Hollywood Lesson #1: Ain't easy making movie magic

Current gig as a coordinator for the School of Engineering has taken me to interesting places...oil refineries like ExxonMobil and Shell along the Houston Ship Channel; NASA space programs; high-tech labs for IBM, AMD, NI; and awesome locales such as Myrtle Beach, DisneyWorld and Portland for professional conferences. But it's my latest project that took me to an entirely different place. Hooray for Hollywood! well sorta....

For the past year I've been working with our technology innovation group to create some new media for our embarrassingly-antiquated website to market and educate folks about the program. Didn't realize what I was getting into when I simply stated, "Um, our website sucks." Here's a lesson from Tinseltown:


















Creator: primary creative force behind a movie, series, or group of characters
Ok, considering my knowledge and experience with all things film and theater is limited to a few junior high plays and a couple semesters of being a RTF major during undergrad, I really can't take all of the credit here. Major shout out to Juan G. and all the FIC folks for really making this happen and allowing me to be a part of the movie magic. But, I feel pretty confident in claiming the creator title since it was my genuine hatred of our website that was the impetus for this project. After a year of discussing and brainstorming and storyboarding, my original vision was taking shape.

Co-producer: performs substantial portion of creative producing function, primarily responsible for one or more managerial producing functions
Can't take "executive producer" or even "producer" - those titles should really go to Juan G. (media genius) and Michael (the big boss man who writes the checks). But I tend to enjoy juggling and turned out that I make a pretty good co-pilot.

Writer: general term for someone who creates a written work, be it a novel, script or screenplay
Once our idea was fleshed out - having professional actors play the role of an engineering student who talks about how awesome their work experience was - they all turned to me and said, "ok, now come up with a script" So that's what I did. And then watched my simple word document turn into a formal screenplay. Did you know that 1 page usually equals 1 minute of screen time and wide margins are included for note-taking space?

Casting Director: auditions and helps to select all of the speaking role actors in film
Juan sent out a casting call and we spent an entire day at the Austin School of Film to hold auditions. Being in the career counseling business, I'm pretty knowledgeable about what makes a good interview and what you can or can't ask someone. Yeah, all that goes out the window with movie auditions. height, weight, looks - you really are judging a book by its cover. After hearing 12 different 60-sec monologues, it was pretty obvious who was hired and I was getting used to being CD.

Costume Supervisor: in charge of costumes; preparing and handling them for use and making sure they are accurate to the design or script
Since I'm the one who decided that our actors should be filmed in their respective engineering industry, I had to come up with authentic garb. I'm pretty sure there are designers and actual costumers in Hollywood, but I'd say smoozing co-workers to secure some loaner pieces qualifies.

Production Assistant: responsible for various odd jobs such as fetching items and running errands
Budget approved, actors hired and rehearsed, wardrobe ready, film set a-go, cameras ready to roll. It was shoot day! In my head, I thought I would just sit back and watch the process, but I got called to duty as a PA. I prefer "slatemaster" since I was in charge of the slateboard and clapping between each shot. But, I also had to stand off on sides to play human-clothes-hangar for the actors and their wardrobe changes. Take after take. Quiet on set. Hold....and action. Oh, messed up a line. Oh, you could hear street noise. Why don't you try it like this. Let's just say I now have a little bit of empathy for Christian Bale. I mean it gets intense under all those lights and cameras. And all therepetitiveness and stop-and-go made me want to pack of smokes asap (and I don't even smoke!?!).

Well, it's in the can now as they say in showbiz and I certainly enjoyed the ride. If we could have gotten craft services or maybe a director's chair or a red-carpet premiere for the official launch (release date: Late Summer), I think my "Hollywood experience" would've been fully-realized. But one thing I now know for sure, it ain't easy making movie-magic!!

Texas Lesson #2: When it's hot as hell, get in the water

It's no secret that the Texas Heat unbearably swells for much of the year, but taking a cool dip in beautiful natural waters is only a summer breeze away. Grab sunscreen, music, floaties, an igloo full of beer, and some great friends - and an otherwise hot and sticky weekend turns into an euphoric escape.

Of course, living in the ATX makes it quite condusive for such summer relief. Here's a few favorite local watering holes, shared with some of my favorite people:

New Braunfels

Been tubing down the Guadalupe since I could walk. In college, we frequented the Comal. Each time somehow managed to live and with some really great stories to tell. For the last few years, we've been renting a sweet river house with friends. Every time we drive down river rd and pass the campground that my family stayed at almost every summer, I secretly screech with excitement that my enforced camping days are now a mere memory. As Kat poignantly said from the backseat, "I mean that's why I went to college and got a degree, so I don't HAVE to camp." He doesn't say much, but when he does, its like friggin' yoda - couldn't agree more!!!

Lake Travis

Having a sweet boat (or...even better knowing someone who has a sweet boat) would be nice, but definitely not required for enjoying the beautiful Lake Travis. We've been recently splitting our weekend lake time b/w Pace Bend Park and Bob Wentz-Windy Point.

Hamilton Pool

Love bringing out-of-towners to this secluded watering hole. Getting there can be treacherous (pack light - lesson learned) but once you set eyes on this emerald lagoon, you are in a little piece of Texas heaven.

Frio River

This West Texas gem is a relatively new fav locale - especially since the folks bought a sweet cabin on Saddle Mountain in Leakey, TX. Sometimes you spend more time carrying your tube than actually floating in it - but grabbing a chair and soaking in the low flow of cold water is just as good.

Oh, can't finish this lesson without mentioning some other favorite "Texascapes" such as Barton Springs and Galveston Island.

Gardening Lesson #2: Don't waste your $$ on store-bought herbs

The Clogston's first try at backyard gardening has proven to be pretty successful. So much so, that we needed to look for various ways to harvest our overabundant produce (cucumber lemonade with sweet pepper poppers has become the summer special). I remembered from my childhood when nana would dry batch after batch of fresh italian herbs in the oven. The aroma of sweet basil would fill the air and recycled bottles of freshly, dried herbs were stacked in the pantry.

After some over-the-phone consultation, followed by a surprising and very generous donation of a dehydrating machine - thanks nana!! - jclog and i attempted to dry our own herbs.

Here's how it went...

Step 1: Harvest herbs from garden
it is best to pick herbs in the morning or late evening - clip stems about 2/3 down, right above a set of leaves. Flowers on the plant supposedly affect the taste of the herb, but can be picked, dried, and used for next year's seeding.

in addition to drying the herbs, I keep a fresh batch in a vase of water on the kitchen counter - looks nice and smells great. I've
also made a frozen batch of chopped herbs in oil to be used in the future for a pesto or other sauce.

Step 2: Prepare herbs for drying
Remove from stems, gently wash and dry leaves

Step 3: Load the dehydrator
Make sure that each leaf has plenty of space - no overlapping. For herbs, it only takes a few hours to dry - good thing because the dehydrator is a wee bit noisy.

Step 4: Properly store dried herbs
Remove from trays, store in sealed container and keep in dry, dark space. To preserve the natural oils, it's best to keep the whole leaves in tact. Dried herbs are good for up to 1 year.



If the garden herbs continue to grow as profusely as they have and the drying process continues to be so simple and deliciously successful, we might have to go full-scale with this and gift others with the clogston herb mix.....any takers?