Okay well…. It’s been a while. If any of you readers are still out there please note that I am still alive! It’s been a crazy time for me, Izumi and I expanded our family. Our first child—our son, Dante Yamaguchi Di Rocco was born on March 3rd. We are thrilled and needless to say it kind of stops all other things in life for a while.
Well, Ashita is still truckin’. Andy has been working hard cutting my 40 hours or so of raw footage into something sensible has finished one and half of the film’s six stories. We’re getting there. On another front, I have used the off time to develop a few more projects. I am working with my old friend Maya Bastian in developing a Bollywood movie—which began as fun conversation between Maya and has now taken on the seriousness of being written as a screenplay, with Maya set to direct and me to have a small part (this project is a fun one, Maya and both wanted each other to direct… in all honesty I wanted a break and I wanted to have fun which I can do as a writer and actor). As well, I was contracted by Toronto cotemporary artist tomolennon to shoot and edit a music video for New York’s Toru Dodo Jazz Trio. That was a lot of fun to shoot and I am vigilantly getting back into editing. Speaking of music videos, I still owe Dr. Draw two videos, I need to sit down with them and get the details hammered out. The Zoobombs will probably be back in Toronto over the summer and they will want to talk music video with me as well. YEESH! I also shot a short film with what I call my “All Star” cast. My mother in-law Kyoko was in Toronto to help us with the baby, and she is a professional actor in Japan, so I figured since she was here I’d put her in a movie, so I wrote a short called Yuki Star and it stars Kyoko, Leona (from Ashita) and Anthony (from The Meatball Story and Truant Café). We shot it in 6 hours… and it’s in the pile of things to edit. Speaking of Anthony, I also shot (and surprise, surprise, need to edit) a talk show he’s producing. Oh yeah, and I am also trying to finish writing a play for Kyoko that she will stage in Japan. I don’t even want to mention the comic book I was developing on the side, you know for fun—like I said I won’t mention that because its way, way, way on the back burner.
My one constant anchor in the chaos is my family. My son Dante is barely a month old now and coming home at the end of the day to hold him is the highlight of my life. Sure, for now, he mostly poos, sleeps, cries and eats, but unless you’ve experienced fatherhood, it’s hard to really describe how wonderful the feeling is of holding your child… somehow when I hold him and looking into his big brown eyes, the whole world seems to make sense. Having a child, changes your world for the better. I can assure its not easy, there a whack load of new levels to the game of life when you have a child, but you know what, they are truly unique and in my honest opinion they make everything else in life a lot better.
Well, Ashita is still truckin’. Andy has been working hard cutting my 40 hours or so of raw footage into something sensible has finished one and half of the film’s six stories. We’re getting there. On another front, I have used the off time to develop a few more projects. I am working with my old friend Maya Bastian in developing a Bollywood movie—which began as fun conversation between Maya and has now taken on the seriousness of being written as a screenplay, with Maya set to direct and me to have a small part (this project is a fun one, Maya and both wanted each other to direct… in all honesty I wanted a break and I wanted to have fun which I can do as a writer and actor). As well, I was contracted by Toronto cotemporary artist tomolennon to shoot and edit a music video for New York’s Toru Dodo Jazz Trio. That was a lot of fun to shoot and I am vigilantly getting back into editing. Speaking of music videos, I still owe Dr. Draw two videos, I need to sit down with them and get the details hammered out. The Zoobombs will probably be back in Toronto over the summer and they will want to talk music video with me as well. YEESH! I also shot a short film with what I call my “All Star” cast. My mother in-law Kyoko was in Toronto to help us with the baby, and she is a professional actor in Japan, so I figured since she was here I’d put her in a movie, so I wrote a short called Yuki Star and it stars Kyoko, Leona (from Ashita) and Anthony (from The Meatball Story and Truant Café). We shot it in 6 hours… and it’s in the pile of things to edit. Speaking of Anthony, I also shot (and surprise, surprise, need to edit) a talk show he’s producing. Oh yeah, and I am also trying to finish writing a play for Kyoko that she will stage in Japan. I don’t even want to mention the comic book I was developing on the side, you know for fun—like I said I won’t mention that because its way, way, way on the back burner.
My one constant anchor in the chaos is my family. My son Dante is barely a month old now and coming home at the end of the day to hold him is the highlight of my life. Sure, for now, he mostly poos, sleeps, cries and eats, but unless you’ve experienced fatherhood, it’s hard to really describe how wonderful the feeling is of holding your child… somehow when I hold him and looking into his big brown eyes, the whole world seems to make sense. Having a child, changes your world for the better. I can assure its not easy, there a whack load of new levels to the game of life when you have a child, but you know what, they are truly unique and in my honest opinion they make everything else in life a lot better.
