Look out, I've got a new costume!

Don't say I didn't warn you about next year. I've got a new Halloween costume.
Mandi and I just came back from seeing the best Tim Burton film since Ed Wood. I'm in love with this movie. No, It's not because of the many throats that are slit. It's not even because of the meat grinder. The characters and music are just so well developed. Everyone who acted in this film were incredible. It has a style that no one can match. So go see it if you have a strong stomach. If not. You can just take my word that you are missing a masterpiece.

Merry Christmas From The Roots!

Just thought I would stop by to wish everyone a Merry Christmas from the whole Family!

Mandi and Jeffrey

Mom, Dad and the children Julie, Jana, John Tyler, Russell, Amanda, Jeffrey, Krystal, Robert Bobby, Alana, and William Billy.

I'm not going to attempt to write everyones name. I bring you, three generations of Roots.

A look back at the mission

After seeing the pictures my brothers recent Chichen itza trip I decided to pull out some photos of my own trip to the Mayan city. There was so much to see, it's kind of like going to Disney Land for the first time and not going on all of the rides. I think I will follow up with more post of my mission. I'm sure someone is curious out there. By the way, I've been home for over four years now.

High school movies

Here is a blast from the past!

Bye Bye Wires!!!

I just riped out 42 years of wiring in my car. Talk about a mess. I am very close to getting the inside of the car finished. I just need to get it painted. Hopefully I will have the money next week.

My Dad gave me a ticket to the BYU Utah game last week. It's just so nice to let Utah think they had the game won 10 to 9 only to be upset in the last seconds for a second time in a row. BYU 17 Utah 10.

So I've been hearing a lot of comments on this movie the Golden Compass. I'm just going to go see and try to understand it. I can understand why people are Atheist just as I can understand why people believe in God. It's what I believe is what is important to me. We all have the right to believe in what we want to. If this movie is attacking religion just remember how many Religious movies we love that attack Atheism. I'm trying not to be hypocritical.

What happened to good cartoons?

I was listening to my I Tunes and I realized I had a couple of Cartoon TV show themes from when I was growing up. The Cartoons of my generation are so much better than all of the half American half Anime animation they have now. Remember Duck Tales, Tales spin, Gummy Bears, and Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers. I miss those shows. They also had the best opening theme song. Like this song featuring The Jets. Enjoy as you did when you were young.

God and Science

Some scientist say it is possible that there is intelligent life out there. I believe there is too. Why is it so hard to believe that God is real. That he lives somewhere. That he has the ability to Govern a planet and it's inhabitants the same way we govern our own children. He gives us rules to obey for our own good and consequences that follow. It is such a simple concept yet there are so many that make it so complicated religiously and scientifically.

They believe we can clone or create a human but God could not have done the same to us right? What if you said that God is that intelligent life out there and he through studies learned to create life. He learned to re-arrange or organize mater and created this planet. Isn't that the goal of scientist now. To learn how our Earth was created. Why do we even need to know that? Is it so see where we are going? What might happen to us? What drives a scientist if we do not exist after this life?

Many religions believe that God is invisible, he has no shape, he is not tangible. I can see why science has a hard time with this concept. It makes no sense to me either. Why does God have to be this big giant blob in the sky? Why can't he be something you can touch and see? Why shouldn't we become like him?

God made his son Jesus like him. He showed God like abilities. We say we can alter genetics. We can make someone less prone to diseases and have the ability to increase their IQ. Why is it so difficult to believe God could create a being like this. Sure Jesus died but he was risen again. The dead are not dead and maybe that is something that prevents people from believing.

These are just some questions I have. It is not to offend anyone. I try to be open minded and if anyone has any questions to me I would be happy to answer them.
Jeffrey

Settling Down

The last two months have been really hectic. We spent a good deal of our time looking for an apartment. We were lucky to receive accommodations at the McKinlays house for a couple weeks. We found a nice little upstairs apartment in a four-plex located in down town Provo. It's not bad. We have a great next door neighbor named Ehren. He is an Art Critic for In Utah This Week. He is very talkative and We always enjoy his company.

I have also decided to rip apart our 1965 beetle. So far I've welded in new floor pans, bought a nice interior kit and many other parts. The next step is to put the car back together so I can get the inside painted. Mandi and I have cleaned it up quite a bit but there is much more to do.

With all of this going on I have managed to continue working with Russell on his film. The process is slow but moving. I have also found time to write a script of my own. I am very excited about this story and hope to shoot it as a short for practice. In the future I will hire a writer that can help me with wording everything right.

Well until next time. Ta ta!

Harry Potter Mania

So yeah. I totally left out Harry Potter Mania back in July. We had a great time at the books release and the movies release. We even got in the Salt Lake Tribune. I'm not surprised. The night of the books release Bobby and I made a whole bunch of wands and sold them in the parking lot. We profited 300 bucks in about two hours. Not to shabby. We are actually thinking about making quite a few wands for the next movie release of Harry Potter.

Camping at Joe's Valley

Well. Here are a few clips of my awesome camping trip at Joe's Valley. Enjoy

2nd week of filming

Just another night of shooting.

I'm sick and tired of old ways carrying on

What is it with the world today. I wonder when we will all see each other as a human race and not different species. Racism wont stop. The fights continue on because some people cannot let go. If you talk to the younger kids that haven't been past second grade you will find that they understand humans better than the rest of us. They wouldn't understand why their parents would say they couldn't play with their best friend just because he or she looked different.

I really believe when the older generation dies off, and I say this with all respect, we will be able to move on. We cannot be a generation of racism. I'm not saying we should forget what happened in the past but we did not live through that. We are not our fathers or our fathers fathers. We live now. We can make our own world.

So this brings me to politics. We are dealing with leaders that are still half living in the past. They are setting up our future the way they want to live it when they wont even be around to experience it. Social security is a big issue. They get to collect it now but we wont in the future. They are trying to come up with ideas for us to fix this but what about our input.

I'm very inspired to vote in every election now. Who says you have to be old to be president. Why not elect a 35 year old into office. I'm really scared for what our future holds. We have no money and the world gets worse every day. What will we do? How can I make a difference?

A little behind the scenes.

Here is a little video I put together while we were shooting and thanks to a little help from Alana.

First two days of filming

It has finally happened. Russell has begun filming his first full length film. Actually, it is the first film he has ever planned to film all the way through, with a script even. I'm not afraid to say everyone was iffy. No one had read the script yet. We had no idea what we were going to be doing. I think we were all kind of a little nervous.
Shooting began late. I mean late late. we got rolling around 12:30 at night for a day scene. I had no idea how Russell planned to light it but when the lights went on it was amazing. It's the best lighting I've ever seen on a film set. Well, I haven't been on many but talk about wow!
We all got a chance to see the first shot when it was finnished. It was a dolly shot that covers almost the whole room. I almost cried when I saw how beautiful it turned out. It was then when I realized how awsome Russell is. He barely made it out of highschool, he never even tried to go to college and now he is living his dream that he has made himself.
Now all of us are in. My oldest brother Tyler is deffinately the organization of this project. Russell told me yesterday morning that when Tyler had to leave at 3:30 am he couldn't believe how unorganized his thoughts were. He said that Tyler can stand there and ask him questions about everything that the shot involves and when he is done the lighting is where it needs to be, the camera is set, and the actors are ready to go. Tyler is Russell's biggest asset on this movie.
Billy is great. He is so awkward on camera. It's so funny to see his little twitches. He has this scene where he runs in the room and scares everyone. There is a green light on his face, smoke coming from behind and the wind is blowing. It's awsome!
We don't have one paid actor or crew member in this whole movie but you couldn't tell by the way it is done. The acting with Krystal and Marty is superb. I can't wait for another day of filming.