Oscar Hopes and Predictions

Because it is very important to study and understand the industry I wish to be a big part of, and since, you know, it's part of my path to stardom and all that stuff...this year, I made it a personal goal to see almost all the nominated films. I saw all the "Best Picture" nominations, and many others that are up for awards this year as well. For fun, I am running an Oscar Pool with...myself....

Here's the movies I am predicting will win in each category. Click for a larger view.

If I picked more than one for a category, that's because it's a really close call. If I was betting money, I'd pick the one that I underlined.


Here's the movies I HOPE will win (but may or may not...). Click for a larger view.

Chad Vader

There's a YouTube series called Chad Vader that is actually filmed in Appleton, WI. I know a few people on crew, including the director.

They just released a special edition episode that is too good to pass up. Enjoy!!

MAGICAL Red Cross Class

Today I got to teach a Red Cross class at the Disney Animation Studios. It was awesome. We were surrounded by original drawings from classic Disney animated movies.

Enjoy the pics...

Harlem Globetrotters

Today I had the chance to be one of the 'official photographers' for the Harlem Globetrotters.

It was a pretty fun event (as the Globetrotters usually are), and it was neat to be there and take pictures of random fans, etc. I even got to see Barry Williams and Gordon Ramsay. Here's a few pictures of the setting and my awesome uniform.


Nice bright green shirts, huh??

Hollywood Collectors Show

Hello everyone!

Today was an exciting day. Once again, I had the chance to go to the "Hollywood Collectors Show" in Burbank, CA. I had the chance to see alot of great celebrities, take some neat pictures, and recieve some awesome autographs!

The entire album can be viewed at this link, but here's a few teaser pictures:

Rude Awakening

Tonight at around midnight, I heard a really large crash from right my apartment. It sounded as if it had come from the street, and I could hear fire sizzling after the inital 'crash' sound.

Since I was still up (unlike the misleading title of this blog suggests), I decided to quick grab my camera and head down to the corner of the street to see if I could see anything. When I came to the street corner, I found a car on fire, with another car upside down next to it. The cars had crashed into some other (parked) cars that were on the side of the road.

I called 9-1-1 and noticed that everyone from the 2 cars were okay and conscious. They came out, and I helped one of them over to the side of the road who was having a hard time walking. On the sidewalk, I stayed with them until help arrived...which was about 12 minutes later (thank you LAPD). One was having a hard time breathing, one was in pain, and the other had a difficult time walking.

Once professional help arrived, they thanked me for my help and asked why I had the camera. When I explained I was a freelance photographer (that was also Red Cross Certified for Disaster Relief), the officer chuckled and invited me to roam and get whatever interesting pics/video I wanted.

Here's a few shots:

Craig Furgeson

Hey everybody!

Make sure to check out The Late Late Show with Criag Furgeson tonight on CBS! I will be there with my roomie, Al, to see Robin Williams on the show! It should be pretty cool!

Kyle's Top 5 Super Bowl Commercials

Here's my Top 5 Super Bowl Commercial Picks. We'll see if the media/critics agree with me tomorrow and tonight when we watch the news.

1. Doritos Commercial (1st of the evening)
http://www.hulu.com/superbowl/55646/super-bowl-xliii-ads-doritos-crystal-ball#s-p8-sr-i0

In my eyes, there was a tie for 2nd place...

2. Alec Baldwin - HuLu Commercial
http://www.hulu.com/superbowl/55719/super-bowl-xliii-ads-hulu-alec-and-huluwood#s-p1-sr-i0

2. Potato Head Driving
http://www.hulu.com/superbowl/55725/super-bowl-xliii-ads-firestone-taters#s-p3-sr-i0

And the last two (technically numbers 4 and 5)...

3. Doritios Power Crunch (2nd of the evening)
http://www.hulu.com/superbowl/55728/super-bowl-xliii-ads-doritos-power-of-the-crunch#s-p4-sr-i0

4. GE Energy - Scarecrow Commercial
http://www.hulu.com/superbowl/55713/super-bowl-xliii-ads-ge-scarecrow#s-p2-sr-i0

Jennifer Hudson + National Anthem = WOW!!!!!!!!

Jennifer Hudson just sang the national anthem at the Super Bowl.

HOLY COW that was amazing.

That is all :)

Ponder Points

Wow, I feel like I've been so distant from here latley. So many things going on...so much to do....

The Hollywood Celebrity Convention is coming up on Valentine's Day. They have an even MORE amazing list than the last one I attended. Big names that I want to see include Eric Estrada and Carrie Fischer. Time to start saving my pennies, it looks like...BOY, it's coming up fast, but a chance to meet these guys and talk to them for a few hours is worth every penny. Not only is it neat to hear their stories, but to learn about the industry from real pros is something really special. Furthermore, it's a nice motivational boost to keep going.

Motivational boosts are good...especially right around now. I don't know why, but this week...although I accomplished alot, I feel like I'm still dragging a little. I'm really pushing for some new jobs and such, and things are SLOWLY working into place...but the word here is 'slowly'.

If anybody knows anyone that wants some VHS to DVD transfers done in the near future, let me know :)

We'll see what happens as time progresses. Things will work, it's just...slow.

I almost miss my friends back in Wisconsin a ton latley. Laura, John, Brandon, Sean, Sara...you are all missed dearly right now. Being so busy and whatnot out here, it's been hard to hang out with alot of people from around the area latley. Furthermore, alot of my 'friends' seem to have really changed since the winter break. I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to stay interacting with some of them....they like to take the dangerous college route and I'm not sure I want to follow. Correction: I will NOT follow. So we'll see how that goes.

More to come soon, as usual.

I'm back!

Hello everyone!

Greetings once again from a nice, warm California climate! It's great to be back in the warmth.

The inauguration was fantastic and Sean and I had a great time and got some awesome footage. The website, www.barackdoc09.com, is being updated this evening and will soon have all the up-to-date changes.

Just for fun, take a look at some of the questions asked of me today on a job application for the Disney Corporation. They are pretty funny....

Hello from DC!

I am currently in DC with my good friend Sean filming our documentary on the Inauguration.

For more information, and to follow us, please visit:


www.barackdoc09.com

www.youtube.com/BarackDoc09


YouTube Videos will be added daily, newsletters will be out as often as possible, and we will try to update the blog on the BarackDoc09 site along the way, too.

I'm TIRED!

Today was a long, stressful day.

I had a Red Cross class all day long for a group of 15 ESL and Special Needs Adults. On top of that, half of them were dyslexic. I'll be spending my evening relaxing and trying to fill out alot of paperwork.....

Inauguration is sneaking up quick! Holy cow...I can't wait!

More to come soon. To all my friends in Wisconsin, stay warm since you don't have all that school to worry about....

1 Week Until DC!

Wow...I cannot believe there is only a week (less than, actually) until I am heading off to Washington DC to record the Inauguration!

If you haven't sent a donation for our documentary, and you would like to donate via PayPal...please click here and our site will help you go through the entire process. Every dollar helps to ensuring we can do bigger and better things in Washington!!

Tonight I will be updating the BarackDoc09 website with some major new updates...so be sure to check back soon for all of that excitement!!

Quick Updates

1. I ran into Jennifer Aniston at the post office the other day. It was pretty exciting.

2. I'm super glad Spielberg picked up the highest honor at the Golden Globe Awards tonight. There was a very nice, fitting montage that went with his speech...all of which were neat to witness.

3. For those of you that didn't hear, my friend and tech buddy Jake Kulba came out to Calfornia last week to visit with his family and friends and had the opportunity to come say hello to me in Hollywood for a day. We had a great time, and below is a picture of us hanging out!

Caught on TV...again!

Last November, when Sara came to visit me, we went to a few filmings of "Masters of Illusion" - a new show being produced by the MYNetwork. The shows were fantastic and very enjoyable. This past Monday, the first episode aired...which we were not 'technically' on. However, thanks to Hollywood magic...the editors decided to pull one of the routines from our 'episode' and place it on the premiere night.

Below is a clip of some awesome audience members they found during the filming :)

Yes, I'm Alive!

Wow...it's been a while since I posted. Alot of you know that I don't update my blog when I was home, and I was indeed home for the winter break. It was a very nice and enjoyable trip back home, and as usual, it was sad to leave.

Life right now is going well back in Hollywood. I'm once again getting into the swing of things and on the constant search for some new industry jobs. Rumor has it that I may be offered a job at a new school teaching under a different group than the one I am currently with...we'll see how that goes.

Today I traveled to the Post Office to find that they had ran out of stamps. Yes, you read correctly. The POST OFFICE ran out of stamps!! How? Apparantly a BIG group came in right before myself and a few others and bought them out. We could wait for a few hours or 'go to a different place'...so I got to explore the other side of LA today at the wonderful Post Office.....

I experienced MORE disappointment today when I found out that the "Pepsi Points Promotion Program" (that's alot of Ps!) has now ended. Over the last year, I have been accumulating a TON of points...since I am an avid drinker of Pepsi One. Sadly, the points expired on the 31st of December and nobody bothered to tell us..... :'(

Last, but not least, I am continuing to make preparations for my trip to Washington DC at the end of this month. I really cannot believe it is coming up so fast...but I am very excited and I know Sean and I will have some great opportunities while we are out there. A logo that was created for the movie is below. Special thanks to Michelle Rehak for her assistance in making it.

A picture is worth 1,000 words

If that's true, then this is one of my longest blog entries.....
Enjoy pictures highlighting the Wyland Event and my trip to Disneyland for Christmas!

More Updates...

Once again, I find myself super busy and not keeping up with my blog. (Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.) Next week is bound to slow down, but until then, here's the latest updates:

Last Day at "Last Call" - Thursday was my last day at "Last Call with Carson Daly". T'was a sad day :-( I'm really going to miss working with the entire crew there. It was alot of fun. As a gift, I recieved a "Last Call" T-shirt, hat, and other goodies! They also told me I was always welcome to come back and visit. Hopefully, I'll be seeing them again sometime soon on the backlot!

Alllll Alonneeeee - All of my friends, with the exception of one who is a half hour from my area, went home this morning for the holiday season. In some ways, this is good...it gives me time to do alot of things and catch up now that my busy-rush is almost all over. In some ways, this sucks...for obvious reasons :-)

Finding Work - Now that all of my jobs are on hiatus, or hold...due to the holiday season, I'm looking around for small, little gigs I can pick up this holiday season. It seems that I have better luck picking up stuff in Milwaukee than I do here! haha

Wyland Holiday Party - Tonight, thanks to my former elementary school art teacher, Mrs. Thatcher, I will be going to Wyland's Holiday Party in Santa Monica. I googled the hotel and it looks like I'm in for quite a treat. The hotel is right on the beach front...which I'm sure will make for some really neat picture opps! More to come on this tomorrow....

Updates...

Hello, all! Boy, it's been busy latley. Here's some major updates....

Control Room @ Carson - Today I got to switch out of my normal job at the "Last Call with Carson Daly" show and see what it was like to live in the control room for a day. As expected, I loved it. The control room is where all the action, excitement, pressure and screw ups....occur, and it's really neat! I had a chance to talk for a while with the director, Steve Paley, which was also a very cool experience, too.

CSI: Oz Debut - Tonight was the official debut of "CSI: Oz". The trailer, cold open, and show intro were all shown to a theatre of approximatley 500 people -- ranging from students, to industry professionals. The show went off without a hitch and people loved it. Of the 10 movies screened, mine was #6 in line...and was the only one to recieve a standing ovation at the end. The audience definatley connected to the plot and unique idea...and many encouraged me to start writing a full length movie script for the show. Here's the poster (with some modifications for all my blog readers!) that was used at the premiere...


Universal Movie Screening - Tomorrow I once again have the unique chance to go to yet another movie screening. The movie is called "Frost/Nixon", about Richard Nixon, the watergate scandal, and all that fun stuff.