The Count.... A Film by Lane J Lubell

In 3rd grade, I walked into school with my dad's copy of Woody Allen's book "Getting Even." Even back then we had already gotten into the habit of reading out-loud to each other works from Woody Allen and Neil Simon. My dad was utterly incapable of reading more than a handful of words without breaking out into laughter; so I assumed that my friends would be equally amused and off to school I went.

I was somewhat surprised to find that my friends did not share my enthusiasm for the humor, but even more taken-back when my teacher declared the book to be "Age inappropriate" and confiscated the book. I liked my teacher, I received no punishment: and assumed she probably wanted to read the book herself.

Now in high school, with a replaced copy of "Getting Even", I turned back to a favorite one act play entitled, "The Count," this time I sat down and adapted it into a screenplay, which I was encouraged to open-up to the class with various classmates reading parts. I was so excited by the way that worked out, that I figured I had to go the next step and make a short film using the students in that class.

There is a lot to learn when wanting to make films, from lighting to camera angles to editing; but on this project I learned a few more basic lessons.

Making even a short film requires a considerable investment of time. and while I was more than willing to spend the time, the same students that were happy to spend 20 minutes reading in class, were not willing to invest their entire weekend filming. I do understand that, however I wish people would have told me prior to the day of shooting and after I rented a costume. Since that day, I have reached out to people that actually have an passion for acting, and are excited to be in a movie. This is also when I first started creating Facebook groups, and blogs designed to keep people enthused, and thereby more likely to stick with the project.

File this under "Silver-Lining," despite 4 of my 6 actors no-shows on the day of the shoot, I was able to get the movie shot through the kindness of old friends that canceled all of their plans and arrived within 45 minutes notice. This was not because they had some sudden desire to be in a movie; but came because that's what friends do for each other. Watching the movie, I was painfully aware of how much harder making movies are compared to what expected, how much I needed to learn, the value of better equipment and the importance of confirming I have every shot I might need. Sure some of my "last-minute" replacement cast members performances might have less than stellar, but as friends they exceeded my wildest expectations.

New Pictures (End of Summer)

After a summer that seemed to never get started, we finally began to get some decent weather just about at the time School was ready to began again.

Oak Street Beach seemed to be a favorite destination for Lane and his friends this summer. I have to admit that I like the ease of East Bank Club. The beach always involves a lot of packing and unpacking the need to remember to "Bring things" rather than just depend on the club waiting to fill your order.

On the plus side, the beach does not require a membership; and is therefore an easy destination for gathering up a group. The Beach does have a restaurant; but it requires that you take Tranquilizers, to deal with the slow speed, and out-right confusion that accompanies each order.

Maybe my expectations are too high, but it seems to make sense that if I order chicken strips with fries; that they would both be served at the same time, in the same basket. (Thus the name "Chicken strips and a basket). Not once during the summer did the two items ever come-up at the same time, let alone in the same basket.

I think of the sand on a beach as giant Tempur-Pedic® mattress.

I understand that for many, the sand is a building material, the key, if not sole ingredient in the construction of sand castles.


That said, there is also another use for sand, to bury people.


When Sam and Taylor asked if ( told me) the could bury me in the sand, I had this image of 3 inches of sand being gently poured over my legs. It did not dawn on me that they learned how to bury one in the sand by watching the Soprano's.

At first it was fine. I thought it was so sweet of them to offer a towel to cover my face; so as not to get any sand in my eyes. It was later that I found out that they were well trained in the "Art" of Water-Boarding.
I assume there are no pictures of me being buried, based on the lessons learned at Abu Ghraib.


Jack and Lane sharing some chips

After a cold winter, and a less than warm summer, the water never seemed to get warm.

Sam

Summer 09 has begun

Jerry and Lane working on "Logic Puzzles"
over dinner. I must say Lane has a great deal of patience for these things.
Jerry is really good at them, I think it comes from "Cleaning-up" the messes I make at work.

Family on the 5th celebrating the 4th

Lane at the opening reception for Joe Ray's show

Joe and Chris were two old friends from my Art Major days back at ASU. Thanks to the "Magic" of Facebook, we have been back in touch; so when they told me of the opening of a collection of his work in Madison Wisc. - I tossed the family in the car. I must say it was well worth the trip.




After a very long and cold winter; I must admit have been a bit disappointed by the delay of summer.

Lane and his friend Taylor enjoying one of the few truly warm, sunny days.

While I happen to be a big fan of going to East Bank Club, Lane, and his friends prefer the beach.

I can absolutely see why, for me the major appeal of going to the club (Aside from knowing I'm spending $350/ month to belong) is that I just have to show up. I don't have to bring towels, or chairs or all of the other baggage that comes with a trip to the beach. I also like the idea of nice clean bathrooms and showers with granite walls. That said, I must say that the beach is fun, particularly when you are there with a group.

This Kid jumped in front of my iphone as I was taking a picture, I showed it to him and he asked me if I could email it to him.

Max And Lane two weeks earlier also at Oak Street Beach.

Lane and Sam sitting in a tree in Wrightwood Park.

Latest News

We made the first of many trips to Uncle Dan's to stock up on gloves and hats. I would yell at Lane, problem is I loose mine at the same rate he does.

As far as the weather in November goes; so far so good. The way I look at it - each day that ticks by brings us that much closer to spring. That said, I don't think it is healthy to live in a cold climate; then spend a third of your life waiting. The nicer weather will come; best to try to get out as much as possible during winter to avoid that winter Blah, cooped-up feeling.

Well, we are back in the Fencing tournament season. Lane fenced well at the NAC in Saint Louis. It was Y14 so there are a lot of 14 -15 year old boys that are pushing 6 feet; but he won his first D.E. then lost to the reigning National Champion for Y14.
Dante was off his game a bit due a bad cough ( I could hear him from the street)

I did get to go to Jack in the Box on the drive back home.

It is amazing how easy it is to eat 8 Tacos.

We are happy to see how well Sam, Harrison and Mason did in Rochester. WOW!
Click here for the Windy City Fencing Results Blog, for all of the current results.

Ilene and I just celebrated our 17th anniversary; wow is that scary. Not the idea of spending my life with Ilene- just that 17 years went by that quickly.

Thanksgiving is a special treat this year because Shirley is in remission, and eating better again.

We also just came from a parent teacher conference. We are used to hearing "Lane is very bright, well behaved, a delight to have in class, BUT.....
The "BUT" is about how Lane still needs work on organizing himself, that he will do the homework on-time, but sometimes forget to turn it in on-time. This time there was no "BUT" ! That makes us very proud.

For the last few years, one down-side to Thanksgiving has become Judy and Jerry taking off for Florida. I'm happy that they have a lot of fun down their, but we miss them here.

I'm glad to see the Obama is stepping up to the plate early and repairing to hit the ground running. The economy seems to be slipping from bad to worse, Banks are closing, and the Big three Automakers have two wheels hanging of a cliff. There are no easy answers, but I'm glad the Obama seems to be taking a centrist; "Get the job done" path. He looks like he views his position as being the nation's CEO who was hired to solve problems, not to take the nation to the "Left".

Lane watching Mason at a Fencing exhibition

Taylor and Lane hanging out

Soccer Season Sam Being Silly

Mallory out for Korean food

Ilene and Lane Lubell

Forest at my office.

June 2008 (Recent Pictures)

Forest's Big Day Out !


For the longest time Lane had been looking for an opportunity to bring Forest to school.

When Mr. Brown announced that science class was going to be learning about birds- it seemed clear that this was Forests big chance.
Forest was very happy to be the center of attention, as well as see all of Lane's friends outside of his house.

After spending a few hours at Catherine Cook, he spent the rest of the day at my office.






Johnny Depp in Chicago


Maybe if we lived in LA, walking home and seeing our neighborhood transformed would be no big deal; but living in Chicago, it's pretty cool.

Ed and Shirley hanging out with us on the set.Ted Kirsch

This club head is as big as "My head"

METRO Fencing Tournament Y14

Third Place Finish

All Scream for Ice Cream

Sam, Hope, Lane, Ilene and Larry taking the picture

Multnomah Falls with Mason, Sam and Lane

Once again the Lubell family find them self on a "Fencing Trip."
A few weeks before, we spent 3 days in Louisville and never saw a horse race, or took a tour of the Louisville Slugger factory. In fact, save for a few trips to a Dairy Queen at the far end of the parking lot, we never left the Hotel/Venue. The worst part was, the hotel was not even nice.
Arriving in Portland Oregon, I was determined not to make the same mistake. Yes we traveled all this way so the Lane could fence, but we also were going to make sure we took at vantage of the opportunity to see a bit of the beauty of Portland.

The fact that Lane fencing was a bit "Disappointing" furthered my resolve to to find some "Silver Lining" in the storm clouds that were circling my head. The idea was to rent a car and take off for the mountains. We waited for Sam to finish fencing, then a bit longer for Mason to, once again, have an amazingly successful tournament. As much money as Mason's parents spend on her fencing, it will pale compared to the cost they will have buying a home large enough to house her trophies and metals.


Truth is, she works very hard and deserves the success, and no child is ever more graceful in both victory as well as defeat.
So we picked up the car and drove back to the Oregon Convention Center to pick up Sam, Stacy and Mason to head to the mountains.

Time was limited; so we decided on the Multnohah Falls since they were just about 30 Minute trip.
Fed by underground springs from Larch Mountain, Multnomah Falls are the second-tallest
year-round waterfall in the nation. The water of the Falls drops some 620 feet from the top of Larch Mountain. Unusually cold weather have been know to freeze the plummeting water into a majestic cascade of ice. The Falls are considered one of the best places to study the geology of the Columbia River Gorge area. Floods, and falling water have exposed rock formations, and acting like window into the geological history of the entire region. Five distinct flows of Yakima basalt are visible in the fall's cliff face, giving geologists insight into the amount, and times of volcanic flows.

It was great to be out of the convention center and instead sightseeing. It was wonderful to see Lane, Sam and Mason have fun and bond outside of fencing. (O.K., so it's not like Lane and Sam don't spend large quantities of time together outside of fencing, but it was great all the same).
We started at Multnomah Falls Lodge. A sign stated that "Every type of rock found in the Columbia River Gorge is represented in the Lodge", that is interesting, but we were hungry; so we were more concerned with the ice cream, that the rocks used in construction.

Once fed, we walked toward the Benson Bridge. Crafted by Italian stone masons in 1914, hired Simon Benson, the owner of the falls at that time, offers a fantastic view of the face of the fall. It is this bridge that you see in nearly every picture of the falls and it is the way visitors to cross the falls between it's lower and upper cataracts.

I hate to admit this but, the hike to the top was a bit more strenuous than I anticipated, thereby reinforcing my conclusion that I am not in the shape I would like to be, or feel I should be in at this sage of my life.

That said, the trip to the top was well worth the effort. Truth is, it was not the view I expected. I think we all envisioned a view looking down the steep drop that comprised the "Fall" part of the falls. Instead, we found ourselves a bit further up-stream, at a beautiful, tranquil small pond.
If this spot did not exist, it would be necessary for a major water bottling company to "Create it" for their advertising campaign and label. The water was clear and cold, and yes we did all drink from the water. The taste was as good as water can be, though Ilene did voice concern afterwards that maybe we made a mistake and put our lives in jeopardy. I figured since I eat fruit from the store with out washing off the pesticides, I would be OK. Truth is, we all were just fine.
The best part was watching Lane, Sam and Mason playing in the shallow water. I took off my shoes and went in up to my knees. It was refreshing, the way encasing your feet in a block of ice is refreshing. No matter how cold the water, Lane is drawn to it, but this was not swimable but you could step in and splash around.
It was great to get away from the fencing strips for a few hours and see a bit of nature.
Photo Gallery of Falls