As the Smoke Clears

This past week (not to mention month) has been a wild one. Wow. A lot to soak in. Don and I just flew in from Hawaii from the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival and we have much to talk about. Our brother Mike was the proxy for the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival and was amazed at what he saw. There is a lot to tell you all and I'm extremely eager to share - BUT - I just need a little while until things settle so I can get my life back to normal and spend time with family.

Yo, Adrian! (aka) Hafa, Philly?!

At the same time that Encore Presentations of Shiro's Head will show this weekend here on Guam, the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, sponsored by HBO will be showing it as well. Out of hundreds of feature film entries, they will showcase only eight for their inaugural festival. And needless to say, that Don and I are extremely honored that Shiro's Head is one of them. Although Don and I will be here at home during the Philly Film Fest, the Festival Director Joe Kim and staff have been more than hospitable to the people that are heading out east to represent Shiro's Head at the fest. Thanks, Mr. Kim!

Our other brother Mike will be heading up along with a few Guam boys from Houston to check it out. We're as excited to hear about it just as much as you all may be. As soon as we get pics/updates we'll be able to share them with you all as well. If you have any relatives/friends in the Philly/East coast area, please invite them to the showing. I'm sure the guys might be able to squeeze a barbecue into their schedule.;)

Oh and one more thing...YO ADRIAN! I DID IT! Get it? Rocky...Philly? Yeah? No?

Shiro's Head Encore Shows!

Thank you to all of you who have voiced your demand for more showings of Shiro's Head! Because of you, there will be 5 Encore Presentations of Shiro's Head this weekend at the Agana Center Stadium Theaters!

So for those that haven't had a chance to get tickets for last weekend's showings (or would just like to see it again) now's your chance! The dates and times are as follows:

Saturday, October 11th
12pm, 3pm and 7pm
Tickets are $10 and are available at these SELECT 76 Circle K locations: Sinajana, Barrigada, Ypao Road (across the UIU building), Dededo and Anigua

Sunday, October 12th
12pm and 3pm
Tickets are $10 and are available at these SELECT 76 Circle K locations: Sinajana, Barrigada, Ypao Road (across the UIU building), Dededo and Anigua

Don and I will be present for a question and answer segment after each show. If you're too shy to raise your hand, no worries. Feel free to come up to us and we can chat face to face if you got time.

Again, THANK YOU for letting your voices be heard. Bring a friend and we'll see you there!

p.s. to my personal friends, guys - especially Dur - don't wait 'til the last minute again, pare! hehe.

Shiro's Head Sold Out Crowds - Thank You!

Again, I just wanted to say "thank you" to all of those who attended the general admission showings over the weekend! WOW! You have no idea how I feel right now! I have to collect my thoughts and devote more in-depth posts to it sometime soon. Count on it! Thanks to you all! Although I'll try my best to thank you individually a little later, I will take a quick moment to say "Thank You" to Ms. Flores my 6th grade art teacher from Agueda Johnston Middle School. She was part of the full house on Sunday's showing. Sorry so short, but there's a lot of last minute stuff I need to get done for the movie. More to come!

Shiro's Head World Premiere - Thank You!

The journey has reached a crazy point in its timeline with the Shiro's Head Red Rug Event and World Premiere taking place last Friday. Words? I have plenty of them - however, there are a lot of things that I'd love to post - especially with all that's happened within the last month - and I will just as soon as the smoke clears (from the film fests, etc), so please stay tuned as I spill my guts about the whole experience within the next few weeks or so.

For now, I must take this time to let everyone know (and I think I speak for Don on this, too) that we are more than forever grateful for your support throughout this entire "nutso" journey. It's a crazy feeling, man. Totally unreal. For those that were there for the Red Rug, thank you for coming out and supporting not only a dream from me and Don, but also for local talent as well as supporting the unsung heroes like those from Erica's House. From family to friends, the bands that came out to perform like Rebel Lion, By Blood, Matala, and the full house of moviegoers who just wanted to see a homegrown flick on a Friday night- THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

-oh and don't worry...once don and i get a chance to settle in, we'll be putting up tons of pics from not only the premiere, but of all the showings. more to come!

photos by Steve Hardy

Relentless Pursuit of Better

Hello again. I know that it's been a couple of months since my last post and I apologize for that. For those that have been following the latest on Shiro's Head and our move back home to Guam, you probably understand why. Thank you for keeping updated on our journey, it really means a lot to us. We've been extremely busy with the movie and with real life. There are tons to talk about but I'll tell you all about it in flashbacks in my future posts. I know blog posts are usually posted sequentially, but hey - it's just another norm to stray from, I guess.

Today, however, I feel the need for my first post back from a long hiatus to be an excerpt from one of my mentors, Seth Godin (from his best-seller "Small is the New Big" pg 174.) If you get it, cool. If not, then don't worry - should you and I ever get a chance to meet, I'd love to explain it.

PROGRESS?

What an amazing world we live in. Information flying about at the speed of light. Cures or treatments for many major diseases. Airplanes. Food for many, if not most. Cat food that tastes like pate. It almost feels churlish to complain. But here's the deal: Almost everything is lousy. ...What's with the layout of this keyboard? They came up with a keyboard a century ago, decided it was good enough, and then stopped! Holy carpal tunnel, Batman. I've got a few chapters' worth on this topic, but here are my two main ideas:

1. Humans tend to work on a problem until they get a good-enough solution, not a solution that's right.
2. The marketplace often rewards solutions that are cheaper and good enough, instead of investing in the solution that promises to lead to the right answer.

This all sounds pessimistic. Are we doomed to inefficient products, unreliable computers, overpriced services, and new devices that last for a while and then just break? I don't think so. I think that the open nature of the Web and the hypercompetitive environment of worldwide competition are pushing things in two different directions at the same time. First, toward hypercheap, sort of junky stuff that discounters and others want to sell in volume. And second, the "relentless pursuit of better" (RPB). The RPB is the opposite of good enough. It's not Welch's Six Sigma nonsense, through which engineers codify mediocrity. It's a consistent posture of changing the rules on an ongoing basis.

David Neeleman, CEO of JetBlue, was talking recently about the way he's running the airline. By any measure, it's good enough. Hey, it's far and away the best airline in the United States. But he's not even close to settling. He riffed about turning one out of three bathrooms on every one of his planes into a ladies-only bathroom. What a great idea. Low cost. Fast. And embracing the RPB.

I asked him why he doesn't just raise the price on the 20,000 seats JetBlue runs between New York and Florida (every day). If he raised it $10, he'd make an extra $11 million a year in profit! Without losing a customer. He said, "We could always do that later. Right now, it keeps us focused and hungry and efficient to do it for less."

Shiro's Head Trailer - Thank YOU!

The Shiro's Head Official Trailer has been launched this week and I just wanted to take a moment to give my deep and sincere thanks to EVERYBODY for all of your responses. I would also like to thank you all for being extremely supportive and interested enough to come along for the ride while we were making Shiro's Head. From our island brothers and sisters at home on GUAM to Germany, US, Japan, Australia, Brazil, England, France and the rest of the appreciated folks out there - you don't know how much your responses have meant to me and Don - especially after the grueling journey of making such a small, no-name, no-budget DIY film on our own. It's been a long 2 years, but I still wouldn't have done it any other way.

This is a milestone for us at this point in the project and I just wanted to say thank you for being there and for showing your support, your interest and even just dropping in lines to say 'what's up?'. It really means a lot to us and motivates us to keep going when we lose steam.

If we're lucky enough, we'll be able to have a screening for the deep roots on Guam that made all of this possible. Until then, Don or myself will be keeping you posted while I enjoy this little break and reflect on all that's been accomplished so far. So from me to all of you...I just want to say THANK YOU! and stay tuned for more...