An article at Forbes.com lists America's 15 Emptiest Cities based on rental vacancies and housing vacancies. The way they list the names of multiple cities per list item, I think they're actually listing metro areas rather than cities proper.
Unfortunately, two of North Carolina's metro areas are in the list, including the Greensboro/High Point area. At first look I thought Winston-Salem was included in that, especially since Winston-Salem has been cranking out the house construction in recent years despite not bursting at the seams with new jobs. But Winston-Salem and Greensboro are considered different metro areas now, so maybe Greensboro is worse off than Winston-Salem. On the other hand, I think they made the list out of the nation's 75 largest metros, and the Winston-Salem metro may be a little lower on the list than #75. My guess is, what's bad news for Greensboro is bad news for Winston too.
Here's the Forbes list of America's Emptiest Cities (Metro Areas):
15. (tie) Charlotte/Gastonia/Concord, NC
15. (tie) Cincinnati, Ohio / Middletown, KY
14. Bakersfield, CA
13. Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater, FL
12. Chicago/Naperville/Joliet, IL
11. Miami/Ft. Lauderdale/Miami Beach, FL
09. (tie) Indianapolis, IN
09. (tie) Jacksonville, FL
08. Kansas City, MO / Kansas City, KS
07. Orlando, FL
06. Phoenix/Mesa/Scottsdale, AZ
05. Dayton, OH
04. Greensboro/High Point, NC
03. Atlanta/Sandy Springs/Marietta, GA
02. Detroit/Warren/Livonia, MI
01. Las Vegas/Paradise, NV
Showing posts with label Winston-Salem/Greensboro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Winston-Salem/Greensboro. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Eyeborgs Preview & Teaser Trailer
I just reviewed the TV movie Highlander: The Source, starring Adrian Paul. It's obviously a bad review, but I don't blame that on Adrian Paul. He's a great actor, I loved him on Highlander: The Series, and I've heard that he takes all his work very seriously.
I actually got a chance to meet Adrian Paul recently. There was a low-budget science fiction movie called Eyeborgs that was filmed here locally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in July 2007, and Adrian Paul was the star of the film (not sure if he was playing the lead role, but he was at least the biggest name actor in it).
My friend and local director/producer/writer/editor Ike Quigley was the script supervisor on the production. So, when I and the other producer on our 48 Hour Film Project entry had to meet with Ike (our director on our 48 Hour project), he let us come by the Eyeborgs set and watch the crew blow up a van and set a guy on fire for some pyrotechnic scenes.
Adrian Paul was not in the scenes but eventually came out of his trailer to watch the pyrotechnics. Ike introduced Paul to myself and our producer's husband who also got to hang around and help with still photography. I only got a chance to say, "Hi, nice to meet you," to Paul before he went back to talking to Ike about the previous day's footage. I get to meet famous people so rarely that even that was kind of cool.
Anyway... While looking up Highlander and Adrian Paul stuff online while writing my Source review, I came across the Eyeborgs preview at its official site. There are several shots of the Winston-Salem skyline throughout the preview. There's a scene in the preview of a "Spy-der" robot harrassing a pedestrian. The pedestrian looks like Eyeborgs' director/co-writer Richard Clabaugh, who I think is also a film professor at North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.
And, just now, I dug a little further and found the Eyeborgs teaser trailer on YouTube. It's different from the preview, which has a more documentary type feel to it. The teaser trailer is embedded below:
I recognize The Depot in Greensboro, NC, as one of the shooting locations for the teaser trailer. We got clearance to use The Depot as one of our shooting locations for the 48 Hour Film Project too. In fact, I scouted The Depot for 48HFP the same day that either Eyeborgs or another local production was filming in the building.
In further Eyeborgs/48HFP crossover trivia, several cast & crew from Eyeborgs worked on our team, 9 lb. Hammer, in the 48 Hour Film Project this year. In fact, the lead actor in our entry, entitled Dekay, was Juan-Carlos "J.C." Guzman, who is also in Eyeborgs. Also, several other crew members of Eyeborgs were veteran directors of the 48 Hour Film Project in Greensboro as well as other local productions.
[UPDATE] After even more digging, I also found an extensive Yes Weekly article about Eyeborgs by local movie reviewer Mark Burger, who had full access to the Eyeborgs shoot (I also got to meet him the night I visited the set). The article was written back in June and includes a lot of details about the cast, crew, and shooting locations of Eyeborgs.
Near the end of the article there are a few mentions of the Millennium Center, one of the movie's shooting locations. The Millennium Center is an old, large, historic building in downtown Winston-Salem which used to serve as the central post office a long time ago and looks a lot like a museum from the outside. It's been used as a shooting location for a variety of movies, from student films to big-budget productions.
The Millennium Center also happened to be the primary shooting location for our entry in the 48 Hour Film Project in 2006, entitled Gone to Ground. Ike Quigley was also the director on that project, and I was one of two assistant producers. If you've ever noticed the video of Gone to Ground on the right column of this blog or in my MySpace profile, that's why it's there. I was also used as an extra in the boardroom scene. You can see the side of my face as a few other people talk. Originally, I had a line of dialogue, but we had to scrap it to conserve on camera setups.
I actually got a chance to meet Adrian Paul recently. There was a low-budget science fiction movie called Eyeborgs that was filmed here locally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in July 2007, and Adrian Paul was the star of the film (not sure if he was playing the lead role, but he was at least the biggest name actor in it).
My friend and local director/producer/writer/editor Ike Quigley was the script supervisor on the production. So, when I and the other producer on our 48 Hour Film Project entry had to meet with Ike (our director on our 48 Hour project), he let us come by the Eyeborgs set and watch the crew blow up a van and set a guy on fire for some pyrotechnic scenes.
Adrian Paul was not in the scenes but eventually came out of his trailer to watch the pyrotechnics. Ike introduced Paul to myself and our producer's husband who also got to hang around and help with still photography. I only got a chance to say, "Hi, nice to meet you," to Paul before he went back to talking to Ike about the previous day's footage. I get to meet famous people so rarely that even that was kind of cool.
Anyway... While looking up Highlander and Adrian Paul stuff online while writing my Source review, I came across the Eyeborgs preview at its official site. There are several shots of the Winston-Salem skyline throughout the preview. There's a scene in the preview of a "Spy-der" robot harrassing a pedestrian. The pedestrian looks like Eyeborgs' director/co-writer Richard Clabaugh, who I think is also a film professor at North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.
And, just now, I dug a little further and found the Eyeborgs teaser trailer on YouTube. It's different from the preview, which has a more documentary type feel to it. The teaser trailer is embedded below:
I recognize The Depot in Greensboro, NC, as one of the shooting locations for the teaser trailer. We got clearance to use The Depot as one of our shooting locations for the 48 Hour Film Project too. In fact, I scouted The Depot for 48HFP the same day that either Eyeborgs or another local production was filming in the building.
In further Eyeborgs/48HFP crossover trivia, several cast & crew from Eyeborgs worked on our team, 9 lb. Hammer, in the 48 Hour Film Project this year. In fact, the lead actor in our entry, entitled Dekay, was Juan-Carlos "J.C." Guzman, who is also in Eyeborgs. Also, several other crew members of Eyeborgs were veteran directors of the 48 Hour Film Project in Greensboro as well as other local productions.
[UPDATE] After even more digging, I also found an extensive Yes Weekly article about Eyeborgs by local movie reviewer Mark Burger, who had full access to the Eyeborgs shoot (I also got to meet him the night I visited the set). The article was written back in June and includes a lot of details about the cast, crew, and shooting locations of Eyeborgs.
Near the end of the article there are a few mentions of the Millennium Center, one of the movie's shooting locations. The Millennium Center is an old, large, historic building in downtown Winston-Salem which used to serve as the central post office a long time ago and looks a lot like a museum from the outside. It's been used as a shooting location for a variety of movies, from student films to big-budget productions.
The Millennium Center also happened to be the primary shooting location for our entry in the 48 Hour Film Project in 2006, entitled Gone to Ground. Ike Quigley was also the director on that project, and I was one of two assistant producers. If you've ever noticed the video of Gone to Ground on the right column of this blog or in my MySpace profile, that's why it's there. I was also used as an extra in the boardroom scene. You can see the side of my face as a few other people talk. Originally, I had a line of dialogue, but we had to scrap it to conserve on camera setups.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
The 22 Worst Place Names in the World
On The Cooper Lawrence Show (one of my favorite syndicated radio shows out of Charlotte's 107.9 The Link), Cooper just read the list of 22 Worst Place Names in the World. They're the worst place names because some of them are derived from cuss words or vulgar biological terms. Of course, Cooper had to censor certain words out of the list, and her producer Anthony Michaels was nervous about a potential FCC violation and had his hand poised over the "dump button" (censor button) the whole time.
It was a somewhat funny list. Making #5 on the list is North Carolina's own Horneytown, which just happens to be about 10 miles from where I live. It's at the far southeast corner of Forsyth County near both Guilford and Davidson Counties. What the list doesn't mention is that Horneytown is just 25 miles from Climax, NC, which is near the southeast corner of Guilford County.
Some of the names are also a little too "colorful" for me to re-list here, so I'll just provide the link that I found for it. Just in case anyone's curious, here it is...
The 22 Worst Place Names in the World
It was a somewhat funny list. Making #5 on the list is North Carolina's own Horneytown, which just happens to be about 10 miles from where I live. It's at the far southeast corner of Forsyth County near both Guilford and Davidson Counties. What the list doesn't mention is that Horneytown is just 25 miles from Climax, NC, which is near the southeast corner of Guilford County.
Some of the names are also a little too "colorful" for me to re-list here, so I'll just provide the link that I found for it. Just in case anyone's curious, here it is...
The 22 Worst Place Names in the World
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Vote for Maddie
No, Maddie's not running for president. I don't even know Maddie.
I stumbled upon her profile at Facebook while looking at local groups. She is someone nearby in Eden who has entered the Smashbox Model Search 2007, apparently a modeling contest by a cosmetics company.
She's pretty cute and could use your support. If you think she's got a nice look and/or you'd just like to support a local Triad person, click on her photo and throw a vote her way (I reiterate, this is for a cosmetics modeling contest, so don't worry, clicking on the pic won't take you to an adult site or anything like that).
(If anyone explores the Smashbox site and finds another local Triad person or even just another North Carolinian in the contest, leave a comment with the URL of the person's profile or at least the profile ID number.)
I stumbled upon her profile at Facebook while looking at local groups. She is someone nearby in Eden who has entered the Smashbox Model Search 2007, apparently a modeling contest by a cosmetics company.
She's pretty cute and could use your support. If you think she's got a nice look and/or you'd just like to support a local Triad person, click on her photo and throw a vote her way (I reiterate, this is for a cosmetics modeling contest, so don't worry, clicking on the pic won't take you to an adult site or anything like that).
| VOTE for MADDIE |
 |
 |
(If anyone explores the Smashbox site and finds another local Triad person or even just another North Carolinian in the contest, leave a comment with the URL of the person's profile or at least the profile ID number.)
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Easter Eve in God's Acre
Yesterday, the day before Easter, my family braved the chill and wind to fulfill our yearly ritual of cleaning gravestones and placing flowers on graves of family members buried in God's Acre in Old Salem and the adjacent Salem Cemetary.
Unfortunately, because of the unusual coldsnap this year, some flowers probably died last night, and some were already wilting yesterday. A few people may have even decided to skip flowers this year. And yet, God's Acre is still a beautiful site at Easter anyway.
So, I decided to take a few pictures. You can click on each picture to see a much bigger version.
Lower Section of God's Acre (in Old Salem)
Old Salem is very close to downtown Winston-Salem, so you can see some of the skyline in the background. The white, round-top building is the Wachovia Center. The roundness of the building's top is inspired by an arch, a shape utilitized on many Moravian churches. I'm not sure I've seen it before, but I've read that a marble mosaic in the building's lobby is inspired by the Moravian Star, a prevalent decoration seen during Christmas.
In the background of the photo below, you can see the back of one of the buildings in Old Salem. I believe the rear of the building is an expansion since it looks so new. You can also see a parking lot used by Salem College, which is also located in Old Salem.
Upper Section of God's Acre (much, much older graves)
Salem Cemetary (right next to God's Acre)
In the photo above, you can see how close the public Salem Cemetary is to the Moravian graveyard God's Acre. Moravians use a standard, plain white, rectangular gravestone, and arrange the dead by age and gender. In Salem Cemetary, you'll find gravestones of all different sizes and shapes, including above-ground crypts. There are, however, some Moravians buried in Salem Cemetary, and many of them use the standard Moravian gravestone, including several of my family buried there.
Graves of Family Members
My grandmother, "Mama Reid." She and my grandfather are buried, practically in opposite corners, in the lower section of God's Acre.
My grandfather.
My great great grandmother, buried in the older, upper section of God's Acre.
My great grandmother, "Nana Land." She, my great aunt, my great grand father, and my two great uncles are all buried adjacent to each other in Salem Cemetary. Three out of the five still use the standard Moravian gravestone. My two great uncles have gravestones that look similar but are smaller versions to the standard Moravian stone.
My great aunt, Barbara.
My great grandfather.
My great uncles.
Unfortunately, because of the unusual coldsnap this year, some flowers probably died last night, and some were already wilting yesterday. A few people may have even decided to skip flowers this year. And yet, God's Acre is still a beautiful site at Easter anyway.
So, I decided to take a few pictures. You can click on each picture to see a much bigger version.
Lower Section of God's Acre (in Old Salem)
Old Salem is very close to downtown Winston-Salem, so you can see some of the skyline in the background. The white, round-top building is the Wachovia Center. The roundness of the building's top is inspired by an arch, a shape utilitized on many Moravian churches. I'm not sure I've seen it before, but I've read that a marble mosaic in the building's lobby is inspired by the Moravian Star, a prevalent decoration seen during Christmas.
In the background of the photo below, you can see the back of one of the buildings in Old Salem. I believe the rear of the building is an expansion since it looks so new. You can also see a parking lot used by Salem College, which is also located in Old Salem.
Upper Section of God's Acre (much, much older graves)
Salem Cemetary (right next to God's Acre)
In the photo above, you can see how close the public Salem Cemetary is to the Moravian graveyard God's Acre. Moravians use a standard, plain white, rectangular gravestone, and arrange the dead by age and gender. In Salem Cemetary, you'll find gravestones of all different sizes and shapes, including above-ground crypts. There are, however, some Moravians buried in Salem Cemetary, and many of them use the standard Moravian gravestone, including several of my family buried there.
Graves of Family Members
My grandmother, "Mama Reid." She and my grandfather are buried, practically in opposite corners, in the lower section of God's Acre.
My grandfather.
My great great grandmother, buried in the older, upper section of God's Acre.
My great grandmother, "Nana Land." She, my great aunt, my great grand father, and my two great uncles are all buried adjacent to each other in Salem Cemetary. Three out of the five still use the standard Moravian gravestone. My two great uncles have gravestones that look similar but are smaller versions to the standard Moravian stone.
My great aunt, Barbara.
My great grandfather.
My great uncles.
Friday, March 30, 2007
It's Layoff Day
Well, it's over. Today was my very last day at a company where I spent 8 years, 6 months, and 22 days. I am now officially laid off. In case you didn't read my previous entry from Sunday, many of us at my company found out about nine months ago that our jobs are going to India.
Nine months is a long enough wait that you almost think it's never going to come even when it's two weeks away. The fact that the wait is over, as of today, may still not feel real for a few more days.
There wasn't much time to let it sink in either as I still had work to finish up this morning--after working a 10 hour day yesterday. I scrambled the rest of the day to tie up loose ends (that I hoped to get to earlier in the week) including cleaning out my hard drive, cleaning out my e-mail, finishing cleaning out my desk, forwarding any personal files or e-mails to my home account, turning in one piece of paperwork, saying last minute goodbyes, etc., that it wasn't a totally relaxed last day, and I didn't get out of there until 5:45 (some people started trickling out by 3:00).
On the off chance that someone from my previous job or a prospective future job may be reading this, I'm neither naming my company nor going into detail on the good and/or bad things about my former job.
All I'll say is that I'm hoping/expecting/assuming/praying that my next job will be better, and I'm eager to find out if things will end up like that.
My plans... Obviously, continue looking for a new job. Since you can't look for a job 24 hours a day, I also hope to catch up on some personal projects around the house, perhaps some spring cleaning inside and almost certainly some yard maintenance outside. I also want to read more often, blog more often, and exercise more often. I still have a free one-month pass to the YMCA that I won in a raffle at work and still need to use before the expiration runs out.
In a way, April 1 is like a different kind of New Years Day for me, so hopefully I'll start some good resolutions that I'll actually stick to (even after I get a new job, which hopefully won't take forever).
-----
Ironic how in my last blog entry I also mentioned Hanes as being a steady presence in Winston-Salem, NC. Just today, I heard the news that they are also having layoffs. According to the website of local new station WXII, 600 people will lose their jobs in the "restructuring" in which their textile production will move to the Caribbean area and Central America.
So, if all our country's jobs keep going to other countries because it saves money, then that means someday all Americans can quit their jobs and pay hardly anything for their products and services since they'll be done so cheap elsewhere--right??? Yeah, I didn't think so. We're on a sad path. :(
Nine months is a long enough wait that you almost think it's never going to come even when it's two weeks away. The fact that the wait is over, as of today, may still not feel real for a few more days.
There wasn't much time to let it sink in either as I still had work to finish up this morning--after working a 10 hour day yesterday. I scrambled the rest of the day to tie up loose ends (that I hoped to get to earlier in the week) including cleaning out my hard drive, cleaning out my e-mail, finishing cleaning out my desk, forwarding any personal files or e-mails to my home account, turning in one piece of paperwork, saying last minute goodbyes, etc., that it wasn't a totally relaxed last day, and I didn't get out of there until 5:45 (some people started trickling out by 3:00).
On the off chance that someone from my previous job or a prospective future job may be reading this, I'm neither naming my company nor going into detail on the good and/or bad things about my former job.
All I'll say is that I'm hoping/expecting/assuming/praying that my next job will be better, and I'm eager to find out if things will end up like that.
My plans... Obviously, continue looking for a new job. Since you can't look for a job 24 hours a day, I also hope to catch up on some personal projects around the house, perhaps some spring cleaning inside and almost certainly some yard maintenance outside. I also want to read more often, blog more often, and exercise more often. I still have a free one-month pass to the YMCA that I won in a raffle at work and still need to use before the expiration runs out.
In a way, April 1 is like a different kind of New Years Day for me, so hopefully I'll start some good resolutions that I'll actually stick to (even after I get a new job, which hopefully won't take forever).
-----
Ironic how in my last blog entry I also mentioned Hanes as being a steady presence in Winston-Salem, NC. Just today, I heard the news that they are also having layoffs. According to the website of local new station WXII, 600 people will lose their jobs in the "restructuring" in which their textile production will move to the Caribbean area and Central America.
So, if all our country's jobs keep going to other countries because it saves money, then that means someday all Americans can quit their jobs and pay hardly anything for their products and services since they'll be done so cheap elsewhere--right??? Yeah, I didn't think so. We're on a sad path. :(
Saturday, March 17, 2007
48 Hour Film Project in Greensboro Needs New Producers
The Greensboro edition of the 48 Hour Film Project is in need of new producers. For Greensboro's first three years in the 48HFP, the local producers of the event were Nisha Coffey and Ed Moye. They did a great job but have decided to step down.
Greensboro typically participates in the 48HFP in July. It's an awesome event. I've really enjoyed participating in the event for the past two years, and the director from my 2005 & 2006 team was a judge for the event in 2004.
I'd hate for Greensboro to go without the event this year, so if you or someone you know would be interested in the producer job, please step up. If not, at least spreading the word would be appreciated.
Click here for the ad for new producers on Craig's List.
Greensboro typically participates in the 48HFP in July. It's an awesome event. I've really enjoyed participating in the event for the past two years, and the director from my 2005 & 2006 team was a judge for the event in 2004.
I'd hate for Greensboro to go without the event this year, so if you or someone you know would be interested in the producer job, please step up. If not, at least spreading the word would be appreciated.
Click here for the ad for new producers on Craig's List.
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