Liquor, Action and Fall

We're enjoying the brisk autumn days we've been getting up here. Luckily the rain has been taking a break. It's getting dark early now, though I guess that forces us inside to work on all those writing tasks we keep talking about.

Thanks to all that came out to the QO Halloween Bash, we had a ton of fun, and hope you did as well.

Here's a little essay I want to share with you all, our buddy Jed sent it to me. I think a lot of you out there would appreciate it, laugh with it, maybe even learn something from it. It's written by Josh Olson, writer of "A History of Violence," and is called "I will not read your f**king script." Check it out here.


Jason, Walker and I were able to go check out the Great American Distillery Festival a couple of weeks ago, and make some contacts with some awesome distilleries. This festival was made up solely of Craft Distilleries, a majority of them from right here in the PNW. Here are a few of our favorites:

Dry Fly Distillery
Vodka, Gin and recently Whiskey
These guys are definitely a craft distillery. They only put the best part of each of their batches through the stilling process, using charcoal filters only a couple of times. This process allows for their liquor to maintain the true intentions and flavors of it's ingredients.

Pacific Distillery
Since it became legal to produce Absinthe once again in the states, these guys have been kicking ass at it. They had the full Absinthe set up at their table. In order to conserve tickets we didn't get a chance to try their Gin, but I'm sure it's great as well.

New Deal Distillery
The previous two distilleries hail from Washington, while this one come from right here in Stumptown. New Deal specializes in crafting vodkas. As of now they have five, New Deal Vodka, Portland 88 Vodka, Hot Monkey Vodka (Pepper infused), Basil Vodka and a new chocolate vodka that I think they were premiering at the festival, it's not available on their website yet. They are also involved in producing some liqueurs.

Artisan Spirits
This guy produces some knock-out vodkas. It's a very small operation, but once again this allows him to craft his vodka even more. At the moment Artisan has two types of Vodka out (both available at Rose City Liquor if you get the chance.) The first is distilled from wine, and is a very simple, delicate, flavorful vodka. The second is a honey vodka, distilled from mead, once again simple, yet complex in it's flavors. Artisan, along with New Deal, are part of Portland's Distillery Row.

Bakon Vodka
I know, it sounds weird. I wasn't sure what to think at first. That's why I'm glad I got to try it at the festival, and you know what, pretty awesome! I mean, you couldn't drink it straight for too long, but they definitely nailed a niche. The bacon flavor doesn't stick around to long after taking a sip thankfully. I'm looking forward to trying this in either a bloody mary, or the chocolate martini recipe I've heard tell of.

Organic Nation Spirits
Coming from Ashland, Or these guys will kick your ass, organically of course. Probably my favorite Gin that I tried at the festival, came out of nowhere and hit me smack dab in the lips with a tingling of black pepper! Check 'em out. I definitely plan on stopping in next time I'm down there in Ashland.

Well, I hope that little run down helps you make informed liquor decisions. If you don't see these guys at your liquor store, ask for them. Because of the way the OLCC works distilleries must ultimately sell themselves to the stores so that the stores put in orders for their stuff. This is heavily aided by customers asking for these craft liquors.

In other news I'm really digging the video sharing site Open Film. They've got a great interface and have chosen a number of our pieces we've uploaded as editor's picks. They also have a donation option, to help us with collecting donations.

We are working on producing a "mix tape" of sorts for your pleasure. Not sure how much the guys want me to reveal, so I'll leave details on that for a post a little bit later this week.


We are also working on our holiday themed action piece. We have a tight little script written by Eli that is undergoing some revisions. I'm excited to direct it, looking forward to the challenge. I need to start digging through the DVD collection to find some good action BTS. Any suggestions? Looking for anything detailing directing/blocking action sequences, and working with action effects. Jason will be focusing on the Vis FX of the piece, digital blood, gun shots etc. Eli will AD, and Walker will be producing.

Soon this month we will be shooting a couple short sketch pieces and we are looking for some assistance costume wise. If anybody has any pieces of clothing or accessories (female) that could be attributed to "goth" culture, and would like to help us out shoot, me an e-mail, kg@quarterorange.com.

Check in later this week for an update on all of our current projects.