finland, this makes our return trip more segmented and not quite as brutal.
Adios muchachos....Dos Charros, Blue Goose, Chuys...man.
So over the next few weeks and months I need to get my pitch together and figure out what kind of money I can raise. I would like to be able to get to €100K, but we will see. My feedback has been very positive from all those that I spoke to about the story. And the fact that Cliff has agreed to do it, if it comes together is just the impetus I need to get to it.
Some really cool things that I learned today: 1, he is from Hawaii and makes that his home away from Joensuu - talk about a difference of environment and visually striking. Not to mention that if this happens that means yours truly and K will be in Hawaii (fingers crossed until that happens). 2, he is the firstHawaiiann to be a professional basketball player and the first to get a full ride to a Division 1 school - Oregon State. 3, the fact that he has been playing here in Joensuu for more than 5 years means that he has some insight into the way things are and this could be great for the expose of life here as a basketball player.
So anyone out there know how to use a digital camera, lights and sound?Couldd be a trip to Hawaii and a long stay here in Joensuu. Quick, which one of those options sounds moreappealingg?
On to another topic, but a topic that is quite exciting...Amsterdam! Phil and I have been talking about going to Amsterdam for a long time now and it will finally happen. March 4-7.
Funny story this morning. Ok, everyone has had those moments when, while asleep, you fidget or jerk your arm, leg, whatever, or say something aloud. Well, this morning at around 6:30am I was sleeping and heard what, at first, I thought was a turkey gobbling. Turns out it was Karoliina in the middle of an action adventure dream where she was trying to get my attention because the woman who had just jumped overboard off of our yacht (not too shabby) was now swimming back towards us and the motor. I think that she was pretty scared because apparently that gobble gobble was actually her way of yelling "help!" Sure this sounds like it was scary and I am sure that is was, but when she realized what she sounded like and that it was just a dream, we started to crack up.
Thought I would let you know that I have become a bit of a message board basher lately. I have been reading the political discussions on the UT website and I have increasingly been attacking people when they state something stupid or ignorant. Now I do not know if it is because I am so annoyed, bored or far enough away to feel confident to tell people that they are dumb, but I have gotten a real kick out of it and truly enjoy ruffling some feathers. I guess after being able to yell at anyone I wanted to on a daily basis in New York, I feel a need to take out that aggression somewhere and I do not think it would look good if I walked around yelling at people for no good reason.
Speaking of yelling, after talking with Cliff about the calmness of the basketball crowd I have come to the decision that, come crunch time I am going to be a loud crass mofo. So what if I cause a scene. If it is for the home team and hurts the competing team than no matter what people think, they cannot say that I do not support my team.
Interesting note here, I did not use a single apostrophe on this entry. I was having the ÂÂÂ problem again with the keyboard and let me tell you, it is real difficult to write without using ÂÂs.
I guess I can feel it in the air, or maybe because we have made official plans, but I am really looking forward to this spring. K and I will be flying straight to Dallas on the 21st of May and will go to NYC on the return to Finland, this makes our return trip more segmented and not quite as brutal.
Adios muchachos....Dos Charros, Blue Goose, Chuys...man.
// posted by Howard @ 12:13 AM 
