Memento: A Movie You Will Never Forget

Even though I believe I only very briefly mentioned this film before in a much earlier post, after recent discussions in my psychology class I realized how much this creative and crazy film deserves a full post. Memento is a film written and directed by Christopher Nolan and it showcases Guy Pearce playing Leonard Shelby, a man who has no short-term memory. Even though he says in the film it is not amnesia, as I learned in my psychology class, Shelby actually has anterograde amnesia. Throughout the film Leonard tries to seek vengeance for the rape and murder of his wife by finding a “John G.” This process of detective work is hard for Shelby because of his anterograde amnesia, which makes him unable to remember new facts and memories.

The film does a wide variety of things to help accurately convey Shelby’s condition to the audience. Shelby can remember the events leading up to his wife’s murder but is unable to make new memories. To combat this he writes notes, tattoos his body, and takes Polaroid pictures so he can remember this information and find the mysterious “John G.” figure. It is still tough for Shelby especially since characters like Teddy and Natalie are telling me contrasting stories and information. These notes and reminders give Shelby help in “remembering” where he is in the case.

Another interesting thing the film does is present the story in two different sequences. One sequence is in color and is shown in reverse and the other sequence is in black and white and is shown in chronological order. These two sequences then converge at the end of the film and thus create one full story. This is done to put the audience in the main character’s shoes. By not being able to recall the events in the color sequence (since the audience does not what happened before them during their first viewing) they are experiencing short-term memory loss and Shelby’s inability to remember what happened after his wife’s death. To help further understand this “sujet” or presentation of the film Andy Klein for Salon magazine numbered the black and white timeline with the numbers 1-22 and the lettered the color timeline with the letters A-V. After the opening credits the sequence starts at 1 and is followed by V, 2, U, 3, T, 4, S and so on until finally 22/A and the end credits.

Two of my favorite moments from the film are when an event in Shelby’s life runs too long and he forgets where he is and what he is doing during it. For example he finds a wounded and injured man in his hotel room and asks him who did this to him only for the guy to respond, “you did!” Another great moment is when he is running through a trailer park and wonders what he is doing there. He sees a guy running on the other side of some trailers and thinks he must be pursuing that guy. He begins to chase him only to realize he is actually running away from him!

Memento is a crazy thrill ride directed by Christopher Nolan and a great film not only for a film or psychology student like I am but also for anyone in general. The film does a good job (especially for most Hollywood films) portraying psychological conditions like anterograde amnesia. While I could go on all day about unique and creative this film is many of you will probably forget about this post. But please do not forget to check out Memento when you have a chance over the holiday break. Believe me it will be a movie you will never forget!

Rule of Corny

This is a writing trick that not many people like to use, because it either creates unwarranted fame or results in their death or the deaths of others. Puns are dangerous weapons, mind.

RULE: The limit of the willing suspension of disbelief for a given element is directly proportional to how corny the element is, as long as the writer knows it's corny.

Think about it: How many times has some character pulled a cheap pun or trick for the sake of humor? In this way, the Rule of Corny is related to the Rule of Funny, where reality can take a rain check if a certain element is too hilarious to fail.

Our project, entitled "CIA", meddles with the Rule, because the movie is about cookies. What's the name? "Cookie Intelligence Agency." Groan.

What about the beginning to CSI: Miami? "We've got a serial killer who murders his victims based on puns!" "I guess our suspect isn't... *sunglasses*... clowning around." YEAHHHHHHH! (Groan.)

In conclusion, corniness can work if it's conscious corniness. Otherwise, you look stupid. You are stupid. Puns are stupid. But they're so fun. They're pun-sational. Kill me.

Time Lapse

Dynamic Perception - Introduction to Shoot Move Shoot Mode from Dynamic Perception on Vimeo.

Time lapse are very cool to watch but no one knows that there is preparation that has to go into them, especially when you want to incorporate movement. I follow this one website on my Twitter called fstoppers and there was a tutorial on how to shoot time lapse's, especially with movement.

I found this very interesting and want to do some cool time lapse of LA or Ithaca when I have my own camera and gear. For those of you who have DSLRs and looking to make a lot of money, start looking to to time lapse because any network or sporting event is always looking for time lapses to air during a "Coming Up" or "Thank Our Sponsors."

The Not so Magical Voyage

So last week I watched a movie called The Magical Voyage. It was bad. The only saving grace about it was that it was a children's movie and was cute. I guess it was a German movie originally and dubbed into English. They did a terrible job of this. The jokes are not funny, they use the same voice for two different characters, and they use the same sound bite 3 times within a minute of each other. Heres a portion of the movie. The multiple sound bites are at 7:46, 8:12, 8:34. See if you can spot the characters with the same voice.

Mercedes McCambridge

So last Friday night, a friend of mine and I decided to not go out that night, and chose instead to spend the night in, pigging out on pizza and watching horror movies. After much debate, we decided to watch William Friedkin's The Exorcist. The film has always been one of my favorites, but I have never really put too much thought into how it was made, but instead tried to completely immerse myself in the experience when watching it. This time, after being thrilled once again by the film (and having my friend leave absolutely terrified,) I looked more into what scared me the most about the film, which was the sounds, and more specifically, the voice of The Demon.

After a bit of research, I found that the voice of “Regan,” the possessed little girl in the film, was actually voiced by radio actress Mercedes McCambridge, who only got credit for her contributions to the movie after its release. McCambridge told directors that she needed to drink raw eggs, constantly smoke cigarettes, and drink heavily in order to do the proper voice for The Demon in the film. At the time, McCambridge was battling alcoholism, and ironically enough, requested that her priest be on set with her when she fell off the wagon in order for her to continue to be somewhat in control of herself. I would defiantly suggest taking a look at the clip, where she explains in further detail what she had to go through in order to get the perfect sound. It's a very informative look at sound design for anyone looking to find out more about the combined sounds of the film, or just horror movie buffs in general. Enjoy!

Mercedes McCambridge Interview

Men In Black III

I have always been a little weary of franchises that try and make a come back after many years due to a large line of failed attempts for sequels, but despite myself I was excited when I saw that Men In Black was making third movie. Many franchise after being dormant for years try and make a come back, I assume most of their motives are purely to make the next big block buster and many have failed for that reason. When you aim to make a movie purely so it will be a block buster summer hit it can often fall short of all the hype you inevitably create around it. Such examples are the fourth Indiana Jones movie and the new Star Wars movies to name two. A movie has to be made out of love and creativity in order for the fans to get behind and support it. I was not very surprised when I read that they were making a new MIB movie because it is in vogue to remake old movies or bring back a dead franchise, but when I saw the trailer I was happily surprised that they seemed to have a new take on the story. As most fans of most franchises will say, I liked the first movie the best, however the second one did an alright job pick up from a story that had seemingly ended. Though I am skeptical, I will definitely stand in line next year and see what a 10 year gap can do for this story.

Extra, Extra, Read All About It

Over the past couple of years, I have been a pretty avid follower of the yahoo top news stories. I know its not the greatest link for news, but it gets the job done and helps me stay knowledgable about what's current. Recently, I just saw an article that talked about movie extra's in feature films and how people will do anything to even have a chance to be on the big screen. The producers and directors will normally send out a mass invite to anyone in the local area interested in part taking in his/her feature film. This past summer, I drove out to Heinz Field In Pittsburgh, PA to be apart of the The Dark Knight Rises. The final batman movie had a scene in the stadium where the main villain interrupts the game being played with explosives and fireworks. It was sweet to see all the cast members and have the chance to be in the background of a very popular soon to be film.

At the end of the article i was reading, the author provided a link to a youtube video of the world's most used extra. The video identified the person in over 50 films and

shows, a pretty impressive number if you ask me. The man's name is Jesse Heiman,

a 33 year old actor who still to this day plays teenagers and young adults in the backgrounds of many films. In some cases, the actor is paid for the countless second he is on the screen for. I thought it was cool to have a chance to be in one movie, but this guy has been in over 50, a number that will probably never be topped.

Jack Nicholson and Koyaanisqatsi

I have been accepting my penance for neglecting the blog and have been watching a bunch of movies. While watching Chinatown I was reminded just how much I like Jack Nicholson's acting. The scene in Chinatown that brought this to mind is when he is telling a joke and cackling after the punchline while Evelyn Mulwray stands behind him. There is something about his intensity that I don't think other actors can come close to. All of his movies allow him to showcase this intensity perfectly. Even people that haven't seen The Shining can relate to this image.



Even his performance recently in The Departed had the same amount of craziness. His ability to act intimidating was perfect for a Boston crime boss. It is completely believable to me that Jack Nicholson could take several shots from Matt Damon, play dead for several seconds and sit up briefly to fire a few more times just before dying simply to terrify his opponent. Even his appearance at Lakers games is entertaining to me. Seeing him sitting court side and standing up to step onto the court at questionable calls by the refs is hilarious.

Another film I watched is Koyaanisqatsi. Francis Ford Coppolla's experimental film that features no dialogue and interesting time lapse shots of civilization. I didn't know what to expect going into the movie but after watching it I believe that it was one of the most powerful films I have seen. The overall tone of the film is that human civilization is unsustainable and our behavior is quickly destroying the planet. Filmed in 1982 it is far beyond its time and it was released way before it was cool to be green. It also came out 24 years before An Inconvenient Truth, made about 47 million dollars less, and unlike Al Gore Coppolla didn't win a Nobel Peace Prize. But I found Koyaanisqatsi to be much much more powerful than Al Gore's production. Its message that humans are messing up is delivered without a single word, graph, chart, politician, or image of cute animals suffering. I suggest that everyone check it out as it is available for free on YouTube.

I would also like to agree with Andrew's post. I feel as though school often diminishes my creativity and replaces it with stress and frustration.

Showtime Series: Opening Credits

I am a huge fan of many of the series that Showtime currently has on air (and many that are sadly no longer on.) Just a few weeks ago, I became hooked on Shameless--yet another compelling series to add to the list of Showtime programming that I absolutely adore.

One of the things that really engage me about Shameless (aside from the fantastic acting and always compelling writing), is their opening credits. As I began to think more about it, I realized that many of the series that Showtime has, have very interesting opening credits and reveal a lot about what the show is about to the audience. Nowadays, shows tend to have much shorter opening credits—if any at all. Think about the quick opening of Modern Family and Community. Their openings are approximately thirty seconds long or shorter. It seems that nowadays, shows are choosing to cut down time by having shorter credits, but Showtime (and HBO) have maintained longer opening credits that are visually interesting, and revealing about the series.

Let’s take a look at Dexter. It is a show about a serial killer who works for the Miami Metro Police Department. The opening credits to the show, doesn’t show one image of him killing anyone. But the images are so powerful because they are extremely close up and even though it is an orange being juiced, and laces being tied, they convey a deeper meaning. The song being played conveys precision, as well as mystery. The shots are gruesome and make you cringe and when in combination with the music—it makes the perfect opening to the show.



Shameless on the other hand is pretty explicit with their opening sequence. The song playing in the background immediately expresses chaos and distraction. The show is about a poor and dysfunctional family trying to survive on Chicago’s southside in spite of their drunk father. The opening sequence features every main character and shows a bit of their personality—and it all takes place in a bathroom, a very private place. Unfortunately for the Gallagher family, there is no privacy, so the opening credits fit exactly.

Click here to view the video: Shameless Opening

The other show that I watch on Showtime is The Big C (view my previous blogpost.) It is about a woman, Cathy, dealing with cancer. Their opening credits are very representative of Cathy’s state. In the credits, she is inside a pool, looking out on the world as they stare at her every move. It is apparent that Cathy wants to feel free but instead feels trapped. The song playing is about life, which of course is very fitting since the entire theme of the show is about the struggles that come with life.



Opening credits aren't something that I often think about, but they appear to be a powerful tool in engaging an audience. It is after all, the first thing that a person sees before the show begins, so it must speak for the series.

TV majors or New Media?

I realized that doing a weekly blog post on TV is trickier than I originally thought. Besides the fact that I am slow at this stuff and people already made blog posts of topics I want to talk about, I do not watch TV. I have no time to sit down and watch an episode or two of a show (well I do have the time I just rather play Skyward Sword or League of Legends, it is all about priorities).

However I make time for web series and content, even if I do not have time for them I quickly watch a video on the internet for a quick laugh or something. Some of my favorites are Mega 64, 5secondfilms and Epic Meal time.

These are hilarious and wildly successful web series but one can easily argue that the production quality is not always top notch, that a normal person with a camera and a good idea can make those videos. But I think that is why they are so entertaining, they have great ideas and that is what matters.

Ithaca does a good job teaching us about how to hold a camera, to set up lights and edit a video but I think we lack a focus of creativity. Do not get me wrong I enjoy free range on some of my projects but guidance would also be a great help. More classes that builds on imagination and doing something different. We are taught to make great normal videos, but when will they teach us how to make the next big hit on youtube?

A Mistake I Will Never Make Again

For the past month I have been capturing footage for a demo that I have been making for my future employer, Forever Wild Outdoors. This company is an outdoor production company with a focus on hunting and fishing. There are currently 4 outdoor related networks on television today and for me to combine my passion and my career in one is a dream. Each network has a different price that it requires each show to pay in order to get on the air. For the top two channels, Versus (which is changing to the NBC Sports Network on January 2, 2012) and The Outdoor Channel, the fee is in upwards of $200,000. These are the top two channels and they have both converted to HD format this past year. The other two channels, The Sportsman's Channel and the Pursuit Channel, have significantly less expensive fees which range from $35,000 to $75,000 depending on the quarter your show airs.

I am creating this demo to send out to sponsors in order to obtain support from different companies, so that these upfront massive fees do not have to come straight out of pocket. Unfortunately I ran into a problem during capturing footage that I hope to never do again.

Everyone knows that when you are going to capture footage from MiniDV that you have to reset your scratch disks to the proper folder you are saving your final cut project file too. Unfortunately because I was in a hurry to get going yesterday I remembered this "day 1" fact half way through my capturing process. I then figured if I just grab the folders that Final Cut puts in each scratch disk folder from the place where it began saving and put it on my hard drive that this would allow the files to be online. However when I tried working on my home computer, they became offline.

I don't know if anyone has run into this problem, but I figured I would share what to do to fix this and save you some valuable time instead of recapturing everything. The main issue with the files being offline is that Final Cut was looking for the scratch disk folder was on the Park computers desktop that the first half of my files were saved too. Of course I didn't have this folder on my hard drive, only the folders inside of it. The first step you need to do is find the clips that were captured within the folders, and they are split up in the capture scratch folder and the audio capture folder. Once you find these files, the next step is to reconnect them. In your project bin, highlight the files that are offline and right click and select reconnect media. In the window that pops us select search and a window will pop up that allows you to find the spot where your files are.

Once in the folder where your video files are select the first one and press connect. This should reconnect the video portion of your files, but they will still appear offline inside of your project bin. This only means that the audio is offline. When you drag the video portion into the timeline the video will be fine to render and work with but not the audio. In order to get the audio online you do the same process as before only when you search for your files again you will find them in the audio capture scratch folder. Select the first one again and select reconnect and this should reconnect each clip you previously rendered fully.

This was a very confusing process, but the way Final Cut handles the saving of each project, I have now realized how beneficial it is. My advice for myself and anyone with this same problem, is to first off always reset your scratch disks, and secondly if you make this mistake to always know where each clip your are capturing is located in each scratch disk folder that way if anything like what happened to me ever happens, the process of reconnecting your files can be easier than recapturing everything all over again.

Internships

It's getting to be around that time where we start looking for summer internships. When I studied in London last semester, I was lucky enough to get an internship at Objective Productions. They're a pretty big company in central London that produces everything from magic to comedy, creating hits such as Peep Show and Tool Academy. While it is a great thing to put on my resume, it wasn't the best experience. I was the only unpaid intern (and the only American, they laughed at me every time I refused to drink tea) there, and being such a big company, it was very easy to be forgotten. I spent a lot of time waiting around for my boss to give me an assignment, and an equal amount of time shifting around after someone stole my desk. Since they weren't very prepared to work with me, I somehow ended up spending a month looking through every single local British newspaper with a website finding stories on con men in the repair business to use as evidence in a new reality show they were working on. To feel better about that, I ended up stealing a couple of pens from the supply closet after I got locked in.

It was a good experience, and I definitely learned that being a research assistant really isn't my thing. I think that, overall, it would be a better learning opportunity to intern at a smaller company. Free from a crazy hierarchy, small business encourage everyone to contribute; making everyone, even intern, more productive. Hopefully, this would also allow for more interaction with the founders and directors and more hands-on experience, making it much easier to network. Not to mention, there is less competition when you are gearing for a spot at a small company because there is such an abundance of them. I was looking at the internship information for national companies in Boston such as ABC and NBC and the jobs descriptions were very specific and only in certain fields. What I've seen of some of the smaller companies in the town, they give you more of an opportunity to work where you are interested in.

The Growing Awesomeness of Kid's TV Programming

As anyone who was born in the late 80's/early 90's can attest, our generation is pretty obsessed with the cartoons that Nickelodeon and other kids' programming networks produced in the early 90s. Ask anyone of our age group what their favorite 90's Nicktoon is and they will launch into a lengthy, highly detailed list: Rugrats, Hey! Arnold, Catdog, Powerpuff Girls, AHH! Real Monsters, Angry Beavers, Doug, Rocko's Modern Life, Dexter's Laboratory, etc. These shows have a special place in our hearts and minds mostly because of the purely creative, ridiculous weird quality each one had. Each show appealed to a younger crowd by being cartoons and having silly characters, but they also enthralled the older generations of teenagers with their not-so-secret dark humor and often adult satirical plot lines. Each show was made not just to create a profit, but also to entertain and impress. You can tell by the sheer quality of the shows that the creators loved their creations.


In the past decade, there has been a significant decline in the quality of children's programming. Starting with the introduction of Spongebob Squarepants* in 1999, a new era of kids' shows began. Gone were the days Oh Yeah! Cartoons and What A Cartoon!; shows like Disney's Phineas and Ferb and Cartoon Network's Ben 10: Alien Force began taking center stage. While Ben 10 was a mere marketing strategy to capitalize on potential merchandising opportunities (something Disney does best), Phineas and Ferb lacks an interesting story and funny characters. Both shows lack any creativity in regards to both art and writing.

To make matters worse, live-action programming became wildly popular around the same time. Shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark? and All That were excellent in terms of quality writing in entertainment, but this trend got out of control in the 2000's. The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Jonas L.A., Wizards of Waverly Place, iCarly, and Hannah Montana are huge money-making schemes, only created to turn a profit. These shows, and shows like them, lack the "soul" that shows of the early decades had.


However, in recent years, networks have decided to start funding quality animation projects. Three main shows come to mind: Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, Chowder, and Adventure Time. Each show excels in creating a new, interesting story world, engaging and hilarious characters, and pushes the boundaries on animation. The art, writing, and production values are back up to par with that of our beloved 90's cartoons. And the best part? The shows are actually popular! I think it has something to do with our generation leaking into these networks and building a support base for more substance in kids' programming so that when we start having kids, they can have the same great experience with cartoons as we did.



* Still a great show, but doomed in my mind for creating a path to things like Fred.

Extracurricular Projects

A lot of people may stop after they finish schoolwork or required materials but I often find myself wanting to create and do more. Sometimes class work can get tiresome and boring so finding something you actually enjoy creating and doing is very important. Recently I have created a few different side projects not associated with school that I have been really proud of and would like to share.

My first project I created last week after watching a few parody videos online. After the announced hiatus of a great sitcom called Community there has been an outpouring of fan made videos showcasing how special this show really is. My friend and I stumbled on a video where a user created the opening credits for Community yet in the style of another great show called Parks and Recreation. We then realized that it would be interesting to see Community’s credits in the style of Arrested Development, a show that like Community had cult fans and network scheduling problems in its third and final season.

A few minutes after this discussion I went right to work seeing if this was doable. After playing around in Photoshop about if I could do it, all of the sudden it was all I could think about. For the next two days every free minute I had I would work on this credit sequence. I first created all the images in Photoshop by using pictures of the cast from online. Then I put them all into Final Cut and animated the slides to move and change at the exact same time the original credits changed. Next came adding the videos included on the slides. Finally I had to figure out how to make moving arrows, circles, and the hanging pictures. I then just sat down and tried different things and used trial and error to problem solve these things for myself. Two days later I was done and posted it online. In 48 hours I nearly had 2000 views and now as I write it has over 4000. I am very proud of the outcome and how I may finding people I don’t even know post it themselves on sites like Twitter and Tumblr! To view my video click here and to see the original I based it on click here.

Another side project I have been involved in is called Dual Redundancy. Dual Redundancy is an entertainment and television podcast my friend Mike and I created and host every week. On the show we have different segments where we discuss the week in entertainment. These include “In and Out Points” where we jump in and out of the week’s big headlines and “The Flashback” where we highlight a great new episode of a show from the last week. We also give movie reviews and have done a variety of theme episodes. These have included an Emmy prediction episode and another where we revealed the list of the top ten TV characters from the last ten years. For the latter podcast we created a survey and asked our listeners for their votes. We received over 100 votes before we closed voting! We are still going strong and have created ten episodes so far.

If interested in learning more about Dual Redundancy you can find us all over the Internet. We have a Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube page where you can find out about the latest episodes, contribute content for the show, and even participate in contests. Most importantly you can subscribe and listen to our show on iTunes or download it to your MP3 player.

Media Managing

So as much as I was embarrassed in class about not having that file, I learned a valuable lesson but wish it didn't have to happen at the age of 21. Now that our equipment is digital taking SDHC cards, it is important manage your content. here are some ways to prevent missing files and always prepare for the worst.

1. Bring more than 1 SDHC card. Even though you won't be getting enough material to fill a whole 16 gig card, it is important to make sure your content is spread out enough incase you have to reformat. For example, I only had one card on set and because no one else had cards or volunteered to use them, or on my end of not being able to find my second card, we had to reformat it for the next day to make room for more footage. Now that we've reformatted it and didn't double check to make sure that all the contents were backed up on a drive, we're missing a valuable clip.

2. Bring drives. I brought two drives with me, the one I would be editing on and a second one to back up the footage incase the drive was to crap out.

3. Keep a document on set to make sure you have all the clips (ie. Google Doc, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, etc.)

This annoys me that I lost a clip because this is exactly what I did on set at my internship and forgot the value of carrying extra cards. As embarrassed as I am and annoyed, I won't forget this incident. Thankfully it was on a smaller scale and not the real world.

Red Tails Trialer

History has always been a big inspiration on movies today and I very much look forward to Red Tails this coming January. It is the story about the Tuskegee Airmen that served our nation during WWII. I very much am intrigued since George Lucas is an executive producer for this and this looks very good.

Since we're working on trailers, I thought this was a good example of a trailer. It sets the scene and the conflict early on and then takes clips to explain the movie. In this day, I think the voiceover is out of date, it's just a cheesy cop-out. The reason I feel this way is because it allows us to relate to the characters and connect with them on a humane level. You truly get a sense of brotherhood from these characters and what type of man Terrance Howard is going up against the air force in that scene.

This biggest issue with creating a movie based on history is that it can be very predictable. We know the outcome but it's what happens in the middle that counts in this movie. What are the struggles aside from segregation that these characters face? The trailer is always a make-or-break decision because it can look amazing and dazzle audience members but there may not be enough of a story behind it.

I don't know what to expect from this movie but I definitely want to see Red Tails when it is released in January. "From the last bullet, to the last plane, we fight!"

ALSO LOOK AT HOW 90'S THIS JON STEWART IS

I have to repost this video for you all, because I need a second post and this is actually extremely hilarious.

If you're like me, you're a fan of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Granted, you might not have as much in common with the host of the universally acclaimed satire show, such as a dark and receding hairline, biting wit, or the short and wiry stature of Moishe the Frail Bagel Store Owner. But you do enjoy his Monday-to-Thursday beatdowns of everything wrong in the media, hypocritical in politics, or just bizarre in the world. Last night on the show he lampooned every part of Herman Cain's farewell speech, from his admission of using Pokemon lyrics to his shenanigans driving up to the podium. It was classic. Watch it with your eyes.

But the Jon Stewart we know now is vastly different from a Jon Stewart in Jon Stewart's past. Take a look at this, for example:

Look at that set! And look at Jon's black leather jacket! And what is baby-faced Conan O'Brien wearing? Is that a plaid flannel over a black shirt? Yes! This must be... oh man! Oh God! This must be the 1990s! This is actually 1994, back when Jon had a show on MTV called (uninterestingly) The Jon Stewart Show. It was actually a competitor to Late Night With Conan O'Brien, and as you can tell one beat out the other. But can you blame Conan for beating out Jon back then? Seriously, look at that set design! What were they thinking?

Of course, we all know that Jon and Conan are on amicable terms. That is, unless you discount the mock feud between them and Colbert in 2007. That was funny.

Anyway, I wanted to share this with you guys. Also, the fact that Jon's head of hair has receded and turned gray since this video is making me queasy about the future of my own head. Don't leave me, beautiful hairline.

We Are Interesting! Hey! Look!

Okay, now that I have your attention: No, llama! NO!

That's a llama driving. And no, I didn't draw that.

Progress with the group's Very Special Project is going smoothly. We've shot quite a good amount of footage, and Monday seemed to start off well in terms of knocking off scenes. Soon (and by soon I mean now) we'll start working on some post-production material, such as text and experimenting with color. Alex has a 3D title in the works. Everything so far is going according to plan, so there's no reason yet to worry.

Also, if any of you guys are taking Thesis next semester, I would suggest utilizing the Actor's Workshop Of Ithaca. The actress that we used did a great job on Monday and always responded to emails, so if you're looking for a dedicated actress for your projects, look up Elissa Klie. I'm sure that she'll be happy to help. She might want money, though. (Reminder to self: Pay actors/actresses in money and/or soul.)

And now a note that only applies to Parkies: If you guys need to extend a reservation, don't try to do it at the counter. The PPECS employees won't do it. If they do, they'll get fired. Instead, you need to talk to both Arturo and Ellen and have a really good excuse for why you need to extend. It's inconvenient, but if you plan well enough, you'll be able to pull it off. This is just a reminder so that you don't get your Park cards taken away.

Good work so far, guys. To play me out, here's a new animation.

Job Shadow

F I job shadowed for Time Warner Cable Sports at the Carrier Dome because there for the New York State High School Football Championship.

I was able to sit inside the studio truck watch the director and everyone else work. T It was really interesting to see the similarities and differences as compared to what we have here. Everything was surprisingly similar but the first thing I noticed was that the preview and program monitors were reversed. It’s not a big deal but I thought it was funny. They also had something that they called data. Data worked through the Carrier Dome system. They get the information straight from the Carrier Dome scoreboard through the computer and it goes straight onto the television. Data automatically updates. It sounded really interesting and sounded like it was going to make life a lot easier. It did not. Apparently it was a brand new system. The clock kept freezing and falling behind. I guess that data works through the wireless Internet and Verizon put up a telephone tower that kept messing the connection up. Throughout the whole first game they kept trying to fix it. I think eventually the got it by putting the wireless receiver on top of the trucks windshield wiper. Even though they had problems I still though that that was one of the coolest pieces of new technology that they had at the truck. One of the people who worked there said if I thought all of their equipment was cool then I should have been there on Friday when ESPN was there. He said that ESPN’s equipment made Time Warner Cables equipment look like children’s toys. I will keep that in mind for next time I job shadow.

Overall I had a great time and I learned a lot. Many thanks to Peter Gaines and Time Warner Cable Sports.

Surreal short film

I have nothing interesting to say this week, so I'm just going to share with you another Short Film, Yay!

This is one of the weirdest things I've seen in my life. I believe this was the first film directed by Luis Buñuel. Salvador Dali also helped doing it. So where can I start? Well, this short film literally defies all means of explanation. It is extremely abstract. I don't think it was meant to be analyzed anyways but to make the audience feel uncomfortable and confused which are of the feelings we usually experience after waking up from the craziest dream. Given that this is a surrealist film, I feel both Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali were successful creating a bizarre world that explore the subconscious. I also think this movie is pretty insane if we put it in context with the time it was made. This is because some of the shots taken are pretty intense and shocking. Especially the shot when this guy cuts this girl's eye (which was actually a cows eye). Taking in mind my reaction when I watched that scene, I can only imagine the audience's reaction when it was released for the first time. Do I like this movie? No, as I said before It was too odd for me. Do think it's good? yeah, it's an interesting way of making inexplicable into a visual element. Finally, I feel that this movie can be open to anyone's interpretation, but even if we spend all day analyzing it, we wouldn't be able to come up with an exact meaning for it.