In the late part of 2006, I started polishing a screenplay - based on a novel I had written - for a film called Jake Forgotten. In January of 2007, we started scouting locations and looking for actors. The film takes place in the 80s in New York, but ... for budget and resources... we decided to set the film in ¨The City¨in the 90s.

The idea is a simple one: A normal guy (Jake) works as a cab driver and finds himself in a situation where he helps out a mob boss. Eight years later, he is working for the mob, in over his head and trying to get out. It is a character study and a film about Jake, his best friend Rick and Jake's desire to get out of a bad situation.

I had this idea that, because we all know what the mob is (especially after seeing The Sopranos for so many years), the mafia would just be a backdrop. No need to explain it to death or really delve into it. I also thought, because the story is about Jake and his longtime friend, Rick, we could spend most of the time dealing with their relationship, as well as Jake's relationship with his childhood girlfriend, Becky.

For budget reasons, we chose to shoot the film in and around Kansas City, where I was living at the time (and where I met my wife, Laraley). We called around, drove around, found all the locations and started putting a crew together.

We did casting calls. We had people read the script. We had over 100 people read for various parts, of which about 25 people made it into the final film, in one form or another. We originally had a LA actor set to play Jake, but this guy (JP Matthews) came in and read for the part and just blew me away with his sensitivity and passion for the role. He ended up getting the part of Jake.

Rick ended up being played by Doug Kisgen, who I personally cannot say enough good things about. He is literally, just a fucking talented actor.

The total budget for the film, in hard costs, was somewhere around $65,000. I put up the majority of this money myself and several of my friends put up about $15,000 or so for the film. We all knew going in it would be an experiment - as all indie films are - and that we were taking a risk on making a film at all.

I managed to find a great crew, especially our Director of Photography, Stewart H. Redwine and our Assistant Director, Brandon. Several people worked very, very hard - from the three weeks of rehearsals to the 20 days of shooting, working about 10-12 hours a day.

We rented three JVC GY-HD100 cameras, which shoot 720p onto tape and did a three camera shoot for the entire film. We rented a 1 ton truck, loaded with gear, and drove that to locations in and around Kansas City, showing up and ... frankly... surprising nearly every location with our giant amount of equipment.

We shot in May and June of 2007 and had over 50 hours of footage, most from multiple angles.

In late 2007, I personally finished an assembly of the film. The assembly (or rough cut) had temporary sound, temporary effects, no establishing shots (those were shot later). The dialogue is off in some places, but overall ... for a 3 month edit... I was pleased with the assembly.

Since then, I have been busy traveling, teaching and working on a ton of other films. I haven't had the time or money to finish this feature film, which runs about 84 minutes in length, but I hope to finish it someday... or, with any luck, get a decent budget and reshoot the damn thing.

It was my first time as a writer/director/editor and I made plenty of mistakes, but ... for the money ... I think we made a hell of a good looking film.

We spent countless soft dollars and hard hours doing work for free to edit, color correct and add effects and sound to the film. Overall, it was a labor of love and we still haven't finished it, three years later. I think this is failry typical for first-time writer/directors and for indie film. It just takes forever to get done, somehow. And, it is never really finished, as they say.

Warning: The film contains violence, nudity, profanity and just about everything else you don't want to show your children. It is an R-Rated movie about a guy in the mafia, so you can imagine how much swearing there is in it.

Download and watch the full assembly here

Update: My DropBox account was suspended because of too much traffic. I am assuming this is a good thing! I will have Jake available on Blip.tv (thanks to a Twitter follower) in high definition 720p in the next day or so. Thanks for being patient while I resolve this problem. (further update: turns out that Blip.Tv did not work either, so I am exploring alternative solutions)

Updated again: Rob Maxwell graciously and generously offered to host the 1GB file.

(Warning: This file is slightly over 1GB in size and is full-quality 720p. It might take a while to download).

Download the full Rough Cut of Jake Forgotten here 

OR

Download the Zipped Version (slightly smaller) here

OR

Watch Jake Forgotten online (lower quality!)

And, for those of you who are torrent crazy, the .torrent file is here 
(which requires a bittorrent client, like uTorrent)

Thanks to Brad Hagen, Rob Maxwell and all the other folks on Twitter who helped me get this file online while I was traveling through Central America.

P.S. If you are in hollywood, be sure to let me know what you think of this film. For under $100k, I think we did a pretty great job and made a movie that looks like a million bucks.

Life Zero is a demanding podcast. I first have to write the entry, then record the podcast - reading what I have written. Then I upload the podcast and it gets edited by the completely awesome Tommy Wingo.

One thing that I struggle with, even after having moved to Personal Life Media, is that Life Zero makes literally no money for me.

Now, I know what you are thinking, "People do podcasts out of love, man! Love!"

Yes, that is true. Life Zero is a labor of love for me. I will continue working on Life Zero whether it makes money or loses money (as it has since the beginning).

But, hosting this site costs money.

Uploading from an Internet cafe in Central (and soon, South America) costs money for bandwidth and Internet access.

In other words, the one thing you can personally do to help me and therefore keep the Life Zero podcast on a regular schedule is to donate something to the podcast (or, more specifically, to me... so I can pay for the podcast).

Every little bit helps. $10 a month goes a long way. $100 goes much, much further. If I could convince 25 people to each donate $10 a month, all my issues would simply go away and I wouldn't have to post messages like this or worry about such things.

A few years ago, John Gruber (one of my favorite podcasters and bloggers), starting selling t-shirts on Daring Fireball - his blog - and presumably took a few dollars from each one to help keep his site going.

I bought one, every year when he ran such a promotion and, frankly, the Daring Fireball t-shirt is one of two I took on the trip with me (the other being a free RED GIANT SOFTWARE t-shirt). I wear them constantly, as I backpack through the world, and they are great.

I am hoping, when the LIFE ZERO t-shirts come out, you too will take the time to purchase one.

You'd help me and, I like to think, keep a good thing going. 

... oh, and as if I have not mentioned this before, be sure to friend me on Facebook.

Want to buy me something for Christmas? Go to the RIGHT --------->
and hit the DONATE button. Funding my travels is the best present I could ever ask for!

(aside from this NEC 900 Mobile Pro with WiFi ... also available on Amazon and eBay for even less money)

Life Zero #104 - The Value and Burden of Physical Things (Part One) has been posted.

The full podcast can be found in iTunes, of course, or at Personal Life Media.

In other news, I am dropping my Mobile Me account. I cannot justify $100 a year (okay, $99 a year) for something I never really use anymore. Between GMail and DropBox, there is just no point in having Mobile Me... plus, I have long argued it should be free for anyone who buys a Macintosh and $99 for anyone who hasn't. Their pricing is brain-dead for Mac owners.

This means, among other things, LifeZero at me dot com is gone. Please send any future e-mails to ideas at lifezero dot org.

This also means the site for www.unscale.com - which was hosted at Mobile Me - will be folded into this web site over the next day or two. Twangle.app, HD Speed Test and other items will be available, so... if there is a problem... it will be quickly resolved.

Donate to Life Zero to keep the podcasts alive...

I am also getting rid of the following domains. Please e-mail funding at lifezero dot org if you are interested in purchasing one of them. I assure you, they are reasonably priced (or we can work out a trade ... I am in the market for a NEC Mobile 780 or 790 PC, shipped to Mexico, for example).

loneronin.net - great google page rank for an effectively unused site

johnsflowers.com - You own John's Flowers? Come and get it.

kindlefeed.net - yes, I own it

pixelhd.com - great name for a private project that never took off

... and, several other great names like;

ThatEffectsShow.com, ThatDesignShow.com, ThatSoundShow.com, ThatTechShow.com

(I will not be using any of these domains in the future, but you could use them!)

For the right price, I would also sell:

genusguild.com - genus, as in species, not genius as in brilliant

casefilms.com - no longer used or in business, reasonable traffic and a great name

Either way, the mp3 is available here and will be in iTunes soon.

I would also like to thank Tommy Wingo for kindly editing the podcast, removing the "uhs" and "uhms" and generally making the podcast sound a hell of a lot better than it normally would, if I had just posted it straight from my Olympus voice recorder. Alternately, there were some gentle ocean waves in the background, which are very, very zen and calming, so that could have been a good thing, except it largely overpowered my voice most of the time.

Live and learn, but I believe it is better to put something out than nothing and Life Zero is all about minimizing the amount of stuff in your life and living more simply, so I think it is a win either way.

You, the listener, can be the final judge of this, of course.

Thanks for being patient. Episode 104 will be out soon and available in all the normal places... like, iTunes, for example.

Download Life Zero 102 - The Missing Episode

If you have read The 4Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss, it is in that style, but without the long, elaborate over-explanations of concepts that can be stated in a few pages, instead of dozens of pages. It is closer to Lucky or Smart, by Bo Peabody ... a book that is very short, but very good and gets to the point well.

But, the Life Zero book is more about lifestyle design, making choices and the decisions I have made in my own life that led me to where I am now, which is a place of quiet freedom and happiness - as a part of the world, not a hermit who lives an abandoned zen-like life of suffering or enlightenment.

In short, it is a look at lifestyle choices, my past, my present, my mistakes and the lessons I have learned along the way. I made all the mistakes, believe me, but they helped shape a worldview that... I believe... will make you happier, healthier and more a part of the world than you have ever been before - while giving up the things you do not need.

So, I am writing this entry for two reasons:

1. To let you know I am working on a new book and give you an idea of the content of the book.

2. To ask for your help, by asking for you to donate toward the book, so that I might take the time to write it, free from the pressure of finances or a publisher.

The goal, once the book is written, is to provide it for free as a PDF, a Kindle Book or to provide it at a modest charge as a paperback.

It is a good goal and I believe it could really benifit everyone.

I am not asking for much, just a small donation. Anyone who donates will both help the Life Zero podcast continue and will receive an acknowledgment in the final book, before it is available to the public.

Also, if you are interested, I am happy to provide preview chapters (as they are completed) for you to read and give feedback against.

Thanks again. I apologize if this sounded like an advertisement.

Me, in a bus, in Mexico, looking too cool... or not.

I am, every day I take a bus, amazed at two things:

1. The price, which varies from cheap-as-dirt for local and intercity buses to expensive-beyond-reason for long distance bus rides (like Guadalajara to Zihuatanejo).

2. The varied quality, even in local and intercity buses, where a bus could be air conditioned and nice and still cost less than a dollar... or it could be a piece of crap, converted US Schoolbus on its very last legs and about to literally fall apart while you are in it.

Long distance buses are almost always amazingly comfortable, with televisions and air conditioning (turned to the Arctic setting).

I guess there is a third thing - the driver always drives too fast and speeds up around corners. It is a wacky, life-threatening moment when one side of the bus has the wheels lift off the road surface while you are turning a blind corner. And, it happens a lot...

Updated: The MacBook Air sold to a fellow Twitterer (Tweeter?)...

That's right. It's too much to travel with and I'm not able to use it as much as I originally thought I would be using it.

It's a first-generation Air; 1.6GHz dual processor, 2GB RAM, 80GB HDD. Perfect condition. Purchased FROM APPLE only 4ish months ago, so it's still under the original Apple 1 year warranty.

Comes with the charger and a nice incase sleeve.

Contact me on Twitter and send me a message or send me an e-mail if you're interested. I'll be shipping from wherever I am when you purchase the machine. :)

It's a decent read with some good reviews and I think you'll like it.

Plus, you'll be supporting two podcasts you love.

How's that for good karma?

You can also Buy Stuff from Life Zero to help the cause.

Grendel, the comic, featuring Hunter Rose as the protagonist-ish character, made a real impression on my young mind. He was the re-incarnated spirit of the demon from the Anglo-Saxon English folklore Beowulf, a kind of modern-day avenger. Or, as my friends and I referred to Hunter Rose, "A Gentleman Ninja"

I read Wagner's MAGE comic book with enthusiasm and was amazed to find DEVIL BY THE DEED serialized as a secondary story that took my young mind through a series of considerations about life, love and revenge.

Both MAGE and GRENDEL are breathtakingly good comics and, more to the point, breathtakingly good stories.

Wagner is a fucking genius who has inspired the way I look at storytelling and to a greater extent; good and evil.

In Cabo San Lucas, I met an amazing Tattoo artist, by way of a friend (Hope, who is a vet at the Cabo Humane Society - c.f. Laraley's blog and the upcoming LifeZero #105 podcast for more details).

The Tattoo artist, Brüno, is little-known in Cabo, but well-known in most of Mexico and even at Tattoo conventions. He's done some amazing work and he knows how to put detail into a tattoo... not just big, fat black lines with some color in them.

The tattoo I wanted was all about detail. Wagner drew an image of Grendel jumping, with a sun in the background and black crows flying away from the character and I just fell in love with that image. Of course, I've loved all Wagner's posters, but this original, seldom-seen image made an indelible mark on my psyche and I couldn't stop thinking about it.

It represents a kind of metaphorical reality for me, the masterless, gentleman ninja. The seen-as-a-villain protagonist - exemplified by my own hacker past combined with Zen Buddhist view of the world. The avenger of those who need help, but a kind of meditation on aggression, anger and vengeance. It's that image and a nice complement to my existing two tattoos; kanendosei and a multi-colored dragon I got while traveling through Southeast Asia.

Here's the original drawing:

And here's a during/after image of the tattoo, placed front and center on my right arm. Bear in mind, I started the work at around noon and we didn't finish until 11:30 PM that night. It was extremely involved (check out the detail in the artwork) and the cape, near my elbow, was pretty much the most pain I've experienced during any tattoo session I've ever had.

The results, however, seem to speak for themselves.

I'll talk more about the tattoo on Life Zero #105 (podcast), but for now, I wanted to just share the photos.

Now, if I could just get the Mexican population to top calling it "Spiderman" -- I'll be perfectly happy. :)