December of 2002

The Associated Films family and the staff here at the Blast wishes you the warmest Holiday Greetings for this year, 2002. Make it safe, make it special, and make it the best.
-Editor December 23rd, 2002

The Associated Films Annual Christmas Party was held in upper Placentia this weekend past and the Blast was able to be there when the family gathered at Sophia's Greek Cuisine. Though the dinner is meant to bring the members together to celebrate the holidays, it was difficult to prevent this group from "talking shop."
Though there has been talk of it before, many of the members believe there will be a Spring-time show in addition to the traditional Fall show that is held in October.
Says Director, James Soeffner, "I would like to bring to the audience two shows each year." Who could argue with that? No one is certain what will be in the shows, but projects like The Valley Of The Dragon and Les Marriage Du Tony were mentioned at the dinner.
"I am very fired up to do Valley," actor/director Ralph Apel tells us. "But I am more fired up to work on another project that Tony [Ardisone] and I created." We learned that a project with medieval/fantasy themes is in the mix and Apel and Ardisone are to star. Knight Brothers: Brotherhood of the Night is proposed to be the first Associated Films period piece and an answer to New Line Cinema's Lord Of The Rings series. The movie is to boast a robust cast as well as a robust budget, something that Associated Films has yet to tackle. The main drive for the movie is locations.
"I am looking forward to taking advantage of as many locations as possible," states Ardisone. "We've had scouts come back with wonderful places for us to film and I would like to utilize that in both Valley and Brotherhood." When asked if this movie might be following a trend of fantasy movies for next year, Ardisone responded quickly: "I thought [Lord Of The]Rings was great, but it lacked humor. And anyone can do force perspective. That's funhouse/carnival tricks. This one is going to have more comedy, but don't let the laughs fool you. I've got ideas for action that will keep your twenty-sided die spinning." Keep an open eye for more on this feature film.
After a splendid meal and excellent belly dancing (by professional dancers, not the Films members), they returned to the Associated House for an un-wrap. By Secret Santa system, the crew exchanged gifts, which included the new DVD of the 1st Show and the soundtrack CD to the 2nd. The men then engaged in a traditional wrapping paper wrestling match while the women watched on. When the night was over, everyone parted with their wonderful gifts. Once the holidays were over, it will be back to work. We can hardly wait for this season to be over!
-AJA December 23rd, 2002

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