I'm looking for my fountain of youth
because I'm turning 30 I also happen to
have made over 300 films well at least
that's the official count most of them
now are game reviews movie reviews
basically online videos cranked out week
after week I haven't counted every video
I've made so I'll never have a real
accurate number
but I guess numbers don't matter a whole
lot like turning 30 as a kid I always
got excited about grabbing the camera
and running out into the woods to make
some crazy movie I had all these ideas
revolving in my head all I wanted to do
is make movie after movie after movie
lately I've been more focused and
dreaming about making that big feature
film sometimes I got to ask myself why
do I do these things I guess because
there's so many people watching me but
even before the Internet it's always
been like that in high school people
would ask me why I'd make movies and I
could never really answer that but I
think what sparked this whole obsession
was a nightmare I had when I was very
young it's actually my earliest memory I
was in a playground being pushed in a
baby stroller by my mom when all of a
sudden she disappeared and I was all
alone so I just waited there for her to
come back then a dragon appeared and
tried to eat me I woke up crying and
screaming into my pillow my mom turned
on the light and explained to me I was
just having a nightmare it was my first
experience with the power of imagination
something that would eventually become
my most valuable tool I don't remember
all the details but I know this was a
recurring dream some variations had me
in the middle of a pond or a pool of
some sort while the dragon arose its
head and spat water on me but I think
there's more to the story
so while visiting my mom on Mother's Day
I asked her all about it in fact the
first time we took you home from the
hospital your dad took his took us to
the park first and we took you to the
park that was a
thing we did there was a big dragon and
it had it was a water sprinkler kind of
water fixture how often go to go to this
playground oh my gosh probably every day
every other day but in real life I
wasn't afraid he'd go to this playground
was I know you loved it you wanted to
see the dragon so I'm not really sure
where the fear came in I think you're
more obsessed about it you never forgot
that dragon ever that's where I'm going
I'm going to find this playground my
very own fountain of youth there's
something sentimental about watching an
old cartoon or playing an old video game
but never have I had such a mind-blowing
flashback as this and never will I again
it's like I'm going back to the place of
my origin which happens to be near the
hospital where I was literally born I'm
on a quest to face the dragon one more
time the dragon is something I feel has
always been with me in some form or
another many cartoons and movies I
watched used to have dragons Godzilla
was like a dragon and I can't even begin
to count how many video games I've
played where you have to fight one in
short a dragon has always stood in for
anything that's big and scary that you
have to conquer only through fear can we
gain courage and evolve as a child I was
so afraid of nightmares I'd sleep with
the light on most every night I even had
visions of a creepy et looking in
through my window but there's some kind
of attraction of fear which I think
we're all born with so if I wanted a
thrill I turn that light out and watch
my bedroom become a parade for all kinds
of horrible monsters and goblins
why else would I keep asking my mom to
take me to a playground where I can see
a dragon it's just that somehow we're
drawn to the things that terrify us I
began watching horror movies at a young
age I started with the classics and
worked my way up you'd think that would
make anyone's nightmares worse
but for me it had the opposite effect it
helped
put things in perspective that it's all
imagination I started making my own
stories on audio cassettes about creepy
monsters heroic journeys and epic
battles then I started doing photograph
album stories with just pictures in
which my friends and I would fight
dragons then came the video camera the
amazing invention that combined audio
with Moving Image my true art was born I
took a break to explore other forms of
art like animation and drawing comics
eventually I moved back to film and
started taking Saturday and summer
courses at an Art Institute many films
were watched and many books were read it
quickly became my life's passion without
a computer to edit with and without many
actors the odds were always against me
but I pushed through with what I had
after many years of college different
jobs in the video field and years of
making webseries online I look back to
the source
this playground right here I owe it all
to the dragon and now it's time for a
reunion
you
an overwhelming stroke of fate after
nearly 30 years
the one day I come back the park is
being renovated had I come one day later
or even hours I would have been too late
you
this is exactly how I remembered as a
child and this is the last time I'd see
it this way
it's time to say goodbye to the past
time to move forward and create those
movies of my dreams because dreams are
where it all started
you