Chronicles of Perdie

California, Meet Perdie!

2009-06-07T15:38:00.000-07:00

Today will be the 1st day I enter California, the film industry's state. I am excited to observe the differences and similarities of atmosphere and people. Let's see what all the hypes about!

Consequence and Conviction

2009-06-02T19:19:00.000-07:00

Just about all of my greatest long-term friends disagree with my political stance for walking across The United States of America (with the exception of maybe a couple). I stand firm, unwavering with my beliefs that the capitalist system is the greatest financial system in existence and that Washington is needlessly spending for their own power-hungry agenda.

I have the strength to go against the beliefs of a heavy majority of my friends and I have a conviction so strong, that I am willing to put my life on the line for it.

While many of these friends show support, many of the same also assume that I am ignorant and dismissive and that I just don't really know enough about the politics, government, the people, the country, and the world. Quite the contrary.

I have questioned the logic of both sides of the spectrum many many times, and that is how I came to this political stance.

Why is everyone willing to debate me, but unwilling to do something to parallel my actions of walking across the country to make a statement? If any of you feel so strongly about your opinions, I dare you to find something that is as large scale and risk-taking as what I'm doing.

Are you unwilling to take the risk that one day you might make a statement that reaches the entire world and then a few years later realize that you made the wrong statement? This is why I am not a big fan of debate. Actions ALWAYS speak louder than words because of the conviction it takes to create that action.

If any of you think that my walking across the country is going to change my political beliefs and/or my convictions, you don't really know who I am or what I'm capable of.

Don't underestimate me.

You're Not a Man, You're a Chicken-Boo

2009-05-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

Does anyone remember the cartoon "Chicken-Boo?"

You can you not respect this Chicken for successfully fooling so many people!

I mean, look at him!!!

It was one of those mini-cartoons under the show Animaniacs. (back when Capitalism was much more popular in our culture!)

Anyway the other day I was watching Chicken-Boo on youtube and I noticed something funny about the episodes. There are statements made about our culture in these episodes.

Notice how EVERYONE thinks that Chicken-Boo is this great celebrity (while ignoring all possible signs that he may be a chicken), except for the one person who uses common sense and isn't afraid to speak up. Then what happens? EVERYONE gets mad at this person and kicks them out or does them physical harm!! Then we a very small miniscule disguise is removed by the natural instincts of the obvious giant chicken, everyone is outraged! So outraged that they turn their bloodthirsty sights on the poor chicken!!!

I believe this cartoon is making a statement about the audiences of the media, as well as the media itself, and how far they will go out on a limb to believe what they want to believe!

Maybe not as specifically as the audiences of the media per say, but you can certainly compare the scenarios of Chicken-Boo to that of the media and it's audiences and see striking similarities!

Here, watch this short episode and let me know if you feel the same way! haha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu0taBOtM04&feature=related

Do you see it??

The Price of Conviction

2009-05-27T20:46:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have received a fair amount of criticism from some of my friends about my main reason for going on this journey. Some wish that I were not going for political reasons. Others just totally disagree with my political stance. Here's a question I'm interested in.

Why is it unpopular to act on a political conviction?

Is it because at least half of the people in the country will disagree with you? Could it be the fact that someone may interpret you as being a mis-directed self-righteous egotist? - Because I've been getting that kind of stuff a lot lately.

Or is it the fact that caring about something enough to do something about it just isn't cool or a popular thing to do? I think it may be that.

Since about junior high school, face-value conformity has always agitated me. The concept of changing a part of yourself just to be seen as more likable seemed (and still seems) repulsive to me. After years of assigning myself a left position on the political spectrum I realized that even though I agreed on a couple of social issues, (freedom of choice, pro-gay marriage) I wasn't sure about how to feel about our economic values or about how much power the government should have. I checked on all the liberal (since I believed that the social issues were the only important issues at the time) news networks: MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS, etc., and yet I never understood how using taxpayer money to pay for everything really worked.

It was a comforting feeling to know that the government would give out money to various organizations in an attempt to help people, but I never once questioned whether this spending was necessary or not. All I heard was "we have to help these people," "We must increase welfare," and "we have to support this organization."

Eventually that led me to think, "Wait a second...this is our money! Doesn't taking more and more money away from us by raising taxes to help these organizations affect our productivity and job growth?

Finally my father explained to me the history of Jamestown and it all made sense to me.

Once upon a time, one of the first American settlements, Jamestown, was experimenting with various forms of government to see which one created the most productivity, wealth, and opportunities for everyone, regardless of class. One of their ideas was a socialistic one. Everything they earned, they gave to the central government, and this central government spread the earnings of everyone in town evenly, but very soon some people began slacking off. Why work so hard when everyone's going to earn the same amount anyway? Others just stopped working.

Then they tried a capitalist form of government. Limited government. Everyone keeps almost all of what they earn. What happened? BOOOOOM!!!!

Suddenly their was a HUUUGE boost in productivity. People would earn the amount that they work for! This was such a new and different idea because at the time, people were not used to a method that supported freedom so much, be so effective! It was unheard of at the time! People would be able to move from one economic class, to another, if they just worked hard! Wow!!!

This is the ignition that started my fire for my walk across the country much later on.

Some would argue that capitalism is failing because of our situation right now. They say, well look at all of the oil companies! They're so greedy with their high tax prices!!!

Let's take a look at something that not many people are aware of. Did you know that the government taxes the oil prices? Ok I'm sure you knew that, but did you know that the government taxes the oil up to over 50%???

That's right folks, the government wants a fair share of the money made off of that automotive necessity.

Then there is the argument for the big evil corporations!!!

Many liberal people say "We can't let these corporations become too powerful! We need regulation to keep them from getting too greedy!!!"

But at the same time they say "This company has so many employees that we need to bail out these banks and car companies so that employees don't loose their jobs!"

Wait...what??? So if a large company does poorly, the government will give them a bunch of taxpayer money, but if the company becomes too successful, the government will put restrictions on the company so that it is forced to cut production and profit, therefore, forced to cut jobs!!!!

So much for the big evil companies!!! The government is taking over all of them! The big evil monopolies are not Wal-Mart! The biggest monopoly in existence for the first time ever in our country is the Federal Government! All they have to do is bail a company out, own the company, and tax the hell out of the company's products or services. This KILLS productivity and gives the federal government even more money for agenda-filled spending.

There's a reason why the capitalist system works. It's because the companies that fail are the companies that are not fulfilling the needs of the consumer correctly! The successful companies are the ones that better suit the needs of the consumer! What this does is create more productivity, more jobs, and more wealth for everyone. Some say "Oh we have a capitalist system right now and it's not working!!!"

Nope! There are wayyy to many government restrictions and taxes on companies that negatively affect their businesses. What this does is lower the employment rate and ultimately lower the productivity. (you know, that thing that gives the US dollar it's wealth!)

So in order for the government to become bigger, they try to convince you that these rich people are EVIL!!!!! This way, they can build more support to restrict their companies or tax them! Then the government can simply use that money for expanding the government even more to push their agendas!

I can go on and on about this...I haven't even scrapped the surface! But let's go back to the conformity issue.

I found it agitating that famous celebrities all promoting the same side! My distaste for conformity is what led to me to my skepticism of this act. Then I notice the same trends in people, my friends, the people I care about! They agree on a couple of issues and don't even bother, or care enough, to fully investigate both sides!

But I knew this feeling...since I too was someone who just took the MSM's (Mainstream Media's) word for it. Then I read a piece by a famous novelist named Andrew Klavan, and I noticed that there were similarities in our beliefs, except he could explain it a lot better than I could!

"For many years, conservatives have been complaining about the left-wing bias of both the mainstream media and popular culture. The two are intimately connected because, over and above commercial success, the culture and the artists who create it are empowered by reviews, prestige and awards that the mainstream media bestow, facilitate and publicize.

But it’s now become clear that conservatives are wrong. The media are not biased against the right. They are openly hostile towards us. They are openly attempting to crush one point of view and elevate another. This is not a conspiracy. It is simply the result of a poisonous conformity, a climate of opinion which the MSM, populated almost exclusively by liberals, barely even realize they inhabit.

But in allowing themselves to become immersed in this climate, the bulk of the American media have now become the toadies of the state and the enemies of the people.

- Andrew Klavan

If you get a chance, I highly recommend that you take a look at this article by Andrew Klavan. It is very insightful and it helps to explain the psychology of the media and it's political effect on culture without most people even being aware:

http://pajamasmedia.com/andrewklavan/2009/04/28/toward-a-new-american-culture/

Why is it unpopular to act on a political conviction? Well because it goes against the most accepted form of conformity, conformity created by multiple layers of the media.

The media! You know, that thing that people rely on when they don't have the time, money, or care to investigate something first hand. Don't get me wrong here. I'm not discriminating on this one! Both sides of the media spectrum annoy me. Just one much less than the other. Overt conservative media bias annoys me almost as much as overt liberal media bias. It just so happens that I agree more with conservatives on their new movement against massive government growth and spending. And since I have seen and been on both sides, (and being someone who has studied media psychology through film) I can see through the bias and get the real story out of that.

I find multiple layers of the media to be repulsive in their desire to destroy one point of view and embellish their own point of view so that it sounds much nicer for you! Some are better at it than others. Watch this interview with Miss Garofalo as she says something interesting about the people attending the tea party protests! (including me and my family apparently!)

She begins running her mouth at timecode: 3:02

Do you notice the nicknames for tea party protestors? Tea-baggers? (A pop-culture term for smacking a guy in the nuts) How about Miss Garofalo's term for "tea-baggers?" How dare we protest against massive spending!!!

My mother replies to Miss Garofalo here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doTK2-qRY4k

The fact that my friends will be more likely to attempt to calm me down or be more neutral in the matter honestly is kind of annoying, though I do see their point, I cannot compromise who I am or what I believe in, because that compromises my fight. Yet some of these friends stand by me. I respect their opinions, their input, and their unrelenting support, and it feels great. Our country was founded on freedom of speech after all, and having their support makes me almost want to cry tears of tickling joy.

I have other friends who fully support my walk. I can't even begin to tell you how much that means to me.

Then there are other friends of mine who simply have already made up their mind about me and rely on popular opinion to judge my character. I suppose the lost of some of these friendships is truly the price of conviction.

Constriction of Time

2009-05-23T18:25:00.000-07:00

In only 3 short weeks I will be walking across the United States of America. The true question remains, am I physically ready?

I have walked 3 trial walks so far, carrying 35-40lbs both times. The first time I walked I was very very sore, mostly in the hip-flex, and calve muscles. But the second time seemed very slightly easier. The third time felt slightly easier again, but the soreness felt worse that time. My goal is to reach the point where I don't get sore from walking 20 miles. All of my other muscles seem to handle the additional weight and mileage pretty well. I feel soreness in the back of my legs, right below my knees, but that soreness dissolves in less than 24 hours.

I also feel pain in my shoulders from carrying the backpack around. That soreness usually lasts 2-3 days.

It's the hip-flex that bares the most soreness and I believe it's because the sneakers I am using right now are pretty worn out from the past few months of training so their support is highly compromised! Time for a new pair of sneakers!

In the meantime, I will wait to recover from my last walk and then change my training up a bit to focus more on strengthening my leg and shoulder muscles so that they don't depend on my hip-flex muscles as much.

So far I have been featured in the local Times News, under the spotlight section. I will upload that soon. Unfortunately the reporter was very liberal and therefore spun my article around quite dramatically to make it seem like something more about discovery than my cause.

One thing I have been getting a lot of is Forrest Gump references. I would say half of the people I talk to when I mention "The Walk For Independence" reply by saying, "like Forrest Gump?" I must admit that I love the fictional character for his innocence, his crazy luck, and of course his god-like persistent running abilities.

Photoshop by Mike Jacob

In fact, some people see an uncanny resemblance between the two of us.

Stay tuned to my twitter at: www.twitter.com/perdiefilms and please consider donating if you have the luxury!

Thank you everyone, for your support.

Preparations of a Perdie

2009-05-11T23:23:00.000-07:00

I know that I just am starting to ignite a fire with this trailer I just released.

Perdie Across America - Theatrical Trailer

Some of my friends may disagree with me, some, more harshly than others. I just want them to know that I respect their opinions and I encourage them to exercise their right to speak.

So life on my end has been a little hectic. I just finished editing this trailer here. I may make another one down the road but I think this one may be good enough to grab some attention. We'll see!

In other news I have been training regularly. I think I hurt my hamstring muscles when I did a stomach workout where you lie on your back and lift your legs up 6 inches for a long period of time. So I've been lightening my workouts since, attempting to give those muscles in my legs a break while I attempt to keep up my shape.

I would like to walk 20 miles with a heavy backpack at least 3 times in order to get my body used to the weight and distance.

My family continues to concern about me and my health...perfectly understood.

My friends have been really supportive so far and it means a great deal. Some have donated money, (1 in particular donated a lot!) others haver offered their unrelenting support and both will keep me alive as I cross the country.

I also received a donation from a man who believes in my cause, but who is wheelchair bound. It really hit me hard when I found this out. The only way I can think to explain the feeling is that it is somewhat surreal and heartwarming to receive a donation from other people out there who will help you. It's a very comforting feeling to know you're not alone, and to be able to do something major for other people who can't, or don't have the chance to do the same thing.

The website designer for Perdie.com, Yukiko Ikeda, has truly done an awesome job on the website. She delivered EXACTLY what I was looking for. She is a true friend and committed and determined individual. If you don't know, Yukiko and I used to meet up regularly in order for her to practice her English. It was always fun and I always got just as much out of it as she did.

In other news, I have formed an alliance with a young woman named Marlo Dell'Antonio. She and I share the same liking for Glenn Beck. We'll be working together to create a parody of sorts. I can't get into the details though, you'll just have to wait and see! I should mention though that I am infinitely impressed with her professionalism and her passion for the arts. I haven't met her in person yet, but just by talking on the phone with her and checking out her website, I know that she will be one to make a true positive difference. I can't wait to work with her.

Marlo's website is

http://whoismarlo.com/

Check it out!

Hm...I believe that's it for now. Keep checking in and I'll keep writing.

Spread the word!!!!

With love,

Perdie

The First Course

2009-05-07T15:31:00.000-07:00

This is the general route I will be taking for the 1st part of the walk across America. Exact routes are always subject to change, but this is the basic path I'll be taking beginning June 15th.

As you can see below, I will begin by moving West, then South. My path will take me through, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. The routes used are ones with the least amount of highways as possible.

I'll then continue to move South from Washington D.C. until I get to myrtle beach. Once there, I will begin to move West! Woooooo!

To see the larger version of this picture, view it here

The Question of...Why?

2009-05-06T21:21:00.001-07:00

This is what I have been asking myself everyday, just to make sure I'm making the right decision. Why am I walking across the entire country? The answer is usually simple. Because if I don't do it, I'm going to wonder what it would have been like.

Of coarse this is only 1 of the main reasons. Let's make a quick grocery list of reasons...

- To bring awareness to the dangers of massive government spending

- To promote fiscal responsibility

- To promote the necessity for Capitalism in our country

- To learn more about this country in general

- To increase my intuition to better serve my actors as a director

- To increase my intuition to better direct my films

- To learn more about people in this country (and show people via episodes) without the added smoke of the media and other people's stereotypical assertions.

- To meet some awesome people

- To seek the questions that are important for our society to ask itself and convert these questions down the road to themes for my future films.

- To live an original experience, that few people have lived, and bring the experiences to a theater near you!

- To go on a REAL adventure

So it was kind of hard to come up with a reason not to go on this walk.

I will begin on the east side of Long Island, New York and end at the South Western coast of California. As you may know already, I will be carrying the American flag, and trust me, it's pretty big. Not that heavy though, I was surprised. I went on 2 trial walks with the American flag and so far it seems like a lot of people believe that I served in the military. Not so much surprise there.

As for training for this here is my weekly routine:

- 1 day - Speed and Strength anaerobic workout

- 2 days - Distance runs, 10 miles or more

- 2 days - Distance walks carrying 45lb backpack, walking 10 miles or more without stopping

- 2 days - Light runs 6 - 8 miles

Once in a while I will do 2 workouts in the same day if I'm not heavily sore. Sometimes I'll take a day off to recover.

Consuming a lot of carbs, proteins, and veges...

Right now I'll feeling very anxious, and I'm really hoping my outreach to the media will gain some traction. So I am proceeding very calculative and very cautiously. Part of making this work is relying on some donations and getting the media exposure to get the word out about this protest against massive government spending.

Pretty soon I'll be releasing a teaser trailer for this adventure. Stay tuned!

- Perdie

Perdie Across America

2009-04-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

It has almost been a month since my last post, and man...what a past 'almost month' it has been!!

A lot of mental stuff has been going down, none bad, all good. (hopefully)

I haven't really announced it to the world yet, but I have decided that on June 15th, I will begin my walk across the entire United States of America. From the east coast of Long Island to the south-western coast of California.

During this journey, I will be documenting my progress via camcorder. From this footage I will create and upload 1-2 episodes (webisodes to be exact) a week. These episodes will be presented in a narrative-like format, even though the events are non-fiction. Basically what this means is that I will not ever address the camcorder. For that matter, I intend to make these documentary-like episodes as un-documentary-like as possible:

- No looking at the camera

- No talking directly to the camera

- No sex in the champaign room (ok I just felt like writing that one)

- The film will mostly be presented in 3rd person, once in a while using 1st person.

- The shots and the editing style will attempt to mimic that of a film

You can only really do so much while attempting this style in real life so I do expect some documentary-like style.

Why am I doing this?

I want to understand people better. I want to increase my awareness and intuition of humanity in order to better direct actors and also to better understand human emotion when applying it to future characters and story scenarios.

I also just want adventure. I know this is very cliche, but you only live once. I don't think I can stand thinking back and wondering what it would have been like. I'm just going to do it. Lots of money or very little money, sponsorship or no sponsorship, allies or no allies. I don't really have a good reason not to. I mean there is the whole stalling my dream of becoming an inspirational film director, but this experience can only help, both with life experience and exposure for my filmmaking. How many film directors that you know of have walked across the country?

It may actually give me a bit of an edge for my age. That's not a guarantee, but it's worth the risk.

I am in the process of plotting out the path. It's looking like the trip will take about 6 months to complete. Anyone who wants to join me is welcome, but I am doing this, with or without you! No matter what!

What the hell is this going to be like?

A Path Chosen?

2009-03-19T12:05:00.000-07:00

As my sister still fights to rid herself of these brutal migraines, my family and I spend our time hanging out by her bedside.

As recently as yesterday, my sister has received both a MRI and Spinal Tap in an attempt to isolate the problem, the results, negative. So it's not anything horrible that we can se, but they still do not know the cause.

Time going by, I contemplate my future in the film industry. I know I have the talent, knowledge, and experience necessary to break through the industry, the question is, which way will make it happen?

Having a few days to do nothing but think about this and my sister's health has led to a surprisingly conclusive answer, one I would not yet like to address, simply because I need more time to think through the path and make sure it's the right call. I would much rather do that than give a half-hearted, flaky answer of what I'm definitely going to do.

I can tell you this though... once I start putting this plan in action, it will certainly create a spark, one powerful enough to light up the film industry, I hope. We shall see what happens when I put this plan in action. Until then, all I can do is rest and prepare.

In other news, I cut my hair a couple of days ago and I noticed that I had a fairly big chunk of gray hair growing in!!!!

Should I be worried?

I have heard of this sensation before. My mother thinks I should get it checked by a dermatologist, but that's going to have to wait until I have health insurance. Hopefully I get that soon.

Okay, I'm bailing for now. Keep it real people.

Prepare For The Y In The Road

2009-03-16T19:36:00.000-07:00

...And so I made my return to Jim Thorpe, PA, this is where my family and their restaurant are located. I came home to hear that my sister had been admitted to the hospital because of extreme migraines. Sucks, right?

She seems ok thus far, and the testing so far has shown that there are no aneurisms in her brain, but she's still in a lot of pain. Keep her in your thoughts people.

This past Sunday was the infamous St. Patrick's Day Parade in Jim Thorpe. There are never so many people in town as there are on this Irish holiday.

It was good seeing some of the old crew again from LAPD, although Dave was not around.

LAPD: A union that was created in Jim Thorpe High School with the sole purpose to create awesome movies. LAPD is an acronym for Larry, Andrew, Perdie, Dave. (We changed our friend's name to Larry in order to have the acronym become LAPD.)

Dave and Smokey years ago in the St. Patrick's Day Parade

Only You, Dave, Perdie, and Smokey The Bear can prevent forest fires.

It was an average parade day. Not too exciting, not too boring, average.

I have been taking this time I have in Jim Thorpe to recover a bit and take a bit of a mental break away from all of the studying and working I have been doing in NYC. I have a feeling the next chapter in my life is going to be a tough one, so I'm trying to rest up and prepare while I can.

I can feel it in my stomach, I'm going to begin work on a hard core film very soon. The question is, which one? I am looking at a Y in the road right now. Both ways hold a lot of promise and both ways are just as risky and bold. Which is the smartest? We shall see...

A General Uprising

2009-03-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

So...In the past 2 weeks or so I have been studying/researching hard to expand the leap of skill from my previous film, 8:18, to my future film. Meanwhile I have also been reviewing screenplays. (I put an ad on craigslist for screenwriters) But this has only resulted in my receiving of 1 screenplay of interest.

Pretty good screenplay, not jaw-dropping, but certainly an excellent piece of work. I met with the screenwriter today, who seemed nice, but overtly skeptical, as if anything I said would be replied with squinted side glances. It's somewhat understandable though. In general, most screenwriters are taught not to trust people interested in producing their scripts, always paranoid that some unoriginal asshole is going to steal their idea. (I'm looking at you, M. Night)

In other news, life has been pretty eventful these days.

I'm beginning to meet some very open minded people, who aren't filmmakers themselves, who will listen to my various film theories and their influence in the human psych. I've also come across a couple of closed-minded people who seemingly interpret my film talk as me either trying to hit on them, or me just flaunting my ego.

Never-the-less, it's the open-minded ones who truly make sharing this knowledge very rewarding.

1. For helping to inspire people and

2. For helping to reinforce my own learnings.

One young woman, studying economics at FIT, was exceptionally interested in what I had to say about the intimacies that go into the creation of a quality film, as well as how I believe studying film helps to improve ones understanding of the psychological, and sociological aspects of human beings.

I could get into that monologue, but I'm too tired at the moment to explain the human's relation to kinesthetic empathy and mirror neurons with crystal clarity.

I hung out with the German girls once again, this time only Hanna and Thess. But this time, Yukiko came along for the ride as we all hung out at Pianos for a while.

It was fun, Hanna and Thess were being followed by a mass amount of creeps that night; Nothing that some swift Perdie-Acting-Like-A-Boyfriend techniques cannot solve, though if it weren't for their pervertedness and creepiness, I would almost admire the dogged-persistence of these drunkards.

So...I'm sitting in Starbucks right now and I'm seeing an interesting pattern develop over the past few weeks. More and more people are doing office work at Starbucks! I'm not just talking about single-working individuals catching up on their personal responsibilities, rather, groups of people working for the same company all across Starbucks, exchanging papers, folders, typing emails, and even interviewing people!

Right now, from what I see, it actually looks like it's a illegal alien-defending law firm of sorts working on location, in Starbucks. This hypothesis is based off of all of the mexicans coming in for 30 minute interviews, but I could be wrong!

Things these days are certainly looking up. Though, since it's has been over a week since my last published blog, my writing this time around has suffered from a tendency to generalize in aspirations to cover most of the major events over this length of time.

Oh here's something interesting I would like to address: Why the hell do people think it's cool to flip off their middle finger to the camera? What did the camera ever do to you?

What does that say?

- "Fuck You"

- "I don't care what you think"

- "I'm a bad ass"

Don't I have something better to bitch about? Absolutely. Then why do I address it? Simply because in annoys the fuck out of me. People need to grow up and stop being such posers all the time. Conformity of this type is for the weak and overtly-malleable. If you're reading this, and you're one of these people, grow some balls and man-up.

Honestly, you can do whatever you want but know that these gestures make you look like an dumb-ass, especially when your potential employers decide it's a good idea to look at your Myspace/Facebook page.

Perdie demonstrates how stupid people look when they apply an ugly dead pan face to their middle finger expressions. (Of course I use the thumbs up instead)

See how much more welcoming that is?

Just consider it people.

Ok, enough of this!

I'll post soon to cover the next couple of days! Peace!

Sleep Deprivation and No, It Doesn't Feel Good To Pay Less.

2009-02-27T17:05:00.000-08:00

After chilling at 30th street station in Philadelphia for a while, at 4:30am it was time for me to bail and catch a bus over to West Chester in order to hang out with Filmmaker, Chrispy.

Chrispy is another good man, passionate and determined in his industry. A steadfast follower of Jesus, Chrispy does what he can to inspire and help others with the challenges he has faced in his life using his own experiences.

He runs the West Chester University studio and needed a guest to appear on his show that they shoot for the studio's club. Sure why not?

In the meantime we chatted about the compromises of film, girl friends, marriage, and so on. I was able to capture some footage for him and while that was going down Chrispy was studying for his exam for his film class. So I jumped in and started trying to answer a lot of the questions that I might know offhand.

Soon enough, half the class was in the room, prepping up for the test. I helped out as best as I could and finally Chripsy proposed that I actualy take the test, so I did.

I walked into the class and took the test. I got a lot of weird looks and looks of disgust. When I finished the test, I was told that one of their funny students commented, "ass." It's good that he got some laughs from that comment, people like that need all of the acceptance they can get in order to constantly fill their inflated egos. Let em' laugh. haha.

I am surprised at how resilient I have become to disrespect from other people. If I was in junior high school or even early high school, something like that would have shot through me, but nowadays I just find it fun, enticingly challenging and sometimes fascinating because it can reveal so very much about the person who said the nasty comment, even if for the purpose of kicks. This soul is perhaps too old in regards to social situations to be negatively effected by dumb-asses or ego-trips.

One may argue that my mere mentioning of the verbal assaults on me is evidence of my sensitivity to them, but this has not been the case for numerous years. I have gone from letting these comments effect me personally to analyzing the reasoning and the cowardliness behind the comments.

CUT TO:

Somewhere amongst the city of New York City, a new enemy emerges, ready to attack Perdie with unrelenting force...

So the show that Chrispy's brother and I performed in turned out well. Though I think it was tough doing such improv with such a lack of sleep deprivation (34 hours at this point) and with such a strange character to work off of, but none-the-less it was an entertaining experience.

I can imagine that many people in/around that studio thought I was nuts that day, as my judgement of what and what not to say is highly compromised by my sleep deprivation at various stages, most notable, the "adrenaline stage." (Usually between 26 and 34 hours for me)

I tend to vocalize my self-awareness very often in this stage, I am also less hesitant to tell people what I think about something. I sometimes like to call this the "Dave Factor" as my great and oddly influential and blatantly honest friend David Fabrizio very often is not hesitant to speak his mind void of any censorship filters of what one would refer to as "sugar coasting" in social situations when you fear giving the full blatant truth.

So this ultimately leads me to say very different things, far from the norm. It's almost like I am somehow drunk, yet I am still able to retain my self-awareness. As one might imagine, caffeine usually makes this worse.

I even ended up singing, "See My Vest," from the classic The Simpsons episode when Mr. Burns steals all of Santa's Little Helpers' puppies. This lead to a desire for at least 2 of the studio club's members to leave with a higher level of expedite. Another joined me in singing it, but could not remember about 60% of the words, but it's the effort that counts. Props to him from brotha' Perdie.

So about 45min before I had to catch the bus, I met up with the former Miss WCU, Jackie Chilcote. Though I never really saw Jackie as what she represented, rather I saw her as someone who thirsts to plow through life's challenges with unrelenting force in order to achieve her goals. Whatever this young woman must do to make it to where she wants to be, she will eventually find a way to do it. With Jackie, it's never a matter of "If," it's a matter of, "When." She will aim to put the challenge in her crosshairs, and when she does, there is no stopping her.

Jackie and I talked about various personal "catch-ups" and so forth. We even ran into my good friend Wolf, who has traded his aspirations to start his own radio show in order to contribute his talents to a rock band. Props to Wolf.

And so I began the long haul home...

CUT TO:

Perdie's unknown enemy finds a weapon of choice, a backpack, out in the slums of New York City.

So I was in line to present my ticket when I came across a very open young woman. We joked about how odd it was for me to use my computer to present the ticket number.

YOUNG WOMAN

You know, you can just write the number down.

PERDIE

Yeah, but I'm too lazy to do that.

Taking a screen shot usually will

suffice unless I can't find the file,

in which case, I fail.

Jen, the young woman later revealed her name, proceeded to tell me that she was a medical student in training who was 6 years into her curriculum. One I revealed my interests, Jen informed me that her boyfriend was an actor so I got his information and shot him an FB message with 8:18's link attached to it. We'll see how that pans out.

Jen, once off the bus was trying to figure out how to get to her boyfriend's place in Harlem. So, remembering my manners of walking women home that were imprinted into my head by mother Perdie, I took the 5-block walk to escort her to the 1,2,3 station by Penn Station.

So I eventually made it home when suddenly, a bunch of NYU filmmakers were shooting outside of my apartment. Why does this ALWAYS happen when I'm sleep deprived? Other filmmakers shooting something near by for me is like a dog drooling over a juicy medium-well cooked steak sitting on the kitchen counter. I just couldn't resist.

I walked up to the pair of directors, a girl and a guy looking about the age of 20 perhaps? Upon offering my free services they directed me over to their production manager and I jumped in. I ended up becoming the boom operator. I noticed that the style of shooting they were using was "shooting for coverage." Not the most powerful shooting style, but it usually saves your ass in post-production.

Anyway, it was a cold night, but fun none-the-less. I told them I might be able to help them with their next scene the next day but I could not make it because I did not want to reschedule my appointment with Yukiko with such short notice. I sent them a message via email, but they have not gotten back to me. I know they are shooting a scene today, I still am offering my services but I guess at this point they can do just fine without my help?

So FINALLY, I went to sleep. Ahhhhhh.....and a good sleep it was...

I got up, went to Barnes and Noble, and then met up with Yukiko. We talked about english words like, "Obligation" and "ain't" and so on.

We were walking down the street when suddenly I was spotted by my unknown enemy. He was waving back and forth in a drunk-like manor between 3 police officers. Suddenly the bold-drunk man started walking towards me, I put my arm across Yukiko, telling her to watch out because I had a bad feeling about this guy. This guy noticed my defending Yukiko and took the backpack he had and attacked me by trying to impale me in the head with the backpack, his attempt failed, as I was able to block the backpack in time, and because the police caught him in the act, they were quick to get back on top of him.

So eventually, Yukiko and I split.

Next day begins.

I head to Payless to buy some sneakers, because the sneakers I had developed holes from my homeless adventures.

Never buy sneakers from Payless in Soho, New York City. Most of the sneakers I had tried on were defective in some way shape or form.

After I had purchased some cheap sneakers I read up some more film at Barnes and Noble. It was a productive day as far as reading was concerned. I then met up with a friend of mine named Lucy. A nice young Korean woman, we went out for Korean food with her friend.

She offered me some Soju alcohol. I complied. And everytime I took as shot, she filled it back up. Lucy wanted Perdie drunk. But I warned Lucy that this is no easy task. Alas, she continued to pour me shots until I had 1 beer and 7 shots of this Soju. But I was still only slightly buzzed. What can I say? The Perdie blood has a Perdie good tolerance for alcohol.

Needless to say, that will be all the alcohol I have for a few weeks, as I tire of the whole drunkenness scene in New York very quickly. It seems like a waste of time. A drink or two is alright once in a while, but I see no good reason for getting wasted. To hook up with a chick? Nah. The kind of girl I'm looking for won't be drinking too much or at all for that matter. I would prefer someone that takes care of themselves and isn't a huge flirt.

Well...I'm getting a bit tired, as it is about 4am now. I'm retiring.

I hope you enjoyed this post as it took me a while to write this one.

peace

- Perdie

Perdie, The Nomad

2009-02-26T00:43:00.000-08:00

I have realized today that I am a Nomad, of the city-type.

Rugid-Perdie, upwards of 10 days without shaving and

desperately in need of a haircut, glances around

30th Street Station in Philadelphia at 3:56am.

Think about it...I have always been a wanderer of cities and towns...

EX: Philadelphia, West Chester, Pottsville, Jim Thorpe, Wayne, Many other towns, and most recently New York City.

I am always in search for cheap food, hot tea, great film books, further life experience/inspiration, learn more in order to make great films, 24 hour cafes, a place to plug in my laptop, and free wireless. My search always leads me on the craziest of single-man adventures! That being one of the main reasons I have started this blog. Just a lot going on these days and these events deserve online documentation.

"Man, I need to shave..."

Something Interesting

I came up with a pretty funny reply to my client today when discussing what my role is as an editor in regard to fixing mistakes and carelessness from the Director of Photography's shooting. I said, "I'm not an editor, I'm just a guy who gets rid of the suck in films."

Yeah, so I realized that I have a lot of thinking-free time when I'm traveling so these blogs are sure to get interesting under these conditions, especially since my general sleep deprivation leads to my lack of censorship of myself and my conscious/sub-conscious thought.

Alright, almost time for me to catch some bus. I better look alive now. Until later!

- Perdie

The Return of a Bum

2009-02-25T21:38:00.000-08:00

Having been through a lot in the past 10 weeks in New York City (Living 4 of them as a bum), I returned to Philadelphia to do some editing work on a short film called, "In Heaven's Court," directed by John Cuie. (my client)

John is a good man...non-judgemental, very passionate about film, very determined, and just recently he has felt the effects of "filmmaking baggage," in other words, the tough times and the shit you go through in order to make a quality film. Talking to him on that level, having been there a few times myself, was perdie cool.

For you see, this industry John and I have thrown ourselves into is a hectic one, and one filled with 95% inflated egos and wannabes. People who don't want to work for the talent, but make up for their shortcomings by inflating their egos and sticking up their noses in the air, refusing to be critiqued without getting themselves personally involved in an analysis. So talking to someone real like John Cuie is perdie refreshing.

There are a few others I can relate to on this level, most of which include people to whom I worked with on my latest film, 8:18. (http://vimeo.com/1940194)

It's a rare, yet fulfilling experience, that really makes you feel like you're not alone after all.

So after a long day of editing, here I am in Center City Philadelphia, (1am) blowing time until I have to bail tomorrow at 7pm. (because that's when my ticket back lets me return to NYC)

I'll be heading to the big "dub-c" (West Chester, PA) in order to hang out with my fellow filmmaker Chrispy and perhaps a couple of others while blowing some time.

Chrispy asked me to appear on West Chester University Studio's tv show tomorrow. I willingly accepted his interested, as being an actor without responsibility of having to shoot can be an absolute blast. We'll see how that plays out.

I was going to rant about how much presumptions from strangers and friends have annoyed me in the past couple of years, mostly because I know what conclusion they have drawn up, but I'm a bit too exhausted to get all "philosophical" and "analytical."

How about uh...ah! Here's something interesting that not many people hear me talk about...

Wouldn't it be interesting to have a solid girlfriend?

Seriously though. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not in desperate need or anything, but I have never in my entire life had a serious relationship. I just don't know the feeling.

I have drug myself from challenge to challenge in my life with only the support of my family and friends. (when they're around) Can you imagine the thrill of being able to meet those challenges with someone right beside you, and vise-versa for the significant other?

Now, don't misunderstand me. I know VERY WELL the limits and problems that a relationship can create, because all of my friends have been through this and have come to me with their problems, but I honestly think I could handle it, even while pursuing my goals. I'm a perdie generous guy, I help people for kicks, I am very passionate, (Don't underestimate Perdie, ladies) and I have utilitarian attitude.

I should be a decent grab for females, but I haven't really been willing to change my personality in order to, "play the game." I think it's bs. Sure there's mutual flirting that should go down, but seriously woman, "get to know me for who I am first!" don't get turned-off or offended right away if I don't hit on you the first time I see you! and don't think I'm hitting on you just because I ask questions like, "What's your endgame?" "What's your ultimate life-goal?" or "What's your passion in life?"

Those questions are questions I ask EVERYONE in order to better understand people in our world. Bitches, I'm not hitting on you!!!!! Just because I am actually a nice guy, (or an original thinker) this does not constitute weakness or desperation on my part. I'm fine single, but that doesn't mean I don't get curious about the other side of the spectrum once in a while.

And regardless of my current 10 days I have gone without shaving (too lazy/occupied to buy another razor) I am unwilling to conform to the Hipster physical lifestyle in order to more easily attract women who are into "artsy" guys. Shit...If I have to dress like that in order to tell women I am an artist, I'd rather be like, "Yo! Come here! Let me tell you about a ladies man named Matt Perdie" in the 3rd person...yes, IN THE 3RD PERSON. haha

Side Note

I actually like imitating over-confident or obnoxious people from time to time. About 95% of people who I come across realize this, but you would be surprised at the few who look at me with judging, scolding eyes.

Nothing against hipsters, I know some cool ones who just happen to dress like that. I just don't roll like that. Perdie don't play that. No compromise.

Alright...enough ranting. Time to do something productive. Good night ladies and gentlemen!

- Perdie

Perdie Saves Wall St.

2009-02-25T20:24:00.001-08:00

I almost forgot to mention something that went down about 1 week ago.

My one roommate, Camelia, works for a pretty big Law firm on Wall St. She is about the 2nd in command at the company in New York. As a result of a tough economic recession, Camelia gets a call at about 1-2am every night from her boss on how they're going to get through the next day.

Her boss has been very worried about the thin line of money they have left, yet he refused to actually look at the balance in fears of having a literal heart attack. Because of this Camelia works literally 10-12 hours a day, almost all 7 days a week in order to try and prevent disaster.

So last Wednesday night, I'm laying in my room when the room next door (Camelia's) emits a ringing phone tone. Camelia answers and I woke up and began to roll over to go back to sleep while they are talking until I heard something about their balance going into the negatives. This got me concerned, wishing there was something I can help with in order to keep a business from collapsing. So once she got off the phone and went out into the main room, I asked her exactly what is wrong.

We sat down and she spoke about how her company is in the negatives of balance by thousands of dollars.

"Oh Shit!" is right...

Camelia explained that this is due to over a hundred clients who have not paid their owed balances. After talking about how much work and stress she is put through, Camelia asked me a question: "Can you help?"

"Sure! Let's fix this mess," I replied.

She was slightly shocked, to say the least. At 3am, I agreed to come into her office at 7:30am in order to get a 30 minute brief before getting to work. (I would not except money)

She set me up with a list of about 140 clients who have not paid their balances. My goal was to literally be a bill collector and negotiate settlements on their behalf. I took credit card numbers, called tons of people, and argued with many.

In six hours I had called about 100 clients and either left messages or informed them of their owed amounts. I made some money for the company, but because this untied Camelia's hands, she was able to land other more immediate negotiations that got the company out of debt in 1 day! And many other people are continuing to call back in order to reach settlements to this day.

Later in the day Camelia returned home and told her other roommate that:

"Oh my god, thanks to Perdie, I was able to make $10,000 for the company!"

"Perdie came into work with you?" (Acting like she didn't know when she actually did)

"Yeah, he called like 100 people for us!"

"That's odd."

(pause)

Camelia then went along with the critique.

"Um, yeah...I asked him to help out as a joke, and he was like, yeah! So he came in!"

"Mmmmhmm. Well that's nice."

The victory ceremony wasn't the best, as the adjustment in my body clock was pretty radical = Zzzzzzz's, but from what I was told, business' on Wall St. were falling left and right, almost all completely going broke.

I don't need credit, a reward, or even appreciation for jumping in to help. What matters is that the end justifies the means. If I was even able to contribute a little bit to the saving of one business in the financial capital of the United States of America, then it's well worth it.

Your main man,

- Perdie

Adaptations of New York

2009-02-21T23:28:00.000-08:00

Now that I am in the city, I am beginning to relax a bit more. My sudden film outbursts that have arisen due to the fact that my focus is returning. (since my living situation is almost completely squared away)

Day by day I have been diving into various film books mainly on directing and editing. It's only been about a week since I have been reading 3-6 hours each day and already I am feeling the power from that knowledge.

Did I mention the place where I go to read is Barnes & Noble? But it's not like the others I've been to, this one is 4 stories tall! And each floor is Huuuuuuuuuuuge! That means crazy amounts of film books! woooooooo!

In other news, my final fantasy live action spoof has just gotten over 100,000 hits! Wooooo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGDq-Qdmi84

As for my next film, I have been jumping back and forth between two really good stories. It's a tough decision, but I think I am going to go the comedy route. This pre-production is going to go down very soon. I think I'll be ready to begin scheduling at about the time spring hits.

Oh! Today I ran into the Jane, Thess, and Hanna trio! I was heading over to my favorite cafe when they were walking into a bar nearby. I hung out with the gang. A couple of them were in Miami recently and the others have been working their butts off as au pairs.

Jane had informed me that her house-mother had been diagnosed with cancer, but apparently she recently had an operation done, so things are looking optimistic on that end.

Hanna went snowboarding with her house-family recently. It seems like she had a good time but apparently she had to sleep in the same room as the whole family! (6 total) I'm sure that was interesting to say the least.

Thess was in Miami, hitting the beaches I bet. Man...I could use some time in Miami...I was jealous when she told me that.

Oh! You guys might be interested in this...I was on craigslist, in the activities section, looking for running partners in my part of NYC when I came across an ad for this Japanese woman trying to get better at speaking english. All she wants to do is have someone to talk to once or twice a week in order to improve on her English since she can only BARELY speak english. So I thought, why the hell not? I signed up. We'll be meeting up on Tuesday evening to start chatting it up.

Not too long ago I had a great experience in my parent's restaurant. There was a young japanese woman there who I starting talking to, but I realized she knew very very little english. So I made a sport of it. And in 30 minutes I had a lot more fun talking to her than I do with most english speaking people. Maybe it's just the challenge? Either way, that event is what inspired me to make this recent decision.

I also believe that if I am going to be a great filmmaker, I have to understand as many cultures and personalities as humanly possible. I also need to build up my resume of life experiences so I can have more and more to write/direct about. Plus, I could use someone to talk to once in a while, on a consistent basis, in order to broaden my own way of thinking.

Tomorrow, I am going to try and make another one of my "Editing With Perdie" episodes. These videos are basically intended to show new and upcoming filmmakers and editors various strategies to apply to their edits to improve their cutting.

Here is my latest and 1st one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DavZ3P8JPSo

Check it out, you might just learn something!

Alright. It's 3:30am, I need to begin my walk home and retire for the night so I can read like mad tomorrow.

Stay safe everyone.

- Perdie

The New Problem

2009-02-14T16:50:00.000-08:00

Heads-up - I decided to post a short video clip with the visual title to this blog in a corny episodic manor. I will change this up once in a while for kicks.

This past week has been interesting, stressful, and eye-opening.

In many regards.

In the context of work, I had a couple of minor edits to clean up and 1 major. This major edit actually was the edit of one of my co-workers.

It was a few days that went by under her editing before she came to me. She then asked me if I wanted to go for a walk to grab some tea for a break at work. Tea? I'm there! No question.

Apparently this young woman was using this tea-time in order to get out her frustrations out about the edit. She just couldn't find the creative direction needed for the piece. She was also dealing with at least 10-12 hours of completely raw footage and was expected to cut a finished 11 minute piece out of it.

A little background about this editor, she has very good instincts about when and where to cut, her weaknesses truly lie in her motivational confidence and a slight lack of technical knowledge in Final Cut Pro. These are both things that can be remedied with a little bit of a faith-in-yourself-booster and some rough n' tough work.

I knew this situation was time sensitive so I sat down the the young woman and took a look at her edit and what she had done thus far, but we did it behind closed doors, without knowledge of the boss knowing.

Side Note

I am trying to acquire a permanent position at this company. This is why it would benefit me to let the boss know that this was going down.

My philosophies and ethics come first, I am a utilitarian, so I felt that the best thing to do was help her out by giving her advice that would make her a more independently stronger editor.

Utilitarianism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/utilitarian

The idea that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its contribution to overall utility: that is, its contribution to happiness or pleasure as summed among all persons. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome: put simply, the ends justify the means.

We had spent a few hours discussing how to edit using your "gut" feeling. I knew this woman had enough training to have great instincts so my goal was simply to awaken her hidden potential and get her to act on it.

To someone who doesn't understand the art that goes into editing, this may seem like we're putting way too much importance into the process (making this whole explanation seem almost pretentious) but I insist that editing is often perceived this way because when it's good, it's hard to consciously notice, but when it's great, it's invisible. Very few arts are as subtle as editing in this manor.

We would come across an edit and I would ask her what action verb(s) she would use to describe the emotion she wants the audience to experience per section of the video. I would NOT tell her.

for example: If I have to edit a video about a dog named Spot is marking his territory on a fire hydrant, (nothing else existing outside of this action in the story) I would simply say the action verb to us would be, "To Gross-Out." And you start your approach by editing this section in accordance to that action verb or "narrative beat."

but if instead Spot happened to pee on Pete (our supposed main character) while he was trying to ask a young lady out, it might be more appropriate if the narrative beat (which we are coming up with using an action verb) were "To Embarrass."

While promoting this method I found that she was beginning to cut her shots in a much more effective manor, and she was doing it without me telling her where to cut.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

...not quite

You see, after the talk we had I had found out that she only had until the end of afternoon to finish the edit, leaving less than 2 hours for her to finish. Not even close to the amount of time needed to finish.

Under these circumstances I am tempted to take over and try and finish the piece super fast with a trance-like speed cut simply to help her and for the simple thrill and challenge of it, but I had my own work load to do. Besides I knew that the only way these methods of editing would stick with her is by her using them immediately after discussing them.

I came back at the beginning of this week to realize that I had been given the task to edit this piece instead of the young woman. The boss had told me that "She had 4 days to do this and she didn't do it."

I attempted to defend her, "That's a lot of new footage for her look over and begin cutting. It would take at least a day or two just to review all of the footage she had." (which by the way was SEMI-organized.)

"But that's no excuse."

I knew that the boss was not willing to discuss the ethics and statistics of the matter and furthering a defense for this young woman would only further agitate him, not my job. So I shut up and got to work.

I told the young woman that I did not want to take work away from her and that I would rather she edit it, but she insisted that she would be given other work in it's place anyway. Fair enough.

I just finished the edit today and it only needed 1 revision. Woohoo! (Everyone's edits always have revisions made to their cuts based on what is perceived as the most likely to be liked by our clients. These revisions are requested by our boss, the creative director of the company)

So that's what's going on with the work side of things.

As for my living situation, it's going great! Except for the fact that I am a lot more allergic to cats than I had originally thought.

I agreed to move in with one of my roommates even though she had cats. I saw the desperation on her end for a roommate and I knew of my own lack of desire to live homelessly again, haha. I have had a bad reaction or two in the past, but that was in extreme cases, (being exposed to 9 cats at a time) and all of my other reactions were mild.

This roommate had also persisted to tell me that she knew people who were exposed to her cats who were allergic but had very little, to no reaction. I knew for a fact that I didn't have any allergic reaction to some cats, so I figured that her cats may be in that category.

I felt it would be a good idea for me to get some exposure to these cats, but due to her living situation, that wasn't possible for me to do beforehand.

So I took the risk. And I bit the worm, haha. What I did not know was the permanent effects that allergies can have on your health. Possible Asthma????? What??!?!?!?!?!?! No way! I was unaware of this one.

I tried having an analytical brainstorming session with the owner of the cats, but that was highly unsuccessful because of the amount of emotional investment she had in the cats. I had told her that we will try steps of reducing the allergies.

Before I could explain my approach or was even able to ask her anything that she was willing or not willing to do she immediately grew defensive and insisted that she refused to have her cats stay in only her room. O.K. totally understandable...

but when I said, "We're not at that point of discussion yet," she assumed that I would later try to persuade her to lock her cats in her room. This was NOT my intention at all.

My pure honest intention was to take steps in reduce the allergens starting with the least interfering to the cats to the most. When it got to the point where she did not want to compromise her cats' freedoms anymore I was not going to argue the point. At that point I would simply leave the apartment no argument.

Unfortunately I had to paddle threw storms of interrupting outbursts from the roommate before I could get to that point. Though I took the opportunity to see if she was open to the idea of restricting the cats to only the 2nd floor down the road. Of course she wasn't.

I mean who can blame her really. Her attachment to these cats is like to that of her own possible children. It can be extremely difficult to have a conversation to someone about something they are emotionally invested in unless they have training in isolating their emotions from their productive debates. (The kind of training that is absolutely necessary when it comes to the kind of teamwork needed for filmmaking)

So I will try a few methods here and there but ultimately, I cannot live in this apartment if the allergies are going to keep hitting me like this. (itchy eyes, sneezing, continuous chain-sneezing, shortness of breath)

By the way, the apartment is in an awesome location, downtown, right by the water. 2 blocks from wall st.

so yeah, that has been my life these days.

Damnit people! All I want to do is lock down a solid job and steady living situation in New York City! Once these things are done I can finally give my films the full attention they need!!!

I'd like to see some comments on here once in a while.

Until next time, take care ladies and gents.

- Perdie

Strangers and Creepers

2009-02-03T17:34:00.000-08:00

In my time here in New York I have gained an appreciation for those who have prioritized their own humanity over their fear of creeps or malevolent strangers, but I certainly can't blame people for prioritizing the latter.

Within a week my friend Meghan found herself being stalked by a grand total of 3 creeps!

It would seem woman have a choice when it comes to strangers.

1. Either play it safe and act mean or put on the expressionless "dead pan face" in order to scare creepy men (or woman per chance) away and risk meeting someone who's just outgoing.

2. Or be friendly to everyone and risk being stalked or annoyed by Creeps.

Both sides have extreme negatives and positives really, but I think what's important here is developing a fine balance between the two, though I would have to say woman should lean more towards the 2nd choice and it has nothing to do with creeps or dating.

If you go around carrying around a pissed look everywhere you go in the city everyday on the way to your 9-5 job, you'll actually start to feel yourself becoming the expression that you are posing in order to increase your defense. In other words, you will become a more derogitory person, not to mention the fact that if a majority of people choose No.1, things will start looking a lot more depressing than they really are.

Smile! Restore a little bit of faith in your neighbor's humanity!

I know I'm sounding like some crazy optimist...well, actually maybe I am. But I'm a prepared optimist! Prepared!

How It Is

My outlook on things, I go into each situation hoping for the best, but still physically and mentally preparing for the worst. This way I don't suffer from the psychological roller coaster of situations as much. Does this mean I am less emotionally expressive then the average person? Sometimes.

With a more optimistic view on strangers, these

awesome German women met the homeless Perdie!

We had even gained another friend named Ghyda (from Lebanon)

along the way! She spotted our craziness and asked

if she could spend the remainder of the new year with us!

We gladly accepted.

It would seem that there is a balance that is necessary to enjoy life and stay safe/stress free both simultaneously. Our healthy diets are structured in the same way. You always hear about how the best diets for our bodies are ones with a balance of each food group. No matter what you eat, if you eat too much of it, you'll suffer the consequences, whether it's Sugar, Fat, Salt, Caffeine, Fruit, and yes, even vegetables.

Our actions can be examined in the same way. If you go around greeting EVERY stranger with a smile, you might meet some really nice genuinely honest people, but you are almost sure to meet some real wack-jobs. On the other hand if you close yourself emotionally off from the world, you'll be a bit safer but you'll also probably kill the potential of meeting cool people randomly.

It's your call, you decide where your balance should be!

Oh?! You wanna know what's up with me these days? Ah, nothing but the usual. Dealing with crazy numb-nut realtors and finally locking down this apt. FINALLY.

Also working on some PSA edits for black history month at work. So far so good, but there's a serious lack of footage so cutting these videos can sometimes be as agitating as a car alarm going off in a neighborhood full of talkative dogs, but that's film!

Also stay tuned, I'm going to put together another "Editing With Perdie" video very soon where I talk about creative editing strategies to maximize the awesomeness of your videos.

Peace out everyone, stay safe!

- Perdie

Time of Fulfillment

2009-01-27T13:50:00.000-08:00

It noticed that I had a lot of trouble being the least bit creative when I was crashing under my parent's roof. Two reasons:

1. The guilt of living off of their tab made me feel less confident and relaxed with my creativity.
2. The area I was in made me feel like I was isolated from humanity.

This was something I could not let stand in the way of my ultimate goal to become a famed director in order to have the ability to inspire millions and promote good behavior and maybe potentially restore a little bit of faith in the fellow man (women too!). This is my reason for moving to New York City and attempting to find an apartment.

Now the time is upon me. I am only days from moving into a good steady apartment. Once this desire is fulfilled, I will be free to go almost full force into filmmaking again.

It will be me, and 3 or 4 other women.

Lucky me right? haha.

Actually I'm used to living with lots of women. Many a time my family has taken in men or woman into our house who needed a place to crash at. Plus I lived in a place in Philadelphia for about 6 months with two other women.

Basically, one woman, Meghan, and Jenny found her, and another found her! Kind of a chain reaction kinda thing I suppose.

This should be interesting to see how this all turns out.

I'll let you people know if anything exciting happens.

When Life Begins - Part II

2009-01-25T12:49:00.000-08:00

Finally, it was time to get some REAL sleep. A real bed and a real temporary home.

At the last second I had signed up for a one week rental for $200. Yeah...kind of expensive but it's NYC right?

Well I met up with the young woman. She was a short asian with yellow hair equipped with a few freckles on each side. Nice at first, she even let me stay one day before I actually handed her the money. But there's always a catch.

She was very very religious. So religious that she talked to me about how great god is for 5.5 hours!!!! I wasn't able to get to bed until 4am the 1st night! And I needed to be up by 8am! I think I had more sleep once or twice when I was actually homeless!

Now those who know me know that I am not a very religious person, but I respect the religious faiths of others. I believe that it's not what you believe that's important, it's what you do with what you believe that really counts.

I stressed this many times. I also stressed the fact that I personally am not a big fan of some higher power taking credit for my successes or even my failures. Yet this woman continued to speak of God non-stop. Heck, she even claimed that her soulmate was a famous celebrity, to whom she was currently having issues with his moral behavior with dating young girls. I withheld ay curiosity I had for specifics on that one.

The last night I was supposed to stay at her apt, I texted her at about 10pm, but she did not reply, not at all. The whole night, no replies. Luckily I was hanging out with the German girls that night and they had a friend in the city who didn't mind my being there.

Finally, two days later, after I had gotten into a new temporary place, I had returned to fetch my bathing products that have been left there. Upon retrieval of the bathing products I realized that more than half of my shampoo was gone, as wek as about half of my cheap AXE bodywash!!! Noooooooooooo!!!!

I was pissed, not because I only had so much shampoo and bodywash left, but because she disrespected and compromised her own religion that she blabbed on about for countless hours each night!!! What the hell is the purpose of religion if you're going to use it to hide behind? "Thou Shall Not Steal?" Ugh...complete lack of integrity!

One of the things that ticks me off is any lack of integrity with people. I understand that certain circumstances arise that can completely justify a negative action or an action that is different than the one originally planned, but when these circumstances are non-existent, the lack of integrity goes strait to my nerves.

Anywho, let's move on.

When I was searching for another place to stay, I put an ad out on craigslist searching for a room in an apartment. I put my Myspace and Facebook on there to reassure people that I was a normal, decent guy. Soon enough, I received a reply from a filmmaker.

Her name was Meghan. Upon our first conversation, we realized how oddly similar we were with regards to our personalities and our priorities in life. We are both starting a new life to break into our industries, and we both sought an escape from our past lives to start fresh.

She was living all the way in Chicago and was trying to move to NYC, but she needed a little help from someone who was already in NYC to check out places and find a place that wouldn't require too much of a financial burden.

Soon enough I found a place for us, unfortunately, it would require us to share a room. I don't really mind so much and she didn't seem to mind too much either, but she is a woman and I am a man.

Meghan decided to take a huge risk, staying in the same room as a complete stranger!! Meghan has had a history of having to fence with creeps before so she was highly on guard. She believed that if she trusted her instincts that she wouldn't be disappointed, so alas she came to NYC and left her previous life behind. She also had the hard choice of turning her long-term relationship into a long distance relationship, hard on any person.

My goal was to make her feel as safe as humanly possible. I told her strait out that I cannot make her trust me, anything I say will make her examine the validity of my statements. She would just have to give it a little bit of time and let my actions speak for themselves.

Another character has actually popped up. A young woman named Jenny. She's a professional who works in the PR industry. Jenny is seeking to escape her life too! Jenny has had some bad experiences to say the least. She is trying to get out of her living situation ASAP and into a new apartment.

Jenny had found Meghan and was struck by her awesomeness factor, who was struck by my awesomeness factor. So Meghan and I had left to meet up with Jenny. Jenny was as cool and level-headed as her reputation. We have all collectively decided that we need to get an apartment together.

Only days passed until we found a great spot in the financial district of downtown Manhattan, and for only $600 a month for each person! I remember paying that much for a place in a small Philadelphian suburban town in Pennsylvania!

The only problem is that we are missing 1 roommate. We are seeking to fill the gap. I have found a couple of contenders but I'm waiting to hear back from them.

Ahhhhhh...It's good to get all of that expository information out man...phew...

So that's the basics of everything that has happened in the past couple of months, well besides shooting an interview with a new up and coming musical artist named Gabriella Cilmi for Media-place. I never heard of her until recently, but apparently she recently hit number 1 on the charts!

I have to say that she's quite the professional for only being 17. She knows the right things to say, even when asked awkward questions by my fellow co-workers...oy, I won't get into that one.

Today was my first official day of break, besides writing this blog that is. Tomorrow I'll be jumping back onto the filmmaking research wagon, and I'll be sure to let you know what I pick up from these books.

I'm also scheduled to meet, with Jenny, our potential 4th roommate tomorrow. Hopefully it all goes smoothly.

I'm signing out for now, more coming soon people.

- Perdie

When Life Begins

2009-01-24T19:23:00.000-08:00

Perdie express his excitement for his brand new blog while dining at The Esperanto Cafe

I have recently started to believe that life doesn't truly begin until you get through all of your schooling, for you see, school prepares you for your life and your career. Once you get out, everything you've learned gets put to the test.

It's been a long time. But I've finally decided to throw this together.

You see I used to make these video blogs called The Perdie Channel, but I believe this is an easier way to show you the life of Matthew Perdie.

A lot has happened since I left Pennsylvania, let me bring you up to speed.

A couple of months ago I just couldn't take it anymore. I was living the starving artist's lifestyle, commuting between Jim Thorpe, PA and Philadelphia trying to just get one good breakthrough. The problem was, I wasn't in the area to do it. In Philadelphia, I didn't have a solid place to stay, so I had to stay with friends, and I had to contribute money to my residence there as well as keep food in my stomach. But it seemed every time I visited Philadelphia for a quick freelance gig, I soon lost the money to staying in Philadelphia or essential needs.

On the flip side, when I was in Jim Thorpe (where my family lives) there were absolutely no film/video job opportunities. So it was either have no money or have no connections/work. Besides that, I just couldn't stand the idea of living off of someone else's hard work, even if it was my family.

Once I finished closing the book on my last film, "8:18," (http://vimeo.com/1940194), I had decided that I needed to start living on my own. The problem was that Philadelphia didn't have much in the realm of full time video editing jobs. (even though Philadelphia is an excellent place to shoot in)

The industry is increasing in Philadelphia rapidly, it's just not quite there yet as far as consistent work is concerned.

In pursuit of my own life, free of having to rely on the grateful housing of friends and family, I decided to fervently search for work in New York City. Deep down, inside of me, I knew it was my next home, as I am originally from the state of new york.

History

I was born in Port Jefferson Station, NY on long island. I was raised there until I was 13. That's when my family and I moved to Jim Thorpe, PA, which is in the poconos. (April 1st, 1999)

I had a desire to meet people, to see the world, (in an attempt to expand my creative horizons) yet I obviously didn't have the money to travel the world, so what better substitute than the world's largest melting pot?

After a decent amount of searching I found decent, consistent freelance editing work at this company called Media-Place. At this company I would make documentaries, PSA's, and other 60 second spots. It's a lot of fun there, but it has it's complications, like all jobs do.

We'll get into those, later.

So I tried out for the job, and got it. It wasn't full time, but it had the possibility of becoming full time, so why not?

Only one problem. I didn't have a place to stay at all.

Actually make that two problems, I didn't have much money either. I wouldn't be able to even afford to pay for a sublet for a month. After traveling via bus for a few weeks I had finally begun full time freelance work for Media-Place. This meant only one thing.

If I were to maintain the job and survive in NYC, I had to live homeless.

I did have some friends in NYC, but I would much rather not live off of them like I had to in Philadelphia, that gave me about as much self-accomplishment as there are Doritos in an inflated 99 cent doritos bag. No to mention, it's not right at all to put them on the spot.

I had one gracious offer, but she lived a 45minute train ride away. Taking the train everyday was a method I literally couldn't afford.

I had told everyone at the time that I had found a place. I didn't want anyone to worry about my homelessness. It's really not as bad as homeless people had it 50 or 100 years ago, so I considered myself lucky in that regard.

I went through a lot at this point, and learned a great deal about humanity in general. Here's a few of the things I went through.

- Many sleep attempts at Starbucks, many unsuccessful

- Discovering Polyphasic sleep techniques

- Sleeping on trains

- Sleeping at bus stations

- Developing a sharp diet based on essentials to keep immune system up while freezing my ass off. (peanuts, apples, powerbars, cereal, $1 vitamin water ripoffs, and bagels {have complex carbs perfect for breaking down and using protein}

- Discovering the greatness of $1 pizza and $1 hot dogs.

- The Usage of hand blow dryers in Starbucks to dry clothes to prevent hypothermia when I got wet from the rain or snow.

While living my homeless lifestyle I had met a gracious young woman named Nari. She worked for Starbucks and was attending college in the area. She had been married and divorced and had been through a lot in the last few years.

This 26 year old woman really took me in. On multiple occasions, without me asking, she provided me food and tons of green tea, and most importantly, someone to talk to. She had even snuck me into her own house (where her mother and brother live) so that I could get 8 hours of sleep for once after 3 weeks of getting about 2 hours or less of sleep a day. That was interesting because I had to stay at her house without her mother or brother knowing at all!

This woman even did my laundry!

The other great thing was that I met these 3 German girls, all of whom are awesome people. All three of them are Au Pairs in the United States for the year and consistently travel to the city. I had met them while editing at Starbucks.

Hanna, Thess, and Jane were all enjoying a nice coffee break when 4 guys started hitting on them hardcore. I was somehow included in their picture that was taken and our conversation developed from that.

I met up with the German girls for New Years Eve for the classic Times Square visit, and it was a blast. Even though we were amongst the crowds for 8 hours we didn't waste a single second. We danced, we sung, we even set up a limbo stick and got everyone around us involved. We had even attracted a young woman from Lebanon because of our mass randomness.

Sleeping at the port authority on New Years. The German

girls only slept near me until they had to bail that night.

These friends have greatly contributed to my physical and mental survival in New York City.

To meet people with such an appreciation for overall humanity, and with a high level of generosity, it really gives me a sense of hope.

I can't even begin to express how lonely some of those homeless nights were. At certain times of the night it feels like you're the only living person in a cold 10 degree void of nothingness. Like you don't exist. It was a strange feeling, a cold feeling that tore into me. There were nights when I didn't speak a single word.

I believe the mind is like a muscle. When you work out, you damage your muscles, but when your muscles recover properly, they become stronger. Our minds are the same way, and when you realize this and experience it for yourself, you'll see it's power.

When your morale, or faith in yourself, is weakened it can tear up your self-confidence if you let it, but if you recover from it, you're mind and mentality will become stronger.

It was when I welcomed this homelessness as a challenge that I became immune to the depressing or degrading factor of it. I knew that as long as I knew I was doing this to break into what I love, I would never regret it.

A Moment of Reflection

My endgame is to provoke inspiration in millions of people across the country and even the world. I have chosen film to be the tool that I use to achieve this goal. You see, I don't know if there is a god, although I have experienced some very coincidental situations, so I have decided that I do not want to spend my life preparing for the afterlife, instead I will spend my life preparing everyone else for THEIR lives and the lives of those after them. I won't live forever, but my ideals can be passed on.

I do NOT want to tell people what's good and what's bad. That's for each and every other person to decide for themselves, I cannot change that. My goal is to inspire people to take action in their lives. Through life, and having a desire to see and understand the world (without hinderance from the cloud of the news media) I have faith that most people will end up pretty decent. They just must keep an open mind free of preliminary stereotypes.

About 2 weeks ago, the homelessness ended.

I had gotten my 1st check from work finally and I immediate got a place to stay in for 1 week.

Little did I know what I was getting myself into!!!

to be continued...