Boxes

After losing a movie trailer competition, I had an epiphany that people fall into three distinct categories when it comes to the proverbial box:

• Technicians - those who diligently work within the box.
• Engineers - those who build the box.
• Artists - those who strive to push the limits of the box and, perhaps, go beyond it.

I am a perfect example of a technician - I demand that the parameters of the box be defined and I strive to work within this "parameter" space. This also explains why I keep losing these competitions. You see, competitions such as the one I just lost are designed for artists by artists with the intent of seeing how far outside the box you can go.

Now, this doesn't mean I am going to give up filmmaking. It means that I will channel my energies in directions that better fit my technician-bent.

Technorati Tags: filmmaking

Another Flagrant Plug

Just a reminder that I have two blogs--this one and Of Geeks and Artists--that I am currently maintaining. Of Geeks and Artists has to do with my efforts at becoming a filmmaker and the collision between the worlds of the Geek and the Artist that I see on my journey.

Anyway, I just posted on Geeks a blurb about my entry in the Trailer for the Nines  contest (more on that in the Geeks post.) Here is the entry:

YouTube - Trailer for The Nines

Technorati Tags: thenines, filmmaking, trailer, contest

Kansas Towns Revisited

Back in January 2006, I wrote a post titled "Kansas Small Towns are Shrinking" which details the loss of population that small towns are experiencing--out-migration as it is called. At the time my wife and I were living in a small Kansas town where we owned a bookstore. Recently, someone left an anonymous comment on that post that stated:

"Anonymous said...

I'm from a small town, myself. The past few years, I've become increasingly interested in my home town, and its fate. My search for ideas has brought me to places like this.

I think there are too many people who don't think about small towns, and the possible impact of the death of small towns. Agriculture has been one of the backbones of this country. If the small towns disappear, what happens to agriculture? I'm not convinced that the so-called corporate farm can make up for the loss of the small town. And, I just plain hate to think of my own small town, along with its neighbors, disappearing.

I do appreciate whatever discussions "out there" I can find. I am determined to find answers. If there are other people who have already found answers, I would very much be interested in hearing them."

Here is my response:

From bitter experience I can tell you that the hardest part of saving or revitalizing rural small town America is convincing the small towns that they are in trouble. I would say that 99% of the task is actually getting the populace of a small town to realize that it is in trouble. I think that in many cases the town would have to be in bankruptcy before you could even begin to convince them that there is a problem.

Assuming that you have untied this Gordian knot, the next step is to revitalize the town. To do this you need one or more non-agricultural industries or businesses to come in and take up residence. In fact, you may want to even consider going back to the idea of a company town (like the old steel towns or mining towns.) But to bring in business, you need to bring in people (the fresh blood also dilutes the closed-society tendencies of a greatly related population.) Bringing in people, though requires jobs, which requires business. Can you say: Catch-22?

And yes, this last part, in my humble opinion, is 100-times easier then convincing the town that it needs help.

I wish you luck on your quest.

Technorati Tags: small, town, rural, out-migration