Birthday Pictures

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!

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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...

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

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

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

My Advocate

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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!!!

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!

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

Good Person

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

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

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

Geno's 18!

Happy 18th birthday, Geno!

Book Recommendation: Do Hard Things

My reason for writing this post is to recommend an incredible book by Alex and Brett Harris (www.therebelution.com) called Do Hard Things. I just now finished it, put it down, and came to the computer to write this review.

The first time I picked Do Hard Things up was in the car on the way home from Illinois where we shot 'Precious Treasure' with Chad Stembridge(thank you for the book, Chad). I decided to start reading it and see where I got. At about 2:00 AM I we were almost home and I had read almost half of the book! This book is very encouraging and insightful. It is full of stories of young people all over the world that have stepped out of their comfort zones to do something amazing for God.

I am strongly recommending this book to every young person in the world and I pray that everyone that reads Do Hard Things will be touched to start living their life and doing hard things for Jesus Christ.

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

Precious Treasure Teaser!

God was so awesome throughout this whole shoot,; I can't wait to see the finished film! Keep Chad in your prayers as he travels the post-production road.

Also, check out the article series on the film here.

My Toe

I just crushed my broken toe underneath a door when I opened it...

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

Precious Treasure

Well, my Family and I just returned from a wonderful week in Illinois helping my great friend Chad Stembridge film his newest movie, Precious Treasure. You may remember that, a while back, I wrote a post requesting prayer support for this project. Then, the Lord opened the door for my Family and I to go help, which we were very excited about. But for a while, it seemed it wasn't going to work out. The crew was there, but there was no cast.

So, Chad and I began praying for different ideas so that we would be able to make something while we were in Illinois. Then, by the grace of God, Chad received an email from Hannah Miller, who was wondering about the lead part and if it had already been cast. Her sister, Christy, had emailed Chad previously about being on the crew, but the email had not gone through. Next thing you know, Hannah and her Father, as well as Christy and another of her sisters, Emily, joined the cast. Mark Schneider was then cast as the Waiter. Dominic and my Dad were given small roles, as was Chad's brother Tyler. So, God had given us a cast and crew!

Filming the movie was an awesome experience, but also wonderful was getting to know the cast and crew. John and Sage Naylor (whose brother started the Christian Media Forums, the site where Chad and I met and by which John and Sage found out about the project and came to help) stayed at Chad's house with us. Getting to know them and the rest of Chad's Family was a great joy. The week was filled with smiles and fun and the Lord blessed us with a great shoot.

So, head on over to check out the film's site! There are lots of pictures on the blog and several posts to keep you occupied. And keep Chad in your prayers as he begins post-production on the film! God is SO good to us!

God bless!

Geno

The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry

I was just led to the website of The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry, the newest film from Christian filmmaker Rich Christiano. There's not a whole lot on there yet, but in time there should be more material, including a trailer.

Now, I don't necessarily agree with every film Mr. Christiano sells or condones on his website http://www.christianmovies.com/, particularly his brother Dave's Christian TV series, because of some immodest dress.

However, both of Rich Christiano's films, Time Changer and Unidentified, are films that I truly enjoy and have learned from. I have had the privilege of emailing with Mr. Christiano in the past and this was the advice he gave me regarding my interest in Christian filmmaking: Whatever you do, do it for Christ. So simple, yet so important and challenging.

He is a filmmaker I look up to very much and I highly recommend both Time Changer and Unidentified. He's been in Christian films for more than 20 years and has really helped the Christian film industry and been a sort of independent Christian film pioneer.

The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry looks to be a wonderful film and I am highly looking forward to it. Hope you enjoy the site!

God bless!

Geno

Big News

Well, today I have several pieces of pretty big news to share.

First, recently some of my friends from Arizona went to the National Lifesmarts competition in Minneapolis, Minnesota...And won!!! Congratulations, Jake, Michael, Zach, Emily, Reanna! See the Lifesmarts Nationals blog HERE.

Second, us4HIM Productions has just won the Kids and Globaloney contest by WorldAhead Publishing!

Here's our video. FYI- the sound is really low on this version, so we plan on uploading a version with boosted volume. This was animated entirely in Blender 3D and narrated by yours truly.

Third, click HERE to see the big news about Chad's next movie 'Precious Treasure'!

-Dominic

Mr. B and The Twins

As many of you may know, we will be taking a trip to Illinois at the end of the month to help Chad on his next film, Precious Treasure. While there, we will be using three DVX-100B's: Mr. B and Chad's cameras known as 'The Twins'. I was thinking about it and decided to do this...
What do you think?

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

Say Hello to Mr. B!

Say hello to Mr. B, the newest member of us4HIM Productions!

-Dominic

Shell Bluff

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you know about the Shell Bluff teaser trailer. Shell Bluff is made by my good friend Chad Stembridge and, Lord willing, will be released sometime this Summer. Please keep the project in your prayers as post-production and any other work goes on.

Hope you enjoy and God bless!

Geno

My Turn

Whew, I finally got here before Geno. He's been posting like a madman. Well, just a few updates regarding a few things about us.

1. I recently got an internship at our local computer store and I really enjoy working there!

2. In case you haven't been on our website in a while, I updated the home page and I think it looks pretty cool with the black on it. Check it out!

3. We have been working on 'The Vision' quite a bit and I think it's turning out pretty good. We have been doing a lot of ADR and it is lining up nicely.

Well, I have to go to now, but there's some simple updates for everyone.

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

Here's the link to an article I wrote about the newest VeggieTales movie: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.

Hope you enjoy it and God bless!

Geno

Promising Entertainment

Earlier this week, the teaser trailer for Sherwood Pictures' newest film, Fireproof, was released! Sherwood Pictures brought us Facing the Giants in 2006 and Fireproof appears to be a promising and possibly better made follow-up to that surprisingly successful film.

Fireproof comes out in August. I personally think the trailer looks good, but I think the firefighting scenes needed to feel a bit more intense. Of course, they may be pursuing a PG rating, so the fact that those scenes don't appear (at least from the trailer) very intense would make sense considering the audience they may be trying to target. However, whether PG or PG-13, I think and hope it will be a God-honoring and entertaining production. Check it out!

Also, Geoff Botkin, one of the main speakers and judges at Vision Forum's San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival whom I have found very helpful both spiritually and artistically in listening to his tapes and watching at least one of his lectures, is coming out with a new series in 2009 that looks to be a very no-strings-attached, hard-hitting documentary. You can check that out here.

BTW, Mr. Botkin's son, Isaac, is the writer of the Outside Hollywood blog we have on our blogroll. He is an absolute genius in the area of filmmaking and has been taught from a VERY young age by his father. Their most recent documentaries include: The League of Grateful Sons and The Return of the Daughters. I have not seen the latter and can, therefore, neither criticize nor condone it, but I know that League of Grateful Sons is a terrifically made documentary - and that's coming from someone who's not a big lover of documentaries (at least not really long ones). I highly recommend watching The League of Grateful Sons.

So, just some news about other Christian productions taking place. Hope you enjoy these and God bless!

Geno

Results!

Well, the judging for the 24-hr Film Competition was announced yesterday, and Mismatched Luck took 13th place. At first, this may not seem very good. But realize there was a total of 71 videos submitted to the competition, and some very experienced and talented filmmakers were involved with many of the films. Several of the films in front of us had the same score, but did not share the same slot (they didn't give them a tie). For instance, films #1 and #2 had the same score, but only one took home the prize, and one got second place. So, really, we're pleased and grateful to the Lord for our position!

We're also very thankful for the positive comments we got on our YouTube page. It has also been extremely generous of the Judges to take the time to answer questions about the scoring of the films and give tips to the makers - they've given valuable information and have been very kind and helpful in their responses. Thank you all for watching and I hope you enjoyed the short! God bless and to Him be all the glory!

Geno

24

No, no, not the show. I'm talking about the 24-hr Film Competition put on by http://www.christianfilmmakers.org/. It started at 6 A.M. on March 1st, at which time seven security elements were announced, three of which were needed to be included in each submission. Also, the time limit for each video was three minutes - not a second more.

We ended up getting up around 7, read the security elements and, by the grace of God, wrote up a script in less than a half-hour. The Lord really led us to a creative idea that incorporated several of the necessary elements and it actually taught a little lesson as well.

Dad then graciously went to the store and picked up some Cheerios, which were one of the security elements to be included, and we filmed until about 11 O' clock, which was, praise the Lord, an hour ahead of the planned time to complete filming. We had about 34 minutes of footage for our 3-minute or less short film.

We then captured the footage onto the computer and set to work editing it in Premiere. As I watched some of the footage, I was worried the short would be stupid and even wondered if we should submit it.

But by God's grace, as we edited everything together, we were more and more pleased with the results.

We edited until around or after 4 in the afternoon, with a few little breaks in there. Then we spent some time adding music and tweaking the volume and everything to fit, did some previews with other members of the family and got their input, and finished!

We had some problems uploading to YouTube, but by nighttime, the video was on and the submission e-mail sent!

The Lord was so good to us on this production and He really brought everything together. I also want to thank my Family for their enthusiasm, awesome help, and solid advice. I also want to thank Reis for his enthusiasm toward the project and willingess to help out musically. Although we were not able to use him as composer, he was willing to help and that is much appreciated. I look forward to hearing what he continues to come up with for our more professional productions - we've been working closely lately and his compositions are sounding wonderful - I think, with the Lord's help with software and His continued guidance, Reis' compositions will greatly enhance our films.

Back to the 24-hr project though, I just want to close saying that this was one of the funnest (I know, I know, that's not a real word) filmmaking endeavors I've been a part of. I just praise the Lord for how the film turned out!

So, without further ado, here is the GodTube version of the film (sorry that the tracking's a bit off):



God bless!

Geno

Big News!

Hey there! Big news!

Click here to read the latest news! Then read the post under it and learn the other great news!

Yours Cheesey,

Dominic

Some Pics!

Hey there! Sorry we've not been updating - we'll try to do better.

Well, I thought I'd post a couple pics from The Vision. These are color-corrected to make it look like night (otherwise known as Day-For-Night Conversion). I've noticed that things often look different on a regular TV than they do on the computer monitor. I was worried that, although the the DFN (Day-For-Night) might look fine on the computer, it wouldn't look so good on the TV. So last night Dominic and I burned some DFN shots to DVD to see how they looked on the TV. We prayed before doing so, and, ALL glory be to the Lord, the footage looked good on the TV! It needs darkened, but by His grace and goodness, it came out well! The Lord is definitely in this project and we pray for His continued guidance with it. Jesus Christ most definitely gets ALL credit for anything good in this film! By His grace, it will help bring people to, or closer to, He, and He alone.

So, without further ado, here are some stills (sorry if they don't show up all that great):

Okay, that's all I'm going to share with you right now.

However, Dominic was showing me some of his awesome pictures the other night (last night?), and I spotted, out of the vast number he's taken, these two...

...Which reminded me of this one...

The Lord has certainly brought us a long way since Loving the Enemy. Don't get me wrong, we've still got a LONG way to go, but the Lord's provided, with the help of my wonderful parents, better software to help in the making of these films. We could not make this film using Pinnacle Studio - we most definitely need the Adobe software, at least After Effects, to make it work, and it's only by God's guidance that even that is working for us! I just am so thankful that we don't have to do these films on our own - we wouldn't be able to get it done.

Hope you enjoyed this post! God bless!

Geno