Tennessee Independant Film meeting tid-bits

At least once a month we have a meeting of East Tennessee's independant film association (with the problematic acronym TIP-TOE) at the New City Cafe` in Knoxville's Old City. Did you follow that? Knoxville's historical district, called the Old City, suffers from 3 main problems best I can tell. Inadequate parking and vehicle access combine with petty crime such as runaway panhandling to form an atmosphere in which nobody but college students feels entirely comfortable. The result is that lots of people have just stopped going, so the businesses tend not to last long. It's something the town is working on, but a topic for another day.

At Tuesday's meeting we had a treat in the screening of some winners from the Star Wars Fan Film Festival. Local film man and animator John Hudgens provided some logistical support for Trey Stokes' Pink Five, in the form of lighting and equipment. If you haven't seen Pink Five you should go to AtomFilms.com straightaway. It's very funny stuff and was the winner of the 2003 Fan Film Festival.

Pink Five
http://atomfilms.shockwave.com/af/content/pink5
Director: Trey Stokes
Writer: Trey Stokes
Producer: The Truly Dangerous Company
http://www.trudang.com/
Complete Cast: Amy Earhart

The sequel Pink Five Strikes Back is this year's Audience Choice award winner.

Pink Five Strikes Back
http://atomfilms.shockwave.com/af/content/pink5_strikes
Director: Trey Stokes
Producer: Christopher Reed
Writer: Trey Stokes
Camera: John Parenteau
Music: Doug Legacy
Cast: Amy Earhart, Steve Stanton, Greg Manion

John Hudgens' own original SW Fan film is Jedi Hunter which was last year's Audience Choice winner. Jedi Hunter pits Boba Fett in a spoof of Steve Irwin's "Crocodile Hunter" against wily Jedi who are sent up as the crocs. Just take a look at all these awards. Crikey!

The Jedi Hunter
http://atomfilms.shockwave.com/af/content/jedi_hunter
Director: John E. Hudgens
Producer: John E. Hudgens
Writers: John E. Hudgens, Lowell Cunningham
Principal Cast: Brian Boling, Heather Harris, Jimmy Burns, Brandon
Alley, Robert Alley, Robert E. Bean, Brett Black, Kristen Caron, Sandy
Clark, Allison Garwood, Reed Garwood, Jim Lyon, John Mailen, Ziggy
McMillan, Stanley Settles, Darren Wilhite

Honors

Best Visual Effects - Dahlonega International Film Festival 2003
Special Award for Artistic Merit - Dahlonega International Film Festival 2003
Audience Choice Award - 2003 Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards
Best Star Wars parody - DragonCon MOTF Film Festival 2003

Festival Screenings

DragonCon Film Festival 2002
Valleyfest Independent Film Festival 2003
Dahlonega International Film Festival 2003
Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival 2003
DragonCon MOTF Film Festival 2003
Chattacon 2004

Well having met John on Tuesday, I can report that in addition to his talent he's a very nice guy. He is also an example of the kinds of hidden talent we have here in Knoxville. From the folks who made the Titanic video game, to Scripps / HGTV, this town has a lot to offer to artists, writers and video professionals.

Tomorrow comes a look at some great neon artwork and mod architecture from the East Coast. TTFN.

The Stutz Blackhawk as promised

As promised yesterday, no actually the day before, it's the Stutz Blackhawk.

The one above was owned by Evel Knievel. I don't know if his cousin Aweful Knaweful ever had one. They're either the ugliest or coolest cars ever made depending on your tastes. For more information about the Stutz you should visit Madle.org which features a full history. The obvious reason these were at the Elvis Week celebrations is that EP had Stutz(es?) as part of his extensive collection of cars he couldn't drive for fear of being swamped by fans.

Was that a run on sentence?

Yesterday I had lunch with my pal Les Jones who's a fellow member of the Rockytop Brigade. He and his wife Melissa are having a baby soon. Wish them luck. Later today or maybe tomorrow I'll post up some stuff about the neat independent film association meeting I went to last night. The only downside was that the result of trying to share a file and play it on a projector via my machine caused me 3 hours of work this morning reconfiguring my laptop. NEVER let anybody touch your computer. And for the record, the guy who did this no matter how nice will now die. And under Tennessee law we have the "Needed Killin'" clause which is definitely covered for such things as messing up a guy's network connection.

Quick notes about the Graceland trip

On Saturday the 14^th I traveled with the family down to Memphis for the 50^th Anniversary of Rock-n-Roll and Elvis Week celebrations. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my painting of Elvis was exhibited as part of the events. We toured Graceland, perused the art exhibits, took in a car show and generally had a fun time. I bought a Lansky shirt which I had always wanted. It was kind of pricey compared to what you’d pay for a Mission 50s shirt, and the workmanship isn’t as good. But the styling is excellent bar-none. The drive to and from Memphis from Knoxville was about 6 hours each way. I did it all on Saturday plus we fit in the activities. That’s absolutely insane but I’m cheap and didn’t want to pay for a room. After sleeping late on Sunday all was back to normal. More news and pictures are to follow soon, including a look at the weirdest car I’ve ever seen – the Stutz Black Hawk – which was a big attraction at the auto show. See you tomorrow.

My art is on display at Graceland

Currently I have this painting on display at Graceland.
It has been exhibited in one of the hallways since August 1st, and will remain on exhibit until Monday the 16th. After that the painting becomes part of the estate's archives. Paintings that go into the archives are exhibited from time to time, can be used for promotional purposes and are sometimes auctioned for charity. It was really exciting and a true privilage to have my artwork displayed at the Elvis Presley estate.

First Up

This is the first home for ChrisRange.com which is intended to be a showcase for my artwork and writing. After writing and acting as Executive Editor for CelticGrove.com for the last 5 years, I decided it was time to get back into my own projects. Related to this site is VideonGames.com where I am promoting some of my older games and primarily my brand new game called Lunar Ranger 2D, which is a lunar landing simulator. Stay tuned for more fun!