I Want My Country Back! An Original Song

This is a video I shot for James Travis Davis over two years ago. It is a great original patriotic tune that will get stuck in your head. It is so relevant to today's political climate. I assembled the footage after my friend John Curren posted on his Face book that he wanted his country back! How appropriate that I had James Travis Davis original tune sitting on my hard drive. Share this song to everyone you know, James is a talented guy and the world should know about his music. Check out his site by clicking HERE!

Using Video to sell a house

The quick and easy way to turn your bedroom into a Jiu Jitsu studio

Notice the cargo bar holding up the mat

I just finished shooting a short YouTube tutorial on basic Brazilian Jiu Jitsu positions.  I needed quick and easy way to create the illusion of a jiu jitsu gym.  I chose our bedroom as the shooting location because the carpet would act as sound proofing, the rest of the house is tile which would cause a lot of echo.  My wife Jen made me promise to move all of the furniture back to its original position right after the video shoot.  We have two 4 x 10 gymnastics mats which we were going to use for the tutorial.  I got the idea to use only one on the ground and mount the other against the bedroom wall like they do a BJJ schools.  I held the mats flat against the wall with the help of two ratcheting cargo bars that I picked up at Harbor Freight for under 30 dollars.  I covered the adjacent wall with my chroma pop instant green/blue screen.  This actually conceled my closet door.  There was a little space in the corner of the room that was showing the exposed white wall.  As a solution, my daughter Logan just placed our jiu jitsu dummy in the corner and posed him upright.  Instant BJJ studio set up.  I placed my camera on the tripod and set up two unbrella lights....Quiet on the set!  Action!!!!  Check out the video on our Brazilian Jiu Jitsu blog at  http://www.jiujitsufamily.com/



The Finished BJJ set



Consolidation

I am moving some of my articles from my Capes and Kids blog to the Documenting Life Studios blog in an effort to consolidate my articles.  I am currently writing eleven different blogs on different topics.  I am working full time as a broadcast engineer and training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, working out, participating in my son's Boy Scouts and busy being a Dad and a husband.  My time is limited but I want to still posts on this blog.  My wife and I are going to start focusing on our Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) blog and start posting tons of content including articles, ebooks and videos covering training together as a family.  It is all about the lifestyle and encouraging families and females to start training BJJ.  I am going to use this blog to show some of the behind the scenes video production techniques and document what is going on in our life.

Not a Hero

Life can turn on a dime.  Fortunately for me, so can my broken down Saturn.  I usually take the I-95 express lane to work which is located in Miami.  The express lane charges toll is divided from the rest of the interstate with orange traffic markers about 4 foot tall.  There is one entrance in North Miami and you can not exit until you reach the down town area of Miami.  The regular highway is free but always congested so I opt to pay the toll.  Yesterday a black camaro lost control on I-95 and came across the traffic markers at a 90 degree angle hitting the car in front of me and continued at me head on.  I managed to hit the brakes a skid out of the way of the camaro as I drove through shattered glass and passed the car ahead of me which turnover due to the collision.  I immediately pulled over and ran back to help the people in the turned over vehicle.  I was surprised how many cars just kept going and did not stop to help.  Only one other guy, the one in the picture stopped to help.  A police officer on his way to work pulled over and turned on his lights and offered assistance until the Highway Patrol and rescue could arrive to check out the occupants of the vehicles.  Later, so one in my Jiu Jitsu class said I was a hero for rescuing the people in the flipped over vehicle.  I said I was not a hero, I just helped them out of the car.  They were dazed, but appeared OK.  It does not take a hero to stop and help, just a concerned citizen with compassion for his fellow man.  Maybe the people that kept driving thought some one else would take care of it or they were too scarred to get involved.  I will probably be inconvenienced and have to go to a deposition in the future since I witnessed the accident, but I could not just keep driving while some one might be hurt.  I just thank God that I could go home to my family that night.

Republished from my blog Capes and Kids Feb 15th, 2012 3:53pm

“You are her hero, you are Superman.”

On January 21st 2012 the world lost a hero. His name was Ernesto Custodio, and he was my good friend and mentor. Ernesto had a heart of gold, always in a good mood and always ready to go to work. He was one of the smartest men I have ever known. He was a broadcast engineer and at the top of his game when it came to high power radio transmitters. Ernesto was from the Dominican Republic and he built radio stations and transmitter sites in Florida, Puerto Rico, South America and the Caribbean. Ernesto’s real strength was improvisation, I used to call him the Dominican Macgyver. Working in poorer countries or stuck in a transmitter site on the top of a mountain, he learned to use what he had at his disposal. I worked with Ernesto over the past 13 years at Clear Channel Broadcasting and Univision Radio. I learned so much following him around and assisting him on radio studio buildouts and transmitter installations. Our boss Max would always joke that Ernesto was like a slave driver cracking his whip for me to climb up a ladder to run wires through the ceiling. He was a work horse, we even continued working on 911 when the rest of the world stopped to stare at the TV as planes crashed into the Trade Centers. “Dom, (his thick accent when he said Tom) it makes me too sad to watch this, lets keep on going on our project senor.” So why am I talking about this guy on a blog dedicated to super heroes? Because he was one. Ernesto’s personality and stature was like Ben Grimm the ever lovin blue eyed Thing from the Fantastic Four. His heart was just as pure, sure he had his faults…quite a lot of them. He could be very impulsive, greedy, wrathful and gluttonous. He even hooked up his fair share of pirate radio stations and illegal DirectTV systems. But he had a profound wisdom that helped him raise four exceptional children and solve almost any crisis. He was Mr. Fixit. The guy who came up with a solution for any problem. He was also very inventive, we would come up with ideas for all sorts of stuff on our long drives to our transmitter site locations. He was strong, I have seen Ernesto man handle transmitters weighing hundreds of pounds. He battled cancer for three years and refused to retire. Most people would have thrown in the towel after the regime of treatments he had to endure. Not Ernesto, he would show up the day after Chemotherapy and be lifting heavy equipment and installing it in the transmitter site. He was inspirational. Years ago when my Daughter Logan was around 4 years old I remember the words he told me. “You are her hero, you are Superman. Every thing you do she will emulate. She will look up to you. So you must always be at your very best.” He was right. I could not ask for a more responsible, intelligent, compassionate kid, Logan is now 15 and is a straight A Kid taking all honors classes and has won tons of awards for her academic achievements and athletic ability (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Champion). Wise words coming from the guy who at the time was installing my pirated DirectTV system. Even heroes have their flaws. Rest in Peace my friend, I miss you.


Republish from my blog Capes and Kids Feb 2nd, 2012 11:47pm

Becoming One With The Force

A few months ago one of our family dogs passed away from a heart attack. Her name was Love. She was a hundred and twenty pounds of pure mischief mixed with as her name implies…love. She was the watchdog of the family, the alpha dog that dominated the yard and kept strangers and creatures from invading our sanctuary. The UPS driver feared her so much that he would toss our packages over the front gate and run back to his truck as she ripped the outer package to shreds. People walking down the street were startled with fear as she ran growling towards our front gate with her wing man Rocket in tow. Two black labs protecting our lair as effectively as the dynamic duo. She was responsible for the untimely demise of several cats and multiple squirrels, hamsters, rats, snakes, birds, iguanas, and her favorite snack lizards. She was a holy terror to creatures large and small and even bit her buddy Rocket a few times that ended in expensive vet bills. I used to call her Darth Love because she would sit at the front door with her nose pressed against it, smelling an intruder on her turf and inhaling so loud that she sounded like the Dark Lord of the Sith. But this chubby puppy had a soft side and that was when she was with the kids. She was fiercely protective of them and never ever was aggressive with them. She had always been around as longer as they can remember. She was 11 years old when she passed and was an integral part of our kids childhoods. She passed away at Midnight on a Sunday. My wife and I loaded her into our truck and took her to the emergency animal hospital while Grandma watched the sleeping children. We did not tell the kids before school because we knew how devastating that would of been. I got home early from work that day so I could break the news. They were heart broken. Especially Hunter who is only 8 years old. I could not calm him down until I found a way to explain death in a way he could understand. Star Wars, Hunter loves Star Wars. Whose wisdom other than Yoda’s would be better to apply to the situation? After hugging him for a long long time, I sat him down and repeated these words to him. “Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed, that is.“ Hunter recognized the words belonging to his hero Yoda. He calmed down like any good Jedi would and we discussed what it means to lose someone we love. A green muppet was able to bridge the gap and connect with his young mind in a way that I could not. Our fatty patty dog Love has now become one with the force.


Republished from my blog Capes and Kids Jan 4th, 2012 3:58pm