The finality of everything non-digital

I don't know if you know this about me, but I am a film school graduate. At the time I entered my school's program, they were just switching from physical 16mm film editing to digital Mac G4/final cut editing. Students who came before I were spluttering with outrage, and in a way you can't blame them. Our experience would end up being entirely different from theirs- and in their opinion, much less worthwhile. I'll explain why.

When you take film, put it in the camera, and shoot movie onto it, you're taking part in a complicated chemical process that can be completely ruined if you slip up at any time. Oops I left this lever up- no image. Oops I read the light meter wrong- no image. Oops I installed the film wrong- ruined image. etc. etc. For my older classmates, the next step in the filmmaking process was just as infuriating. You get your film back from the lab, and there it is just wound up on a spool. You can't just look at it whenever you feel like. You can't gaze at it hanging in front of you and have a bang-up impression of how many seconds of film you're looking at. Then you must make decisions about how you're going to cut it up. This is literal. You are going to cut your film up and tape it back to together with some expensive scotch tape that doesn't ever seem to hold up well enough to justify the price of it (yeah yeah so it doesn't catch on fire in projectors...whatever). So you cut it up, you tape it back together, you feel pretty crappy about the fact that you didn't get this shot that you wanted, or this shot didn't turn out, or the end of this shot was ruined and you had to cut it shorter than you'd like to... You hand it it (I'm not even going to talk about the hell that is the soundtrack) and it's a finished product ready to be stamped "crappy" or "not that crappy" in front of the whole class.

Then all of the sudden a year later, a bunch of punk-ass freshmen wander in off the street all full of 'ideas' with 'previous film experience' (i.e. a blossoming carreer on youtube) and they shoot their film and they make their mistakes and blunders just as you might have but THEN...they whip out their digi-cam and fudge a quick fix. They sit in the lab on their fancy computers with their expensive headphones and re-use the same shots over and over (something you can't do without a lot of time and more money in the film-only case). They cut their assignments together in six minutes flat and then spend hours just noodling around with their techno soundtracks and excruciatingly long credit sequences. And are their films any better because of this convenience?

Good question. Generally...no. I know that the film-only kids are only complaining because they are jealous (they can't seriously be that concerned with the eduction of their eventual competitors). They say they want us to have suffered as they did- but they hold out that this suffering was superior education and that we learn nothing. Sorry, more bullshit. In actuality, the kids who were going to make good work made good work, and the kids who were going to half-ass it didn't fool anyone before or after the technology shift. There might be a case where somebody had the tech advantage, and that somehow helped them fall into a great movie even though their prior planning and effort didn't seem like it would amount to much. But c'mon- you can't blame technology- that's just good karma.

So next time you're jealous of a bunch of young punks getting the easy way out, stop blubbering and go rescue a kitten out of a tree or something. The only thing that really makes good things come easily is luck. Otherwise you just have to work, work, work.

This is way to long to be considered a good blog post, but whatever. I thought about all of this because I bought some mulit-colored note cards to help me map out scripts and stories (I have problems sequencing events). I felt stupid buying them (poor widdle twees) because i have a computer and you can movie ideas around on your computer any time you feel like it. BUT the computer gives me way too much of a chance to delete ideas entirely. I can tell myself I shouldn't and save everything a million different ways- but in the end I will impetuously scrap it all and as quick as you can type "qwerty"- it's gone forever. Paper is helpful when you're a little manic with your opinions of your own ideas. You can even save crumples. I would suggest it to anyone who's in a rut. Go out and kill you some trees.

Don't slam doors

My neighbors let doors slam behind them. I wish I could slam their head in the door. Then I'd say something like "If that's how much it hurts, imagine how loud it is!" That doesn't make a lot of sense, unless there's been a study somewhere about the connection between higher pain and higher volume.

I was being belittled tonight for the fact that I own Monkeybone on DVD. If you've never seen Monkeybone, you're part of the majority. How do you like that? You're one of the many. You are one face in a sea of faces. You walked by Monkeybone and laughed it off just like the jocks and the cheerleaders and the nerds AND the Jesus freaks. If you'd like to start a conversation with a stranger, and you can't think of anything to talk about you could say "Hey, did you ever see Monkeybone?" When they say, "no" you can say, "me neither. Didn't it look awful?"

That's how 'status quo' you are. You're just another 'Generic Jim'

Wow. That last phrase brings back memories.

Moving on, I Netflix-ed "Les Choristes" (The Chorus) and I'm excited to see it. It sounds just like The Gridiron Gang, but with children instead of teens, music instead of football, and (sadly) no Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.

~~**I have just IMDB'd The Rock to get you all a proper link to his profile in case you don't know who I'm talking about...and I have discovered that He is going to appear in a movie (does not specify live-action or cartoon) entitled Jonny Bravo !!! Holy wow. Forget the link- go IMDB him yourself- I'm too excited to be technical and organized**~~

whew, that was exciting.
I guess I'll get back to staring at lists that I am thinking about making of things I could do or maybe should but not all at the same time- or maybe- maybe simultaneously...If I should be doing them at all, depending...depending on what they are and how long they'll take.

Harry Potter Parking Lot

There's a film called "Harry Potter Parking Lot" made by the same people who gave you "Heavy Metal Parking Lot." If you're not familiar, the basic theme is to visit a parking lot outside of a large event and interview the most avid fans of this event. In "Harry Potter Parking Lot" the filmmakers stood in line outside some J.K. Rowlings book signings and let the kids just gush about how much they love Harry Potter. Many of them are dressed as book characters, clutching wands, reciting spells. One boy holds the book open for the camera and recites the first page perfectly.

I just don't know what it is but I'm addicted too. The sad part is, the movies only make it worse. Those kids seriously ARE Harry, Hermione, and Ron. But on top of that, I actually get to SEE them grow up. They were 12 or so when this began- they're 17 now. Someone popped in the first movie the other day and I just kept saying "look how young they are!" over and over and over.

If I were to make a movie, and the only pop-culture reference in it were Harry Potter, I don't even think it would date the movie later. I think it would be as if I referenced Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia. That's how big Harry Potter is. He's epic.

I've been seriously considering how I'm going to handle giving the Harry Potter series to my children (that I might have, one day). Would I have the strength of will to give them one book each year so that their life corresponds with Harry's? Because that's one of the most 'magical' features of the series, right now. My little brother has actually grown up at the same rate as the books have been published. When he got to the end of one, he couldn't just pick up the next one and move on to the next year- he had to wait. And when he did get to the next one, he was a year older as well. Harry's social problems were changing at his rate- he started noticing girls at the same time and everything (as far as I know).

So there. I'm going to post the fifth book here because it's the one I don't own. I need it quite badly. Harry Potter has been taking over my weekends for almost a month now and I need to stop all this blubbering and be productive. RE-reading isn't productive reading, and it was a stretch to consider reading kids' books productive in the first place.

I went beta

Ok kids, I went beta. If you are a 'blogger' I suggest you do the same. It's useful, though I did discover that those fancy template designers really do know what's up when it comes to attractive and functioning design and color schemes. Thank you template designers.

In other news-read this article about teleportation - it's happening NOW!

Ok so did you read it? Now go to this website to learn what 'quantum entanglement' is. You'll thank me later, but you really should be thanking the person who took all that time and effort to describe such a detailed idea to you. It is complete with illustrations.

I've got so many ideas for posts to come. Look out Saturday- I feel like it might be a three post day- How unnecessary!

How's that for follow-through?

www.friendsinneedof.com/retrofriend

There it is. Old-computer-game-inspired as well as Halloween themed. Check it out and post to remind me of other super old-school features I have forgotten.

New Quiz- Who's your Bollywood crush?

If I had the time and energy to creat such a quiz, I would rig it so that my result was "Aamir Kahn"... The result would be typical of the "who's-your-crush" style, and read something like this.

Whether heroically ridding the villiage of imperial dictators, or simply sweeping you off your feet, your Bollywood crush- Aamir is strong, thoughtful, and sweet all rolled into one- with a side of humor! But don't be fooled by his dashing good looks, he's no Bollywood playboy! He'll be true to you and you only thanks to his culture's staunch moral code!

You'll meet for the first time on the steps of the Taj-Mahal. He'll inquire in his adorable broken English about the book you are reading. Sharing your love of literature will bring you close, and sharing a view of the beautiful Indian sunset will bring you closer! Oh!

Did you ever dream you'd spend the rest of your life with a singing, dancing, acting, superstar??

http://mangalpandey.spaces.live.com/
Go hither and see how wonderful he really is. GO! But don't worry- as is typical of any and all Bolly/Hollywood crushes I can come up with- He's old! TOO old! Which leaves me in the much less awkward position of 'admirer.' It's always nicer to not be considered a potential stalker, I think.

New Website for Friends in Need of gets Inspiration

Alright. I know I just re-did my band's website (www.friendsinneedof.com) but I have felt consistently guilty about the fact that you cannot view it if you don't have flash. Is that a cop-out? I say, 'yes.'

But at the same time...the flash site isn't even up to it's bestest abilities (entirely my fault), and I just don't think I have it in me to carry the same theme (clearly tropica/summery) into the fall and winter with an html site.

So, I've reached a compromise. New html site in a different theme. It's such a great concept. Twin sites for a band that contains twin brothers. Both very different, and yet containing the same genetic information... just like the websites... sort of.

But what of the new idea? Oh, I'll tell you.

Now that the internet is starting to get older, the stone-age sites with straight html line after line after line, are all being replaced with flash, and the like. At least fancy CSS. So you could say that the website of 10 years ago, with it's 16 colors and blocky graphics (if any graphics at all) can now be considered retro...and EVERYONE knows that retro is very, very in right now. Because of nostalgia, I hopefully will be able to creat a super simple site with very little effort, that makes people think of their youth.

And I've said this before- never leave your youth in the car without first cracking a window.

So what retro computer fad makes me nostalgic? Answer: adventure games from lucasArts. Clearly the only company that ever did anything right in that area (I don't want to hear about King's Quest and Space Quest so just sit on it). More specifically, I love Monkey Island. My biggest nerd secret- that I always wanted to make a Monkey Island tribute website (I still might someday), but for the time being I am just going to settle with being inspired by early MI graphics, and developing my own band site. I think I'll draw us as if we were MI characters...piratey, maybe... which would work out so well considering our OTHER website has an island theme. Wow. Here's some examples for you in the dark, there.





DOWNLOAD A DEMO!

Edward Gorey- look him up

Imagine that it's me, and instead of "school" it said "temporary job"...

No, I'm kidding. It's not so bad. But really, I am right in the middle of two potentially cool situations. On one side I could be living the life of a free-wheeling temp- on a day- off a day, meeting new people, being thrust into new situations with new challenges multiple times a week. On the other side there's permanent employment, safe, secure, lots of co-workers to befriend, and no worry about whether you have the money to pay for lunch out every day. Instead I am in the middle. Two weeks at the same job. No co-worker friends, no exciting assignments. Honestly, what I'm doing today was my own idea. How sad is that?

Pretty sad.

Edward Gorey is the man. I would like to find out more about him. This website makes it sound as if he is dead. It's a shame I can't 'IMDB' him to find out. I know that doesn't make sense...and yet it does. Oh, ok. He died in 2000.

As is the case with Ghostworld, I hold a special place in my heart for Gorey because a friend of mine said I drew like him. It is nice to not know about the people you are being compared to. Then you get to look them up and be pleasantly suprised.

I am getting this calendar when the time comes. You should too. Amazon also has 8 million books by the guy, and an awesome poster. Look it up.

How to increase blog traffic

I've been wondering about how people do it- get many blog readers/subscribers. Maybe I don't understand, or have any idea because I do not actually read other people's blogs, myself. How hypocritical! How obnoxious! I guess I have to start somewhere. So here, I'm on a mission.

Five blogs I'm going to read, and what I think:

#1 -Youngest of One
This blog is written by my friend Will whom I met through a family picnic (his family). I was very lucky to be embraced by this wildy creative and uninhibited group of people, and his blog is no let-down. Right now Will is in the throws of student-dom, and being good at it. From the sounds of things, he doesn't have much to worry about. If you are feeling lethargic about your life in general, you should read this and remember that you too at one point had ambitions that you could still carry out if you just had a little more drive and imagination. Thanks for the inspiriation, buddy!

#2 Ann Regentin
Now, this blog I just found by clicking "next blog"... interesting. She seems to be some kind of errotic/romance writer. Hmm... not what I was looking for but ALSO not what I was expecting. This is a good lesson in the "how to get more readers" book- suprise the disinterested reader into stopping by for a bit of fun.

#3 English 3810:Advanced Composition
Well, next I looked up chiauas...the dogs... I have spelled the word wrong here, and I spelled it wrong when I searched it- google corrected me. Google is my secretary. Anyway, this blog was cute and "now" with witty dialogue about current fashion. I did, however become annoyed by some incorrect spelling and grammar. There is a lesson to be learned here. As eloquent as you may be, bad grammar and spelling make you look uneducated, or sloppy. I definitely need some help in this area.

#4 Fishing with john: Tom Waits and a Snapper in his pants
Next I searched all blogs for Tom Waits. Twas a good idea. I came upon this blog, which is a video. Another good lesson learned. People love videos, and thanks to the 'ole YouTube it's as easy as 1.2.3. It's also good to have some videos up for linking purposes. I have a nice camera, lots of time, and an adorable dog... why don't I make more videos? None of them would rival Tom Waits on a fishing trip, but it would be a start.

#5 My Sister's Kitchen
Lastly, I was making a chicken casserole (no one seems to do that) and I realized that I should have covered it when it was in the oven. But wait, then the breadcrumbs on top wouldn't have crisped, right? WRONG. First you cover so that the moisture is trapped inside and the breadcrumbs get good and hydrated- THEN you uncover so that they crisp into a newfound glory. Well I decided to search for casseroles on blogs, and this was probably one of the most rewarding searches. I think that blogs work the best when they are helpful, and share data with other people. That's really what this whole 'internet' thing is about, right? I suppose that makes my last lesson to remember and share what little useful information you might have (as long as your not a magician- magicians never share their secrets!)

chocolate pocky- For Men!

To understand the title you must know about pocky. There's not that much to know but it's sooooo much fun- can you say "HOORAY" for wacky Asian marketing?? I can.


Soo... I'm at work...trying to learn the difference between the sound of footsteps behind me as opposed to in front. Damn the visibility of my cubicle. And my conscience. Damn that too.

I have a whole entry saved somewhere about office-work and temping and jobs... but I guess it will have to wait. Instead I'll talk about embarassment.

So last night we go out to a comic book store (called Forbidden Planet- It gives you your commics in a black bag that has "FORBIDDEN PLANET" written accross the front so that everyone thinks you just bought porn!- {see a comic geek's guide to nyc}) And it's in the area of Rififi so I decide we should go get a drink and see if it's a different scene from Wednesdays (see previous posts). It IS different. We caught the very end of "Oh Hello" an act where two young men act like 2 older men ... a little bit like the like budda" Mike Myers days, but men. I looove this sort of thing so I was thrilled to catch 8 min of it. I had a shot of yaeger and a whisky sour. Mmm alcohol + my low tolerance! Things were gearing up to be awesome.

So after the show the bar was filling up with a very interesting type of people... Turns out it's because of the burlesque show they host on Thursdays. Now there's a show-watching area in the back of the bar- like it's own room- so needless to say I begin to wonder when I see them hanging a sheet up in the window (as if it would not be ok for people to see into the bar)

We're sitting in front of this sheet when one of the comedian performers walks by and stands by the window and just happens to be facing us. I wave (what did I say about low tolerance) and he waves and then comes over and introduces himself. How nice! So we're chatting and it's all...do you live in the neighborhood...no we're supers... Do you have a day job or is comedy it? Comedy has been "it" for 10 years (wow)... I'm going to tour with Demeitri Martin... He's got so many friends because of the Daily Show... etc. etc.

I'm sure this all sounds very nice, but I swear to god whenever I make a comment about anything it falls to the floor with a big fat thud. Oh, I can ask questions and start convos (which manage to sound dumb) but god forbid I end up making the closing statement on a subject, because it is awful. I wasn't so much embarassed for myself as I was for the people with me- I am sorry for them. When did I become the great conversation killer?

I will say it's not all my fault. I think the guy was tired. Because I don't really think we were trying to hard... Who knows, I've never really even befriended a stranger in a bar, let alone someone who you have that awkward relationship with because you know so much more about them than they do about you, and it's not likely to reverse EVER. But I think there were some decent statements that fell to the ground- we mentioned we were in a band a few times...*thunk*...But normally anyone would say "Oh? what kind of music do you play?" ... but no... not even pretend interest. So maybe it wasn't just me.

The one funny moment was when a scantily clad lady said "excuse me, I have to get up there" and kind of kicked us off the large window sill we were sitting on. Comedian Leo joked "Excuse me, I have to dance naked where your sitting"... Then realized that this was exactly what she was planning on doing... He was like, holy shit- i thought I was kidding.

Ah well. Should I plug something? How about a good movie about awkward moments? Lets think...




Oh *F* movies. I just bought shoes the other days...heart my sketchers. THE END.

Welcome to Good Burger

home of the good burger
can I take your order?

This is why netflix is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

Because I've always wished that I could see Goodburger. And now I can. And now I DID!

He's trying to tell us that there are four clowns and their stuck somewhere because their car broke down!



ABE VIGODA!

I don't know how to say this...
-Oh it's easy! Just say "Thiiiiiiiisss"

*What do you think is cute about me?
~You're head!
*You have a cute head too!
~Haha, well, I try to keep it nice.

KENAN AND KEL IN DRAG!

Naw, man...stuff like that's gotta be ILlegal!

Shaaaaaaq!

I'm a dude!
He's a dude!
She's a dude!
We're all dudes! Hey!

And now presenting- Good Burger, the un-answered questions:
#1: In the scene where the Good Burger crew's electricity has been cut, and they're sitting sadly in the dark, why is manager Bailey holding a guitar?
#2: Why does the Good Burger have a picture of a submarine (sandwich) on their wall? Did they go through that awkward phase where they try to sell "healthy" food like Arby's and Wendy's?
#3: Does a Good Shake involve milk, or is it more like a Slurpee?

I'd like to add more and more questions to this list. Feel free to add your own.

from Ghost World to Lagaan

Oh movies. I love 'em.

Have you ever seen Ghost World? If you haven't, you should. Maybe I have a special love of it because TWICE in one day people I had just met said- "Have you seen Ghost World? You're JUST like the Ghost World girl." One of them even said "except smaller"... nice...

Basically it's about people who are bitter about the mainstream, and have decided to forgo higher education to pursue... something else. Mostly just trying not to be around the mainstream. But then one of them begins to lose the intensity of her non-mainstream-ness while the other spirals even farther into the weird, demented, and "lame"est of interests. She does this by befriending Steve Buscemi- which is how I imagine anyone would. I must say that I love this movie 100% of the time, but I'm only in the mood to watch it 50% of the time. Maybe it hits a little tooo close to home.

But I bring Ghost World up because in the beginning of the film. It shows Enid (the main character) watching a totally random 1960's Indian rock video. It's awesome. This always made me jealous that people in movies (and who write movies) have all these really select interests and hobbies that I would not even know how to start pursuing. Luckily I went to film school (which really didn't help as much as you might think). However, thanks to my love of choppy dancing and lack of anything better to do, I showed up (with my Ghostworld-y roomate) to see a 4 hr screening of Lagaan.

Oh man it was AWESOME! Bollywood is the bomb, everyone. Just thought you should know. Yes it can be long. Yes it follows the classic format of a Hollywood musical (i.e. story stops when singing starts) but for some reason it's still just heavenly. It also has an award winning soundtrack.

Brief Synopsis:
Set in the middle of India in the past (as in, when the British were all up in India's piece) It tells the story of a little villiage that cannot afford to pay their taxes ("lagaan") because of a sever drought- when the Lagaan is all of the sudden doubled! It's doubled by an asshole called Russel who gets his kicks from hunting, and playing mind games with his Hindi associates (as in "Hey, I'll do what you ask, if you eat some meat...just eat it... it's just a little meat... screw your religion and just eat the meat...) ASShole! So Russel, in all his ass-holiness, gets offeneded when Buvhan (the oh-so-sexy hero) calls the game of Cricket "silly and stupid." He says that if the village pulls together a team and beats them in a game of Cricket, he'll forgive them the Lagaan for THREE YEARS- but if they lose, they have to pay thrice as much! Oh, and Russel has a sister who falls for Buvhan, teaches the village the game of Cricket, and helps to form a weak love triangle- but you are totally rooting for the cute Hindi girl the whole time (even though she's a little jealous).

A brief synopsial Haiku (for those who thought my synopsis was not "brief" enough)

A village in need
Bitish asshole crickiteer
happy ending-duh!

So whether you like offbeat films or just films about people who like offbeat films, one of the movies I mentioned today IS for YOU!

Com-e-dy! assault and battery!

So we've been going to see stand-up and that makes us feel like REAL hip, young New Yorker's for sure. Luckily, it's also amusing as hell, and cheap! We go to a bar called Rififi because I read about it on Eugene Mirman's website . I heard about his website when he shamelessly plugged it during the commentary on my Home Movies DVD.

Are we seeing how amazing this technological time we're living in is??

So here are some features of the show that make it endearing and worth seeing EVEN WHEN the comedians are a bomb (which they have not yet been)
Feature #1. When host Bobby Tisdale feels that energy is low, he has the sound guy blast Kelly Clarkson's new song (which he loves) and then he blows a fireball using 151.
Feature #2. Eugene Mirman often brings videos to show, which, if you do not live in the NYC area and are sad you might never see them, can also be found on YouTube.
Feature #3. They all stay after the show and get bombed! So let's say you're a little shy but you just wish you could stay and hang out with all these incredibly cool commedians... As long as you have money for drinks, you CAN stay after the show and hang out with all these incredibly cool comedians... AND the place is so small, you'll probably end up spilling your drink on one of them! (History shows there is no better method of instigating friendship with a complete stranger, than bumping into them with an alcoholic beverage)

Anyway, the show on Wednesdays is called "Invite them Up!" and they sell a CD (which I'd like to one day purchase). It's got all their greatest little biddies so far. Perhaps if 12.5 of you buy the CD through me, I can then use the Amazon gift certificate I am getting paid in to purchase the CD for myself!

Either way, you should come down to Rififi (11th St. between 1st and 2nd) and holla at all the great comedians and well-made (but not cheap) drinks.


Sorry about the excessive store-ness. But I own ALL these DVD seasons of Home Movies, and occasionally depending on the week, etc, etc, THEY MAKE LIFE WORTH LIVING!

Back in business

I've decided to turn the blog into a bookstore as well. That-a-way I can share oh so much more with my devoted blog audience (devoted blog audience count is currently at 0).

Todays promo: Iron West

Three reasons this is a cool thing to have
#1- It's a graphic novel. In a lot of circles graphic novels have begun to pop up on bookshelves and coffee tables. It's fun to start your conversation about your graphic novels by saying "I don't actually read comics, but this one is different..."
#2- It was written by the creator of Earthworm Jim. You should already know who and what that is, and why it's cool.
#3- It's quite amusing...It's the first comic I have appreciated in black and white. I've even resisted the urge to color it in! (so far)