This Week Is Brought To You By The Letter F

Howdy Folks

Don't fear the title - those of you who know my Alaska-trained mouth might think that the "F" I'm referring to might be a tad... profane... but really, I'm not here to offend your delicate sensibilities or singe your virginal ears. I'm just grabbing some food before Trish and I head out to the Experience New Moon event in St. Helens, Oregon, and I thought I'd pause to update you on a few things that have been happening in our world of late.

First, F is for Floors: Money's been a little tight for everyone this year (shock, huh?), but we really needed to do some repairs on our hardwood floors - especially now that the rainy season has begun and we're tracking in more water and mud from outside. Luckily, we've been working with our wonderful financial advisor Andy Pollack for years to build up a savings account on the off chance that times would get tight... so we had a few dollars to throw at the project.

After receiving a bunch of bids from local contractors, we decided to go with Empire Today - and I don't mind telling you, we're extremely happy with the way the job turned out! The guys working on the job were very nice and well mannered, and they busted their butts to do things right! Plus, as an added bonus, we got a business discount because, as actors, we run our business out of our home. I'd happily recommend Empire Today to anyone who needs new floors - they were FABULOUS to work with.

I snapped a few photos of the process with my cell phone camera if you'd like to take a look... just click here.

F is for Food: Because the house was in such disarray earlier this week, Trish and I weren't able or willing to do much cooking. On the way home Tuesday night, I was tasked with picking up some Thai food to get us through. Now, we had a great Thai restaurant in our area, but it closed about a year ago... so I just plugged "Thai Food Powell Blvd. Portland" (I was driving down Powell at the time) into the web browser on my Blackberry Storm and went to the first spot that came up on the search.

Boy did I luck out! The first place on the list was Lemon Leaf Thai Cuisine (across from Cleveland High School) - great food at a good price! If you're in the area and want some pretty decent Thai Food, check this place out. It's a real find!

F is for fighting: If you haven't already seen it, check out this great "behind-the-scenes" video that Animus Cross director A.L. Steen put up on Vimeo - it'll give you a taste of the action to come when Series II launches in April, 2010!

Animus Cross Season 2 Behind the scenes Fight choreography from A.L. Steen on Vimeo.

F is for Finance: I think I've already mentioned that I'm working with Crackin' The Code director Steve Coker on a new web series: The Episodic Adventures of Dex Dixon: Paranormal Dick. Steve and I are working hard to raise the money needed to shoot the series (and make sure everyone involved gets paid for it!). To that end, we got together Saturday-before-last to film a short video we'll be sending to prospective advertisers on the show. We're not just looking to pitch product-placement or banner ads to these prospective sponsors, though... oh no. We're going to make them a part of the show. I'll keep you posted on how things turn out once the sponsor packets are sent out at the beginning of the year.

Speaking of Crackin' The Code, F is also for Finding an audience... more on that here: http://crackinthecode.blogspot.com.

F is for FINALLY: If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you know that I recently hired Mark Roush to cut together some new reels for me. It used to be that, here in the Portland market, you didn't need a reel - we were a small enough town that everyone knew everyone else... and if you didn't know a prospective casting director, producer or director, you could probably still get in for an audition.

Well, things have changed in our little burg over the past couple of years. Aside from all the out of town production arriving to shoot in Portland (such as Leverage, Twilight, and Extraordinary Measures), we've had a huge influx of new filmmakers coming to live and work in Portland. Having a good reel is an important step in marketing yourself now... and after talking about putting one together for a year or more, I finally hired Mark to do it for me.

You may have already seen the reels posted on my YouTube channel... if you haven't, though, I've posted them on the home page of www.haroldphillips.net. Pop on by and take a look when you get the chance!

Ok, that's all the time we have for tonight, guys... time to fly so we can make the Experience New Moon event in St. Helens. Watch my Twitter Feed this evening - I'll try to post some photos (hey, it sounds like F...) from the event so you can share in the fun.

Hope you're all doing well...

-Harold