Monday April 14th, 2008
"Twenty One" premiere
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Despite the unfortunate coincidence of having the same title as a new film with mega Hollywood people behind it, my new short film "Twenty One" (That's right, I SPELL it out, it's not just a number! ) will have it's world premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival. I'm thrilled of course and I'm planning on attending.
More to come on the rather sever lack of posts... and a few other updates soon.
-JH
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Tuesday November 13th, 2007
Twenty One
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 Greetings! Yes, it's been a long, long while but I felt it was time to dispell all those nasty rumors about the near fatal brawl I was in with Bill Brasky and poke my head out of the sand. I'm alive and he's walking with a limp. There!
All kidding aside, there's so much that's happened since the last post that it's nearly impossible to cram it all in here so I'll just go down the list: I got married, I went to London and Italy, my last film played the Bend Film Festival, I signed with an agent/production company for commercials and music videos, started producing another animated short with a good friend of mine (along with Humouring the Fates of course) and I made another short film called "Twenty One" which might just be the best thing I've ever done. Time will tell, I but I feel really good about it and I suppose that's what's most important.
It all seems much less dramatic and involved when it's put into such simple terms but let's face it, that's quite a bit. In even more simple terms I'll say that I'm totally thrilled about all of it and I've been busy writing treatments for videos, sorting through photo's of pasta and old ruins, spending time with my new wife and entering my film into a few festivals. I also figured out what I want my first feature film to be, should that ever happen, but I can't really talk about it because, you know, people are god damn thieves! But that's that. Check out the little links above for some more info. You can also watch a trailer for the short and see some pictures in the other sections of this site.
It's that time of year again, being when all of the good films come out, so I've been out playing a little catch up. Saw "Control" and I'm really looking forward to the new Coen Brothers movie. I'll be back again next month for the traditional end of the year round up so check back then.
Happy non specific bird eating celebration time!
-JPH
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Sunday April 8th, 2007
Puce Moment
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 Despite the ( as usual) long period between news posts here, I’m afraid I must be somewhat brief and merely taunt you with the prospect of another, longer post sometime in the near future. I’ve been busy though and there are a few new things to see up here on the site.
First off, I just finished a new video for the excellent art metal group Goes Cube. It’s a bit of a departure for me but, admittedly, an intentional one. Regardless, I think it came our pretty well considering the usual constraints of time and budget. I can say that I really loved shooting black and white film. I hope I can do it again soon.
Secondly, I'm proud to announce that my little short film, "Look Alive, Mr. Kline" has been accepted to the Atlanta Film Festival. I'll be attending a screening in April. The other film I worked on this year, Kuro Kumo, continued its festival run at SXSW last month and will move on to Seattle, San Francisco and Miami later in the year.
Lastly, a word about Sundance/Slamdancne. As some of you may have read in my last entry, I made the trip out to Park City in January to support Kuro Kumo at the Slamdance film festival. There're a few pictures from the trip for you to see, but I’m afraid all I can say is that it was really, truly worth going to. It was illuminating, fascinating, and more fun then I could possibly put into words. I lucked out with some great condo mates, saw a few of the best shorts I think I’ve ever seen (Check out Death to the Tinman and Dad), meet a lot of really nice people who have become fast friends of mine and just had a plain old good time. If you ever have the chance and are lucky enough to go in support of a movie at either festival, don't hesitate. It’s something every film fan should do at least once.
And one more thing... If you haven't yet purchased the recently released Films of Kenneth Anger-Vol.1 DVD set,  I highly recommend that you do. Film restoration is alive and well and what they've done with those films is truly a miracle. Go get it immediately!
More to come...
-JPH
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Sunday December 31st, 2006
One Step Closer to the Inevitable
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 Another year, another year. And not a bad one at all, I might add. This year, I did a bunch of things I’ve been meaning to do for a long, long time. I made another short film and I sent it out into the world, I started taking pictures again on a regular basis, I watched a lot of old movies I had never seen before. I quit my job, went freelance as a Director/Editor and ended up doing much better then before. I celebrated my Dad’s 80th birthday and my little brothers engagement. Yes, there were a lot of really wonderful things about this year…which immediately makes me suspect that lucky 2007 is going to be awful. Or maybe ten times better…
A quick bit of news: I am going to Utah in January for the Slamdance Film Festival. Okay, don’t get excited now. My film did not get in to either of the big Park city festivals. But my good friend Jesse’s (from Humoring the Fates) animated short film; Kuro Kumo was invited to play Slamdance and since I was one of the producers I get to go west anyway. I’m pretty excited about it as its something I’ve always wanted to do. It’s also really, really expensive to go… and there’s so much to do to prepare for our screenings before we leave…. and I’m taking a few copies of my movie just in case. I have a very good feeling about it all though. It seems like the right thing to do at the right time to do it and I think it’s going to be good for all of us.
It also looks like there’s going to be a few more music videos coming up soon. I’ve been talking to some new friends and a few old ones and things are progressing. I only did one in 2006 as opposed to 5 last year so it’ll be good to get back into them again. As always, I certainly want to try and make these video pieces better then they were before. That’s always the goal at least. My new M.O. for music videos is: “Don’t rush!” and to quote one of my favorite movies, “Let’s win, before we’re dancing at the end of a rope, without music.”
With that, here’s a list of my favorite films of 2006. I have to say; there really were a lot of excellent movies this year, way more then last year. A lot of films that were really challenging, really interesting, really provocative, modern films. I think it’s safe to say that there might be a new wave of cinema upon us; that the visual and tonal language of movies is slowly changing. In my opinion, this year was progress in action and it was like breathing fresh air to see some of these movies. That sounds sappy, but it really was wonderful to see that all the little changes that we’ve been seeing in the medium throughout the years are becoming big ones.
That’s enough with the pontificating. Here’s the list.
JAKE’S TOP FILMS OF THE YEAR 2006
Inland Empire (I’d like to go out on a limb and say this may be the film of the decade.)
Old Joy
Marie Antonette
Mutual Appreciation
Half Nelson
The Departed
Borat
HONORABLE MENTION
The Fountain
The Prestige
Casino Royal
A Scanner Darkly
Volver
A Prairie Home Companion
Well, that’s it for me and that’s it for 2006. Happy New Year to you and yours and let’s make 2007 one for the books.
-JPH
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Wednesday November 22nd, 2006
Hiatus=over
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 Look at that, just look. Over four months without an update. I believe this is a new personal record.
What can I say? I’ve been busy. Deciding to go freelance again is the best thing I ever did. Most importantly my short film is finished. I mean FINISHED, DONE, OUT THE DOOR, COMPLETE-O. So now, of course, we’re trying to figure out what the hell to do with it. Unfortunately, figuring out what to do with it means I can’t put it up here in it’s entirety yet as some folks won’t show it if it’s already on-line. There’s a trailer up in the film section though, so go take a look.
One other exciting thing about the film is that, in addition to Au Revoir Simone, we have graciously been granted use of the music of Andrew Bird. If you haven’t heard him, well, you really should. Special thanks needs to be paid to the great people over at Righteous Babe records and his manager Andrea Troolin (and of course Andrew Bird himself) for making this happen. (Thanks guys!)
More exciting news in MTV land, Dirty On Purpose is going to be hosting MTV2’s subterranean show on December 10th and will (finally) be premiering the No Radio video. It’s going to be surreal (not to mention hilarious!) to see a bunch of my friends on national TV, not to mention on the kind of show I used to watch all the time as a kid. Somebody, please, please tape this for me.
Let’s see, what else? The Tom Waits show in Atlanta was well, Magical. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a show where people were literally hanging on a performers every move, word and sound. And who could blame them? He hadn’t played Atlanta since 1978! It was probably the most diverse mix of people I’ve ever seen at a concert. Young people, guys old enough to be my grandfather, guys who look like they just robbed someone, everyone. Just before the show, while waiting in line in the Men’s room, a 50 something, very southern greaser kind of guy turned to me and said, “I got a look at the sound board and I saw the set list. He’s playing stuff from Blue Valentine.” Literally every guy standing at the urinals immediately turned around and said, almost in unison “Really? He is?” That about sums it up.
Also, There’s a few new photo’s up in groups one and two… and I keep having this reoccurring dream…
 Santa Clause, The Easter Bunny, Saint Valentine and me all meet up and take the subway to the house of a friend of mine. We break down the door with this elaborate gold staff the Easter Bunny is carrying and finding him sitting on his sofa in his (tight-y white-y) underwear watching Faulty Towers. Saint Valentine, in a very un-saintly way, grabs him, throws him to the floor, and starts pummeling him mercilessly. The rest of us join in, kicking the crap out of the poor guy, all the while Santa chanting “Ho ho ho!” over and over again. Then the Easter Bunny throws my friend out the window and we all laugh and high five and leave to get delicious nachos and beer down the street. It’s bizarre, because I don’t have any bad feelings for this person in real life, yet I always wake up feeling really happy and with a big smile on my face. I’ve had this dream, the exact same one, about 5 times now. I feel like I should take this friend to dinner and apologize or something.
Well that’s probably enough for now. I will try (emphasis on try) to post again soon as I’d like to put up my annual top films of the year list and what have you. Happy Turkey day!
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Thursday July 13th, 2006
Hang On St. Christopher
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 In an incredible streak of pure, blind luck, I scored a ticket to see Tom Waits play in Atlanta Georgia. I still can't believe it.
He's definitely my favorite singer/band/musician of all time and I've never seen him live. He's only playing 8 cities in the US, all in the south. It all just came together as I'm due in Florida for my Dad's 80th Birthday the same week. So I'll see Tom, then ride back to FLA with my friend Mindy (Who I now owe my first born child to) who grabbed the ticket for me. This kind of thing NEVER happens to me, I am NEVER this lucky, so I'm so totally excited I'm jumping out of my pants. I can't wait!!
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Thursday July 13th, 2006
Dirty on Purpose and Au Revoir Simone on You Hear it First
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 Remember "You Hear it First"? That segment of MTV news that talks about up and coming bands? Were you once a teenager who sat around watching 120 minutes 'till 3AM too? You mean I'm not the only one?
In a weird little bit of nostalgic bliss, a band I did a video for (DOP) is on MTV's You Hear it First. They're also using some clips from my No Radio video (which I still can't show you, sigh, soon I hope.) and some band banter about making it and what have you. I haven't actually seen the piece yet because the geniuses at MTV don't make their site compatible with Mac's. Brilliant. There's gotta be a PC around here somewhere....
It's nice to see Au Revior Simone getting some attention too. They deserve it. Aside from being a great band and an incredibly nice group of people, they have also graciously allowed me to use their music for a new short film I'm working on.
Yes, long time readers of this page (Yeah, I'm talking to you, all three of you.) will remember that I've been talking about shooting a short for about a year now. Well, we finally finished shooting it. It took what seemed like forever to get it done and the whole process really took its toll me in more ways then I can mention. But the footage is sitting next to me at my desk, the performances are great and it looks beautiful. If I hadn't written and directed it, it would probably be perfect.
You can see the MTV piece here if you have a PC. There's also an online print version for Mac people here.
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Monday June 19th, 2006
Alternate Endings
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 So one of my more recent videos was for the Baskervilles "Midnight at the Underground Club" which is also the first video I've done that I haven't edited myself. This time around I worked with a great guy (and talented director/Slamdance Alumni) named Bill Hallinan, who did a marvelous job. But having an editor at my disposal was not something I was accoustomed too. So I think, given that I've only ever had to make myself work harder (which is usually pretty easy) I probably put him through the ringer a bit more then I should have. He was a great sport about it though and delt with my nit picking really well. A prime example of this is the alternate ending to the video, never before seen by anyone outside of the band...until now!
So, while this ending seemed like a good idea at the time (I've always wanted to say, "what if we just made him explode!") and Bill worked really hard on it, it just didn't turn out the way we wanted and the Baskervilles felt the the ending (the one we used) just felt better with the rest of the video (they were right.).
However, it's still fun to see what falls of the cutting room floor.... and every once in a while I like to look at this clip and have a laugh or two.
Click here. to watch.
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Monday June 12th, 2006
Pictures of You, Pictures of Me.
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 There are a few new photo's up in group one and group three if you care to take a look. Curious as to weather or not you're in them? You never know, you just might be. I tend to get around...just not out of my neighborhood.
In other news, we finally finished the new Dirty On Purpose video, but alas, I can't show you yet. Marketing a record for an amazing band is a tricky business that I know little to nothing about, and I'm just a director guy, so I just do like they tell me. I think the delay is for a good reason though...(keyword there is "think".) but rest assured I will post it as soon as I'm able.
You should really try and go to their record realse party though. The album is truly a stunner. You can buy tickets to it here.
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Friday June 9th, 2006
Good Times With Ben
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 I think it's safe to say that everyone has a certain friend that leaves really, really great voice mails. Voice mails that you tend to keep and listen to over and over because, at least to you, they're just hysterical. Even if you're friend is calling you a "Turd", you just can't bear to delete them.
Well, my good friend Ben is just such a person. Ben just moved away to LA recently, and a lot of us miss him back in NY. So, in honor of his departure, I thought I'd share what are undoubtedly my favorite undeleted voice mails from him.
Click here to listen.
(Note: My favorite part is when he calls me a "Clotted Cock Hole".) Ahhh, good times, good times.
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Sunday May 28th, 2006
An Interview with Sid Jager of Gay for Johnny Depp
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 In the Winter of 2003, I was laying in bed one night, around 3AM, a little sleepless but with a warm, contented feeling. My very first video for "Cue the Pulse to Begin" was airing on MTV and Burnside Project's Japanese record label, Sony/Def Star, had just commissioned a second one. I remember telling myself that I had made the right decision in moving to New York, that maybe this whole directing thing just might work out after all. I was feeling pretty good.
Then the Phone rang.
Me- (Groggy, whispering.) He...hello...
Sid Jager - (A feminine Laugh, screaming, slapping sounds) Hey, hello! Hello!
Me- Who is this?
Sid Jager- Hang on a second. (I hear some muffled, but demanding sounding commands, a gun shot, and "Get away from the lawn mower Pinky! That's MINE!") Hello?
Me- Yes, who is this?
Sid Jager- Are you the guy that did the video with all the kissing?
Me- Yeah, that was me.
Sid Jager- Bloody awful. Really terrible stuff. Now if they had been fucking...you know, all over he city...
Me- I'm hanging up now.
Sid Jager- Wait, don't go!
Me- What?! What do you want?
Sid Jager - Huh? Oh sorry, I was talking to Cokboi, listen you're going to do a video for us now, got it?
Me- Who the hell is "us"?
Sid Jager- (The phone falls to the floor, I hear another gun shot and "Okay, Pinky, now go fill the tub with pudding." then the line went dead.)
Two months later I found myself in an East Village Hair Salon shooting a video for the band who are undeniable front runners along with "I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness" for best band name ever, Gay for Johnny Depp. While GFJD have only just begun to gain a fan base here in the states, their profile has risen steadily in the UK over the years, signing to hard core/metal flag flyers Captains of Industry Records, doing a mini tour there last year and this year being invited to play the Download Festival alongside super groups Guns and Roses, Korn and Tool. I recently spoke with their always gracious yet scantily clad guitar player Sid Jager about love, family and well, lubricants.
JH- Hey Sid, how are you?
SJ- I'm alright i guess, a little fucked up actually, I kind of feel like I lost a little chunk of
my soul and I've not been able to sort out how these pants go on.
JH- That's an intresting shirt, where'd you get it?
SJ- Oh shit, dude, these are actually my pants, that's why they look so "interesting". Oh man, I really should lay off all those super tuscan wines I've been into so much as of late.
JH- So your new record "Blood, The Natural Lubricant" is a pretty big leap forward from your first one "Erotically Charged Dance Songs for the Desperate." Did you guys go into the studio with a lot of new material already written? What was the process like?
SJ- Oh yeah, ya think so? i'm glad you like.
JH- I didn't say that--
 SJ- I write everything and tell the boys what to play. They in turn take turns going down on me as a sort of "thank you" for making their job easier. I find it's better sometimes when your bandmates are not allowed to think. I am sure you run into a similar method with your films.
JH- Um, maybe sometimes, but there's no oral sex involved...okay once there was but that was Richard's from Burnside's fault. Moving on, what happened between the albums that affected the writing?
SJ- I'm not totally sure but I know whatever I don't remember was probably an amazing time.
JH- What was the principal inspiration behind the final song on the record, "Fucking isn't Cheating."?
SJ- Well, I think it's pretty obvious, if you are my friend and the girl over there is my friend, then you don't get jealous when I have another friend and it doesn't cheapen our relationship, am I right?
JH- That's deep. So, You've toured quite a bit. What's your favorite part of playing live and touring in general?
SJ- I get to go to other countries and meet so many different and interesting people and then fuck them.
JH- Marty Lepord seems to have a tendancy to get into trouble durring your performances. What exactly happened durring the infamous Galapagos show? And the show in England?
SJ- Oh, well, he got in a fight with an audience member, or lover's tiff as it were and there was some hospital time associated with it, and then here in nyc I think he jumped off the bar onto a table and then some glasses on the concrete floor barefoot and there was
some hospital time associated with it, to tell you the truth, Jake, I really don't remember that much. I try and drink myself insensitive before every show so I can make sure I hate myself in the morning, it's a vicious cycle.
JH- Has Mr. Depp himself ever contacted you about the well...arguably flattering use of his name?
SJ- Apparently he is "flattered" which tells me he hasn't actually listened to our records.
JH- You're playing the download festival in England with Metalica, KillingJoke, Korn and a lot of other bands with leigons and leigons of fans. How did that happen?
SJ- Well I think the cosmos felt that if it had done a great disservice to humanity by putting so many horrible bands together on one show, that it needed to offset that just a little bit. So they called us and Killing Joke to come in an play so the poor bastards that pay 170 dollars for the fest don't feel completely ripped off. that's my guess anyway.
JH- Even been arrested?
SJ- Because of a presently ongoing trial I am not allowed to speak about this.
JH- Is there a Misses or Mr. Jager?
SJ- Probably.
JH- Any records you'd care to recomend at the moment?
SJ- Whichever one I made this year is probably pretty good, otherwise, nah, that's what record store clerks are good for. I could recommend you a fine wine though, any of the agentine malbecs are going to "knock your pants off"...wait a second, I think that's what happened to me last night and it was the wine that started this whole pants/shirt rigmarole.
JH- Describe the best date you ever went on?
SJ- Because of a presently ongoing trial I am not allowed to speak about this.
JH- Lastly, are you guys really gay, or what?
SJ- Because of a presently ongoing trial I am not allowed to speak about this.
JH-Well, thanks for doing this.
SJ- No probelm. (Taking down his pants) Now about my fee...
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