Even More Blatant Self-Promotion

Here's a video I directed and edited for Lennon Murphy's new Band, Devil's Gift last February. Special thanks to Todd Bell for the great camera work and the rest of the crew for working so cheap. I heart each and every person on that set. Here's how it came out.


Devil's Gift "Shadows Never Ending" from ben levine on Vimeo.

More Blatant Self-Promotion

About 6 months ago, I edited this video for "Neon Neon" directed by the great Rob Schroeder. I think it's the cat's pajamas. Take a peek below. . .


Neon Neon "I Told Her on Alderaan/Trick for Treat" from ben levine on Vimeo.

Blatant Self-Promotion

Hi, so I'm an editor, I do all kinds of stuff but Music Videos and short films are labors of love that I actually enjoy working on. Here's a youtube playlist of crap I've done. Enjoy.

Would a rose [Wunder Boner] by any other name smell not as sweet?

So I'm a Pisces. I like the ocean. I like seafood. I like to fish. I like puppy dogs and a funky beat, though neither of those last two things are actually relevant. So anyway, it's happened to all of us - you're out in the fresh water, catching trout or whatnot, hanging with the crew, perhaps getting your beer or brown liquor on and it gets to be about that time when you have to clean,
gut and bone your fish. It's a pain in the ass and who likes a bone stuck in their throat? Certainly not anyone I've dated. Well, if you watch the video (below) you will see that this is really an amazingly effective product:




Anyhow, every now and then a product rolls around with such simple design and practical application that it kills you that someone with an 8th grade education probably invented it.

Corie Blounts or Playing basketball and weed, they go together like watching basketball and weed.

I just got this story from Yahoo Sports:

Ex-NBA player

Blount arrested on drug count

HAMILTON, Ohio (AP)—Former NBA basketball player Corie Blount has been charged with picking up 11 pounds of marijuana in southwest Ohio.

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said after the 39-year-old Blount retrieved the package from a Liberty Township address on Thursday, deputies followed him to his home nearby and arrested him. Jones said officers found another 11 pounds of marijuana inside Blount’s house.

Blount was charged with felony drug possession. He was released from custody on $10,090 bond.

The center on Cincinnati’s Final Four team in 1992, Blount went on to an 11-year NBA career that included stints with the Chicago Bulls, L.A. Lakers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Phoenix Suns, Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors.

His phone is unlisted and court officials couldn’t say whether he has an attorney.

Wow, I was a Blount fan from his days in the Purple and Gold, so I'm sad for him and his family - not because he likes weed, but because a felony drug rap (especially in Ohio) is never an easy thing to deal with, but maybe we all need to consider the possibility that being an NBA player is a gateway position that leads to marijuana use. Consider the others who have been busted: Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Robert Parish, Eddie Griffin, Joakim Noah, Marcus Camby, Allen Iverson, Isaiah Rider, Lamarijuana Odom - and those are just a few of the guys who have been caught!

Richard Dumas, a former Phoenix Sun who was banned from the league for drug and alcohol use in the 90's once said, "If they tested for pot, there would be no league. . . Weed is something guys grow up doing, and there's no reason for them to stop. Because almost everyone does it, no one wants to test for it. They're afraid to.'' Of course that was back in 1997 before the league implemented their modern drug testing policy which includes screening for pot use.

From my personal experience as a basketball enthusiast and marijuana user (for medical purposes) I can tell you that the two go together like Chocolate and Peanut Butter or Rum and Coke or Beer and Pretzels. If you smoke a joint on a playground and someone hands you a basketball, it feels pretty fucking amazing. I personally wouldn't go so far as to call it performance enhancing, but it really doesn't hurt your game too much either. Let's just agree to file this under "David Stern loves Sausage, but doesn't want to know how it's made."

The Curse of Elgin Baylor or Why the Clippers Should Move to Anaheim or Seattle

I'm a Laker fan. That's the truth. I have no greater sports related loyalty than my love of the Lakers. Who else do I like in the NBA? Nobody. That's right. I like the Lakers. Not the Lakers and The Cavs or The Lakers and The Bulls. Just the Lakers. Okay, with that out of the way, you can understand where I'm coming from as an NBA (Lakers) fan.

Because the Lakers share Staples Center with NBA's Clippers, Mike Dunleavy, Lakers, Elgin Baylor, NBA, David Stern, Mike Dunleavy Jr.Special Olympics contingent (The Clippers) there are certain nights that either team will usually play. The Clippers tend to get Mondays,Wednesdays,and Saturdays, while the Lakers get Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. It's my understanding that some bizarre game involving sticks, rubber "pucks" and ice is also played at Staples Center, but I'll believe it when I see it.

I personally would love to see the Clippers bail to another locality, leaving the Lakers the flexibility to schedule home games on Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays, a flexibility that can only benefit Laker fans and eliminate some Sunday home games in which the lakers wear their hideous "Sunday Whites." I know, I know, this is about the Clippers, not the Lakers, I'm getting there.

So the Clippers are coached by Mike Dunleavy. Mike Dunleavy is kind of a dick. He was a dick when he coached the Lakers 18 years ago. He was a dick when he coached the Trailblazers. He was even a dick in Milwaukee, a harmless ma and pa market. The point is, he's a dick. He's just like so many WCM's that run coorperations or hold VP of Creative Services Titles at networks where I've been employeed (see Flight of the Ghettobird for more on that). I'm talking about guys that make bad decisions, are predatory against their co-workers, seeking to yeserp the power and/or salary of anyone who poses a threat to their authority or has the knowledge to expose them for the fraud they are.

Okay, now for the last 22 years, the Clippers were run by NBA Legend, Elgin Baylor. He might not have been the best GM (though he did win NBA Executive of the Year a few years ago), but he was a gentleman and a basketball giant who was up against great odds running a cursed franchise for a Slum-Landlord of an owner. It's a thankless job, but Elgin sat there and took the heat for losing season after losing season all the while knowing that Clippers owner, Donald Sterling was the real reason for all of the teams shortcomings. If I sound defensive for Elgin Baylor's sake, I should let you know, the man was a Laker. In fact his number is retired and hung in the rafters with other Laker's greats.


Anyway. This season, Mike Dunleavy wedged out Baylor and took over his responsibilities, claiming he had been responsible for signing players and negotiating their contracts for months now, so Elgin had become expendable. This, I should note, came after a summer in which the Clippers failed to resign Maggette and Brand (both moved on to greener pastures) and looked to build their team around perennial locker-room cancer Ricky "Motherfuckin'" Davis and great but always-injured Marcus Camby and Baron Davis. Brand and Maggette could not wait to get out of town. Brand even went as far as not even calling Dunleavy to let him know he had decided to sign with the 76ers. That's how much his own players hate the guy. I also should note that at one point, Dunleavy had lobbied to trade away valuable assets to acquire his own son, Mike Dunleavy Jr. a player whose skills are only valuable in my Dorky White Guy fantasy league. Thankfully, it was Elgin Baylor who put the kibosh on that. My point is, Dunleavy is a hack GM who makes selfish decisions. The fact that Baylor was forced out by that prick and the Clippers didn't even have the class to send out a press release or stage a press conference. They merely omitted Baylor from the 2008/2009 press kit. Unbelievable!


This brings me to my point, The Clippers' Curse. Now the Clips are forced to play every home game in the shadow of Elgin's retired jersy. I only hope this finally convinces them to be the first NBA team in Afghanistan, I'm sure David Stern is already checking out the cheap labor and getting ready to market Clippers' Burkas and Baron Davis-Kabobs.

Holy Fucking Crap!

Jane's Addiction is playing a gig with Eric Avery on Bass tomorrow night. Now I have to figure out how to get in. Any ideas?