Play It Again

Randomness

2006-10-19T01:03:00.000-04:00

So apparently Nerf has entered into the sniper rifle market. My roommate Joey showed me this commercial for a Nerf N-Strike Longshot. It's basically a sniper rifle that looks to be almost as tall as I am and has a mounted scope on the top of it, with an actual magazine and chamber slide to load the darts with. It's absolutely ridiculous and fighting the urge to spend $30 on one is really really hard.

Other news- Dean Cundey will most likely be making an appearance on the set of my fourth year film. Dean Cundey was the cinematographer on movies like Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Jurassic Park, The Thing and Halloween to name a few. He's a guest artist at school the first weekend of our shoot and since my crew will be on set and unable to attend his workshop, the faculty member who invited him said he'd bring him by. This rocks my world like you can't imagine- the lighting style I'm using for my project is inspired by this man's work in a lot of ways. It's kind of surreal that he's going to be there.

Poor Buffalo. I finally saw pictures of the disaster that struck there. My family wasn't kidding when they said ALL of the trees were completely fucked. I'm also pretty shocked that people still don't have power. It's going on a week, already. It's weird, I almost feel like I should be there to tough it out with everybody; like I'm doing my hometown a disservice by not being there for this. It's probably got to do with my struggle to accept that I basically just don't live there anymore, I'm still getting kind of used to that. Though, at this point NC feels just as much like home as Buffalo does.

Anyway my heart goes out to you, fellow Buffalonians! Hang in there, I'll be back to shovel my share of snow in December!

Song Currently Playing: A Poor Man's Memory - Explosions In The Sky

Greetings from Sunny North Carolina!

2006-09-09T15:00:00.000-04:00

So I have bid my hometown of Buffalo adieu yet again and set sail for my adopted home of Winston Salem, NC. It's been really great to be back and seeing all my friends from school after my three-month absence. It's like none of us ever left, we've just picked up right where we left off.

I've got about one more week to get the summer out of my system before I have to start actually going to school again. Not that I don't want to, I'm really looking forward to starting productions. But my weekend in Asheville with Josh got postponed until next week, so I'm kind of viewing that as my last stand before school revs up. However, I AM jumping right back into the working thing and have a show to run at school on Sunday. It's so good to be back.

Song Currently Playing: Lay Low - My Morning Jacket

Some Brief Reviews

2006-08-28T01:57:00.000-04:00

I went and saw a few movies this week, so I thought I'd share. Especially since they were both really good. In reverse chronological order:

The Descent

So this one came highly recommended from Schnitz and it's 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes made me think more than twice about a horror flick where a bunch of chicks get eaten alive in a cave. Turns out, this is really one of the smartest, most engaging and all around successful horror films to come out in a long time. The premise is WAY B movie, but the execution is nigh flawless. It's a bit slow-going at first but it's never boring. Before the monster even showed up I found myself literally squirming in my seat from the sheer atmospheric setup. I'm not a really claustrophobic person but holy crap does this movie make me NEVER want to go spelunking. I felt incredibly closed in and restricted and I was one of maybe six people in the whole theater. Get past a few easy scares in the first and some of the second act and you're in for a hell of a surprise. Once the shit hits the fan, boy does it ever.

It was very refreshing to see a horror movie that doesn't treat it's audience like idiots. The script never resorts to stupidity to facilitate action or peril- any mistake the characters make is motivated by sheer panic or the fact that they have no choice. There's no "running up the stairs when they should be going out the front door" in this movie (as Scream so eloquently put it). Solid performances all around, excellent photography and editing, an AMAZING horror film score, a smart script and a very confident director make this one of the more impressive genre films I've seen in a very long time and it only gets better the more you think about it. When it hits the $2 theaters, go see it. It's worth it at three times the price.

A-

Little Miss Sunshine

In a very disappointing year for movies, this film stands head and shoulders above them all. Hell, this movie would hold more than its own in a banner year. One of the best and most eclectic ensembles since Wonderboys, Little Miss Sunshine reminds you what good dialogue and strong direction can accomplish. This is the first movie of the year to really capture my heart and so I welcome it with open arms.

Both laugh-out-loud funny and incredibly poignant, it fires on all cylinders to tell the story of an extended family's road trip to a beauty pageant for young girls in California. This kind of movies makes me wish there were awards recognition for an entire ensemble cast, because I honestly can't decide who stands out among them. The whole family is beautifully integrated and all of the actors visibly feed off of one another to create a truly wonderful dynamic. There isn't much I can say other than Little Miss Sunshine is just an all around good movie. The sight gags and physical comedy never feel forced, the more emotionally intense scenes are always earned and the film switches from one to the other effortlessly. I can't recommend this movie enough for anyone dying to see just a simple, well made small film that entertains on every level.

Also, the soundtrack kicks complete ass. I anticipate this to be in my top three films of the year when all is said and done, unless The Fountain and some other movie completely blow me away.

A

Having now completed these little mini reviews I'm noticing that I am very much so out of practice with this kind of thing, so I intend to brush up my reviewing technique as the new school year kicks into gear. I'm also slowly tabulating a top ten list for the year so far before the fall season starts, so keep an eyee out for that soon. In the meantime do yourself a favor and go see these movies.

Song Currently Playing: On The Radio - Regina Spektor

Indie Comics Like WOAH!

2006-08-19T05:31:00.000-04:00

So recently I've been getting really into independant comic books. I'm sure it has to do with the fact that I seem to gravitate towards indie everything be it music, movies, comics, etc. Still, I think there's a lot of undiscovered genius in this little niche of pop culture. The nice thing about indie comics is their versatility. Major label titles can be (and often are) great but they seem a bit locked into their underlying themes and messages. There's social commentary and demographical identification to be had, for sure, but that's about where it stops. If you ever want a good, straight-forward human story you just kind of end up reading indie titles. Their stories are simple. A comic about a breakup. About a family tragedy. About growing up, becoming an adult, emotions, expectations, successes, failures.

They come in all shapes and sizes. There are crime novels, personal memoirs, send-ups of pop culture. In the mail today I recieved the first two volumes of Scott Pilgrim, a series I've been aching to read since I heard about it. I can't recall ever becomming nigh giddy over a comic, let alone the anticipation of one. I thumbed through the first volume when I got home and had to force myself to put it down, otherwise I knew I wouldn't stop and would leave my friend stranded without a ride to the bar.

I have a partner in crime in this endeavor, my very great friend Schnitz. I think we each kind of psyched one another up enough to actually propel ourselves into this world and I'm very glad for it. It's refreshing to find an artistic resource so vastly untapped and even more so to have a sounding board for said new discoveries. We each have stacks of titles we plan on trading and discussing upon my arrival back to Winston.

I guess I'm kind of spewing about this because I've been struggling to find something to read that I can connect to ever since I finished Kavalier & Clay (which I REALLY need to buy, come to think of it). I wonder if it's a coincidence that I found myself reading comics to fill the void...

Song Currently Playing: Nu Guitar - Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

Best. Video. EVER.

2006-08-15T00:26:00.000-04:00

Ok Go continues to amuse and highly entertain me. Check this shit out, your mind will be blown:

Ok Go- Here It Goes Again

And for anyone who missed it the first time:

Ok Go- A Million Ways

Also, I plan on making a return to my use of this little corner of the internet I have after such a long absence. In the meantime, if you find my life that interesting feel free to read up on the blogs I've been doing on my Myspace page (and let me know if that link doesn't work for some reason):

Myspace'd Out!

Song Currently Playing: The Big Jump - The Chemical Brothers

So then this happened...

2006-07-19T04:11:00.000-04:00

I stumbled across this, thought I'd share with the surely large portion of the world that doesn't know about it. I most likely find this amusing because I'm tired:

Bee Dogs

Song Currently Playing: Pinch Me - Barenaked Ladies

Another Milestone

2006-07-15T02:36:00.000-04:00

My first tatoo. I got it today, kind of on a whim. I'd been planning on getting one (my mom had offered to pay for it as a birthday gift) but hadn't picked out a time. She called today and said since it was my day off that she could take me after she got off work. So when she got home, we went over to American Skin Art (voted best in Buffalo, coincidentally) and I walked in, showed them the picture I wanted and the guy said "Ok, let's go." I put it on my inner right forearm, closer to the elbow. It's a sea otter on it's back in the water, holding a sea shell. It turned out pretty damn good, the guy took a picture of it for his book which I'm sure was a pretty good sign.

It didn't hurt nearly as much as I would have thought. It's just kind of like a sharp scraping and when it's done it feels not unlike sunburn. After an hour or two it stopped hurting altogether, so now I just have to keep it out of the sun and put neosporin on it 3-4 times a day for the next few weeks. I'm just paranoid that the color won't stick or something or the lines will bleed somehow and it'll look weird once it heals. So far so good, though.

Apparently I'm the first DuVall to ever get a tatoo, according to my uncle. I hadn't thought of that, but I guess it's kind of cool to buck the trend (not that anyone cares). Regardless, whatever anyone else thinks I like it and that's what matters. When it heals and stuff I'll post a picture. In the meantime, I have to go put some more ointment on it and bandage it before bed. Night!

Song Currently Playing: Nobody Knows You When You're Down & Out - Eric Clapton

A Milestone?

2006-07-08T23:24:00.000-04:00

I bought my first Radiohead CD today. Completely an impulse buy- I was driving home and Creep came on my iPod. I thought to myself "Self, it's about time you got one of their CDs." So I drove to Best Buy and purchased The Bends. I've listened to about half of it so far and I have to say it's really fucking good. I called Matt, my musical advisor of sorts, and he and I hashed out an order for my digestion of their albums: The Bends, OK Computer, Hail to the Thief, Kid A, Amnesiac, Pablo Honey. I'm pretty excited, I love falling in love with a band that I've only just liked for kind of a while.

Now I just need to see them live.

Song Currently Playing: High And Dry - Radiohead

"The M-180..."

2006-07-04T16:08:00.000-04:00

"Celebrate the independance of your country by blowing up a small chunk of it!"

Song Currently Playing: Six Pacs - The Getaway People

Working Stiff

2006-07-02T01:42:00.000-04:00

So I had my first shift at the Country Club tonight. Worked a wedding banquet, which wasn't so bad. My legs are tired as hell, I think I wound up working a bit harder than I even had to. I'd go ten or fifteen minutes without seeing anybody and I'd realize that maybe I should be taking a break. Sure enough I'd walk out back and everyone is sitting there and they go "Oh, hey. Have you eaten?" That's the filmmaker in me, I guess. I don't stop working unless someone tells me to.

I think I made a good impression and the work wasn't anything I couldn't handle, though I need to beef up my tray-carrying skills a bit. All in all, I'm just glad to have a job and some sense of purpose again. The people all seemed nice so with any luck I'll make a few friends along the way. In the meantime I can't wait to get some good hours and get paid.

All right, I'm fucking tired.

Song Currently Playing: Lightning Rod - Guster

Holy F'in Crap!

2006-06-30T13:50:00.000-04:00

I FINALLY GOT A JOB!!! Transit Valley Country Club, I start tomorrow if I can go buy tuxedo shirts in time. Thank fucking God.

Song Currently Playing: Zenergy - Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

THE Summer Movie

2006-06-29T01:56:00.000-04:00

Maybe I was expecting too much or maybe I've just never been the biggest Superman fan, but Superman Returns didn't blow me away like I thought it would. It's not a bad movie, by any means. It's got just about anything a summer movie could want and then some but the whole thing feels... watered down somehow. Bryan Singer has made a very loving homage and (from what little of the comics I know) a very faithful movie to the character of Superman. It just doesn't pack quite the punch.

There were times I couldn't help but smile at the iconic imagery in front of me, the well done spectacle or just a good line of dialogue. All the pieces were there and only about 75% of them fit. I like Brandon Routh. He's a fine Superman. Kate Bosworth is a good Lois Lane. Hell, the whole cast is good (especially Jimmy- and points to Singer for putting Cyclops into the mix). I don't think the performances are the problem, exactly.

I guess my problem is the whole movie just kind of happens. It happens very well in some places, but nothing ever really stands out. Superman and Lois' relationship is never really there until the end so it's hard to be terribly involved when she spends all her time with her family. The thing with the kid was a fun storyline but it ultimately got me confused with some of the comics continuity and took me out of the movie a bit. Luthor was interesting but by the time he puts his plan into action you wonder why it seemed like a good idea in the first place. The Smallville flashbacks rock. The plane sequence was impressive but nothing too edge of your seat.

I think my problems with this movie boil down to the problems I've always had with the Superman character, which is to say he's just kind of boring. It's hard for me to be worried about crashing planes or exploding gas lines when I know that nothing can hurt this guy. The stuff that's happening is cool and it's fun to look at but the stakes aren't really that high until Kryptonite gets involved.

There ARE things worth mentioning. Again, this isn't a bad movie. I just couldn't get all the way into it. The score is FANTASTIC. John Ottman is one hell of an editor AND composer. Newton Thomas Sigel's cinematography is pretty flawless. Again, the cast all give very good performances. The winks to the rest of the DC 'verse don't go unnoticed and the original Lois and Jimmy's cameos are pretty cool. The action is well staged (though, as I mentioned, kind of lackluster), the effects are Oscar worthy and the dialogue is sufficiently snappy.

Apparently I just have some kind of weird aversion to invulnerability.

Grade: B

Song Currently Playing: The Superman Theme - John Williams

Tarnation

2006-06-25T04:04:00.000-04:00

Go rent it. Right fucking now.

Boofalo.

2006-06-07T23:50:00.000-04:00

Rep'esent.

Back home, anyone here who reads this should drop me a line.

Song Currently Playing: Sleep Well, Jeff - Ringside

Something cool:

2006-06-01T04:30:00.000-04:00

We have a foosball table in our house now! :-D Ridiculously cheap, too (thanks, Dusty!) Too bad I won't be around all summer to play it.

Song Currently Playing: *the dryer in the hall*

Oh

2006-05-28T11:57:00.000-04:00

And holy shit! MARY'S BACK!!!!!!!!!!! I MISSED HER!!!!!!!

Song Currently Playing: *still Joey snoring*

Beaux Arts

2006-05-28T11:44:00.000-04:00

What a fuckin' day! Three parties in the afternoon, the dance, then ANOTHER party. An entire bottle of Seagram's and a pack and a half of cigarettes later and I'm feeling amazingly good the next morning. I love me some Beaux Arts.

Song Currently Playing: *Joey snoring in the next room*

Cars

2006-05-27T03:55:00.000-04:00

Was great. And as a bonus, I can say I've seen Chuck Berry live!

Song Currently Playing: *the AC coming through the vent next to the couch*

Hope Springs Eternal

2006-05-26T03:41:00.000-04:00

I hope Cars is good tomorrow.

Because X-Men 3 SUCKED COMPLETE AND TOTAL ASS!!!!

Song Currently Playing: *The sound of a small piece of my soul dying from that piece of shit movie*

The Umple

2006-05-24T13:57:00.000-04:00

It's catching on.

Coming soon to a Grip/Electric department near you...

Song Currently Playing: The General - Dispatch

The Done Club

2006-05-16T21:47:00.000-04:00

President: ME.

Had portfolio review today which effectively ends my third year at NCSA. The review went really well, I got encouraging comments on all fronts and some of the highest grades in my class, apparently. I finished color timing today in the Adrenaline lab so everything I have to do for the movie is done with (Joey still needs to matte for 1.85, but he can handle that on his own and hopefully it won't delete my color correction in the process). I have a general studies final left but that's nothing to sweat seeing as I got an A on the midterm paper that I sleepwalked my way through.

The only thing I (sort of) have to do before the end of the year is meet with my mentor about my movie for next year, but that can be as informal as me stopping by his office. Also, I'm the last show to go out and he's really hard to get a hold of so if we don't get to it by the end of the year we're not going to be much worse off for it. All I have to do is show him the comic books I've been reading for my look samples and give him the rundown on my approach.

So here's to the fast-approaching summer vacation!!

Song Currently Playing: Obstacle 1 - Interpol

Mission: Impossible III

2006-05-05T01:57:00.000-04:00

I had some really high expectations for this movie. I'm a fan of the series (yes, I liked M:I-2) and I'm a fan of J.J. Abrams since I got hooked on Lost. I've been craving a really good action movie for quite some time now and haven't had one since The Bourne Supremacy. I'm very happy to report that not only were my expectations met but exceeded. It's easily the best movie in the series and probably one of the best action movies I've ever seen. And that's saying something.

This movie never. Fucking. Stops. I read somewhere that Abrams described the movie as a series of four or five big action sequences strung together with a story. That sounds awful, but it's the absolute truth and it still manages to kick ass. The story is all McGuffin'd up, for sure, but since ultimately the focus is on Ethan and not the biological doomsday device it works. Which isn't to say that the movie is a Tom Cruise-fest. The idea of the IMF TEAM is here in spades. Every character is given their due and all the agents work together the way they should. My biggest problems with M:I-2 and even some of the first movie were the fact that the agents rarely came together as a cohesive unit. Here they play off each other wonderfully and are all given moments to reach beyond the stereotype of their role. It's a hell of a lot of fun to see these guys do business. It's what I've wanted out of the Mission: Impossible series from the get-go.

The other great thing about this movie? The fucking ACTION. It's enormous, well-staged, effective and hard hitting. The well-advertised bridge sequence is just one section of an incredibly impressive collection of action set pieces. There's something for everybody- a gun fight. A helicopter chase. A heist. Some crazy acrobatics type shit. Lots of 'splosions. All of them are spectacular. The entire film is field-stripped of any unneccessary proceedings- there's little downtime and when there is its all business. The film's pacing is one of the best things it has going for it. It moves everything along rapidly but not too fast. You get all the essential information just long enough to get you to the next cool action sequence. And did I mention the action sequences kicked ass?

This is also one of the most technically impressive movies I've seen in a while. For a first timer, Abrams knows the tools of the trade and uses them all to great effect. Dan Mindel's photography is slick, cool and very well staged. Virtually every sequence has some kind of amazing shot or visual effect and they are all integrated beautifully. They're some of the best examples of how these tools should be implemented- they serve the scene and story while not calling much attention to themselves.

Last, but certainly not least, the cast are all terrific. Tom is his usual, a poor man's Jack Bauer, but it's still good. Billy Cruddup and Laurence Fishburn handle the inter-office politicking with the sufficient amount of contempt and bite. Ving Rhames, Maggie Q, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Keri Russell are more than equipped to handle things in the field and Michelle Monaghan and Simon Pegg do well with otherwise thankless roles. And Philip Seymour Hoffman, while admittedly underused, is just great. With only about 15 minutes worth of screen time he does more with the international arms dealer/shady character character than just about anyone has in the past five years. A review I just read described his character as feeling somehow more dangerous when he's captured, which is true and pretty impressive.

Long story short (too late) go see this movie. I can't wait to see it again. And again.

A-

Song Currently Playing: Behind Blue Eyes - The Who

Another Kind of Music Game

2006-05-01T03:08:00.000-04:00

I give credit to Morgan for this one. Anything to avoid a midterm paper:

How Good Are You With Music? Put your name down and write down an artist/band for each letter..good luck!

S- Sigur Ros
C- The Clientele
O- Otis Redding
T- They Might Be Giants
T- Ted Leo & The Pharmacists

Song Currently Playing: You Never Can Tell - Chuck Berry

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

2006-04-23T21:57:00.000-04:00

The second greatest book I have ever read. And it's a VERY close second.

Song Currently Playing: If She Wants Me - Belle & Sebastian

Happy 4:20

2006-04-21T02:23:00.000-04:00

*Throughout our entire Childhood, our focus is to grow up and become adults, so when can do all the "cool things". But, the irony is that when we finally achieve this goal, we don't want it and wish we were back in those glory days of childlike freedom.*

Remember

Before the MySpace frenzy.

Before the Internet & text messaging.

Before Sidekicks & iPods.

Before MIKE JONESSS

Before PlayStation2 or X-BOX.

Before the 5 hours of homework you put off every night.

WHEN LIGHT UP SNEAKERS WERE KOOL

When you rented VHS tapes, not DVDs.

When gas was $0.95 a gallon & Caller ID was a new thing.

When we recorded stuff on VCRs & paid $3.50 for a movie.

When we called the radio station to request songs to hear off our walkmans.

When 2Pac and Biggie where alive.

When the Chicago Bulls were the best team ever.

Way back......

Tag.

Get Over Here!!!! means something to you.

Hide-n-Go Seek in the dark.

Red Light, Green Light.

Heads Up 7 Up.

Playing Kickball & Dodgeball even Wallball.

Hopskotch.

Slip-n-Slides.

Tree Houses.

Hula Hoops.

Reading R.L. Stine's Goose Bumps.

The annoying Nano Pets & Furbies.

Running through the sprinklers.

Crying when Mufasa died in the Lion King.

Happy Meals where you chose a Barbie or a Hot Wheels car.

Getting the privilege to sit in the front seat of the car.

Drinking Sqeeze It "Squeeze The Fun Out Of It"

Wait....

Watching Saturday Morning Cartoons in your PJ's still wrapped up in your Garfield comforter.

Hey Arnold

Doug

Rugrats.

The original Power Rangers

Or what about:

The Secret Life of Alex Mac.

Ren & Stimpy.

Double Dare.

Rocko's Modern Life.

AAAHH!! REAL MONSTERS.

Wild & Crazy Kids.

Clarissa Explains it All.

salute your shorts(CAMP ANAWANA)

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

The original cast members of all that.

Kenan & Kel.

magic school bus.

UREKA'S CASTLE

flash forward.

pete and pete.

legends of the hidden temple.

dinosaurs.

pinky and the brain.

hangin with mr.copper.

wishbone.

bill-nye the science guy.

kablamm.

Who could forget Snick? & Nick @ Nite
with Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Facts of Life & I Love Lucy.

Where everyone wanted to be in love after watching
The Wonder Years.

or nick jr. with face

little bear

under the unbrella tree

the adventures of winnie the pooh

NINJA TURTLES

MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS
...

Kool-Aid was the drink of choice.

Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school.

Class field trips.

POGS

When Christmas was the most exciting time of year.

When $5 seemed like a million, & another dollar a miracle.

When Toys R Us was the best place to be.

Go back to the time when....

Decisions were made by going 'eeny-meeny-miney-moe'.

Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming 'do over!'

'Race issue' ment arguing about who ran the fastest.

Money issues were handled by whoever was banker in 'Monopoly'.

It wasn't odd to have two or three 'best' friends.

Being old referred to anyone over 20.

A chance to skate as a couple at the local roller rink was like winning the lottery.

Scrapes & bruises were kissed & made better.

It was a big deal to finally be tall enought to ride the 'big people' rides at the fair.

When playing Nintendo was the hardest thing ever.

When everyone wanted to be a Power Ranger

When Ninja Turtles ruled the world.

When Lisa Frank was the raddest thing ever.

When a candy bar at the grocery store was the highlight of your day.

When coupons collected all year could get you a prize in your class auction.

When the only thing you cried over was your mom being late to pick you up.

When stress was addition and subtraction.

When friendships were as complicated as who's house to sleep over and who's to TP

When shaving cream was just meant for play.

When a first kiss only lead to cooties.

When valentines day meant cards for all.

When birthdays were a class event.

When a friend moving away was the saddest day of your life. (Yeah, that's still no good)

maybe even when your friends didnt break off into different crowds, you were all one group.

When Sky Dancers were fun to play with.

When you had streamers on your bike.

who would have thought youd miss the 90's so much

when Michael Jackson was cool

When All That! was the funniest show on next to My Brother and Me.

I hope that in reading this it brought a smile to you, and reminded you where you were from, and just how far you have actually traveled.

Song Currently Playing: Come On Eilieen - Dexy's Midnight Runners

Random:

2006-04-19T21:32:00.000-04:00

I got shit on by a bird today. I guess I can add that to my list of accolades.

Song Currently Playing: Home On Ice - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Goals

2006-04-19T02:53:00.000-04:00

So here's what I'm thinking:

I'm going to work enough this summer to get enough money to get a car. This is starting to get ridiculous, I should have my own wheels by now. Let's see how I do.

Song Currently Playing: Salisbury Hill - Dave Matthews & Friends

One Cool Ass Music Video

2006-04-11T03:10:00.000-04:00

Check this shit out:

http://wds.nine.xc.advection.net/003/wmsclients/nine/_dld/xc37dr2/okgo/amillionways/amillionways_v750.mov?forcescope=download&ext=.mov

Song Currently Playing: Reflections After Jane - The Clientele

The Top Ten Films of 2005

2006-03-06T23:15:00.000-05:00

As promised, here is my official, Booth Film Critics Society-sanctioned top ten list for the year, complete with capsule reviews:

10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
It's an odd thing to say, but I'm really proud of this movie. This series has a history of getting better with every installment and to more or less blow Azkaban out of the water is no small accomplishment. However, I feel that this movie's greatest accomplishment is that it has finally brought the Potter universe into a surprisingly adult and often artistic place cinematically. The previous three entries are great, without a doubt, but Goblet has finally realized the series' potential and earned itself a new found legitimacy in the world of pop culture.

9. Sin City
On the other hand, here we have a movie whose director embraces his same old shtick- pure, unadulterated escapism. Sin City is without a doubt one of the most fun times I have ever had in a movie theater. It feels like Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller went hog wild in the playground of their minds and dared people to hold on for the bombastic, bloody, hip ride that was the result. It's a fun wink to pulp, a badass action movie, a technical marvel, a great comic adaptation and has enough cool for the entire year.

8. The Squid and the Whale
This movie wins the pleasant surprise award for the year (or maybe the runner up, I'll get to that). In the span of a week I went from knowing virtually nothing about this movie to immediately contemplating its place on this list. It's one of the best, tightest scripts to come along in a very long time (it's my pick for best original screenplay of the year), extremely well acted and a fun change of pace for Noah Baumbach. The entire cast is fantastic (Laura Linney and Jesse Eisenberg most notable among them) and the soundtrack kicks ass. Anyone whose parents went through a divorce will certainly appreciate if not love this movie.

7. Good Night, and Good Luck.
George Clooney continues to prove himself as one of the most valuable people currently working in the movie business. And what a year he's had. His Oscar for Syriana notwithstanding he turns out this, one of the most artistic, well made and relevant films to see theaters in a good long while. Everything about this movie screams class- David Strathairn's brilliant performance, Robert Elswitt's spontaneous and beautiful cinematography, the excellent supporting ensemble and Clooney's remarkably adept direction and performance. With all the Oscar attention this tiny film received this year I'm predicting the next movie he makes is going to have a very big impact.

6. Hustle and Flow
Another example of a great actor having a stellar year, Terrence Howard gives an absolute breakout performance in one of the most surprisingly solid films of the 2005. I'm a sucker for an underdog story (thank you, Buffalo) and this is one of the best I've seen. The passion behind Howard's performance and the movie as a whole really give it something special. I can't think of a movie so filled with characters that I wound up genuinely rooting for. And another good soundtrack, to boot.

5. Match Point
If The Squid and the Whale was a surprise, this movie was a heart attack. Woody Allen has been in a slump for quite some time. His earlier effort this year, Melinda and Melinda, left me only partly satisfied. He was still just the shadow of his former self. Thankfully, he comes from behind to bring us Match Point, the best Woody Allen film since Husbands and Wives. Here is the return to form of a classic filmmaker, but also the evolution of one as well. The brilliance of this movie is it's familiar territory of a first and second act and the complete bombshell of a closer. Allen turns out a truly great script in a year filled with great scripts and delivers all the way to the end credits. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Scarlette Johannsen are fantastic. It's beautifully shot. It's interesting. It's thrilling. It's even somewhat terrifying. Here's hoping that Match Point heralds a renaissance in the career of Woody Allen.

4. Serenity
Another pick to surprise the ever-loving crap out of me, this movie was a long time coming for myself. As a rabid fan of its TV incarnation, Firefly, I had eagerly anticipated the release of Serenity. I had no idea I'd have the joy of saying that not only were my expectations met, but exceeded in every way. Joss Whedon's trademark vernacular has never been sharper; these characters are so alive I could buy them a drink at the bar. The entire cast steals the show in their own way, the effects are solid, the action is great and the whole experience is just flat out fun. Whedon is surprisingly generous with his character killing, a bold but interesting choice that helps make his feature film debut one of the best science fiction films ever made. Sign me up for anything these characters do.

3. Capote
In a year of solid leading perfomances, Philip Seymour Hoffman almost takes the cake (see #1, though he still beats all his fellow male actors, and kudos for his win last night). His portrayal of Truman Capote is slow burning, tortured and nuanced, and drives a masterfully contemplative film about the writing of In Cold Blood. The cinematography here is the best of the year and the script couldn't be better. A very talented and well cast supporting group color the periphery, but Hoffman is the star of the show here and despite the fact the movie as a whole is a real downer, it's worth every minute to see him nail the rich leading role he's deserved since Boogie Nights.

2. Brokeback Mountain
Another movie I had a great deal of anticipation for, Brokeback Mountain succedded in portraying a great American romantic tragedy. Is it a perfect movie? Not by any stretch of the imagination. Would I be lying if I said this was as much a sentimental pick if nothing else? No. I can see people's problems with it, I can even agree on many of its flaws. But in all honesty, this movie affected me in a very powerful way for personal reasons which I don't expect people to get or fully understand. And I'm going to stand by that and celebrate what I find to be an extremely well made, emotional, important movie. Heath Ledger turns in one of the most devastating performances I've ever seen. The cinematography, score and entire cast are stellar. The adaptation is spot on, Ang Lee's work is incredibly moving and the movie overall is simply beautiful.

1. Pride & Prejudice
This film, my number one pick of the year is, simply put, cinematic glee. Few movies have so thoroughly entertained me, inspired me and filled me with such joy as Pride & Prejudice. This movie will make your heart sing. Keira Knightley hits a home run and a half, proving herself of award winning lead actress calibre. She is supported by an equally brilliant group of performances that round out the cast to make this the single most well acted movie of the year (I defy anyone to find me a better supporting performance than Donald Sutherland). Stylistically, Joe Wright's feature film debut is unbelievably assured for a first-time director. I cannot wait to see what this guy does next. Wholly entertaining, formally brilliant and artistically well crafted this is quite possibly one of single greatest motion pictures I have ever SEEN. There is not a thing wrong that I can find here and it's a shame that this movie didn't clean up at the Oscars like it should have. Go see this movie. Then see it again.

And there you have it. I should list some honorable mentions like Batman Begins, Rize, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Munich, Jarhead, Syriana, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

But not fucking Crash.

Song Currently Playing: The Gray Havens - Howard Shore, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Bullshit:

2006-03-06T02:21:00.000-05:00

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

And Paul Haggis. Fuck that guy and his bad movies. TWO YEARS IN A ROW!

Song Currently Playing: Stand By Me - Sam Cooke

The Doll House Weekend

2006-03-03T01:28:00.000-05:00

So, I'm a few days behind, but this past weekend we shot The Doll House and it went pretty damn well, if I say so myself. We had our share of craziness but all told, we only had to cut like one shot and combine maybe only two others. I'm happy with how things went, though I'm a bit worried about some of my exposures and matching in a few places, in retrospect. Most of the stills I've looked through have been really encouraging, I hope to post them on Facebook or maybe on here sometime after I sift through them all (there's over 400, I think).

Saturday being on set I didn't do TONS for my birthday, but Mary and Co. made a cake for me and sang happy birthday at wrap. Friday night at midnight I went to the bar to get the obligatory first legal drink and Saturday night we just had a few beers at the 1st AD's house. The big party is this Saturday here at the house. Mary and I are really excited, it's the first time we're hosting anything larger than just a get together with a few people, so we're interested to see how it turns out. We're doing a communal Doll House/Blackrock wrap party combined with mine and my friend Hunter's 21st birthdays (his was last week, too).

After that, we've got the Oscars on Sunday and I can't wait. I need to finish my BFCS packet for tomorrow and turn it in to Reed or else my ballot won't count. I'm interested to see everyone's picks and find out what the Booth #1 movie of the year is for 2005. The annual party at Jones' is getting a lot more swank this year, as Schnitz's Dad is catering and everyone seems to be going dressed up to make it more of an occassion. Should be a good time, can't wait to see the awards. I just remember that I need to do laundry, so I'm going to head off. Oh, by the way- I'm going to post my top ten of the year either tomorrow or Saturday along with capsule reviews, cuz I'm like that. I'm going to email it out to the usual suspects, as well.

Song Currently Playing: Summertime - The Flaming Lips

Happenings

2006-02-20T00:50:00.000-05:00

Man, food poisoning sucks. I had it yestersay from what I can only assume was a chicken sandwich from Cookout and I'm still kind of feeling the fallout. I don't think I've ever been so violently ill in all my life. People of the world: If you can help it, don't get food poisoning. I'm sure that sounds like a no-brainer, but it deserves to be said.

So, moving on- I have the weekend off which, aside from my little... issue yesterday, has been very nice indeed. I've kind of burned myself out a bit this term and with the last crew I was on being the disaster it was, I'm glad I have a few days to myself to unwind. Doll House shoots this coming weekend so I'm getting my head in gear for the production.

There was more I was going to write here, but it kind of slipped away from me the more I got distracted with AIM. I'm also kind of tired so I guess I'll cut my losses. Seeya!

Song Currently Playing: No Name No. 1 - Elliot Smith

Tesseract

2006-01-30T02:08:00.000-05:00

Quick update this time, because I'm insanely tired.

Nida, Fitz and Joe's movie is going out this weekend and I'm the gaffer. Our friend Ian is the DP and I can't begin to explain how much we have been busting ass on this show. In three of four days we've gotten almost as many shots as we'd planned for the entire production which is an amazing accomplishment considering it's the first time we've ever shot a movie on film. I think that the work everyone has been doing is some of the best we've all ever done and I couldn't be happier with the stuff Ian's been getting- from my end, our crew has been two steps ahead almost the entire show and I feel like I've got a great handle on where we are and where we're going at any given moment. I'm already really proud of the work I've done with this movie and with everyone else as well. We're getting great stuff, having fun, working as hard as we've ever worked and it couldn't be a better feeling. I can't wait to see dailies and a first cut.

On another note, I've heard from pretty much all fronts that the Wake pilot in its finished form is actually really good. I still have yet to see a cut, but now that foley, ADR and score have been mixed in I'm almost glad that I've waited this long to see any of it because now I can get the full effect without past versions still in my head. Hopefully I'll be getting a look at that sometime this week.

The Doll House is coming along slowly but surely. I'm starting paperwork for my film test this week, with the hope of shooting it a week from Tuesday. I have the film sitting in my fridge as I type this, as a matter of fact. I need to make sure I allow myself the time to worry about my own show. I'm already crewing a lot on other productions, so I need to see that it doesn't detract from my own work. The process of shooting our movies gets drastically more complicated this year since we shoot on film, so my ducks have to be row a lot sooner and more efficiently than I'm used to. I have a good plan for everything, though, so I'm sure it'll all work out. I just get neurotic about pre-production sometimes so I tend to worry (and don't worry, I've been making sure to do things like sleep, eat and hydrate myself).

Anyway, this turned out to be a longer update than I planned so I'm going to shower and pass out. We shoot hyperspace tomorrow on stage 6, which is going to kick ass. I've always kind of wanted to shoot scenes that take place in a giant white void.

Song Currently Playing: New Favorite - Alison Krauss & Union Station

Marie Antoinette

2006-01-19T21:58:00.000-05:00

Ok, so EVERYONE needs to watch this trailer. I can't get it out of my head, this movie looks amazing.

http://movies.aol.com/movie_exclusive_marie_antoinette_trailer

Song Currently Playing: What Are You To Me? - Unkle

A Tragic Sense of Loss

2006-01-16T16:08:00.000-05:00

So anyone who watches 24 with any sort of regularity must know the kind of pain we're all going through right now. That was without a doubt the most agonizing and painfully entertaining thing I have ever witnessed. Great TV? You bet your ass. But now I just feel sad when I think about who got killed off. I was genuinely terrified for a straight two hours. Anytime someone went near a window I was just waiting for them to get shot or blown up. Let's hope the writers know what they're doing, otherwise they may have made some BIG fucking mistakes last night. Then again, the entire two episodes just kicked total ass, so maybe I should give them the benefit of the doubt.

If tonight's two episodes live up to the ridiculously high expectations set by last night then I have total faith in this season already. And now I'm going to have to keep up with it. Thankfully, I seem to have my support group firmly in place. Dusty has a TiVo and everyone who was there pretty much agreed to recording them and watching on Thursday nights. Now I have two weekly TV get togethers- Wednesdays I do Lost with Joey, Andrew and Criddles. Here's hoping I can keep up.

Song Currently Playing: I Love You, Porgy - Nina Simone

The 336

2006-01-05T03:21:00.000-05:00

So I'm back in Winston, the weather is gorgeous (I was walking around without a coat on today) and it's good to be back with all my friends. Classes started today, the new teacher seems cool. I'm glad he appears to be more of an electrician/gaffer- now we have grip, electric and camera departents all pretty evenly covered that way. My class schedule is pretty light again, thankfully. I'll be glad for the extra time come production.

Anyway, I'm pretty whipped from flying and class today, so I'm hitting the sack. Night all!

Song Currently Playing: Timorous Me - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

2006

2006-01-02T00:17:00.000-05:00

I think I finally managed to have a good, fun new years eve. Mike's was a good time, fun was had by all. The late excursion to Tom's for food and another party yielded the next two entries in the catalog of Sweet Home people I've seen this break (the two people being my friends Phil and John).

The hangover wasn't so bad, thankfully, and the Sabres game was a good time even though we lost 2-1. I'm seriously considering buying a jersey to wear at school.

And now that ginsu knife infomercials are on TV it's time for me to put in one of those movies I rented. Night all, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Song Currently Playing: NYC - Interpol

Lyrics Game Answers

2005-12-30T02:45:00.000-05:00

1. I Am Not Your Broom - They Might Be Giants

2. Glory Days - Bruce Springsteen

3. I'll Stop the World And Melt With You - The Cure

4. Everything Will Be All Right - Bob Marley

5. Is This Love - Bob Marley

6. Pretty (Ugly Before) - Elliot Smith

7. Stand By Me - Sam Cooke

8. Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine - The Killers

9. Mad Season - Matchbox 20

10. Technologic - Daft Punk

11. The Consort - Rufus Wainwright

12. Piano Man - Billy Joel

13. The End of the World As We Know It - R.E.M.

14. Over Our Heads - Jon Brion

15. Learning To Fly - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

16. The Way We Get By - Spoon

17. Everyday I Write The Book - Elvis Costello

18. A Better Son/Daughter - Rilo Kiley

19. In The Morning - Norah Jones

20. Band Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) - Nancy Sinatra

Thanks for playing!

Song Currently Playing: Lowdown - My Morning jacket

2005 in Movies

2005-12-29T04:31:00.000-05:00

So I've been perusing CHUD's top 15 of the year lists and I've got to say, there's a lot of shit movies on them. XXX: State of the Union? They MUST be fucking joking. I don't care how much fun you have laughing AT a movie, the fact that it's so deplorable you wind up having a good time is NO qualifier for a best of the year list. I mean come on. Yeah, I had a riot watching Doom (and yes, I will own up to paying to see that movie), but I'd never want to actively watch it again in the next decade.

Granted, this was all told a terrible year for filmmaking. Yes, it's been backloaded and a lot of truly great movies have been released since the start of the fall season (Pride and Prejudice, Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana, Serenity to name a few) but they don't make up for the past eight months. I can't remember being so disappointed by so many movies I hoped to be worth a damn. The highs have been high this year, but the lows have been so low I hesitate to mention them. The Cave. XXX 2. Mindhunters. The Brothers Grimm. The Dukes of Hazzard. Man of the House. The Pacifier. Cheaper By the Dozen TWO. And the studios wonder why ticket sales are down.

I feel like this was the year of hype. Everything was supposed to be a hit before it even came out. King Kong has been making a lot of money, but virtually everyone I've talked to has noted nothing but its shortcomings. Everyone was jizzing over Memoirs of a Geisha. The second it hits theaters? Who liked it?

I think the good that will come of this is the return to power of the small, simple, character-driven film. Some of the bombastic movies (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Batman Begins, Sin City, and Harry Potter 4 [which finally elevated the series to the truly great, classic status it's been striving for]) have done well and justifiably so. But lately all I hear people talking about are movies like Munich, Good Night and Good Luck and Capote. With any luck, the greater filmmaking industry will catch wind and start making movies that mean something rather than pouring their millions into shitty special effects and tired, hackneyed plotlines that give fledgling WB stars their chance to strike out in the big time.

Just a thought.

Song Currently Playing: Air a Danser - Penguin Cafe Orchestra

Lyrics Game- THE RETURN

2005-12-21T03:24:00.000-05:00

This is mostly for mom, because I know she's bored at work and needs a break from the gift exchange. I opened iTunes and set random play. I wrote the opening lyric of the first 20 songs that popped up, post a guess if you figure out the title:

1. "Now broom you must now sweep for me the dust that fills my room"

2. "I had a friend was a big baseball player back in high school"

3. "Moving forward using all my breath..."

4. "Don't worry about a thing"

5. "I wanna love you and treat you right"

6. "Sunshine been keepin' me up for days"

7. "When the night has come..."

8. "We took a walk that night but it wasn't the same"

9. "I feel stupid but I know it won't last for long"

10. "Buy it, use it, break it, fix it, trash it, change it, melt-upgrade it"

11. "Prepare your things to dissolve your mind"

12. "It's nine o'clock on a Saturday, the regular crowd shuffles in"

13. "That's great it starts with an earthquake"

14. "So what, you're never understood"

15. "Well it started out down a dirty road"

16. "We get high in back seat circles, we break into mobile homes"

17. "Don't tell me you don't know what love is"

18. "Sometimes in the morning I am petrified and can't move"

19. "I can't stop myself from calling, calling out your name"

20. "I was five and he was six, we rode on horses made of sticks"

Logo

2005-12-19T03:34:00.000-05:00

I am incredibly grateful for the first gay and lesbian themed cable channel. Aside from keeping Graham Norton from gaining ratings, now Barbra Streisand box set infomercials have a place to die!

Song Currently Playing: Mardi Gras In New Orleans - Professor Longhair

Booth Monkey Road Trip

2005-12-18T04:04:00.000-05:00

So this winter break is off to a roaring start. Wednesday night Schnitz and Co. came to pick me up and we hightailed it to Rochester to visit our friend Dave who is going through archivist training at the George Eastman House. First off, it was great to see Dave again- he's been gone from school all year (it's a ten month program he's in). Second, the Eastman house ROCKS. They've got a great facility, a fantastic technology archive (I saw cameras/projectors/magic lanterns from as far back as the 1600s AND a Technicolor three-strip camera) and a whole bunch of other awesome shit. I held in my hands film that was shot by Louis Lumiere himself, it blew my mind. I also bought a shirt that says 18% Gray on it. I'm sure that NOBODY will ever get that.

It was fun having all of my North Carolina friends hanging out in my old stomping grounds, it was like worlds colliding or something. Showing people around Buffalo really brought out my hometown pride, I wanted them to love every place I took them to. We did The Anchor Bar today and I was relieved to find that they all liked the food. I just wish I could have given them some La Nova pizza before they left, but I can save that for another trip.

We saw Harry Potter in the IMAX, which kicked ass (it's even better the second time, that bodes well). We also saw King Kong which was sadly disappointing most of the time. The stuff that works REALLY works, but everything that happens before they get to Skull Island is just boring and most of the dialogue is terrible throughout the entire movie. The action, the effects, the cinematography and the design are great but there isn't any one performance that stands out as remarkable and the movie is at least a half hour to forty-five minutes too long. B-.

I wrapped up the trip with Walk The Line, and I'm glad I did. Jauquin Pheonix is fantastic and I think the movie as a whole is great, though I wish they would have shown Johnny and June's marriage a bit. Jauquin and Reese Witherspoon are great together and they both do a surprisingly great job of performing their own songs (Cash's stuff sounded particularly kick ass). I was glad to see the father-son relationship not done melodramatically and the romance (such as it is) done in a way that wasn't saccarine or cheesy. I also now have Ring of Fire stuck in my head. B+.

I have a new found interest in hockey having come back home. This could quite possibly turn into a legitimate fandom, but I don't want to jinx it. Mom and I are hitting up the New Year's Day game, I can't wait. Wich I could have seen the Penguins games. 4-3 in overtime, that would have been sweet.

Song Currently Playing: Don't Stop Me Now - Queen

The 716

2005-12-14T02:36:00.000-05:00

So I'm back home and it feels great. I missed snow and Buffalo food- I'm going to The Anchor Bar with my friends from the booth tomorrow. After three years of stories my parents finally get to meet them. I also just realized that since I'm going with them to Rochester to hang out with Dave that I'll get to check out Eastman Kodak. That rocks.

Anyway, this one's going to be short. I'm tired and want to go read more of Kavalier and Clay. Night all!

Song Currently Playing: Across the Universe - Fiona Apple

Rize

2005-12-08T01:14:00.000-05:00

Tonight we screened David LaChapelle's (the photographer, not the Comedy Central guy) documentary Rize about the dance movement in South Central LA. First off, I need to say it's been a great year for docs (Murderball, March of the Penguins, Grizzly Man, Mad Hot Ballroom, Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room....) and this one really stands out.

For those who don't know about it (shame on Lion's Gate for sweeping this under the table like they did) it's a documentary about a (rapidly growing) group of teens in LA that have invented a style of dance all their own called krumping. It kind of derives from hip-hop and clowning, of all things, and has become this community-wide identifier and savior for kids who would otherwise be shooting each other in gangs. The movie itself focuses on the lives of the families and the different groups of dancers that have come to be in the area.

I'm pretty sure this is out on video and I really encourage everyone to go see it. It's really pretty fascinating how these kids (literally, some of them are like 10 or 11) managed to create this form of expression so quickly and fluidly without ever having known that it was almost directly derived from their tribal cultures of Africa. It's got a lot of humanity and earnest behind it and is genuinely exciting to watch. The krumping itself is just flat out impressive no matter how you look at it, especially the danceoff that becomes a large focus of the last third of the movie.

It was really interesting to hear the director's take on it as well. He's spent the past three years stringing this film together out of his own pocket and doing some really sell-out commercial type stuff to raise more money (like the Burger King commercial with Hootie and the Blowfish, though it is worth saying that much of his career has been music videos and commercials anyway). He was obviously passionate about the project and it really comes through in the intimacy of his interviews and the comfortability his subjects seem to have. You definitely get the impression that these kids and their families are just grateful that someone outside their community not only respects their art but believes in it as well.

I think that LaChapelle does a fine job in his feature debut. I had the opportunity to hear him speak last night as well about his photography and music video work and having done that I can see how Rize makes perfect sense for him. He's the first person to tell you that he likes being a part of pop culture rather than a commentary on or force against it. He believes that pop culture can and should be more expressive of society as opposed to mindless entertainment and it's that coda that really makes Rize shine. For these kids, this IS their culture and it IS their society. Hell, it's literally their heritage and ancestry. LaChapelle respects that and as such portrays the entire subject as truly legitimate and important. I think that any other director would have missed the point, but for my money this is one of the most respectful and passionately made documentaries I've seen.

Seriously, go see this movie.

Song Currently Playing: Robbie Williams - Advertising Space

X3

2005-12-06T00:29:00.000-05:00

I want to go on record as saying that I think the trailer for X-Men 3 looks like complete ASS. I mean what the fuck is up with that MUSIC?!? And did they borrow sets from Terminator 3? WTF?!

Song Currently Playing: Fix You - Coldplay (I find this ironic)

Let It Snow.... PLEASE

2005-12-05T15:11:00.000-05:00

I'd really like to see some snow here before I head back. It would make my week, I swear. It's just been raining.

The Wake Forest pilot is wrapped, we thought it would never happen. It was a good show, the crew was the best I've ever worked with. I'm really happy with how it turned out (except for that one scene on the porch *shudder*), I have some great stuff to put on my reel and Nida's happy with the performances. I'm going to stop by Fitz's place tomorrow to see how the cut is doing. I'm also going to spend the day there most likely drinking (Batman: The Animated Series Volume 4 comes out. We're plowing through it in one day!).

Intensive Arts is almost done. I'm ready to go home and be somewhere else for a bit. I miss snow.

Oh, and someone please date me. It would rock, I swear.

Song Currently Playing: Champagne Supernova - Oasis

Gobble, yo!

2005-11-21T01:17:00.000-05:00

I have no idea really what that title has to do with anything, but Thanksgiving is coming up so why not?

The last fourth year show wrapped principle photography today, so that essentially marks the end of the term. They've got pickups and reshoots over Intensive Arts, though. Still, I'm done for right now and the timing couldn't have been better. This term was SO long it's not even funny. I had a decent enough time for all the crewing I did, but it's finally catching up to me. I'm so exhausted lately that I think my brain is starting to mush. I could really use like a week long break with the house to myself and I think that's exactly what I'm going to get. I've got some things left to do for the Wake project, but that's just simple lighting diagrams and watching ER reruns. I plan on sleeping a LOT, watching a shit ton of movies and eating too much food a lot.

Speaking of which, Mary and I went to Alyssa and Cat's apartment for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner tonight. Holy god, what a meal. Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, suasage stuffing, focaccia and biscuits, asparagus with hollandaise sauce and a pumpkin apple pie for dessert. I wish I would have known she was going all out, I would have made cranberry sauce (it being like the ONLY thing I can cook for Thanksgiving). Still, it was a very lovely dinner. We ate, talked, drank some wine, played Mario Kart... We felt all grown up and sophisticated until the video games.

Song Currently Playing: The Year of the Shark - Yo La Tengo

Good Bye, Foley!

2005-11-16T23:39:00.000-05:00

So Mary and I just took our foley bootcamp final. We had to walk Indy's footsteps for the flying wing fight in Raiders of the Lost Ark and pick a prop event from the scene (Mary did the gigantic boulder and I did the bad guy's wrench hitting the propeller blades). Aside from doing the cloth movement for our project scene, we're all but done with the class and that makes me sad. I can't tell you how cathartic it's been to have a class solely designed for the purposes of stomping your feet and throwing things around to make noises. I've also decided that I DEFINITELY want to help my editors do their foley for the movies I shoot this year and next. ESPECIALLY next year for Hench. Shit's gonna be TIGHT.

Went to Fall Dance last night, it was the first time I'd ever been to a dance performance at school (I know, shame on me). Dave was the lighting designer, so he and I went together for his opening night. There were four pieces, three of them were amazing and the third was pretty... well, beatnik and generally meh. I still enjoyed the entire thing, it was great to get out of my usual artistic space for once and get a clue as to what the rest of our campus does for a living.

And for the record, rum and cider is still the shit.

Song Currently Playing: Beautiful Child - Rufus Wainwright

New Favorite Thing:

2005-11-15T00:58:00.000-05:00

Hot rum and cider. Maybe that's part of why I can't stop laughing at Small Soldiers on TBS.

Song Currently Playing: Slow Hands - Interpol

Batman: The Animated Series

2005-11-03T03:08:00.000-05:00

HOLY SHIT! I've become completely addicted to this show again! It's like crack, I swear- I can't stop! I can't believe how little I appreciated this show back when it was on. It's nothing short of genius, I tells ya! The past two nights I've watched Clayface's, Mr. Freeze's, Mad Hatter's, and Two Face's origin stories and a handful of other random episodes over at Joe and Taylor's. I Am The Night was a great one we watched earlier.

I bring this up because for one, I have such a sense of nostalgia for that show. I remember being a kid and making my mom drive home faster so I wouldn't miss the opening. And two, it's gotten me so pumped for the movie we're pitching for our fourth year project. It's called Hench and it's a take on the comic book universe from the eyes of a lackey for hire. This guy who just needs a good paying job moonlights as a henchman for super villains as they rob jewelry stores and stuff. It's such a hilarious, sardonic take on that whole genre and watching these Batman episodes, I couldn't notice how every villain just has this ragtag group of lackeys in funny costumes (different ones every time, too!) doing things like operating giant freeze-rays and psychotic gas-filled zeppelins. I mean, how the fuck does someone get INTO that line of work?!?

Song Currently Playing: The General - Dispatch

Happy Halloween

2005-10-31T05:01:00.000-05:00

Today's the day. Trick it up, everyone! I'll be on set all night, but I'll be joining in on the revelry in spirit. There'd BETTER be revelry. Or at least tomfoolery. I'd settle for tomfoolery.

I took a bath tonight and it rocked so much. I want a jacuzzi tub now. One that reads to me and makes me tea.

Song Currently Playing: Nevermore - The Soundtrack Of Our Lives

Asheville

2005-10-29T16:59:00.000-04:00

Just got back in from Asheville and I'm wondering why in the hell NCSA is in Winston. Walking around downtown last night, the entire place just felt like a grown up version of the quad. We'd be way better off as artists, I think, if we were in Asheville. But I digress.

The festival was simple, but fun. It was a nice distraction for a day (it beat the hell out of crewing for the sixth week in a row) and it was cool to have the little filmmaker badge around my neck. It got us into screenings, so we went and saw Zombie Honeymoon, which was hilarious and awesome.

Our screening went well, people laughed and got into it. The projectionist said he'd been there all day and ours was the most fun he'd had. I doubt we'll win anything (especially since it only screened once) but you never know. There are audience awards as well as jury prizes, so you never know. I have a feeling that some of the other NCSA shorts we were up against will come out on top (I was amused that the competition was essentially us versus ourselves- we were told the shorts from Chapman and FSU were pretty crappy).

HALLOWEEN PARTAY TONIGHT!!! Angie is coming in from Greensboro and joining me in sinful revelry at my friend Tory's house. I LOVE Halloween parties. I just hope people get my costume for once. Speaking of which, I should go put some finishing touches on it before I have to leave for the booth. Laters!

Song Currently Playing: Heaven Coming Down - The Tea Party

Varekai

2005-10-28T03:30:00.000-04:00

Saw my first Cirque Du Soleil show tonight. Aside from being astoundingly impressed by the entire performance, I've decided I want to marry a Russian dancer. I could pretty much die happy that way. Then all I'd need is one of those gym mats...

Anyway, I'm incredibly lucky to have gotten these tickets for free instead of the eighty-some dollars they usually cost. The music, the choreography, the lighting, the sound were all fantastically orchestrated, go see one of these shows if you ever get a chance. I think this one is going to be touring, so keep an eye out for it.

Asheville's tomorrow. I can't wait to be part of a film festival and NOT be threading up the projector. Looks like Sam, myself, Andrew, Travis and Ryan are going, so we'll have a full carload for sure. We're staying the night at Sam's aunt's house, so we'll get to hang out in Asheville for an evening, then go to a filmmaker's luncheon on Saturday. Hopefully that'll yield some good networking.

The costume has come together well enough for my taste. I just need to make some adjustments to the footwear (ie, find a way to look barefoot but not be) and I should be set. Saturday night better rock, I need a good Halloween party.

Song Currently Playing: What Becomes of the Broken Hearted - The Temptations

2005-10-26T03:35:00.000-04:00

So I went and saw Doom tonight and feel like I lost a bit of respect for myself as a filmmaker. Then again, I've paid for worse movies (Tomb Raider 2: The Cradle of SHIT). CHUD was right- I can't say I've ever seen a movie based off a video game where a character dies and is given a continue. The first person shooter scene from the trailer was highly amusing, and the rest of the "movie" was just... well, let's just say I haven't laughed that hard since The Wedding Crashers.

Song Currently Playing: The Postman - American Analog Set

Cold(er) Weather

2005-10-25T03:42:00.000-04:00

So it finally got chilly outside around here. Wish it would have happened about two weeks ago- maybe then the pumpkins we carved wouldn't be shriveled melted blobs on the front porch right now. But oh well, maybe I'll carve another one (I doubt it). I need to find the time to get my costume together before the end of the week, so that takes precedent.

I don't know why I haven't fallen in love with tea yet. I love the iced version and everytime I have it while I'm at like a Chinese restaurant or something I really enjoy it, but for some reason I don't ever get around to it on my own. We had a lot on set today because it was kind of chilly and I was like "Whoa, this is really cool." Then I came home and realized that I bought a box of tea bags like three months ago that I haven't even opened, so here I sit with quite possibly the first cup of hot tea I've ever made for myself. I just wish I had some honey (note to self: buy honey). Still, it's pretty nice.

Ray LaMontagne is the SHIT. After having discovered the sheer joy that is having an iPod with me on set this summer I've been bringing it with me everytime I crew. Today I spent the entire day listening to Trouble, his first album, and I can't imagine why this guy isn't huge yet. Download 'Trouble', 'Shelter', and 'The Narrow Escape' (hell, download the whole album) and you'll see what I mean. He goes well with tea.

Song Currently Playing: Forever My Friend - Ray LaMontagne

Jack O.

2005-10-11T22:03:00.000-04:00

The weather is cooling off. I'm getting excited, I've been ready for fall since about August.

I want to carve a pumpkin and I have no idea what to put on it. Mary is equally excited and perplexed.

Song Currently Playing: I Come From A Land Down Under - Men At Work

Schwifty-five

2005-09-26T04:23:00.000-04:00

I found this on Molly's AIM profile. I was highly amused. Molly? You rock. (click the post title to take a look)

Song Currently Playing: Buddy Holly - Weezer

Lost: Season 1

2005-09-21T03:45:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I am TOTALLY fucking pumped for the Lost premier tomorrow night. I just got back from Andrew's house where we finished up the last disc of the season one DVD set and HOLY SHIT that show is good stuff. The two parts of the season finale were some of the best TV I've ever seen, and after it was over Andrew, Cameron, Joey and I all sat in front of the TV just trying to figure out what would happen. The numbers thing is fucking genius, I swear to God. I can't wait to see how all of that ties together in the end.

I think they've gone about the show very wisely, too. I've heard that J.J. Abrams and David Lindelof wrote out five seasons when they realized that the show would be around for a while. The way they've set everything up so far, they HAVE to know how it ends already because there's no way they could do all of this and not have some kind of conclusion to shoot for. I think it's very smart to make sure that a show runs its course and ends when it needs to, not drag itself out for a decade and become total cheese. It's a philosophy that almost every anime show I know of has followed and I think it makes for a far more effective, efficient and ultimately more entertaining series. And I'm SO glad it's not on Fox or else it would have been canned WAY long ago.

So I had my first class in the cinematography discipline today with our new teacher Bill McCord. He seems like an absolutely amazing teacher and person that I'm sure will wind up being invaluable to the discipline and the school. Now if they could just get someone equally as good to replace Bob when he leaves... ANYWAY, in the past the class was structured around seven of the ten students in the group DPing an in class project that focused on a certain lighting situation (exterior day, exterior night, interior day, interior night, grip lighting, dolly, etc) with the rest of the class acting as the crew. The past few years wound up yielding something more like a finished collection of short genre films and the project became just as much about getting the props and actors as it was the students practicing the kinds of lighting we wanted to work with.

Well, Bill basically asked us if that's how we wanted it to go, and we all agreed that we would much rather get more practice and shortchange the end product, so long as we're allowed to get more hands-on work with more things as a result. So instead of just doing those seven kinds of lighting we're also going to take a much more in depth look at all kinds of things like gearhead vs. fluid head operating, advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of gels and diffusion, table top lighting, lighting for sound, handheld and dolly usage, and a whole lot more. He basically let us restructure the class to be able to just play with what we get to use at school and learn the pros and cons of things we haven't gotten much chance to use yet. This is including camera, grip AND lighting equipment and he's going to walk us through probably EVERY piece of it and tell us everything he knows about how to use it that he's learned in his 30-odd years of working in the industry (for no less than 12 Academy Award winning or nominated cinematographers). I could not be more excited about this.

I'm also looking into auditing D&P classes on stage lighting and rigging with my friend Joe, just to round myself out a bit as far as equipment I can use in certain situations that isn't necessarily made for filmmaking, but still more than applicable. After that I might look into some courses at Forsyth Tech or at least some kind of at-home teaching guide thing to electricity and wiring. I want to really know how power works and be able to walk onto a location and have a good understanding of the circuitry, the load capacity, the breakers- you name it. I'll be damned if I walk onto a set as a professional DP and have no clue as to the state of the power coming to my lights.

All right, I've done enough rambling for 3:30 in the morning. I'll see everyone later!

Song Currently Playing: Midnight Radio - Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Revelations?

2005-09-16T02:52:00.000-04:00

Something occurred to me in the past day or so. I think the gay male population's collective consciousness is out for coffee or something. Where ever they are, they're certainly not chillin in the dating pool- that's for sure. I've recently encountered some frustrations regarding my quest to find a steady boyfriend and for possibly the first time I know for a fact that it has absolutely nothing to do with ME.

Another epiphany that Andrew helped me to realize- I'm doing things right. I'm smart, I'm fun, I flirt, I ask for phone numbers, and I actually call them to make plans. Bubkus. I guess it figures that the month I get my dating confidence to kick into gear, nobody decides to pick up their phones or want coffee. This sounds like I'm complaining. I guess I am, in a way, but I mostly just wanted to point out what I find to be an amusing situation.

Moving right along, classes started today. My schedule is ridiculously easy compared to the past two years-

Monday: Off
Tuesday: Zen and the Arts in Japan, Location Lighting
Wednesday: Intro to Film Production, Foley Bootcamp
Thursday: Zen again
Friday: Off

F'in SWEET, man. Foley is going to rock, many consider it the most fun class the school offers. And as fate would have it, Mary is in my Zen class so I only have to walk to school once a week. I'm also glad I have Mondays and Fridays free for crewing once that starts.

We had our class meeting with the Dean today and went around in circles for an hour about why they cut our days from four to three for our shoots next term. He tells us they just don't have time in the schedule to give all 12 productions four days, and yet they took 12 directors and cinematographers in the first place last year. I swear it was like talking to a shitty politician, but whatever. Our class has rocked everything we've done so far, restrictions or no, so I'm sure we'll bust this one out as well.

The first years I've met so far seem really cool, so I'm looking forward to having some good grips and electrics to crew up on our shows in the winter. The first Friday party is tomorrow, so I'll probably meet most of them there. Unless I'm too drunk to remember their names, that is.

The house is going very well, Joey is a kick ass roommate. He, Mary and I are getting along swimmingly and hope to have some pictures of the place up and running before too long. Because I'm sure you're all dying to see what mi casa looks like. I know I am. That actually doesn't make much sense, but let's just go with it. :-)

I found a group of us that are going to sit down with the first season of Lost this week in preparation for the premier on, like, Wednesday I think. I watched the pilot and first two episodes tonight and I've gotta say, the show kicks ass. Now all I need is to get through the rest of 24 season 4 and I'll be set. Oh, and The Amazing Race starts up soon and once that happens I've got my TV shows back. w00t! TV is teh wins!

All right, I'm getting tired so off I go. Night all!

Song Currently Playing: Scientist Studies - Death Cab For Cutie

The Dog Days of Summer

2005-08-28T11:57:00.000-04:00

Ok, so it's been a WHILE. Forgive me, I've been sans internet access for quite a while now, having spent the past four or so weeks in Edenton, NC where the only place to check my email or do any surfing whatsoever is the library or the production house. Fortunately, we're shooting in a water tank in the backyard of the house today, so I have a moment to sit on my ass now that we're lit for the entire first half of the day.

To bring everyone up to speed (if anyone even reads this thing anymore, given my extended absence) I'm working on a movie called The Dog Days of Summer in Edenton, NC. It's near the outer banks by Nagg's Head beach and the Albemarle sound. Cute place, very scenic and astonishingly historic. Everywhere you turn there's a house or a grave from the 1760's. Oh yeah, and it's also BORING AS FUCK. It's a great town for the movie we're shooting, but there is NOTHING to do here. Hence, my boredom. I only have a few more days before I migrate back to Buffalo for a bit, so I'm sticking it out until then.

At least we're doing some cool stuff this week. As I mentioned, we're doing underwater stuff today so we've got some neat equipment around. The camera is in this JDC waterproof casing that looks pretty badass. We go from as high tech as that to putting the DP's light meter in a ziplock sandwich bag. Still, it's pretty cool.

The show itself has been... interesting. There's been some producorial issues and a few false starts, but ultimately we're getting the job done. They'll probably have to come back in November to do some skeleton crew stuff and probably some reshoots.

The coolest part of the show is that Will Patton played one of the main characters. He's a very professional, pretty cool guy who really helped make the crew run like a professional show, at least as much as we could make it. He told the gaffer that the grip/electric and camera crews worked very well and hoped to work with us again sometime. Like I said, a cool guy.

In other news around the world, I start school in a few weeks now. I'm interested to see how they've restructured our program and if we'll be getting totally shafted with physical production. Either way, it'll be good to see everyone again. I've been going a bit crazy without a lot of faces around (especially being on such a small crew in such a small town) so it's going to feel good to come back to civilization.

Ok, this is good for a quick fix and I should probably go check with my gaffer to see if we need anything. If not, I'm just going to go chill by the monitor because I'm really curious to see what this underwater stuff is going to look like. We've got over 23K of light shooting into this tank, I wonder how much it drops off. Anyway, expect a more regular posting schedule to resume within the next week. Until then, drop a line so I know people still read this thing. Adios!

Song Currently Playing: None

Twister Texas Hold 'Em

2005-07-22T17:49:00.000-04:00

So last night was one of the most interesting and fun I've had all summer. Rewind to earlier in the day, Caroline calls me and invites Mary and I to a party she's having at her place complete with twister tournament and mystery guy Dustin she wants to hook me up with. Naturally, we accept. Fast forward to that evening. Mary and I show up, start hanging out, mingling, etc. I re-introduced myself to the Village Tavern group of Caroline's friends that I met at her last party and meet some new people. I enter my five dollars into the pot and join the twister tournament.

Now I haven't played twister in about six years, so I was a bit rusty. Lucky for me it was a double-elimination tournament, because three spins into the first game I fell over. I made my comeback and got all the way up to the second-last game before Rowland and his right leg did me in. The last game was pretty intense, and Billy came out the winner, though he wound up giving the pot to Dustin since he payed for both of their entry fees.

Speaking of Dustin, I finally got to meet this guy. Caroline has been trying to hook us up for like three months now and it's never worked out. So finally last night rolls around and it turns out I know the guy. At least I'd seen him around a lot. He worked in the student commons outside the cafeteria. I found it hilarious that he'd become this almost intangible idea of a man in my head and it turns out I used to see him every other day on the way to dinner. Anyway, after the twister contest he and I started talking and hit it off. So much so that he invited me to join him at another party where some poker was being played.

So we head off to Caroline's friend Tom's house and I mix and mingle with more awesome people and sit by Dustin while he plays Texas Hold 'Em and does his best to explain to me what's going on. We continue talking and stuff until the game ends at about 5:45am. He won. He wins the twister tournament and then picks up another chunk of change at poker. Boy must have a horseshoe up his ass. Anyway, we finally leave the party and have to share a seatbelt in the car (I didn't mind at all, and neither did he from what I could tell). On the way home, we get ridiculously lost and wind up in Yadkinville for about five minutes. After finding our way back into Forsyth county, we decide we're hungry so we stop at McDonald's for hash browns and hot cakes.

We pull up to the house at about 6:50am, Miranda was on her way to work and I'm just coming in from the party. I was terribly amused. Dustin and I exchanged numbers and he said he'd give me a call when het got back into town (he and his roommate are leaving for Tennessee today to go rafting for the weekend). With any luck, this could work out. I'd really like it to, he seems great and certainly everyone of his friends I met had nothing but kind things to say about him. Not to mention that just about everyone at either party was rooting for us to hit it off. It's always a lot easier to flirt when you've got your own cheering section.

Anyway, that was my evening and it was awesome. Oh and before the party I went to Ichi-Ban and mini-golfing with Rowland, Molly and Emily and it kicked ass. Speaking of which, I'm going to go eat those leftovers now.

Song Currently Playing: Spectacular Views - Rilo Kiley

Long Time No See

2005-07-18T02:12:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I've neglected my poor, boring Blog long enough. In an attempt to cover all ground I'm going to just randomly expound upon recent events as I remember them in no particular order, though I'll do my best to keep the timeline intact.

Batman Begins was fantastic. You can keep the original and Returns for sentimental value, but other than that you can basically throw every Batman movie out the window as far as I'm concerned. It's one of the most perfectly cast films I've ever seen and, fyi, Gary Oldman is the best performance in the movie. I want there to be sequels as long as the casting remains consitent and Christopher Nolan stays on board. It's currently fighting the crap out of Spiderman 2 for the best comic book movie award in my head.

Continuing the movie spiel, Mr. & Mrs. Smith was incredibly fun and genuinely entertaining. More so than I thought it had a right to be, actually. I'd put it on my top ten of the year so far (which isn't saying much, since this year has sucked balls, but still).

This past week I worked on my first feature length film in Concord, NC. My friend Chase invited me to come down for the last week of production since they'd be losing one of their electrics to prior engagements. He picked me up and we drove down (it's outside of Charlotte) and it was a shitload of fun. Most of the keys were NCSA alums from '98 and really great guys. The movies is called The Foot Fist Way (English for Tae Kwon Do) and is about a Tae Kwon Do instructor whose Chuck Norris-esque hero sleeps with his adulterous wife and beats him up. It's a comedy, oddly enough, and hopefully a really funny one at that. Danny McBride, the guy playing the main character was fucking HILARIOUS on set as was Ben Best, the man playing Chuck "The Truck" Wallace (the Norris-esque guy). I made a ton of great friends and hopefully some connections. Also, it was a nice warm up for Edenton (I was a bit rusty with crewing, especially film shoots).

Moving along, I'm currently writing from Buffalo. I came home for Mom's birthday today (Happy Birthday, Mom!) and will be flying out on Tuesday. Took me long enough to get here. Weather up north kept me sitting on the runway at Dulles for two and a half hours, then circling Rochester for about thirty minutes before I landed. On top of it, my seat wouldn't recline (I was in front of the exit row) and my computer had died. Eventually I got off the plane and drove back to Buffalo with my Dad, Margaret and this guy named Nick that my Dad had met while lending him his lighter. Turns out the guy was stuck in Rochester, his bags were in Buffalo and needed a ride. Also worth noting is that his girlfriend's parents live in the same exact part of Florida that my aunt and uncle JUST moved to. Small world. Anyway, he was a really nice and guy and I was glad we could help him out. After that Dad took me to Scotch 'n Sirloin for one of the best meals I've had in a long time. Filet mignon with fresh snow peas and Forestville cabernet savignon. I guess the trick to getting served at a nice restaurant is to look at the wine menu before any servers show up. The waitress comes up and says "Would you like anything from the bar?" to which I ponder a moment and respond "Yes." Two glasses of wine and an Irish coffee later I'm doing pretty well.

Anyway, tomorrow night will be the first drive in movie I'll be seeing in about five years. I'm really excited, I have a lot of nostalgia for drive ins from when I was a kid, not to mention historically in general. They're such a uniquely American thing about the movies that I can't help but be fascinated by them. I'm going to see if I can't take Morgan to one while he's visiting next week. I'd love to be the person who took him to his first drive in movie. Anyway, tomorrow night we're seeing Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and Batman Begins. Ryan will be joining Mom, Kenny and I so hopefully fun will be had by all.

I think that's sufficient catching up for now. I'm kind of tired and want to sleep. Night all!

Song Currently Playing: Spectacular Views - Rilo Kiley

Gentleman Reg

2005-07-07T03:32:00.000-04:00

This song is TOTALLY me:

http://www.gentlemanreg.com/html/media/boyfriendsong.html

Song Currently Playing: Statement - Gentleman Reg

Land of the Dead

2005-06-29T00:54:00.000-04:00

So my first Romero movie in a commercial theater was kind of a disappointment. The let down also comes as somewhat of a surprise because I seem to be the only person that wasn't crazy about it. Usually I'M the one who overlooks story problems and minor glitches because the action and effects were fun and throwaway. It's a weird kind of role reversal that I'm not used to, let alone with a zombie movie. Anyway, in a nutshell I thought there was no real act structure, no real climax, and only one interesting character to speak of. There is plenty of distraction, though. The zombie munching is wonderfully gruesome (more movies need to feature belly-button ring extraction), the makeup is well done, the fireworks (literally) are really smart and fun and Dennis Hopper has some great moments. The dialogue was clunky, even for Romero, but maybe I was just expecting too much. I think I'll give it one more chance, but it doesn't look too good. It would appear that Dawn of the Dead continues to hold sway over the zombie movie genre.

I've recently been wondering if I'm too practical about my own life. I was in kind of a funk yesterday and today and in the midst decided to forego a concert in Chapel Hill to attend a party where my friend Caroline wants to introduce me to someone. My decision seemed more pragmatic than anything. I thought "Well, I could use the ten bucks from the ticket back and should do something for myself to help my mood. Meeting a potentially nice guy would do the trick." Shouldn't that have been more along the lines of "The party will be more fun?" or "The guy sounds cute?" I've noticed this a lot recently. I seem to have a sort of objective, third person point of view on my life a lot of times and it feels like a lot of the decisions I make are almost detached or something. Anybody that reads this and knows me well enough to comment, please do. I'm interested to hear thoughts.

Oh, and that reminds me- I'm going to a party tomorrow night to meet this guy Dustin that my friends Caroline and Rowland want to hook me up with. He sounds pretty much right up my alley, so hopefully we'll hit it off. If nothing else, it'll give me a good reason to dress all cool and/or sexy for a party for once.

Song Currently Playing: I Think I Need A New Heart - The Magnetic Fields

Home, part II

2005-06-17T01:42:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I apologize for the amount of time between my last post and this one, but for some reason the router in our house didn't like my computer until last night.

Anyway, my trip home to Buffalo was great. I saw everyone I wanted to see, ate everywhere I wanted to eat, slept more than enough and enjoyed some truly beautiful weather. I'll be coming back in mid-July for my Mom's birthday, so if anyone feels jilted, drop me a line and I'll try to make arrangements to get together and catch up.

Since then, however, I have come back to Winston and am currently posting from the comfort of the living room of my house on Green Street. Things here are very nice and relaxing as any summer vacation should be. At least for the time being. I'm going to be busy this summer, but it's going to be the fun kind of busy. I can't wait for summer session to start so all my friends who are TAs will come back to town so we can hang out. Also, they changed up the screenings for summer session this year so we're running a lot of cool movies that I hope I get to project. I already ran Melinda and Melinda last night and will be showing Big Fish on Sunday for the opening night screening. Summers in the booth are SO much fun.

Speaking of the booth, I need to be there at 9:00am, so I'm going to hit the sack. More to come later, keep in touch all! Night!

Song Currently Playing: Good Year For The Roses - Elvis Costello

Thursday in the Square

2005-06-10T04:14:00.000-04:00

The square was fun tonight. Jaime picked me up around 5:15, and we went to Brian's office thing so everyone could eat (I'd grabbed something before I left since I was broke). Then we headed down to the concert with myself, Jaime, Brian, Stilson, and Sean. I haven't seen these guys in a while, so it was fun to just drive around with them for a while. The bands were good, we caught the last song or two of The Dears, who were really good. Karl Denson's Tiny Universe was really good, they played a great set.

Just when they were leaving the stage they made some comment about how everyone should run for cover before the bad weather came. Not a minute later, we see the sky lighting up. We get to the car (we parked on the top level of a parking garage) and wait for Sean. He'd stayed back a minute to give directions to some friends of his to where they were all going afterwards. While we're waiting for him, standing on top of the building we can see the entire storm just rolling in off the lake over the arena. Even after Sean shows up, the five of us just sit there and stare at the sky. It was the biggest thunderstorm I've seen since I was like eight years old- and I remember that one scaring the SHIT out of me.

So while we're sitting there ooing and ahhing, these three guys who were in the only other car on the roof with us walked up with a pizza box and asked if we wanted any. Apparently some delivery guy had given it to them for free on the street. So we sat there with these three guys, talking, eating pizza and watching the lightning for like twenty minutes. We sat there for almost another forty-five after they left. Once it started raining, we hopped in the car and Brian directed us over to the Ellicott building across the way. It's one of the oldest and coolest buildings in Buffalo and was just amazing to see in the rain with all the lightning. (http://ah.bfn.org/a/main/295/ct/index.html, see for yourself). It's that kind of thing that reminds me why I love Buffalo so much.

And it was the kind of rain I like. The whole week before I left Winston it was just grey and drizzly. I HATE that kind of rain, all I feel is damp. But when you get a big ass storm rolling through with buckets and wind and lightning I feel excited, like I'm a part of something big. That and rain, in my opinion, just looks cooler in the city. Even as I sit here writing this hours after the fact, the entire house is literally shaking from the lightning strikes going on outside. Now THAT is cool. I'm going to have fun listening to it in bed.

Oh, and before I close this post out, I would like to warmly welcome Morgan back to Eastern Standard time. Good luck tomorrow!

Song Currently Playing: Under the Sea - The Little Mermaid

Music Stuff

2005-06-09T03:33:00.000-04:00

The top three most played songs in my iTunes library are:

1. Such Great Heights- The Postal Service
2. Anniversary of an Uninteresting Event- The Deftones
3. One Man Guy- Rufus Wainwright

I wonder what that says about me?

Song Currently Playing: God U Tekem Blong - Hans Zimmer

Eyesight, Undertow and Aviator

2005-06-08T03:05:00.000-04:00

So I got my first pair of contacts today. Mom made an appointment for me to get an eye exam yesterday (Monday), since it had been something like two years since my last checkup. We figured that if my prescription was in need of changing it would cost just as much to get contacts as it would new frames so why not? I went back today to try them on and everything, got the hang of putting them in and taking them out pretty quick. The guy gave me the rundown on cleaning and storing them and stuff and sent me on my way. I had them in for a good six hours and they felt fine and my sight was clear as a bell. I go back on Friday to let them see how I'm doing with them and if all goes well, they'll order a year's supply of disposables. Now I just have to get used to seeing myself in the mirror without glasses on.

So I finally got around to seeing Undertow tonight (and The Aviator- more on that later). It was pretty much the kind of movie I was expecting it to be, but a little watered down. Which isn't to say that's a bad thing. Actually, I enjoyed it a lot. David Gordon Green's style is very lackadaisical, so I wasn't surprised to see the beginning move a bit slowly. But once it got going, it got going. I can see the wisps of Terence Malick and The Night of the Hunter in there, which I thought was a nice change of pace. It was good to see a thriller build tension with a slower-moving structure for once. It painted one bleak as hell picture of the South, that's for sure. Or at least a dirty one. Again, Tim Orr did a fucking phenomenal job shooting, there's some stuff in there that I could only hope to live up to. Also, Jaime Bell was great as was the kid playing his little brother. Josh Lucas did his usual Josh Lucas but with a bit more evil in it, which worked well enough. And it was cool to see one of my editing teachers on the making-of doc (you ROCK, Steve!).

I also popped in The Aviator on a whim tonight. I felt bad having gone into the Oscars having seen only one of the five best picture nominees (Sideways) so I've been meaning to see the rest ever since. This was the first one I've gotten around to. I thought it was a great movie, Cate Blanchett's Oscar was very well deserved and Leonardo DiCaprio was fantastic. Actually, the entire movie was cast extremely well and Scorcese hit the nail right on the head. It had a great old Hollywood feel to it and just the right amount of style to make the whole thing work. This and Catch Me If You Can have proved that, given the right roles, Leo IS leading man material. I had always wanted to see him be more of a supporting actor type but I'm starting to think again. If he keeps this kind of work up, his golden years are still way ahead of him.

Tomorrow I'll hopefully watch Mean Creek and something else (there's bound to be SOMETHING I've wanted to see somewhere in Kenny's collection) to write about. Mom and I may hit up Cinderella Man or Crash, though she was talking a lot about this documentary called The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. Also, Matt called tonight to inform me that he, Eric and Carrie would be up Buffalo way on their amusement park trip tomorrow so I might hit the Falls with them and see the sights after I have dinner with Dad and Margaret. Oh, and I'm having lunch with Jaime. Wow, for a relaxing trip home I've got a lot of shit to do.

Song Currently Playing: Untitled - Interpol

Happy Summer

2005-06-05T02:30:00.000-04:00

Now that I'm back home, I feel like summer vacation has finally actually started even though I've been on it for going on two weeks now. It feels SO good to get back to Buffalo. Winston was quiet and weird without everyone there and the weather was shitty as hell (five straight days of overcast skies and rain. It was starting to drive me NUTS). I can't remember a time when I was anxious to come home because of the weather. Regardless, I came home and ate at Pano's for dinner and had one of the most filling meals I've had in a LONG time. Afterwards, I showed my parents Steve and Robert and my comp reel, to which they were assured that their tuition money was being put to good use. Mom and I walked the dogs (Logan got kind of fat) and then we watched some Arrested Development and called it a night.

I'm only home for ten days, so I'm not sure how much I'm actually going to get done. I found out when I landed that the Pride March is tomorrow, so I don't think I'll be able to go given the short notice. I feel bad about that, it'll be the first one I've missed since sophomore year of high school. I'm sure there will be no shortage of things to do while I'm home. I've already talked to Molly and given Ryan and Tom a call, plus my Mom's company picnic, Uncle Dan's retirement party, visiting my Dad and Margaret, lunch with Aunt Karen, movies to go see and LOTS of sleeping. I love vacation.

So I've gotten all of my crap into the house and organized in my room. We're lacking furniture and some other little things, but we're moved in. I really like my room a lot. I can't wait to get stuff in there to decorate it with. I hung my La Boheme and Lost In Translation posters and need to get the Good Bye, Lenin! one from Renata's office. After that I'd like to get some kind of cool plant to put in the corner and something cool for over the fireplace mantle. I'd like a really cool big B&W print in a nice frame, but that may prove expensive. I was thinking either that or some kind of Hopper painting. I know it's cliche college artwork, but I like it.

It's worked out that everything I either bought or was given for my room matches almost perfectly. Green couch, dark bookcase and desk, dark green rug and reddish walls. It actually looks like I did it on purpose. Who knew? Anyway, I'm going to really start work on it when I get back, seeing as how I'll need my next paycheck to live on let alone decorate with.

In the meantime, I think I'm going to go watch Undertow and eat some cheerios before bed. Oh, and I need to find a ruler (long story). Night all!

Song Currently Playing: For No One - The Beatles

Yay!

2005-05-26T04:32:00.000-04:00

This is the blog of someone who has officially survived two years at NCSA. Bring on the summer!

Song Currently Playing: California - Copeland

Beaux Arts

2005-05-22T16:32:00.000-04:00

I need to get better about posting with more regularity. Anyway, Beaux Arts was this week and it was met with mixed results. The turnout for the dance wasn't as big as it was last year (since they didn't serve any booze this time) but the costumes were fun. I went as Hartigan from Sin City and did a pretty darn good job recreating it. Nida was Marv, Fitz was Kevin and Billie was Miho so it was nice to have the group of Sin City people to stand near. My friend Tom, whom I've known since kindergarten, came down from Buffalo to hang out for the week, which was awesome. It's always good to see people from back home.

In other news, my class's portfolio reviews are done with and letters have been handed out. I am happy to report that I was excepted into the cinematography discipline along with pretty much everyone else I was hoping would get in. They took twelve directors and cinematographers, which is pretty unusual since in the past we've only had ten. We're going to be handed a lot of changes in the way production is run at the school since now we'll be making twelve projects instead of ten, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens.

School is pretty much done. I have one more exam on Tuesday and I will be officially done for the year. After that I move out of the dorms on Friday and crash at Jones' place until I can move into my house on the 1st of June. The hunt for furniture is going pretty well, Schnitz gave me a bed of his that I need to get from Rowland's house. Apparently it has drawers in it so I won't be needing a dresser. After that I'll just need a desk of some kind and I'll be set. I've already got a couch, a bookcase several lamps and a TV. Hopefully I'll be able to spend some time sprucing the room up a bit, I really want mine to look nice and adult. I'm abandoning plastering the walls with movie posters. I've got a few I'll put up (most likely Good Bye, Lenin! and Lost In Translation) but I'm going to try and get some Edward Hopper paintings or Ansel Adams prints. It's cliche college stuff to put on a wall, but my room is kind of a dark red so I figure I can get away with it.

It looks like the movie I was hoping to get a job on has come through. I got an email from the DP and UPM yesterday asking to respond if I was available. I heard rumblings about the possiblity of not being able to pay people, so I'm waiting to hear about that before I sign on. If I can't get paid the way they offered to, then I really can't do it. As much as I want to work on a 35mm show with the people that I know will be there for all of August in a beach town in NC, I'm flat broke. Besides, it might be nice to use my glide pass and go to NYC to meet up with Andrew or visit Amy in Washington. I've wanted to take the summer to travel for so long and I may actually be able to do it this year. We'll see what happens. I've got one show for sure and maybe another in July I'll be working on, Schnitz and I have been trying to get a few things off the ground for ourselves, the booth to be working in and Morgan visiting at some point so I've got a full plate this summer. One way or another, it'll be fun. I can't wait to get started.

In the meantime, I need to finish going through these Firefly DVDs before I have to give them back to Blake at the end of the week. It's an amazing show, watch it if you get a chance. Adios!

Song Currently Playing: Our Lips Are Sealed - The Go Gos

Episode III

2005-05-19T03:21:00.000-04:00

Just got back from the midnight screening. Aside from the projectionist being a slight dumbass the movie was fantastic. There's been talk of it being the best in the series and while I think Empire is still the king, I'd rank Episode III up there pretty damn high. It took Lucas about thirty years to make another good movie, but he did it. There isn't tons I can say that won't ruin anything but the action is fantastic and for once in a long while, I actually gave a shit when everyone was just talking. The character work is back and it's solid, and it's about damn time. Ewan McGregor is totally the shit as Obi Wan here, he's earned his stripes big time. I don't want to rant too much, but suffice it to say that I'll be seeing this movie again.

Now that it's almost 3:30 in the morning I'm going to go to sleep for my class at 10 (it was SO worth it). Night all!

Song Currently Playing: None

Beaches Kick Ass

2005-05-16T03:48:00.000-04:00

I went to the beach yesterday. Totally on a whim, too, and it was one of the best things I've done for myself this year. A bunch of people were talking about going early Saturday morning. I was planning on taking this weekend to get everything for portfolio review out of the way, go see Jedi in 70mm at school and just sort of relax. I woke up from Friday's party around 1pm. An hour later Mike Taing calls me and says he's going to meet up with whoever went earlier in the morning, asking if I want to come. I think about it for maybe 30 seconds and hop in the shower. I left in such a hurry that I never even signed out of my email.

Fast forward about three hours and I'm sitting on Wrightsville beach in Wilmington, chilling with Nida, Mary, Miranda, Frazier, Joe, Hantz, Tommy, Ryan and Mike. We cooked burgers and hot dogs at our friend Sid's beach house, hung out, had some drinks and just relaxed. We didn't talk about school or even film. Eventually it got dark and we went crab hunting on the beach with flashlights and buckets. All told we caught about 40 of these things and threw them all in a cooler to see them fight. They all just kind of sat there for the most part, but there were a few fiesty ones. Their legs are surprisingly fuzzy. Fuckers pinch hard, too, according to Frazier. He had on some pretty thick gloves and still felt it pretty good.

At the end of the night we crammed ten people into two bedrooms. I woke up, went for a swim in the ocean, ate breakfast at a nice little greasy spoon type place and drove back. And miraculously, I managed to get everything done I would have on Saturday after I got back and ate dinner. I'm so glad Mike called me, I would have been missing out big time. That was the perfect thing I needed before portfolio review. I was of such a clear mind when I got back that I flew through all my work and did a damn good job on it, too. I feel good about my review, my friend Tom is coming to visit on Tuesday (gotta clean the room, crap) and Beaux Arts is on Saturday. I have a paper to write on Kant somewhere in between there, but it'll get done. I'm so chill right now the world could end and I'd laugh it off. I haven't been this relaxed in a while. I'm going to watch some Firefly and get to bed. Night, y'all!

Song Currently Playing: Inmates - The Good Life

Time Flies

2005-05-12T12:42:00.000-04:00

Ok, so here's a weird thought: I had my last film class of the year last night. Where the hell did THAT come from? It snuck up on me like nobody's business. I have no idea where this year went, it's insane. I barely remember our guerilla shoots, it feels like it's been that long. I'm glad it's winding down a bit, I think we could all use a break. All I have left is an exam tonight and my portfolio review on Tuesday and I'm done with film requirements. I have a paper and a final for general studies, but I'm not too concerned about those. Right now I'm working on updating my resume, cutting my show reel, preparing my statement for portfolio review and revising my script draft to turn in on Monday. The reel is coming together well and the resume needs to be trimmed down a bit, which is far less work than I would have thought.

In other exciting news- I GOT A HOUSE! My friends Mary, Miranda and I just signed a two year lease on a really nice place in town not far from campus on Green Street. We're moving in on the first of June and staying all summer. Three bedrooms, one and a half bath, amazing kitchen, front and back porch- it's a nice place. The only thing left to do is find a place to start stowing our shit before we move in. The dorms close the 27th, so hopefully we can work something out with the current tenants to put what we have in the house for a few days. As it is, we'll probably be getting a lot of their furniture anyway so it shouldn't be a big deal. I can't wait for this summer. Summers in Winston are surpringly fun, so long as I don't stay deathly poor the whole time (I get paid tomorrow, thank GOD).

Anyway, the muck running continues. I have to go dump my year's worth of movies onto my comp reel in the post library, study for this final tonight and finish whatever work I can on my reel and resume. I think I'll take a shower first, though. Laters!

Song Currently Playing: Air a Danser - Penguin Cafe Orchestra

Frown

2005-05-02T02:38:00.000-04:00

My desk lamp just blew out. Now my desk and this corner of the room in general is all dark. That kind of sucks. Halogen bulbs are kind of expensive, right?

Song Currently Playing: Beautiful Child- Rufus Wainwright

Oi!

2005-04-27T02:33:00.000-04:00

Ok, so that's not a very clever or pertinant title but oh well.

We got some bad news today when we found out that the house we turned our application in for just yesterday has been taken by someone else. The realtor glanced over our application and said that we should have no problem getting approved, so we've started looking around for any more houses they have to see if they'll work. Miranda and I looked at three of them today and they all pretty much sucked. Way too small and way too far away from campus for my taste. So the hunt is officially back on. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that some new places will open up in the next few weeks as people start to move out.

The Amazing Race is getting really good. I don't know of many people who care, but I'm going to talk about it anyway. I'm insanely surprised that Meredith and Gretchen have made it into the top four, the old couple team never makes it past like round three or four if that. I'm really pulling for them at this point (I'd actually be happy with anybody except Rob and Amber. HATE them).

In other meaningless news, I've been bitten by the Halo bug recently. For some reason I never got in on the games I always saw going on in the quad until about a week ago. I'm total pistol fodder still, but I'm getting better. It's a lot of small things to get good in that game. A lot of it is knowing the maps, and since I don't have the benefit of an Xbox it's going to take me a while. Especially since I die too often to run around any when I play. I've developed a bit of a strategy, though. Dual-weild a plasma pistol and either an SMG or a Needler. Charge the pistol to take off the overshield and try to clean up with the other. I still panic when shit goes down and try to back up or just move in a way that makes me insanely easy to shoot at. I need to remember to straffe more (I need to channel that from my GoldenEye days). That and get the controls down better- my aim is terrible most of the time. By the end of the game I played with Joey tonight I was still getting my ass shot off, but at least I was doing more things right. I wonder if I'm still any good at GoldenEye, I'll have to get those guys to play THAT with me sometime. Then I'd be able to put up a fight.

Moving along in no particular order, I have to start editing my comp reel together. I've got my dailies for The Nature of Robert and I'll have the doc footage dropped off in my box tomorrow. I just have to get my stuff back from my mentor for The Replication of Steve and I can start picking through for what looks the best. It's going to take me a while, but I think it's going to be fun. I get to set it to music and everything. Miranda and I are probably going to do ours together, which will make it go a lot faster and easier for us both I think. Also, the positive reinforcement will be nice to have when we pick our takes.

I'm looking forward to this weekend for two main reasons- 1) I get to gaff a show, finally. B-Zach is shooting his movie, and he and I decided to work on each other's way early in the year. The schedule didn't work out for him to be able to be on either of mine, unfortunately, but I'm glad we get a chance to work together. It'll be the first time I ever really get to gaff something, since guerillas and stuff don't really count. It's not gaffing like it actually is. I'm excited about it, because I know Brandon and I work well together and I basically get to spend the weekend lighting. When you DP or 1st AC (which is all I've done so far this term) you don't really get to set lights or anything, so I'm itching to get my hands dirty again and rig up some cool shit.

Reason #2- fucking HITCHHIKER! All the booth monkeys are pumped for that movie, so I can't wait to go see it in all its magnificant glory.

Oh, RiverRun. Yeah, I'm not sure how I could have almost forgotten that I projected non-stop for an international film festival all weekend. It went incredibly smooth this year for the archives staff. It was a lot of long hours and not much sleep, but the pay is certainly good and I got to see a lot of good movies. Murderball (about the US Paralympic Quad Rugy Team) was my favorite of the festival and what I saw of Innocent Voices was amazing. I'm hoping to go through whatever screener copies we keep for the archives, I want to browse through what else I heard was good. Also, the RiverRun wrap party for the booth monkeys was one of the best times I've ever had. We all hang out in any random assortment of the gang, but it's rare that literally every archives worker gets together at one time to party. Fun was had by all, that's the short version.

Anyway, I'm going to watch some Bebop and hit the sack. Later, ya'll!

Song Currently Playing: Raven - Dave Matthews Band (The Lillywhite Sessions version)

Answers

2005-04-16T21:18:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I'm just going to list the answers to the lyrics game, since I'm sure nobody else is going to guess at this point:

1. Change Your Mind- The Killers
2. Come on Eileen- Dexy's Midnight Runners
3. As You Turn To Go - The 6ths
4. We've Been Had- The Walkmen
5. Beautiful Day- U2
6. Marvelous Things- Eisley
7. I Thought You Were My Boyfriend- The Magnetic Fields
8. Walk On- U2
9. The Tension and the Terror- Straylight Run
10. Stray With Me- The Magnetic Fields
11. Song That Jane Likes- Dave Matthews Band
12. Awful Age- The Sheila Divine
13. Specialist- Interpol
14. Both Hands- Ani DiFranco
15. By The Way- Red Hot Chili Peppers
16. Take Another Piece of My Heart- Janis Joplin
17. Mad Season- Matchbox20
18. Angel of Harlem- U2
19. Meet Virginia- Train
20. La vie Boheme- Rent

Song Currently Playing: Indie Rock 'n Roll - The Killers

The Nature of Robert

2005-04-14T01:52:00.000-04:00

So we screened the first cut of the movie in class tonight. It's setup like this: the key crew (director, producer, cinematographer, editor and writer) get up, speak their peace about the shoot and where the cut is, run the movie, and listen to feedback and suggestions from the students and faculty afterward. So we went third tonight, and I am honestly stunned the reaction it got. I figured it would go over well, but I didn't think that people would take to it as much as they did. We got some SERIOUS laughs out of people, and for a first cut that's a pretty damn good sign. The performances sold perfectly, and I was kind of speechless when I got a round of applause for the cinematography. I don't think I've ever worked on something that has been so well received by an audience before, so everyone who worked on the show was just thrilled.

It's kind of a weird feeling, personally. I mean I'm incredibly happy that both of the movies I shot have turned out so well but it kind of freaks me out a bit when so many people are telling me that I'm going to get cinematography. I feel like they might be jinxing it or something. Maybe I'm just not good at taking compliments, who knows. I just care that I've had fun working on these shows and that people like the work we've done. I think the ten minutes our class are making are showing that we've got a really talented group of people here. Even some of the ones that aren't so great were smooth productions and the keys worked well together, for the most part. I really like our class, I think we can produce some really great work in the next two years as long as we all stay motivated and keep having fun.

Anyway, I'm beat. I took, like, three naps today and I'm still tired so I'm going to call it an early night. Seeya!

Song Currently Playing: Suite from Mulan - Jerry Goldsmith

Stuff and Things, not neccessarily in that order...

2005-04-12T20:43:00.000-04:00

Woo, it's been a while since I've done this. Things have been crazy the past few weeks, but in the best way possible. Naturally, it didn't lend a lot of time to sit down and post new blog entries. But, here I am again!

The Replication of Steve. First movie that I was DP for this term and I've got to say, I couldn't have been happier about the experience. The shoot itself was an absolute blast, the set ran smoothly, we got everything we wanted, I learned so much about shooting. It was great. The movie seems to work on just about every level, according to our class and faculty. The cuts we screened in class got a lot of laughs and positive feedback on the cinematography, performances, effects and picture editing. I have the movie on my computer in its finished form and will definitely have a copy to show everyone when I come home. Likewise for the second movie I shot...

The Nature of Robert. Yeah, they have almost the same title, but that's what happens when two people inhabiting the same brain sit down to right goofy comedies. There are three movies my friends and I are making for school this term that all sort of exist in the same universe, tonally speaking. The Replication of Steve, The Mailman Is Lonely and The Nature of Robert. We've coined them the 6D Trilogy, in honor of the campus apartment we inhabit. Robert was also a great shoot. Taylor and I meshed incredibly well on set, I got to try something 180º different from The Replication of Steve as far as a visual style and the cast all did an amazing job. I've gotten really lucky to shoot these two movies. Steve was dark, noirish, very science fiction and had a very distinct over-the-top style to it. Robert was high key, bright colors, soft light, big sources, a very pastel palette and a more mainstream physical comedy type piece. I'm glad that I have two completely different styles to bring to my portfolio review to show the cinematography faculty. It shows diversity and that makes me happy. I'm feeling a lot better about my chances after having shot my movies. I'm still not counting my chickens before they're hatched, though.

Anyway, I'm going to run. I have to clean the room and get settled in for The Amazing Race. I think Meredith and Gretchen are going to get booted tonight, unless it's a non-elimination round. We'll see how it goes. Take care, everybody!

Song Currently Playing: Out of the Races and Onto The Tracks - The Rapture

Lyrics Game

2005-03-29T00:27:00.000-05:00

Angie got this idea from Mark, and I got it from her. I turn my iTunes on random and post the first line of the first 20 songs that come up and you all have to guess the artist and title. Enjoy!

1. "Racey days help me through help me through the hopeless haze."

2. "Poor old Johnny Ray, sounded sad upon the radio, he moved a thousand hearts in mono."

3. "Let the camera linger on your perfect skin, your widows peak and your lucky grin."

4. "Well I'm a modern guy, don't care much for the go-go."

5. "The heart is in bloom, shoots up from the stoney ground."

6. "I woke the dawn, saw horses growing out the lawn."

7. "You told me you loved me, I don't know where it went."

8. "And if the darkness is to keep us apart, and if the daylight feels like it's a long way off, and if your glass heart should crack for a second you turn back..."

9. "All the boys' voices cracking, oh, the moaning half tones/come summertime we're all the same age here."

10. "When I wake in the morning with sleep in my eyes..."

11. "And in plays to write the wire in, I'll come back again."

12. "You could have it all, but I can't have it too."

13. "You make me lose my buttons, oh yeah you make me spit."

14. "I am walking out in the rain and I am listening to the low moan of the dial tone again."

15. "Standing in line to see the show tonight and there's a light on."

16. "Well come on come on come on come on, didn't I make you feel like you were the only man?"

17. "I feel stupid, but I know it won't last for long."

18. "It was a cold and wet December day when we touched the ground at JFK."

19. "She doesn't own a dress, her hair is always a mess, you catch her stealing she won't confess. She's beautiful."

20. "No please no not tonight please no, mister can't you go, not tonight, can't have a scene."

Song Currently Playing: (That would be cheating :-P)

Another Production Report

2005-03-27T22:08:00.000-05:00

Principle photography has wrapped for The Replication of Steve! We shot our last day today and are now officially in post production, even though Fitz has taken the footage and started cutting Friday and Saturday's footage already. Today was stressful, and it kind of didn't need to be. One of the actors forgot a costume piece that he had to go back to his apartment to get, which wound up putting us behind schedule. This, of course, translated into me being pushed along on my lighting setups more than I wanted to be (even though we wound up wrapping two hours early- I would have liked those two hours back while we were still in the foyer).

The foyer stuff will look OKAY, but not great. It was actually a much harder scene to light than I had thought. Multiple action points, blocking against the walls, the line was shifting constantly (I KNOW we're going to have a problem cutting SOME of it together), and no clear light source to choose from. My 1st AC, Ian, was telling Miranda and I for as hard a scene to light as it was, we did a good job. I'll wait to see the dailies, but mishaps aside, we've got ourselves a movie. The lab footage is great and so is the dinner scene. Nice, warm colors and soft light just like I wanted. I can't wait to see the first cut.

Anyway, I have nothing on tap for tomorrow other than equipment check-in and a trip to the bank to deposit my work study and production reimbursment checks, so I'm going to go have myself a beer at the wrap party. And then another.

Happy Easter!

Song Currently Playing: Jisas Yu Holem Hand Blong Mi - Hans Zimmer

Production Report

2005-03-26T20:45:00.000-05:00

Day two is done. We looked at Friday's dailies after we wrapped last night and were all throroughly amused by the performances and incredibly happy with the art direction and lighting. I was more than pleased with how everything turned out. Today was a bit rockier, we had more coverage and more difficult setups, but we made the day early somehow. I wasn't as happy as I was about yesterday, but I still think it will all look good and hopefully cut together. We had problems with the line (I swore to myself we wouldn't have a discussion about the fucking line on this show, but alas) and some of the setups were a tad rushed, but still turned out ok. We're going to go look at dailies now, as a matter of fact. I'm getting a burger from the snack bar, picking the tape up from Ian and going over to the apartment to watch the footage and see what Fitz has cut together of yesterday's stuff.

Tomorrow is pretty light. Two fairly easy scenes to film, 40 minutes of tape left to do it with and one less grip to help light. It's really simplistic shit, though. A dinner table scene between two people is about as simple as you can light. It should allow me some time to tweak like crazy and make it look insanely gorgeous. Here's hoping, anyway.

Song Currently Playing: Monolith - The Beta Band

Film school, yay!

2005-03-25T01:20:00.000-05:00

Ok, so we start shooting The Replication of Steve tomorrow, er, today. I'm psyched. Joe and I have been gelling real well, the crew seems psyched, I tested my gels tonight and they look SO money... I hope this is a fun show that goes well. I can't see any major problems, but you never know what may happen. I'm just happy to be back in the saddle with all my friends making movies. Wee!

Anyway, I'm going to head off to bed and rest up. I've got three non-stop days ahead of me, so I'll need the sleep. Wish me luck!

Song Currently Playing: Transatlanticism - Death Cab For Cutie

Back at school, Still on break

2005-03-18T03:24:00.000-05:00

So the Buffalo expedition has drawn to a close, but I am still officially on break until this coming Monday. The rest of the trip turned out not quite as planned, but fun nonetheless. We actually wound up going to a place in the Falls called Boston Pizza instead of Daily Planet. It was basically Discovery Zone for drinkers. Arcade games, bowling, pool tables and a fully stocker bar. I wish the US had something like that. I'd probably spend way too much money there, but it would be awesome. I want to be able to drink and do all the same things I did when I was twelve somewhere other than my own living room. It was great- like every arcade I went to when I was a kid but with shots. Tom got along great with all my friends. If I'm not mistaken, he and Alyssa made plans to go out later in the week after I'd come back to school, so I'm happy to know that I bridged the gap between my old group and my new group of friends.

Not a lot else happened between then and Tuesday when Joe and Eowyn and I went to see The Lion King at Shea's. Now THAT was cool. The first act was a bit of a yawn in places, but the costume design and orchestrations were great. The second act, however, was absolutely fantastic. The numbers that were written for the stage show were kind of bleh in the first act, but in the second half of the show everything just worked. The harmonies were amazing, the music was brilliant and the choreogaphy was beautiful. Some of the costumes worked better than others. The hyenas were by far the most effective. I highly recommend you see the show if you get a chance.

After that, we packed into the car and headed back to North Carolina which, again, was no small feat. It was a lot less complicated on the return trip, but we still wound up in the car for about twelve hours. We did get here, however, and it feels good to be back. Joe and I have been talking things out for The Replication of Steve (I can't believe we shoot a week from Saturday) and just enjoying the quiet campus in general. B-Zach is still here, as is Dom and Kat. We missed St. Patty's today, so we'll be making up for it tomorrow night at Brandon's.

Anyway, I'm going to update my DVD list (picked up Gladiator, Come Undone and The Incredibles) and hit the sack. Adios, everybody!

Song Currently Playing: None

Spring Break in B-Lo

2005-03-13T02:08:00.000-05:00

So the vacation part of spring break is officially underway. Joe, Eowyn, Kat and myself endured 13 hours of snowy weather, shady gas stations, getting lost and oil warning lights to fight our way up to Buffalo. It was an interesting trip, to say the least. Joe was a trooper and stuck it out behind the wheel for the whole trip (with the help of several Red Bulls). After a few hiccups, we got underway and got in around 2:45am and hit the sack. 11 hours later, we woke up.

We went to Media Play and Joe miraculously found the only copy of The Rocketeer still in print, which made him quite happy. After that we went to the Anchor Bar for dinner. I've been talking this place up for two years with my friends from school, so this was the night I finally got to make good on all the posturing and hype. I'm proud to say that Joe and I went up against the suicide wings and he came out with a new found respect for my hometown. He could barely finish one of them before diving for the water, it was funny. To his credit, though, we took them home and after we watched The Rocketeer he had like two or three more.

Tomorrow looks to be the night of this trip to remember. After dinner at my Dad's house, we're going to play Laser Tron, get drinking, go to Niagara Falls, head to Daily Planet and drink some more. I'm going to have the old guard and the new guard with me as far as friends goes. My friend Tom (whom I've known since kindergarten) and whatever other people from my high school he can get in touch with will be going alongside Joe, Eowyn, Kat and Alyssa, my NCSA friends. It'll be interesting to see how they all mesh. It should be a fun time.

In the meantime, I'm going to wrap up some online conversations and get to sleep, seeing as we're going to breakfast at Alice's Kitchen tomorrow. I'm also getting a sore throat, so I'm doing my best to rest up and fight off whatever potential cold I may be getting. Hope everyone is happy and healthy!!

Song Currently Playing: Title & Registration - Death Cab For Cutie

Fun New Things

2005-03-08T01:57:00.000-05:00

So break has all but officially started. Film classes ended for us on Friday and I have but one general studies class and its exam between me and total freedom. The weather here has been increasingly gorgeous- they actually get a SPRING here! The whole situation has had me in a really up mood this past week, everything's been putting a smile on my face. My plans for break are becomming increasingly interesting as the time passes. Joe and Eowyn will be staying with me back home for a few days, but we'll also be bringing Kat with us so she can stay with Alyssa like they usually do. Basically there will be a small NCSA contingent in Buffalo, so good times will be had by all.

So I bought the first CD I've gotten myself in, like, two years today. I felt compelled by a random listening session at Matt's last night to go out and pick up The Killers' Hot Fuss and Green Day's American Idiot. I've been meaning to get them for a while, but felt musically inspired this afternoon. Matt's got a subscription to Paste magazine, who sends out sampler CDs with every issue of new music. They just recently started sending DVDs as well, so Matt, Schnitz and I watched through what was on there and saw some AMAZING videos. Eisley's Marvelous Things and Rooney's Popstars were fantastic, and Nickle Creek had some great live tracks on there. Oh, and the excerpts from Festival Express were mind blowing. I NEED to see that movie. New music is great!

Anyway, I'm going to head off and rest up for my last class of the term tomorrow. Adios!

Song Currently Playing: Somebody Told Me - The Killers

Oscars post-game

2005-02-28T00:46:00.000-05:00

Well, Charlie Kaufmann won one so the night wasn't a total lass. All in all, I felt it was a pretty safe, predictable evening as far as the winners. I haven't seen Million Dollar Baby, but everyone in the room seemed extremely appalled when it won for director and picture. I wish I could comment more, but I have a feeling that once I get around to seeing the rest of the best picture nominees I'll still think that there were way better movies than those five. Go Charlie Kaufmann! Kate Winslet got screwed royally, but I could tell she would have given hers up for Chuck and Michel Gondry. It appears that she did so gladly.

Chris Rock did a fantastic job hosting, but it's too bad they didn't let him fucking host. The entire show was insanely too rushed. I mean, great job- they finished it before midnight. Who cares? Reed has it right- people KNOW the Academy Awards are long. Everyone that watches really doesn't care. I'd rather the time be taken to truly honor those receiving awards rather than literally walking to their seat and handing it to them. Some of the sound and editing winners were seriously given no time at all, it was terrible. I hated that they didn't show clips of the foreign and short film nominees as they were being presented and wanted to see the mini trailers for the best picture nominees that they scatter throughout the show. Other than the pacing, I thought it was a fun show. The red carpet people weren't mind-numbingly awful, the sets looked good, the music was great (though they used The Terminator theme way too much, of all things).

Tonight also marks an occassion in the presentation of the first annual Booth Film Critics Society top ten of the year list, as compiled by Reed and contributed to by Foster and all the other booth monkeys who turned in lists. Reed and Foster devised a system of creating a unified list for the archives workers by looking at everyone's separate top tens. The inclusion of a film as well as its rank on a list gave it a certain amount of points, and the ten films with the most points were unveiled tonight at the start of the Academy Awards. Without further ado, 2004's top ten films as collectively chosen by the booth monkeys at the North Carolina School of the Arts:

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. Sideways
3. The Bourne Supremacy
4. The Incredibles
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
6. Closer
7. Before Sunset
8. The Passion of the Christ
9. A Very Long Engagement
10. Dogville + Garden State

There was a tie for 10th place. Reed also went to the trouble of compiling a number of statistics on the separate lists submitted. I <3 Huckabees was the next in line and just barely missed making the top ten. Also, between the 14 or so lists submitted, 47 different films were put in the running. It's nice to know we have such diversity, I think it really helps give the best overall representation of the year for the most part. Awards were given in certain categories to specific individual lists. I won the "What Were They Thinking?" Award for Hotel Rwanda as the highest placed film on a list that was not on anyone else's. Basically that happened because I was the only person who saw the movie, so the award's name is a bit unfitting. I shared honors with Molly for her inclusion of The Life Acquatic With Steve Zissou on her list. I already can't wait for next year, we already have ideas for improving the system and the awards/statistics.

Anyway, that's my spiel on the Oscars. Now I get to go write two papers on Dante's Inferno. Woo.

Song Currently Playing: JTR (live at Folsom Field)- Dave Matthews Band

No Longer Angsty

2005-02-27T02:06:00.000-05:00

So, seeing as how I'm not a teen any more, I figure that right has been officially waived. Now I just get to be jaded! ;-)

In all seriousness, this birthday was amazing. I crewed, same as last year, but this time I wasn't hauling frozen dolly track into and out of a bank lobby for twelve hours. The show I'm in this weekend is actually a lot of fun, mostly because the grip/electric crew are just about all of my best friends. I got let out early, ran True Romance (which was phenomenal and one of the best shows I've run, by the way) and then went to the best birthday party I've ever been thrown.

Miranda reserved some bowling lanes at a place not far from school and, like, EVERYONE showed up! I've never felt so appreciated and special in all my life. People I thought barely knew my name came to wish me a happy birthday, it was awesome. Everyone was just hanging out, bowling, laughing, drinking and just having a good time. I'm proud to say that the two games I was involved in I got turkeys on. It also marked the first time I've had a cake shoved into my face, to hilarious effect. Best birthday party ever. Afterwards B-Zach, Andre, Blake and I went back to Bailey and watched I <3 Huckabees until four in the morning. Amazing movie, I re-worked my top ten list to fit it on. And, despite four hours of sleep and a 14 hour crew day, I've managed to not be tired today until right about now.

This is a good weekend. Birthday, birthday party, a good crew, the Oscars, an Oscars party... It'll be interesting to see how the booth top ten turned out. I gave Reed my final list tonight, after getting back too late from location to sneak in a screening of The Aviator. That list:

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. Kinsey
3. The Incredibles
4. Hotel Rwanda
5. The Bourne Supremacy
6. Good Bye, Lenin!
7. Garden State
8. In Good Company
9. Kill Bill vol. 2
10. I <3 Huckabees

My picks for 2004. Despite all of the movies I've seen this year, I still somehow managed to see only one of the five Best Picture nominees (Sideways, which didn't even make my list). Nonetheless, it's going to be fun to sit and watch the show with the booth monkeys. Matt is doing an all day Oscar celebration. Apparently he has some "Best of the Oscars" video that's like three hours long filled with all the highlights and lowlights in the Academy's history. I guess he has some other cool stuff planned, but it looks like I won't be able to be there until around 6:30-7:00. I have a meeting at 6:00 for The Replication of Steve with all the key crew, which means I kind of need to be there, being the Director of Photography and all.

Anyway, it's 2am and I swore I'd get sleep tonight (God BLESS my 10:00 call), so I'm going to sign off. Have a good night, all!

Song Currently Playing: Love and Some Verses- Iron and Wine

F'in SWEET!

2005-02-16T02:59:00.000-05:00

So we got our dailies back today from the lab and screened them in class. Much to my delight- they were in perfect focus and exposed just the way I wanted them to be! ROCK! My group was really happy with the footage, my teachers both commented very well (apparently it was some of the best close-ups work they'd seen at the school) and my fellow classmates were generous with their attaboys. Some things on roll 1 were a bit dark but we've thought of a way to use it. It actually might give us the ability to introduce a new tone we hadn't thought of before. We'll see how the first cut is.

The other tapes we screened were also really well done. My friend Joe (different Joe, we have like five of them) shot the doc about the grafitti artist and the footage was fantastic. Granted, there was just a lot more style inherently IN their project so it just looks better and flashier overall, but the whole thing was done really well. Miranda's stuff looked great, too. She had some trouble with some of her exteriors, but it's not a big deal when compared to the interior work she did. She matched her fluorescents and tungstens almost seamlessly, had great composition throughout and just did an overall good job. From what I hear, the dailies from the docs have all looked really good. It makes me happy- I really think our class is going to make some damn good movies in the next few years (or at least really good LOOKING movies). I'm excited to work with these people if I know that no matter who I have on my crew, the work will turn out good. I know the competition for cinematography is going to be tight, especially after seeing these dailies, but I feel good about it. I can't wait to start our ten minutes. WEE! FILMMAKING ROCKS!

Song Currently Playing: Singin' In The Rain- Gene Kelly

Some things I forgot...

2005-02-11T02:37:00.000-05:00

I know this is, like, a week after the fact but I forgot some stuff on my last post.

First, I saw Hotel Rwanda. It just suddenly appeared at the local theatre which surprised the hell out of me. I wasn't sure how long it was going to be there so I snatched an opportunity with my friends Andrew and Hunter and went. Mom was right, it's an incredibly powerful and harrowing film. I'm revising my top ten to put it on there, it's that good. The entire cast is fantastic, Don Cheadle seriously earns his stripes, and Terry George really does an amazing job of putting you right in the middle of the entire situation. I was scared, moved, angered and all of it was achieved through simple, unflinching presentation. That movie earns every emotion it evokes and deserves a lot of attention.

Secondly, we had a guest artist screening last week with editor Stephen Mirrione, and he rocked. This is the man who cut Ocean's 11 and 12, Out of Sight, Go, Swingers and Traffic (which he won an Oscar for). He brought 21 Grams to screen, and while I have my reservations about the movie it was fascinating to hear what he added to it and took from the experience. It was really refreshing to have a guest artist with such an impressive filmography that is still working in the industry. A lot of guests we get, while informative, have sort of reached their peak a while ago and aren't terribly up on the cutting edge of technology and just the business in general. This guy is, like, Soderbergh's editor and has about three projects on his plate in the coming months. The third and fourth year editors that had Q&A's with him all said he was an incredibly helpful speaker on how to break in and get work after school. This has been a really good year for guest artists so far, and they seem to keep on coming. We have the writer of Smoke Signals coming tomorrow with his directorial debut and one more sometime before the end of the term. Our dean went to Sundance last month and apparently spoke with Kevin Kostner about coming to NCSA, since he'll be in the North Carolina area working on a project in the near future. It's not set in stone, and I won't be surprised if it doesn't happen. If it does, however, it's going to be fucking amazing. I'd fight the urge to ask him to sign my Open Range DVD. Though, that would give me an excuse to go out and finally buy that Bull Durham SE that came out last year. Now THAT would beef up my collection considerably.

Speaking of my DVD collection, I have one more to buy and I will officially be in the triple digits. I have to be patient, though. I don't want it to be some random thing, this has to be a really choice DVD. I'm thinking the Master and Commander 2 disc SE, unless I come across something better. Anyway, I'm going to go put in one of the movies I just got. It's nice to see that beautiful green Amelie packaging mixed in with the rest of my DVDs. *sigh* I'm such a dork, it's great.

Song Currently Playing: XTC vs. Adam Ant- They Might Be Giants

Urge to stress falling....falling

2005-02-07T00:47:00.000-05:00

WHEW! Ok, so the doc is in the can. Quite literally, as all 800 feet of film is sitting on the desk next to me waiting to be turned in tomorrow. We were rushed, but we got it done. I would have liked to have taken more time on some of the setups, and I hope to GOD the footage doesn't come back soft. The lenses in that camera don't seat well, apparently, and a lot of people's dailies have come back slightly out of focus. We find out a week from Tuesday whether we've suffered the same fate. Either way, my end is done and done well I think, given the restraints I was under. My stress has already dropped considerably, as that was the last major thing in my mind that had to happen this term. Now I just have some class assignments and exams before spring break. w00t!

In other good news, my script was selected by the school as one of the approved screenplays elligible for spring term production. It's in the pool of scripts that nobody is yet attached to and therefore still may not wind up being made, but the fact that they picked it was very gratifying. I'm ok if it doesn't get picked up by a director at this point- Schnitz and I have been talking a lot about doing it over the summer with some friends. That could be a LOT of fun. One last hurrah before he heads across the pond.

The War Of The Worlds teaser during the Super Bowl tonight was orgasmic. MAN I can't wait for that movie. Most of the party I went to was waiting for that spot to come on. That and the first glimpse of Scarecrow in the Batman Begins spot was awesome. I want that movie to rock so hard.

Crewing has been fun these past few weeks. It's always nice to get on set and just worry about what's right in front of me. That has come in handy this term, having had SO much on the horizon at all times. That and it's just fun to make movies and shit around with my friends. The movie I was working on today involved a scene where a CIA operative-in-training killed my friend Josh with a $20 bill, a stapler and a bowl of baby food. It was really kind of funny. The director had to block the scene and kept banging this poor little stapler into the desk.

The new phone is cool and has already made my life exponentially easier. I still have some trepidation about actually using it, since I don't want to go nuts with my minutes, but I'm doing my best. I don't think I can download that James Bond ring tone, but that's ok. It's probably a pain in the ass to pay for that kind of thing, anyway.

Well, that's about it for now. When we get our footage back, I'll let you all know. And now that my work load has just eased up a bit, I'll make it a point to be posting more. In the meantime, adios! Take care!

Song Currently Playing: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, part 1 - The Flaming Lips

Work As Usual

2005-01-28T22:26:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been a while since I posted last. I've been CRAZY busy the past few weeks, and it looks like once I get my documentary in the can, things will taper off a bit. As far as that goes, we started shooting today. As a recap: this term, all the guerilla groups have to do a five minute documentary shot on 16mm about a process, an artist/individual, or a non-profit organization. My group chose the process of acupuncture. After switching acupuncturists (the first lady we went to wasn't able to give us the necessary shooting time), we got going and developed a good relationship with our new guy, Neil. We were all set to shoot 9am-9pm Friday and Saturday and call it a done deal, when he phones us that he can only give us 9-1 on Friday. Not a HUGE deal, we don't have tons of coverage anyway. After all- it's pretty much a room smaller in size than my dorm with a table in the middle. There's only so much we can shoot with that. So we show up today and do actually really well. In the three and a half hours that we actually were shooting we got off 15 shots in 13 setups (a little less than half our planned coverage) while only shooting 200 of our 800 feet of film.

Then comes the news that Neil can't shoot at ALL tomorrow, because his daughter is now coming to town or something. We're now shooting our second day on Wednesday from 9 until class at 6. As long as he can give us that time for sure and not back out again, I think we'll be fine. We were moving a lot faster than I thought we would have, and I had to improv a lot of setups today and still managed to get a decent amount done without compromising lighting, so I'm not terribly concerned. So long as everything comes back in focus and properly exposed, my job has been done well. If we don't get enough coverage, that's kind of on the director.

I'm really surprised with how well I've been dealing with this whole thing. I haven't lost my cool once, whereas in the past I most likely would have gotten panicked and freaked out. Sam, our producer, was more worried than I was and that's rare. I'm taking this as a good sign that I'm adjusting well to the pressures of being a DP. More news to come on the rest of the shoot.

There ARE some advantages to this, however. Since we're not shooting tomorrow, I'm going to fill in as dolly grip on one of the cooler third year shows AND get to run The Return of the King, which I had to initially give up because I thought I'd be working on the doc. Also, the light meter I usually borrow from my friend Brandon will be available on Wednesday, so I won't have to use my SLR as a spot meter anymore. This is a very good thing. Even with a 35-80 zoom, you have to basically stick the camera right next to the subject to get your reading. It was kind of a pain.

In other news, we pitched ten minute scripts this week. I'm happy with how I did. I didn't blow the faculty away by any means, but I do know that I had them thinking. The screenwriting faculty really like my script a lot and the only strike I have right now is that there isn't anyone attached to it at the moment. And that's not even a strike, really, it just puts a different spin on it when they're deciding what goes out and who should be working on them. Even if it doesn't get picked, I have plenty of shows I'm more than excited to work on and it'll just give me an excuse to make a horror movie over the summer with Schnitz and whoever else. We find out Monday what scripts got approved, so expect an update around then. And, as a side note, I looked REALLY hot- Miranda and I used pitches as a good reason to buy some newer dress clothes. Tres chic, lemme tell ya.

I 2nd AC'd last weekend on a third year music video, and had a lot of fun. There was some annoyance with this other girl who kept trying to weasle her way into my job, but it worked out fine since I couldn't be there the whole time anyway. The band was cool, the camera crew was filled with friends of mine and I may have actually gotten a gig in a band myself. Morgan, a fourth year DP, and I were sitting in her car with some other togs (cinematographers) waiting for the band to show up to a location and were eating our crew meal, listening to CDs and singing along. She mentions that she and some other film students that I know are in a band and need a singer, and since she thinks I sound a bit like Ben Gibbard (yeah, right) that I should give it a shot. We'll see what happens when I get some time to hang out with them next time they practice. Should be fun or at least worth a laugh.

And last but not least, Kenny has very generously gotten me a cell phone! Good timing, too, since my room phone has been on the fritz more and more lately and I've been IN the room to answer it almost never. I should be getting it by Tuesday or Wednesday next week. I'm excited- now I only have a light meter left to get and I'll be a REAL film student *Pinocchio voice*. There's a big limit on my minutes, so I'm more or less planning to use it as a walkie-talkie. "Hey, where are you?" "My room" "Bring that book over, ok?" "Sure, seeya." That should be about the extent of my conversations. And I don't care if I have to pay a little extra, but I'm going to see if I can get a James Bond ringtone. Tee hee, I'm such a geek. Thanks again, Kenny!

ANYWAY, this was a long ass post and I'd like to watch some special features on the Black Hawk Down DVD Sam just got me before I go to sleep (he owed me about $30 for buying his share of the ditty bag equipment). 6am call, so I better watch fast- the making-of doc is 150 minutes long. Adios!

Song Currently Playing: The sound from Angela's Ashes (I'm in the booth)

Only preliminary...

2005-01-21T04:52:00.000-05:00

The booth monkeys have begun their top ten of the year lists, so here is mine. Keep in mind, this list is written having not seen The Aviator, Closer, Ray or Mean Creek and will therefore most likely change upon the viewing of these and other movies. As it stands, here we go:

10. Shaun of the Dead
9. Collateral
8. Kill Bill vol. 2
7. In Good Company
6. Good Bye, Lenin!
5. Garden State
4. The Bourne Supremacy
3. The Incredibles
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
1. Kinsey

Let the discussions BEGIN!

Song Currently Playing: California- Rufus Wainwright

UGH!

2005-01-19T01:48:00.000-05:00

My brain is kind of fried right now. Tuesdays are teh suck this term- 10 hours of classes in one day. The rest of this week is a shit storm, too- acting in Joe's scene tomorrow, four chapters to read for Foundations on Thursday, shooting location slides AND getting to set to 2nd AC a third year on Friday, and finding time to plan out or doc in every way possibly imaginable. It's getting down to crunch time and we've still got a lot to do. We'll be fine so long as we solidify all the plans we tentatively have right now by the weekend.

In Good Company was a good movie, I went last night with Kyger and B-Zac. Topher Grace has a good career in front of him, so long as he keeps picking worthwhile projects to do. His cameo in Ocean's Twelve was hilarious, he did a really good job in Traffic and I hear for what he was given, he did a decent job in Win A Date With Tad Hamilton. I look forward to seeing him come into his own in the near future. Dennis Quaid was good as always and Scarlette Johannsen has been on my good list since Lost In Translation (she is also, according to my two hetero counterparts, THE hottest girl alive). She's kind of like the new Winona Ryder as far as indie movies go, except a lot more talented.

I missed the Golden Globes, but I hope the awards people got all the kinks out of their system before the Oscars. Sideways really didn't deserve a screenplay award over Eternal Sunshine and Kate Winslet should have gotten something other than the nomination. We'll see how much ranting I'll be doing in a month or so when they announce the Academy Award nominations. I'm confident that whatever gets nominated will be a good movie, seeing how amazing this past year was for filmmaking, so I'm happy for that.

It got fucking COLD. I'm not happy. I was enjoying the illogically warm temperatures and sunny skies. Now we have snow on the forecast in the next few days. The local news (possibly THE worst news program I have ever seen, by the way) did a whole piece on asking people how they felt about the cold weather. Like they're surprised that it's cold in the winter. Duh.

This weather makes me want to cuddle. I have no one to cuddle with. Ergo- not happy. That and being cold sucks. I need sleep, I've been too grouchy all damn day. And I swear to god- if my shit doesn't show up from FilmTools in the mail tomorrow I am going to raise hell at UPS and make them to send it to me overnight for no charge and possibly grovel or something. I've been waiting two weeks and I have production THIS FRIDAY that requires this equipment that is currently stuck in parcel purgatory. It's like my order has been blinked into the cornfield or something. Ugh! I hate going to bed when I'm annoyed. Especially now that I've been moved to the top bunk. I HATE the top bunk.

Song Currently Playing: Lie In Our Graves (Live)- Dave Matthews Band

Wetness

2005-01-14T03:47:00.000-05:00

Man, playing in the rain rocks. I mean, like ROCKS. And the fact that I'm doing it in the middle of January and not worried about hypothermia is even better. North Carolina kicks so much ass right now, it's not even funny.

Song Currently Playing: Stay- Dave Matthews Band

School and Spelunking

2005-01-10T18:19:00.000-05:00

So classes are in full swing, we started out first full week today with directing. I'm liking the way our classes seem to be structured this term, especially Wayne's class. Last term I didn't feel like I was learning directing, really, as much as I was memorizing what someone's notion or concrete formats of directing was. This term, each class is filled by the presentation of two scenes from plays or movies directed by two different students. We watch the scenes, discuss what worked and didn't, talk about how the director approached it, then play around with it some by giving the actors notes to change up the dynamic. It's a great way to see exactly how the rythym can change when all you do is give one of the actors a verb like coerce or seduce. It's actual DIRECTING, and it's awesome. I can't wait to act in the ones I've been asked to be in, they've sort of reminded what it was about theater that I loved in high school.

We have a new subject for our documentary. He's still an acupuncturist but a different one. Our first candidate proved to be less available than we had originally thought (six hours of shooting time is not NEARLY enough for the coverage we want). This new guy sounds a lot more proactive and interested in the process and has given us access for an entire three day weekend, whatever hours we want. We may have to miss the Super Bowl, and Kyger seems a bit miffed about that but I'm saying tough shit. I'd much rather shoot a movie. I honestly don't think it will be a problem. If he lets us in to shoot on Friday, we can go for twelve hours two days straight before Sunday. I imagine that whatever footage we'd need to finish on the third day would be minimal, especially if we hussle the first two days.

So I did possibly the coolest thing in the world on Saturday. I get back from the screening of Intolerable Cruelty in Main (it was pretty meh, though Clooney was fantastic) and run into Joey looking all geared up for something, quite literally. Come to pass that he and a bunch of people were going to check out an abandoned shopping mall in Greensboro. Naturally, I was up for the adventure so I grabbed my flashlight and hopped on board. It turned out to be a bunch of first years, some of which I knew and some I didn't. We drive out there and wind up parked in the emptiest lot I have ever seen, staring at the most dilapidated mall I've ever seen. I mean this place was EMPTY.

We ventured inside and my jaw dropped. It was like a fucking dream come true. Imagine Dawn of the Dead, AFTER the zombies got into the mall. There was basically everything in there that our parents would kill us for walking around in- inches of broken glass, wiring hanging from the ceilings, trashed store fronts and naked shelves, grafitti everywhere. We even found what looked like a pretty sizeable pool of blood behind one of the counters in the food court. People must have been coming to this place for years. If there was something glass, it was broken. If there was something worth while, it had been stolen. It's just a film geeks wet dream. I mean you don't GET art direction that good. Hell, it was too good- we'd have to clean the place up. I found stairs to the roof and basements, both extremely cool.

We got the entire thing on Joey's camera and had an absolute blast. We got back to school, got some Wendy's and watched the tape while we drank some JD and ate burgers. It was just a good night. Someone heard about an abandoned hospital not far from the mall that sounds even cooler. I want to go :-D

Anyway, crews start up pretty soon, so I'm looking forward to it. I passed my mag loading workshop so I can now officially 2nd AC/Load on third year film shoots. And as soon as my slate, AC pouch and ditty bag show up in the mail I'll be all set as a happy cinematographer. Anyway, I'm off to finish my reading and hopefully get some writing done tonight. Wish me luck!

Song Currently Playing: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)- Kenny Rogers/First Edition

Fighting Pickles- ASSEMBLE!

2005-01-06T01:49:00.000-05:00

Well, winter break has officially ended and I am back at NCSA, enjoying all my higher education in the film arts has to offer. This break went by insanely fast, but I can safely say it was one of the best I've had. Surprisingly, I'm not having as much trouble as I thought I would getting back into a semi-decent sleep schedule so far. I'm going to try to keep the good habits going as long as possible- I've already made good on my resolution to drink more water, so I plan to keep my own word and get to the fitness center whenever I can.

The weather here in North Carolina is fucking GORGEOUS! To all you fellow Buffalonians, please note the date. January 5th and I was walking around outside in shorts and a t-shirt. :-D

Anyway, not much to report yet seeing as I only had my first class only a few hours ago. Suffice it to say that despite my very enjoyable break I am extremely happy to be back at school and getting things started. It's always refreshing to come back after my batteries have been charged and see everyone in such good spirits. It says a lot when everyone at your college was at home and wanting to get back to classes. OOH! My schedule rocks this term- Tuesdays and Thursdays are busy as usual, but Monday and Wednesday I only have one class (and Wednesday's isn't until 6pm) and NOTHING on Friday!! I have a free day everyweek to do work, crew, sleep in, run errands, whatever. It's a very good thing.

Song Currently Playing: Alcohol- Barenaked Ladies

Why not?

2005-01-01T07:05:00.000-05:00

These things are fun- I haven't done one since I was a sophomore or freshman in high school.

a b o u t . y o u
[ full name ] Scott Daniel DuVall
[ birth date ] February 25th, 1985
[ location ] Winston-Salem, NC; Buffalo, NY
[ height ] 6'1''
[ hair color ] Dark, dark brown
[ hair type ] Wavy, but it's too short to do that
[ skin color ] White
[ eye color ] Green/Orange, so I guess hazel
[ piercings ] None
[ tattoos ] Nope

m u s i c
[ do you play any instruments? ] Not really
[ if so, what one(s)? ] I dabbled in guitar and piano
[ favorite genres of music ] Anything
[ favorite band ] Hmm.... I guess I'd still have to say Dave Matthews Band
[ do you go to concerts and/or shows? ] I try to
[ what is the most you've ever spent on a concert/show? ] $45.00
[ what is the least you've ever spent? ] Nothing- gotta love Thursday in the Square
[ do you think buying merch at a concert then wearing it there is corny? ] Maybe a little, but it sure beats carrying it around
[ do you listen to any bands that you'd be ashamed to admit to listening to? ] Nah

r i g h t . n o w
[ pants you're wearing? ] Old Navy cargos
[ shirt you're wearing? ] White button down with light blue stripes from Good Will (sleeves rolled up) over a black t-shirt
[ music listening to? ] Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
[ taste in your mouth? ] Alcohol
[ how are you? ] Content
[ tired? ] A little
[ happy? ] Extremely
[ depressed? ] Not in the least

l o v e
[ boyfriend? ] I wish
[ girlfriend? ] don't think so
[ sexuality? ] gay
[ are you a virgin? ] Ha, no
[ children? ] Haven't spawned any yet, no
[ current crush? ] That's a little incriminating, don't you think?
[ been in love? ] I honestly don't know
[ do you believe there's a difference between "love" and "in love"? ] Yes
[ is it better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all? ] You bet your ass
[ are you romantic? ] Too much so
[ had a hard time getting over someone? ] God yes
[ been hurt? ] Yup
[ your greatest regret? ] I don't really have any
[ turn offs ] Big egos, people who think the sun rises and sets on their ass
[ favorite place to be touched?] Stomach, hair
[ what song describes you now? ] Clark Gable by The Postal Service

r a n d o m
[ do you have a job ] Yes, I'm a projectionist (and it RAWKS!)
[ your cd player has in it right now ] Probably something my roommate owns, I just listen to my iTunes
[ if you were a crayon what color would you be ] Green
[ do you use internet shorthand (i.e. 'lol', 'brb', 'jk')? ] Sparingly

Thirteen random things you like (in no particular order):
01- Gummy candy
02- Movies/Filmmaking
03- Frisbee
04- Men
05- Cartoons
06- Zombies
07- Billiards
08- Whiskey
09- My friends
10- Sleeping In
11- Pets
12- Music
13- James Bond

Twelve movies:
01- Fight Club
02- The Graduate
03- Requiem For A Dream
04- Princess Mononoke
05- The Lord of the Rings
06- The Rules of Attraction
07- Ronin
08- Die Hard
09- From Russia With Love
10- The Manchurian Candidate
11- Dawn of the Dead
12- Lost In Translation

Eleven bands/artists:
01- Dave Matthews Band
01- Coldplay
02- The Sheila Divine
03- The Beatles
04- Keane
05- Sigur Ros
06- Thomas Newman
07- Guster
08- Rufus Wainwright
09- The Cure
10- Death Cab For Cutie
11- The Postal Service

Ten things about you physically:
01- Tall
02- Skinny
03- Pale
04- Nasal
05- Glasses
06- Thick eyebrows
07- Misaligned bottom teeth
08- Nice smile
09- Funny laugh (especially when drunk)
10- I slouch

Nine good friends NO particular order:
01- Sam
02- Fitz
03- Joe
04- Taylor
05- Miranda
06- Phil
07- Olivia
08- Morgan
09- Ryan

Eight favorite foods/drinks:
01- Root Beer
02- Filet Mignon
03- Rum and Coke
04- Wonton Soup
05- Lo Mein
06- Meatloaf
07- Milk
08- Jack Daniels

Seven things you wear daily:
01- Glasses
02- Watch
03- A t-shirt
04- Boxer briefs
05- A buttoned-down shirt (over the t-shirt)
06- Sneakers
07- Trench coat

Six things that annoy you:
01- Bad drivers
02- Ignorance
03- Blind stubornness
04- Prejudice
05- Placation
06- Egos

Five things you touch everyday:
01- My laptop
02- My toothbrush
03- My pillow
04- My dresser
05- My pockets

Four channels/shows you watch:
01- Cartoon Network
02- The Amazing Race
03- Cowboy Bebop
04- Six Feet Under

Three people you have had a crush on:
01- Orlando Bloom
02- Stefan Lessard
03- Jeff Ruiz

Two things you hate/dont like:
01- Racism
02- Ignorance

One thing you love:
01- Cuddling

Coincidentally, this is also my first post of the new year. It was very fun- I spent it having drinks with Phil, Olivia, Robin and Nick Brown and playing Shout About Movies (a very good game). It was an extremely enjoyable time and very nice to share it with my good friends. Afterwards, I had a very lengthy and very nice conversation with my new friend Sam, which was just as enjoyable (a different Sam than mentioned in previous posts). There isn't terribly much else to report, it was a pretty low-key New Year's, but not in a bad way. Happy New Year to everyone! Get your resolutions in order because the clock has now begun ticking ;-) I sincerely hope everyone had a great holiday season!

Song Currently Playing: Stomping Grounds- Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

A Whole Lot of Stuff

2004-12-29T04:43:00.000-05:00

PHEW! What an eventful few days!

So Christmas was very enjoyable this year. It felt good to see all the cousins from the DuVall side of the family in one room (two of which with their significant-others-turned-fiance's- congrats Katie and Dave!). It wasn't quite enough to make up for lost time from Thanksgiving, but it was very nice nonetheless. Eric and I did our annual travelogue of Western New York, and got quite the tour when we wound up running the length of possibly the longest road in the county (Transit Road) twice on the way to Ken and Denise's house. Eric practices the trial-and-error method of driving- make a right, drive a bit. Hmm, not there. Turn around, drive a bit. Hmm, not there. Turn around, drive farther than the first time. Rinse. Repeat. One hour and a quarter tank of gas later, we eventually got there and had a great time and a fantastic meal (prime rib, YUM!).

So yesterday I tried my hand at skiing for the first time ever, to surprisingly decent success. Amy, Tracy and Uncle Dan and I went out to Holiday Valley for a day on the slopes and had an extremely nice, relaxing, fun time. By the end of the day I can honestly say I had a decent grasp of how to move. I made my last two runs without any stalls or collapses. I did plow into a five year old before lunch, but it was one of those things that looked far worse than it actually was. I'm not sure if it was his fault or mine, but either way our paths crossed somewhat violently and he had himself a good cry. The mother was very kind about it, thankfully, and the kid was all right from what we could tell, so no harm no foul. It's too bad it's such an expensive hobby, because it's a lot of fun. That and a LOT of hot guys go skiing. I'm a bit sore today, but it was worth it.

After that I went to Kenny's brother Steve's house for dinner. It was an extremely nice time. Steve and Michelle are incredible hosts, and very good company. The food was excellent as always and the wine was very good indeed. By the time we go to the bottle of port, I found myself diving for the cherry pie to combat the wobbliness. An evening of fine food, fine wine and good conversation. All of which I indulged in freely and enjoyed thoroughy.

Phil and Olivia are officially back in Buffalo. I met up with them and just about every other senior friend I had my freshman year of high school at Nicole's apartment after I left dinner at Steve and Michelle's. It was great to just sit around and shoot the shit. I hadn't seen Phil and Liv since they moved almost two years ago and it feels like they never left. I'm going to arrange some more time to see them over break and most certainly spend New Year's Eve in their company, so I'm looking forward to that very much.

I finally got to see Sarah tonight! After several missed phone calls and emails, we arranged a time to meet up. Our usual spot, Higher Grounds, was closed so we went to Tom's restaurant down the street and had a nice quick meal, coffee and Scrabble. We did as much catching up as two people can do in two hours at a diner, but it was just good to see her again. She remains the ultimate Scrabble buddy. I will make it a point to crash her wedding this summer, come hell or high water if for nothing else than to see her in a dress. ;-)

After she and I parted ways, I stayed home and indulged in the special features of my brand-spanking new The Return of the King Extended Edition DVD. Let me tell you- any movie whose making-of documentary makes me cry commands attention. Mom and I both were getting pretty teary-eyed by the time they got to wrapping principle photography and saying goodbye to the cast members. I can't even begin to imagine what listening to the cast commentary is going to be like. I'll probably be bawling my eyes out right alongside them.

I've got to say, this is by far the most rewarding DVD I own. It showcases everything that I love and find exciting or interesting about filmmaking both in front of and behind the cameras. The dedication, the love, the skill, the creativity. It's all there in spades. Everything- the nuances of performance, busting ass to make some serious deadlines, the commraderie that exists on film crews and the rewarding feeling you get from a job well done and a movie that is well received. Watching this thing has made me want to run out with a camera and make something. This movie, this DVD IS fucking filmmaking. If anyone asks me what it's like to be a filmmaker or why I do it- from now on, I'll tell them to watch these special features.

I know it may seem like I do this a bit too often, but I don't think I do it often enough, and that is just standing back and looking at how lucky I am to be doing what I love on a daily basis and making the friends I'm making. I love the challenges, I love the process, I love the ingenuity. I wish everyone could love what they do for a living as much as I do. I consider myself truly blessed to have these opportunities and to have found something I can be entirely content and happy with for the rest of my life. If you don't love what you do- change that fact. Do whatever you can. It's worth it, trust me.

Song Currently Playing: Into The West- Howard Shore/Annie Lennox, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

A Fun Little Thing...

2004-12-26T05:29:00.000-05:00

As per the arrangement, here we go:

A: First, recommend to me:
1. a movie:
2. a book:
3. a musical artist, song, or album:

B: I want everyone who reads this to ask me three questions, no more, no less. Ask me anything you want and I shall answer.

C: Then I want you to go to your journal/blog, copy and paste this allowing your friends to ask you anything.

Ask away! I won't be shy!

Song Currently Playing: Friday I'm In Love- The Cure

Play It Again

Randomness

Greetings from Sunny North Carolina!

Some Brief Reviews

Indie Comics Like WOAH!

Best. Video. EVER.

So then this happened...

Another Milestone

A Milestone?

"The M-180..."

Working Stiff

Holy F'in Crap!

THE Summer Movie

Tarnation

Boofalo.

Something cool:

Oh

Beaux Arts

Cars

Hope Springs Eternal

The Umple

The Done Club

Mission: Impossible III

Another Kind of Music Game

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Happy 4:20

Random:

Goals

One Cool Ass Music Video

The Top Ten Films of 2005

Bullshit:

The Doll House Weekend

Happenings

Tesseract

Marie Antoinette

A Tragic Sense of Loss

The 336

2006

Lyrics Game Answers

2005 in Movies

Lyrics Game- THE RETURN

Logo

Booth Monkey Road Trip

The 716

Rize

X3

Let It Snow.... PLEASE

Gobble, yo!

Good Bye, Foley!

New Favorite Thing:

Batman: The Animated Series

Happy Halloween

Asheville

Varekai

Cold(er) Weather

Jack O.

Schwifty-five

Lost: Season 1

Revelations?

The Dog Days of Summer

Twister Texas Hold 'Em

Long Time No See

Gentleman Reg

Land of the Dead

Home, part II

Thursday in the Square

Music Stuff

Eyesight, Undertow and Aviator

Happy Summer

Yay!

Beaux Arts

Episode III

Beaches Kick Ass

Time Flies

*Frown*

Oi!

Answers

The Nature of Robert

Stuff and Things, not neccessarily in that order...

Lyrics Game

Frown