Snowed In

It’s Monday December 27th and most of us in the Tri-State area were snowed in today. I made the attempt to leave my apartment earlier but was knocked clean on my face by the wind of mother nature. 20” of snow is way beyond my limits of being outdoors and when you add 50 mph winds it’s definitely a no-no and I immediately went back inside. SO you may wonder, what did I do all day? I sat my ass in my room while talking and reading on the Internet all day. I also watched basic cable for about 12 hours and realized how much I despise the State Farm guy who is an almost look-alike of Charlie Sheen. Days like these remind me of high school when you would know a day would be cancelled so you’re allowed to stay up late because the news and weather channel guarantee intense conditions. I just felt like updating my blog for today and I hope everyone was able to stay warm up north and for my other buddies down in Florida right now, I do envy you haha. My next blog will probably talk about the holiday season and some other random stuff but who the hell knows when i’ll update again.


K BYEEEEEEEE

November = Annual Hell Month

above is my ugly face...

After debating on writing & posting this blog, I decided what the hell. I wanted to share why I think November is my cursed month of every year. A month where I can never be quite myself because something always seems to go wrong with me or something I own. It dates back to sophomore year of college after we defeated Michigan State in our last game of the season and I drove home to NJ right after the game and a snow storm came down, then my gas tank froze shut. I know that doesn’t sound like a big problem but when a 3 1/2 hour drive turns to 7 hours and can’t refill the tank is hell. From then till now minor things have happened yet they were always in November dating back to 2005. Quickly, I've gotten towed the most, severe colds, horrible dates, bad reviews at work...all in the month of November.

This past November I was hit hard by the ugly gods. I was blessed with a cold sore, an ear infection, a very painful callus on my toe, sore throat and migraines all in the last 30 days. Lack of sleep probably does have a lot to do with these crusty defaults I encountered and of course I would love to sleep more but these are the typical November shitters. It was funny as I kept track of all these things and as soon as one would soon go away, another problem would emerge. Now i’m never one to complain or stop clinging BUT cures for all these cost money. Total price was well over $300 to fix myself up with meds and appointments. In a sense it’s roughly a weekend out so I had to sideline myself for a while. It’s funny that this all happens in Novembers because I kind of planned it after Halloween weekend. I’m glad to say I’m feeling and looking a little bit better. I’m shooting for that sexiest Blackmaiin alive come 2011 so staying atop my game is a must. < That clearly was a joke, but anyway I shall be back before the weekend begins.

K BYEEEEE

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

The holiday season has arrived. Decorations are out, people are shopping hardcore and multiple Santa's are posted up around the city taking my gotdamn loose change. This is the best time of year because everyone seems to be in a much lighter mood. It’s also great to see people out buying things again so it’s visible the economy is picking up. This year will be different than previous ones because I usually would go away for a few days (PSU bowl game) but I’m kickin it local this year.

I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was superb. Mine was pretty relaxing, I cooked for myself and then ate ALL the leftovers a friend and my mother brought for me. After gaining 10-15 pounds I woke up on Friday morning with a gotdamn ear infection. My right ear closed up and Im pretty much deaf on that side. I ran over to a local clinic and got checked out and got some prescribed medications. It’s now feeling a little bit better but I’ve repeated the word “Huh” over 1,300 times the last 4 days.

Anyway, this week (Tuesday 11/30) will be my foist time going to the Christmas Tree lighting in Rockefeller so that should be exciting. I’ve always wanted to see it in person since Home Alone 2. Apparently it gets pretty intense with the crowd and NBC production taking place so we’ll have to get there early. I will most likely have my camera on hand so pictures will be posted from the evening festivities.

My next blog will talk about how November is always my most hideous month of the year every year for me. It may get a little graphic so brace yo’ selfs.

K BYEEEEE

Weekend Update

How’s everyone doing this Friday? I was having a very good and productive day until BOOM! I hit a mental wall. It could probably be because I was on the phone with a college roommate last night/this morning while watching Batman & Robin and commenting on every corny line of dialogue but who knows. SO you’re probably wondering what’s on tap for the Big Guy’s weekend, ooo you don’t care? I am gonna tell you anyways (i’m in a great mood as most of you can tell already) this evening I’ll be attending the Coaches vs. Cancer basketball tournament at MSG with a fellow bro and we’ll be watching Pitt vs Texas, should be interesting. My only concern is will they be serving alcohol during a college event? only time will tell...Afterwards probably a typical night out on the town for a little bit then home to watch my Avatar Uncut DVD.

Saturday will be a Solo Brolo one as I have set up my normal massage appointment along with a FAT breakfast at 7A before the PSU 12pm kick-off. I was actually on the brink of going to the game but there were too many things that needed to be done before departure and I wasn’t up for that rush since i’m all old now. I'll watch the game with Frenzy Benz & a nice mini keg of Heineken.

Sunday Funday is typical of course...Jets vs. Texans game followed by a possible movie (Due Date) then a whole new lineup of Animation Domination. The weather is looking good for all three days so that’s always a positive.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend and if you see me around say HIIIIII

K BYEEEEEEE

Now Back To Me

It has been WAY too long. Seriously, two months and no blog updates is completely unacceptable on my part. I am truly sorry for that. Lets just cut to the chase and get you updated on these past 60 something days...i’ve worked on two films and got the opportunity to learn a lot on both sets. It was an awesome experience and a great way to progress in my filmmaking technique. The first film “The Other Soldier” and the second “In The Family”. I was at Penn State for the Michigan game and had my first encounter with Four Loko which will never happen again. I saw a friend of mine perform at the Joyce Theater in an off Broadway play. I also got myself back to the gym and attended a night club to dance with $9 beers in hand. A lot has been going on BUT now it’s back to me. Back in the office now & off the radar (for the most part) but feeling more confident in my work so that will help me move forward. I will try to have updates on liiiiife at least once a week. I will get in another update on Friday and find a random topic to chat about. All is well over here and I hope all of you readers are doing great also.

K BYEEEEE

I Made It!

Well well well, I made it through the month of August without drinking a single sip of beer. The challenge was pretty much useless but I like to do things out of the ordinary and this was something I didn't think I could do BUT I did it. The hardest part of the challenge was being down in Miami and only drinking liquor. I figured i’d give up as early as two weeks through but I stuck it out and i’m proud.
Last month I felt like I had a lot more energy and more refreshed every morning. Sleeping came a little easier but who knows if it was more of a mental thing or a health factor. Well this quick little blip was to let everyone know I made it 31 days without having my beloved brewskies. Now it’s back to beer with meals for the most part but I won’t be going overboard anymore on this high calorie drinks.

K BYEEEEE

Bros Take MIAMI

Hello everyone, I am back and peeling like a gotdamn orange right now. I had to sit down and actually re-cap what I was going to say in this blog. This was the first time I did a thorough run through of the weekend before updating. OK, so most of you know I spent the past weekend in Miami, FL. Of course people will say “it must have been fun” or “you got a lot of color” etc etc. Honestly there are no words to describe how brotacular this weekend was. Instead of saying how I feel about it, i’ll just break down play by play & day by day so you can decide a word or a phrase that can describe the type of raging that went down.

Day #1 We get to the hotel a little early and told Fontainbleu we wanted an early check in. Clearly our rooms weren't ready just yet so we went in the pool for a few hours. On the second attempt they had one of our rooms ready so we went up and BOOM the room reservation was all wrong. It wasn’t connecting nor was it a double. You can’t have bro’s sharing beds cause thats a no-no. Immediately one of the Bro’s went down to the front desk to complain about the mix up and five minutes later we’re in Penthouse suites for the entire weekend.

Day #2 I had posted a picture on facebook (as I always do) from our hotel room and it was easily recognizable to past visitors what hotel we were staying at. Moments later I receive a notification from a comment on the pic and one of my former teammates had said he knew people in the South Beach area. It’s always great to know people. ANYWAY, when asking around about where to go for nightliiiife every single person we talked to was saying “you have to go to LIV, it’s the best club in Miami”. My former teammate who commented on the pic knew one of the staff members that worked at LIV and he made a few arrangements to get us in...great. Here’s the awesome part, we get to the lobby of our hotel and it’s swamped with the most attractive people in the gotdamn world in one place. With a little alcohol flowing in the system we cut our way to the front of the massive crowd and called out a name of a person I’ve never met and BOOM the gates go up and the Bros enter the club with no fee and head straight for the VIP section with such company as Will I Am & Travis McCoy and many others and on top of that we receive ten free drinks and raged on the dance floor all night.

Day #3 On an amazing beach day the Bros en-route to the waterfront while recapping the previous night. We were not aware that the Saturday pool party is amongst the top events that take place in the entire city. As soon as the music kicks off in the mini pool (Power, Kanye West) we make our way over and begin the Bro rage in the pool. Drinks and camera were at hand for the action and the music was off the chains. By 3pm I was in full out Bro mode and felt the confidence to head over to the dj booth and spin a little bit. DJ Jay Sample was at the tables and welcomed me in the booth while he played the Power remix which made me and the fellows pretty much the liiiiife of the party. On top of that the Miami Dolphins 1st round pick AND my former teammate showed face briefly so that put icing on the cake.

Day #4 Closing out the best vacation i’ve ever taken we had a lot of photos and footage of the four days so me being the cool director that I am I’m going to put together a short film called “Bros being Bros: Miami” and watch it with the original cast and other while pre-gaming for the PSU vs Bama game on Sep. 11th.

Ending my longest blog ever I want to say that the weekend was absolutely amazing but could turn out to be the worst thing ever ONLY because at age 24 I may have maxed out the fun meter of any vacation that will take place in my future. Wow my fingers are tired...next blog i’ll tell you all about how I made it through my month without beahz.

K BYEEEEEE

Summer ends with a Bang

Every summer deserves a visit to the beach. This summer i’ve only been to the beach once and it was only for a couple of hours. Now i’m not a huge beach buff, but I should cap off the summer with some sort of exciting beach action. Why not go to South Beach, Miami. (said “beach” 5 times) Yezzir, this Thursday i’ll be flying down to Miami for a few days to soak in some sun and sip on fruity drinks with my shirt off lol. The initial reason for this blog post is not about the vacation so much but my style of travel.

This is the first trip i’ve taken in years with a group of people. I can’t really find the motivation to get excited about that part of it. Most of you know that I love to travel & travel alone. It’s not about the people i’m going with because they are all fun people but when I vacation I like to relax as much as I can. When you go with people it’s pretty much peer pressure to do something every night such as clubbing and lots of dancing. When I go somewhere I always realize that there's not a place to go where you can’t do exactly the same thing in NYC. Now I know it’s a completely different place but my type of “fun” differs from others. Some people don’t realize that fun for me can be laying around reading a script and listening to La Roux as opposed to going to a packed pool party and spending $15 on each drink. That’s the only problem I have with going away with groups.

It’s funny that i call this a vacation even though I know i’ll be working on several projects. I just can’t ever seem to get away from it. Taking me away from my work is like taking chocolate candy away from a savage baby. In any case I know i’ll have fun regardless of what I do and one thing I do know is that I will probably be intoxicated the entire trip but maintaining control so I won’t waste all my money on important things in life such as “women & drinks” hahaha

K BYEEEEEEE

I Love Me Some Tasty Food

If you are friends with me on facebook, you may notice the frequent picture posts and in that case you notice the food pictures I post. Clearly I love food and I love to eat out...at restaurants lol. For some reason it’s the toughest thing for me to go an entire week without going to a random restaurant. Usually I plan to eat in a different neighborhood at least once a week. Since I am frequently location scouting I take the liberty of checking out restaurants that look cool in general areas. At that point it’s time for me to jot down the name and address then head straight to my Zagat guide and see what the place has on the menu. When the time comes to eat and I have a craving for a certain kind of food...BOOM I look at my list and then I venture out. I don’t know if its 100% the food I love, but it’s fun being at new places. I always notice the looks from the regulars, probably thinking “what is this dark black giant doing here” haha but i’m in there for a new/different taste of the city.

No Beahz?

This month, and this month only ladies and gentlemen i’m on a mission. A super challenge of which many don’t believe I can do. I will go the entire month of august without drinking a beer. Yes I’ve said it, the man who loves to have a beer with any meal (including breakfast) is giving it a month off.

Now this isn’t any typical challenge because beer is something that I love. It’s social abilities, the taste and the cool names and the ways I can hold them lol. It will be one of my toughest personal challenges to date. Usually i will challenge myself to weekly bearable things but I want to one up myself and see if I have enough self control.

There are pros and cons about this event. The good thing is that I will surely lose some weight because beer is a huge huge part of my untamed diet so that's a good thing. The cons are that I will either not be able to hang out in beer drinking groups nor will I be able to respond to the comment “what kind of beer is ya havin mr. black” in any sufficient way & of course no beer pong :( I can go with my old school response and just say “I have an ulcer” but then drinking straight vodka wouldn't cure that lol.

This month will surely be entertaining to see if i can keep up with the task. Of course I told my friends about what I was doing and all of them said NO WAY it’s possible, but those two words put together to me just transforms into “Watch Me” haha, well stay tuned till the end of the month when i give my true results.

Next entry i’ll be talking about dedication to friendships, old & new.

K BYEEEEEEEEEEE

How Sweet It Is

Oh man, oh man...I’m back everyone. It’s been a little while but if you didn’t know I was clinging to some tropical liiiife for the past week. I recently returned from St. Thomas and Tortola of the Virgin Islands. Now I say I was there just for filming but it was a trip initially for a family reunion. Of course I had to roll my solo course with my camera and take in the sites so that’s exactly what I did. I took the 7 day opportunity to film a short documentary called “How Sweet It Is”

It’s amazing how much more you appreciate things as you get older. When I think about how many things i’ve seen and done I didn't really see it as “wowing” moments at that time, but when I was on the islands just taking notice of the culture and scenery it just stops me in my tracks to catch my breath.

This documentary will be similar to that show “Life” that airs on the discovery channel. It will be many video sequences with music and my narration of my experience there BUT here’s the twist...after I put all the footage together i will freestyle the narration portions after and/or during a night of heavy drinking. It seems unorthodox but it’s the way I do things and in filmmaking there are no gotdamn rules lol. I’ll finish this film before the end of September so be patient. The next blog i’ll be talking about my challenge of not drinking beer for the month of August

K BYEEEEEEEE

EA Sports...It's in the Game

The time has come. My mostest favorite-ist video game in the whole wide world is now in my hands. NCAA 2011. This game has been in my system for over 10 years with the exception of last season’s. And by system I mean gaming system and not any other weird way some of you sickos may want to think lol. Anyway, this game has usually been my overall deciding factor in plans of most times. I remember last year when it was released I was excited to get it but I was working the typical full time job and I didn’t want something to keep me up past my bed time since this game does get addicitve.

Last year I took the high road and pushed it aside for any long term mental damage and spent the $65 probably more relevant things such as alcohol and women. No but really, this game will make decisions and change my mood at times. There are some instances where I’ll want to go out on a Thursday night to celebrate because in the video game I defeated an arch rival or I will turn down a party because I lost by a field goal. I’m telling you, it’s so corny but it’s something I believe in and you can’t fight your emotions right? In past years I remember (and you can ask my college roommates) I would consider my recruits in the game as real people. I’d give em backgrounds, likes and dislikes pretty much like creating characters who were believable.

Maybe that's what this game does for me...I get to choose what these characters and decide who does what, much like writing a script . It’s my own little world and i’m running the show. Well, yea that’s all I wanna talk about BUT this game can easily take over my liiiiiife so if in any case I’m not doing anything productive, you can contact EA Sports because I will probably be in a room glued to a PS3 controller and a tv living in a fantasy world.

K BYEEEEEEE

Straight Coolness

Tell me why I’ve been feeling so cool lately. It could be because of the new beard or the maniac dance moves or the outrageous views from certain rooftop venues or even the outdoor meals at fine restaurants or being baseline of an awesome basketball game. These are all events that occurred in the past four consecutive days. I said to my self “my low self esteem is at its all time high” lol. Honestly though, this summer so far has been the best one yet. I feel the most mature of all but that comes with age and experience. I remember last summer I was just a kid searching for the next mediocre thing to do and bailing out by 10pm due to work the next day. Now I feel like a new man who just exited a long relationship and is on the prowl for only the good shiznit.

I would get into every event that took place but it would take me forever to do so, I suggest following me on twitter to get in the action. I had a few minutes to write today so I just wanted to show some blog love. I will be making a video of the Basketball game later this week hopefully and will be posting it everywhere so you all get a chance to see it. I’ll holler...

K BYEEEEEEE

No More Festies :(

ArtsFest 2010 whooohooo!!! Oh wait, wait...I threw in the towel for such events. Being up in State College for just 18 hours I couldn't’t wait to get out of the area. I was starting to see the flyer's and cars rolling into town to set up for the weekend. I was worried that if I stayed any longer I’d get caught up in the vibe and purchase 3 bottles of hard liquor and call for 3 more days off lol. It’s always great to get back to see all my old teammates and all but I’ll save that for the regular season where it’s a much more controlled environment. I will say there are only two reasons why I couldn't’t be up there this year and probably never again for Festies. #1 I would now be the old guy at the parties/bars and clearly I can’t do that. I’d be the asshole who would get drunk and start telling stories like (back in my day) or something stupid along those lines and I refuse to be that guy. #2 Lulu’s, which use to be my favorite place in the entire world and it now ceases to exist. I’d then be a lost cause, there is another place “The Den” which I love also but it’s really hard going to the same place on consecutive nights UNLESS it’s Lulu’s.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say about that lol. OHH and I’m kind of upset about all these damn savages talking about LeBron making a bad move and all...seriously the only people complaining are clearly not and never have been real athletes. Maybe a little classless with the whole hour show thing, a simple Tweet of Facebook status update.

K BYEEEEEEE

We done gone to the Zoo

Alright so I haven't really been keeping up to date with the blog (as always) but c’mon son it’s the 4th of July weekend and the cool kids are in town. It’s been an eventful past couple of days with writing, filming, a zoo visit and baseball games. I’ll just focus on one of those topics since it’s something I haven't done in many years. Just this past Wednesday we went to the Bronx Zoo for free admission day on my lunch break which turned out to last about 4 hours...whoops lol. It’s always cool to check out the massive beasts, for example Frenzy Benz’s relatives etc. I got to see a sea lion show and just a bunch of other lazy animals laying around. The word is that the zoo keepers lock up the cool animals for the free admission days. I was looking forward to seeing the Madagascar creatures perform but i’ll have to toss in the $15 for such action.

I’ve been trying to keep my flipcam on hand just so I have random things to shoot and eventually edit and make into a “Summer 2KTeN” video and break it up into portions so I can track back on how epic this summer is going and will be. I have to get going though as one of my writer/producer buddies is sitting here with me and is anxious to get back to work on these here projects. My next blog entry i’ll be talking about how the Blackmaiin will not be at ArtsFest PSU this year. I threw in the towel lol.

K BYEEEEE

Blackmaiin Goes to Washington DC

OMG! I haven't update in forever, well anyway the past couple of weeks I’ve kept busy with writing little things here and there and I just got back from Washington DC. My little cousin was in the capitol to accept a Presidential Scholar award. My mother and I were invited to watch her receive her medal for being such an accomplished young woman. It’s great to see youth at it’s finest. These kids had talented skills inside and out of the classroom. I was thinking back to when I was in high school and receiving accolades for being an All-American athlete and what not and it’s always amazing to look back at but what’s done is done. I don’t really care about what happened in the past, it’s all about the present and the future. I feel like it’s counter productive to dwell on the former accomplishments and not shoot for new ones but that’s just me.

Anyway, I just finished reading another book called “Street Lawyer” by John Grisham and the novel takes place in D.C. So what did I do? Of course I took out the camera and went sight seeing around the places where the fictional story took place. It’s real cool to read a story and kind of pretend you’re in the authors shoes seeing where scenes take place and describing how each setting was put into words. In the future I would LOVE to write a screenplay for this story because I already had casted characters in my mind and played it out in my head.

Well, that’s really all I have to speak about today...these next two weeks can turn out to be phenomenal as my black friends are coming out to play for a few days so some new videos will definitely be in effect.

K BYEEEEEEEEE

Out Of The Mountains...

Ok ok, soooo the Black is Back. After a great 7 days of relaxation in the mountains I’m back into the swing of things. Well, not exactly the “swing” of things yet but back in the neighborhood. When I went away I took in the sights while being elevated in the mountains and just trying to get in touch with mother nature and all. Since it rained 92% of the time I took advantage of basic cable and cheap beer.

With my final draft application open and no phone service I just went ahead and started writing anything and everything that came to mind. A couple of scenes from my movies here and there, a few shorts and random scenes aka the works. Once I was completely isolated I basically said F**K the rules and I’ll free ball it lol. No schedule, no time limits just whatever the F I wanted to do and log it on paper. After every night I would just make a short video talking about what I accomplished on that day. Needless to say most of these videos were done between 4 and 5am so I was pretty much wrecked at these times haha. After reading and watching what was done I was pretty surprised on how much stuff made sense to my sober eye.

I did have the chance to go hiking one day and made it up to the highest point of Massachusetts. That was also a small accomplishment, being that I was wearing sandals and a cut off tee-shirt during a three minute hail storm. Altogether the trip was great, Frenzy also had a pretty decent time I believe. In any case I would make a photo album of the pictures I took. HA! of course I’m gonna do that BUT i’ll also make a video sometime this week with the pix and a cute song in the background. Until next time.........

K BYEEEEEEEEEEE

Episodes 1-5 Are in the Bag!

Okay soooo some of you guys are aware that I finally got Final Draft 8 to begin my writing adventures. For some reason I can never focus on just one project at a time so I decided to get cracking on our show "Roomies". These short episodes are about me and my three buddies who share an apartment in the city. Obviously the shows are all scripted, giving me the opportunity to practice my writing skills. Each episode will be between 8-10 minutes (hopefully) and are all comedic. I just want to say that I'm happy because I finished writing the 1st drafts of 5 shows. When I return to NYC we'll go over the scripts and edit edit them so we can make the show as funny as possible. In time I hope to include random guest appearances of our friends and so on. There are 16 episodes I wrote summaries for and will get through them within the duration of the summer.

I decided to start small with Final Draft instead of going all out with my first screenplay. Writing an entire movie is real intense and I'm still getting used to this new software. This is definitely an adventure when creating a story. At times i'll forget that I'm the only one reading what I write at first so i'm allowed to make countless mistakes. In time i'll pick up on everything I need to since I think i'm a fast learner lol.

Welp, it's my 4th day here in the mountains and I can say that it's peaceful and all but I'm beginning to miss the loud noises and FAT foods at every corner.

That's all I have to chat about today so BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Pong Tournament...Epic FAIL

Oh how the mighty have fallen lol. This past Saturday Dukes on 19th street hosted the 1st annual Beer Pong Tournament with Penn State vs. Syracuse for charity. My buddy and I signed up as soon as we heard of the event. Now us both being former football players, the competitive edge was already going to be there. For about two weeks we talked about how we we’re going to dominate the showdown versus Syracuse.

We were the first to arrive at around 12:50pm. The open bar was from 1pm-5pm so we had to get started on the drinks. The tournament was set to begin at around 1:30 so we socialized a little bit with other people at the venue. As the teams started to filter in, the announcer started pointing everyone towards their respective tables.

With the booze flowing, our competition didn't look intimidating at all. SO the rules were as normal for any pong game...10 cups, 2 consecutive shots made and the team gets the balls back, 2 re-racks etc. I was already in the zone, shooting 5 for 5 in my opening shots I began to get a little too comfortable with celebrations and high fives all around. I want to say we were leading by about 7 cups. Then out of nowhere the other team started shooting like Ray Allen in game 2 vs. the Lakers. About 5 minutes later the game was over and my confidence was shot.

OKAY so it’s only a pong game but these trophies they had were amazing and I wanted one on my wall mount in my room badly lol. After the devastating and embarrassing loss we slithered our way to the bar and just began taking advantage of the remaining 3hr and 15min open bar.

Next time their is an alumni event I hope we will either be more prepared OR won’t start celebrating until a secure win haha. The only thing that can sum up Saturdays event is TRAGIC, just TRAGIC.

We Made It =)

After a nice 3 months of studying, creating and preparing for a future in filmmaking, the big day has come. We had our final films screened and then received our diplomas. This program was called a “workshop” but I look at it as so much more than that. It was an opportunity to share ideas with others who have the same mind set as your own. I have to admit, it was pretty cool to see what we created on a big screen. Sure i’ve done work that could be seen on a television, but it’s so much cooler watching on a movie theatre screen with a bunch of other people present. In such a short time I feel like I learned so much and have gotten enough compliments as well as no-no’s to ingest and take it from there. When I was accepted into the program it was only to get an inside look on what I needed to do so I could complete the documentary (DC-17) The classes created a whole new flood gate though, opening my imagination to something on another level. I understand that this business is a challenge, but that’s what I love. Nothing should ever come easy and if it does, what’s the glory in that? I’m looking forward to working with my classmates in the near future with shorts and films just to combine our skills and create possible masterpieces later in liiiiife.

Here are 2 of the shorts I directed in school

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MZXD9MqDic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc535h51ogg


K BYEEEEEEEEEE

Summer Kick-Off!!...well not yet for me

So this weekend officially kicks off the Summertime. People getting shore houses and counting down days for vacation yadda yadda yadda. That all sounds amazing BUT the summer is a long season. I'm hoping it won't be like last year with the buckets of rain pouring down from day to day and planned weekends being ruined just because of the weather.

Someone had said to me "oh Black you're gonna miss out on all the fun, this weekend will be epic!" so of course I was waiting to hear that and had a response ready to fire back haha so I says "look, i went to PSU and live in NYC...how much more fun can i ask for" and got a reasonable smirk (you're right) it's not like i don't wanna have fun this weekend but the financial state is questionable and the writing software coming in so I will have plenty to keep busy with. Lets just hope I can stay off facebook long enough so I won't see the pictures from the weekend fill up my news feed lol.

I do wish everyone a safe and fun Memorial Day Weekend which will kick off an Epic Summer...the cameras will be rolling for most of my adventures of course so stay tuned as the Blackmaiin Productions crew has a lot in store for everyone.

K BYEEEEEEEE

As we go on, we remember....2 years!

Well well well, It has been two years since I walked up on the stage and grabbed my diploma. With a terrible hangover and a rugged beard I was taking the next step in liiiife. If you didn't realize yet I'm talking about graduation. I still remember seeing the look on my mothers face because she was so proud. I have to admit i was surprised myself. I also remember waiting for my final grade to come in to show that I would have my name called come the big day.

Graduation day is probably one of the best achievements that one can accomplish. In my last semester of school I was convinced that I wasn't going to play football any longer so I took the last few months of my college career living as just a student. Let me tell you, I let loose to the maximum. 3 straight weeks of partying and eating late night food while growing the most wretched beard known to man. I wanted to live it up all because for 3 1/2 years I was dedicating all of my time to school and football. My last semester wasn't quite a breeze but I was committed to getting my degree in no longer than 4 years.

I want to say good luck in the future for all the recent graduates. This next step for the those kids can vary in many different ways. Some will go back home and carefully plan their next move, some already have jobs lined up from internships and what not, and some will consider going back to school for a masters and so on. My only advise would be to carefully go through every picture on facebook and delete the ones that make you look like a fool. I know it sounds stupid but these HR departments for major companies have ways of going through privacy accounts and seeing everything that is posted online and if you want to land a prime time job it’s better to be safe than sorry. Everything that is posted on the Internet from a person is recorded somewhere in some shape or form and most departments know how to get more details on a person aside from a simple resume.

With the recession still in effect some may have to start off working with a lower pay than expected. After I got done with school I had my mind set on saying “I got a degree from PSU and i’m gonna work in new york city” but obviously it didn't go as planned at first, but in time with enough connections and knowledge of what i wanted to do, things are STILL falling into place.

Anyway congrats and good luck to all the recent graduates. With PSU Alum being the largest alumni association in the country I wouldn't say it will be extremely hard to start going on the right path but patience is key at this time.

That is all for today =) K BYEEEEEEEEE

I Love Summertime BUT I Hate Ugly Feet

Summer...it’s just around the corner. I’m thinking this summer may be the best one yet. With most of my perspectives in order I feel like I can cut loose in a more mature way this year. The past few summers after graduation were so-so with nothing really to look forward to. Now I have more friends in the city and we decided to make a bucket list. Odds are we will probably accomplish about 10% of the ideas that were put in their but no one really cares lol. This summer also draws many many film opportunities for our “Roomies” sitcom and my “Mockumentary” which I will explain soon. I don’t plan on doing much “work” this summer just writing, filming, and having fun in a low budget type fashion. I promised myself that this year I will attempt to keep myself looking decent enough to walk around in sandals without socks and possibly a sleeveless t-shirt.

The one thing I hope to do this summer is head out to the Hamptons for a few days. I went there once in high school for a show “Say What Karaoke” which was real fun because I got the chance to hang out with celebs and watch people sing random songs on the beach. I have a couple of vacations on the brink so I want to take full advantage of everything I am able to do.

To all of my readers, I appreciate you taking the time to read this random crap of mine and I will continue to entertain as well as I can =) K BYEEEEEEE

Saturday's and Cafe's

This past Saturday was a great one. In exception for the hurricane like winds and the unwilling helper at Ikea I gave the day an overall 9.5. Around 6pm a friend and I took a subway over to the West Village, Cafe Vivaldi to watch a band perform. My old friend from like 1st grade is the drummer/producer of the group and I’ve been wanting to watch them perform for quite a while. Now knowing me, you would understand that I’m not a fan of any new music. It shows because my newest iPod track is from the Nellyville album lol. Mari Solis is the name of the group that performed and I have to say it gave me new hope for something I can listen to. I had previously listened to their music on the computer and got into the soulful rhythm. The lead singer has an amazing and the band seemed to have great chemistry live. After showing up about 20 minutes after the show started, we breezed past the front of the stage and ordered our Bud Lights and mellowed out along with the rest of the crowd as they were already doing. It was real cool to see a small venue packed and everyone was singing along so it was pretty much impossible to not enjoy the atmosphere.

Anyway I’m glad I decided to give new original music a chance again and won’t be surprised if I hear one of their songs on the radio in months to come. I really did enjoy this group and will be looking forward to seeing them perform again.
http://marisolis.com/

The next blog post will come soon hopefully, who knows when or what I will be talking about since my mood changes every single freakin’ day but stay tuned =)

K BYEEEEEE

Take Me Away, A Sweet Escape haha

With a long, productive 3 months of being in film school and working a little bit I decided I’ll need a pre-game get away after classes end. Where will I go do you ask? Hancock, Mass. yes that is correct. Frenzy and I will be taking a little vacation/writing escapade away from the craziness of the city. I heard the words before “A true artist must isolate himself.” Now of course I’m not the kind of guy who can do that “long term” so I feel a place not too far away with indoor pools and mountains, I will be able to go into complete (solo mode) and get my screenplays going.
I have come up with 12 different ideas that I am going to write but I will be working on 3-5 at a time. It sounds like a lot maybe but when you are awake all the time, it gives A LOT of time to brainstorm and jot notes down almost every few minutes. I feel like I’ve learned a great amount about filmmaking in these past 3 months and realize it is an incredible challenge, though I am 100% up for it.
I was always okay with being criticized about my work so I have never been real shy on showing something I created. I actually might have to take that back lol, I did create a trailer for the DC-17 documentary but only showed it to a few people just to get opinions and comments on how to make it better. After creating something I feel it’s best to get a small audience reaction and ask “what could be changed and what caught your attention” blah blah blah but eventually I will post it with some fixings lol. Well anyway my next post will probably be about what plans are in store for this summer and/or some of the screenplays I will be working on because 1 is very very very funny =) Stay Tuned

K BYEEEEEEEEEE

After 7 Years...DAMN

As I sit at my desk and read my facebook news feed I couldn't help but notice all of the pictures flowing around from this past weekends festivities up at my Alma Mater. It looked like a hell of a time during Blue White weekend at Penn State. After 7 long years of religiously being involved with that weekend, I decided to take a break from it this year. It's not like I'm against it or anything, but I feel like i've ran my course at that school. Of course things would have been different if my favorite club "LuLu's" was still open and my former roomies were in attendance, but that wasn't the case. I think I dedicated about 5-7 minutes of my time glancing at pictures saying in my head "oh man, that looked fun" but the whole process of driving there and driving back was not in my tank.

With film school coming upon the final month, I decided to stay in the city and attempt to get some work done and attend the Tribecca film festival for a day or two. It was a decent weekend for the most part with a few parties and of course some random experiences but that's what I live for. Anyway I just wanted to state that if I ever do go to PSU again it will never amount to the fun I've had when I was a student there because times like those can never be repeated.

I also wanted to congratulate my former teammates and friends who made it on to an NFL roster this past weekend. It definitely is an exciting journey for them and for me to say "I played with those guys" (no homo) but all in all it's now time for them to do what they love AND get a little change for it at the next level. That is what I learned to do in my profession =). I say to them all good luck and keep on trucking. My next blog will be focusing on how and what I intend on doing post Film School and the few risks I'm willing to take to make it far in this gotdamn industry...Hollywood, here comes the Blackmaiin "RAWRRR" haha

K BYEEEEEEEEEE

Draft Day is Among Us

With the draft a day away all I can wonder is..."where are my boys gonna end up?" This day for so many is such an emotional day. These athletes work hard their entire lives for this one day and sadly a lot of them won't make it to the toughest level, the NFL. My hopes and prayers go out to all attempting to further their career. When I watch the shows talking about the draft and the upcoming season I always come away with a little more knowledge about what team is looking for who and so on. I actually had the opportunity to attend the draft BUT I have film class, boo freakin whooo lol. Obviously I'll be keeping the updates on my phone every 30-45 seconds. I am actually more upset I couldn't be in Ohio with the Clark family to tape the intense atmosphere that will be taking place this weekend.

This past weekend two of my former roommates came to NYC so we could finish off the interview sequences for the film. I am honored to have filmed Daryll's final season up to this point in the documentary. All that is left is a few closing segments and a few more scenes with Daryll's family and of course my cameo in the film which will be fun. All in all I can't wait until post production part of the film so we can start writing and gathering all the stats to throw in. This has been a very very long process but I want this project to be the best I can make it.

On a closing note, PSU has it's annual Blue White Weekend and this will be the foist year I will not be in attendance due to work and another interesting weekend/week taking place in the city. Stay tuned for the details

K BYYEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Go Yankees!

So yesterday I went to my first Yankee game of the season. This was a different sort of event for me. I decided to get myself a cheap ticket and since it was a day game I tried to advance to the more expensive seats. Turns out my confidence and boy band-ish looks didn't do much justice for long. I proceeded to go down to the company seats behind home plate and I got a chance to sit for about 5 minutes until an usher asked for my ticket. I didn't even respond so I just walked out and went into the handicap section where I started a conversation with a man in those seats. Being at games alone has it's advantages because it's much easier to be sneaky and bounce around. I enjoyed the game for the 6 inning I was there but became tired quickly of the $10 beers and not being a true fan so I bounced. Next time I go to a Yankee game will be a night one so I can capture a few good pictures and post them because that is what I like to do for fun. A lot will be going down for the end of this week & weekend so I will attempt to post a cool story about the adventures. Until then....BYEEEEEEE

It's About Damn Time ;)

http://web.me.com/blackmaiin/Blackmaiin.com/Home.html


The website is officially here!!! it took a long time of procrastinating and staring at an empty page. Since I did the site on my Mac, I really couldn’t make it look like the original drawings i made a while back. It doesn’t really matter, as long as I got it started. The website features all of the projects I am currently working on and more pages will be coming soon. The main reason for this site is to display all of my ideas and the progress of them. I will “try” to upload new items everyday so I can keep people entertained. Other than that School is a little over a quarter done and my filmmaking skills are increasing. My first project for class didn’t come out as I expected but that’s the beauty of film. It can look a certain way but I can always say “I purposely made it look like that as the director” haha we’ll there’s some more cool stuff going on this week so I’ll try and keep you readers posted as I am usually awake 21 hours a day lol
K BYYYEEEEEEEEE

Baseball season is here, I can smell it =)

Spring time is here ladies and gents. To me that means baseball season is at hand, and the Mets will be taking Citi Field soon enough. I’m really looking forward to the beginning of this season because most people know how devastating the Mets season was last year. For the past 5 years i’d start off loving the Mets and hustling to be in front of a tv or at the field for every game but my hope for the team would eventually fall off. I really didn’t know why but I hope to change that this year. So I just wanted to say that I will be attending opening day at Citi to see the Mets take on the Marlins and hopefully this year I can hold on to being a true fan of the New York Mets. K BYEEEEE

New Hobbies are Cool in 2010 lol

I got a Nikon camera, I love to take a photograph. That’s a line from this Paul Simon song I grew up on called Kodachrome. I say that because I recently picked up a new hobby, photography. I’m not the flash in the pants picture taker and I don’t believe i’ll ever take a class or anything to improve my skill. The sole idea came to me when I would just see something in my mind would look cool and just take a phone picture of it. Of course what I saw in my head didn’t come out nearly to what I wanted on a camera photo.
I knew I just had to get another camera to use so I scooped up a Nikon camera and called a friend up and said, “dude this city has so many random places I haven’t seen and I want to take pictures of them” He was all for it so one weekend we just went to different neighborhoods and started shooting away. Turns out, my friend i’m shooting with has an amazing eye plus his camera was a lot more expensive than mine lol but I was seriously impressed.
Now, last week I come to one of my first filmmaking classes and we are discussing why are we in film school? So the convo went on and when it was our teachers turn to speak he said “ALL FILMMAKERS NATURALLY HAVE THE HOBBY TO TAKE PICTURES” so he encouraged everyone in the class to get a camera and just start taking photos. Immediately after class I called my boy and told him about what my teacher just said and we had been taking pictures for the past few weeks prior to this. Of course I got excited as I always do about something cool like that but who would of thought that about filmmakers because that’s exactly what I want to do.
I thought that was just a little something cool to share about what’s been going on lately. Now the weather will start to be nice again and darker a little later so don’t be surprised if you are in the city and see a large blackmaiin with a tiny camera strapped around his neck skippinG around, it’s just me with one of my new hobbies having fun on my free time.
K BYEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

New School, New Chapter, NEW DREAMS!

It’s been a while (Aaron Lewis voice from Staind) since I last posted something. I really have to get back to the blogging on a constant bases but things have been hectic over here for the most part. A lot of cool things have/are going on from my first day of filmmaking classes to the 4 day birthday celebration extravaganza. Once again I want to give a special shout out to the people who contributed to an excellent weekend and who are involved with my liiiife. The people I am constantly around and who I talk to almost every day have a huge part to do with my motivation and inspiration of creating films and television shows.
I understand that I have a very very long way to go from where I want to be. It’s cool to be doing this now after figuring out mostly about myself because I can’t establish anything until I know what I want and who I am. The coolest thing about going to film school now is that I get a chance to work with people from all over the world who have the same dreams and ambition as I do. Maybe one of us will be the next film god and go on to create horror, action, sports, drama films because everyone has to start somewhere.
That’s all for now, I promise “as I always say” that i’ll be trying to keep up with the posts because the lord knows I LOVE to write but the blog is a non-paying job to do so of course i’ll shy away from it time to time. Stick with me people, i’m going on to do great things and if things don’t go as I plan in years to come i’ll know that i’ve had a hell of a ride =)

K BYEEEEEEE

Path 2 The Draft

Now here we go again. Yes everyone the film is still in production. There have been a lot of questions from people asking if the film was still going to happen and the answer is YES. It has been over a month since we taped anything because of schedules and location differences etc. but we’re going to finish this film as long as it’s on my watch. I’m currently down in Tampa, Florida soaking up some sun and getting to see first hand what it takes to prepare for the NFL Combine. I’ll say one thing, if you are trying to advance to the next level in anything you have to understand what sacrifice is. I mean it’s dedication and will consume your life in order to learn and perform/work with the best. I think it’s great for DC because he gets to work with a retired NFL quarterback Steve DeBerg who literally “knows his shit” haha. As I said before, this film is completely different than anything that has been done before. If it hits national screens I just want to be the one to entertain and show what kind of effort it takes to be a leader at one of the most prominent positions in sports. When I said that this documentary was going to be done by May, I didn’t have the slightest clue of what I was talking about lol. Perfection takes time and I am putting all of my heart into my work here so I wont disappoint.
Well anyway, within the next 3 weeks we have my moving in to the new apartment day, my birthday and my first day of classes. I can’t ever take on too much and thats the truth. “basically i’m complicated, I have a hard time taking the easy way” haha yeasth. Well i’ll get back on when I get a chance...K BYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Bling 2 Liiiiiife, Ring Power

Whether it’s a social event, at a small party or showing off the dance moves in the club I usually go out on the public scene with one of the two rings that I own. The rings are sort of like vip passes at special events, they have a tiny piece of power which I started to take advantage of. In NYC I understand it is tough for some people to strike up conversations with just anybody. But me, I love to chat and meet new people because that is what’s most interesting about going out. Occasionally you will get that random butt-hole who tries to say the ring is fake because his girlfriend had her eye on it or something along that nature. It really doesn’t matter to me because the rings do more good then negative. I believe that in the past few months I have gotten good with using the ring(s) to my advantage without seeming like an ass or going overboard with em’. I also enjoy when people look at me and wonder “who is this nutball”? but I just say I’m not anyone special, just the neighborhood friendly blackmaiin =)

I can’t throw out my secrets and strategies lol, but I can say if I wanted to advance in a line somewhere, talk to some hot female or even score a free drink...I have mastered the technique of using the “ring finger” haha. Well that is all I wanted to toss out there today so I hope it was a cute little post.

K BYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEE

The Transition

There has been such a huge change since college ended. The roommate situation was always a great thing and now I think it's cool how all of us have split up and went our own ways. I still talk to my former 4 1/2 roomies at least once a week and we just talk about the difference between now and then. I remember going back to our apartment and just looking at stacks of trash ready to be taken out or the mess Frenzy had caused around the bathroom and everyone would just look at each other and ask "is it my turn to clean"? hahaha. The transition from college to now has been fairly simple but tremendously different. When you go away to school you are forced to learn things that you don't do when you live at home, such as laundry and cooking cleaning etc. Having roommates is great but I don't see myself ever having them again unless it is back with any of the same crew from 4103. There were times when you would want to relax and someone would have company over or just having loud music playing during nap time but that comes with the territory of living with other people. I must admit, I was a cause of a lot of destruction in our apt at school but it was all good. Now I feel like it's almost the same concept except now I can't walk down the hall and pester anyone so I just write and do these blogs lol.

Just last week I hung out with two of my former roomies and we all just talked about the situations that went on when we lived together and I quickly said this is exactly why those treasured events should never be forgotten and that is why I am developing this one show "4103". I actually love living on my own because there are basically no rules. I can walk around naked and cook breakfast at dinner, you know just some of those random things. When I look back I am so grateful that I got a chance to live with others for four years because it was a great experience but that phase has ended for now. Well this random post is just something to read if you are bored and that is about it so i'll holler back soon =)

K BYEEEEEEEEEE

Getting ready for a new chapter =)

Good lord, it's been over two weeks since I last posted something. I've been doing things here and there like hanging out with my friends, visiting PA to see my black friends for a few days and oh yea...getting accepted to film school!!! So yes, starting March 8th I will be a student at the New York Film Academy. I took a tour of the entire "campus" and met almost everyone who was there. Sadly I probably won't remember any names for when I go back.

It's a great feeling to know I have that ability to light peoples faces up when they hear about what I'm doing, with the documentary and the developments of my tv shows. I said as soon as I walked into the school that I've got a lot of things going on with my creativity and I feel like this school can tie all those pieces together. Let's hope it does the trick lol. Honestly though I am still not satisfied and I won't be until everything and I mean everything goes as well as I plan. There are so many things going on right now such as clinging to my daily work regimen and having to make the decision of getting my cat circumcised :( I just returned home today and I can smell his spray from being in heat everywhere. Yucky is one word to describe the stench in my apartment. Anyway I will try to keep more updates going as I get into Hell Week next week, and I'll explain that another time haha. It's time for me to get use to the evenings where I don't have a roommate anymore except my cat who is in heat and humps old shoes in the back of the closet. I hope everyone has had a good week and keep on clinging. K BYEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Oppsie Daisy...I'm not Superman u know...

Well a few days ago I said I was going to do 11 blogs about 11 friends without realizing how long that would take. Sometimes when I write I can tend to go on and on about 1 subject and doing that 11 times will pretty much put someone into a complete bored stage haha. One day though i'll take the time and do it i promise, and i'll keep it short & simple. So this blog entry is just an update about my last blog entry saying that the previous blog entry will not be followed by the blog entries i was intending on blogging. Do u get it? I don't even get it. Anyways I will come up with another topic to ramble on about tomorrow or the day after. You just can't take my blogging times serious because my liiiife has events that come up the day before or day of. Welp uhhh the week is going swiftly and once again I ate out for dinner at PF Changs which was very good and I think I had a chance to get a number tonight but since I have no game I let the opportunity pass me by, so i guess it just on to the next one hahaha. I'll be back soon with some cool stuff to talk about, this week is pretty much full of business crap so I can't guarantee the next entry time even though i said the next day or 2. K BYEEEEEEEEEEEE

Lights, Camera, BLACKTION!!!

Looking back at 2009, I say it went quite well for me. After graduating college in May 2008 I literally had no idea exactly what I wanted to do with my liiiiiiife. I always knew I was a talented individual, whether it be through sports, in the classroom, social events, knowledge about random crap etc. I had to find a way to put all my skills into a bag and use them for a purpose towards a promising career. When I started working for FOX it opened my eyes to a whole new world, the behind the scenes type deal. Instantly I picked up on what takes people years to learn in a matter of 3 weeks. Now I will always remember the people who were negative towards me saying I wasn't the greatest athlete or even being a semi dumb kid but hey, know this "I got a full-ride to college AND finished in 4 years as I said I would at age 14. So all the people who had something to say I tip my hat and say enjoy paying back your school fees for a while and shut yo' face pleasth. Anyway I looked back at 2009 and said wow I literally did a lot. Trips to LA, Arizona, Vegas, Florida multiple times, Ohio, San Francisco and probably a few more places that I can't even remember right now but I remember having a great time in the beginning stage of what looks to be a long, promising and very fun career. Putting most of my thoughts down on paper I have to say i really do cherish my Mother and friends for sticking with me through the thick and thin of my fast paced lifestyle.

It really is a tough task to be a friend of mine. Not speaking of myself as being on a pedestal or anything but I am aware of my constant attitude changes and me saying/doing things that aren't correct towards others, BUT with these 11 people they have always been there with me. Starting tomorrow I will be dedicating 11 separate Blog stories for the next 11 days about the people I cherish most in my life for just being there. It is always cool to talk to other people and them saying "let's catch up, blah blah blah" but I feel like there is just way too much going on for me to have time for back tracking. I guess that is just how I am, and i'm sorry if it offends anyone but I doubt I'll ever change my attitude in how I want to progress. I am now confident to say I know exactly how my future looks and there will be bumps and bruises along the way and I know these 11 people will be there for me when my time comes in the spotlight. Being an only child growing up without a father at hand I feel like it's only natural to look up to anyone who inspires you with either passion towards a goal or a great personality. With the new year and decade being at hand I am surely ready for any challenge that is going to be placed upon me whether it has to be taking the passenger seat in a project or even having to answer to a higher authority. It's game time baby and it has always been because I always have and will work harder than the next man or woman lol.

That's about all for me as of right now. I head back to New York city tomorrow morning where I'll be in the office for longer than ever working on what I do best...producing and entertaining. Be good everyone and you'll be hearing a lot more of me for some time to come =). K BYEEEEEEEE