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Schmidt explains in this first Alternate Universe story how that hasty decision would probably have cost him contact with his young children. And it would have interrupted his ongoing art career, which led to writing his classic, Viking Penguin how-to, FEATURE FILMAKING AT USED-CAR PRICES. Schmidt signs off with the hope that one's real-life can be as fruitful and dynamic as it's supposed to be. Some wise women have said (he adds); There are no mistakes. Life is life, and everything is placed in front of us for the good of our soul's growth and enlightenment. 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Weaving together important US events and personalities, this is a breathtaking journey through fifty years of subterfuge, civil rights scandals, assassinations and conspiracies, from the Bay of Pigs to the Twin Towers and beyond; a journey via Marilyn Monroe's bedroom, J. Edgar Hoover's wardrobe, JFK's cabinet meetings and the quagmire of Vietnam. Filmmaker\/Author Rick Schmidt serves up a stirring, topical must-read for those who love--or hate--America. Imagine a faction novel that includes the childhood-to-adult story of twin Black American boys sired at one of the thousands of trysts conducted by President John F. Kennedy, and you have Rick Schmidt's first novel (originally released as BLACK PRESIDENT in 2008 by Picnic Publishing, UK). And because of the timeframe--it begins in the early 1960s--the N-word is used in appropriate fictional cases, to illustrate the oppressive racist language used freely in those times. It's definitely not a book for the faint of heart. And YES, it IS disturbing to read it in print, to imagine the pain it caused all those to whom it was directed back then, not to mention the present-day racism that still prevails in America. Are things getting worse regarding race relations? Just how sick are some of the inhabitants of this country (other places where enlightenment is not forthcoming)? In any case, this novel actively discusses reparations for past (and present) crimes\/slavery of African Americans, as well as for indigenous peoples, the many Native American tribes who suffered greatly at the hands of corrupt policies and individuals, over a span of five+ centuries.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51017929031953,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51017930998033,"sku":"NIN9781034310358","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1034310356.jpg?v=1751174144"},{"product_id":"kennedy-s-twins-book-rick-schmidt-9781366192844","title":"Kennedy's Twins","description":"KENEDY'S TWINS, the second novel in a trilogy that includes BLACK PRESIDENT (PICNIC PUBLISHING, UK (c)2008), and BLACKMALE, follows the American Presidency of Jackson Little who, along with his brother John, were secretly fathered by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. When Jackson is assassinated, his identical twin John steps in, impersonating the President and taking the country in a new, radical direction. His unusual State of the Union speech, written and delivered without prior knowledge of the press, raises concerns about toxic lead levels in plumbing (still prevalent in depressed neighborhoods across America), exorbitant rents\/general inflation, and the growing threat of US military buildup. The Little agenda is steadfastly anti-war, anti-Military Industrial Complex, anti-cronyism, and questions the effectiveness of the Federal Reserve banking system. 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Schmidt's outside the box approach has resulted in the launch of countless moviemaking careers, for those who put his ideas into practice. Some notables include writer\/director and action-star Vin Diesel (THE FAST AND FURIOUS, PITCH BLACK, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY), Edward Sanchez (THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT), Tom DeCillo (LIVING IN OBLIVION). Academy Award(TM) winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond declared, I wish I could have had this book thirty-five years ago, before I made my first low-budget features. And writer\/director Kevin Smith (CLERKS, CHASING AMY, DOGMA), presented Schmidt with a Lifetime Achievement Award at Rome international film Festival, which should help explain the book's and Schmidt's wide appeal: https: \/\/vimeo.com\/161243386 But Schmidt's path to filmmaking was anything but easy or smooth. After his first marriage fails, his artworks, like the large cast aluminum and painted kinetic piece, I Can't Get it Up For You, reflect his personal life and help kick-start his 'real-life' narratives. The final transition occurs in 1970 when California author (Ghosts) and videographer Phillip Makanna, invites him, along with Schmidt's future roommate\/collaborator Wayne Wang (JOY LUCK CLUB, SMOKE), writer\/director William Farley (OF MEN AND ANGELS), actor\/producer Willie Boy Walker (THE FIFTH WAL) others, to take his video class. Using the new Sony Porta-Pac camera, Schmidt does work that immediately gains attention. Don't miss chapters on Schmidt's eight-day cross-country hitchhike trip, Joe's Sandwiches, plus his three-year struggle to produce SHOWBOAT 1988-THE REMAKE. 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After his first marriage fails, his artworks, like the large cast aluminum and painted kinetic piece, I Can't Get it Up For You, reflect his personal life and help kick-start his 'real-life' narratives. The final transition occurs in 1970 when California author (Ghosts) and videographer Phillip Makanna, invites him, along with Schmidt's future roommate\/collaborator Wayne Wang (JOY LUCK CLUB, SMOKE), writer\/director William Farley (OF MEN AND ANGELS), actor\/producer Willie Boy Walker (THE FIFTH WAL) others, to take his video class. Using the new Sony Porta-Pac camera, Schmidt does work that immediately gains attention. Don't miss chapters on Schmidt's eight-day cross-country hitchhike trip, Joe's Sandwiches, plus his three-year struggle to produce SHOWBOAT 1988-THE REMAKE. Ironies abound, in this touching and informative indie page-turner.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51024127951121,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51024130048273,"sku":"NIN9781388907198","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1388907194.jpg?v=1751083304"},{"product_id":"new-dark-ages-how-a-punk-movie-emerald-cities-got-its-improv-book-rick-schmidt-9781715001117","title":"NEW DARK AGES--How a Punk Movie EMERALD CITIES Got Its IMPROV","description":"NEW DARK AGES--How a Punk Movie Emerald Cities Got Its Improv, is a bold new addition to Rick Schmidt's how-to books about moviemaking, that includes Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices and Extreme DV (Penguin\/Random House Books). NEW DARK AGES lets the reader participate in Rick's IMPROV decision-making process as he applies his stream-of-consciousness approach to solving moviemaking problems, where the filmmaker must battle her movie into existence, often with little money and little time to complete the task. Readers can learn from Rick's open universe approach, where he dares to proceed against all odds. This is a fun read. How Schmidt overcomes obstacles, physical and mental, is a miracle of inventiveness, imagination, perseverance and determination matter-of-factly remembered and told. The New Dark Ages vividly catalogues the everyday efforts required to bring forth his indie film-making odyssey Emerald Cities and in the process (as an aside) also his successful book Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices.  -- Bibbi Lee, translator, NOTHING GROWS BY MONLIGHT, author of A WEK OF MENUS\/Chateau De Lesvault. Rick's bestselling how-tos, have helped launch the careers of numerous future Hollywood moviemaker, including writer\/director Kevin Smith, co-writer\/co-director Eduardo Sanchez (THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, filmmaker Tom DiCillo (LIVING IN OBLIVION), actor Vin Diesel and many others. Maybe NEW DARK AGES can also enable readers to become successful writer\/directors in the new emerging markets of indie steaming (Netflix, etc.). Without Rick's book, CLERKS would have been an idea that never made it past this page. - Kevin Smith The book changed my life. --Vin Diesel","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51047195312401,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51047198490897,"sku":"NIN9781715001117","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1715001117.jpg?v=1751247775"},{"product_id":"black-president-the-story-of-jfk-s-secret-sons-book-rick-schmidt-9781715980641","title":"BLACK PRESIDENT--The Story of JFK's Secret Sons","description":"BLACK PRESIDENT--The Story of JFK's Secret Sons begins with President Kennedy's seduction of Sarah Little, a devout, married, African-American woman. Two-and-a-half years later he is dead. Against all conceivable adversity, their son rises from poverty to attain America's highest office. 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After he'd been in a Siberian prison camp for four years, the guards suddenly deserted their posts to join the Russian Revolution in Moscow, leaving the prisoners to fend for themselves. Loeffler, in the minority of those who survived such extreme cold and other human dangers, tells a harrowing tale of just keeping alive, one day at a time. Later, after many years in America - Loeffler taught anthropology at a midwestern university - he manages to write his Siberian memoir of those early days. In the form of a daily log he recounts his fight against sub-zero weather, wolves and unknown enemies, both Russian and German. He also recalls his most intimate thoughts at the time, including interactions with a native woman, Nanra-naw, who saved him, loved him, and aided him physically, emotionally, psychically and spiritually before he restarts his journey home. Memories of violent combat continue to haunt Loeffler, both from past battlefields and from the ongoing, seemingly-unending trek across Siberia. He is also deeply affected by psychological wounds he received in youth, abuse from a distant, uncaring father, and his reticent mother, though specks of rare 'happier times' do occasionally surface. His day-to-day survival in the cold is mostly a mind game, dependent on him keeping his spirits up against all the ghosts of war and remembrance. Schmidt's novel ('Captain Loeffler's memoir'), is loosely based on the 1918 real-life Siberian escape of his own father, Erich F. Schmidt (Persepolis I, II, III), who somehow survived his two year\/5000 km walk back to Germany at the end of WWI.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52725063221521,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52725063483665,"sku":"NIN9781366437877","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781366437877.jpg?v=1763086163"},{"product_id":"miracle-of-morgan-s-cake-production-secrets-of-a-15-000-improv-sundance-feature-book-rick-schmidt-9781366428820","title":"THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN'S CAKE - Production Secrets of a $15,000 IMPROV Sundance Feature","description":"Every day, in varied fields such as music, theatre, feature films and Youtube videos, the word IMPROV is being heard as the 'NEXT BIG THING.' But up until now, though, there has been NO BOOK that aptly describes the actual day-to-day IMPROV FILMMAKING process, where a writer\/director must rely on actors to move a story ahead through the minefield of an improv production. THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN'S CAKE - PRODUCTION SECRETS OF A $15,000 IMPROV SUNDANCE FEATURE explains this REAL-LIFE approach, as writer\/director Rick Schmidt recounts each of his nine shooting days for his festival hit, MORGAN'S CAKE. With 'PRODUCTION SECRETS' you will gain trust in yourself and in the improv system, helping you take the necessary risks of creation. You will learn how to direct IMPROV PERFORMANCES, and even how to adjust for when friends drop in (incorporating them as 'extras' - real girlfriend, real best friends - to make the movie more interesting. Using SPONTANEOUS LOCATIONS will also become second-nature. You'll learn how to construct multi-idea, multi-level sequences in the very-tight ONE-TO-ONE SHOOTING RATIO, where the strict shooting ratio will actually HELP your creativity. You'll discover how to adapt the moviemaking process so it FOLLOWS A SPONTANEOUS THEME. Rick's book will give a dose of confidence that things will work out - (keep shooting  Keep editing ). You'll be discovering ways of designing cuts as part of your free-flowing process - calling 'freeze' and changing camera angles - while you consider what direction the words\/ideas should take when you call 'action' again. Todays moviemaker has all the tools of production in hand, literally (iPhone ), and it only takes the INTENT OF PURPOSE to make her IMPROV moviemaking dreams finally come true. Schmidt's MORGAN'S CAKE is a deadpan, unpretentious delight. One of the most promising films of the New Directors\/New Films series. - JANET MASLIN, The New York Times. https: \/\/vimeo.com\/ondemand\/morganscake","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53014577971473,"sku":"NIN9781366428820","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781366428820.jpg?v=1768153014"},{"product_id":"new-dark-ages-how-a-punk-movie-emerald-cities-got-its-improv-book-rick-schmidt-9781715269395","title":"NEW DARK AGES--How a Punk Movie EMERALD CITIES Got Its IMPROV","description":"NEW DARK AGES--How a Punk Movie Emerald Cities Got Its Improv, is a bold new addition to Rick Schmidt's how-to books about moviemaking, that includes Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices and Extreme DV (Penguin\/Random House Books). NEW DARK AGES lets the reader participate in Rick's IMPROV decision-making process as he applies his stream-of-consciousness approach to solving moviemaking problems, where the filmmaker must battle her movie into existence, often with little money and little time to complete the task. Readers can learn from Rick's open universe approach, where he dares to proceed against all odds. This is a fun read. How Schmidt overcomes obstacles, physical and mental, is a miracle of inventiveness, imagination, perseverance and determination matter-of-factly remembered and told. The New Dark Ages vividly catalogues the everyday efforts required to bring forth his indie film-making odyssey Emerald Cities and in the process (as an aside) also his successful book Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices.  -- Bibbi Lee, translator, NOTHING GROWS BY MONLIGHT, author of A WEK OF MENUS\/Chateau De Lesvault. Rick's bestselling how-tos, have helped launch the careers of numerous future Hollywood moviemaker, including writer\/director Kevin Smith, co-writer\/co-director Eduardo Sanchez (THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, filmmaker Tom DiCillo (LIVING IN OBLIVION), actor Vin Diesel and many others. Maybe NEW DARK AGES can also enable readers to become successful writer\/directors in the new emerging markets of indie steaming (Netflix, etc.). Without Rick's book, CLERKS would have been an idea that never made it past this page. - Kevin Smith The book changed my life. --Vin Diesel","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53223754268945,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53223754563857,"sku":"NIN9781715269395","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781715269395.jpg?v=1772999107"},{"product_id":"secrets-of-men-and-women-book-rick-schmidt-9781034979739","title":"Secrets of Men and Women","description":"SECRETS OF MEN AND WOMEN is the perfect read for night watchmen, parking lot attendants, long haul truck drivers, or anyone else who must stay awake at night. The stories kind of creep up on you and bite you on the ass. A few with a kind of happy ending just to keep the reader from jumping off the nearest roof. The brilliant Charlie Simonds erotic drawings, included between these modern folktales, remind us that desire can ease the uncertainties of our ever-present lunacy.A great book for fans of Raymond Carver or Stephen King. --William Farley, writer\/director, PLASTIC MAN, I WANTED TO BE A MAN WITH A GUN: THREE AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN WWII. Everyone has secrets, so they say, and in Rick Schmidt's latest book he takes this old saying to a new level. While many of the 28 stories feel like they're right out of the newspaper, or from some trash mag like The National Inquirer, many touch upon seeking solutions, however strange, to 'modern' society's ills. The book covers the spectrum of human emotions throughout its pages, celebrating all of our (secret) foibles. With some funny stories, some sad, some downright ironic, maybe upsetting, often baffling, SECRETS is a treasure trove of page-turning glimpses into the heart of American life. For instance, Schmidt's teenager protagonist in the story SMALL POTATOES figures out a way to bring about at least a temporary halt to drug trafficking in the lower East Side of New York City, by disposing of much of the illegal substances. How's that possible? You'll just have to read to believe. In another, LIFE'S WORK, there's a woman artist in Oakland, California, who attempts to suspend gang warfare by painting a huge-and-realistic mural of local members, pictured under a freeway underpass . Here's a chance to enjoy how ART can possibly affect needed change.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53439861031185,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53439861457169,"sku":"NIN9781034979739","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781034979739.jpg?v=1776704833"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-rick-schmidt.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}