About Dennis
I am an international award winning film/video director, producer and the founder/ceo of ramp it up entertainment. (www.rampitupentertainment.com). I have written a book of poetry 'Something About Going Home' with illustrations by Christina Qualiana and the novel, 'Beyond Reasonable Doubt'.
I am presently working on a children's book, 'Dolphin Boy'.
The book features include 3D pop-up illustrations, pages to color and an audio CD with sound effects and original music. The book will be accompanied by an interactive website where visitors can share stories about friendships - imaginary and real - and connect with others who have engaging stories to tell and share. The story will also be re-created as a web based series with flash animation and an original music score.
Readers have compared the story of ‘Dolphin Boy’ to the movies ‘Cocoon’ (Directed by Ron Howard, screenplay by Tom Benedek and story by David Saperstein) and ‘Splash’ (Directed by Ron Howard, screenplay by Lowell Ganz,
Babaloo Mandel and Bruce Jay Friedman, story by Brian Grazer and screenstory by Bruce Jay Friedman)
Here's the story behind 'Dolphin Boy':
Caleb is a ten-year old boy who has the ability to communicate with dolphins. Although he tries to convince others of his unique and often magical ability, no one believes him – except for his best friend and neighbor Sara and her father Sam, who is a Marine Biologist and a Professor at the local University.
Caleb has been diagnosed with a life ending disease and although he has days when he feels he can do anything, he is digressing very quickly. The doctor’s agree that he has very little time left and they recommend that he spend his time out of the hospital and at home with his family. They offer the family very little in the way of comfort but do try to prepare them for the inevitable. They are told Caleb should die within the next few weeks.
Every afternoon, Caleb, Sara and Sam visit the beach and swim in the ocean. Sam is amazed to see the number of dolphins who appear and he begins to notice that their numbers are increasing each day. When Caleb enters the ocean, he is instantly surrounded by dolphins. And with every swim in the ocean, with every touch of a dolphin, Caleb gains some of his strength back. But the improvements in Caleb’s condition are only temporary, remaining for less than a few hours after swimming in the ocean.
One morning, Caleb calls his parents into his room. He calls for Sara and Sam too. He tells everyone that he is OK and that he is ready to die. He assures everyone that he is not in pain, but that he must go now. He explains that he wants to go out on the family boat.
Caleb, his parents, Sara and Sam are in the family boat holding Caleb, who is going in and out of consciousness. He whispers to his mother and father that they need to place him in the ocean. He wants to feel the coolness of the sea. They reluctantly agree. They jump overboard and Sam and Sara gently hand Caleb to them. As they do, dolphins appear, swimming right up to the family..
One of the dolphins places his head on Caleb. Caleb strokes the dolphin and the dolphin responds to Caleb’s touch and sounds. Caleb looks up to his mom and asks her to let him go. She doesn’t know what he means. Caleb tells her that she needs to let him go with the dolphins. She becomes hysterical and as she and her husband loosen their grip on their son, a miracle begins to occur.
Caleb grows stronger and a bright light shines through his eyes and his smile provides a sense of warmth and calmness for everyone. He takes one last look at his parents, Sam and Sarah and says goodbye. Caleb is slowly transformed into a dolphin and jumps high in the air as if to celebrate life. He is alive and he is home.
Here's the story of 'Beyond Reasonable Doubt':
To get his hands on his family fortune, Jason Warren has to prove DNA evidence convicting his stepfather of his mother's murder was wrong. With the help of research scientist and DNA expert, Dr. Jennifer Neal and a team of doctors and graduate students from the USCOM North American Research Center at UC Berkeley, he sets out to challenge the International scientific community and the American judicial system.
Hal Warren was convicted of killing his wife, Ruth, solely on DNA extracted from hair samples and bodily fluids found at the crime scene. The prosecution convinced the jury that the DNA Profile matched and identified Hal Warren as the killer. There were no fingerprints found at the crime scene. There were no eyewitnesses to the crime. In fact, Hal Warren had an airtight alibi. He was someplace else when the crime was committed. But he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole. This illustrates just how strong DNA evidence can be. But what if the DNA results were wrong? What if the DNA samples actually belonged to someone else? What if Hal Warren did not commit the crime he was convicted of?
Jason asks us to think about this - without the presence of collaborative evidence, how can we trust DNA - especially if he can prove DNA is not only not as accurate as we have been led to believe, but that DNA in fact, might just be the fabrication of scientists and is based more on theory than fact? DNA Profiling has become big business. Think about all those we have found guilty solely on DNA evidence - think about all those we have set free solely on DNA evidence? Think about it.
But what is Jason Warren really up to? What has he done? What is he about to do? What's his motive in all this? Is he as innocent as he wants us to believe or is he manipulating everyone and everything around him? Is he that smart, that clever, that ruthless? Will Senator Thayer and USCOM be able to control the damage as Jason jeopardizes his run for the Presidency of the United States? Is this the story of a really bad person who wins it all at the end?
Jason hired me to tell his side of the story. But I had one condition to accepting the assignment, I wanted to tell the entire story, the true story and I wanted complete access to all of the players. Jason promised me there would be no restrictions on where I could go, whom I could speak to and what I could write. Jason would arrange for all the introductions. I brought in two experts - a retired FBI agent and a psychiatrist - to help me through the process. They both warned me about Jason. We often disagreed about what the truth was. I could not tell this story without them.
I walk in on Stuart, apparently unexpected. It's been some time since we last spoke. As I enter his office, I pick up an envelope off the floor. It is from the Lawyer's Club of San Francisco. I place it on Stuart's desk. Boxes were everywhere. I knew Stuart was moving to his new office in the Civic Center Courthouse on McAllister Street. He was headed to Department 622 that had been vacant prior to his appointment. Stuart motioned to me to sit down in one of the two chairs opposite him. I picked the one closest to the door. I removed the boxes and loose papers from the chair and sat.
Stuart hands me a sealed, white envelope. I knew what was inside. It was the results of the fingerprint analysis on Jennifer Neal. I don't bother to open the envelope. I looked at Stuart. He looked at me. I looked at my watch. I knew that this was probably the last time I would ever see Stuart. Stuart's cell phone rings. I got up to leave. He asks me to wait for a few minutes while he answered the call. I knew it was time to go. I had a plane to catch.
Dennis Gelbaum adds - "Jason's story raises so many questions about the accuracy of DNA, the American judicial system, the international scientific community and the big business of DNA Profiling. At times, I found parts of the story difficult to write about, even more difficult to believe. I often wonder, was it always about the money? Was that it?"
Check my books out at
www.beyondreasonabledoubtbook.com and check me out at www.thegelbaumblog.blogspot.com
Check out my book trailer at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGm-Y0s1lQM
I am an international award winning film/video director, producer and the founder/ceo of ramp it up entertainment. (www.rampitupentertainment.com). I have written a book of poetry 'Something About Going Home' with illustrations by Christina Qualiana and the novel, 'Beyond Reasonable Doubt'.
I am presently working on a children's book, 'Dolphin Boy'.
The book features include 3D pop-up illustra...
More
On April 17th, Dennis Gelbaum will be interviewed by Don McCauley, the host of 'The Authors Show' on the WNB Network. Dennis will be talking about his new novel, 'Beyond Reasonable Doubt'. Check it out at http://www.theauthorsshow.c... more