A Tribute to Family
On our daughter Ayden’s 20th Birthday
I’m a GenXer nerd and I grew up loving the ORIGINAL Star Wars movies, and everything science fiction & fantasy.
Inside this old guy is the heart & soul of a 10-year-old boy, who loves to play, and blowing up stuff makes me very happy.
When I was a kid, every day, alone in my room for hours, I played with my Star Wars toys. Instead of recreating the films, I created new worlds, characters, and stories.
When I got too old for toys, Santa brought me an Atari system for my birthday and the original NES – Nintendo Entertainment System. I’ve had every Nintendo system through the years, from NES, Gameboy, and DS to my Tears of the Kingdom OLED Switch.
Like my 60+ vintage Star Wars figures and vehicles, my Nintendo Systems remain in near-mint working order.
As a child, I recorded TV theme songs with a cassette recorder, and my walls were covered with pictures of current electronics and technology, snipped from magazines and newspapers.
In high school, I discovered my passion for making videos. My English teacher made the innocent mistake of saying that we could create videos for some of our projects.
My friend’s dad owned a Sony 8mm camcorder, with this in hand, I gathered some friends and went to work shooting and directing. I edited the footage by connecting the camera to a VCR and carefully played/paused in real-time to cut my mini-movies.
When I presented my work to our class, my audience, I was deeply affected by their laughter and how they intently watched the videos that I had created. For the first time, I knew what I wanted to do with my life, I wanted to work in TV & Film.
At university, I “studied” and earned a double major in Radio, TV, Film & Media production, and business management. Many people think that Media Production is an easy major.
To some, it’s a joke of a major and respected like other fields of study. To me, this was NO JOKE, and I poured myself into learning every facet of media production.
When I discovered and learned to edit on an Avid system, everything changed.
During my internship at a film production company, I spent many long days sitting next to their Avid editor and reading the Media Composer manuals cover to cover.
I quickly became a competent Avid editor myself, and while still in school I made some money shooting, editing, and delivering TV commercials for a big car dealership. These spots aired on network TV in several states, and it was an amazing learning experience.
Because I was already a “professional” Avid editor, I got a job before graduating college. This began my decade working in the TV/Film industry.
As part of my new job, I was sent to Tewksbury, MA, that’s where the Avid Technolgy HQ was, and I became a certified Avid editor, instructor, and ACSR (Avid Certified Support Rep)
I traveled throughout the United States and Canada working with broadcast TV and Film production companies. I presented, spoke, and taught Avid, Apple, and other user groups across North America.
For 12 years, I spent at least 10 days every year in Las Vegas, working at the NAB, National Association of Broadcasters, tradeshow.
Besides NAB, I worked various company booths at numerous trade shows in NYC, Hollywood, LA, Chicago, Toronto, and many other US & Canadian cities.
I discovered that the people working in the TV/Film world were mostly nerds like I am. We shared a passion for Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, science fiction, fantasy, Rush, and all things geeky and nerdy.
This was my dream career, and someday I’ll tell the tale of health misfortunes that forced me out of that world. If you want me to talk about this, please drop me a comment or email.
Ocarina of Time remains my favorite Zelda game. Being Link in an immersive three-dimensional world, traveling through time, and being the central character in a compelling story makes Ocarina my favorite game, period.
The open worlds of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom thrill the 10-year-old boy in the depths of my soul. Now I get to play in Zelda’s open sandbox in the same way I played with my Star Wars figures as a boy.
I began the Loudboy Channel because I want to share the things about which I am passionate.
How did I get the name Loudboy?
I played in school bands since third grade. Starting on drums, I eventually switched to tenor sax. In high school concert band rehearsal on Cape Cod, while the flutes and piccolos were practicing their parts, I always talked too loud.
My friend and fellow sax player, Doug, turned to shush me one day and said “You’re Loudboy!” That was the day I received the only nickname I’ve ever been given.
It’s based on multiple episodes of the 90s Chris Elliot FOX series, called Get a Life. If you haven’t seen it, I suggest finding Get a Life and starting with the spectacularly funny episode called SPEWEY (A ridiculous spoof on E.T. and is an acronym for Special Person Entering our World Egg Yolks)
After 20 years I’m still writing my first major novel. It’s a science fiction/fantasy adventure in a world called Aretherra. (Sounds like R-Terra)
Aretherra: Aero & The Keys of Ascension is an epic story in a world that I created in college and features a young man called Aerosus, or Aero for short.
Aero meets a very special and powerful young lady named Tryn, and together they must defeat the evil Xyvaen.
The story of Aretherra takes place over a millennium and the world of Aretherra is filled with fantastic and strange peoples, cultures, and places.
