Change in Lifestyle: 100% Raw @ Creative Health Institute

I'm undertaking a significant lifestyle change.  I'm living in farm country at the Creative Health Institute in Michigan where I have transitioned to a 100% raw living foods diet.  Previously, I enjoyed meat, dairy, and other foods that I've given up indefinitely- and not feeling that bad about it.

I arrived May 3rd and shortly thereafter began their 10 Day Detox program.  It was a crazy experience which I'll be sharing in future posts. After successfully completely the detox, I started my internship 2 days ago.  I'll be here at CHI until August where I'll be learning much about nutrition, preparing gourmet raw living foods, and alternative ways of self healing, all while eating a nutritious and delicious raw diet.

A little perspective:  I believed I kept a healthy diet prior to arriving at CHI but I'm already rethinking that after being here 2 weeks and taking a few nutrition classes.  I'll probably be a different person when I leave here.  I'll certainly be embracing a majority of the diet at least.

From the moment I walked in the door and the director smiled and hugged me, I knew Creative Health Institute was a special place.  This was reinforced later in the week when an intern graduated: There was a small certificate ceremony in which kind words were said about the individual and both the intern and staff cried tears of joy.  I cannot say that anyone cried when I left my film internships in LA.  I was lucky if they remembered my name. 

For the rest of the summer, this blog will mainly focus on my experience here, providing insights and ideas on health and nutrition, food recipes, and more.

Keep up with my blog and you'll learn how to enjoy and embrace a raw living foods diet too!

I made an awesome raw pizza!  Delicious!

Change with Youtube Haters? Please Get Sat on by an Elephant.

A lot of things change. However, I don't think the massive amounts of negative comments and haters on Youtube ever will.

Generally, if I watch a crappy video I move on and I don't waste time leaving a negative comment.  For the most part, I also try to ignore the negative comments left on my own videos. Especially the ones such as "This video's gay," or "You're a fag!" that often come from 13 year old boys. However, tonight I couldn't help but respond after someone posted a comment saying that I was "killing" them. I was sincerely worried.

The comment came from fitzworld in response to my first attempt at stand up comedy:

Marty, you lousy piece of garbage. What is this video still doing on YouTube. You are a fucking disgrace to humor. Please find the balls to remove this, you faux Hedberg wannabe pussy. I'm tired of coming across this fucking lame ass video everytime I'm looking for new open mic videos. You're killing me with this shit!!

Here is the response I posted to his channel:

Dear Bill,

Thanks for watching my first stand up comedy video again! I really appreciate your continued viewership! I hope you check out some of my other videos too! A lot has changed in the last 8 months. I recently won a Mt Dew contest for a commercial entry I wrote/directed/edited. A lot of people thought it was funny. So much that they sent me to Barcelona and gave me $10,000. Please check it out: http://www.mofilm.com/watch?movieID=7524

I do appreciate your negative feedback on my first stand up comedy video. I've been writing some more jokes but haven't had much time to perform. Reflecting on my career development, I realize my early work with commercials was kinda poor. However, I'm learning, getting better, and achieving success. I hope to use the same approach to stand up comedy when I have more time and one day I'll win you over. In the meantime, I thought I'll offer you a helpful response to your comment:

In your comment, you say, "What is this still doing on YouTube." I'm assuming this is a question and not a statement and that you forgot to put a question mark on the end there. To type a "?" you have to hold shift key while pressing the "/" key which is right next to the "." period key.

Even if I were to take the video off of Youtube, it will still be stored on Google's servers and may resurface one day. So I figure, "Why bother?" I'll just leave it up there.

I'm not sure which web browser you're using, but I'm pretty sure videos will not autoplay during a Youtube search. You can avoid watching my video in the future, simply, by not clicking on it. If my video does, for some reason, autoplay, you should report the bug to Youtube.

Your comment also mentioned that I'm "killing you with this shit!!" That is shocking and I must say I certainly have no intentions of killing you. I'm also going to assume you're referring to my video as "shit," which, I'll take no offense. To kill someone with a video would be quite a feat, but not one I'd be proud of. Although to kill someone with "shit" as you put it, is a very funny idea- you should try stand up too! It reminds me of this hilarious video I saw where an elephant sat on a ground's keeper. His head went right up the elephant's ass! Hilarious! I'm not sure if you would enjoy it without knowing your sense of humor. 

It's difficult to understand your humor when you only have one favorite video on Youtube which is rather dull. I'll say the same as well about the 2 videos you uploaded of old people dancing. Judging from your videos and your lack of internet/typing experience, it seems you might be an old person too. In that case, I recommend some early silent films with slap stick humor.

You do type negative comments very well- I'll give you that. However, these comments express a certain bitterness which cannot be good for the health of an old person. I've had relatives who grew bitter in their old age, isolating themselves from others and growing depressed. I wouldn't want to see that happen to you. I'm afraid that with old age and bitterness, my mediocre videos may have the potential to kill you and I certainly wouldn't want to see that happen. I would much rather an elephant sit on your head.

Take care Bill!

Sincerely,

-Marty

Change in Health: I'm No Charlie Sheen, But I Can Still Detox

A few weeks ago, I applied for an internship at the Creative Health Institute.  They are a raw living foods program in Michigan that offers several workshops and classes such as Detox/Rebuild programs and Raw Chef certifications.

Just today, I received a phone call that I was accepted and will start on May 3rd and intern throughout August.

My mom, who has taken a few classes, informed me of the internship opportunity.  I applied for several reasons:  I've been wanting to try a raw diet for a while now and figured this would be one of the best ways to implement it.  This interest comes from a general desire to control my health and feel good.  After feeling a bit scattered and un-centered this past dreadful winter, I figure some time to meditate and be with myself will be good for my well-being.  I plan to finally write a feature screenplay I've been putting off.  I'd like to learn and practice a bit of music as well. I've also been thinking of training for a marathon and hope this new raw diet will boost my energy in that pursuit.

So in just 3 weeks, I'll be moving to the west side of Michigan.  Shortly after arriving, I'll start the detox program and give up much of the foods I currently eat in hope of better health.  Although I do enjoy eating animals, I feel that I could do without them, at least for a while.  No big deal. Instead of doing shots of liquor at the bar, I'll be doing shots of wheatgrass on the farm.  Cheers!

I'll keep you updated on this health experiment.

Change in Career: Contesting Day Jobs

Watch the Mountain Dew commercial I directed here:

http://www.mofilm.com/watch?movieID=7524

This was the BIG (now dated) news alluded to in my last post.  I won a $10,000 Grand Prize and a trip to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona for the Mountain Dew contest hosted by MOFILM.  Kelly, Danny (the "director" in the spot), and I had a great time in Barcelona thanks to the awesome hospitality of MOFILM.  It seems this is the beginning of several opportunities.  We we're also featured in an article on AnnArbor.com.  Check it out!  See the full cast/credits below, all of which are great friends and regular collaborators.

Around that same time, I almost won a commercial contest for Trident Layers too... but I ran into a snafu when I didn't have all my paperwork in place... which cost me $7500... lesson learned.  Do your paperwork in advance, even though it's obnoxiously boring.  Hopefully, Trident will come back and buy the spot though.

Also, Kelly and I just entered another MOFILM competition for Chevrolet. We cut an awesome spot together with our Alaska road trip footage from last summer. It was a very happy coincidence that I drive a Chevy!  Grand Prize is $8000 and a trip to Tribecca Film Festival.  I'll keep ya updated on that one!

All this contest stuff has certainly created a new career push towards directing commercials.  Some new opportunities are developing.  I'm making money as a director where only a few months ago I couldn't get a job as a stock boy.  So hopefully I can put off getting a day job since it's tough to find one even if you want it.

Things are looking good!  As is the Michigan sun that is finally coming out to play!

-----

Mountain Dew - "The Pitch"

Cast: 

Danny Mooney: "Director" 

David Roetman: "Executive" 

Natalie Condon: "Secretary" 

Crew: 

Marty Stano: Writer/Director/Producer/Editor 

Debashis Mazumder: Producer/Assistant Director 

Natalie Condon: Producer 

Benjamin Dell: Director of Photography 

Joey Ostrander: Art Director 

David Fienup: Sound Recordist/Sound Designer/Audio Engineer 

Chris Miller: Gaffer 

Geoffrey Gilbert: Camera Assistant 

Josh Condon: Sound Assistant

BIG NEWS! BIG CHANGE! Well, at least in my life!

I'm gonna be a jerk and say I have some BIG exciting news about CHANGE in my life that I cannot quite share yet...

Geez!!! I know!  Rude!

This could very well involve BIG changes in my Career, Money, Love, Happiness, and Creativity!

I can also say that I've already crossed off at least one big goal that is on my new list of goals for 2011!

I look forward to sharing the NEWS when it is made public!

This is my first post of 2011 and I am happy to say it is a truly optimistic one!  Whereas my last post of 2010 I was somewhat depressed but trying to be optimistic!

Also, I'm not really sure who all my readers are, and I like a lil' call and response, so stay tuned for a potential CHANGE contest that I may be hosting right here on this blog in the near future.  Cash prize guaranteed- just not sure how much!

Peace!

Change in Speech: Don't Judge a Dumb Kid by His Stutter

I've been reflecting on this year and the past as I approach 2011.  It's been a great year!  Although lately it's been a bit of a bummer...  I feel a bit stuck in my present situation: Temporarily broke and not totally sure which direction I'm going.  It also doesn't help when you have a college degree and get turned down for a job as a stock person- a job that I did when I was 15.  Although I guess when I did have that job at 15, I stopped going because I hated it.  So it goes.

I'm still attempting to make a living at doing what I love: Work related to film, photography, art, education, or travel.  But that still encompasses SEVERAL life paths... So I'm exploring what exactly I like doing without investing myself in a career that I don't like doing.  

While at my Grandma's for Christmas, I found her old VHS camcorder, with which she still shoots home videos. It's one of the huge cameras that feels like you're holding a rocket launcher as you shoot your 3 year old kid- man has technology CHANGED! It's equally impressive to see a lady in her 70s saddle that bad camera on her shoulder. Good work grandma! 

My state of the bummers was recently enlightened by the above home video I dug up: A document of me as a dumb 3 year old with a speech impediment. For a minute, I totally forgot I use to stutter. My mom sent me to speech school when I was 4 years old. I remember I couldn't say words like "think" because I couldn't make the "th" sound. If someone asked me their opinion, I would say, "I sink that..." or "I sink so..." Man was it difficult to express myself when my thoughts were drowning in the challenges of speech.

You can also see that I had difficulty grasping simple life questions like:

Grandma's Question: What's the name of [your guinea pig]?

My Answer: Me don't have rabbit... eh, ma, ma, my rabbit died...

Looking back at this video I realize I've come a long way! I've overcome the loss of a dear pet rabbit, 2 actually (Kelly and I bought a pet rabbit last year and it died), and I can now say what I'm thinking while answering relatively simple questions. That progress is encouraging when I now have to grapple with those big questions like, "What do I do with my life?"

Now I certainly cannot answer that yet... But hopefully I just need time and patience. And when I figure it out, I'll boast with the energy of a stuttering 3 year old and yell:

"Kia! Ha!"

Change Your Kid? No Way!

My 8th grade friends who signed my yearbook would write, "Don't ever change!"

Now that's kind of a silly phrase because things are always changing and I've certainly changed since then... But, I think they were still on to something...

I may have "grown up" by growing a foot taller but I still find myself acting like a kid most of the time.  I'm 24 and I still don't consider myself an "adult."  It's partly due to a few incidences throughout my public education where I found the "adults, the educators, the people who are right," to be hypocritical, ignorant, pessimistic and often wrong.  At a young age, I couldn't make sense of the adult world which I was suppose to be preparing for.

Luckily, I'm pursuing a career path in the arts with film where your "inner child" is often encouraged.  It's important to look at things with a childlike curiosity, to see things new, to continue to learn.  It's also important to balance your inner child.  Some people take it too far, like the directors who throw tantrums on set and act like a baby.  Here's a good example.

Anywho, I was thinking of this because I just had a great time at my little cousin's birthday party which was at a "bouncy" kids place: lots of moon walks.  I might have had more fun then they did!  My brother-in-law and I were "warned" for slam dunking on the basketball bouncy.  It was awesome!

Here's a video of it.

It's always been a little dream of mine that if I ever become a millionaire, I would buy a few acres of land and fill it with trampolines side-by-side.  That way I could spend a whole weekend just jumping around, you know?

Did I also mention that some "grown up" friends of mine reunited over Thanksgiving at Zap Zone?  Well we did.  And I still think it's awesome to destroy teenagers in laser tag!

So, this may be contradictory to most things I say on this blog... but hey kids, "Don't ever change!"