The Chronicles of Ben

Russell Prestol: Who Is This Guy and How Did He Come To Exist? Part 3

2011-09-30T23:41:00.000-07:00

Memories of Melnovia

OK see that little tiny speck in the central area of the picture? The peninsula on the lower left is almost pointing at it. That is Melnovia, courtesy of my photoshop. It is a small island off the coast of Africa. And yes, it is an island of puppets. And yes, it is the most deadly place on earth.

OK side note, it wouldn't be fair to continue without giving props to one person who is instrumental in the resurrection of Russell after the Olympic Youth Camp fiasco: Joe Grimaldi, a friend who really encouraged me to continue doing Russell. He kinda did CPR and kept him from the coffin, and he doesn't forget to remind me once in a while. And I am OK with that.

The Memoir of Melnovia

Don't ask me how I came up with the name Melnovia. You ever just spit out words and they come out funny, but they almost sound like a place or a real word? That's what Melnovia is. And the word, "memoir," that's just cool sounding in a movie title. So "The Chronicles of Russell: The Memoirs of Melnovia" sounded like the coolest title for a movie.

It's the sequel to the Clone and Puppet Saga, where Russell is living his life still, but his clone is after this Memoir that he is trying to get for the CIA, but the puppet Roger is hot on his trail. From there chaos ensues. Russell teams up with his Clone to keep the Memoir from getting into the wrong hands, and then Roger comes to get the Memoir, takes Billy Hostage, and then gets taken hostage himself by Russell. The Russell interrogation scene with Roger is probably one of the most interesting scenes I ever shot. My mother in law would not stop laughing at it.

So anyway, Russell finds out that the Memoir leads to the Diamond of Chopah Doi, which whoever has that gets the sword of Menga Moi, and whoever gets that, gets to be king of Melnovia. And Randall wants the Memoir of course, so he breaks out of the prison in Indonesia and comes back for it. That scene was fun becuase I got to go to a location and shoot, The Fort in Fort Dodge, IA. I got to use their old prison to make it look like an Indonesian prison and it worked well. I lost a pair of teeth there, which was annoying, but whatever.

Anywho, Russell reluctantly agrees to become King of Melnovia and destroys the Memoir, which doesn't matter because Roger had the Diamond inside him, and so then Randall rips it out of him and then it looks like the world is his for the taking. But Russell and his Clone team up, but during the whole thing we find out that Russell's clone wanted to be King, but he's been on the run from the CIA (Played by Josh Martyn from Forgiven Films and Jason Dover) and he is supposed to turn the Memoir over to them to avoid prosecution for helping Randall in the Clone and Puppet Saga. Yeah yeah I know, confusing.

Moving on, Russell and Clone engage Randall and his ninjas for an all out battle for the diamond, and to rescue Roger and Billy. They encounter GEC, a genetically enhanced clone. And they defeat him with a plunger. How else do you defeat a genetically enhanced clone? And they defeat Randall to reclaim the diamond, and Russell relinquishes the diamond so his Clone can become king. How nice huh?

Any way, that's Melnovia in a nutshell. By far the largest project I have ever done, and I got my Proscores in the middle of the project and had so much of the film done with movie soundtracks, so a lot of it is non copyrighted and I unable to post it on Youtube. Or be sure we would be having a Russell marathon right now. We kinda are, but on a smaller scale. I do want to reshoot the film, and make it into a Youtube mini series, along with all of the Chronicles. "Initiation" is getting a little pushed out but that is going to be the relaunch of the Chronicles and from there I would like to reshoot everything. Not for fame, but for fun. Like I said you either like Russell or hate him. You can do either and it won't affect me in the least because the character makes me laugh and I love him. He's the worst and best of me and he is probably a coping mechanism too but I enjoy doing Russell, even if he is considered the dumbest character alive. I always said I would stop doing Russell after the Clone and Puppet Saga, but I just couldn't. I still can't.

Side not before we do "To be continued..." do you want to know how to make a ninja mask? Take a short sleeve shirt and position the hole that your head goes into around your eyes, then tie the sleeves back behind your head. Boom. You are a ninja.

Next time: Russell gets into the ministry.

Russell Prestol: Who Is This Guy and How Did He Come To Exist? Part 2

2011-08-28T14:12:00.000-07:00

Enter the "Chronicles"

I am going to say it again: Russell is an acquired taste when it comes to your humor taste buds. Kinda like Sweet Potatoes. I happen to think they are disgusting, while everyone else in my family thinks they are wonderful. And that's OK. Same thing with Russell. If my brand of humor with a character like this is not your cup of tea, I am not offended...that much. Just kidding. No, it's OK if it is not funny or entertaining to you. And the reason for that is simple: It's funny to me. So when that guy told me I wasn't funny, he was probably right, funny to him. But it was funny to me, so whoop de doo. Of course when it is a captive audience, that does have to be factored into it and I could have prepared a lot better, I do know this.

I like to laugh. I like to make myself laugh. So not to sound bad or anthropocentric (me or man-centered) a lot of what I do is what I would find funny if I was watching something or wanted to be entertained. I'm certainly not the funniest guy in the world, and I am not trying to be. People I really admire are the Skit Guys, and they had a tremendous video about their friendship and they talked about what they do when they do skits and really what they are doing is having fun and inviting others to come and watch them have fun. I'd like to think that is what I am doing to. I have to laugh. I spent a lot of years repressing laughter and pleasant emotions all for the sake of looking holy and spiritual. And there are many who think that having fun is a sin. I even read an article online one time about how the only time God laughs is when the wicked falls so therefore we shouldn't really laugh and have a good time. Yuck.

I don't want to laugh at raunchy stuff, but seriously, doesn't the Bible say, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine?" When I see someone having good clean fun and have a clean, decent sense of humor, I want to be that guy's friend.

"The Clones"

Billy

Anyway, that's enough philosophy talk. The "Chronicles of Russell" started when I had just gotten a lap top with some tax money and I got a decent editing program, and I was working nights at the ACTC, and we found out that we had to stay up all night. Before we could sleep. So I took some video and started just putting things together, and was having so much fun doing it. A lot of what I did was sheer experimentation, and it wasn't my original intention to use Russell long term, but I just kept adding on to what I had made. I was freshening up on my editing and shooting skills, which I need to do a lot of still. But I was just having a good time. Russell worked at night, and then ninjas started showing up, and then there was Billy. I could do a whole blog on Billy, but not today.

Russell vs. Russell Clone

I also got a big green sheet with my editing program. What was this for? Looked pretty useless to me. I was never into chroma key and green screen in school, so why start now? But it looked intriguing, so I began to experiment with that too. Soon I was having conversations with myself, as well as fighting myself often too. But how could I explain how we all look the same? That would be cheesy....unless they were clones!! (How original and uncheesy, right?) And so the first half of the "Clone and Puppet Saga" was born. I know, dumb name, but it was better than "They call me Mr. Clonely," or "Clones, and Puppets and Teeth, Oh my?"

"The Puppet"

Right around this time, I felt like God was opening up a door for me to have a puppet ministry. A friend of mine from church wasn't using his puppets, so he sold me $200 worth of puppets for half price and I jumped on it. I got 2 girl puppets, a tiny one named "Rianna" and a larger one named "Regina". Regina has become "Sheila". Then there was a boy puppet that was tiny I named "Theo Logan" (Theologian, get it?), and then last but not least, a bigger puppet I decided to name...Roger.

Roger has become a bit of celebrity these days, making several appearances at Vacation Bible School, and is the star of a troupe known as "Roger and Friends." But he got his big break (I know I talk about him like he's real, so what?) In the Clone and Puppet Saga, as Russell's ally/adversary from a little unknown island off the coast of Africa called Melnovia. Yes it is an island of puppets. Is that OK? Of course you don't really know this in the Clone and Puppet Saga (CPS), but you find out in the "Memoir of Melnovia," the sequel to Russell's 1st adventure.

Roger plays a...puppet that wants to destroy all humans, because the "human and puppet relations have been strained." One of Russell's clones drop kicks Roger and offends him, and there he decides to wage war on the human race, unless Russell can defeat him in one to one combat, which he successfully does. I will say that bit of cinematography was pretty fun. I had a stand for Roger and I used a lot of green screen, and it was one of the more elaborate things I had ever done. But it looked like a bad low budget B or C movie, but I'll tell you it was one of the coolest things I had ever made, I thought.

"The Saga"

The maker of the clones was...Randall, Russell's evil twin brother. OK, I know, how dumb, but it was late and I was the only actor and I had a 3 or 4 dollar budget for this movie! I bought a mustache and made his twin brother who worked for Innova. Yes I know, golf company. Anyway, Russell and Randall's dad was a scientist who learned how to clone, almost and then Randall perfected it and then cloned his brother. I currently have a project in hiatus called, "Initiation" which would be a prequel to The CPS, that explains all of that. So Russell's clone defeats him, after realizing that Randall has no regard for the clones, and Russell did, so the Russell Clone turned on Randall, defeated him, and teleported him to Indonesia. Boom. Kinda fun that Russell is not the real hero. OK the whole thing is just a goofy movie I did to have some fun. It has been watched by a few hundred people, and it has been enjoyed by them...I think. It is about an hour long, and it has a lot of twists and turns in the "intricate" story line, and it is good for a cheesy, clean laugh. It was good practice, and a lot of fun. I still love to sit down and watch it occasionally. But boy was I glad it was done. "I'm not doing anything like that ever again," I said to myself...

A little more Russell trivia: The teeth, come from Wal Mart. They had buck teeth sets for 88 cents at one time and I would try to buy up as much as I could. They discontinued them, so I am a little protective of the only pair I own now. I could buy some in other sets I have seen online, but they range from 10-15 dollars. I do have a pair of really nice Bubba Teeth that you can epoxy in, but I haven't found the ambition to use them yet, because of the need for more epoxy.

Next time: Onto Melnovia...

http://www.youtube.com/user/RussellPrestol?feature=mhee

Russell Prestol: Who Is This Guy and How Did He Come To Exist? Part 1

2011-08-27T22:42:00.000-07:00

This is my blog. I am now a blogger. I have no idea what to blog about.
I don't want to get too personal, but I want write, as I like to do it and don't get to do it enough.
So I don't know if this is the first of many or the only of one, but this is my first blog. I thought I would write about my alter-ego, Russell Prestol, and give you some insights as to his origins, tastes, personality, and preferences.

That's him in the picture, in a B-Movie called "The Memoir of Melnovia," Which I would like to show if I didn't have copyrighted music in it.

And so Russell, in a nut shell, is a character that was created back in 2007 or 2008. He was originally created by me and a guy I used to work in the ministry in, Bob Buchanan. We were going to do youth camp skits and we needed to come up with something, so he gave me a pair of buck teeth and told me basically that we were going to do a skit with "Billy the Bully," "Russell", and "Tilton."

The skits were pretty fun for the most part and people laughed, and it was a good experience to get out of my box and entertain people. I had been pretty stuffy in my Christianity for a while and needed to loosen up. But Russell's first appearance was in a pair of waist high galoshes, an umbrella, and eye goggles. He ended up fighting Billy the Bully in a boxing ring and we had fun. The teeth kept coming out and and he was most memorably noted for the line, "Cause it's hot in here." Bob would ask Russell repeatedly, "Why you sweating?" Cuz I sweat. Ask anyone who knows me.

Well from there, Russell disappeared for a while. That is until I got a video camera with some tax money. Then I made some pretty dumb little movies of Russell at night when I was working with the boys, acting ridiculous and making some pretty weird films, like this one here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xx-Jld_fSI

This is one of Russell's earliest films, which the boys at the boys home I was working at liked for the most part. from there, Russell had a brief appearance at Vacation Bible School, with a Character named Sylvester, where they teamed up to catch the devil in some skits that involved exercising. The kids enjoyed them, and the Youth Pastor, Bro. Marvin Smith the IV, asked me if I wanted to do the youth camp skits, and be in charge of them. I accepted, much to my embarrassment. Nothing to do with the Youth Pastor, but I BOMBED those skits so bad, that they decided not to do skits halfway through the camp. I was very unprepared, self-conscious, and I really wanted to do them up at the same time, so we did an Olympic theme, and they were so dumb. A guy named Joe helped me on them, and kinda started taking over, and they kinda went all over the place and that mixed in with people's high expectations and my lack of preparation along with people's expertise on what was funny and what was not, it was decided the last two nights not to do skits. When I confronted a person about it, I was told straight out, "You are not funny. OK? I am going to get these other guys to do it, because they know how to do it, and they will do it like they do it at Hyles." (That's Hyles-Anderson College)

That guy was apologetic later, but it left a deep scar and I determined to never do a skit again. I lost the buck teeth and decided to forget the whole Russell thing. That is, until I got a lap top and could actually edit the footage I had. From there, "The Chronicles" were birthed. But that's a story for another time.

Before I do the whole, "to be continued thing," here's a fun fact: Where did I get the name Russell? From a neighbor that I grew up with named Russell. The character doesn't resemble him at all, but I just liked the name, and it stuck from there. His last name is close to the neighbor's last name, which I won't reveal out of respect for him.

Let me say this too: He's an acquired taste. You either like him or you hate him. I don't care which, but I hope you watch him regardless.

http://www.youtube.com/user/RussellPrestol?feature=mhee

OK now...to be continued.