Ground Zero...er...not THAT Ground Zero

My senior year of High School, a couple of buddies and I (including my brother, Erick) started what we thought was a sketch show called "Ground Zero." In reality, it was more of an improv to sketch since nothing was written. The problem was...I hadn't heard of Improv yet, and wouldn't for almost 12 years.

We would get together whenever we could, come up with a plot ("Hey, let's dress as cops") and pull out a camera.

Because I loved the Fishbone song, "Party at Ground Zero," we decided to name the show "Ground Zero." This was 1994. 7 years before a bunch of assholes would board some american plans and forever change the New York skyscape, giving a whole new meaning to the name "Ground Zero."

We had long since abandoned the "show" as well.

Somewhere around 2006ish, I wanted to resurrect it. This time I actually wrote about 20 sketches. However, nothing ever came of it, so those sketches just live on a hard drive, never to see the light of day. All things considered, that's probably NOT a bad thing.

One of the running bits that Jim McCabe and I would do was the:

"From the makers of Howard's End..."

Our immaturity should have gotten a writing credit.

Over the years, I have attempted to convert some of these old videos to a digital format and upload them to Al Gore's Internet Extravaganza! I have gone through about 6 VCRs, none of which have worked. EFF you...old ass technology!

For Christmas this year (about 5 days before Christmas), I told Julie, I only wanted a VCR.
She got me one.
Tonight, I finally got around to hooking it up.

So, for my Facebook friends, I apologize in advance for the #TBT that will be coming your way weekly. I won't pretend this stuff is ground breaking or anything of the sort. But I was 18 years old. So deal with it...

15 Goals I Set in 2012

So this past year, I thought it would be smart to come up with some goals.  Actual, attainable goals.  Here are fifteen of them and how I made out:

1.  Learn to play guitar (specifically Auld Lang Syne) - I’m not sure what inspired this, maybe watching “When Harry Met Sally” one too many times?  I own a guitar, so I got close to this one.  I also tried to get people teach me how to play it, but alas, in this NEW world of DIY, I really need to just teach myself.  The year isn’t over, so hopefully I can find the time over the next 2 months so I can rock out the traditional New Year’s Eve tune while Dick Clark counts backwards.  I’m kidding!  Dick Clark is totally dead!

2. Read Sherlock Holmes Books – I also should probably learn to write a complete sentence.  But guys, I TOTALLY DID THIS!!!  Not every book, but a huge number of them!  And I love them.  Since I read like 32 short stories and about 5 novels, I should count them as 15 books in my 15^th goal.

3. Read the LOTR Trilogy (including The Hobbit) – Did it!  That’s another 4 books friends & neighbors!  (One of my goals should have been to cut down on exclamation points) 

4. Shoot 2 new web series (The Gents & Social Calendar) – Yep…and by that I mean, nope.  Yeah, I totally didn’t do either of these series.  I wrote the “pilot” to Social Calendar and also HATE that title.  I also wrote a second episode, but then stopped.  I’d love to move ahead with this in 2013.  As for The Gents, I still love the idea, but I think it was a funnier bit than the reality would be…maybe something to improv…

5 Write/shoot original short – I did do this.  Kind of.  Actually it was more of a sketch.  Man, I really didn’t do much for filmmaking this year.

6 Write feature length script – um…

7. Write 3 one act plays – well…the year’s not over yet.

8. Write/shoot 3 sketches – OK I did this as stated above!  And by this, I mean 1 out of 3 sketches.  Also, I never edited it.  Jeez.

9. Get more involved with Sketch & Stand Up comedy – I was more involved than in 2011, so that’s something.

10. Learn to drive stick shift – YES!  Well…one out of 365 days.  But I got the basics down.

11. Upload The League, The Clink and re launch The Cheap Seats to iTunes – Nope.  But I have been uploading The Cheap Seats to Funny or Die, so that’s a start.

12. Incorporate – (must make business cards)

13. Web site that ALL my work is on – I am one step closer to this as I have most of the work Joel & I have shot over the past 10 years.

14. Blog 50 times – this is 47…I can hammer out 3 before 2013

15. Read 15 books – I think I actually did this.  May not sound like much, but live my schedule and try to do it.

So what the hell did I do in 2012 that I couldn’t meet all of these goal?  Well…let’s find out:

(next up:  “How I spent my January or the Month Jim Burns finally saw The Big Lebowski”)