The DiMaria Bros.

Giving Thanks - A Poem

2010-08-27T18:22:00.002-04:00

Giving Thanks by Anthony A. DiMaria

As we sat around the fire on that cold but cheery night,
I looked around and I beheld a very wonderful sight,
The fire shown the smiling faces of friends having conversations.
Everyone was happy, everyone was laughing,
I don’t think more joy could be found in all of the nations!

And as I sat there looking at all this I thanked God for all He has given;
I thanked Him for my friends, ones who love Him and have striven
To be closer to Him and to do His will;
I thanked Him for the bright, starry night that He had made
And for the nice breeze and the chill.

I thanked Him for the fire that was warm and bright,
The friendly flames that jumped out and lit up the night!
I thanked Him for the joy that we all shared,
The ability to laugh and smile and talk about our Lord.
I thanked Him for the ability to worship Him without being scared.

Color

2010-05-05T22:21:00.001-04:00

We recently had the great opportunity to be a part of the Christian Filmmakers 36-hour film contest.

Though challenging to create a film in 36 hours, it is also a lot of fun! God so blessed us as we made the film, and we hope that the end product is a blessing to you!

New Banner

2010-03-10T17:00:00.002-05:00

So, I just redesigned our banner...

Just FYI.

-Dominic

us4HIM is no more

2010-03-02T10:35:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone!

Geno here, for the first time in a while! I wanted to let you all know that we are going to be closing down our www.us4him.com website very soon. The reason for this is our new company, Block One Studios.

Block One started out as a collaboration of us and several other families who have worked together on a couple film projects. It has since morphed into both a commercial and narrative production company.

Previously, my friend Chad Stembridge and I had been business partners in the LLC that is Block One Studios, but through prayer and the Lord's teaching we have found that it is unbiblical to be involved in partnerships. Thus, Chad has continued his business, Stembridge Mill Moving Pictures, and I have taken over Block One Studios, LLC.

Throughout all of this, us4HIM Productions has become unused and unnecessary. We feel that Block One is a stronger brand, and that we have produced much higher-quality work since becoming Block One than we had previously with us4HIM. So, we have decided that we no longer need the us4HIM website, and are retiring us4HIM Productions completely.

You can still keep up with our work at: blockonestudios.com. If you're on Facebook, please consider becoming a fan by going to: facebook.com/blockonestudios.

We appreciate your continued support and encouragement as we strive to produce high-quality, God-honoring work! God bless!

Geno

A Truck Story

2010-02-19T22:57:00.000-05:00

My dad ordered a cord of wood. Yes, he did. He ordered a cord of wood. The man he bought if from, Mr. Emerson, was a really nice guy, and he came to deliver the cord of wood my dad bought.

My dad thought our yard would be dry enough, so he said that Mr. Emerson could just drive through. Alas, it was still wet and Mr. Emerson got stuck. So, we unloaded our wood from his trailer and tried pushing him out, but with still another load of wood in the bed of his truck, the task was difficult. So difficult, in fact, that we did not succeed.

That's right. We failed to push the truck out of our yard. So, we called a tow truck and they got him out in no time.

The following are the images documenting the affair. Let them tell you the story.

-Dominic

The Motions

2010-02-19T16:29:00.002-05:00

So this past week I had an assignment for Literature to write a poem... I started it last Friday, but over the weekend, I was thinking about the topic I had chosen to write on, and really did not like it. It was really lame. So... I was praying about what I should write on, and God gave me the idea to write about just going through the motions of being a Christian.

Here's the poem:

The Motions

Anthony A. DiMaria

I wake up every morning, get out of bed,

Pick up my Bible, to see what the Lord has said.

For a while I’m interested, but as the days wear on,

It becomes just another thing on my check list.

It is like school to me now, I just do it to be done with it.

I am not focused on learning from it. I would rather

Be playing games or watching movies.

But then, in some event, the Lord shows me

That I am not honoring Him.

I am just going through the motions.

I say that I love Him, yet I put so many things first.

I say He is my number one priority, yet I would spend

Hours watching movies, and only fifteen minutes

In His word, learning from Him.

When I read my Bible, I’m thinking more about

How I can impress my friends with a new item

That has just come out, instead of focusing

And meditating on what I read.

I write about meaningless things that happen in my life

But I never write about what I have been reading in His word.

I put on a show at church so all my friends there

Will think I am a great follower of God, but at

Home I say and do things that God hates.

The Lord has revealed to me that I need to

Repent and be restored. I need to stop going

Through the Motions.

I used to wonder why the Lord wasn’t revealing

Anything to me, but I now know, that I was

Shutting Him off and not letting Him teach me

From His word. Now that I am not just going through

The motions, I feel like a new being. I feel free,

As if a huge burden has now been lifted off of me.

I now know what it feels like to truly follow God;

To truly honor Him... to truly put Him as my number one.

To truly be one of His children... It’s like a light has gone

On in me, I see things from a different view.

Now that I am not just going through the motions.

Let me know what you think!

In Christ,

-anth-

Snow

2010-02-16T17:14:00.011-05:00

Yep, you read that right! We got snow here in SC! It was the first measurable snow fall here in the Charleston area in 10 years. When the snow was done falling we had about 3 inches. Well, we didn't want to miss this rare opportunity we had at getting some pictures of the snow, so we (Dom, Me, John, and Zeke) decided to get up early Saturday morning to take some pictures!

Here are a few of the ones I took:

You can see the pictures Dom took (and read the story of how he got a new camera) Here.

Thanks for stopping by! God bless!

-anth-

It's Been A While

2010-01-05T22:29:00.001-05:00

Hey there! Well, it's been quite a while since we posted on here, and I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm hopefully going to be working on a nice long post to get you all updated on what's been happening... So, yeah, keep checking back and I'll try to have a post up this weekend! (Perhaps even one on my Photo Blog, too...)

-Dominic

Good Person 09

2009-12-04T23:18:00.001-05:00

This is our latest Good Person video. We shot it during our recent awesome trip to IL.

This was the first video I have directed, and I would like to give a special thanks to everyone who helped out. The actors were all great - none of this would have been possible without them. And Chad did a fantastic job behind the camera, too!

Good Person 09 from Block One Studios on Vimeo.

-Dominic

Block One Studios.com

2009-11-08T17:57:00.001-05:00

WWW.BLOCKONESTUDIOS.COM!!!

Oh, BTW, new facts about us are up on the sidebar.

Rate and Comment!

2009-11-02T08:59:00.000-05:00

Hello!

Emily, Christy, and Hannah Miller, great friends and fellow Block One Studios filmmakers, made this video for a film contest and they need our help to rate and comment on it everyday to help them win!

So follow this link over to YouTube, and rate and comment everyday until December 21st to help them out!

Dominic

BROS Is Out!

2009-10-09T07:57:00.000-04:00

Hey all!

BROS is officially released today! Click here to view the entire film online for free!

Enjoy, and God bless!

-Dominic

BROS DVD Release Info!

2009-10-08T19:14:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone!

Here's the official DVD release info for BROS! Please pass this info on and share it with all your friends!

Bros Release Info from Block One Studios on Vimeo.

us4HIM Productions and Block One Studios have teamed up to produce a new Christian short film called Bros. The film tells the story of a young man named Trey, who has an adopted brother named Johnson. Rather than accept Johnson as his brother, Trey shuns him. But when his father challenges him to get to know Johnson, Trey goes on a journey of discovery and redemption in this moving tale which is inspired, in many ways, by true experiences.

The film, which is 43 minutes in length, goes on sale Friday, October 9th. However, on that same day, it will be made available online for FREE viewing for 3 days. The movie will be uploaded, in 3 sections, to Vimeo, the popular video sharing site. It will be available for viewing on this channel: www.vimeo.com/blockone

There is no obligation to buy the film – this online viewing is completely free, and mainly designed to garner interest in the film and get feedback from viewers.
After watching, should you desire to purchase the movie, there will be two purchase options: DVD and Download. For $10 (plus shipping), you will be able to purchase the DVD, which features well over an hour of special features, short films, and trailers in addition to the 43-minute film. The download will consist of solely the film itself, and will cost only $5.

Please help in spreading the word about the Bros online release. You can do so in many ways.
1. Copy this post into your own blog. That’s right! You don’t have to write up your own blog post about the film (please feel free to do so, though!) – you can just copy this post and paste it into your own blog. That simple!
2. Link to or embed the video in which Writer/Director Geno DiMaria explains the 3-day free online viewing and talks a bit about the film itself. You can also post the link to this video (or a link to your blog post about the film) on your Facebook or Twitter account to help us spread the word about it. The direct link to that video is: www.vimeo.com/6944260
3. Do both!
4. Spread the word about the film in any other way you can think of!
And for families’ consideration, Bros contains no objectionable or unclean content, and is completely acceptable for all ages. It sets forth a biblical worldview, and all involved sought to honor the Lord with every aspect of the production.
Thank you so much for helping us4HIM Productions and Block One Studios in getting the word out about Bros, it is SO appreciated!

Links:
Movie Website: www.us4him.com/bros
Release Information Video: www.vimeo.com/6944260
Movie Trailer: www.vimeo.com/5958658
Vimeo Channel (where the film will be playing online for 3 days):www.vimeo.com/blockone

Go to the BROS site!

A Skype Conversation

2009-09-29T16:56:00.002-04:00

So, Anth and I were just having another interesting conversation over Skype... but we were only 20 1/2 feet away from each other. Not only that, but we were also having a real verbal conversation while we were typing this one:

Anthony DiMaria: I think PS is about to crash

Dominic DiMaria: what did you do to it?

Anthony DiMaria: I was messing with the screen modes like full screen, standard, etc. and then i opened a new file and the color wheel came up

Anthony DiMaria: and is still up

Anthony DiMaria: i think i'll force quit

Dominic DiMaria: good idea

Anthony DiMaria: i did it

Anthony DiMaria: maybe i shouldn't leave it running for days at a time

Dominic DiMaria: yeah, maybe

Anthony DiMaria: 'cause now all my recently opened files are gone

Anthony DiMaria: i mean, they are on my computer but not in the little menu

Anthony DiMaria: you know what i mean

Dominic DiMaria: yeah

Anthony DiMaria: it's good now

Dominic DiMaria: yay

Yeah, it was kinda lame - but most of our Skype conversations are like this. When talking to others they are a little more exciting, but not each other...

-Dominic

I Tore My Rotator Cuff!

2009-09-19T11:59:00.000-04:00

Wow, first of all, it's been way too long since I posted on here - sorry. I'll try to update here more often.

Secondly, yes, it's true - I got injured playing frisbee of all things!

So, here's how it happened: Geno asked me if I wanted to go throw some football, and I was like "Sure!" So, we threw for a while, and then I asked Geno if he wanted to toss some frisbee around with me. He said he would for a couple minutes. Well, next thing we know, everybody's out there and we're playing 500. What a blast! We have some special rules that make it a little bit more exciting. ;-)

Anyways, I was the thrower for the round, so I tossed the frisbee, everybody chased it down, and I don't remember who got it. All I know is that Geno or Anth tossed it back to me, but threw it high. So, I chased it. Not watching where I was going, I ran on uneven ground and just tripped. That's when I fell on my shoulder. I didn't hear a pop or anything, so that was good, but I knew when I stood up that it wasn't right. Usually I would be able to just kinda shake a fall like that right off, but my shoulder was really hurting! So, I took a second, and then continued the game. We played for probably another hour after that. My shoulder was a little sore, but it wasn't too bad, so I just ignored it for a little while. I was going to the chiropractor in the morning anyways, so I figured I'd just have him take a look at it then.

Okay, next morning, I went to the chiropractor and told him what the issue was, and what I had done. He said "I have some good news for you, and some bad news for you. Good news is that I think we can fix it. Bad news is that it's one of my most painful adjustments." I told him I'd give it a go, so he started working. First, he just examined it and checked my strength - my right arm was weak. Then, he popped my collar bone and shoulder back into joint because they were slightly separated (which, fortunately, didn't hurt!). He checked my strength again - still weak. He felt around some more, and told me I had torn my rotator cuff, but it wasn't a full tear. If it was a full tear, I believe it would have to be surgically repaired, but since it's not I just have to stretch it everyday to make sure the scar tissue doesn't heal too tightly.

So, there ya have it! The story of how I injured myself...playing frisbee.

Toodles!

Dominic

Joshua Harris Sermon Excerpt

2009-08-31T17:15:00.003-04:00

Just saw this video on the Rebelution, and thought it was really good. Take a look!

-Dominic

Washington D.C.

2009-08-25T21:36:00.002-04:00

Okay, so last week my Dad let us all know that he had to go to Washington D.C. for a week. He has to do that every now and again, so it wasn't a huge shock or anything. But for years I've wanted to go to D.C. to photograph it, and see all the awesome monuments and such. The thought of going with my Dad did cross my mind once or twice, and then on Saturday my Mom and Dad said they had been talking about Anth and I going with him, and thought it might work!

Well, I was uber excited. I'd always wanted to go, and I was finally able to!

We decided to leave a day early, so we could get all the transportation issues figured out with Dad as far as the shuttle, bus, and Metro...

The first day (Monday) was a blast! We walked around D.C. with Dad, and really had an awesome time! We saw most of the main stuff, like the Washington Monument, the Smithsonian Natural History Museum (which we left - it was absolutely riddled with evolution...), the Capitol Building, the Supreme Court, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, and the World War II Memorial. Those were all really incredible to see.

Tuesday my Dad had to work, so Anth and I went out alone. We went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum (which was a total blast...until we got charged an arm and a leg to ride a lame simulator. Oh well.), the Museum of the American Indian (which was a little strange...we ended up leaving there, too, because of the Native American religious stuff and that sort of thing), we tried to get into the Library of Congress but they wouldn't let me in because of a tiny pocket knife I had on my key chain, then we walked an uber long way to see the National Archives (which were incredible. We saw the Charters of Freedom, and it was amazing.), then it was getting late, so we got back on the Metro and headed back to the hotel.

Wednesday we stayed at the hotel and did school.

Thursday we tried to hit all the places we hadn't seen yet. We tried to get a tour of the Washington Monument, but all the scheduled times that we could have gone were out of tickets...So, on to the White House! That was neat to see. We tried to go around the back, but there was construction going on, so we couldn't. Then we went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. I was really interested in this place, but we didn't have time to see the main exhibit...oh well. So, we went into the exhibit about Nazi Propaganda. It was very interesting. Then Anth and I decided we had had enough of that, so we looked for an exit. There were a bunch of exit signs pointing in the same direction, so that's the way we went - right out the emergency exit. I looked before and after I opened that door, and nowhere did it say that it was an emergency exit. I'm positive. So, yeah, the door started beeping and we were then told we couldn't go out that way and to just leave the way we had come in. So, we did. On to the Jefferson Memorial! It was cool, and we got some neat photos of it. Then we walked many miles to the Library of Congress. What a neat building. I was a little disappointed that we couldn't get in the actually library part of it, but it was still neat to see. After that, we studied the map and made sure there was nowhere else we wanted to go, then made our way back to the Metro station, then to the bus, to the shuttle, and finally back to the hotel.

What an incredible trip! I'm very thankful that I was able to go. It's been what I'd call a dream of mine for a long time, so it was absolutely awesome to make it real! And I really want to go back some time...anybody else wanna come???

Here's the link to some of the photos I took while I was there: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4783&id=1774080747&l=7a9332c400

Toodles for now!

-Dominic

BROS Trailer Release!

2009-08-07T16:09:00.000-04:00

Hey all!

Just wanted to post our new BROS trailer on here!

Enjoy!

-Dominic

Santonio Holmes

2009-07-27T21:18:00.000-04:00

Well, I just kinda had to post his once I saw it. Steelers Wide Receiver Santonio Holmes demonstrating how he practices:

-Dominic

Tractors

2009-07-26T14:19:00.000-04:00

Hey! Sorry I haven't been posting much...been pretty busy around here lately.

Well, last weekend my dad asked me to take some pictures of our two lawn tractors and post them on Craigslist. So, I posted them on Saturday night, and they were both sold by Sunday afternoon.

Then we went over to Sears to look at new tractors. Dad picked one out, and Geno ordered it for him.

Dad thought he would have to wait until Saturday to get it, but mom figured we should go surprise him and pick it up. So on Thursday I hooked up the trailer, and we went over to Sears to pick it up.

We got it loaded up, and brought it home.

I took a series of photos from the moments dad was pulling in the driveway to the moment he took it for the first spin.

Observing the new beauty.

Takin' a spin!

Well, toodles for now!

-Dominic

Chad's Not Here Anymore

2009-07-26T13:11:00.000-04:00

Well, Chad is no longer down here in SC. He left on the 16th of this month. It was hard to say good bye to him because he had lived here for almost two months! So, we were all kinda upset that he had to leave.

Geno had to go to work early that day, so he said "See ya" first.

After packing up the famous 24" iMac, Chad packed up his van.

Then we all said "See ya"

Group Photo.

As you can see from this picture, the trip kinda started off rough. The van wouldn't start... So, I went in and looked up the exact steps of how to jump start a car without blowing it up.

So, after about an hour of trying we were able to get it to the point where it would stay running, and Chad was able to go on his way.

Chad, it was great having you here, and hope to see you again soon, dude!

-Dominic

Block One Studios

2009-07-11T22:40:00.001-04:00

Well, everyone, I'd like to post this awesome piece of graphic art that our good friend Hannah Miller just sent me. This is our Block One Studios logo combined with around 320 photos.

-Dominic

STRIKE

2009-07-09T14:21:00.000-04:00

I can't believe I forgot to post this until now! Several months ago when Chad and Ty were here we made a practice short action film called STRIKE.

Here it is:

I wonder if Agent Puller will have any future missions...;)

-Dominic

Best Pic Ever! (well, one of 'em)

2009-07-08T22:33:00.000-04:00

Last night I was going through the pictures from the wrap party for 'Bros' and came across this über awesome one of the first 4 ------ (I am not allowed to say what... those in the picture and around when it was taken know the word that I avoided). Anyway, I think this picture is one of the best ever (hence the title of the post) and will now let y'all take a look at this pure awesomeness.

Ty, Hannah, and Sage... y'all are da über bombs!

-anth-

New BROS Promo

2009-07-05T22:54:00.000-04:00

Click here to see the new BROS promo banner!

Also, see the new banner in action on our side bar!

-Dominic

Independence Day 09

2009-07-05T13:33:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm just gonna copy the post I made on my photo blog here:

From Independence Day 09

Yesterday was Independence day. A day that we Americans celebrate the liberty God has given us with food, parades, and...fireworks! Dad went out and got the most fireworks we've ever got this year, and we had a blast...pardon the pun.

From Independence Day 09

Air War was my personal favorite of the night. But Loch Ness was pretty uber sweet, too. This is acutally a composite of four images...

From Independence Day 09

And here's some real light painting. I love doing light paintings, because it's such an artistic way of showing several moments in time...

From Independence Day 09

Many thanks to Christy and Hannah Miller for informing us of the awesome flammability of hand sanitizer. It's pretty sweet...

Anyways, there's our fourth of July for ya!

-Dominic

And, here's a pretty cool photo Chad took of me yesterday. Nice editing, Chad!

From Independence Day 09

The Real-Estate Shoot

2009-06-30T09:04:00.000-04:00

We recently got a job doing videos of neighborhoods for a local real-estate agent. Tuesday we had 3 neighborhoods to do.

Chad, Dominic, Geno and I left around 9:45-10:00. The drive down was fine with no trouble and we didn't even get lost!

Seaside Farms was the first neighborhood we were going to film. Well, at first it was going great! We were getting everything we needed and weren't having any trouble finding our way around. We got the first section of the neighborhood and then we went to get the condo section. Chad and Dominic got out to shoot the condos. Then someone in one of the condos saw them and came out to interrogate them. This is Chad's account of the situation:

At the first location, I was shooting outside a condo building, and a lady comes out from the third floor. Conversation:

Lady: What are you doing?
Me: I'm shooting a video —
Lady: Why are you taking pictures?
Me: For a real-estate video...
Lady: Are you doing Google street view?
Me: No, we were hired to do this by—
Lady: Why do you have microphones?
Me: To capture ambient noise—
Lady: What?
Me: To record environment noise...
Lady: Why are you here?
Me: We're making a real-estate video.
Lady: You're with the state?
Me: Yes.
Lady: Okay, thanks.

It didn't register in my mind that she asked if I was with the state until after I said "yes," because I had just said "real-eSTATE," and was still thinking that.

Chad was a little bit shaken by this experience, but once we got going again, he was okay.

It took us a few minutes, but we were able to find the next section of the neighborhood... we dropped Chad and Dominic off at one spot and Geno and I went to a different spot. Geno and I were asked what we were doing, but the guy who asked was really nice and actually thought what we were doing was cool! Geno and I picked up Chad and Dominic (after getting lost and driving all over the neighborhood for a little while trying to find where we had dropped them off) and got going again.

We were trying to find the next section we needed to shoot, but just couldn't... we did find a swimming pool (at the time, it was closed due to contamination) that we needed to get. We stopped again and Dominic got out to grab a shot of it. There was a man by the swimming pool and Dominic asked him about where the Marais subsection (the location we needed to shoot) was. The man told him that he "thought" if we walked a certain direction on the walking trail, we would get to it.

We found a place to park and got out onto the walking trail. We were walking the way the man told us, but realized we were just going back to a place we had already shot. We asked someone else where the Marais subsection was and found out that it was actually the other way on the path. So we walked all the way along the path, which was a really long way! We finally found the subsection and got the footage we needed. But now we had to walk all the way back. We made it back to our car and got going again. We decided to go back to Marais to see if it led to one of the other locations we needed to shoot. So, we pulled out, and it turned out that we had parked about 500 feet away from Marais! We could have avoided walking a mile or two!

After driving around in circles for a little bit (not intentionally, of course), we found the final part of the first neighborhood and got the footage we needed. Now it was time for lunch!

We went to Sonic for lunch and we all got 44 oz. drinks. They were awesome!

After lunch we headed to our next location: Snee Farm.

We found Snee Farm fairly easily and at first everything was going great! We dropped Chad and Dominic off and Geno and I went to find the golf course that was supposed to be there. Then things started to go downhill. Geno and I saw the golf course, but couldn't find an entrance. We now needed to go pick up Chad and Dominic to see what we were going to do next. On our way to pick them up, we saw a car pull in the driveway of the house Dominic and Chad were filming. Geno and I were kind of laughing about it until we pulled up there and saw that the guy wasn't very happy about us filming out by his house. Of course, Chad was the one who talked to him, and this is Chad's account of the conversation:

I put down sticks, set my eye in the eyepiece, and hear footsteps. I look up. A guy's standing there.

Guy: What are you doing?
Me: I'm shooting a video.
Guy: You're taking pictures of my house?
Me: Of the whole neighborhood.
Guy: Why?
Me: It's a real estate video. We were hired to do this—
Guy: Who's having you do this?
Me: A real estate agent.
Guy: Who's he with?
Me: Charleston Property.
Guy: So you're going around video-ing people's houses.
Me: The whole neighborhood...
Guy: Why?
Me: He's wanting to make videos of all the neighborhoods in Charleston.
Guy: Why? Doesn't he know my house isn't for sale?
Me: He's wanting to promote whole neighborhoods.

Guy: I'm just asking, because anytime I see people taking video of my house, I wonder what they're doing.
Me: Well, I haven't taken any footage of your house yet.
Guy: Are you planning on doing that?
Me: I don't have to — it's fine if I don't.
Guy: (something about his house and video...)
Me: It's fine — I don't have to take video of your house.
Guy: Okay, that's fine?
Me: Yeah, I don't have to do it...
Guy: Okay, well... Okay... Alright, have a good day.
Me: Thanks, bye.
Dominic: Have a nice day.
Guy: Yeah, you guys take it easy.

Chad got back in the car and he was completely traumatized. He just sat in the back seat saying barely anything. We finally realized that this neighborhood revolved around a country club. We had to get shots from in the car of the golf course. Then we went to the actual club. We got footage of the driving range. Chad refused to leave the car so Geno and I got the footage here. Then Geno and I went to get footage of some tennis courts. While getting footage a girl was walking down the same path we were on and calls out 'Crazy people with cameras!'. I was kinda shocked by this. When we crossed her on the path, though, and she asked what we were doing and we told her, she thought it cool. I was still in shock from her yelling 'Crazy people with cameras!' so when we got back to the car we left. Very fast.

Our next neighborhood was Old Village. At Old Village we needed to get a place called Alhambra Hall. We drove past it while looking around the neighborhood and then we parked where we thought we were close to it; we were wrong. We had to walk almost a mile to get there. We finally got down to Alhambra Hall and were hoping to film the inside of it. The doors were open, so before we just went in and filmed, Geno and I went in to see if there was someone to ask... and to use the bathroom. Well, the lady that was in there was kind of, um, unhappy that we were in there so we thought we should probably just not even ask about filming... we did get the outside of the Hall, though. The people in Old Village were really nice and one person who pulled over to talk to us was very excited about what we were doing.

Everything took much longer than we thought it would and we didn't get home until 6:30 or 7:00, but we got home safe.

Well, that's the end of the crazy day.

Thanks for reading!

-anth-

A Rainbow Free Verse

2009-06-28T20:02:00.001-04:00

Well, here's another free verse poem I wrote today.

It's a rainy time,
Now there's a Rainbow in the sky.

Everyone sees it,
But nobody stops to think of what it means.

It's more than an effect of colors and light;
It's a promise from the everlasting God.

A promise from the one and only God that no man can see;
That's what a Rainbow means.

-Dominic

New Facts

2009-06-27T11:57:00.000-04:00

Well, everybody, just wanted to let you know that I posted new facts in the Facts About Us section of the sidebar...

-Dominic

FRIENDS

2009-06-26T09:12:00.001-04:00

Well, this is a photo from Day 5 of the production of BROS that I Photoshopped yesterday. I sent it to Ty and Christy, and Ty posted it on his blog, so I figured I would, too.

This shot was taken while we were shooting our cameo. Probably my favorite cameo I've ever done, 'cause I got to do it with two of my best friends!

What an awesome day. I think that was my favorite day of production.

-Dominic

P.S. If you're interested, I have a walk through of how I did this image over on my photo blog.

Superglue

2009-06-13T22:04:00.000-04:00

Well, tonight I went into the garage to superglue the mic back onto some headphones that had broken...the video will tell you what happened after I tried to glue it...

It's a very weird feeling being stuck to something against your will...kinda creepy...

After this video, I went back down to the garage with my Dad 'cause he was gonna help me get unstuck...on the way down the stairs I was able to one of my fingers free and it didn't even take any skin off! My other finger was still stuck very good, though...My Dad got a razor blade so we could slowly cut the glue off...well, it didn't work out like we planned and I kinda got a small cut from the razor blade, BUT my finger was freed moments after that...

Anyway, I'm sure you feel like a better person after reading/watching this...

Thanks for visiting!

-anth-

New Item on Side Bar

2009-06-12T18:55:00.000-04:00

Hey, I just wanted to let everyone know about the new item on the side bar of this blog. I've added a section with my favorite quotes from my friends. Check it out! ---------->

-Dominic

No More Trade Show

2009-06-11T17:20:00.001-04:00

I just wanted to make sure I let everybody know that I no longer recommend the PDN Photographers' Virtual Trade Show. I was on it again today, and there have been several inappropriate photos and/or videos in the presentations. So, I apologize for my earlier post about it. I did not mean to cause anyone to stumble if I did so because of my recommendation of the trade show. I am very disappointed in it this time, and I won't be getting back on.

Thanks and God bless!

-Dominic

Some Recent Cool Things

2009-05-26T16:31:00.000-04:00

Well, in the last few days some cool things have happened to me. I was asked by a friend who just recently opened a business (www.abellarose.com), to teach her how to use her server and website. So, I decided to put together an outline for what I wanted to go over, and the lesson went pretty well! I was able to complete the lesson plan, and go over everything I wanted to, so it was nice. We ran into some server trouble at the end, but it looks like it's fixed now...

Last week I was playing my guitar, and one of my stings snapped! It hurt a little because my hands were still on the guitar when the string broke, so it kinda whacked a couple of my fingers. Anyways, Dad took me down to Pecknel Music Company, and we got it restrung. We also got a new string for my electric guitar, which I broke a string on while trying my hand at ear-tuning...Obviously I'm not real good at ear-tuning! So, after the guys at Pecknel strung up my guitars, they asked if I wanted to hook 'em up to a Fender amp to see what they sounded like. Of course I did! Since, my main guitar is an acoustic/electric, I was very curious to hear what it sounded like on an amp; and I was pretty impressed. The amp's sound quality was very good with both guitars. So, that was neat and the guys were really nice.

The last thing I want to include in this post is about photography. There are these things called snoots. A snoot is a tube like thingy that you hook to your flash to control the pattern of your light. You can make a small spot of light, or a larger spot, and add some really neat effects to your images that way. I looked them up on B&H and was quite disappointed in the cost of buying a snoot. So, I decided to see what I could find here at home that would work. I am currently using a piece of black cardstock rolled up into a tube as my snoot. It really works pretty well, and I'd really recommend doing it if you need a snoot effect. You can see a sample of my snoot in use over at my Photo Blog. Let me know what you think!

BTW, this will probably be the last post on here for a few weeks because we'll be shooting and working on BROS! So, even though not much will be going on around here, head on over to the BROS Blog, and follow the production. And be sure to check out the BlockOne Flikr stream that we hope to be updating daily with production photos!

-Dominic

New YouTube Channel Design

2009-05-25T23:07:00.000-04:00

Hey! I just wanted to let all you fellow YouTubers out there know about the new Beta channel design out there. You just go to Account >Edit Channel, and you'll be able to select the new Beta design. It's pretty sweet. You can see, I already updated our us4HIM channel, and Creation, Evolution, and Science Ministries' channel.

It's pretty cool!

-Dominic

Aaahhh!

2009-05-25T20:02:00.000-04:00

Wow, I am so excited for BROS! I call this being uber psyched! It's a state of total euphoria when thinking of an exciting event within three days of the writing. Yeah, I came up with that all on my own. ;-)

-Dominic

The Squire and the Scroll Teaser

2009-05-23T18:46:00.000-04:00

Well, Zeke's been at it again! He read a book called The Squire and the Scroll, and liked it so much he decided to do an animated film based off of the same story. Recently he and I have been working on a teaser for it, and here it is!

I'm amazed at what he can accomplish in Blender...

-Dominic

I Did it Again

2009-05-22T13:15:00.000-04:00

So, I wrote another poem. I don't know why. It just came to me. It's free verse and not real impressive, but I thought I'd post it on here anyways.

THE WEATHER POEM – BASED ON MY INTERPRETATION OF THE WEATHER ON MAY 19TH, 2009.

By Dominic DiMaria

The Weather outside is familiar.
Though it reminds me of something I cannot recall.
Something I recognize, yet cannot realize.
It’s cloudy, the air is crisp.
There is a soft breeze in the air.

Yet, I cannot remember the mysterious but mundane smell.
The smell is in the air.
A delightful odor…It calls to my memory,
But, I still cannot recall
Where the beautiful fragrance comes from;
The place and time that I smelled it before.

-Dominic

PDN Photographers' Virtual Trade Show

2009-05-21T11:35:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! I wanted to let everyone know about the PDN Photographer's Virtual Trade Show. It's a virtual enviroment where one can visit booths from prominent businesses such as B&H, Adorama, Canon, DriveSavers, etc.

It's a really neat place. You can chat with other photographers, attend virtual presentations, and download useful documents. Today is the first event, and there will be another one on June 11th.

Hope to see you there! (either today or June 11th)

-Dominic

Skype Chat

2009-05-20T17:40:00.000-04:00

The following is a fairly typical Skype conversation between Anth and I. He was making a comment about my little status message which was "Oh darn, I broke a guitar string...":

Anthony DiMaria: poor you
Dominic DiMaria: referring to my satus?
Anthony DiMaria: si
Dominic DiMaria: yeah, tell me about it
Anthony DiMaria: oh, well, what can you do now?
Dominic DiMaria: get a new string
Anthony DiMaria: yep

Seems a bit random, but Anth and I seem to have some random Skype conversations...The weirdest thing is that we're only about 10 feet away from each other when we Skype. That's why our conversations are usually pretty short...

-D

The Secret Project wink

2009-05-16T15:01:00.000-04:00

Happy 19th b-day, Geno! As you know, I've been working on a secret project *wink* for this day. I'm now unveiling it for you! I hope you enjoy it. Take a look!

And, thank you, everyone who did a video for this. You helped make this project work, and make Geno's b-day special.

-Dominic

P.S. For anyone who would like to download this video, here is the link to download it from our server. Direct Link: http://us4him.com/mediauploads/Geno19.mpg

Man, I forgot the hosting company changed my FTP password, so it took me a while to get in the server! :-)

P.P.S. The Ower's also wanted to say Happy B-day!

Well, I Didn't Get the Job

2009-05-15T16:50:00.000-04:00

Well, as the title of this post implies, I did not get the video internship position down where Dad works. But, I'm okay with it because 1, we knew it was a long shot, and 2, now I can focus all my attention on finishing up school next week, working on Bros, hopefully doing driver's ed over the summer, and also doing some CLEP tests this coming school year.

So, in some ways it's good that I didn't get it. I know that if God wanted me to get it, I would've got it. That's obviously not the case, so I'm gonna focus on other stuff for now.

Anybody need a website?

-Dominic

P.S. I'm considering doing a blog redesign here soon...I'll post a poll on the side to see if anybody wants one...If anybody even reads this. =P

I'm a Mac...

2009-05-13T21:52:00.000-04:00

Well, I've been saving up for a laptop for a while. I figured I would get a nice Dell or something because I didn't think there was any difference between Mac's and PC's besides the fact that Macs are more expensive. But once Geno got his MacBook Pro and let me use it, I realized why Macs were more expensive. They are soooo much faster than PC's and it's easier to use the operating system on them.

I decided I was going to keep saving for a Mac even though it would take about double the time. Well, I was looking on craigslist every day for a new deal and, finally, about 1 and 1/2 weeks ago, an amazing deal came along. There was a MacBook Unibody that was only 60 days old that came with iLife '09 (obviously), iWork '09, a carrying case, VMWare Fusion so I can now run Windows on my Mac, and MobileMe, all for a really cheap price.

My dad, Dominic, and I went to meet the man and all the disks were there and everything was in great condition so, I bought it!

-Anth

Mother's Day

2009-05-10T14:05:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms I know! (especially my dearest mother ;-)

-Dominic

Today is Weird

2009-05-08T12:53:00.001-04:00

Today is weird. It's hot outside, yet the wind is blowing, yet the breeze is not cooling the temperature at all. It's cloudy, but not raining, though it looks like it might here soon.

And it smells like roses outside...

-Dominic

The Hunt for Gollum

2009-05-05T15:17:00.000-04:00

Well, a few days ago Geno found out about this LOTR fan film called The Hunt for Gollum. I viewed the trailers, and though "Hey, this looks like it might be cool!" The very next day I went to the site again, and realized "It comes out today! In HD! For FREE! Cool..."

So, we hooked up Geno's MacBook Pro to our TV and sat back to watch it.

It wasn't the greatest film of all time. The story was a little weak, and it dragged at times, but for a fan film I thought it was awesome. It was like the LOTR fan film I always wanted to make. The acting was good, the landscape visual effects were good (the close-ups weren't bad, but they weren't great), the orcs' prosthetics were decent, and it was a cool filler for the LOTR story.

The battles were actually quite a bit bloodier than in the real films...at least from the orc side (no good guys get hurt, just the bad guys). I don't think it was necessary, and it actually took away from the LOTR feel because of that. Some of the shots were just plain nasty, honestly. And the orcs were a bit creepier than in the real films...

Now, little disclaimer here, I won't recommend or discourage this film. I know that no matter what I think, someone will always disagree in some way; so I don't really recommend or discourage most of the films that I watch. 

All in all, I think The Hunt for Gollum is a worthy fan film with some awesome visual effects (and some just okay ones), that most LOTR fans will enjoy!

-Dominic

Well,

2009-04-22T08:37:00.001-04:00

Our cat just had kittens...

-Dominic

A Thought on Darwinian Evolution

2009-04-21T20:49:00.000-04:00

Theory: A hypothesis that has passed multiple controlled experiments, and has the support of other scientists.

Just a quick thought here: for a hypothesis to become a theory, it must qualify to what the above states. Although it does have the support o many scientists today, Darwinian evolution has never passed any experiments whatsoever...so, technically, it's not even a "theory", just a hypothesis...

Right?

-Dominic

Some Photoshop Stuff

2009-04-21T11:01:00.001-04:00

Recently I've been trying to learn Photoshop. I've done some tutorials and one of the ones I did recently turned out really well. The tutorial showed me how to make my picture look like a magazine cover or something. It wasn't very hard and, like I said before, turned out looking pretty cool. Obviously I can't take any of the credit because I just followed the steps of the tutorial.

Here's the orginal:

And here it is after I messed with it in photoshop:

Here's another version of it:

Let me know what you think!

-anth-

Hilarious Clip From the Archives

2009-04-16T16:56:00.000-04:00

Several months ago, Geno and I choreographed a somewhat lame, but kinda cool fight. We had Anth film it. HERE is a hilarious clip from one of the steps in the battle. Or you can watch it below, but the compression stinketh on Blogger.

-Dominic

Another Visit!

2009-04-10T16:12:00.000-04:00

Hey!

A couple days ago, the Stembridge's paid us another visit. What a great time we had!

Since Dad was in Seattle for work, and we are on Spring Break, we decided to make a really fun short film, take photos, joke around, play a vicious game of airsoft, and just have a fun time.

We figured we'd make the upside down photos our visit trade mark, so here they are! (along with some others, as well)

We made the first official Block One Studios (our Stembridge-DiMaria production company) film:

And, for those of you who read my photo blog, here are a couple pics using my new speedlight:

(Dad came home the last night they were here)

And, the first shipment for our next film project arrived yesterday! It's getting exciting!

I may be able to post more pictures later or upon requeset, but that's all for now, folks!

I'll hopefully be able to link to the video we made soon, too!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

Does This Take Your Breath Away?

2009-04-06T18:56:00.001-04:00

(note: there is one "h" word in the video.)

The Last Year

2009-04-02T16:42:00.000-04:00

Wow...

That's all I have to say. The last year has absolutely flown by. A lot has happened. So, here is what I'm gonna do: I'm gonna list everything I can think of that happened within the last year!

(Anything I forget I'll just add to a new post)

Hunting season went fairly well. We got around 6 deer I think. We had a really good time, too. The funnest hunting trip was The Grand Hunting Adventure Story but the rest of it was fun, too.

Geno got a great job at Sears (which he still has). He's pretty happy there, and he's got great employers.

I participated in a 9-month internship at a local computer store. I learned a ton. Gary, my boss, is a great guy, and a great instructor. I know a ton more than I did when I started. It was a great experience.

We went to Illinois to help make a film with Chad Stembridge. What a blast! Had a great time, and really enjoyed meeting and working with everyone.

My dad developed what we call the 'Gene Grueling Exercise Plan.' Pretty self-explanatory. It's a great fitness program that we do 5 days a week, and it hurts...but it works really well!

I've had the opportunity to go to work with Dad and do a bunch of filming and editing for them. It's been a lot of fun, and I've even applied for a job there as the video guy over the summer. I hope it works out! I'll probably post on here if I get it.

Geno got a MacBook Pro. It rocks. Plain and simple. Now, let me clear something up: it's a common misconception that I'm a "Windows-Only Guy". I'm not. Whatever's better for you and the project you're doing. Personally, I want a Mac because of the power, the speed, and the fact that it can run Windows XP.

Anth got tall. Yeah, he did. He hasn't caught me yet, but he did grow quite a bit. Don't get me wrong, I can still pound him, but he is substantially bonier and more painful to fight now.

Geno is now the shortest of "The Guys." I passed him up a while ago, and Anth did not too long ago. Poor guy. But Geno does have superior intellect when it comes to most things...

I've been working on the RUSS ONLINE video series with Russ Miller of Creation, Evolution, and Science Ministries. It's been a good opportunity to get the truth out!

Zeke and John have both grown like 6 inches, no kidding. They are getting tall and really good at Blender 3D. And they love Narnia, Star Wars, Ice Age, and anything made in Blender.

We got a cat! Yeah, I'm trying not to get too attached to her because we live near a busy road, but she is one of the best cats we've ever had. And...she's pregnant! But we're not keeping the kittens. They're cute, but can't stay. Anyone want one?

I've made several additions to my photo equipment, both tangible and mental. I'm just trying to learn all I can. My next planned addition to the equipment is really exciting, but I'm not gonna tell you what it is 'til I get (which hopefully will be very soon). At that time, I will make a post.

We had a great trip to Ohio a couple months ago. We had a really nice time with everyone on Grandma's 80th b-day!

Our team, the Steelers (the best team in football) won the Super Bowl! And James Harrison (the best defensive player in football) did great!

We migrated our us4HIM blog from the website to http://www.us4him.blogspot.com/.

I've started the great journey of looking for a car. I'm shopping for a Jeep Wrangler, or a Subaru Forester. Preferably the Jeep. Dad and I test drove several last summer and fall, and we were dealing for one, but the guy just wouldn't come down far enough. So, we're just gonna wait for the perfect one.

We all had birthdays in the last year. Duh. :p

We made a film for a local competition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jSGJcp7TIU

I've really learned a lot about web design, and I've experimented with a bunch of different kinds of websites. My latest project is hopefully gonna launch within a couple months. http://www.shop.us4him.com/ is the project, and I'm hoping to have some cool things going on with it!

Anth is shopping for a MacBook now. He found one that we may be taking a look at here soon. It's used, but so was Geno's and it's worked out fine. I hope it works out for him.

We went to the Apple Store! It was cool. I messed with the iPods and the iPhone, not to mention the Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, MacBook, and I can't remember about the MacBook Air. I think I messed with it a little...Anyways, the iPods were really nice. If I didn't have more important things to get right now, I'd buy one!

The Vision and Family Court have both been selected for film festivals!

The Vision is on IMDb!

And the last thing for now: we're making a new movie! Yep, our fourth real project. We're hoping to shoot in late May - Early June, but October is also an option right now. I'll update as we go. We're actually starting to purchase our equipment for the film today!

That's all for now!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

Zeke's Project

2009-03-06T11:59:00.000-05:00

Okay, Zeke has been working on a big movie project in Blender 3D, and when he showed me these two shots from it today, I had to post them on here.

Yes, that is a fire-breathing dragon flying in the sky with a full moon behind him. And, yes, this was created by a 12-year old Blender Head.

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

A (Strange) Super Bowl Story

2009-02-24T13:11:00.001-05:00

After watching my all-time favorite Steelers beat my NFC favorite Cardinals (I used to live in AZ, and watch them during training camp) in the best Super Bowl of all time, I decided to wear my Steeler garb for the rest of the week, and, surprisingly, I was actually allowed!

At the end of that wonderful week (during which I continually made sure I was emitting no ill aromas) I had my mom take some photos of me in the gridiron garb.

Today, I followed a really awesome tutorial and created the following from one of the photos taken.

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

The New RUSS ONLINE Video Series

2009-02-09T11:46:00.001-05:00

In the past year, I've had the privilege of working on several projects with an old friend, Russ Miller. Several years ago, Russ started a Creation ministry called Creation, Evolution, and Science Ministries.

Our latest project together is the RUSS ONLINE VIDEO SERIES. This series takes excerpts from Russ's DVD's and presents powerful facts for Creation. Today is the launch, so there will be five videos online today, and then a new one will be posted every Monday, so check back!

We are trying to get the word of Creation out this week because of Darwin's 200th birthday coming up on the 12th. So, help us get the word out! Post this everywhere you know! We are on

YouTube - http://youtube.com/creationministries,
GodTube(Tangle)-http://godtube.com/creationministries, and
Vimeo-http://vimeo.com/user1226060

You can also go to http://www.creationministries.org/ and go to the RUSS ONLINE page! Thanks and God bless!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

What?!

2009-02-04T12:11:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it! It was snowing again!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

BTW, because the awesome Steeler victory on Sunday, I'm wearing my Steeler shirt all week long!

Champions!!!

2009-02-01T22:09:00.000-05:00

The Steelers are the champions!!!

James Harrison!

2009-02-01T19:56:00.001-05:00

Wow, did you see that record-setting pick-off return by James Harrison?! AWESOME!!!

Go Steelers!

2009-02-01T18:22:00.001-05:00

Yeah, go Steelers! I can't believe this is the second time in four years they've made it to the Super Bowl, but I'm so excited! The game starts in less than ten minutes...

I'm from AZ, so I like the Cardinals, but the Steelers are much for important to me than the Cardinals, so...GO STEELERS!!!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

Can You Believe It?

2009-01-20T10:53:00.000-05:00

Neither can I! It's snowing in South Carolina!

...Of course, it's melting as soon as it hits the ground and you can barely see it coming down, but still, this is the first time I've seen snow at my house since we moved about 3 1/2 years ago!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

Trip Overview

2009-01-15T15:31:00.000-05:00

Well, we've been home since Monday night now, and let me just say that we had a great trip! It was great being there for Grandma's birthday which, in her words, "was more than I ever could have dreamed." It was also great seeing everyone up there. Hope everyone's doing okay!

So, here's an overview of our trip:

Wednesday

We left at like 6:30 in the morning (of course, we were supposed to leave at 5:30, but you know how that goes...) and arrived around 5:45 at Grandma's house. As we pulled up to Grandma's house, Dad pressed the break and we slowly slid down the road because of the snow that had hit that day. Dad said that was fine because he had to back in anyways...After we unpacked the car and ate a wonderful dinner that Grandma had for us, we went outside for some snow pictures, one of which Geno put on his FaceBook the next day.

Thursday

We awoke to find the ground blanketed with snow. Geno, Anth, and I arose somewhat late because of a semi-late night we had had the night before...Okay, like 1:00 AM, but that's beside the point! The day was pretty good, but we didn't do much. Anth, Zeke, and John played in the snow for a while, and Geno and I stayed in and did...well, pretty much nothing. Anyways, we went to Sears for Geno to "inspect"...and to get Grandma a new snow shovel; so we got her a back-saving one and Dad tested it on Grandma's driveway. That night we went to Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Tim's house for a Pizza Oven dinner. If you're from Canton, chances are you've had Pizza Oven pizza before. It is awesome...but not quite as awesome as DiCarlo's in Steubenville (sorry, I couldn't resist =P). So, we had a good time with everyone. Cousin Andrew was there too, so we talked technology a little; anything from Computers and game systems, to cameras and cars. Also, Aunt Janice (Grandma's sister) was there waiting to reveal her presence to Grandma until the next day for a nice b-day surprise. So, we had a good time visiting with her, too. While we there Aunt Jennifer, Aunt Janice and Mom all looked through a bunch of pictures for me to add to Grandma's b-day digital picture frame that I was preparing to unveil at her party. So, then we went back to Grandma's house and watched the tube for a while, then went to bed. And, yes, Grandma still has the TUBE...

Friday

This was the actual day of Grandma's b-day, but the party was scheduled for Saturday, and eventually rescheduled for Sunday because of bad roads. Friday was really fun, because that was the day that Aunt Janice was surprising Grandma. Aunt Barb and Uncle Don came to pick her up for lunch. Now, the story, as related to me, is as follows: Upon their arrival at the restaurant Aunt Barb, Uncle Don, and Grandma all sat down at a booth. Meanwhile in another part of town Mom and Aunt Jennifer were bringing Aunt Janice to the same restaurant for the big surprise. We made sure to give Mom Anth's camera so she could photograph the moment. The three walked in while Grandma was looking at pictures on Aunt Barb's camera (a clever distraction technique). Aunt Janice walked up to Grandma and said, "You know I don't like sitting in a booth." Grandma paused and looked up. It took her a minute, and then she burst into tears of joy upon recognizing her sister. While this was occurring, Dad and I were making our quest a few miles up the road to the mechanic to pick up the car. We had a nice walk, and after we picked up the car we went to Fisher's to get some coffee. Their coffee bar was closed, so we went to McDonald's. Surprisingly, their coffee is really good, and cheap comparatively speaking. But on the way home we heard a tumble in the back of the car. Can you guess what it was? You're right, our five gallon water bottle had toppled over and spilled about four of it's gallons out in the back of the car. So, Dad and I returned home to let the guys know we were gonna go look for a car wash where we could vacuum out the water. We couldn't find one, so we came back and used and entire roll of paper towels trying to soak it all up. Not enough. Just then Grandma and Aunt Janice got back and Grandma gave us a bunch of old towels to use. They worked pretty good, but still didn't dry everything out. The rest of the day was pretty laid back. Grandma got a bunch of her mittens out of the closet for us to use in the snow. One of which was a giant pair of mittens that basically looked like...sheep. They were warm, though! That evening Aunt Paula and Cousin Maggie came over to say 'hey' and covertly give me some more pics to put on Grandma's frame, too.

Saturday

We had to reschedule Grandma's party for Sunday, so we had this day kinda free. Dad was "testing" the shovel some more and eventually had Zeke and Anth run further diagnostics on the new device. After that, Geno and I joined the rest of the guys outside. Mom and Dad left to go...I don't know, somewhere. We took advantage of Grandma's sloped yard and started sledding. Then we took a break and helped a lady shovel her driveway. I don't know her name, but I know she needs prayer for her husband and son who have both had some medical issues lately. Guess what. Those sheep gloves I was talking about work, but it's virtually impossible to shovel snow in those things. You literally cannot swivel your wrist to flip the shovel over for the snow to fall out. Eventually Geno and Anth came to help me finish the lady's driveway, and after that we started sledding again. Now, we're guys, and being such you know we can't just accept sledding down a hill. We have to create things that allow us to be reckless! So, we built a jump. It was a nice jump, but not big enough. We had to knock it down and move it to a better spot at one point, too. Then, once our bodies were semi-battered from sledding we came inside to get cleaned up. That night a bunch of people came over for dinner. Andrew brought a Wii with him, and we had fun with that. We played all of the Wii sports games. It was hilarious watching Anth and Maggie duke it out in boxing. I though Maggie was gonna win, but Anth actually came out victorious. We also enjoyed seeing our NFC team, the Arizona Cardinals, crush the Panthers! What a cool game.

Sunday

BTW, this whole time we were keeping tabs on what was going on in the SAICFF. Geno was on Facebook a bunch checking up on things(congrats to HeuMoore on winning Best of Festival!). So, anyways, Grandma went to church and Aunt Jennifer, Aunt Paula, Cousin Katie, and Cousin Maggie all came over to help prepare for the party. Once everything was set, people started showing up for the party. Aunt Kay brought her pictures to put on Grandma's frame, so I scanned those up real quick and got them loaded on the frame. BTW, digital frames now have USB 2.0 compatibility so you can plug a flash drive into them now! So, that's what we did. Anyways, everyone showed up. We had a great time. The food was delicious. It was also cool because Dad's sister and her husband (Aunt Karen and Uncle Kurt) also live around and hour from Grandma, so they came up, too. It was nice being able to see them! That night after most of the people had left, we just kinda hung out with Maggie, which is always fun. We really enjoyed watching the Steelers smack the Chargers. That was great. I can't wait 'til we play the Ravens! So, anyways we did a few crazy things like a push-up contest and stuff. Oh yeah, since we were going to be in the car the next day(which was Zeke's b-day), we celebrated Zeke's b-day that night. He got a lightsaber kit and a lego technic thing, and a DVD game. So, that was cool. Maggie helped Zeke put it together, and I have to admit, it's a pretty nifty little thing!

Monday

So, we got up early in the morning to get packed and get going! Here's something funny: Snoopy would not go in the snow all week long, then the last morning we were there she all the sudden starts literally bouncing through the snow! She was just hopping making a little path for herself. So, she was all wet by the time she was done. Once we got everything packed we realized that, well, we didn't have everything packed, so we took everything out and had to fit it back in a different way. We drove for a while, and then stopped for a break and a nice big meal at Bob Evans. I had their new Western Boburrito, which was fantastic! Geno had his favorite, crepes. I think John and Anth both had the Meat-Lover's Boburrito. Mom had some kind of sandwich that looked good. Dad had...I think a Meat-Lover's Boburrito. And, since it was Zeke's b-day, he got a big ol' plate of pulled pork on mashed potatoes. Also, they had a new caramel mocha (with free refills) that I just had to try, so I ordered one. Before we left, Mom and Dad both had ordered one and as I was about to ask for a refill, Mom told the waitress we were all good and I didn't get a chance. But then she came back and I ended up getting my refill in a travel cup for the car. That mocha was really good. I told Anth I'd share the refill with him, but he took like two sips, and I had the rest; but since it was only like half coffee, it didn't affect me like the time I had four espresso shots...So, we got back on the road and, with only like one more stop, we made it home. When we started unpacking, we realized that the water that had been spilled in the back had really just been frozen and wasn't really dry, so the things on the bottom were all wet. We got everything in and had dinner, then went to bed.

Summary

So, overall, I had a great trip! I thought it was really fun seeing everyone and I hope to see everybody again soon! Hopefully we'll have some visitors down here this Spring!

A Trip to Ohio

2009-01-09T17:57:00.000-05:00

Well, we've now been in Ohio for a couple days. We've had a pretty good time so far. Today we had to get the car tuned up, and mom was out with some of her family members, so dad and I walked a couple miles in the snow to the mechanic to pick up the car. Even though it was like 20 degrees it was still nice. I love the cold and the snow, so it was cool...pardon the pun.

So, anyways, this is just a quick little update to say hi and let everyone know what we're doin'!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

The Grand Hunting Adventure Story - Part 2

2009-01-04T10:25:00.000-05:00

Wow, I can't believe it's already 2009...

Anyways, yes, it's finally here! The Grand Hunting Adventure Story - Part 2! Hope you enjoy. I think there will only be one or two more parts after this one.

Okay, after that we had around an hour in the stand before sun rise, so we sat
in our respective stands just waiting for the light. Then it came! And with it
came...the rain. Yeah, rain...So, not knowing what the rain would do, I just
sorta sat there and tried to keep a little bit dry. After about a half hour of
continuously worse rain Phil came out and called up to me to go ahead and get
down because the deer wouldn’t be moving in the rain anyways. We were
soaked...so we called the others saying we were out and we then went and met at
the church.

After our rendezvous at the
church we decided that we should go take a look where we had hit that buck
earlier and see if we could find a blood trail or something. So we went to the
collision location and found...nothing. The rain had washed all the blood away.
We went to the spot where we thought it ran, but thought it best to turn back
because it was on someone else’s hunting land and we didn’t want to interrupt
their hunt.

So, next thing: Dad, Phil, and
I then headed back to the property where Phil and I had been earlier and
searched around the property looking for somewhere to put a new stand. We went
back by the swamp area and decided to set up a new stand there. Well, the
building began. We went back out to the truck, got the parts out of the box and
did what we could to keep them out of the mud. It’s kinda tough building a deer
stand in the woods with nowhere to set the tools and the parts, and the
directions seemed like they were translated into English by someone who didn’t
even know English. Yeah, they were that bad. So, we finally finished building
the stand and then took it back to the place we had designated and set it up. It
was tough putting it together, but we had a lot of fun, and there were a lot of
funny jokes going around while we did it, so we had a good time.

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

P.S. I know I said that Thanksgiving was next, but then I realized that I have no pictures from Thanksgiving or our annual Turkey Bowl football game, so I decided not to do a post...

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T00:23:00.001-05:00

Well, it's 12:22 and I just wanted to say Happy New Year to everyone! Hope you all have a great 2009!

I can't believe it's already 2009, though...Weird...

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

Birthday Pictures

2008-12-05T16:31:00.001-05:00

Well, let me start by giving a brief run down of our birthdays.

On Anth's b-day we got up, opened the gifts, ate breakfast, then got all suited up to go to Frankie's Fun Park. We drove the cars for a little while, which was pretty fun, except I got like the slowest car in the history of...well, history. Then we played Miniature Golf/Put-Put for a little while. Well, actually 18 holes. Then we went home. Geno had to work, so that's where he went and we just kinda hung out.

For my birthday, we got up and opened gifts, then got ready for the day and just kinda hung out. It was mucky outside so we didn't really do anything outside. We watched the Steelers smash the Patriots, which was fun...REALLY fun. So...

Yes, the pictures are here!

First, Anth's 14th b-day pictures:

Two of his gifts were these two hats. The yellow one is the casually one and the black one is what we call the "Gameday Hat" because it's to wear on, well, gameday.

The Steelers logo forever immortalized on a cake. It was really good...Way to go, Mom!

He got the monstrous piece of his dreams...I'm happy for him.

Now, on to my 16th:

I'm just a'looking at my Turtle Cake.

My spiderman candle has been on my cake two years in a row. When he's not on my cake he's on my dresser just hangin' out. Nevermind the kinda weird face I have on there...

I decided to take a First-Person photo of all my meals on my birthday. This is my desert which consisted of Turtle Cake and Ice Cream...It was good.

Now, trust me, I have many more, but these are the main ones. Hope you enjoyed!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

P.S. Up next: Thanksgiving and...The Turkey Bowl!!!

Birthdays!

2008-12-01T11:56:00.001-05:00

Greetings! I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! I just wanted to say that I have pictures from mine and Anth's birthdays that I hope to post on here this week, so keep your eyes open!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

P.S. Oh yeah, the us4HIM store is now online!

The Vision Site Update

2008-11-23T17:32:00.000-05:00

Hey, Dominic here! I just wanted to let everyone know that I finished all that I currently can on the new The Vision site! It turned out much better than I thought it would. Go check it out!

I only have a few more things I need to add to it, and those are kinda up in the air until we get a few things worked out, so anyways...

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

The Grand Hunting Adventure Story - Part 1

2008-11-20T16:53:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's finally here! The Grand Hunting Adventure Story! I've only had time to type out the first part of the day, so here's part 1!

Well, where do I begin? That day was so exciting and interesting. Full of
“firsts” one might say. I guess I’ll begin at, um, the beginning...

It
was early in the morning. Around 4:30 AM. I woke up to the sound of, well, my
dad waking up. We both awoke; let me put it that way. I gathered my hunting garb
and took to the showers.

When I got out I did not have my glasses on,
but I saw a little dark spot on the bathroom floor. Well, we have a Marbley tile
floor, so I thought it was just another part of the tile. It wasn’t. Can you
guess what it was? You’re right, it was a frog.

I noticed that he, in
his effort to escape, continuously jumped into the door instead of simply
walking through the 2 inch gap at the bottom.

Well, I figured I needed
to get him out, but I had my hands full. So here’s what I did: I gathered my
things, scared the frog (I’ll call him Murphy) into a corner, then got out and
closed the door since I knew Murphy would not go under it. So, I got totally
ready to go, then went in and trapped him with Kleenex. Next, I tossed him out
the door, and that was the end of the first “first” of the day.

So, on
to the next adventure.

In the driveway we met up with Tommy and Phil,
two of our hunting buddies. On the hour-long drive up to the hunting grounds, we
decided, since I was hunting where Phil was hunting and Dad was hunting where
Tommy was, that we would just switch vehicles. In the Suburban was Phil and I,
and in Tommy’s truck was Dad and Tommy.

On our way to the hunting
grounds, we noticed a big buck on the side of the road. Now, you must understand
that, since it was in the rut, the bucks were kinda crazy and not thinking. So
Phil decided to slow down and let the big boy cross the road safely. He didn’t
cross, so Phil sped up...So did the deer. We were almost clear of him when he
ran out onto the road and smacked into the back of the car.

Solemnly we
pulled over, expecting to find the back end of the car smashed in. We got out
and, to our surprise, the only evidence of the encounter was a 2-inch dent in
the side of the car and a puddle of blood on the road. No, there was no dead
deer. According to Dad and Tommy, who were directly behind us, the deer had hit
the Suburban, flipped over, then got up and ran away.

So, after that, we
got back in the car and drove to our property, but not before having another
close encounter with the crazed-buck kind. A smaller buck standing in the middle
of the road, most likely chasing a doe; except this time, we didn’t hit him, he
just kinda ran into the woods before we got to him.

So, there's part 1! Hope you enjoyed it because who knows when I'll have time to write the rest! I've been really busy lately...

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

The OTHER Pictures

2008-11-14T16:35:00.000-05:00

Okay, well, I promised to post some more pictures that would make you laugh, so...Here they are! We took these at around 11:00 the night before Chad and Ty had to leave, so we were all kind of, well um, silly shall we say...But it made for some great pictures!

I was thinking about having a caption contest for some of these, but then I remembered that there are like three people total who read this blog, so I decided just to leave them like this...

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

Surprise Visit

2008-11-13T16:22:00.000-05:00

This weekend we had a surprise visit from our good friends, the Stembridge's! I noticed on Saturday that mom, dad, and Geno were all acting a little weird, so I knew something was going on, but I wasn't sure what. Saturday night came, and I found out. Chad, Tyler, and Mr. Stembridge had been in Georgia and made a trip up to visit!

We really had a great time with them. On Sunday we watched a really good sermon by Paul Washer, then went down to Patriots Point in Mt. Pleasant to see the Yorktown aircraft carrier.

This one could use a little work, but that's Yorktown.

On the pier, walking to the Yorktown. That is the Arthur Ravenell Jr. Bridge.

Here's a photo of the Clamagore, which we toured later in the day.

This is a photo of an escape hatch in the Yorktown.

A good ol' regular hatch in the Yorktown.

TO SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THE YORKTOWN, CLICK THIS LINK TO MY PHOTO BLOG, OR THE LINK ON THE SIDEBAR.

Chad even brought a DVD with the Final Cut of Precious Treasure, Shell Bluff, and the BTS of Precious Treasure; so we had a private premiere of PT, SB, and our newest film, Family Court! It was really great, and the BTS was really cool to see.

All in all, it was a great visit; we really enjoyed it!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

P.S. BTW, the story I promised is coming soon. I've started writing it and I'm about 1/3 done, so just be a little more patient with me, and I'll get it up here soon.

Also, more pictures will be coming soon of us the night before they left. I think they'll have you laughin' pretty good!

Hmm...

2008-11-08T17:03:00.000-05:00

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

P.S. I'm sorry, I still have not had an opportunity to write out the grand hunting adventure story, but I'm planning on doing it this week...

I'm Sorry

2008-10-31T18:33:00.000-04:00

Yes, I know I promised a new story soon, but I haven't and may not have time to write the whole thing out for a while.

So, in the mean time, here is a list of interesting things that happened this week:

1: Geno and I accidentally ate some moldy buns for lunch.

2: Our computer got viciously attacked by a virus yesterday and I had to wrestle it to the ground and I'm still not sure that I got the whole thing yet. In all seriousness, please pray that it is gone and it has/will cause no damage to Windows.

3: Today I drank a fully caffeinated mocha and I've been jittering all afternoon. I guess there's no one to blame but myself considering I made it...

Here's one random fact for you to ponder, as well:

There seems to be a misconception going around that no one writes viruses for Macs. Oh, contrare, mi amigo! There are viruses for Macs, but people don't get them as often because the majority of the world have PC's. So, sorry Mac people, but there are viruses for Mac.

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

It's Coming...

2008-10-22T13:15:00.000-04:00

Yes, the new post is coming. I just need to find time to type up the exciting story; I'm a little busy right now...Soon, though!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

It's Time

2008-10-15T20:28:00.000-04:00

Yes, 'tis time for a new post...

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

My Advocate

2008-10-08T09:24:00.000-04:00

This is a poem I read in my Literature notebook just a few minutes ago, and I though it was very powerful. I hope you enjoy it!

My Advocate by Martha Snell Nocholson

I sinned. And straightway, post-haste, Satan flew
Before the presence of the most high God,
And made a railing accusation there.
He said, "This soul, this thing of caly and sod,
Has sinned. 'Tis true that he has named They name,
But I demand his death, for Thou hast said,
'The soould that sinneth, it shall die.' Shall not
Thy sentence be fulfilled? Is justice dead?
Send now this wretched sinner to his doom
Shat other thing can righteous ruler do?"
And thus he did accuse me day and night,
And every word he spoke, O God, was true!

The quickly One rose up from God's right hand,
Before Whose glory angels veiled their eyes.
He spoke, "Each jot and tittle of the law
Must be fulfilled; the guilty sinner dies!
But wait--suppose his guilt were all transferred
To Me and that I paid his penalty!
Behold My hands, My side My feet! One day
I was made sin for him, and died that he
Might be presented, faultless, at They throne!"
And Satan fled away. Full well he knew
That he could not prevail against such love,
For every word my dear Lord spoke was true!

In Christ,
Anth

My New Poem

2008-10-06T20:23:00.000-04:00

Yes, I, Dominic have written a brand new poem. And guess what...It's actually serious! Here it is:

The Darker, The Drearier, The More Precious Was She

On a dark road clinging to his side
From the vigorous elements she tries to
hide.
Family gone now, all but her brother,
With not a sister, nor father,
not even a mother.

With not a coat to keep her warm
In the dark
of night hope dost not swarm
For her and her brother all is but lost
And
yet another tormenter comes: the frost.

The darker, the drearier,
the more precious is she,
As she looks and says from she to he,
“The Cold,
the dark, the frost dost bite.”
And he replied, “Sister, Lord is with us, do
not fright.”

And so the days grew on with these two alone
With
not a meal, not a love, not but a grave moan.
Yet when He met yet another one
who grew he to love,
His young sister, now seventeen was left
aloof.

A young lady left all alone,
Flees from the freeze, but
hast no home
Where she might hide from the devilish cold,
But no, not for
her, young lady so bold.

She wanders again from her brother’s new
home.
Though, the cries that she should stay in her mind echo.
Yet, she is
looking for something, love in the distance,
She knows it is there, somewhere
beyond his assistance.

He loved her forever, but could not
persuade
This young lady from out of the cold to stay.
She must find what
she is looking for,
And, though she like to stay, must pass through his
door.

For three more years she wandered outcast,
Until she met
him who loved her so dear.
But this new man was not someone from down
here,
For he was the Lord who created this dear.

She found Him
in the streets of her old home town
Where a kind young man then gave her a
fresh gown.
She also grew to love him, and she returned to her
brother,
Where both wife and husband were brother and
kin.

AND ALL LIVED TOGETHER, HAPPY ‘TIL THE END.

What do you think? I'm thinking about making a few changes to it, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I got the idea in the car on a hunting trip last week; the line "The darker, the drearier, the more precious was she" just came into my mind and I knew I had to write a poem about it, so that's how this came about.

Yours Poetically Cheesey,

Dominic

P.S. BTW, Blogger messed up the formatting a little...Just FYI.

New Stuff

2008-09-25T09:17:00.001-04:00

Well, I've got a few quick things I'd like to post about. First, just a reminder that Fireproof opens this weekend! We'll probably be seeing it Saturday and at least one of us will probably find the time to write up a review here. If you can, I encourage you to go support it on opening weekend!

Secondly, Ron Paul, who our Family has found to be very conservative in his views, recently endorsed Chuck Baldwin, who is running with the Constitution Party. Baldwin may be the only candidate running that, at least from what I've seen thus far, truly embraces the values this Country was founded upon. Check out his site and videos and see what you think!

Also, we recently finished up a short film called Fire Drill! It was shot the day after wrapping production on Precious Treasure and we finally finished our cut of it (Chad did a quick cut of it also the day we shot it), so here it is:

Well, that's all for now!

Geno

Ehy

2008-09-22T12:48:00.000-04:00

Hey, I just wanted to let everyone know that I came up with a brand new word while e-mailing my dad today. Ya see, I mispelled Hey and it came out Ehy. So, that's my new word! You're free to use it as long as you give me the credit. Ya know, Creative Commons License...

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

P.S. You can pronounce it however you want.

More on Voddie

2008-09-13T17:55:00.000-04:00

I just saw this on Doug Phillips' blog and, considering the video in my prior post, thought it was worth linking to. So, here it is!

Very Interesting...

2008-09-12T15:59:00.000-04:00

I just now stumbled upon this article. Give it a read! I found it very interesting that (1), someone is actually standing up for creationism and (2), that Simon Underdown believes Creation "is not something that fits within the mainstream of science," and evolution does. Evolution itself is a religion just as Biblical Creationism. They are both BELIEFS, so how is evolution more scientific than creationism?

What do you think?

Dr. Voddie Baucham on Sarah Palin

2008-09-09T21:02:00.000-04:00

I just saw this video on John Moore's blog and thought it was well-worth posting here. In it, Dr. Voddie Bachaum addresses the biblical problems with having Sarah Palin on the Republican ticket. It's admirable how he stands up for the truth even when the two other people involved in the interview are opposed to what he is saying. Be sure to give it a look!

God bless!

Geno

Remembering Mr. Fikers

2008-08-27T21:57:00.000-04:00

Yes, it has already been a year since good ol' Mr. Fikers left us. It was a sad day August 27th 2007 when our buddy-for-years passed. Remember Mr. Fikers...

We love ya, Fikers!

Yet, strangely enough, exactly a year after Mr. Geekers passed this dude shows up out of nowhere...

He has a collar, but no tags, so we're not sure where he came from or if he's going anywhere...

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

2008-08-07T11:19:00.000-04:00

About two weeks ago we got a little Kitty!!!! Her name is...Kitty (pretty original, huh?); we call her a bunch of different names, though, such as, Tigress (from Kung Fu Panda), Kitty Mucher (From Hank the Cowdog), Lightning (that was her name before she was ours), and Jingle (because she has a bell on her collar)!!! We got her so that she would kill the moles that are in our yard.

Here are some Pictures of her!

Yeah, she sleeps a lot...

In Christ,
Anth

RAM!

2008-07-31T14:25:00.001-04:00

We received our new 2 GB of RAM today! I love speed!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

P.S. If you ever need more RAM, I would recommend 4AllMemory. They were great. Free Shipping and no Tax!

Fireproof

2008-07-30T20:55:00.000-04:00

Hello again! Sorry I've not posted in a while; I've been fairly busy lately, but I thought I'd post about the newest trailer for Fireproof! Having seen some clips from the film, along with what I've seen from the teaser and trailer, I'm confident this will be a phenomenal film. Be sure to head on over and check out the new trailer!

God bless!

Geno

On the News: A Tale of Ice Cream

2008-07-25T13:39:00.001-04:00

Okay, here is a story which must be told.

ACT 1

Once upon a time I was chatting with my friends Hannah and Lindsay (I hope you gals don't mind that I used your names on here). You may find it odd that I only chat with girls, but I assure you there is nothing strange about chatting with the only people one knows who actually do chat. I have no problem chatting with girls, but I just thought I'd make it clear that I do not chat exclusively with girls. Anyways, I was chatting with them and one of them used the infamous "LOL". Well, acting on impulse, I quickly responded with an "lolololololololololololololololol". After that, they both came to the decision that, since I was so weird and impulsive, I needed some sort of cure. The antidote that was decided upon was ice cream...Fine with me! I had no idea they were serious, though. A week or so later I find a letter in the mail from Lindsay.

"Hmm, that's odd." I though to myself.

As I openned it, I found a coupon to Baskin Robbins!

END ACT 1

ACT 2

So, I had planned this day for a long time. It was my turn to go grocery shopping with mom and, while we were out, I was going to finally get my ice cream! After a long day of boring shopping mom and I got back in the car and began our venture home. When we were almost home we realized...We forgot to get the ice cream!

END ACT 2

ACT 3

Well, a couple weeks later, it was time to go shopping again. Dad was gone and Geno was working, so Anth, Ezekiel, John, and I all went shopping with mom. We tried our best all day to remember that we needed to get ice cream after we finished shopping. Ezekiel and Anth opted to get a ice cream instead of a cookie, but John decided to stick with tradition and go with a nice Vegan Nut Coconut cookie...Because it is the biggest cookie there, not because he's a vegan 'cause he's not. Anyway, we finished shopping and, believe it or not, remembered to get ice cream. On our way to BR, we got lost and had to ask directions. It turned out, we basically passed it and had to turn around and go the other way. I told mom we needed to bring the GPS, but she wouldn't listen. So, anyway, as we finally pulled into the parking lot of BR. We noticed that there was an ABC News 4 car in the lot. So, myself, Anth, and Ezekiel went into the store to find that the ABC News 4 camera man was in there. As we ordered our ice cream he asked us if we would like to be on the news that night at 7:00...Duh! Who wouldn't want to be on the news?!

Here is the clip that we recorded that night at 7:00.

So, our story concludes with my tummy-tum-tum full of ice cream and the satisfaction of knowing people all over the lowcountry now know my face.

THE END

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

A Milestone in History!

2008-07-23T20:51:00.001-04:00

Yep, that's right, I shaved again!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

P.S. This is our 100th post! I guess that's the real milestone...

Update

2008-07-19T13:16:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that John's surgery went great and he is doing much better than expected!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

Pray for John

2008-07-16T12:11:00.000-04:00

I would just like to ask you all to pray for our little brother John. He's going in for a minor surgery tomorrow and would just like some prayer!

Thanks!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

Haircuts

2008-07-12T22:12:00.000-04:00

Hey, guess what! I cut my own hair this weekend!

Before

After

Mom and I cut Anth's hair too:

And then mom gave the back yard a flat-top:

BTW, check out my photo blog (on side bar) to see new photos!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

P.S. I'm trying new font colors to make it easier on your eyes...What do you think of the light blue? Oh, and I also wanted to mention the new banner on top.

Old Paths Book Cellar Site Launch!

2008-07-01T08:14:00.000-04:00

Hello all! Dominic here, and I just wanted to announce my mom's new book store that has it's grand opening today, Old Paths Book Cellar! Check it out! You'll be able to find all kinds of used books and home school curriculum. Please be patient as I finish up and get all the products posted.

I would also like to point out the new design we launched to this blog this morning. We may be changing the text color one of these days if I start feeling really crazy because red is a very harsh color on the internet...Just FYI.

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

YIAM Interview

2008-06-27T21:47:00.000-04:00

Hello again, it's been a while since I've posted! Just wanted to alert you all to a recent interview that I was asked to be a part of for Youth in Action Mag, an online magazine highlighting Christian Youth who are out doing hard things for God's glory. Chad Stembridge was the first interviewee for the magazine, and if you haven't yet read our post linking to his interview, be sure to check it out here!

God bless!

Geno

Sometimes You Just Feel Manly

2008-06-21T21:58:00.000-04:00

Well, today I was doing a bunch of yardwork with dad. Part of that included pruning limbs and what was my most victorious moment of the day...When I sawed this branch from a tree. I know it's not very impressive, but I couldn't help but feel manly...

...Especially when I lifted it up in the air and tossed it in the woods!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

P.S. Have you noticed that we never tag any of our posts?

Home Repairs - Patching the Wall

2008-06-14T13:57:00.001-04:00

Well, I forgot to mention in my last post that when the workers were doing their job, it turned out that there was an old piece of wood that had old termite damage from way back when. Well, when they went to fix it on the outside something happened on the inside...

But, after that was patched it looked fine.

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

Home Repair - New Siding

2008-06-13T11:07:00.000-04:00

Well, recently we went outside with dad and started painting the front of the house. Well, before you can paint you have to scrape, right? So, we start scraping...The front of the house happened to have rotten siding...Oh joy.

Dad hired a contractor to replace the siding and here's some of the work they did:

First, they ripped the old siding off the house.

Next, they wrapped the house in Tyvek.

After the Tyvek came the new siding.

After that came the paint.

And they're done!

Perfect lighting for a picture...

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

'The Vision' Web Resources

2008-06-08T13:11:00.001-04:00

Hey! I just created a 'The Vision' web banners, and button! Click here to check 'em out!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

Good Person

2008-05-25T20:40:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone! I just wanted to point you all to a video that Geno and I made today (a possible VC entry, Chad ):

YouTube - www.youtube.com/us4him

GodTube - http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ff4956ed466a4160072a

Let us know what you think and I hope you enjoy!

Also, here's an interview with our good friend, Chad Stembridge.

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

Prince Caspian - Dominic's Review Add-In

2008-05-21T07:57:00.000-04:00

I would also like to point out another very important pro in Prince Caspian: the fact that Lucy never loses faith in Aslan even when her siblings are telling her that he won't come and that they've waited for him long enough. Through everything it is becasue of her faith in Aslan that...Well, I can't give it away!

Prince Caspian - Dominic's Review

2008-05-18T12:52:00.000-04:00

We went to see Prince Caspian on the 16th for Geno's birthday and here are my thoughts on it.

Yes, Caspian was enjoyable, but there are a few problems with it:

First, I think that after a while they lost the Narnia feeling and went more for, say, The Two Towers. Even though Narnia is a "darker" place I feel that they lost the essence of what Narnia is supposed to be. Second, they don't say the names of many of the main characters from the book making it hard to follow for those of us who have read the book. Third, the conjuring-the-WhiteWitch scene went way too long. In the book, as soon as Caspian finds out that they're using dark magic he, Peter, Edmund, and Trumpkin put an end to it. Even though Caspian tried to pull away in the movie, it still went far too long and was far too intense for a PG rating, which leads into the next problem. Fourth, aiming this film at kids is not a good idea. There is no way this film should be PG and, in fact, five years ago it would have been PG-13. I mean, there's a beheading; however obscure it was, it still should not be allowed in a PG movie. I think Caspian would be a great PG-13 film. Fifth, Susan fighting, though not very much, was still totally against her character and my beliefs that women should not participate in combat. Even though she was barely even in the battles, she still fought. Her name is Queen Susan the GENTLE, right? Sixth, were they trying to make Susan look just like Legolas in Lord of the Rings, because they did a good job (just kidding). Seventh, the kiss between Susan and Caspian was just plain unnecessary. All they needed was the hug, plain and simple. Eighth, the modern pop song at the end started way too early. They should have played the Narnia theme until the credits rolled and then played the pop song over the credits like they did in the first one.

Now, since I have all my negatives out, here are the many good things is this movie:

I believe they did a very good job making what is, in my opinion, the worst-written Narnia book into an enjoyable movie. And I think that anyone who has read the book will enjoy the movie more than the people who haven't. If you have read the book, you'll know that it really would be about half as long as it is if Trumpkin had not totally retold the story to the Pevensie's when he finds them. I believe Peter's pride issue and Caspian's want for revenge were dealt with wonderfully. I believe pride and revenge were both shown as wrong character traits that caused horrible consequences and both were overcome with good. Both Peter and Caspian learned from their mistakes and moved on...And Miraz did not. We also see that Edmund has learned from his mistakes in the last film and always does the right thing. Edmund is also very humble in this film. Some of the filmmaking was ingenious, like the use of some of the same music themes from the first one. The acting was superb, the editing was great, the music was fantastic, the visual effects were astounding (though, a few of them looked like The Lord of the Rings, but I'm not surprised about that because the VFX supervisor also did VFX in LOTR). I really liked a lot of the characters like Patterwig, Reepicheep, Glenstorm, Edmund, Asterius, Trumpkin (who also played Miles Finch in Elf)...Not exactly in that order. Though I believe they showed too much of the witchcraft, it is shown as a very bad thing, and it is stopped.

In conclusion, I'm not sure that I could recommend this film wholeheartedly to anyone considering the witchcraft scene and definitely would not recommend it for young kids because of how intense it is. I don't believe in the age standard where you can see more when you're older, but I do believe some things are more appropriate for older people (violence, different levels of intensity, etc.) than for young children. I did enjoy watching it, but being a filmmaker really puts a damper on viewing a movie because I can't stop thinking about the editing, visual effects, etc. I don't think it's better than the first one, but maybe, all things considered, about the same, and I think The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be absolutely awesome! Mainly because it's just better than Caspian and because it's my favorite Narnia story. I do think this is a cool movie, and a very cool, intense, action war movie at that. From a Christian stand point I would give it a 6 out of 10 and from a filmmaking stand point I think I'd give it a 7 1/2 or 8 out of 10.

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

The DiMaria Bros.

Giving Thanks - A Poem

Color

New Banner

us4HIM is no more

A Truck Story

The Motions

Snow

It's Been A While

Good Person 09

Block One Studios.com

Rate and Comment!

BROS Is Out!

BROS DVD Release Info!

A Skype Conversation

I Tore My Rotator Cuff!

Joshua Harris Sermon Excerpt

Washington D.C.

BROS Trailer Release!

Santonio Holmes

Tractors

Chad's Not Here Anymore

Block One Studios

STRIKE

Best Pic Ever! (well, one of 'em)

New BROS Promo

Independence Day 09

The Real-Estate Shoot

A Rainbow Free Verse

New Facts

FRIENDS

Superglue

New Item on Side Bar

No More Trade Show

Some Recent Cool Things

New YouTube Channel Design

Aaahhh!

The Squire and the Scroll Teaser

I Did it Again

PDN Photographers' Virtual Trade Show

Skype Chat

The Secret Project *wink*

Well, I Didn't Get the Job

I'm a Mac...

Mother's Day

Today is Weird

The Hunt for Gollum

Well,

A Thought on Darwinian Evolution

Some Photoshop Stuff

Hilarious Clip From the Archives

Another Visit!

Does This Take Your Breath Away?

The Last Year

Zeke's Project

A (Strange) Super Bowl Story

The New RUSS ONLINE Video Series

What?!

Champions!!!

James Harrison!

Go Steelers!

Can You Believe It?

Trip Overview

A Trip to Ohio

The Grand Hunting Adventure Story - Part 2

Happy New Year!

Birthday Pictures

Birthdays!

The Vision Site Update

The Grand Hunting Adventure Story - Part 1

The OTHER Pictures

Surprise Visit

Hmm...

I'm Sorry

It's Coming...

It's Time

My Advocate

My New Poem

New Stuff

Ehy

The Secret Project wink