Skin Off My Teeth

Lt. Col. Frank Latt, Airman Bobby Bonello (back), Thad Forester, Matt Rogers, SSgt Johnnie Yellock, pay tribute to SrA Mark Forester in Haleyville, AL, in January, 2011 It's no big surprise that most "reality" TV is made up of a bunch of contrived moments. One thing I enjoyed about one of my last assignments was the ACTUALITY of it. Last January, for "Coming Home," we were fortunate to be invited to capture a planned tribute to a fallen hero, Senior Airman Mark Forester, who was killed in Afghanistan while trying to save a fallen comrade. Paying tribute to Mark in his home town of Haleyville, Alabama were US Marines Lt. Col. Frank Latt, and fellow airmen, Bobby Bonello & Johnnie Yellock. It was during that extended weekend when it hit many of us civilian clods on the crew the level of sacrifice our military makes on our behalf as part of their oaths to do their jobs well. Mark's brother, Thad, reports that Johnnie Yellock recently suffered

When I first had a space that needed gardening, it was about keeping it weeded and looking good. There's a lot of work involved in maintaining a swell looking yard, and it made me think, here we are living in the market basket of the country, but turning over our yards mostly to just looking nice. Yeah, it's restful to see the green, but keeping it ornamental, keeps us separate from it, too. We look at it, and mostly, don't use it. And if you have a gardener as most people do in this area, well-tended yards take on about the same function as fresh paint on a house. Curb appeal. Nothing wrong with that, but how about maintaining your curb appeal, but also putting your yard to work for you? I started doing it several years ago. Now, most of the year, I can find something growing right outside the door that my family and I can eat, juice, or use to season our food. For those adverse to mowing and blowing, keep your gardener, but have him leave you an area

If you saw “The Conspirator,” here’s my take on it and a good laugh for you - one of my first jobs in TV – researching, PA’ing, and playing John Wilkes Booth on “In Search Of…The Lincoln Conspiracy.” And, yeah, that’s MY hair. The producer curled it for me (close ups at 3:25 & 7:11). She also pasted on the crazy ‘stache. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EdCJb1RpaI&feature=related

OK. Got your attention. Everything IS on this one, folks. If you like to watch...if you like to listen, there's something here for you, and probably for your great-grandkids, too (yeah - you, too, even if you are in your 30s, 20s or younger). At long last, the film that Suzanne Jurva and I produced, directed and wrote for the Library of Congress about its amazing new audiovisual preservation center in Culpeper, Virginia, is online. If you are a movie, TV or music buff, you should know about this place. No other country can touch the ongoing cultural preservation efforts at our Library of Congress. There's nothing like the LOC's National Audiovisual Preservation Center anywhere else in the world. Our good friend, Suzanne Hogan, special assistant to the Librarian of Congress, shepherded this from gestation to delivery. Beautiful camera work by Washington, DC-based DP/Camera, Julio Luzquinos. In LA, keen eye camera work provided by Andrew Parke; Crispy clean Audio/grip