I have just finished a 3-week stretch of filming, including 2 weeks on GUN STORIES WITH JOE MANTEGNA and our spectacular "mass casualty event" special. Every spare moment between actually running the cameras has been time spent on scripting, production planning for SHOOTING GALLERY and working with the Advertising Department.
Today is my day off…Marshal comes in tomorrow and we start work on digital projects. That will be followed next week by a 2-day ad shoot I am producing and directing, and then I leave for the NRA Show [SATURDAY NIGHT…MICHAEL BUYS THE BEER!]. I go straight from NRA back to GUN STORIES.
PLEASE don't take this as a complaint! I love what I do and feel truly blessed to be able to do it. We received at 3rd "save" for THE BEST DEFENSE this year, a friend of mine. I believe the mass casualty event special will be quite literally revolutionary, a game changer that we all believe can and will save lives. PLus, some major changes are coming to OC Digital, changes Marshal and I have been working toward for years. Honestly, we have no idea how the time commitments are going to shape up.
But I am now trying to figure out how to re-balance my life. Rehab takes up a huge chunk of time, and the fact that I have made the decision to have the second knee replaced in early June is only going to add to this weight. Both my physical therapist and my surgeon feel strongly that the rehab of my shattered right leg is being hindered by my badly slagged left knee. I gotta suck it up and get this done or I am never doing to be able to get back in shape.
The blog gets the short shrift. I'm working on posting to the blog and FaceBook simultaneously, which will help keep this site up to date. I anticipate posting more here as I move into June. Secondly, I am pulling at least a third of SHOOTING GALLERY filming back into Colorado, plus at least a part of THE BEST DEFENSE. Yes, this makes me a major hypocrite…lol! One more sin to add to my already long list. But I've simply run out of options. I've got to get these production schedules under control, and I've got to open up some additional time for digital production. That's not to mention the fact that for scripting, I need access to my own extensive reference library and my second "reference library" of firearms and my range here at the Secret Hidden Bunker.
In 2015 I had done 150 nights out until I trashed my knee, well on track to beat my 2014 record of 160 nights out. I already have 2 international trips planned for this year.
Anyhow, I thought it was only far to bring you guys up to speed! It's all good...
You do realize that quality will always outweigh quantity. Just keep the quality coming, whatever the quantity.
ReplyDeleteI always reference the classic Eric Severeid interview with longshoreman philosopher author Eric Hoffer. Please watch the following part of the interview. It covers HOW he writes and the answer to his publisher which is pure genius....ff to 3:00 if you can't spare the extra minutes...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTcv4HyEY3w
Just pleeeeeze don't drop the podcast!
ReplyDeleteA year and a half into my sixth decade on earth, I whined to my accountant at my tax prep appointment last month about how my wife and I were busier now than at any time in our working lives.
ReplyDeleteHe turned the computer screen towards me, pointed at the number at the bottom of the tax forms and said it was the measure of our productivity, that he had a lot of clients and former clients, who, because of our changing economy, couldn't find work or were working below their ability.
In one short sentence I was schooled by my accountant.
So Michael, face the weather, lower a shoulder, and push on. I know that the quality of your output is the best it's ever been and a many of us count on you to be a respected spokesman for the shooting spoerts and the Second Amendment.
And when you need a break, chill a bottle of your locsl Avery Brewing Majaraja IIPA and enjoy your just reward.
Carry on.
I'd rather have you healthy and able to post when you can than not able to post at all! Do what you need to do, Michael. Those of us who value you and your insight will be here looking forward to your next missive. You know what the rest can do...
ReplyDeleteAnon, you (and your accountant) are right, of course. I had dinner with a friend recently, and we were discussing our favorite restaurants in London…I stopped the conversation to say how profoundly lucky we were to HAVE favorite restaurants in London! I have always believed in hard work; the challenge for me is the logistics. I'M ALWAYS amazed when people, especially young people, give a big ole sigh and say they can't think of a thing to do. Nothing to do?!?!? Good heavens, I have looooooong list! Things to do, places to go, a project I started a decade ago and got sidetracked, skills to be learned and others to be perfected.
ReplyDeleteI am also lucky enough to have been, briefly, a "mentoree" of the great Alan Weiss (http://www.alanweiss.com). In a recent email, Alan had a quote from Frederic Nietzsche I wasn't familiar with: "When one has much to put in them, a day has a hundred pockets."
Marshal will be here tonight and we'll start plotting..another of my the quotes that has shaped my life is from Marty Cantor and Grace Slick…"People with a clever plan can assume the role of the mighty…"
mb
PS: My favorite Restaurant in London is the Anchor & Hope Pub (http://www.anchorandhopepub.co.uk)…get the roasted mustard rabbit. I usually get Bombardier Ale, but hey, that's just me.
Obviously, do what you need to do, but, if you can, please save the podcast!
ReplyDeleteFirst, you are more productive than men half your age. While you have a reached an age where many men and women have retired, you keep on going because you still have so much more to share with the rest of us. That in and of itself is a blessing for those of us who follow you.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I know there are programs that will post from your blog to Facebook but I'm not familiar with stuff that goes the other way. There probably is something and perhaps one of your readers can come up with it.
Third, Barb and I will see you Saturday after next if not before.
Finally, take care of yourself first. This includes your knees AND all the rest of yourself. In other words, you have permission to say NO.
MB---Please keep up your vital work---and take care of your knees--we all need you to continue your important work and projects!! DMD
ReplyDeleteMichael
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your work we all profit from it.
Is Best Defense available on CD
Please try and get the episode with the mass casualty event released to DVD "quickly" for us poor folks with no access to The Outdoor Channel:
ReplyDeleteLatin America, India, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Caribbean, Greenland
OTOH, folks in Latvia have seven different providers offering the Outdoor channel!
- RSR in The Great White North...