Happy Ending for Vanessa Diesel!

Vanessa (now named Cleo) was adopted this past weekend. She has two canine siblings and two human siblings and a mom and a dad. Here are some pics with Vanessa and her new family.







This is all thanks to the animal rescue community in Los Angeles and nationwide!

Great News about FGH moving along! Finally

I guess you really have to hit bottom to dig your way back out. (If you read my previous post you will know what I am talking about).

Late last week, I finally decided to do a Vision Board... I had been wanting to do one for a long time now. For years I had a bulletin board where I would make little collages from images and text. But when I moved to LA my places have been so small there was no room. In my last place I made collages on just regular paper... but have been wanting to do a mammoth vision board. I completely believe that what you put out there comes to fruition. Mediation fueled by action equals results. So for the last year I have been collecting magazines (okay stealing them from doctors offices and - well vet offices) then this last week I finally started cutting out text and graphics... I even photoshopped a little here and there. And I also printed some images from the net, if I could not find or create what I wanted.

Then Sunday... when I was having a particularly bad day because a friend was giving me the cold shoulder aka the silent treatment... again... I decided to turn it around... and I started cutting out the images and laying them out.

The largest segment was, of course, the film. And when later that day I was finally putting smaller panels of what I had completed , it was one large collage, I received a phone call from Ariana. She helped me a few years ago when we were looping. One of my lead actors moved to Taos, New Mexico and Ariana helped us loop her lines for the film. She did a fabulous job... and Sunday Ariana decided to check up on the films progress. When she saw I was still struggling to finish, she called me and offered to help. Slicing her fees and doing some work deferred. (WOW this vision board stuff really works!)

We talked for a while... not just about the film... it is clear to see she is one cool cat!

Now all we need to do is to fly her here or fly me and the project there (she is in Northern California). And waalaa... we have an editor!

http://ariflowerimages.com/

To see Ariana click here and click on the filmmaker link http://www.ismschism.com/

Of course there is always a catch... since I have been out of work since May, I cannot afford to do flying in either direction... therefore we will again miss the deadline for Sundance. But you never know... miracles do happen.

When I started this project, I just began shooting and hoped everything would fall into place. I received the location of the old Long Beach Animal Shelter to film on - and went to Wyoming to open the film...

Here is a quote that is on my Vision Board

"In fact, the ability to start out upon your own impulse is fundamental to the gift of keeping going upon your own terms, not to mention the further and more fulfilling gift of getting started all over again never resting upon ones oars of success or in the doldrums of disappointment... getting started, keeping going, getting started again-- in art and in life, it seems to me this is the essential rhythm..." Seamus Heaney.

I am very passionate about everything I do and touch. About living life. When I set out in life embarking upon adulthood (have been thinking about all this lately because of my ever silent friend who is a blast from the past) I wanted to experience life to the fullest. I did not want to just travel some place I wanted to live it and experience it and learn the local culture. America is so rich and diverse and from growing up in conservative Cleveland suburbs I knew that there was so much more out there - that people would form their opinions but I wanted to decide for myself - I wanted to LIVE and EXPERIENCE what this world and AMERICA has to offer --. I have lived in New York City, Wyoming, Colorado, San Diego, Los Angeles and been in every state in America (except Hawaii) and I have camped on the Arctic Circle in Alaska having driven to Alaska from Wyoming alone (albeit with my dog and my cat)... I almost died from hypothermia in the Adirondacks on a backpacking trip when it snowed 8 inches... I wanted to feel everything passionately from pain and sorrow to overwhelming joy.

Here is another good quote I just heard today...

Moderation in all things is a mantra we've been hearing a lot about of late. It is healthy. It is sane. It is morally correct. It is also very boring.

I much prefer people with passions. There is nothing more exciting than watching someone fall so deeply in love- with a food, an object, a way of life- that they throw caution to the wind and follow their heart. Although they may not be entirely reasonable, I find that people who allow themselves obsessions are much more interesting than those who don't.
Ruth Reich

I'll take passion over moderation any day. Oh how much more interesting it truly is!

FGHMovie - post

Since this is a blog that is supposed to be about the movie... here is some movie news... or not so news - news...

I showed part of the movie to my students (I have been teaching lately) and the first day I screened the first part of the movie. Their reaction was good for the movie and for the topic. But that is not why I am writing todays blog. The very first scene that has my dogs in it is unfortunately and possibly ironically the very last footage of one of them alive. As we went out and shot it the night before the fire happened. So that first scene is the last. And it is really hard... for me to watch that scene. That is why when I try to open the movie to edit it, I can't get very far, that shot is within the first ten minutes of the film. Just a nightmare for me to watch.

Although when I watch the film I see all the editing that needs to be done. And someone suggested that I break it back down into parts, scenes... that is how I started editing when we began the film. And that feels do-able. Although I have not been able to get into the film to break it up. Just is overwhelming. I have been taking jobs that would allow me to edit in the morning. And my schedule in September will allow for that. If I could only get out of my own way. The only thing that is stopping me is me. Totally feels like I am letting them down.

Then the scene after that scene is when Tala arrives in LA and takes a place at the trailer park. The dog she is walking with in the Trailer Park is not Sneakers pictured here. It was a stand-in because Sneakers was gone. And so it goes.

This is Jewel.

She needs Boot Camp Rehab. She was shot by police and tasered. She was starved at the shelter. She was not fed and man-handled by shelter staff. She was not given meds for her wounds. 18 days later she was emaciated and pulled minutes before euthanasia. She has finally come around to trust some humans, but she needs more help. She needs professional help. You can donate toward her rehab by going to www.ruffdiamonds.petfinder.com

Vanessa Diesel on YouTube

Vanessa UPDATE 8-8-08 8:00AM

Vanessa UPDATE 8-8-08 8:00AM

Vanessa still has soft stool. So we are adding more rice and might go back in for a recheck tonight. My dogs Schlimie and Penny threw up. Schlimie yesterday... ALL her food and Penny this morning, grass. SO I might be taking them in as well.

These are my guys. Homer is the big red one on top and Schlimie is the tan one on the left. Penny is the white/red Am Staf.

I call this picture, Squish on a Chair.

Vanessa Update 8-6-08 7:30AM

Vanessa Update 8-6-08 7:30AM

We all slept through the night. YIPPEE! So far so good. Pills went down well this morning. She is still eating well. She has five days of these pills, one pill is to keep her from throwing up and keep her poop FIRM! So after those five days and she comes off those pills, we will see.

Apparently you are not in the clear for a couple of weeks.

But there are thresholds. The first is tonight and tomorrow. How she does after 24 hours without the sub-cue treatment.

The second is how she does when the five day pills stop. That is Sunday.

And the third is how she does a week after that. That is when the antibiotics stop.

Then lastly, apparently there is a rare form of the virus that affects the heart, that is after four weeks of the virus starting.

But I think she will be just fine. I just worry. A full nights sleep helped a lot, for me at least!

Once all the pledges come in and the PayPal is transfered over, I can pay off the entire vet bill. I can send everyone vet receipts and donation receipts! I simply cannot thank everyone enough!