It Was 30 Years Ago Today--Apple Introduces Macintosh

30 years ago today, just a few days after a remarkable Super Bowl commercial touting it's new product, Apple introduced the Macintosh computer to the world and personal computing would never be the same. Below is the video of a very young, charming Steve Jobs introducing the new machine to loud hoots and hollers and he slips in a 3.5 inch disc (remember those!) and the small B/W screen starts to some some graphic and letters. By our standards today, it seems pretty ho-hum and the audience reaction over the top. But this was the first personal computer with a graphical interface...and it truly blew people's minds.

I have fond memories of the original Mac. I remember a guy in my college dorm who had one, which amazed everyone (it retailed for nearly $2500 bucks!). And then, a year later, the computers were available to everyone in the Boston College computer center. I remember writing my first short stories and crafting the plots for my first films using the Mac. I even used it to draw some characters for an animated cut-out film (ala SOUTH PARK) that I shot on Super 8. I'd like to get that one online one of these days! In the meantime, here's Steve Jobs and the Macintosh...

HOUSE OF PAIN Super8 Film Now In HD On Vimeo

Last spring, in preparation for my B.C. class reunion, I got my Super8 films out of storage and had them digitized (finally) with a glorious HD transfer. I was hoping to somehow screen them at the reunion but then I ended up moving apts for the first time in about 20 years that same month. So I didn't have time to edit the transfers, get the sound in order, and output them.  Cut to a few months later and I've finally settled into the new place ... and I've had time to finish this project!

Today this new HD version of HOUSE OF PAIN is available for viewing on my Vimeo Plus page. This film was a wonderful collaboration with my fellow "History of European Cinema" classmate and good friend Donnamarie Floyd. We were given the option to do an AV project for our final instead of a 20-page paper and we looked at each other and were both like "hells yeah!" So we decided on a spoof of German Expressionism, a style that included classic films we loved like NOSFERATU and THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (from which we stole borrowed various elements). And we found the perfect scary location for it all--our infamous, off-campus apartment building nicknamed The House of Pain.  Donnamarie agreed to star on camera, I did the shooting/editing and the rest is Super8 history, as they say.

The transfer to HD was done by the good folks at Legacy Digital in California, referred to me by fellow filmmaker Jim Fall.  The great thing about this place is that they not only cleaned the original film but actually did not use a projector for the transfer; instead each frame is scanned digitally and the results were really great with none of the distortion that the old VHS version had. Our budget for the original film was $60(!) but this new transfer cost more than 4x that. Thus, on the Vimeo page there is a little "tip jar" button for donations at the bottom of the screen to help offset that as well as hosting it on Vimeo Plus in HD. So please give a little if you can and I hope you enjoy the film--I've had a lot of fun working on it and getting it out again into the digital realm. Enjoy! 

Remembering MLK And The 1960s

When I was a junior at Boston College, I took a class called "Remembering the 1960's".  It was taught by a woman who lived the decade and knew the subject intimately.  In fact, she had attended Bob Dylan's bar mitzvah!  Anyway, it was an amazing class as she told the story of how the decade that changed this country actually began in the 1950's, most notably in the 1955 Montgomery, AL bus boycott organized by a young preacher named Martin Luther King.  As she told the story of Dr. King and his use of non-violence to change the hateful Jim Crow laws across the South, I was deeply moved and also somewhat inspired.  Dr. King's words and actions showed a great nation that it had forgotten one of its founding principles...that ALL men were created equal.

While many in my class bemoaned the fact that the 80's were not as interesting as the '60s and that there was nothing to fight against, I knew this was not true. The AIDS epidemic was killing the gay community and polarizing the straight world and, once again, there was the assumption that a certain group of people (gays and lesbians this time around) were not so equal as the rest of Americans.  I wondered why the nation viewed us as The Other?  I thought one reason was that this country hardly knew us, outside of what they'd gleaned from Elton John and episodes of SOAP.  And so I started writing openly and honestly about my experience as a gay man.  It began as short stories in a writing class that same year, then became films and books and even some plays.  But, looking back, I can trace the inspiration for all my writing back to that history class in which I learned about the civil rights movement and how one man raised his voice and made a difference.  Even though I was not a politician or a preacher, I thought I would do what I could to show people that we were not The Other.  We were human, just like everyone else, and wanted the same things that all Americans are promised; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Anyway, as I reflect today on the the legacy of Martin Luther King, I can see that the struggle for equality and equal rights is not over.  Though we have certainly come a long ways since his death more than 40 years ago (we've got an African American President!), his remarkable dream is not quite complete.  Gays and lesbians still suffer from hate and discrimination and a lack of equality when it comes to some pretty basics rights, including the right to marry.  So in honor of Dr. King, I urge you to look around and do what you can to support the continuing struggle for equality for all.