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Topic:
The "Brooklyn Force" pregame thread: Picture locked.
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AdamBertocci
Title: Manager: Fan Films
Registered:
Feb '02
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Date Posted:
4/9 1:47pm
Subject:
RE: The "Brooklyn Force" pregame thread: Day 1 PICS! With CUTE GIRLS!
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^ One thing I did when in college and working on a station with a TV monitor attached was, when I was ready to watch, I'd throw my jacket over the computer monitor so I could pretend it didn't exist, and I'd only watch the TV.
I'm pretty pleased with scenes 5-8 now. I foresee very little change in the rhythm and flow of those scenes at this point, at least not till music shows up. I've been changing a shot here and there, but it always takes the same place and length as the shot it replaces.
Effects for those scenes are pretty complete: lightsabers are done, and lightning is 90% done or so (I may add some stray sparks and offshoots yet). My timeline is a mess because I don't just do my effects in AE and have done with it. I lay in my main effect (the blade, for instance, or the big collection of lightning) and then add other stuff (ancillary effects, light flashes, lens flares) in FCP, thinking like an editor. Sometimes I cut, crop, scale or move my ostensibly complete effects footage from AE within FCP. This would not pass muster in a professional environment, I suppose.
And we won't even get into my Lucaslike reframing of half a scene because I decided I wanted the lightsaber someplace else.
This week I embarked upon color correction, which was an interesting challenge. I always sort of assumed I'd be graying out the confrontation scene a bit, making it starker, but do you know, I just liked how it looked so much that I decided I wanted to preserve the look we shot. There's a documentary character to everything we shot, and I don't ever want to over-correct that to come off slick or precisely lit.
For the confrontation scene, I ended up only adding a little contrast to three of our four characters' angles, mostly to make sure the villains' blacks were deep and dark, and in a couple of cases I've added a little oomph to Maul's beautiful red hair. When the lightning comes, I darken the sky a bit for a stormy look. It's quite beautiful.
The other scene to receive any color correction worth mentioning is a discussion between Leah and Maul. Now, this is a scene that not only reveals a bit of the moral of the story, but also highlights important sociological trends and points a philosophical way forward for a neighborhood on the threshold betwixt dynamism and equilibrium; thematically. Thus, the most important thing to do, cinematically, is make sure the girls look hot.
Because Maul does most of the talking, it's sort of her big scene, I decided to push the reds and blacks. But never too much. I want to retain the documentarylike look this day had. It is a challenge. This really may be the hardest-to-color-correct film I've ever done, because it's not just a matter of making the image look its best.
Rick McCallum loves you!
-----signature-----
"Run Leia Run", "The Chopped-Off Hands of Star Wars", and "The Fan Film Menace" ... check 'em out. http://www.runleiarun.com  MarriedVespin?!
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AdamBertocci
Title: Manager: Fan Films
Registered:
Feb '02
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Date Posted:
4/19 9:15pm
Subject:
RE: The "Brooklyn Force" pregame thread: New York Comic-Con report
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New York Comic-Con. The second-biggest pop culture convention in America.
April 19, 2008.
As a member of the "Fan Films: A History and Future" panel, I have the honor of discussing the noble craft of fan films with a 300-seat auditorium full of noble geekfolk like myself. Curiously, I am the only "Star Wars" fan filmmaker out of six panelists, which has to be a record.
When the panel started, there were maybe only a hundred people in attendance. And the screen we're showing our stuff on wasn't too impressive. I was a little disappointed.
The second speaker shows his clip. The sound system is inadequate and we can't hear it very well. Polite applause ensues.
People start flowing into the room. Maybe they wanted to see what was on the screen; maybe other panels were letting out; maybe the event they really wanted was full up. Who knows. But as panelists present, we can't hear the clips too well, and since most of my teaser's humor comes from dialogue, I'm a little worried. Especially as the auditorium is getting busier, more folks are showing up, uh-oh.
Polite applause for one panelist after another after another. Cheerful, but, well, we're fan films people, we want to bring down the house.
Finally, the microphone comes to me. There's at least two hundred in the seats and more coming in by the moment. I babble a bit about myself, my career and my previous work, and then I say "Ladies and gentlemen... more ladies than I was expecting...", and I inform them that they are the first audience to see this teaser.
"See" is the right word because we can't hear a thing. And I worry a bit. Desperate to salvage the screening, I perform Carolyn's first line along with her.
Then Dana's line.
Some chuckles from the audience as they figure out what I'm doing. The fact that it's not syncing up that well with the image only makes it funnier.
I stand. I perform Dana's hand motions along with the video, mimic my own angry shout, and this proves amusing. But don't think they only responded to the gimmick--as his (our?) speech about gentrification etc. rolls on, the New York audience starts to get what the movie's about, and there is some chuckling.
I say my most emotional line, more or less in sync with my onscreen image, and the audience gets the mood I'm setting, and there is more chuckling.
Then comes Carolyn's big last line, the one to touch the heart of every fan... I summon every scrap of serenity, majesty and confidence in my body, and vocalize.
The crowd bursts into an ovation of sheer delight that catapults the whole darn panel into a new plateau of energy and excitement. Cheers go up.
Friends, it wasn't exactly the way I wanted to present the teaser, but "Brooklyn Force" stole the freakin' show, and I make no apologies.
The entire panel was a blast, we overfilled the room by the end and had people approaching us like celebrities after it was over. We were so popular I think we ended up delaying the panel after us just because we were there greeting our public and no one wanted to clear out. This was a great day for fan films.
Sadly, no sexy girls in Princess Leia outfits or funky jumpsuits or superhero getups wanted my autograph or anything.
I'll show you guys the teaser on Monday. My God, this went over so well, somehow.
Rick McCallum loves you!
-----signature-----
"Run Leia Run", "The Chopped-Off Hands of Star Wars", and "The Fan Film Menace" ... check 'em out. http://www.runleiarun.com MarriedVespin?!
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sithjeff
Registered:
Sep '05
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Date Posted:
4/20 1:20pm
Subject:
RE: The "Brooklyn Force" pregame thread: New York Comic-Con report
- Date Edited:
4/20 1:21pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
sithjeff
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Looks good.
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AIM me at jeffselfdestruct
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AdamBertocci
Title: Manager: Fan Films
Registered:
Feb '02
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Date Posted:
4/21 8:01am
Subject:
RE: The "Brooklyn Force" pregame thread: COMIC-CON TEASER
- Date Edited:
4/21 8:01am (1 edits total)
Edited By:
AdamBertocci
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THE NEW YORK COMIC-CON TEASER IS ON YOUTUBE SO YOU SHOULD WATCH IT AND PASS IT ALONG TO EVERYONE IN EXISTENCE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1DApoO1hkk
Also, here's some pics of me on the panel...
  
If you wanna see more.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2124874&l=133b0&id=2400817
Rick McCallum loves you!
-----signature-----
"Run Leia Run", "The Chopped-Off Hands of Star Wars", and "The Fan Film Menace" ... check 'em out. http://www.runleiarun.com MarriedVespin?!
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Boter
Registered:
Jul '02
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Date Posted:
4/21 10:23am
Subject:
RE: The "Brooklyn Force" pregame thread: COMIC-CON TEASER
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Wow... that's pretty cool 
At the same time, I wish there was video of you saying the lines to it 
-----signature-----
Organizer, TF.N Filmmaking Workshop III Member, Key Pixel Gathering of Filmers (partial filmography in profile)  s for Alana, s for Grampa Tony. I Knew a Jedi. What *IS* Meatball?
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Dolt
Registered:
Sep '04
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Date Posted:
4/21 4:33pm
Subject:
RE: The "Brooklyn Force" pregame thread: COMIC-CON TEASER
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I have another write up on the panel--and some other pix--over at FanCinemaToday.Com. Adam was great--as was pretty much everyone on the panel. It was a hell of a show; we had well over 200 people by the panel's end. 
Clive
-----signature-----
HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD: FANS BEHIND THE CAMERA The first book about fan films! Book blog: http://www.cliveyoung.com/hhbookblog.html HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD at Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/33z5uc Get fan film news at http://www.fancinematoday.com
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AdamBertocci
Title: Manager: Fan Films
Registered:
Feb '02
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Date Posted:
5/2 9:09am
Subject:
RE: The "Brooklyn Force" pregame thread: Comic-Con teaser, planning shoot #2
- Date Edited:
5/2 9:11am (1 edits total)
Edited By:
AdamBertocci
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I haven't blogged here for a while because there's been nothing to say... sort of. Actually, there has been some movement, just in little bits and pieces.
Barring weather wipeout or unforeseen conflict, we shoot the other half of the film in Bed-Stuy on Saturday, May 17. The crew, such as it is, is hired, such as THAT is, (with 'Lank' from NP2K coming to join us!) and the cast is just me and Carolyn.
May is historically a wet month in New York, but here's the kicker: we only need an hour or two of clement weather. If there's showers here and there, we can wait--we can go inside and light (or shoot, even) the interior stuff. I just need to not be screwed over entirely, because if we lose this weekend, we may not get to shoot till June, and who wants to wait?
Just today I looked over my storyboards. There is one shot I'm not sure is going to play the way I have it written. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I'm confident enough in my understanding of the material to know how to hammer it out precisely when we get on location.
Reposting the teaser link from the last page just in case y'all missed it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1DApoO1hkk
Rick McCallum loves you!
-----signature-----
"Run Leia Run", "The Chopped-Off Hands of Star Wars", and "The Fan Film Menace" ... check 'em out. http://www.runleiarun.com MarriedVespin?!
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AdamBertocci
Title: Manager: Fan Films
Registered:
Feb '02
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Date Posted:
5/12 5:08pm
Subject:
RE: The "Brooklyn Force" pregame thread: Comic-Con teaser, planning shoot #2
- Date Edited:
5/12 5:09pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
AdamBertocci
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Episode 11 of the Fan Film Podcast --- http://fanfilmpodcast.mypodcast.com --- is all about the New York Comic-Con panel I sat on, and evidently they've got the whole thing recorded in convenient audio form. So you can hear it and stuff.
My thoughts are not on the past but on the future. The shoot is this Saturday and I have begun my merry game of refreshing weather forecasts obsessively.
It will not be the perfect, ideal day. There will be clouds, and (possibly) showers to contend with. The question is, will it be clear enough to shoot our exteriors--that little window I mentioned above. And that's a question we can't answer just now.
Another question, which I myself must provide an answer to, is, supposing we shoot those exteriors and it's overcast, not the sunny one I envisioned when writing the script. How ought I to shoot it to use the gloomy clouds to best advantage? That's just a question of directing, and if we do shoot on an ugly day, I want to come away from it knowing that I've used that to create a scene implying "foreboding" or "tension" or "conflict brewing", not "ugly day featuring crappy light".
Which means I intend to watch some scenes I think have done that well. To the DVD shelf!
Rick McCallum loves you!
-----signature-----
"Run Leia Run", "The Chopped-Off Hands of Star Wars", and "The Fan Film Menace" ... check 'em out. http://www.runleiarun.com MarriedVespin?!
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AdamBertocci
Title: Manager: Fan Films
Registered:
Feb '02
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Date Posted:
5/14 7:53pm
Subject:
RE: The "Brooklyn Force" pregame thread: Comic-Con teaser, planning shoot #2
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Well, we lost 'Lank' and are thus short a crew member for the day. With weather holding steady (imperfect, but steady) I guess this is the last nagging thing to tackle. I didn't have a confirmed second crew member on Wednesday night of the LAST shoot either, so there is precedent for this all turning out okay.
One thing I've tried to impart in these blogs, for the benefit of our younger filmmakers, is how important I consider preparation. I am a man of backup plan after backup plan. Within ten minutes of hanging up the phone with 'Lank', I was making my first "help plz" phone call, and I know who I'll contact next if that's a bust. (I won't go into any more exact details here for fear of premature chicken-counting.)
Obviously I'd like to have two crew--one to boom, one to hold a bounce board (or whatever). But being the planner I am, well, if it doesn't happen, maybe we can lean a bounce board against a tree or put a boom on a stand, depending on location geography. Why, I've even looked at photos and video I have of our exteriors to see how it will all lay out. It's all good thinking, none of it useless.
Somewhere in all this I've spent a good hour today looking at the script. Like I said. Preparation.
None of this is to say that I am a master preparer, by the way. There've been several things on this movie I coulda done better in that department. I'm just sayin'.
Rick McCallum loves you!
-----signature-----
"Run Leia Run", "The Chopped-Off Hands of Star Wars", and "The Fan Film Menace" ... check 'em out. http://www.runleiarun.com MarriedVespin?!
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AdamBertocci
Title: Manager: Fan Films
Registered:
Feb '02
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Date Posted:
5/16 5:48pm
Subject:
RE: The "Brooklyn Force" pregame thread: Comic-Con teaser, planning shoot #2
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I suppose it would be appropriate to say a few words.
As I write this it is 8:39 PM on Friday night. In less than twelve hours I will wake up and begin a grand day out. The weather has become more accomodating than ever.
It appears despite my best begging we remain one crew member short, but honestly, of all the problems to walk into the shoot facing, that is the best one. We will delegate either booming or bouncing to stationary objects. We're not out in the wilds, we're shooting literally in our own front yard. We shot the last day of TWOTE on exactly the same arrangement, me and Carolyn acting, Eric and Kent as a two-man crew.
Woke up early this morning because I was so excited. I vividly remember my dreams being of speed, action, thrill. Like little segments of being on a rollercoaster.
I think this'll be a good way to go out, all told. Ideally, the next blog post you'll see out of me is gonna be telling you all about how we spent a great Saturday.
Rick McCallum loves you!
-----signature-----
"Run Leia Run", "The Chopped-Off Hands of Star Wars", and "The Fan Film Menace" ... check 'em out. http://www.runleiarun.com MarriedVespin?!
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TrowaGP02a
Registered:
Dec '04
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Date Posted:
5/16 7:00pm
Subject:
RE: The "Brooklyn Force" pregame thread: Comic-Con teaser, planning shoot #2
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I'll be back in Nassau County in like 2 days if you ever need help! Let me know I can hold my own on a set, won't let ya down!
-----signature-----
There must be some way out of here.
Said the Joker to the Theif.
There's too much confusion here.
I can't get no relief.
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AdamBertocci
Title: Manager: Fan Films
Registered:
Feb '02
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Date Posted:
5/17 10:02pm
Subject:
RE: The "Brooklyn Force" pregame thread: That's a wrap!
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Day 2 is wrapped. The movie is wrapped. We are officially in post.
This was a trying day, and I confess I didn't have as much fun as I usually do when shooting. It was just one stupid problem after another, things that would never be a problem on a film with a budget and permits and stuff but which strike us so-independent-it-hurts-your-eyeballs all the time.
The funny thing is, on paper this was a much easier shoot than the Williamsburg day. Half the characters. Less than half the shots. An interior scene. Simple dialogue all round, no action or craziness.
Life is what happens when you're making other plans.
We got a late start. I'm not going to go into the details here only because they are not about filmmaking but about silly screwups that can happen anywhere. It was a perfect storm. For a 10:30 call time, I don't think we even picked up a camera till 11:15, and it would depress me to figure out when we had our first shot in the can. I recall that by 12:30 we had three shots done... out of fifteen... in that particular scene.
We hobbled through the day one crew member short. That wasn't the difficult part.
Noise.
Shooting on a neighborhood street in New York means you can't expect perfect sound, but this was not just the occasional passerby or car, this was a neighborhood grounded in a culture of holding court on brownstone steps... on the day that half the block was getting their floors sanded... or having trees cut down. I think a piece of my heart permanently broke when the woodchipper truck showed up.
We got through those exteriors, but not quickly. I have audio concerns, and I will just need to listen in when fresh and rested and see what goes on. ADR is a pain in the behind but that is just life. We made sure to get Carolyn's emotional monologues in clean takes though, even redoing one later in the day.
But it was so distracting, it began to affect me as both director and actor. And I'm not easy to faze. I can deliver a line on two seconds' notice when boxed in by bounceboards and C-stands. But I can't handle something threatening my take in mid-take when I'm trying to take.
The light was awfully pretty though.
I was glad to be shooting interiors that evening. Moonlight and dark secrets. Got to really act, I think, with a monologue and everything. It's awfully fun to be an actor-director when the blocking isn't complicated, you can just sit your butt down and build the movie around you.
After delays and panics aplenty, shooting is complete. The next blog post you see out of me will contain pretty pictures.
Rick McCallum loves you!
-----signature-----
"Run Leia Run", "The Chopped-Off Hands of Star Wars", and "The Fan Film Menace" ... check 'em out. http://www.runleiarun.com MarriedVespin?!
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AdamBertocci
Title: Manager: Fan Films
Registered:
Feb '02
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Date Posted:
5/18 6:52pm
Subject:
RE: The "Brooklyn Force" pregame thread: Day 2 PICS! With a girl!
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I have an assembly of the whole of yesterday's shoot, and I kid you not, my eyes brimmed with tears on Leah's big rousing monologue. And right now I think ADR will be restricted to little conversation lines, not emotional moments. I THINK I can save the heavy stuff.
But enough about that crap! Behold! Imagery!
Screencaptures at full resolution, no color correction or any other editing. Still photographs reduced to 33% size.
 ... ...
 ...
 ...
 ... ...
Rick McCallum loves you!
-----signature-----
"Run Leia Run", "The Chopped-Off Hands of Star Wars", and "The Fan Film Menace" ... check 'em out. http://www.runleiarun.com MarriedVespin?!
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VaporTrail
Registered:
May '02
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Date Posted:
5/18 8:10pm
Subject:
RE: The "Brooklyn Force" pregame thread: Day 2 PICS! With a girl!
- Date Edited:
5/18 8:11pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
VaporTrail
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Nice and urban-looking. Those are all pretty good. You know how I love me some good shallow DoF.
Too bad that 'saber blade would prolly snap in half if her opponent so much as flicks it, but it should still be neat.
-Vaportrail
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AdamBertocci
Title: Manager: Fan Films
Registered:
Feb '02
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Date Posted:
5/25 9:39pm
Subject:
RE: The "Brooklyn Force" pregame thread: Day 2 PICS! With a girl!
- Date Edited:
5/25 9:39pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
AdamBertocci
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Yeah, I actually had to tell some of our male participants on the first shoot not to play with the sabers because they wouldn't hold up. They don't make 'em like they used to.
We did my terrible high school fan film saber duel with toys. It was a trying experience.
======
Things are looking very promising so far. If nothing else, I think this film may be the best acting work I've done in a very long time.
Let's talk post, and the way that I mix all the post-production tasks together at once.
The assembly of these scenes was very straightforward. The most complicated of the bunch is a two-person conversation with some slightly stagey blocking.
Things get complicated when it comes to figuring out reaction shots. I've honestly never cut a scene so sensitive to these issues. Change one reaction shot, or shift it by a few frames, and the whole world is different. I swear you could take scene 3 of this film, give it to students as an exercise and be humbled by the power of editing when you get twenty different feelings. I can only pray that I'm not missing out on the best possible cut that's sitting right under my nose.
Effects are fairly straightforward, or should be. I've done the two-three saber shots, presumably the last of my career.
But then there's more subtle things. I changed a couple of street signs--two to put us in Williamsburg rather than Bed-Stuy (thus once again screwing with NYC geography... Rico's gonna kill me), and two because I hate the new neon caution signs and miss the classic goldenrod.
Perhaps my favorite effects shots are ones you will never notice. They are shots where people were visible in the background. Fortunately, all our shots are locked-down, which makes replacing these folk a breeze. It's a hoot, and so satisfying to clean up.
Sound is... less nightmarish than I feared. Poor Carolyn will have to ADR quite a few lines, but only simple ones, nothing requiring emotion. I myself will have a coupla lines to dub. The rest can be salvaged, especially with music coming into the mix.
Ah, music. Our valiant composer Teague has the scenes in his lap, and just this weekend I was able to match a scene to a demo track. It is eerie how beautifully his piano from months ago matches the rhythms of my monologue from last weekend. It's as if he was right there offscreen playing me along.
Rick McCallum loves you!
-----signature-----
"Run Leia Run", "The Chopped-Off Hands of Star Wars", and "The Fan Film Menace" ... check 'em out. http://www.runleiarun.com MarriedVespin?!
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