Los Angeles, CA —I have to say I enjoy going to film screenings and meeting cast and  crew-members  of the films that are in competition for the various awards.   This time it was The Imitation Game .    For me this was a treat! This is an untold but true World War Two story that was covered up in the name of National Security for more than 50 years.   Actors pray for a film character that can be their role of a lifetime.   The role of mathematician Alan Turing is just such a dream role.   Writers had to tell the story and in this case most or all the principals are all dead.   Their conversations must be recreated and the writers were incredibly clever.   Graham Moore crafted the screenplay based on Andrew Hodges’ book. This story is about the cracking of the impossible to break Nazi Enigma code that shortened the War and saved an estimated 20 million lives. The starring role of Alan Turing went to journeyman actor Bene...

Melanie Bernas (Left) Angelia Brosso (Right) Booking Photo of Bryan Patrick Miller Phoenix, AZ—In 1992/1993 Melanie Berna s, 17 and Angela Brosso , 22 were savagely sliced up nearly a year apart in the same general Sunnyslope vicinity. In November 1992 the Brosso girl went for a bicycle ride and never returned. Her live-in boyfriend reported her missing to police. Brosso was soon found headless and her torso cut in half in a nearby park at 25th Avenue and Cactus. I saw raw and disturbing video of Brosso's naked and bloody body captured by a TV news photographer and it was indeed hideous. That video was heavily edited before it hit the airwaves. Brosso’s severed head was subsequently located in or next to a canal some two miles away. Brosso’s bicycle has never been recovered and no viable suspect has ever been located. Nearly one year later in September of 1993 the Bernas girl’s severed head was found near the Arizona canal and the Black Canyon freeway. Nearby floa...

This is an Align quadcopter with a Panasonic GH4 4K motion picture camera perfect for electronic news gathering assignments.   Atlanta, GA —All Federal Aviation Administration regulations were and are conceived and written in blood, literally!   That is, that there is a deadly aircraft accident behind every rule.   That has always been the case except when it came to drones. We all must take safety seriously and any legitimate concern deserves study and respect.   The drones are somewhat expensive and their owners simply don’t want them damaged through recklessness. For some strange bureaucratic reason the FAA has outlawed the use of a drone to make money.   As un-American as that seems, they’ve gotten away with this form of economic tyranny. The FAA has always allowed the use of drones for recreation and hobby activities with scant few restrictions.   Rather than make rules just last month they’ve finally issued a few advisory Dos and Don’ts fo...

Berlin, Germany —I have some very dear friends in this beautiful and sophisticated city.  I love Europe for may reasons, primarily its civilization, elegance and art.   I am very fond of the European people.  Most Europeans were not alive between 1933 and 1945.   It’s safe to say that they all lost family members in the Second World War that extinguished 70 million lives before it ended.  At least historically, Europeans know well about government tyranny and violence. As the European nations were resurrected from that horrible war the new leaders understandably feared armed citizens.  Like their Fascist predecessors they continued to ban or at least severely restrict gun ownership.  All dictators and politicians love their governing power.  They all seem to fear the people they rule.  They usually seek to disarm the people so they cannot be overthrown when they fall out of favor. In America our founding fathe...

Los Angeles, CA —Yesterday I got a gentle safety reminder as I began to pick up my Phantom 2 .   The props suddenly began spinning on their own.   I thought I turned of the battery and then the radio controller.   I’m somewhat hearing impaired and did not hear those telltale sounds that the battery power was not actually shut off.   As I reached for the drone the plastic propellers really spanked my fingers.   I felt pain but suffered no visible injury beyond a little redness that quickly disappeared.   Had I been using carbon fiber props I would have definitely needed stiches and a trip to the ER.   I was lucky my negligence did not cause what may have been termed a minor injury.   Through negligence, I nearly suffered the only kind of injury that the small multi-rotor drones ever inflict.   Thankfully in my case, my precious fingers and the props were none the worse for wear.   To date, the smaller under 55 lbs. multi-rotors h...

Los Angeles, CA —Before I share my thoughts I want you to see what a seemingly thoughtful journalist, Matt Waite has to say about the use of drones for Electronic News Gathering or ENG .  It’s important that you first watch his video presentation. My response is below the video. Okay, Waite made a really melodramatic example of anecdote from his reporting past to make a point.  It was a really unfair and simplistic overstatement of a highly unusual situation he once encountered.  Waite’s dramatic example is one we all can resolve by simply keeping enough distance between the drone and the grieving woman that Waite described. Only the most soulless bastard would dare to bring a buzzing drone into that poor woman’s face!  Additionally, Waite unleashed his little drone inside the theater where he’s speaking and the natural acoustics there exaggerated the multi-rotor drone’s noise substantially.    At 40 or 50 feet outdoors that noise is barely n...

Phoenix, AZ —My spies at the FAA insist that they will very quickly authorize the commercial use of multi-rotor, mini-drones weighing in at less than three pounds for among other things, newsgathering. Any TV station news department that has not made plans for this new technology will be left in the dirt.  The very day the drones are authorized is when the promotions departments should be heralding their new newsdronie correspondents. They all should be up and running with two or three of these prime time ready “newsdronies” to cover routine accidents, crimes and fires.  Sending a helicopter to a school lockdown for example is foolish when you can use a drone and only pony up a fraction of the price.   That FAA weight constraint will limit the size of the cameras that of the GoPro types.  But they can really capture epic and stunning imagery. What that means is the local television markets can dispatch a drone pilot that’s able to operate the device, cam...

Berlin, Germany —I can only wish I were writing this in beautiful City of Berlin .  The German people have not diminished or even denounced this great holiday as too many American’s have.  Instead I’m in Los Angeles at the moment.   As many of you know I’ve become thrilled and addicted to using a camera drone to acquire amazing video.   I even earned an IMDB screen credit as aerial photographer for the Pablo Lewin short film production, The Roommate . The word “drone” became a dirty term because of those infamous military weapon-laden killing machines.   The multi-rotor camera drone users like me have now clamed that term and redefined it as a tool for art and many exciting humanitarian purposes. I hope to see the FAA end their ban on commercial use of drones to grow our stagnant economy and create new jobs. We saw a racial divide like we’ve not had in this nation since the 1950’s.   I blame almost all of it all on high profile race baiting ...