Happy Thursday! I'm writing short and fast because it's almost time for work and I might forget by the time I get back.
Yeah, I work at Blockbuster! Started this week! It's pretty good; I haven't had to deal with customers yet, so it's mostly busywork type tasks such as sorting, pricing, destroying, what have you. And so far only 4-hour shifts, although Saturday it'll be a 6 hour one. WOWO. Come visit me.
Um, I'm not going to recommend Tokio Hotel to you, because it's probably no to your tastes, but if you were interested in the band I'm currently interested in, look up Tokio Hotel on youtube. And, if you do, Bill is not a girl, because that will be the first question you ask. So I love Tokio Hotel, a German band, and I can't stop listening/singing along! Pulled out my German dictionary, even, heheheh.
Um, AX is next weekend.....err, actually a week from today. Dude. We still need to finish our costumes bad. XD They're coming along, but none are done done. It'll happen though, it always (usually) does. YAY I LOVE THE AX. It's probably my favorite set of days of the whole year. Jacqi's can't go anymore, though, so that's sad.
Me and Carolyn watched Mystery Men yesterday, but it was only okay. I never saw it because I heard it was dumb, but always secretly thought I'd like it. But eh. The Shoveler was cool, though.
Um, I don't think anything else happened this week. I think I've been working and when not working, gleaning youtube for Tokio Hotel. But now I have all the albums so I'm not on youtube anymore.
OH we saw Get Smart last weekend. Just as funny as I hoped it would be, but the story and characters were highly secondary. XD All the gags from the trailers were not funny anymore, and I'm happy that my favorite part didn't even make it into the movie (Max: I'm sorry, Chief!!! The Rock: He can't hear you, Max.) It really wasn't ever screaming-with-laughter-funny, either, just a lot of little jokes you laughed at every few minutes. So, yeah. I think it might also be a bit more worthwhile to people who have seen some of the show, because sometimes things would happen and I think newcomers would be lost.
AH. It's time to get ready for work now.
Also, my car needs all kinds of new brakes or something, and I've been driving in a death trap!! Or something like that. Have to drive the van to work. See you laterz.
-Stephanie
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Hot Like Summer
Happy Thursday! Weather man says even hotter tomorrow! I can't wait! It's finally approaching appropriate summer temps, like the high 80s. There was even a fire today! I'm sitting at the table, looking at the beautiful clear blue sky through the nice green trees, and there is this brown cloud out over the mountains....definitely a brush fire over there! I think they got it under control because when we were out driving the sky totally cleared up.
So Jacqi and her special gentleman friend Greg visited for the weekend, so the gang partied it up. We thrifted, searched in the sand for very small rocks, barbecued at Carolyn's, the last of which included much Rock Banding. Also, stalking in grocery stores followed closely by chopping of vegetables.
The bad thing about summer is that I can't keep track of the days, and I can barely remember the events contained within them. Like an old retired person. Speaking of which, I got caught behind a tremendously old man on the main street, and we were clipping along at a brisk 20 mph. I loved it. You can expect that from me in a few years. You know, when I'm old.
The news just said that the feet found looked as if they had probably just naturally separated from the bodies. That's great.
Um, have you ever seen Moonlighting? A really good detective show from the 80s? Bruce Willis, Cybil Shepard. It's sorta amazing. The pilot is like a good movie. Bought season 1 and 2 at Fry's a while back for like $20, and I'm really glad for it. We watched it on tv a few years ago, 'cause it was on and my mom was all WOW I REMEMBER THIS IT'S GOOD. And she was right so it hooked us all. But then it drifted away and I forgot about it until I bought the dvds. It's very funny, and Bruce Willis has some priceless lines that are both iconic and very unique. Like, "And the plot thinnens," which is something I've always remembered from seeing that episode all those years ago.
I suppose I saw The Incredible Hulk this last weekend. Not gonna lie, my favorite part was the snazzy entrance of one Tony Stark, but the rest of the movie didn't disappoint, either. I wasn't crazy impressed--don't have any strong feelings towards the Hulk in the first place, and the film was written by Zak Penn (X2, Elektra, Fantastic Four, X-Men: The Last Stand--all movies I rate from mediocre-minus to downright shoddy). He's also slated to write both the Captain America movie and the Avengers movie, so I'm a decent amount worried for my Steve. UM back to Hulk, it certainly wasn't awful like Penn's previous works, but there were things that struck me wrong, and sequences that I took a deep dislike to. But the effects were good....? ...Edward Norton was good, but I never really bought him as Bruce Banner.
All in all, I think I like Ang Lee's better. Less action movie, more comic book. Better casting? Still good graphics. I don't care what anyone else says about it.
Out of the forthcoming Marvel movies, I'm honestly the most excited about Ant-Man (after the Iron Man sequel, of course), because it's being co-written and directed by Edgar Wright, who is my co-writing and directing hero. Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, people, are two of the best-written movies I've EVER seen in my life, and I'd be lying if I didn't attribute some of my Ink-Man directorial techniques to Mr. Wright. (lulz, Mr. Wright) So yes, this is my endorsement for Ant-Man (and Shaun and Hot Fuzz and Spaced while I'm at it).
What else would you care to know? I played with Donnie a lot today, he really likes chasing plant fronds. When I was trimming the dead stems off of this plant of mine, he jumped right up into the bucket to fight it for me. I also gave him a dance, and I was right for wearing gloves while attempting it, because he did get bitey.
I also checked out a Raymond Chandler novel from the library today, and I kinda love it. It's good writing like I haven't read in a long while, and he'll throw out these zingy one liners that catch you off guard and make you actually laugh. Which I find intensely interesting, given that Chandler is one of the fathers of Noir. I think I will go back to reading soon.
I thought I was going to write about something else, but then I remembered that the book was actually the other thing I was going to write about. So alright, I'm a little older than I'd like to admit. But I've been putting the Brain Blend in my smoothies from Blenders, so maybe it's not too late to turn this dementia around!
-Steph
So Jacqi and her special gentleman friend Greg visited for the weekend, so the gang partied it up. We thrifted, searched in the sand for very small rocks, barbecued at Carolyn's, the last of which included much Rock Banding. Also, stalking in grocery stores followed closely by chopping of vegetables.
The bad thing about summer is that I can't keep track of the days, and I can barely remember the events contained within them. Like an old retired person. Speaking of which, I got caught behind a tremendously old man on the main street, and we were clipping along at a brisk 20 mph. I loved it. You can expect that from me in a few years. You know, when I'm old.
The news just said that the feet found looked as if they had probably just naturally separated from the bodies. That's great.
Um, have you ever seen Moonlighting? A really good detective show from the 80s? Bruce Willis, Cybil Shepard. It's sorta amazing. The pilot is like a good movie. Bought season 1 and 2 at Fry's a while back for like $20, and I'm really glad for it. We watched it on tv a few years ago, 'cause it was on and my mom was all WOW I REMEMBER THIS IT'S GOOD. And she was right so it hooked us all. But then it drifted away and I forgot about it until I bought the dvds. It's very funny, and Bruce Willis has some priceless lines that are both iconic and very unique. Like, "And the plot thinnens," which is something I've always remembered from seeing that episode all those years ago.
I suppose I saw The Incredible Hulk this last weekend. Not gonna lie, my favorite part was the snazzy entrance of one Tony Stark, but the rest of the movie didn't disappoint, either. I wasn't crazy impressed--don't have any strong feelings towards the Hulk in the first place, and the film was written by Zak Penn (X2, Elektra, Fantastic Four, X-Men: The Last Stand--all movies I rate from mediocre-minus to downright shoddy). He's also slated to write both the Captain America movie and the Avengers movie, so I'm a decent amount worried for my Steve. UM back to Hulk, it certainly wasn't awful like Penn's previous works, but there were things that struck me wrong, and sequences that I took a deep dislike to. But the effects were good....? ...Edward Norton was good, but I never really bought him as Bruce Banner.
All in all, I think I like Ang Lee's better. Less action movie, more comic book. Better casting? Still good graphics. I don't care what anyone else says about it.
Out of the forthcoming Marvel movies, I'm honestly the most excited about Ant-Man (after the Iron Man sequel, of course), because it's being co-written and directed by Edgar Wright, who is my co-writing and directing hero. Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, people, are two of the best-written movies I've EVER seen in my life, and I'd be lying if I didn't attribute some of my Ink-Man directorial techniques to Mr. Wright. (lulz, Mr. Wright) So yes, this is my endorsement for Ant-Man (and Shaun and Hot Fuzz and Spaced while I'm at it).
What else would you care to know? I played with Donnie a lot today, he really likes chasing plant fronds. When I was trimming the dead stems off of this plant of mine, he jumped right up into the bucket to fight it for me. I also gave him a dance, and I was right for wearing gloves while attempting it, because he did get bitey.
I also checked out a Raymond Chandler novel from the library today, and I kinda love it. It's good writing like I haven't read in a long while, and he'll throw out these zingy one liners that catch you off guard and make you actually laugh. Which I find intensely interesting, given that Chandler is one of the fathers of Noir. I think I will go back to reading soon.
I thought I was going to write about something else, but then I remembered that the book was actually the other thing I was going to write about. So alright, I'm a little older than I'd like to admit. But I've been putting the Brain Blend in my smoothies from Blenders, so maybe it's not too late to turn this dementia around!
-Steph
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Daniel's House
Happy Thursday! I was instructed to make this post today all about Daniel's house, but I'll confine it to about a paragraph.
Daniel's house is a green-grayish color. Daniel's house has a lot of plants. Daniel's house has a party in it. Daniel's house has a lot of high school kids in it. Daniel's house has three cats. Daniel's house has several video game systems. Daniel's house has an upstairs full of drums. Daniel's house has a table covered in snacks, which include, but are not limited to radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, and carrots. Daniel's house is very very far away.
I don't remember much about this week. I guess I spent a lot of it at home doing nothing. I really really should be writing this story I'm calling "Project North," because it leads into so many things, but I get hung up on wanting to write the later parts, and that just won't do. So I haven't been writing, but I've been thinking, which is like writing, only it happens first and no one believes that I've been doing it.
I guess I spent some time at Carolyn's house, too..... one day there was a party, I remember. Played a lot of Rock Band. Got 100% on one song on Expert bass. Sang a bit...the next day, I think. Played Guitar Hero at home, but I like Rock Band better just because playing bass is way easier than guitar. Less quick riffs and chords, which are the two things I will never be able to conquer. And, of course, you get to play Rock Band with friends and be cool. Guitar Hero is much lonelier.
I feel like I've been doing a lot more driving than normal, too. But I don't know to where. The other day I woke up early and went to the Blockbuster to get the paperwork done, but the computer wouldn't let him hire me yet, so I have to go in tomorrow. But I drove straight to the park from there, and took a walk. The weather's been real nice lately. I haven't been doing nearly enough walking as I would like.
Maybe Jacqi will go on walks with me. She and Greg are in town for the week, so we're gonna party it up. Maybe see Speedracer if it's at the cheap theater. OH GAIZ my favorite part of the week was the new Hulk trailer with Tony in it. I mean, of course I knew Tony was in it, but actually seeing him again just makes me so giddy.
Speaking of Iron Man, while I was helping my mom plug in her new speakers for her computer at school, the daycare lady started talking about her son (who's like a strange clone of me with all my interests) and he was a PA on Iron Man. I WANT TO PA ON IRON MAN. So I will befriend this person and make him bring me to the set and I will succeed at life.
The other high points of the week are Michael Jackson's Thriller, the song Still Alive from the game Portal, and Coldplay's Viva La Vida. Can't get enough of them. I recommend them to you all.
-Stephanie
Daniel's house is a green-grayish color. Daniel's house has a lot of plants. Daniel's house has a party in it. Daniel's house has a lot of high school kids in it. Daniel's house has three cats. Daniel's house has several video game systems. Daniel's house has an upstairs full of drums. Daniel's house has a table covered in snacks, which include, but are not limited to radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, and carrots. Daniel's house is very very far away.
I don't remember much about this week. I guess I spent a lot of it at home doing nothing. I really really should be writing this story I'm calling "Project North," because it leads into so many things, but I get hung up on wanting to write the later parts, and that just won't do. So I haven't been writing, but I've been thinking, which is like writing, only it happens first and no one believes that I've been doing it.
I guess I spent some time at Carolyn's house, too..... one day there was a party, I remember. Played a lot of Rock Band. Got 100% on one song on Expert bass. Sang a bit...the next day, I think. Played Guitar Hero at home, but I like Rock Band better just because playing bass is way easier than guitar. Less quick riffs and chords, which are the two things I will never be able to conquer. And, of course, you get to play Rock Band with friends and be cool. Guitar Hero is much lonelier.
I feel like I've been doing a lot more driving than normal, too. But I don't know to where. The other day I woke up early and went to the Blockbuster to get the paperwork done, but the computer wouldn't let him hire me yet, so I have to go in tomorrow. But I drove straight to the park from there, and took a walk. The weather's been real nice lately. I haven't been doing nearly enough walking as I would like.
Maybe Jacqi will go on walks with me. She and Greg are in town for the week, so we're gonna party it up. Maybe see Speedracer if it's at the cheap theater. OH GAIZ my favorite part of the week was the new Hulk trailer with Tony in it. I mean, of course I knew Tony was in it, but actually seeing him again just makes me so giddy.
Speaking of Iron Man, while I was helping my mom plug in her new speakers for her computer at school, the daycare lady started talking about her son (who's like a strange clone of me with all my interests) and he was a PA on Iron Man. I WANT TO PA ON IRON MAN. So I will befriend this person and make him bring me to the set and I will succeed at life.
The other high points of the week are Michael Jackson's Thriller, the song Still Alive from the game Portal, and Coldplay's Viva La Vida. Can't get enough of them. I recommend them to you all.
-Stephanie
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Summerz
Happy Thursday! It's finally summertime, judging by the overcast mornings and warm+ days, the puttering around in the garden, and feverish crafting of AX costumes. Just for the record, "puttering" involves a lot more standing and staring at cactuses than you might otherwise suspect.
The AX is in less than a month! A lot of us are going in the same costume as each other--which I guess is pretty common if I think about it (we went as FMA military, then Host Club students, all matching). In the show Naruto, which is about ninjas, there is a special class of ninja called ANBU, who all dress alike and wear masks to protect their identity. We are going as an ANBU army! It's a much less elaborate costume than some years, but masks, armguards, vests, and boots must be made.
Boots are kinda my responsibility, and they're working out so far. XD They need to be black, almost knee-high, toeless, and have these bands around them. So we've bought rubber fishing boots, cut 'em down the back and velcroed them back tighter, cut off the toes, and glued foam strips around them, which actually are additional fasteners. The hardest part was finding rubber boots, and then a glue that would adhere to them. I think Carolyn's pair is done, mine are mostly done, and we have to do...three or four more pairs?
Carolyn's sewing sewing sewing, and I'm kind of sitting there and watching. XD
When I'm not doing that, I'm trying to walk a lot. We've got this ellipse, right? Like an elliptical machine? Listening to podcasts, radio shows, reading that giant Captain America book and others. Three miles in a hour, most days! Kinda took today off, only did a mile in half an hour. I also want to get out in the world and do walking, too. My goal is to be able to walk some place, no matter where, if I really needed to. I think that's somewhat important.
Other than that! I've been pursuing a career at Blockbuster. Just waiting for the background check to come back, and then I'm pretty sure I've got it. Unless someone of you has sabotaged my records.
Watching So You Think You Can Dance. I like dancing, but I miss real tv. I just told my mom that we're gonna start watching Firefly next. She's sat through VM with me, I think it's about time to move on. Heck, she even used to watch Buffy with me when that was hip, so she shouldn't be complaining. Not that she is, but I'm just saying she had better love Firefly.
We both reached for the remote a little while ago, to unmute the tv because of the new Coldplay iPod commercial, and it turns out she really likes that song. So I pulled out Parachutes, and we've been sampling that during commercials.
Today I also attempted to make a Boston creme pie, but it didn't turn out great. Eh, maybe next time.
UM SO YEAH I THINK I'M DONE WITH THIS NOW. SEE YOU ALL LATER.
-Stephanie!
The AX is in less than a month! A lot of us are going in the same costume as each other--which I guess is pretty common if I think about it (we went as FMA military, then Host Club students, all matching). In the show Naruto, which is about ninjas, there is a special class of ninja called ANBU, who all dress alike and wear masks to protect their identity. We are going as an ANBU army! It's a much less elaborate costume than some years, but masks, armguards, vests, and boots must be made.
Boots are kinda my responsibility, and they're working out so far. XD They need to be black, almost knee-high, toeless, and have these bands around them. So we've bought rubber fishing boots, cut 'em down the back and velcroed them back tighter, cut off the toes, and glued foam strips around them, which actually are additional fasteners. The hardest part was finding rubber boots, and then a glue that would adhere to them. I think Carolyn's pair is done, mine are mostly done, and we have to do...three or four more pairs?
Carolyn's sewing sewing sewing, and I'm kind of sitting there and watching. XD
When I'm not doing that, I'm trying to walk a lot. We've got this ellipse, right? Like an elliptical machine? Listening to podcasts, radio shows, reading that giant Captain America book and others. Three miles in a hour, most days! Kinda took today off, only did a mile in half an hour. I also want to get out in the world and do walking, too. My goal is to be able to walk some place, no matter where, if I really needed to. I think that's somewhat important.
Other than that! I've been pursuing a career at Blockbuster. Just waiting for the background check to come back, and then I'm pretty sure I've got it. Unless someone of you has sabotaged my records.
Watching So You Think You Can Dance. I like dancing, but I miss real tv. I just told my mom that we're gonna start watching Firefly next. She's sat through VM with me, I think it's about time to move on. Heck, she even used to watch Buffy with me when that was hip, so she shouldn't be complaining. Not that she is, but I'm just saying she had better love Firefly.
We both reached for the remote a little while ago, to unmute the tv because of the new Coldplay iPod commercial, and it turns out she really likes that song. So I pulled out Parachutes, and we've been sampling that during commercials.
Today I also attempted to make a Boston creme pie, but it didn't turn out great. Eh, maybe next time.
UM SO YEAH I THINK I'M DONE WITH THIS NOW. SEE YOU ALL LATER.
-Stephanie!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
I am so full of food
Happy Thursday! I made dinner tonight and then ate the leftovers just a little while ago. Used this recipe, which is just as good as it's five stars imply. Didn't go all out with the lamb this time, just had microwavable frozen chickens, but both ways is good. My favorite is the couscous. And the tomatoes.
So Lost. A lot of surprises. A lot of stuff I liked, especially with Ben and Keamy (thanks to the trivia pop-up I now know his name), but the tippy tippy end of it? Not a good enough payoff. By then of course it has to be one of a certain amount of people, but that specific one? I almost don't care. Will definitely be awaiting next season, though.
This week we watched Batman Forever, Planet of the Apes (Wahlberg), The Bee Movie, The Batman Movie (Adam West), and I guess that's it this time. Also caught Iron Man again in theaters, still good. (Did you know Captain America's shield is in it? Can't wait for that movie~) The best of them was....The Batman Movie. I believe its actual title is just "Batman," but there's two of those, so. It's full of ridiculousness that I just love, don't care if everyone else thinks it's stupid.
Similarly, I started watching the Batman show on youtube, and it's even better than the movie. Actually less over-the-top, but just as nonsensical. It's kinda like the perfect show for me. I wish they would put it to DVD already.
Rediscovered podcasts (through Zune, lol) and have been listening to old radio shows from like the 30s and 40s. Superman, Sherlock Holmes, The Blue Beetle, lol. Started with The Shadow on youtube, but the quality wasn't very good. And then I went and downloaded a bunch of other things, like these two guys rambling about film noir, and the Marvel and DC "official podcasts."
A lot of things I'm doing this summer trace back to The Ink-Man, in that I'm using it as an excuse to explore new things. Like the superhero genre, and comic books. But I was also planning on doing a radio show (I love love love radio, I just usually forget that I do. I probably secretly love radio more than I love film) featuring an Ink-Man script, so now I'm studying the very nature of the podcast, and the old radio drama style. But that noir show reminded me that this superhero binge was originally a study for Ink-Man, and that the other half of the genre of my movie is actually noir, so now I'm studying noir. Just so happened that one of their episodes was on Batman Begins as noir, so things are really overlapping. And when I went into the library today, I exited with "Essential Captain America, vol. 2," a biography on Orson Welles, "Early Film Noir," and "Radio Comedy."
All my interests coincide.
And then the other thing I've been doing is actually writing. Not Ink-Man 2, which is what I really really should be doing, but creating my own superhero universe. Just have the one story so far, but it's almost done at 13 pages, and a sequel is already smashing around inside my head. What's the most comforting is that I'm doing input input input, but actually getting something in return for it. Maybe one day this story will lead into what I want it to--my own superhero team, Chaos Watch. It's gonna be good.
Have an interview at Blockbuster tomorrow, and if I get the job and the free rentals to go along with it, I will be unstoppable.
-Stephanie
ps, I should be hunting raccoons with my trusty sidekick Donnie right about now.
So Lost. A lot of surprises. A lot of stuff I liked, especially with Ben and Keamy (thanks to the trivia pop-up I now know his name), but the tippy tippy end of it? Not a good enough payoff. By then of course it has to be one of a certain amount of people, but that specific one? I almost don't care. Will definitely be awaiting next season, though.
This week we watched Batman Forever, Planet of the Apes (Wahlberg), The Bee Movie, The Batman Movie (Adam West), and I guess that's it this time. Also caught Iron Man again in theaters, still good. (Did you know Captain America's shield is in it? Can't wait for that movie~) The best of them was....The Batman Movie. I believe its actual title is just "Batman," but there's two of those, so. It's full of ridiculousness that I just love, don't care if everyone else thinks it's stupid.
Similarly, I started watching the Batman show on youtube, and it's even better than the movie. Actually less over-the-top, but just as nonsensical. It's kinda like the perfect show for me. I wish they would put it to DVD already.
Rediscovered podcasts (through Zune, lol) and have been listening to old radio shows from like the 30s and 40s. Superman, Sherlock Holmes, The Blue Beetle, lol. Started with The Shadow on youtube, but the quality wasn't very good. And then I went and downloaded a bunch of other things, like these two guys rambling about film noir, and the Marvel and DC "official podcasts."
A lot of things I'm doing this summer trace back to The Ink-Man, in that I'm using it as an excuse to explore new things. Like the superhero genre, and comic books. But I was also planning on doing a radio show (I love love love radio, I just usually forget that I do. I probably secretly love radio more than I love film) featuring an Ink-Man script, so now I'm studying the very nature of the podcast, and the old radio drama style. But that noir show reminded me that this superhero binge was originally a study for Ink-Man, and that the other half of the genre of my movie is actually noir, so now I'm studying noir. Just so happened that one of their episodes was on Batman Begins as noir, so things are really overlapping. And when I went into the library today, I exited with "Essential Captain America, vol. 2," a biography on Orson Welles, "Early Film Noir," and "Radio Comedy."
All my interests coincide.
And then the other thing I've been doing is actually writing. Not Ink-Man 2, which is what I really really should be doing, but creating my own superhero universe. Just have the one story so far, but it's almost done at 13 pages, and a sequel is already smashing around inside my head. What's the most comforting is that I'm doing input input input, but actually getting something in return for it. Maybe one day this story will lead into what I want it to--my own superhero team, Chaos Watch. It's gonna be good.
Have an interview at Blockbuster tomorrow, and if I get the job and the free rentals to go along with it, I will be unstoppable.
-Stephanie
ps, I should be hunting raccoons with my trusty sidekick Donnie right about now.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Movie Mania!
Happy Thursday! I hope your days/week were well.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Eh, pretty bad. Not irrevocably so, but I don't really recommend it. Unless you're a big FF fan, specifically of Johnny Storm. He has a few worthy moments, even if it doesn't make much sense.
Elektra
Not half bad. I know I never saw it because Daredevil sucked so bad and this was purported to be worse. Untrue. It was pretty solid, ie, I didn't hate it. Plot was a little thin, and some of the acting was gag-worthy, but some of the action sequences made up for it. Garner really held her own, although I couldn't really tell if I was watching Elektra or Sydney Bristow.
Ghost Rider
Under any circumstances, do not watch.
Blades of Glory
Pretty run-of-the-mill for a Ferrell movie. Had some moments. Talladega Nights was better. Jenna Fischer was unexpectedly dull, although that may have been acting.
Superman Returns
Probably the best of the bunch. I think I remember hearing that it didn't do well/people didn't like it, but I wouldn't be able to tell you why either of things things would be true. Wasn't outstanding, no, but it was better than average--and I've found that most people like average. I don't follow Superman on principle, but there where a number of times where I really felt for the character, just based on my inherent background understanding of the guy. Routh was a pretty smashing Clark Kent, as well. James Marsden held his own as the third wheel (he's pretty much patented that role), but the rest of the casting was pretty weak. There were also some times where things ran long, but overall, it's pretty good.
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
I would say that this is only meaningful to people who've played FFVII, but honestly I haven't, and it still packs a punch. Vague knowledge of the game is helpful/a must, so I don't really know how it stands on its own. That being said, I really love it and think it's amazing. Check out those graphics, man! The story may be incoherent, but it's Japanese and to be expected. I think they fit in some good emotional stuff in between all their snazzy technological fight sequences.
If you're wondering what I did with my week, I just told you.
-Stephanie
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Eh, pretty bad. Not irrevocably so, but I don't really recommend it. Unless you're a big FF fan, specifically of Johnny Storm. He has a few worthy moments, even if it doesn't make much sense.
Elektra
Not half bad. I know I never saw it because Daredevil sucked so bad and this was purported to be worse. Untrue. It was pretty solid, ie, I didn't hate it. Plot was a little thin, and some of the acting was gag-worthy, but some of the action sequences made up for it. Garner really held her own, although I couldn't really tell if I was watching Elektra or Sydney Bristow.
Ghost Rider
Under any circumstances, do not watch.
Blades of Glory
Pretty run-of-the-mill for a Ferrell movie. Had some moments. Talladega Nights was better. Jenna Fischer was unexpectedly dull, although that may have been acting.
Superman Returns
Probably the best of the bunch. I think I remember hearing that it didn't do well/people didn't like it, but I wouldn't be able to tell you why either of things things would be true. Wasn't outstanding, no, but it was better than average--and I've found that most people like average. I don't follow Superman on principle, but there where a number of times where I really felt for the character, just based on my inherent background understanding of the guy. Routh was a pretty smashing Clark Kent, as well. James Marsden held his own as the third wheel (he's pretty much patented that role), but the rest of the casting was pretty weak. There were also some times where things ran long, but overall, it's pretty good.
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
I would say that this is only meaningful to people who've played FFVII, but honestly I haven't, and it still packs a punch. Vague knowledge of the game is helpful/a must, so I don't really know how it stands on its own. That being said, I really love it and think it's amazing. Check out those graphics, man! The story may be incoherent, but it's Japanese and to be expected. I think they fit in some good emotional stuff in between all their snazzy technological fight sequences.
If you're wondering what I did with my week, I just told you.
-Stephanie
Thursday, May 15, 2008
I still gotta write my Thursday thing
Happy Thursday! The return of exciting TV has once again postponed this to the late hours. Not that TV has just returned, but I guess I've had more freedom prior to Prime Time in recent weeks. Ah, I dunno what I'm talking about.
Last week I was in Seattle? That sounds about right. Still gotta take my pictures off my camera, but I haven't even been on my computer in weeks. That sounds silly, but it's because our wireless network at home is ... not on. So I've found that no internet kinda makes my own computer meaningless. Sadday for little Nikita. But I suppose it just means that the internet is like 80%+ of what I use computers for.
Seattle was fun, even if planes are not. I wish I had more interesting stories about it. The crazy guy on the bus was pretty fun, all "corrupt criminals....research conducted by corrupt criminals...criminals, corrupt, I did NOT...what do you want to DO with your life?!" amid actually crazy garbly sounds.
The rest of the week was pretty laid back. Hanging out with Carolyn, job hunting, playing Guitar Hero and a bit of Rock Band, mostly reading comics. That's my new kick. Comics! Well, actually, super heroes, but that sorta comes out of Ink-Man+Iron Man, and they are largely found in comics.
I've been exploring the Marvel Universe, into which I entered through Iron Man fic. But the fic was of the comic, right? So of course I had to go to that to find out what all the background information was, yeah? Still not overly interested in the X-Men or Spiderman, but I've found a fandom in the Captain America franchise. Captain America...kinda seriously rocks. He's in the Avengers with Iron Man, so that works out well. Read some on Marvel's "read a comic online!" but the ones they had for free were not extensive. Checked out a book of Captain America/the Falcon, and Batman: Year One (which is similar to Batman Begins, I think I've read) from the library today. Bought old old cheap comics of Batman and one of Marvel's "Strange Tales" title starring Cloak & Dagger and Dr. Strange.
I should write comics! Is the idea, so now I have to read them, right? This may come as a shock, but I promise it has it's own backstory motive. I have about two shoeboxes full of Sonic the Hedgehog comics in my closet upstairs, I swear it. So comics are cool, and not at all outside my realm of interests. Especially when the good ones get turned into good movies, I have a home there, too.
Who wants to pencil me an Ink-Man comic??
Batman: TAS happened to be on today, and that's where it all started, really. An old ep in the style I don't prefer, but Catwoman was in it, and it's good to see Bruce caring about something other than crime. But after that was Smallville, and here's something else shocking--it was good. I mean, I didn't have any derisive comments to bandy about. None. I was actually watching, and, you know, feeling emotions. I was happy, I was shocked, I was worried, I was thrilled, I was upset, I was heartbroken--it was really intense. There was a particularly nice piece between Michael Rosenbaum (Lex, who's always been the best thing about the show) and Aaron Ashmore (Jimmy Olsen, who I respect from VM), and that's about when I new that this had become a legitimate show. I was impressed.
Oh, and a little villainous James Marsters didn't hurt, either. His reveal was quite breathtaking.
Then was The Office! Terrific episode. The ones since they've come back...haven't been fantastic. But they really pulled this one off. I was happy for everyone--for Phyllis, for Michael even. Those two really had a day. And Jim..oh, Jim. This was not his season. I hope they don't do anything rash, although I really should have seen that curveball coming (but maybe not it's exact deliverance XD ANDY). Can't wait for next season.
And all through Lost I thought it was also the finale. But alas! Two weeks from now we get a two-hour final dose! That's why so many things weren't wrapped up. XD This ep was not as full of surprises/answers as previous episodes, but it was solid. The flash forwards were also somewhat dull, but I was happy about Jack's because I'd been wondering if/how he knew. I'm wondering if maybe the gimmick next season will be real-time on the mainland and flashbacks to the island in the "current." That's kinda been what this season has been, anyway, except the flashforwards haven't been chronological. Oh, but Ben's from Ben's episode now makes sense, as why, in the future, Widmore would need to find the island again. I'm glad Ben succeeds. XD I'm rooting for ya, buddy!
Um, I suppose that's about all. If you have any comics, books about comics, or superhero movies, I'd love to borrow them. And see Iron Man with you. And Speedracer, by the way.
Last week I was in Seattle? That sounds about right. Still gotta take my pictures off my camera, but I haven't even been on my computer in weeks. That sounds silly, but it's because our wireless network at home is ... not on. So I've found that no internet kinda makes my own computer meaningless. Sadday for little Nikita. But I suppose it just means that the internet is like 80%+ of what I use computers for.
Seattle was fun, even if planes are not. I wish I had more interesting stories about it. The crazy guy on the bus was pretty fun, all "corrupt criminals....research conducted by corrupt criminals...criminals, corrupt, I did NOT...what do you want to DO with your life?!" amid actually crazy garbly sounds.
The rest of the week was pretty laid back. Hanging out with Carolyn, job hunting, playing Guitar Hero and a bit of Rock Band, mostly reading comics. That's my new kick. Comics! Well, actually, super heroes, but that sorta comes out of Ink-Man+Iron Man, and they are largely found in comics.
I've been exploring the Marvel Universe, into which I entered through Iron Man fic. But the fic was of the comic, right? So of course I had to go to that to find out what all the background information was, yeah? Still not overly interested in the X-Men or Spiderman, but I've found a fandom in the Captain America franchise. Captain America...kinda seriously rocks. He's in the Avengers with Iron Man, so that works out well. Read some on Marvel's "read a comic online!" but the ones they had for free were not extensive. Checked out a book of Captain America/the Falcon, and Batman: Year One (which is similar to Batman Begins, I think I've read) from the library today. Bought old old cheap comics of Batman and one of Marvel's "Strange Tales" title starring Cloak & Dagger and Dr. Strange.
I should write comics! Is the idea, so now I have to read them, right? This may come as a shock, but I promise it has it's own backstory motive. I have about two shoeboxes full of Sonic the Hedgehog comics in my closet upstairs, I swear it. So comics are cool, and not at all outside my realm of interests. Especially when the good ones get turned into good movies, I have a home there, too.
Who wants to pencil me an Ink-Man comic??
Batman: TAS happened to be on today, and that's where it all started, really. An old ep in the style I don't prefer, but Catwoman was in it, and it's good to see Bruce caring about something other than crime. But after that was Smallville, and here's something else shocking--it was good. I mean, I didn't have any derisive comments to bandy about. None. I was actually watching, and, you know, feeling emotions. I was happy, I was shocked, I was worried, I was thrilled, I was upset, I was heartbroken--it was really intense. There was a particularly nice piece between Michael Rosenbaum (Lex, who's always been the best thing about the show) and Aaron Ashmore (Jimmy Olsen, who I respect from VM), and that's about when I new that this had become a legitimate show. I was impressed.
Oh, and a little villainous James Marsters didn't hurt, either. His reveal was quite breathtaking.
Then was The Office! Terrific episode. The ones since they've come back...haven't been fantastic. But they really pulled this one off. I was happy for everyone--for Phyllis, for Michael even. Those two really had a day. And Jim..oh, Jim. This was not his season. I hope they don't do anything rash, although I really should have seen that curveball coming (but maybe not it's exact deliverance XD ANDY). Can't wait for next season.
And all through Lost I thought it was also the finale. But alas! Two weeks from now we get a two-hour final dose! That's why so many things weren't wrapped up. XD This ep was not as full of surprises/answers as previous episodes, but it was solid. The flash forwards were also somewhat dull, but I was happy about Jack's because I'd been wondering if/how he knew. I'm wondering if maybe the gimmick next season will be real-time on the mainland and flashbacks to the island in the "current." That's kinda been what this season has been, anyway, except the flashforwards haven't been chronological. Oh, but Ben's from Ben's episode now makes sense, as why, in the future, Widmore would need to find the island again. I'm glad Ben succeeds. XD I'm rooting for ya, buddy!
Um, I suppose that's about all. If you have any comics, books about comics, or superhero movies, I'd love to borrow them. And see Iron Man with you. And Speedracer, by the way.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Thursday From Around the World!!
Happy Thursday! I'm not actually around the world, but I am in another state. Seattle! (not that Seattle's a state) Visiting my sister at UW, so it's all very exciting and whatnot.
But it's also very very cold. Feels like Christmas. Except for in the direct sunlight, then it's very hot. So it's confused. But hopefully it'll be warmer tomorrow? It's not actually that bad today. I'm just whiny.
I'm in my sister's room right now, 'cause she's off at work. Just read some fantastic Iron Man fanfic, because I am oh-so obsessed. More on that later. When she comes back, we're gonna hang out some more, and then watch the Office, and then there's some sort of hall event involving grilled cheese and Grey's. (I've been watching Lost on the internet for the past two weeks, anyway)
Yesterday was a plane ride and a bus ride, which were both uneventful. My sister's bf Josh came to the airport to escort me to the school, and that was way nice, because I'd probably end up not making it on my own. Then we hung out in her room for a while (she bought a box of Cheez-it and a Mr Pibb in expectation of my visit) before heading into the wide world for some insanely good Thai food. Then we got coffee and "sat in the secret room at Lander" for a while. Tomorrow will be even more jam-packed with events like exploring and having coffee.
Was it last Thursday that I was still at school? I'm checking. (If I was Tony Stark, I could do it in my mind...) Why yes, yes it was. Since Saturday I've been on Summer, and that's kinda awesome. Saw Made of Honor with the folks that night, and it was fairly good. "Good" by chick-flick standards, but not overly so. Definitely not bad. I love the Demps when he's not in Grey's--that character is killing him.
Then Sunday me and my dad went and saw Iron Man! Now listen, when I heard of it/was made to watch trailers, I was only somewhat interested. Some of it looked like it could possibly be cool, and the rest of it looked like it would be the dumbest thing ever. So that's what I went in with, when I saw it. Okay, but guys, it's a fantastic movie. I am filled with fannish mumblings, and it's not like it's Batman or anything else I like on principle. Go. See. It. It will exceed your expectations, probably even if you want to see it. It is very, very good.
And I finally got my new tooth! (relevant because Monday happens after Sunday) You can see some of the metal, so it's kinda like a silver tooth. It's definitely better than the temporaries, although I'm still babying it. I bet it's just fine by now, though.
And Tuesday I got a cute haircut and Wednesday I came here. Other than that, it's been the Iron Man fic and Guitar Hero, which is on loan for the summer. Oh, and one of those days I caught up on Office (weird) and Lost (weirder! but intense) and even Chuck (good, but I don't know where they think they're going), so it's been a very mediaed week. Started reading one of my Screenwriting magazines I got for Christmas, and I'm really happy about the industry I am trying to get into. XD
Haha, I got some Cheez-it stuck under my new tooth, so now I've got a salt-lick going. Don't you find that fascinating?? Try putting some salt in some half-n-half sometime, too, that's actually quite tasty. So are organic bread bowls. And the coffee here. Well, the mochas, anyway. I bet the actually coffee is just as disgusting as it is anywhere. XD
Um, okay. I think she's getting off work soon, so fun will ensue. I'll see you guys all again soon!!
-Steph
But it's also very very cold. Feels like Christmas. Except for in the direct sunlight, then it's very hot. So it's confused. But hopefully it'll be warmer tomorrow? It's not actually that bad today. I'm just whiny.
I'm in my sister's room right now, 'cause she's off at work. Just read some fantastic Iron Man fanfic, because I am oh-so obsessed. More on that later. When she comes back, we're gonna hang out some more, and then watch the Office, and then there's some sort of hall event involving grilled cheese and Grey's. (I've been watching Lost on the internet for the past two weeks, anyway)
Yesterday was a plane ride and a bus ride, which were both uneventful. My sister's bf Josh came to the airport to escort me to the school, and that was way nice, because I'd probably end up not making it on my own. Then we hung out in her room for a while (she bought a box of Cheez-it and a Mr Pibb in expectation of my visit) before heading into the wide world for some insanely good Thai food. Then we got coffee and "sat in the secret room at Lander" for a while. Tomorrow will be even more jam-packed with events like exploring and having coffee.
Was it last Thursday that I was still at school? I'm checking. (If I was Tony Stark, I could do it in my mind...) Why yes, yes it was. Since Saturday I've been on Summer, and that's kinda awesome. Saw Made of Honor with the folks that night, and it was fairly good. "Good" by chick-flick standards, but not overly so. Definitely not bad. I love the Demps when he's not in Grey's--that character is killing him.
Then Sunday me and my dad went and saw Iron Man! Now listen, when I heard of it/was made to watch trailers, I was only somewhat interested. Some of it looked like it could possibly be cool, and the rest of it looked like it would be the dumbest thing ever. So that's what I went in with, when I saw it. Okay, but guys, it's a fantastic movie. I am filled with fannish mumblings, and it's not like it's Batman or anything else I like on principle. Go. See. It. It will exceed your expectations, probably even if you want to see it. It is very, very good.
And I finally got my new tooth! (relevant because Monday happens after Sunday) You can see some of the metal, so it's kinda like a silver tooth. It's definitely better than the temporaries, although I'm still babying it. I bet it's just fine by now, though.
And Tuesday I got a cute haircut and Wednesday I came here. Other than that, it's been the Iron Man fic and Guitar Hero, which is on loan for the summer. Oh, and one of those days I caught up on Office (weird) and Lost (weirder! but intense) and even Chuck (good, but I don't know where they think they're going), so it's been a very mediaed week. Started reading one of my Screenwriting magazines I got for Christmas, and I'm really happy about the industry I am trying to get into. XD
Haha, I got some Cheez-it stuck under my new tooth, so now I've got a salt-lick going. Don't you find that fascinating?? Try putting some salt in some half-n-half sometime, too, that's actually quite tasty. So are organic bread bowls. And the coffee here. Well, the mochas, anyway. I bet the actually coffee is just as disgusting as it is anywhere. XD
Um, okay. I think she's getting off work soon, so fun will ensue. I'll see you guys all again soon!!
-Steph
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Packin' Up, Movin' Out
Happy Thursday! I'm sorta angry that I used "What Time Is It?" for the back-to-school post (crazy Disney, releasing their yay-it's-summer movie in August) because we just watched High School Musical 2 again last night and that song is highly highly appropriate today.
If you don't get the reference, you clearly haven't asked me what time it is in the last nine months or so. The correct response to the question in question is "Summertime!!!"
Except this time it's true.
Monday I finished and turned in an 8-page paper on the contemporary artist Henrijs Preiss. His stuff is really good, and apparently so was my paper, because it was worth 50% of my grade and I got an A- in the class.
Tuesday was Comm Theory final, which went next to horribly. But I'm pretty sure I'll get something in the high-C/low-B range. Just need to pass, is all.
Wednesday we didn't have a final--Story and Character's blow out bash was that magazine-cutting up day. Har Har, film major is me.
Lastly today, American Film Musical, which was ridiculous. 4-5 pages each question? Compare Altman's view of the audience to Feuer's?? Analyze Minnelli's directorial expertise especially citing the SIX of his films we watched in class? This class was supposed to be fun. I was definitely getting hand-arthritis by the end of it. But it'll be good. Hammy loves me.
And no final in Motion Picture, just a snazzy screening of all our movies. Props to everyone, we put out a lot of quality product in that class. I'm wondering if I can get a hold of that DVD? I've been trying to make my own (of just The Ink-Man, of course), but it's been giving me troubles. And tomorrow I might be learning how to make it internet-ready. Then everyone can see it!
It went over really well, too. My mom and dad came down to the "premiere" and I'm really glad. And Jenn came, too! And Laura and her boyfriend, and they collectively were like the only non-CBA people there. But everyone laughed, and it was a pretty good reaction for my little writer's heart. Watching it with everyone there in the little fake theater was awesome. That was the most people to ever watch anything of mine, even cumulatively. And next time? It'll be even better!!
Right after our premiere was the AFS night, which is the Azusa Film Society, which is APU's film club, which I believe was around before the department was. They screened their movie which they made in like a week (it was pretty good!) and one of the other studio films I helped on was showed (also pretty good, but maybe not as good), and some shorts from various sources (mostly all very good), and Jesse's first movie from my class. But my favorite of the night was this => link
Did I mention that this was out in the drive-in? It's now a parking lot, but the rises are all still there (so it's a pretty crummy parking lot), and they set up a little inflatable screen and we all tuned our radios to 107.4 or something. It was RIDICULOUSLY cute. And even though it ended at 11, it was really nice out and just plainly one of the coolest things I've ever participated in.
The night before that, I'd gone to the "real" premiere, of the movies that the faculty picked as best of the best. ....Missed the first two on account of not being able to find the theater....and the last three were alright. I know it's probably not APU-PC to say so, but I think the AFS night had better films all-in-all.
The weekend was a lot of fun hanging out...I'm just now remembering that after all the movies, we watched High School Musical the first. So Saturday was probably a waste...Sunday I know we had an insane Mario Party Extravaganza, the gang of us, Jenn and me and Beth and Sam.........
Which we can't have anymore because Brianna moved away and took the Wii, and just now Megan's dad came and took the couch and the thing all the consoles and tv were on, and the antenna, too! So I'm missing the Office and Lost today. ;_; But that's what tomorrow's for, right? ABC's streaming eps thing is actually really cool. NBC's still sucks. But whatev.
Next week I'm going to Seattle to hang out with my sister! Thursday in an exotic locale, how fancy!
Okay, I'm going to go kill something to eat now.
-Stephaniez
If you don't get the reference, you clearly haven't asked me what time it is in the last nine months or so. The correct response to the question in question is "Summertime!!!"
Except this time it's true.
Monday I finished and turned in an 8-page paper on the contemporary artist Henrijs Preiss. His stuff is really good, and apparently so was my paper, because it was worth 50% of my grade and I got an A- in the class.
Tuesday was Comm Theory final, which went next to horribly. But I'm pretty sure I'll get something in the high-C/low-B range. Just need to pass, is all.
Wednesday we didn't have a final--Story and Character's blow out bash was that magazine-cutting up day. Har Har, film major is me.
Lastly today, American Film Musical, which was ridiculous. 4-5 pages each question? Compare Altman's view of the audience to Feuer's?? Analyze Minnelli's directorial expertise especially citing the SIX of his films we watched in class? This class was supposed to be fun. I was definitely getting hand-arthritis by the end of it. But it'll be good. Hammy loves me.
And no final in Motion Picture, just a snazzy screening of all our movies. Props to everyone, we put out a lot of quality product in that class. I'm wondering if I can get a hold of that DVD? I've been trying to make my own (of just The Ink-Man, of course), but it's been giving me troubles. And tomorrow I might be learning how to make it internet-ready. Then everyone can see it!
It went over really well, too. My mom and dad came down to the "premiere" and I'm really glad. And Jenn came, too! And Laura and her boyfriend, and they collectively were like the only non-CBA people there. But everyone laughed, and it was a pretty good reaction for my little writer's heart. Watching it with everyone there in the little fake theater was awesome. That was the most people to ever watch anything of mine, even cumulatively. And next time? It'll be even better!!
Right after our premiere was the AFS night, which is the Azusa Film Society, which is APU's film club, which I believe was around before the department was. They screened their movie which they made in like a week (it was pretty good!) and one of the other studio films I helped on was showed (also pretty good, but maybe not as good), and some shorts from various sources (mostly all very good), and Jesse's first movie from my class. But my favorite of the night was this => link
Did I mention that this was out in the drive-in? It's now a parking lot, but the rises are all still there (so it's a pretty crummy parking lot), and they set up a little inflatable screen and we all tuned our radios to 107.4 or something. It was RIDICULOUSLY cute. And even though it ended at 11, it was really nice out and just plainly one of the coolest things I've ever participated in.
The night before that, I'd gone to the "real" premiere, of the movies that the faculty picked as best of the best. ....Missed the first two on account of not being able to find the theater....and the last three were alright. I know it's probably not APU-PC to say so, but I think the AFS night had better films all-in-all.
The weekend was a lot of fun hanging out...I'm just now remembering that after all the movies, we watched High School Musical the first. So Saturday was probably a waste...Sunday I know we had an insane Mario Party Extravaganza, the gang of us, Jenn and me and Beth and Sam.........
Which we can't have anymore because Brianna moved away and took the Wii, and just now Megan's dad came and took the couch and the thing all the consoles and tv were on, and the antenna, too! So I'm missing the Office and Lost today. ;_; But that's what tomorrow's for, right? ABC's streaming eps thing is actually really cool. NBC's still sucks. But whatev.
Next week I'm going to Seattle to hang out with my sister! Thursday in an exotic locale, how fancy!
Okay, I'm going to go kill something to eat now.
-Stephaniez
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Movies!
Happy Thursday! It's still sort of chilly here, warm in the sun and all but not really hot. Which is weird because it's Azusa and usually it's as hot as the sun about now. But generally springtime in Azusa is wonderful, because the winter ends early and there's a great long time of wonderful not-cold not-hot weather before summer really kicks in. Guess summer's just a bit late this year.
WEATHER-WISE, BUT NOT ACADEMICALLY! I have two more class meetings left this semester. WHUT. Like I said last time, this end of the year has really snuck up on me, because there wasn't any of the nasty dready stress that has traditionally accompanied it. But there has been paperwork, and how much. I actually made a check list for things I needed to do! There was that much. All that's left now is Art Paper and Shut off Gas and Water. And not on the list, there's study for finals. But other than that I'm really done.
Finished the movie at 10, 11ish last night, which is way early. XD Usually when films are due, the whole class is in there pulling an all-nighter. And by usually, you know I mean, "like that last time which was also the first time." Turned it in this morning! I want to do a bonus DVD, which outtakes and commentaries, so it's not like it's really done. But the important part of it (itself) is done, and turned in, and it's screening tomorrow!
Today I have review for Comm, and then the first half of Hammy's class. But I'll have to leave early to go to the APU Film Premiere night, which cost ten dollars and is in Pasadena, it's so special. The first movie I helped on this semester is showing, among others that I was complete unrelated to. So I'm gonna miss the Office and Lost, but that's okay. I have the internet.
And tomorrow, after Last Chapel, I'm gonna write my art paper, and then my parents will be here! They're coming for our Motion Picture I premiere, which is at 7, in case you didn't hear about it and want to come. Then at 8 there's a reception, and at 9 the Route 66 Flix sort of premiere is happening, in the big parkinglot on a blow-up screen. That's where the rest (more or less) of the films are going to be shown. One of the others I helped on (haha, and was in, as a matter of fact) is showing there. I'm kinda excited to see it. It should be a good couple of days, movie-wise.
There are two things I like best about my movie. One is the acting, which I had nothing to do with. The other is the sound in a particular scene--sound effects so good you don't even hear them. Look forward to it.
But seriously, doing sound design was probably my favorite part of the whole thing. Do I have a secret future in editing??? Who knows. Oh, I sort of sent my resume to the local TV station in Ventura, 'cause they said they needed temp help on some summer video camps? I'm not at all sure what I'm getting into, but I hope I get into it.
But I couldn't leave writing. Yesterday in Story and Character we all brought in magazines and cut them up, casting our movies. I bet you couldn't guess how hard it is to find a young Hispanic male in a national magazine. I had to settle for Javier Bardem. Not quite right for the part, I'm going to say now. The movie I presented was Caper! my heist tribute. I think the fact that alligators were sporadically in the movie was the selling point. I really need to get back to writing it. Well, that's what the summer's for, right?
Gotta finish Caper!, gotta write Gray or Ink-Man 2, gotta write something else to submit to be made by next year's MPPII class, gotta keep working on Dreamers. That's one a month, right? Sounds good. 12 weeks? If I wrote 10 pages a week, say a page a day, I could have a feature written this summer. Let's do it.
You want a brief highlights of my week? You want to be tagged? Okay, let me think...
Jenn and Beth finished Veronica Mars, or at least season 2. They're about to have epileptic spasms if they don't get season 3. But, alas, I am without it. Maybe one day.
I'm trying to think of what I did over the weekend, but it's not working. Thursday we watched the Office, and I know I wrote about that....Friday I had my last art field trip and probably Mario Partyed it up. Saturday me and Sam had a voice over recording session, which was fun. Kid's got a voice. You'll hear it. Sunday I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything at all. Monday I primarily did nothing, and then I went and edited sound. Went back and did more sound Tuesday afternoon, and finished it all yesterday. There was also Mario Party scattered throughout this. And we watched Hairspray somewhere in there. And the last half of Rent was on when I got back yesterday.
So it was a movie week.
-Stephanie
WEATHER-WISE, BUT NOT ACADEMICALLY! I have two more class meetings left this semester. WHUT. Like I said last time, this end of the year has really snuck up on me, because there wasn't any of the nasty dready stress that has traditionally accompanied it. But there has been paperwork, and how much. I actually made a check list for things I needed to do! There was that much. All that's left now is Art Paper and Shut off Gas and Water. And not on the list, there's study for finals. But other than that I'm really done.
Finished the movie at 10, 11ish last night, which is way early. XD Usually when films are due, the whole class is in there pulling an all-nighter. And by usually, you know I mean, "like that last time which was also the first time." Turned it in this morning! I want to do a bonus DVD, which outtakes and commentaries, so it's not like it's really done. But the important part of it (itself) is done, and turned in, and it's screening tomorrow!
Today I have review for Comm, and then the first half of Hammy's class. But I'll have to leave early to go to the APU Film Premiere night, which cost ten dollars and is in Pasadena, it's so special. The first movie I helped on this semester is showing, among others that I was complete unrelated to. So I'm gonna miss the Office and Lost, but that's okay. I have the internet.
And tomorrow, after Last Chapel, I'm gonna write my art paper, and then my parents will be here! They're coming for our Motion Picture I premiere, which is at 7, in case you didn't hear about it and want to come. Then at 8 there's a reception, and at 9 the Route 66 Flix sort of premiere is happening, in the big parkinglot on a blow-up screen. That's where the rest (more or less) of the films are going to be shown. One of the others I helped on (haha, and was in, as a matter of fact) is showing there. I'm kinda excited to see it. It should be a good couple of days, movie-wise.
There are two things I like best about my movie. One is the acting, which I had nothing to do with. The other is the sound in a particular scene--sound effects so good you don't even hear them. Look forward to it.
But seriously, doing sound design was probably my favorite part of the whole thing. Do I have a secret future in editing??? Who knows. Oh, I sort of sent my resume to the local TV station in Ventura, 'cause they said they needed temp help on some summer video camps? I'm not at all sure what I'm getting into, but I hope I get into it.
But I couldn't leave writing. Yesterday in Story and Character we all brought in magazines and cut them up, casting our movies. I bet you couldn't guess how hard it is to find a young Hispanic male in a national magazine. I had to settle for Javier Bardem. Not quite right for the part, I'm going to say now. The movie I presented was Caper! my heist tribute. I think the fact that alligators were sporadically in the movie was the selling point. I really need to get back to writing it. Well, that's what the summer's for, right?
Gotta finish Caper!, gotta write Gray or Ink-Man 2, gotta write something else to submit to be made by next year's MPPII class, gotta keep working on Dreamers. That's one a month, right? Sounds good. 12 weeks? If I wrote 10 pages a week, say a page a day, I could have a feature written this summer. Let's do it.
You want a brief highlights of my week? You want to be tagged? Okay, let me think...
Jenn and Beth finished Veronica Mars, or at least season 2. They're about to have epileptic spasms if they don't get season 3. But, alas, I am without it. Maybe one day.
I'm trying to think of what I did over the weekend, but it's not working. Thursday we watched the Office, and I know I wrote about that....Friday I had my last art field trip and probably Mario Partyed it up. Saturday me and Sam had a voice over recording session, which was fun. Kid's got a voice. You'll hear it. Sunday I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything at all. Monday I primarily did nothing, and then I went and edited sound. Went back and did more sound Tuesday afternoon, and finished it all yesterday. There was also Mario Party scattered throughout this. And we watched Hairspray somewhere in there. And the last half of Rent was on when I got back yesterday.
So it was a movie week.
-Stephanie
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Grood
Happy Thursday! Today has been pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself. Let me tell you about it.
So I accidentally turned off my alarm in my sleep, so I got to sleep in twenty minutes but not be late to class. Showed the current edit of Ink-Man and got a good amount of laughs and stuff. Needs sound and voice over and music, most of which will take up my weekend. It'll be finished a week from now! But it'll be good. Just gotta keep workin on it.
Left class early to go to housing sign-ups--no off campus next semester. But we got in Crestview, 2 bedrooms, 2 bath, washer & dryer. Pretty intense, eh? Me and Beth and Brianna and Megan. Should be pretty neat.
Um and then me and Beth went and got blended coffee type drinks and Subway! And then I went back to the ER to make a copy of Ink-Man for her to put music to...but the ER was full up so I went to the secret computer in the studio. It's set up there for ADR, voice recording. So I was undisturbed until classtime, in which he told us war stories from Vietnam and showed us some pictures. Then we left!
So I went home to change my Thursday pants out for some regular type pants--sadly I think my current Thursday pants need to find an heir. But then I went to musicals class, and we just watched some clips and went home early, too. Haha, so I guess I got out of class early across the board today.
Then I came home and went out to dinner at the Hat with Beth and Brianna and Sam! Then we came back and played some orginal Katamari, which is way easy and fun, and then it was time for the OFFICE AND OMG GUYS IT'S TIME FOR CAPS. JIM. PAM. DUDE. MY HEART. LOVE THAT SHOW. GAH.
And now I'm writing this and Beth is playing Mario and Sam is playing FFV on his Gameboy. But now the Wii has been turned on and I'm being forced to stop this and engage in Mario Party. Which we've been playing allll week. That's literally all I did last weekend, which is why this note is only about today. The rest of the week has been Mario Party.
OH and I have my computer back! That's news! It's virus free and still as slow as anything. Got some mysterious food stains, though. Crazy IT guys.
Yeah, so everything is fine in school and stuff, and really all my projects are over except the movie. So this is kinda the first end=of-the semester where I haven't been just absolutely depressed about some assingment or class that has something awful due and I haven't started it yet. I mean, things are great. It's been a really good semester. And a great day. I listened to a lot of great music on my Zune whilst walking everywhere, and it was just a cool day. I hope all of yours were all the same.
Okay, I'm a cute squiddly squid, so I'mma go get some stars and candy on this crazy train.
-Stephanie
So I accidentally turned off my alarm in my sleep, so I got to sleep in twenty minutes but not be late to class. Showed the current edit of Ink-Man and got a good amount of laughs and stuff. Needs sound and voice over and music, most of which will take up my weekend. It'll be finished a week from now! But it'll be good. Just gotta keep workin on it.
Left class early to go to housing sign-ups--no off campus next semester. But we got in Crestview, 2 bedrooms, 2 bath, washer & dryer. Pretty intense, eh? Me and Beth and Brianna and Megan. Should be pretty neat.
Um and then me and Beth went and got blended coffee type drinks and Subway! And then I went back to the ER to make a copy of Ink-Man for her to put music to...but the ER was full up so I went to the secret computer in the studio. It's set up there for ADR, voice recording. So I was undisturbed until classtime, in which he told us war stories from Vietnam and showed us some pictures. Then we left!
So I went home to change my Thursday pants out for some regular type pants--sadly I think my current Thursday pants need to find an heir. But then I went to musicals class, and we just watched some clips and went home early, too. Haha, so I guess I got out of class early across the board today.
Then I came home and went out to dinner at the Hat with Beth and Brianna and Sam! Then we came back and played some orginal Katamari, which is way easy and fun, and then it was time for the OFFICE AND OMG GUYS IT'S TIME FOR CAPS. JIM. PAM. DUDE. MY HEART. LOVE THAT SHOW. GAH.
And now I'm writing this and Beth is playing Mario and Sam is playing FFV on his Gameboy. But now the Wii has been turned on and I'm being forced to stop this and engage in Mario Party. Which we've been playing allll week. That's literally all I did last weekend, which is why this note is only about today. The rest of the week has been Mario Party.
OH and I have my computer back! That's news! It's virus free and still as slow as anything. Got some mysterious food stains, though. Crazy IT guys.
Yeah, so everything is fine in school and stuff, and really all my projects are over except the movie. So this is kinda the first end=of-the semester where I haven't been just absolutely depressed about some assingment or class that has something awful due and I haven't started it yet. I mean, things are great. It's been a really good semester. And a great day. I listened to a lot of great music on my Zune whilst walking everywhere, and it was just a cool day. I hope all of yours were all the same.
Okay, I'm a cute squiddly squid, so I'mma go get some stars and candy on this crazy train.
-Stephanie
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Catchin' Zorpas and Smashin' Pandas
Happy Thursday! Once again you find me in my comfortable study, typing away on my own computer, martini in one hand, cigar in the—wait. No. I’m not using my own computer. I’m in the computer lab again! As of Tuesday, “they” needed my computer for another “week” as there seemed to be just “one” “virus” left on it. I don’t know if that’s estimated or determined time, but it seems a little lengthy to me. They said I could have it for homework and bring it back for them to work on it, but I knew I’d just end up keeping it as is. The computer lab is fine. Going home and not having any internet to doodle on for the rest of the day is a little odd. I have all sorts of free time. Like for...
Video games! Tossed in Final Fantasy IV in a fit of desperation, and blew through at least half of it. I had 11 hours on it and now I have 24. Now I’m leveling up to fight stupid Rubicant, but he hits for like 2000 and even Kain only has like 2200 HP total. Grrrrrrr. I chose IV over XII or KH because I knew I would only be level grinding in those....but now I guess the boat’s the same for all.
The other game getting a lot of facetime in my house is Pokemon Snap, courtesy of Brianna. She’s beaten it already, but now she’s trying to get the best pictures of the Pokemon and it’s getting ridiculous. The game is about taking picture of Pokemon, if that wasn’t clear. But several amazingly funny things have come about because of it:
Legend of the Zorpa
We were shooting for Ink-Man when Brianna happened to say, “OH, I figured out how to take a better picture of the Zorpa!”
“Zorpa?!” we say. There is no Pokemon whose name even resembles “Zorpa.” “That’s a Greek woman!” Sam exclaims. “Do you mean Zapdos?” we suggest.
Yes, it must be Zapdos.
A funny side-incident is later that day, we’ve separated to change out of costumes and are reassembling to go to lunch. I’m playing ball in the court when Sam shows back up. “Guess who’s playin’ Snap,” I say to him, nodding over to Brianna through the open door of my apartment.
“Guess who’s catchin’ Zorpas!” Sam replies enthusiastically. I start laughing so much that I kick the ball straight into my own face. Also highly amusing, although it does sting for a while.
The next day we’re back shooting again when suddenly she announces, “I got a picture of Megatron!” This is too much. Only Brianna can catch a picture of Megatron in Pokemon Snap. As we laugh about it, she says, “what is it from, then, X-Men?”
What Pokemon does she mean this time? “I mean Geodude—“ WHAT. Not even similar sounding—“NO, I mean Magneton.” Okay, that at least sounds like Megatron, but still, where did Geodude come from?
NO! But I laugh and run away because I can’t take it. But she thinks I nod because later she asks “What X-Men is Megatron?” Oh, dear girl.
But the best part about the Zorpa came later, when I was watching her play. “Look,” she says, “this is how I get the Zorpas.” I look up, but am confused because Zapdos isn’t in this level….. “There’s the Zorpa!” And behold! She never meant Zapdos all along!
It was the Lapras.
The end.
So the shoot was fun. Very hectic on Saturday because we had a lot to do and not a lot of time, and some lost time and some set-up issues, but we did get it all. Sigh. Now it’s time to edit! Director’s cut due Tuesday, picture lock Thursday. Then edit sound; effects, narration. Then it’s done and time to screen it?! Everyone is welcome—it’s April 25 (Friday) at some time in the evening. The day before that is the department screening of the upper level production classes and the Capstones and such. The sitcom is showing. I still need to wrangle a copy of that. That screening is in a theater in Pasadena, and it costs money to go to it. Oooh, fancy.
Other things we done this week:
Thoroughly Modern Millie!! Went with Beth and Brianna and Sam (our film crew is very hangy-outy) and it was fantastic. Like, unspeakably good. I’d never seen it before in any capacity, but a few of my group had, and apparently it was just as good as Broadway. Like, to the point where I hadn’t realized our theater department could be so good. It’s playing this weekend and like next week I think, so if you can get to see it, DO IT. If I have time I’m certainly seeing it again.
In all our free time, we’ve also been “playing ball.” I recently bought a cheap plastic bat + whiffle ball and a big blue bouncy ball, so we run out into the court and kick it around. Uhhh, and last night we watched Disturbia, which I suddenly wanted to see because Aaron Yoo from 21 was in it, and it was written by the guy who wrote Red Eye, which I enjoyed. Disturbia....kinda an utter failure. It got to the point where I was laughing, “the skeleton grabbed him!” Mmmm, a winner.
The other thing that we occupy our hours with is creating euphemisms for doing drugs. It started with “dropping juice” because I think Beth had a jar of juice and she was insisting that she needed to drop it. Then while at Panda Express, I was telling her to smash the stuffed panda that was in the cup in front of the register, and “smashing pandas” sounded like a good drug, too. And just yesterday we came up with “taking loops,” because that’s what Beth was doing…in the parking lot. We then decided that loops are an upper, pandas are a sedative, and juice is hallucinogenic.
Half of my term papers are over and done with, and it turns out one of the four is actually just an outline. The last is on an art guy, and I just emailed him a bunch of questions. Other than that, all I have left this year is Ink-Man and passing finals. Yay! So that’s what I’m gonna do.
I’m supposed to find a clip from High School Musical to show in class today, to illustrate my thesis for my paper. I don’t have the movie, so I’m about to go to youtube. Other than that, today I’m going to edit a bit with Kelly (our mid-day class was cancelled), and after class me and Sam might “find/save the king!” (play FFIV) and then THE OFFICE IS NEW AGAIN YAY EVERYBODY DANCE. And next season they’re premiering some sort of Office spin-off in the time slot right after it. I bet that’ll be interesting.
Okay, so that’s my mass-media filled week. OH WAIT. I wanted to tell you about Morning Becomes Eclectic, my favorite radio show. It’s on in the mornings on the public station, and it plays all this indy stuff that apparently is exactly my taste in music that I didn’t know I had. It’s just like catching your weekly tv show, but it’s everyday and you get to walk to class whilst enjoying it.
-Steph
Video games! Tossed in Final Fantasy IV in a fit of desperation, and blew through at least half of it. I had 11 hours on it and now I have 24. Now I’m leveling up to fight stupid Rubicant, but he hits for like 2000 and even Kain only has like 2200 HP total. Grrrrrrr. I chose IV over XII or KH because I knew I would only be level grinding in those....but now I guess the boat’s the same for all.
The other game getting a lot of facetime in my house is Pokemon Snap, courtesy of Brianna. She’s beaten it already, but now she’s trying to get the best pictures of the Pokemon and it’s getting ridiculous. The game is about taking picture of Pokemon, if that wasn’t clear. But several amazingly funny things have come about because of it:
Legend of the Zorpa
We were shooting for Ink-Man when Brianna happened to say, “OH, I figured out how to take a better picture of the Zorpa!”
“Zorpa?!” we say. There is no Pokemon whose name even resembles “Zorpa.” “That’s a Greek woman!” Sam exclaims. “Do you mean Zapdos?” we suggest.
Yes, it must be Zapdos.
A funny side-incident is later that day, we’ve separated to change out of costumes and are reassembling to go to lunch. I’m playing ball in the court when Sam shows back up. “Guess who’s playin’ Snap,” I say to him, nodding over to Brianna through the open door of my apartment.
“Guess who’s catchin’ Zorpas!” Sam replies enthusiastically. I start laughing so much that I kick the ball straight into my own face. Also highly amusing, although it does sting for a while.
The next day we’re back shooting again when suddenly she announces, “I got a picture of Megatron!” This is too much. Only Brianna can catch a picture of Megatron in Pokemon Snap. As we laugh about it, she says, “what is it from, then, X-Men?”
What Pokemon does she mean this time? “I mean Geodude—“ WHAT. Not even similar sounding—“NO, I mean Magneton.” Okay, that at least sounds like Megatron, but still, where did Geodude come from?
NO! But I laugh and run away because I can’t take it. But she thinks I nod because later she asks “What X-Men is Megatron?” Oh, dear girl.
But the best part about the Zorpa came later, when I was watching her play. “Look,” she says, “this is how I get the Zorpas.” I look up, but am confused because Zapdos isn’t in this level….. “There’s the Zorpa!” And behold! She never meant Zapdos all along!
It was the Lapras.
The end.
So the shoot was fun. Very hectic on Saturday because we had a lot to do and not a lot of time, and some lost time and some set-up issues, but we did get it all. Sigh. Now it’s time to edit! Director’s cut due Tuesday, picture lock Thursday. Then edit sound; effects, narration. Then it’s done and time to screen it?! Everyone is welcome—it’s April 25 (Friday) at some time in the evening. The day before that is the department screening of the upper level production classes and the Capstones and such. The sitcom is showing. I still need to wrangle a copy of that. That screening is in a theater in Pasadena, and it costs money to go to it. Oooh, fancy.
Other things we done this week:
Thoroughly Modern Millie!! Went with Beth and Brianna and Sam (our film crew is very hangy-outy) and it was fantastic. Like, unspeakably good. I’d never seen it before in any capacity, but a few of my group had, and apparently it was just as good as Broadway. Like, to the point where I hadn’t realized our theater department could be so good. It’s playing this weekend and like next week I think, so if you can get to see it, DO IT. If I have time I’m certainly seeing it again.
In all our free time, we’ve also been “playing ball.” I recently bought a cheap plastic bat + whiffle ball and a big blue bouncy ball, so we run out into the court and kick it around. Uhhh, and last night we watched Disturbia, which I suddenly wanted to see because Aaron Yoo from 21 was in it, and it was written by the guy who wrote Red Eye, which I enjoyed. Disturbia....kinda an utter failure. It got to the point where I was laughing, “the skeleton grabbed him!” Mmmm, a winner.
The other thing that we occupy our hours with is creating euphemisms for doing drugs. It started with “dropping juice” because I think Beth had a jar of juice and she was insisting that she needed to drop it. Then while at Panda Express, I was telling her to smash the stuffed panda that was in the cup in front of the register, and “smashing pandas” sounded like a good drug, too. And just yesterday we came up with “taking loops,” because that’s what Beth was doing…in the parking lot. We then decided that loops are an upper, pandas are a sedative, and juice is hallucinogenic.
Half of my term papers are over and done with, and it turns out one of the four is actually just an outline. The last is on an art guy, and I just emailed him a bunch of questions. Other than that, all I have left this year is Ink-Man and passing finals. Yay! So that’s what I’m gonna do.
I’m supposed to find a clip from High School Musical to show in class today, to illustrate my thesis for my paper. I don’t have the movie, so I’m about to go to youtube. Other than that, today I’m going to edit a bit with Kelly (our mid-day class was cancelled), and after class me and Sam might “find/save the king!” (play FFIV) and then THE OFFICE IS NEW AGAIN YAY EVERYBODY DANCE. And next season they’re premiering some sort of Office spin-off in the time slot right after it. I bet that’ll be interesting.
Okay, so that’s my mass-media filled week. OH WAIT. I wanted to tell you about Morning Becomes Eclectic, my favorite radio show. It’s on in the mornings on the public station, and it plays all this indy stuff that apparently is exactly my taste in music that I didn’t know I had. It’s just like catching your weekly tv show, but it’s everyday and you get to walk to class whilst enjoying it.
-Steph
Thursday, April 03, 2008
I Wish My Name Were Punky
Happy Thursday! Today is the closest I’ve come to not getting this note out due to computerlessness. I’ve spent most of my week in the computer lab (where I am at currently), because apparently my laptop is so disease-ridden that it’s taking four days to run a scan. But I will persevere.
In this issue of Thursday Today:
1) Last Weekend with The Ink-Man
2) Get Your Own Thursday Tan!
3) Writing Critical Papers on Contemporary Media and Getting Away With It
4) No Chicken Dinner: a Movie Review of 21
5) There’s a Veronica Mars in All of Us (and a criminal in everyone you know)
1) Last weekend, of course, was the start of principle production on The Ink-Man. Bright and early the cast and crew assembled at my apartment, and off we went to capture my dreams on High-Definition Mini-Digital-Video Tape. First we had Sam and Brianna frolic across a field. Then we blocked the entrance to the ER for a while shooting the seduction scene. Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2052258&l=2ac2b&id=56903048
Day Two was just as productive, and we knocked out two entire scenes before conflicting schedules broke apart our happy little family/crew. Highlights included Brianna sleeping all morning because we didn’t really need her, and Sam getting all his arm-hairs ripped out by painter’s tape. Acting in APU student films is no walk in the park, although you may be required to frolic. Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2052351&l=7ce35&id=56903048
Shooting continues right after class today, and through the weekend.
2) Ever wanted to really experience Thursday in a Southern Californian way? Now you can, in only three days! Step one: carefully acquire a base tan by sitting in the sun in short sleeves for a safe amount of time. Step two: the next day, uncover the previously covered parts of your arms and sit in the sun for a long time. The next day, you’ll have the perfect red-and-brown Thursday look all your friends will envy. Be creative! Try your own patterns and designs!
To pass the time while sitting in the sun for extended periods, we recommend getting an anatomy lesson from your nursing major friend. Do you know where blood comes from, how it dies, and where it goes? Do you know how your diaphragm works, and how the esophagus passes through it? Do you know that the lungs are not balloons, but have the same consistency all the way through? Did you know that a “collapsed lung” is just a way to describe that the vacuum surrounding your lung has been punctured? Learn all these things and more while working on your very own Thursday Tan ©.
3) Between the hardships of working on a full keyboard in the computer lab and working on my roommate’s Mac, I somehow managed to write a 6+ page paper yesterday. Now I’m sure you’re asking, “Just how on earth did you manage that?!” I’ll tell you.
My secret to writing lengthy papers and turning them in on time is simple: contemporary media studies. You’ll remember my writing a 10 page paper on The Office last year. This time it was High School Musical, analyzing its similarities and differences in comparison to classical musicals.
Now I’m sure many of you just can’t believe that I can get away with writing critical papers on such frivolous stuff as current media. But I tell you I can, and it’s because of the blossoming field of Media Studies. An academic approach to today’s communication, how it works, what it’s saying, the ways in which it affects the viewer.
It’s all very scholarly, and it may secretly be what I want to do with my life.
4) “Winner, winner, chicken dinner” is how the movie starts, and it only gets worse. As he does through much of the movie (setting up the final twist which comes across as utterly staid), the narrator explains exactly what that means, how it originated as the ultimate congratulatory remark to the winner of a hand of Blackjack. This movie does not deserve the same congratulations.
The film is based on a book based on some kind of “true story,” so it is predominately not entertaining. Whereas a story has rises and falls and in-laid hints, 21 has a straight track of step-by-step predictability up until it derails itself right off a cliff. The main character is painted into his personality arc; otherwise decent actor Jim Sturgess blustering lines about “who he really is” just because the script told him to and not because his character has any substance. It was about half way through when I realized I’d seen his character arc before—strikingly similar to Troy Bolton from High School Musical 2.
Kevin Spacey (when will he stop producing vehicles for himself?) plays the terribly coercive team-driver, whose mystery isn’t set up until the moment before it’s explained. Along with Laurence Fishburne’s aging security figure, Spacey plays unmotivated and strangely self-important when the audience could care less about them; they’re there because the plot needs them, and neither put much heart into their roles. In fact, many of Spacey’s expressions seem forced, not acted, and Fishburne does a job comparable to any hobo off the street.
Among its other primary faults is the way in which it continually and continuously forgets two of its major characters, Kianna and Choi. Both Asian-American, their role on the team is token at best. While Kianna is just as undeveloped as any of the characters, she at least has some plotty screentime opposite Sturgess. But Choi, portrayed by Aaron Yoo, is almost a throw-away, having one major plot point which is corny at best. The tragedy here is that Yoo plays his character as if the camera is always on him: spunky, quirky, and all-around interesting. Now if the film had been about Choi’s jaunts in Vegas, I would have taken this movie to the best chicken restaurant in town.
5) Sometimes in Veronica Mars, clues just happen to add up in ways you might disbelieve. But let me tell you, coincidences do happen. Like when you randomly want a chicken sandwich from McDonald’s, when you go, you discover that it was a McDonald’s bag all a long, and not an Old Navy one like you have believed. A vital clue in an ongoing investigation which I am probably not at liberty to discuss further.
Beth and Jenn have become hooked on the episodic drama of the spunky teenaged detective. To the point that, when trying to express her school spirit, Beth announced, “Go Pirates!” We are also planning on solving crimes from now on, so if you need any crimes solved, we’re here for you.
But seriously, just imagine: You’re on the phone with your friend when I call you. You get to say, “Hold on, Punky’s on the other line.”
-Stephanie
In this issue of Thursday Today:
1) Last Weekend with The Ink-Man
2) Get Your Own Thursday Tan!
3) Writing Critical Papers on Contemporary Media and Getting Away With It
4) No Chicken Dinner: a Movie Review of 21
5) There’s a Veronica Mars in All of Us (and a criminal in everyone you know)
1) Last weekend, of course, was the start of principle production on The Ink-Man. Bright and early the cast and crew assembled at my apartment, and off we went to capture my dreams on High-Definition Mini-Digital-Video Tape. First we had Sam and Brianna frolic across a field. Then we blocked the entrance to the ER for a while shooting the seduction scene. Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2052258&l=2ac2b&id=56903048
Day Two was just as productive, and we knocked out two entire scenes before conflicting schedules broke apart our happy little family/crew. Highlights included Brianna sleeping all morning because we didn’t really need her, and Sam getting all his arm-hairs ripped out by painter’s tape. Acting in APU student films is no walk in the park, although you may be required to frolic. Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2052351&l=7ce35&id=56903048
Shooting continues right after class today, and through the weekend.
2) Ever wanted to really experience Thursday in a Southern Californian way? Now you can, in only three days! Step one: carefully acquire a base tan by sitting in the sun in short sleeves for a safe amount of time. Step two: the next day, uncover the previously covered parts of your arms and sit in the sun for a long time. The next day, you’ll have the perfect red-and-brown Thursday look all your friends will envy. Be creative! Try your own patterns and designs!
To pass the time while sitting in the sun for extended periods, we recommend getting an anatomy lesson from your nursing major friend. Do you know where blood comes from, how it dies, and where it goes? Do you know how your diaphragm works, and how the esophagus passes through it? Do you know that the lungs are not balloons, but have the same consistency all the way through? Did you know that a “collapsed lung” is just a way to describe that the vacuum surrounding your lung has been punctured? Learn all these things and more while working on your very own Thursday Tan ©.
3) Between the hardships of working on a full keyboard in the computer lab and working on my roommate’s Mac, I somehow managed to write a 6+ page paper yesterday. Now I’m sure you’re asking, “Just how on earth did you manage that?!” I’ll tell you.
My secret to writing lengthy papers and turning them in on time is simple: contemporary media studies. You’ll remember my writing a 10 page paper on The Office last year. This time it was High School Musical, analyzing its similarities and differences in comparison to classical musicals.
Now I’m sure many of you just can’t believe that I can get away with writing critical papers on such frivolous stuff as current media. But I tell you I can, and it’s because of the blossoming field of Media Studies. An academic approach to today’s communication, how it works, what it’s saying, the ways in which it affects the viewer.
It’s all very scholarly, and it may secretly be what I want to do with my life.
4) “Winner, winner, chicken dinner” is how the movie starts, and it only gets worse. As he does through much of the movie (setting up the final twist which comes across as utterly staid), the narrator explains exactly what that means, how it originated as the ultimate congratulatory remark to the winner of a hand of Blackjack. This movie does not deserve the same congratulations.
The film is based on a book based on some kind of “true story,” so it is predominately not entertaining. Whereas a story has rises and falls and in-laid hints, 21 has a straight track of step-by-step predictability up until it derails itself right off a cliff. The main character is painted into his personality arc; otherwise decent actor Jim Sturgess blustering lines about “who he really is” just because the script told him to and not because his character has any substance. It was about half way through when I realized I’d seen his character arc before—strikingly similar to Troy Bolton from High School Musical 2.
Kevin Spacey (when will he stop producing vehicles for himself?) plays the terribly coercive team-driver, whose mystery isn’t set up until the moment before it’s explained. Along with Laurence Fishburne’s aging security figure, Spacey plays unmotivated and strangely self-important when the audience could care less about them; they’re there because the plot needs them, and neither put much heart into their roles. In fact, many of Spacey’s expressions seem forced, not acted, and Fishburne does a job comparable to any hobo off the street.
Among its other primary faults is the way in which it continually and continuously forgets two of its major characters, Kianna and Choi. Both Asian-American, their role on the team is token at best. While Kianna is just as undeveloped as any of the characters, she at least has some plotty screentime opposite Sturgess. But Choi, portrayed by Aaron Yoo, is almost a throw-away, having one major plot point which is corny at best. The tragedy here is that Yoo plays his character as if the camera is always on him: spunky, quirky, and all-around interesting. Now if the film had been about Choi’s jaunts in Vegas, I would have taken this movie to the best chicken restaurant in town.
5) Sometimes in Veronica Mars, clues just happen to add up in ways you might disbelieve. But let me tell you, coincidences do happen. Like when you randomly want a chicken sandwich from McDonald’s, when you go, you discover that it was a McDonald’s bag all a long, and not an Old Navy one like you have believed. A vital clue in an ongoing investigation which I am probably not at liberty to discuss further.
Beth and Jenn have become hooked on the episodic drama of the spunky teenaged detective. To the point that, when trying to express her school spirit, Beth announced, “Go Pirates!” We are also planning on solving crimes from now on, so if you need any crimes solved, we’re here for you.
But seriously, just imagine: You’re on the phone with your friend when I call you. You get to say, “Hold on, Punky’s on the other line.”
-Stephanie
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Crunch
Happy Thursday. I'd put the iconic exclamation mark at the end of that, but frankly, I don't feel like I have the time. I rarely experience non-stop responsibility management, but I'm feeling it right now.
The Ink-Man begins production this weekend. Day after tomorrow. So today was spent discussing and ironing and scrabbling for last-minute details and paperwork. Between classes, that is. During class I was slamming out the outline for The Ink-Man 2: The Sequel. Treatment due at the end of the month. Gotta finish the paperwork to have this class count for the other one, and then got to turn in the paperwork to actually register for it.
Gotta get the location release for the on-campus areas we're shooting at. Only just now had the chance to send those out. Been feverishly writing emails to people about schedules and plans, about this weekend and next semester. Everything is coming down this weekend, not only on the shoot but for classes and graduating and housing and all that stuff. I feel like I need a soggy cigarette to chew on and some rum to slug into my hot cocoa.
Still need to do some AV editing tomorrow, which won't take long but is stressful because tomorrow is the last possible day I have to do it. Need to edit together a fake surveillance camera feed, the countdown for Whyte-Out's lair, and photoshop some sort of pens-in-the-wild picture for the Ink-Man's calendar. But I have time tomorrow after field trip class and Japanese kids. And after that, I need to go back over there and get some ministry credits signed off.
Sometime next week, then, I'll be turning in the general petition re: TFT 462/499, and the add form for 499. Also running around crazy getting my Intent to Graduate stuff signed. Also writing a 7 page paper on High School Musical. It's one of my four giant term papers I happen to have this semester, which I don't have time for due to Ink-Man. 'Cause I'm going to be working on that straight up till the day it's due, and as far as I believe, the grand screenings for all the movies is that day or the next.
I also need to do my homework for tomorrow.
On an equally stressful note, new roommate is going to take a little getting used to, if she ever comes back from somewhere mysterious. Don't want to say too much, but I really don't know too much, either. But honestly I'm not going to be in the apartment for the rest of the semester, so it's not too bad.
In less stressful news, Beth started Veronica Mars and was pleasantly surprised. Jenn needs to catch up on the first disc, but she was busy finishing Lost. Which I didn't have time for today because of typing things to people. (I decided I really really like Ben. Like, second-favorite status, here) Also hung out with Brianna the other day, and somehow it ended up that she'd portray Whyte-Out in my upcoming motion picture. And it's funny, 'cause she totally knows Sam (Ink-Man himself) from, like, racquetball or whatever. It's going to be cute. Hung out with Sam himself yesterday, explored the Stater Bros. and had a briefly traumatic episode outside Radio Shack involving a Twilight Zone-esque disappearance of a personal item. (we found it, though) And whilst waiting for Kelly to show up to our Ink-Man meeting this morning, I ran into Jonathan and had quite a pleasant chat about all sorts of stuff.
Don't let me forget last Saturday, either, which was the day that Jacqi's and ours breaks overlapped. So me and her and Carolyn hung out and stuff. Anime nerditry. Korean BBQ. S'good.
I guess what I'm saying is, don't feel bad if you find my stress not-too-overwhelming. I'm doing just fine in the relaxing side of life, somehow. XD
-Stephanie
The Ink-Man begins production this weekend. Day after tomorrow. So today was spent discussing and ironing and scrabbling for last-minute details and paperwork. Between classes, that is. During class I was slamming out the outline for The Ink-Man 2: The Sequel. Treatment due at the end of the month. Gotta finish the paperwork to have this class count for the other one, and then got to turn in the paperwork to actually register for it.
Gotta get the location release for the on-campus areas we're shooting at. Only just now had the chance to send those out. Been feverishly writing emails to people about schedules and plans, about this weekend and next semester. Everything is coming down this weekend, not only on the shoot but for classes and graduating and housing and all that stuff. I feel like I need a soggy cigarette to chew on and some rum to slug into my hot cocoa.
Still need to do some AV editing tomorrow, which won't take long but is stressful because tomorrow is the last possible day I have to do it. Need to edit together a fake surveillance camera feed, the countdown for Whyte-Out's lair, and photoshop some sort of pens-in-the-wild picture for the Ink-Man's calendar. But I have time tomorrow after field trip class and Japanese kids. And after that, I need to go back over there and get some ministry credits signed off.
Sometime next week, then, I'll be turning in the general petition re: TFT 462/499, and the add form for 499. Also running around crazy getting my Intent to Graduate stuff signed. Also writing a 7 page paper on High School Musical. It's one of my four giant term papers I happen to have this semester, which I don't have time for due to Ink-Man. 'Cause I'm going to be working on that straight up till the day it's due, and as far as I believe, the grand screenings for all the movies is that day or the next.
I also need to do my homework for tomorrow.
On an equally stressful note, new roommate is going to take a little getting used to, if she ever comes back from somewhere mysterious. Don't want to say too much, but I really don't know too much, either. But honestly I'm not going to be in the apartment for the rest of the semester, so it's not too bad.
In less stressful news, Beth started Veronica Mars and was pleasantly surprised. Jenn needs to catch up on the first disc, but she was busy finishing Lost. Which I didn't have time for today because of typing things to people. (I decided I really really like Ben. Like, second-favorite status, here) Also hung out with Brianna the other day, and somehow it ended up that she'd portray Whyte-Out in my upcoming motion picture. And it's funny, 'cause she totally knows Sam (Ink-Man himself) from, like, racquetball or whatever. It's going to be cute. Hung out with Sam himself yesterday, explored the Stater Bros. and had a briefly traumatic episode outside Radio Shack involving a Twilight Zone-esque disappearance of a personal item. (we found it, though) And whilst waiting for Kelly to show up to our Ink-Man meeting this morning, I ran into Jonathan and had quite a pleasant chat about all sorts of stuff.
Don't let me forget last Saturday, either, which was the day that Jacqi's and ours breaks overlapped. So me and her and Carolyn hung out and stuff. Anime nerditry. Korean BBQ. S'good.
I guess what I'm saying is, don't feel bad if you find my stress not-too-overwhelming. I'm doing just fine in the relaxing side of life, somehow. XD
-Stephanie
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Springtime Yeah!
Happy Thursday! My internet is really sketchy here (what! worse than at school?! gasp!!) so I think I'll make this brief while I feel confident in my connection.
Thursday night/Friday morning we got a new roommate. Christine? RD brought her over and basically we had no choice. W00t for living off campus (BETH) next year! RD had to kick himself out, because it was past curfew, too. Haha, oh, APU.
Saturday my pops picked me up, and we toured the greater Los Angeles area. Well. We went to Pasadena, found the Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, and then took surface streets to downtown LA, and eventually Santa Monica/Malibu. I abused the long exposure setting on my camera and took many a picture of the swirly lights.
Sunday was church and some sort of eating. Japanese. At Sumo. Don't remember the rest. Maybe some Veronica Mars? That's been the rest of my week, and it's echoed Christmas Break in that way -- wake up, go to Carolyn's, come back watch VM with Mom, sleep. Except I've been driving. Ehhhhhh. I'm really not so great at that.
We've been downtown everyday, thrifting. Hitting up all the shops for the same items day after day. XD Purses! Little roundish purses to paint to look like ninja pouches. We bought all the purses. Also bought a handsome black-and-neon-green turtleneck. Cut the green off. Bought tiny baby rainboots to practice cutting up to look like ninja boots. Probably will work. Need to find real ones. Need to buy netting for the eyes of our ninja masks. Need to finish making ninja masks. Need to find someone what sells solid gray fabric to make ninja vests. But will all the purses we've painted, it really feels like we've got some progress done. XD It'll look good, our ninja army.
Oh, this is all for the AX.
Did thrift a bit for Ink-Man, got a beautiful string of plastic pearls and a kitchy belt for Whyte-Out. Still need to finish up getting that ready, though.
The one thing I've learned from Veronica Mars is that I'm not meant to write mysteries. I do love following their twists and turns, but I'm definitely built for the spectation of the event and not the creation of. Way too much thinking-ahead for my capabilities. The way I see it -- if it's a twist I can see through and figure out before they tell me, then it's not a very good twist. Ergo, if it's a twist I can think up, it's not very good. So. But I love love love that show. AND SO DOES MOM AHHAHAHAHAHAHAH.
Gonna watch Colbert soon. I missed that kid. So wacky.
I also made dinner tonight, which was fun. And we actually paused our VM rush for Lost, which may or may not have been all that worthwhile. No, actually, I'll just go and make up my mind and say that episode was really dumb. There was not one part in it that was good, except for Ben being Ben, which is always worthwhile.
Well, alright. I've got to check on my boot-gluing. See you all back at school next week.
-Stephanie
Thursday night/Friday morning we got a new roommate. Christine? RD brought her over and basically we had no choice. W00t for living off campus (BETH) next year! RD had to kick himself out, because it was past curfew, too. Haha, oh, APU.
Saturday my pops picked me up, and we toured the greater Los Angeles area. Well. We went to Pasadena, found the Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, and then took surface streets to downtown LA, and eventually Santa Monica/Malibu. I abused the long exposure setting on my camera and took many a picture of the swirly lights.
Sunday was church and some sort of eating. Japanese. At Sumo. Don't remember the rest. Maybe some Veronica Mars? That's been the rest of my week, and it's echoed Christmas Break in that way -- wake up, go to Carolyn's, come back watch VM with Mom, sleep. Except I've been driving. Ehhhhhh. I'm really not so great at that.
We've been downtown everyday, thrifting. Hitting up all the shops for the same items day after day. XD Purses! Little roundish purses to paint to look like ninja pouches. We bought all the purses. Also bought a handsome black-and-neon-green turtleneck. Cut the green off. Bought tiny baby rainboots to practice cutting up to look like ninja boots. Probably will work. Need to find real ones. Need to buy netting for the eyes of our ninja masks. Need to finish making ninja masks. Need to find someone what sells solid gray fabric to make ninja vests. But will all the purses we've painted, it really feels like we've got some progress done. XD It'll look good, our ninja army.
Oh, this is all for the AX.
Did thrift a bit for Ink-Man, got a beautiful string of plastic pearls and a kitchy belt for Whyte-Out. Still need to finish up getting that ready, though.
The one thing I've learned from Veronica Mars is that I'm not meant to write mysteries. I do love following their twists and turns, but I'm definitely built for the spectation of the event and not the creation of. Way too much thinking-ahead for my capabilities. The way I see it -- if it's a twist I can see through and figure out before they tell me, then it's not a very good twist. Ergo, if it's a twist I can think up, it's not very good. So. But I love love love that show. AND SO DOES MOM AHHAHAHAHAHAHAH.
Gonna watch Colbert soon. I missed that kid. So wacky.
I also made dinner tonight, which was fun. And we actually paused our VM rush for Lost, which may or may not have been all that worthwhile. No, actually, I'll just go and make up my mind and say that episode was really dumb. There was not one part in it that was good, except for Ben being Ben, which is always worthwhile.
Well, alright. I've got to check on my boot-gluing. See you all back at school next week.
-Stephanie
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Blackjack Birthweek
Happy Thursday! Lotsa stuff happened this week, and I don't have a lot of time today to write all about it, so I'm gonna jump right in! Haha.
Friday! Skipped my art field trip to go on the film field trip. Trucked out to USC, which was fun (the trucking, I mean. Fun driving with friends). USC itself was pretty intimidating. From the few other university campuses I've been on, I'm glad I go here, if only for the size of the school. And I mean the physical space between buildings. Those other schools are massive. I'm glad it's just a walk down the hall to get anywhere important here.
But also the film school itself was really massive. You know, all professional and high-tech and sterile. Like "the industry" is, it seems. Again, I don't really care about the equipment it has, since I'm not in it for the production. APU TFT suits me just fine.
So Saturday Beth drove me out to Beverly Hills to see the art I missed. ......I didn't miss much. But after that we found a new Famima!! and went to Leandra's birthday party in a pretty park.
Sunday! Sunday was Knott's Berry Farm with my brother! And his wife. And their kids. And her parents and sister and grandma! And me! And Brianna. So it was pretty fun. I went on...the train/miner ride? No drops. And saw the western stunt show. But everyone else went on all sorts of things and had a heart-stopping time. Even the little ones. They're very brave. Finished it out at the chicken restaurant, where we ate chicken! I still have some in the fridge. I drew Pokemon on the placemat for Ainsley, who's way impressed that I'm a Pokemon master. But she has a bunch of Pokemon in her party that I've never even heard of. Haha, the next generation of Pokemon masters.
Then Monday was Blackjack birthday! Yay 21! Went to chapel, haha. Then hung out at my place most of the day. With the little ones running around crazy. The other kids on the island -(sorry, I'm watchin Lost)- the other residents of UP came out and watched them like they were an exotic sight. It was cute. Watched a bit of the Lion King. Then we trucked out to Pasadena, to A'Float. It was good, as always, and we found desert at Famima!!. Then Brianna and Beth went home and I went with the Miners to their hotel to visit for a bit.
(Gosh, someone needs to take me to see 21 when it comes out)
Then Tuesday, I went to class, where we watched some short films from USC that our prof worked on when he was in grad school. They were pretty good. There was an especially good one set in Spain involving a pistol duel. It was hilarious. Um and then I wrangled an acquaintance into helping on the Ink-Man shoot next semester. Then Kevin called because he was at the bookstore visiting his old buddies, so I went over there and bought some blue books for my test that day. XD They bought me ice cream and then I left them to go to my test--which went beautifully poorly, btw.
Um, and then me and Beth did something fun, but I don't remember, hahahaha. Must have been too drunk. Hahahah, just kidding. Oh, right, I wandered around town a bit and played around with some scheduling program in the ER. And then I went to a "Vintage APU Cinema" showing. It was really cute, all those terribly old films from 2002. USC has nothing on us. But after I got back, I put in some Veronica Mars season 2, because Jennifer got me that for my birthday! Yay! So watch out, mom, that's all you're doing next week.
Yesterday was Wednesday, right? Hmmm. Chapel. Writing class. Went out to thrifting with Brianna and Beth. Found a shirt for the Ink-Man. Which smells like old man and thrift. Drove out to Monrovia or wherever for dinner -- Korean BBW. Pretty good, too, also have some of that in my fridge. Then we came back and watched Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. So good. I love Batman.
TODAY is THURSDAY. In film-class we watched Baraka, which was an hour and a half of documentary-style footage of geography, tribal actions, cities, ancient ruins, chicks on a conveyor belt. All kinds of stuff. It was cool. And then we had cute lunch like always, but outside today because it was beautiful and warm. And in Musicals we watched West Side Story, which I hadn't seen, but I definitely liked it more than most/all of the things we've seen this semester. Better music, too. More like what I think of when I think of musicals.
Met Sam Kinsman (aka, the Ink-Man) in the street coming back from class, so we chatted about Ink-Man, and then decided to go to the caf--but when we went there, it was closed. So we went to B-Man's instead. And discussed anime, primarily. We are both geeks! So that's incredibly fun. And then I watched Lost but he went away because he's never seen it, and he wouldn't understand. But that's okay, 'cause it was kinda a weird episode anyway, and I saw the one twist coming from a mile away, and the other one just seems unnecessary. Oh well. At least they're not ruining time travel anymore.
So Spring Break next week! Day after tomorrow! Ohmigosh. Going to sleep and thrift and play video games and pre-produce the Ink-Man. And write up a treatment for next semester's Ink-Man. Oh gosh. It's going to be so busy. XD
Okay. I'm off to hanging out! And maybe homework. Haha. Maybe not.
-Stephanie
Friday! Skipped my art field trip to go on the film field trip. Trucked out to USC, which was fun (the trucking, I mean. Fun driving with friends). USC itself was pretty intimidating. From the few other university campuses I've been on, I'm glad I go here, if only for the size of the school. And I mean the physical space between buildings. Those other schools are massive. I'm glad it's just a walk down the hall to get anywhere important here.
But also the film school itself was really massive. You know, all professional and high-tech and sterile. Like "the industry" is, it seems. Again, I don't really care about the equipment it has, since I'm not in it for the production. APU TFT suits me just fine.
So Saturday Beth drove me out to Beverly Hills to see the art I missed. ......I didn't miss much. But after that we found a new Famima!! and went to Leandra's birthday party in a pretty park.
Sunday! Sunday was Knott's Berry Farm with my brother! And his wife. And their kids. And her parents and sister and grandma! And me! And Brianna. So it was pretty fun. I went on...the train/miner ride? No drops. And saw the western stunt show. But everyone else went on all sorts of things and had a heart-stopping time. Even the little ones. They're very brave. Finished it out at the chicken restaurant, where we ate chicken! I still have some in the fridge. I drew Pokemon on the placemat for Ainsley, who's way impressed that I'm a Pokemon master. But she has a bunch of Pokemon in her party that I've never even heard of. Haha, the next generation of Pokemon masters.
Then Monday was Blackjack birthday! Yay 21! Went to chapel, haha. Then hung out at my place most of the day. With the little ones running around crazy. The other kids on the island -(sorry, I'm watchin Lost)- the other residents of UP came out and watched them like they were an exotic sight. It was cute. Watched a bit of the Lion King. Then we trucked out to Pasadena, to A'Float. It was good, as always, and we found desert at Famima!!. Then Brianna and Beth went home and I went with the Miners to their hotel to visit for a bit.
(Gosh, someone needs to take me to see 21 when it comes out)
Then Tuesday, I went to class, where we watched some short films from USC that our prof worked on when he was in grad school. They were pretty good. There was an especially good one set in Spain involving a pistol duel. It was hilarious. Um and then I wrangled an acquaintance into helping on the Ink-Man shoot next semester. Then Kevin called because he was at the bookstore visiting his old buddies, so I went over there and bought some blue books for my test that day. XD They bought me ice cream and then I left them to go to my test--which went beautifully poorly, btw.
Um, and then me and Beth did something fun, but I don't remember, hahahaha. Must have been too drunk. Hahahah, just kidding. Oh, right, I wandered around town a bit and played around with some scheduling program in the ER. And then I went to a "Vintage APU Cinema" showing. It was really cute, all those terribly old films from 2002. USC has nothing on us. But after I got back, I put in some Veronica Mars season 2, because Jennifer got me that for my birthday! Yay! So watch out, mom, that's all you're doing next week.
Yesterday was Wednesday, right? Hmmm. Chapel. Writing class. Went out to thrifting with Brianna and Beth. Found a shirt for the Ink-Man. Which smells like old man and thrift. Drove out to Monrovia or wherever for dinner -- Korean BBW. Pretty good, too, also have some of that in my fridge. Then we came back and watched Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. So good. I love Batman.
TODAY is THURSDAY. In film-class we watched Baraka, which was an hour and a half of documentary-style footage of geography, tribal actions, cities, ancient ruins, chicks on a conveyor belt. All kinds of stuff. It was cool. And then we had cute lunch like always, but outside today because it was beautiful and warm. And in Musicals we watched West Side Story, which I hadn't seen, but I definitely liked it more than most/all of the things we've seen this semester. Better music, too. More like what I think of when I think of musicals.
Met Sam Kinsman (aka, the Ink-Man) in the street coming back from class, so we chatted about Ink-Man, and then decided to go to the caf--but when we went there, it was closed. So we went to B-Man's instead. And discussed anime, primarily. We are both geeks! So that's incredibly fun. And then I watched Lost but he went away because he's never seen it, and he wouldn't understand. But that's okay, 'cause it was kinda a weird episode anyway, and I saw the one twist coming from a mile away, and the other one just seems unnecessary. Oh well. At least they're not ruining time travel anymore.
So Spring Break next week! Day after tomorrow! Ohmigosh. Going to sleep and thrift and play video games and pre-produce the Ink-Man. And write up a treatment for next semester's Ink-Man. Oh gosh. It's going to be so busy. XD
Okay. I'm off to hanging out! And maybe homework. Haha. Maybe not.
-Stephanie
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Another Day, Another Tooth
Happy Thursday! Did you know that when you next see me (most of you), I will be 21? It's true! How bizarre. My blackjack birthday. And my brother et al will be visiting me! I'll take pictures, it'll be cute.
Already I got a shiny snazzy new camera, which is all kinds of awesome. It's black and cute and for some crazy reason the 2GB memory cards where the same price as the 1GB, and that's always fun to find. We took pictures:
Because I also got such items pictured, but they are for the Ink-Man, which begins production at the end of the month.
Also got a little sombrero for Riko! Finally. Been lookin for one of those for forever.
Now, to be confusing, I got my third Zune this year, and his name is Riku. Exchanged the refurbished one (Roxas) for a brand-new one, but they were out of brown, so Riku is black. He looks like a stranger. I keep seeing it and going, what is that? Oh. My Zune. It's weird. But he works perfect like he's supposed to, and that's great. So thanks Mom 'n Dad! I really appreciate it.
Since I seem to be going out of order, let me re-explain that I went home this weekend. For the dentist. Gotta go back again, too. It's really cool.
Well, last Friday I never came home -- I went to chapel, straight from there to class, straight from there to the ER, straight from there to the other campus for filming, and we were there from 3 PM to like 2 AM. Brianna came and was an extra! But I didn't have to go anywhere on Saturday -- but I did, I went to dinner and then the mall and then the play with Beth. It was fun.
Sunday I went home! Monday was the dentist, and I hung out with Carolyn a slight bit, 'cause she's cool and drove me to the dentist, waited, and drove me back. Drummed a little RockBand. I'm really bad. But the night before I'd had a dream where I was drumming, but the icons that were going across the screen were like potterys, and I had to smash them with the drumsticks. It was intense. And then I went to my mom's class and showed the kids my movie.
Wednesday I made lunch with Brianna and we watched Brigadoon. Gene Kelly's always awesome, but this was only just a little better than most. Really liked near the end, when it got depressing. Saw Gigi today in class, and I actually enjoyed it. Oh, also Wednesday was the Bible Experience Live! which I got in to for free because I volunteered at it. Not a bad show, although it did play at times like an advertisement. Some famous people were there.
So today I had my first class since ever, but before that I had academic advising! Which actually went really well -- I have three classes and 18 units left to graduate, right? So I'm signed up for Acting Fundamentals and Senior Seminar (my last requirements), and then Sci-Fi Films, Intermediate Screenwriting, and Episodic Drama. But wait! you say, That's only two required classes and 15 units! What else!
Well, my friends, I'll tell you. Right now I'm in Motion Picture Production I, which is followed by Motion Picture Production II. However, MPPII isn't being offered in the Fall!!!! BUT. There is a little something called "course replacement," where I say, I'm taking TFT 499, make it count for TFT 462. So me and Kelly and Andrew, who are all in the same boat of needing MPPII, are gonna make a Capstone, which is basically the same as what we'd be doing in MPPII. And that's three units, and then I'm outta here for good!!
Tomorrow I'm going on a fieldtrip with MPPI, to USC. Really looking forward to it. It'll be a good day.
-Stephanie
Already I got a shiny snazzy new camera, which is all kinds of awesome. It's black and cute and for some crazy reason the 2GB memory cards where the same price as the 1GB, and that's always fun to find. We took pictures:
Because I also got such items pictured, but they are for the Ink-Man, which begins production at the end of the month.
Also got a little sombrero for Riko! Finally. Been lookin for one of those for forever.
Now, to be confusing, I got my third Zune this year, and his name is Riku. Exchanged the refurbished one (Roxas) for a brand-new one, but they were out of brown, so Riku is black. He looks like a stranger. I keep seeing it and going, what is that? Oh. My Zune. It's weird. But he works perfect like he's supposed to, and that's great. So thanks Mom 'n Dad! I really appreciate it.
Since I seem to be going out of order, let me re-explain that I went home this weekend. For the dentist. Gotta go back again, too. It's really cool.
Well, last Friday I never came home -- I went to chapel, straight from there to class, straight from there to the ER, straight from there to the other campus for filming, and we were there from 3 PM to like 2 AM. Brianna came and was an extra! But I didn't have to go anywhere on Saturday -- but I did, I went to dinner and then the mall and then the play with Beth. It was fun.
Sunday I went home! Monday was the dentist, and I hung out with Carolyn a slight bit, 'cause she's cool and drove me to the dentist, waited, and drove me back. Drummed a little RockBand. I'm really bad. But the night before I'd had a dream where I was drumming, but the icons that were going across the screen were like potterys, and I had to smash them with the drumsticks. It was intense. And then I went to my mom's class and showed the kids my movie.
Wednesday I made lunch with Brianna and we watched Brigadoon. Gene Kelly's always awesome, but this was only just a little better than most. Really liked near the end, when it got depressing. Saw Gigi today in class, and I actually enjoyed it. Oh, also Wednesday was the Bible Experience Live! which I got in to for free because I volunteered at it. Not a bad show, although it did play at times like an advertisement. Some famous people were there.
So today I had my first class since ever, but before that I had academic advising! Which actually went really well -- I have three classes and 18 units left to graduate, right? So I'm signed up for Acting Fundamentals and Senior Seminar (my last requirements), and then Sci-Fi Films, Intermediate Screenwriting, and Episodic Drama. But wait! you say, That's only two required classes and 15 units! What else!
Well, my friends, I'll tell you. Right now I'm in Motion Picture Production I, which is followed by Motion Picture Production II. However, MPPII isn't being offered in the Fall!!!! BUT. There is a little something called "course replacement," where I say, I'm taking TFT 499, make it count for TFT 462. So me and Kelly and Andrew, who are all in the same boat of needing MPPII, are gonna make a Capstone, which is basically the same as what we'd be doing in MPPII. And that's three units, and then I'm outta here for good!!
Tomorrow I'm going on a fieldtrip with MPPI, to USC. Really looking forward to it. It'll be a good day.
-Stephanie
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Whirlwind in a Bottle
Happy Thursday! And what a happy one it is. For example, I just finished my paper that's due in 20 minutes. What's not to be happy about? Also, Azusa just did one of those snap season things, where it's hailing one day and pushing 90 the next. I enjoy it when it's pushing 90 with no warning at all, although now I can't wear my layer Ts.
So last weekend I was on the new set! I slated it, which means I'm the one who holds that clappy board (it's called a slate--I assume like from the old days with chalk) and yell out what scene and take it is, and then I drop the clapper and run away quick and be quiet. Have to keep track of all that stuff, collaborate with the scrip supervisor and the sound guys, make sure we're all on the same page, as it where. Next time I want to try sound. It's a real role and it's not too hard. Hard enough, they insisted, but honestly, it's not that hard.
I also ended up being in a shot, but I can't act so they're probably worse off for it. Gonna help out again after class tomorrow, and that’s supposed to go pretty late. But nothing Saturday. And Sunday (or Saturday?) I’m going home to the Dentist. Boo. (Also, suddenly no class Tuesday, so coming back then?)
So it’s a leap year tomorrow. That’s pretty cool.
I finally and successfully exported my movie today! That is, I made a movie file of it that includes the effects, music AND is the full length of the film. Didn’t that just take forever. Made DVDs. Anyone want one? Gonna have a screening in….I dunno. Gotta find the time. Finished my script for the next one but we don’t actually shoot for another few weeks, so there’s time to prepare.
I need to tell you about how Brianna is awesome at Tetris. The other day I stood there and watched her play for 40 minutes. 39:00, if you want to get technical. She had a glorious factory of boxes up the side….I had left early on and came back later, and it was still there—but then they were all gold. In the end, it totaled over 2000 lines. My high score is like in the 18 hundreds? (Just want you to know that at this precise moment of writing, she again has a factory of four gold boxes up the side) So I entirely expect her to never again lose OR get less than 1000 a game. Hear that? I mean it.
Yesterday I took a break from battling editing technology to go to a crazy Japanese/seafood buffet. It was…insanely overpriced. But I tried some new things and that’s always good? Don’t think I’m going back.
Just now:
Me: What else happened this week?
Beth: Oh yeah, it’s Thursday.
Me: Uh, yeah, that’s why I keep saying Happy Thursday to you.
OH. We saw Jumper on Monday. I have many thoughts on the topic, which I keep having to share with anyone who doesn’t look busy. It was exactly what I expected—not great. But. After the stilted and rather incoherent writing of the first hour, it finishes out the last half hour with much excitement and fun. The jumping effect became very cool as they started using it in more advanced ways, and Hayden didn’t butcher the role like all the reviews say. The biggest fault is the non-existent writing. Opening credits said it was based on a book, so right after I went out and bought it…..but it was about the same in terms of quality. Actually a little more boring. But the two complement each other…though in the end I have to say that I like the movie better and actually expect to see it again. So I recommend it if you don’t have high standards and want to kill an hour and a half. I don’t so highly recommend the book, unless you’re a huge sci-fi fan and are about 14.
Hahah, Brianna just lost to Beth, at 96 to 130 or so.
The title of this post refers to the fact that I felt immensely pressured to do all SORTS of assignments and didn’t feel like I had enough time to do them. But of course I did, so everything rather calmly got done. Like right now? I don’t have to do homework until some reading notes are due next Thursday. And I even have a class tomorrow.
Oh, the other exciting thing this week was that I bought a Batman movie (cartoon), had a two-in-one Batman movies (cartoon) bought for me for my birthday, and we watched the former right after seeing Batman Begins the other day. Guys, I just love Batman. If you ever want to get me something, get me some Batman. I’ll take it all.
-Stephanie
So last weekend I was on the new set! I slated it, which means I'm the one who holds that clappy board (it's called a slate--I assume like from the old days with chalk) and yell out what scene and take it is, and then I drop the clapper and run away quick and be quiet. Have to keep track of all that stuff, collaborate with the scrip supervisor and the sound guys, make sure we're all on the same page, as it where. Next time I want to try sound. It's a real role and it's not too hard. Hard enough, they insisted, but honestly, it's not that hard.
I also ended up being in a shot, but I can't act so they're probably worse off for it. Gonna help out again after class tomorrow, and that’s supposed to go pretty late. But nothing Saturday. And Sunday (or Saturday?) I’m going home to the Dentist. Boo. (Also, suddenly no class Tuesday, so coming back then?)
So it’s a leap year tomorrow. That’s pretty cool.
I finally and successfully exported my movie today! That is, I made a movie file of it that includes the effects, music AND is the full length of the film. Didn’t that just take forever. Made DVDs. Anyone want one? Gonna have a screening in….I dunno. Gotta find the time. Finished my script for the next one but we don’t actually shoot for another few weeks, so there’s time to prepare.
I need to tell you about how Brianna is awesome at Tetris. The other day I stood there and watched her play for 40 minutes. 39:00, if you want to get technical. She had a glorious factory of boxes up the side….I had left early on and came back later, and it was still there—but then they were all gold. In the end, it totaled over 2000 lines. My high score is like in the 18 hundreds? (Just want you to know that at this precise moment of writing, she again has a factory of four gold boxes up the side) So I entirely expect her to never again lose OR get less than 1000 a game. Hear that? I mean it.
Yesterday I took a break from battling editing technology to go to a crazy Japanese/seafood buffet. It was…insanely overpriced. But I tried some new things and that’s always good? Don’t think I’m going back.
Just now:
Me: What else happened this week?
Beth: Oh yeah, it’s Thursday.
Me: Uh, yeah, that’s why I keep saying Happy Thursday to you.
OH. We saw Jumper on Monday. I have many thoughts on the topic, which I keep having to share with anyone who doesn’t look busy. It was exactly what I expected—not great. But. After the stilted and rather incoherent writing of the first hour, it finishes out the last half hour with much excitement and fun. The jumping effect became very cool as they started using it in more advanced ways, and Hayden didn’t butcher the role like all the reviews say. The biggest fault is the non-existent writing. Opening credits said it was based on a book, so right after I went out and bought it…..but it was about the same in terms of quality. Actually a little more boring. But the two complement each other…though in the end I have to say that I like the movie better and actually expect to see it again. So I recommend it if you don’t have high standards and want to kill an hour and a half. I don’t so highly recommend the book, unless you’re a huge sci-fi fan and are about 14.
Hahah, Brianna just lost to Beth, at 96 to 130 or so.
The title of this post refers to the fact that I felt immensely pressured to do all SORTS of assignments and didn’t feel like I had enough time to do them. But of course I did, so everything rather calmly got done. Like right now? I don’t have to do homework until some reading notes are due next Thursday. And I even have a class tomorrow.
Oh, the other exciting thing this week was that I bought a Batman movie (cartoon), had a two-in-one Batman movies (cartoon) bought for me for my birthday, and we watched the former right after seeing Batman Begins the other day. Guys, I just love Batman. If you ever want to get me something, get me some Batman. I’ll take it all.
-Stephanie
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Sleep goes between classes
Happy Thursday! Happy Blackjack Thursday at that! First of the year, hurrah. Okay, that aside, I need to make an addendum to last week's note. My policy seems to be Thursday over, pens down. But I definitely forgot FORGOT some important things that happened last week:
My new roommate Nikki went away! Moved back home. It's really sad, she was sorta awesome. So now it's just the two of us, but friends are over a lot and they're like honorary roommates. And also I'm not there very much, either, unless I'm sleeping. I love sleeping.
The other thing, less important but still exciting, is that I got my Zune back. More or less. Kinda less. Did you know that I named my first one Sora? That means "sky" in Japanese, and it was a reference to the wireless capabilities of the device. It was also for Sora from Kingdom Hearts, because I always name stuff after game/anime things. So Sora freaked out, and we sent it in to get fixed/replaced, and finally I got one back. Looks the same (except no smashed corners because I haven't thrown this one on the sidewalk), but apparently there's a different harddrive, too. So it's like new, but it looks the same. So I named him Roxas, which is a hilarious joke if you've played Kingdom Hearts II. (Roxas is like Sora, but the reborned version. It's hilarious)
Unfortunately, much like Roxas, my new Zune is messed up. Same exact problems, but just slightly not as bad. Don't know what to do about it! Still think that maybe wiping my drive and starting over miiiiight help (being the only thing in common between Sora and Roxas), but I still haven't been into IMT. Sigh.
So for this week I have been told to Not Leave Important Things Out! So right now before I forget, I'm going to mention Crabby Chad's.
Crabby Chad's is a seafood restaurant on Citrus, which we've passed kinda often. It's fun to shout CRABBY CHAAAAD'S upon passing. So we finally went, me Beth and Brianna. It was...disappointing. That's about it.
Beth would like me to let you know she is amazing, and that Brianna is going to save the world.
So last weekend I helped out on the set of Bound, one of the student studio films. I didn't really do much, I basically followed around the producer as he shopped for lunch and dinner, and then helped cook the first night. And then I just sat around and watched! It was cool. It's a pretty trippy story, and there were some creepy performances. In a luminescent white room. Yay.
This weekend, though, I'm helping script supervise on Stealing Jesus, one of the others. I hear it involves keeping track of shot details. Paperwork, really. So my helping-on-set experience will include carrying, cooking, and script suping. Hahah yay. Go expertise!
But in between these two, I worked on my own. Finished it, really. Order Up is officially done--but it decided to have a last-ditch attempt to ruin us, by not exporting the whole movie. So it's not even technically turned in. But there's nothing we can do at the moment because it's being all weird and ornery. But it looks real nice. Sounds nice. We were up til 4 and 3 in the morning the past two days, trying to beat it into submission. But it was fun because everyone was there, doing the same thing. Just need to write my own script now! Haha.
Okay, they're making me add more. They sound very angry.
After Crabby Chad's (and Target) we went to Baking Fairy, which me and Beth drove by on a previous adventure (on Friday--to Claremont and beyond, then to Pamona to my bakery). It was really cute, and she kept giving us samples, and Beth got a 25 cent discount. We'll go back!
And before editing yesterday, Beth and Jenn and me went out to Arcadia to Tokyo Wako, which I can afford from not spending money on food this weekend and last (hooray student film budgets). It was really good, although the people at the far side of the table were the sort who really shouldn't be ordering that wine in public. And then like fifty old folks fro Iowa took over the place. They all had on the same yellow shirt, and we're pretty sure they'd just come from a The Price is Right shooting. I just wonder how they ended up in Arcadia.
Oh yeah, we just had a Lost party (well, me and Brianna, and Beth watches and has no idea what's going on). This week....okay. I called the twist ending like half-way through. Kate and Sawyer were way cute. Everything else was kinda blah. I think Desmond is #5.
Oh, also today I got mail from Carolyn, and that's always a day-brightener. ^^
Okay, I'm being told that I didn't leave anything important out. So I will see you another day!
-Steph
My new roommate Nikki went away! Moved back home. It's really sad, she was sorta awesome. So now it's just the two of us, but friends are over a lot and they're like honorary roommates. And also I'm not there very much, either, unless I'm sleeping. I love sleeping.
The other thing, less important but still exciting, is that I got my Zune back. More or less. Kinda less. Did you know that I named my first one Sora? That means "sky" in Japanese, and it was a reference to the wireless capabilities of the device. It was also for Sora from Kingdom Hearts, because I always name stuff after game/anime things. So Sora freaked out, and we sent it in to get fixed/replaced, and finally I got one back. Looks the same (except no smashed corners because I haven't thrown this one on the sidewalk), but apparently there's a different harddrive, too. So it's like new, but it looks the same. So I named him Roxas, which is a hilarious joke if you've played Kingdom Hearts II. (Roxas is like Sora, but the reborned version. It's hilarious)
Unfortunately, much like Roxas, my new Zune is messed up. Same exact problems, but just slightly not as bad. Don't know what to do about it! Still think that maybe wiping my drive and starting over miiiiight help (being the only thing in common between Sora and Roxas), but I still haven't been into IMT. Sigh.
So for this week I have been told to Not Leave Important Things Out! So right now before I forget, I'm going to mention Crabby Chad's.
Crabby Chad's is a seafood restaurant on Citrus, which we've passed kinda often. It's fun to shout CRABBY CHAAAAD'S upon passing. So we finally went, me Beth and Brianna. It was...disappointing. That's about it.
Beth would like me to let you know she is amazing, and that Brianna is going to save the world.
So last weekend I helped out on the set of Bound, one of the student studio films. I didn't really do much, I basically followed around the producer as he shopped for lunch and dinner, and then helped cook the first night. And then I just sat around and watched! It was cool. It's a pretty trippy story, and there were some creepy performances. In a luminescent white room. Yay.
This weekend, though, I'm helping script supervise on Stealing Jesus, one of the others. I hear it involves keeping track of shot details. Paperwork, really. So my helping-on-set experience will include carrying, cooking, and script suping. Hahah yay. Go expertise!
But in between these two, I worked on my own. Finished it, really. Order Up is officially done--but it decided to have a last-ditch attempt to ruin us, by not exporting the whole movie. So it's not even technically turned in. But there's nothing we can do at the moment because it's being all weird and ornery. But it looks real nice. Sounds nice. We were up til 4 and 3 in the morning the past two days, trying to beat it into submission. But it was fun because everyone was there, doing the same thing. Just need to write my own script now! Haha.
Okay, they're making me add more. They sound very angry.
After Crabby Chad's (and Target) we went to Baking Fairy, which me and Beth drove by on a previous adventure (on Friday--to Claremont and beyond, then to Pamona to my bakery). It was really cute, and she kept giving us samples, and Beth got a 25 cent discount. We'll go back!
And before editing yesterday, Beth and Jenn and me went out to Arcadia to Tokyo Wako, which I can afford from not spending money on food this weekend and last (hooray student film budgets). It was really good, although the people at the far side of the table were the sort who really shouldn't be ordering that wine in public. And then like fifty old folks fro Iowa took over the place. They all had on the same yellow shirt, and we're pretty sure they'd just come from a The Price is Right shooting. I just wonder how they ended up in Arcadia.
Oh yeah, we just had a Lost party (well, me and Brianna, and Beth watches and has no idea what's going on). This week....okay. I called the twist ending like half-way through. Kate and Sawyer were way cute. Everything else was kinda blah. I think Desmond is #5.
Oh, also today I got mail from Carolyn, and that's always a day-brightener. ^^
Okay, I'm being told that I didn't leave anything important out. So I will see you another day!
-Steph
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Busy Yet Uneventful
Happy Thursday! I suppose by default I should also say Happy Valentine's Day, since I've highlighted much more obscure holidays that fall on Thursday. Remember Australian Independence Day? Or something like that. Not that I have anything against Valentine's Day, although from Facebook I get the impression that the rest of the school does. Silly rest of the school.
So this weekend Carolyn was here! And we seriously watched all the movies. The Incredibles, The Italian Job, Casino Royale, Star Trek Nemesis, Juno, the last half of a Steven Segal movie, an old horror movie, bits of the new Willie Wonka. Plus some fun opera music videos on PBS, and like the Twilight Zone and Get Smart. Also, Of Mice and Men at the school theater. But we also did a lot of walking - to KFC, to West, over to Citrus and around in it, and then back home. Trust me, that's a lot of walking. It was a fun and lazy weekend.
Monday and Wednesday I spent in the ER some more, because today "picture lock" was due. That means that the way we want the footage is set more or less in stone, so that we know where for sure the audio goes. Which we should be having composed? I forgot to bring the DVD to Kelly to get to her music friend....he should really have it this weekend because the finished finished product is due next Thursday! Eep.
But no, it's looks pretty decent, especially with the beautiful beautiful old film style effects. Could use some varied speed and some of the effects didn't export properly, so there is still a touch of editing yet to be done. But everyone else's films look pretty sharp and I can't wait for them all to be done and have pretty sound and be like real movies. I should really be writing mine about now, to have something to shoot next month! And the process begins again.
What I started writing, though, is something I've been thinking about since last semester. A show about these kids who see the future in their dreams, and band together like superheroes to use their power for good. What I've started writing isn't precisely that, but that's the gist. It's not just kids, and of course there's a government conspiracy and now it's just a six episode mini-series. It's called Dreamers. I have five pages. w00t!
The thing I wrote today was the homework/paper due at 4:20. Got there a half hour late because I finished it at 4:20, and the trolley would Just Not Go. But it was okay, and the movie wasn't as bad as last week (The Band Wagon), and he graded the papers during it and I got an A AND a smiley face. Go me. No class tomorrow!!
Got myself assigned to help on craft services (food) for one of the student films this weekend. Haha, there goes my vacation. And next weekend I'm thinking I'll be helping on one of the others! But then the weekend after that, I get to meet the dentist again. BUT THE WEEKEND AFTER THAT is my last weekend as being 20.
Lost today was actually very good, I thought. It's probably just because I love Sayid. Love Love Love. Happy Valentine's Day, Sayid! OH. GUYS. The strike ended this week!!! New episodes of The Office April 3rd!! They're gonna try and push out six more before the season ends. Let's all rejoice.
The downside to this week was that I took a nap while I was backing up my computer onto my drive (*) and somehow managed to get sick again. I might be allergic to the couch. So now I have one of those squeaky cough voices that make me sound like an alien. But after that goes away, I'll be fine again.
* I've been meaning to take my computer to IMT to get it wiped because all the spyware on it. It's slow and awful and really does just shut down for the fun of it. And it's blocking my antivirus update, and I need to update in order to have full access to the school internet, so I get kicked off every 45 minutes and can't load things like Yahoo. But this morning when I turned it on, the automatic update friend told me that some malicious spyware had been removed, and the obnoxious "Your Computer is Infected Click Here To Install Some More Viruses" balloon is gone! So at least that's a relief. So maybe I don't have to get it wiped, just thoroughly scanned.
That's all I got! See you next week!
-Steph
So this weekend Carolyn was here! And we seriously watched all the movies. The Incredibles, The Italian Job, Casino Royale, Star Trek Nemesis, Juno, the last half of a Steven Segal movie, an old horror movie, bits of the new Willie Wonka. Plus some fun opera music videos on PBS, and like the Twilight Zone and Get Smart. Also, Of Mice and Men at the school theater. But we also did a lot of walking - to KFC, to West, over to Citrus and around in it, and then back home. Trust me, that's a lot of walking. It was a fun and lazy weekend.
Monday and Wednesday I spent in the ER some more, because today "picture lock" was due. That means that the way we want the footage is set more or less in stone, so that we know where for sure the audio goes. Which we should be having composed? I forgot to bring the DVD to Kelly to get to her music friend....he should really have it this weekend because the finished finished product is due next Thursday! Eep.
But no, it's looks pretty decent, especially with the beautiful beautiful old film style effects. Could use some varied speed and some of the effects didn't export properly, so there is still a touch of editing yet to be done. But everyone else's films look pretty sharp and I can't wait for them all to be done and have pretty sound and be like real movies. I should really be writing mine about now, to have something to shoot next month! And the process begins again.
What I started writing, though, is something I've been thinking about since last semester. A show about these kids who see the future in their dreams, and band together like superheroes to use their power for good. What I've started writing isn't precisely that, but that's the gist. It's not just kids, and of course there's a government conspiracy and now it's just a six episode mini-series. It's called Dreamers. I have five pages. w00t!
The thing I wrote today was the homework/paper due at 4:20. Got there a half hour late because I finished it at 4:20, and the trolley would Just Not Go. But it was okay, and the movie wasn't as bad as last week (The Band Wagon), and he graded the papers during it and I got an A AND a smiley face. Go me. No class tomorrow!!
Got myself assigned to help on craft services (food) for one of the student films this weekend. Haha, there goes my vacation. And next weekend I'm thinking I'll be helping on one of the others! But then the weekend after that, I get to meet the dentist again. BUT THE WEEKEND AFTER THAT is my last weekend as being 20.
Lost today was actually very good, I thought. It's probably just because I love Sayid. Love Love Love. Happy Valentine's Day, Sayid! OH. GUYS. The strike ended this week!!! New episodes of The Office April 3rd!! They're gonna try and push out six more before the season ends. Let's all rejoice.
The downside to this week was that I took a nap while I was backing up my computer onto my drive (*) and somehow managed to get sick again. I might be allergic to the couch. So now I have one of those squeaky cough voices that make me sound like an alien. But after that goes away, I'll be fine again.
* I've been meaning to take my computer to IMT to get it wiped because all the spyware on it. It's slow and awful and really does just shut down for the fun of it. And it's blocking my antivirus update, and I need to update in order to have full access to the school internet, so I get kicked off every 45 minutes and can't load things like Yahoo. But this morning when I turned it on, the automatic update friend told me that some malicious spyware had been removed, and the obnoxious "Your Computer is Infected Click Here To Install Some More Viruses" balloon is gone! So at least that's a relief. So maybe I don't have to get it wiped, just thoroughly scanned.
That's all I got! See you next week!
-Steph
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Too Many Words
Happy Thursday! Today was sunny and great, and I actually wandered around without my sweatshirt! I'd say that's a wonderful sign for a Thursday. I declare it the First Day of Spring Thursday.
Busy week! Friday me and Brianna and Jenn saw 27 Dresses. I give it a solid C largely based on its writing, which was uninspired and downright plagiarized at times. The acting was lackluster and stilted; and coming from otherwise bright performers, I say the script was at fault. Overall cute, but entirely forgettable. Poor even by chick flick standards.
Saturday was really weird. Me and Kelly had to do the last of our shooting, but Campus Safety is dumb. Woke up before seven to truck out to Heritage to shoot in the kitchen there, right? But no one's there and everything is locked and Campus Safety (I named him Leo after a certain Veronica Mars deputy) was too busy to call it in. But over all it didn't work, and we ended up going and basically hanging out in Stater Bros and then Big Lots, where we bought some cereal and some poster board and a marker to make a sign (sign didn't include cereal). Which we subsequently taped up in an alley across the street and filmed really fast before the motorcycle drug dealer came.
And we did this early in the morning because Kelly was going to be busy the rest of the day, and I was going to help out on the last day of the Reclamation shoot, which I was way excited about. Buuuuut most people with cars were inexplicably out of town for the day, and Brianna was going to take me but then she got deathly ill. So instead, I had a four hour nap in my beanbag chair. And then in the evening me and Beth and her friend Christy went to Hurry Curry but it tasted different and was weird. So it was a very very very very weird day.
Sunday was almost worse, but we gave Campus Safety the slip and got into Heritage and shot some very good footage and everyone in there was very nice. This was like, from 11:30 to say 12? I don't know, right in the middle of the day. And as I'm walking back across my court, I got to chat with some of the guys from Reclamation, so that kinda made up for not being able to go the day before. They're very nice. And then sometime between that and the Super Bowl, I spontaneously got sick. I was very cold but it was super hot what with the heater and the sweatshirts and the poncho. Unpleasant. But then later Beth came over and then Kelly came over and started a game of Kingdom Hearts. I forgot how silly the graphics/camera movement were. XD
Gosh, Monday. Editor's cut of our film due first thing Tues, so I spent all day Monday in the ER. Which does not stand for Emergency Room (I mean, not in this case). I always thought it was for Editing Room, but it could very feasibly also represent Equipment Room. But the imacs don't recognize my drive, does anyone have a drive I could borrow? Tiny fiasco in procuring one, but soon enough I'm on my way, and the paperwork he had us do really really came in handy. The bluescreen also works fantastically (I mean, when you consider I don't really know what I'm doing), with the exception of a ginormous shelf in the foreground--we'll have to reshoot this weekend, but asides from that the movie's basically done. I'd say it looks pretty good--okay, really. The titles need polishing, and I could shave it down time-wise, and Jeremy has some neat effects to make it more old-timey. Needs music. But I was in that room for 12 hours. It was fun. Jeremy's from this same class, and he and his group were in there editing right at the end, so I got to see a master at work.
Well that was a giant paragraph.
Tuesday we watched the rough edits. Pretty good work, across the board. Two thriller/chases and two comedies. If you guys are free ...April 24th I think it is, that's the screening of all the movies our class will have made this semester. You should really come and check them out.
Wednesday was yesterday, and basically I didn't come home after class--I got stolen away by my roommates and Beth and taken to this cafe/restaurant Panera, and then Pasadena. Nikki had wanted to go to "21 places today!!" meaning 21 Choices, the frozen yogurt place, so I said "we can go to school and the bank and the gas station and the store...." And I did keep track, and sadly we only made it to 14 places. Oddly enough, in Urban Outfitters, we found Shelby and Torie and Jess. It was also cold there and I was really really tired and I still am.
But today it was warm and something worth my ultimate while happened this morning but I don't remember what. It was on Kelly's computer. We also went to lunch at Arigatou. You can speculate as you wish about the type of establishment it was.
We watched An American In Paris today, and I was unimpressed. Loved Gene Kelly though. I'd watch anything he was in, even if it was pretty awful like this was. Then Brianna picked me up and we watched LOST, which was also weird. Somewhat disappointing. Don't really like these new people. Nothing I really wanted to know about was discussed. Although me and Brianna thought out some of our questions, and I don't think their true answers will be very surprising. They don't really know what they're doing anymore.
Now it's time for homework and then sleep and then Carolyn's coming to visit for the weekend!!
-Steph
Busy week! Friday me and Brianna and Jenn saw 27 Dresses. I give it a solid C largely based on its writing, which was uninspired and downright plagiarized at times. The acting was lackluster and stilted; and coming from otherwise bright performers, I say the script was at fault. Overall cute, but entirely forgettable. Poor even by chick flick standards.
Saturday was really weird. Me and Kelly had to do the last of our shooting, but Campus Safety is dumb. Woke up before seven to truck out to Heritage to shoot in the kitchen there, right? But no one's there and everything is locked and Campus Safety (I named him Leo after a certain Veronica Mars deputy) was too busy to call it in. But over all it didn't work, and we ended up going and basically hanging out in Stater Bros and then Big Lots, where we bought some cereal and some poster board and a marker to make a sign (sign didn't include cereal). Which we subsequently taped up in an alley across the street and filmed really fast before the motorcycle drug dealer came.
And we did this early in the morning because Kelly was going to be busy the rest of the day, and I was going to help out on the last day of the Reclamation shoot, which I was way excited about. Buuuuut most people with cars were inexplicably out of town for the day, and Brianna was going to take me but then she got deathly ill. So instead, I had a four hour nap in my beanbag chair. And then in the evening me and Beth and her friend Christy went to Hurry Curry but it tasted different and was weird. So it was a very very very very weird day.
Sunday was almost worse, but we gave Campus Safety the slip and got into Heritage and shot some very good footage and everyone in there was very nice. This was like, from 11:30 to say 12? I don't know, right in the middle of the day. And as I'm walking back across my court, I got to chat with some of the guys from Reclamation, so that kinda made up for not being able to go the day before. They're very nice. And then sometime between that and the Super Bowl, I spontaneously got sick. I was very cold but it was super hot what with the heater and the sweatshirts and the poncho. Unpleasant. But then later Beth came over and then Kelly came over and started a game of Kingdom Hearts. I forgot how silly the graphics/camera movement were. XD
Gosh, Monday. Editor's cut of our film due first thing Tues, so I spent all day Monday in the ER. Which does not stand for Emergency Room (I mean, not in this case). I always thought it was for Editing Room, but it could very feasibly also represent Equipment Room. But the imacs don't recognize my drive, does anyone have a drive I could borrow? Tiny fiasco in procuring one, but soon enough I'm on my way, and the paperwork he had us do really really came in handy. The bluescreen also works fantastically (I mean, when you consider I don't really know what I'm doing), with the exception of a ginormous shelf in the foreground--we'll have to reshoot this weekend, but asides from that the movie's basically done. I'd say it looks pretty good--okay, really. The titles need polishing, and I could shave it down time-wise, and Jeremy has some neat effects to make it more old-timey. Needs music. But I was in that room for 12 hours. It was fun. Jeremy's from this same class, and he and his group were in there editing right at the end, so I got to see a master at work.
Well that was a giant paragraph.
Tuesday we watched the rough edits. Pretty good work, across the board. Two thriller/chases and two comedies. If you guys are free ...April 24th I think it is, that's the screening of all the movies our class will have made this semester. You should really come and check them out.
Wednesday was yesterday, and basically I didn't come home after class--I got stolen away by my roommates and Beth and taken to this cafe/restaurant Panera, and then Pasadena. Nikki had wanted to go to "21 places today!!" meaning 21 Choices, the frozen yogurt place, so I said "we can go to school and the bank and the gas station and the store...." And I did keep track, and sadly we only made it to 14 places. Oddly enough, in Urban Outfitters, we found Shelby and Torie and Jess. It was also cold there and I was really really tired and I still am.
But today it was warm and something worth my ultimate while happened this morning but I don't remember what. It was on Kelly's computer. We also went to lunch at Arigatou. You can speculate as you wish about the type of establishment it was.
We watched An American In Paris today, and I was unimpressed. Loved Gene Kelly though. I'd watch anything he was in, even if it was pretty awful like this was. Then Brianna picked me up and we watched LOST, which was also weird. Somewhat disappointing. Don't really like these new people. Nothing I really wanted to know about was discussed. Although me and Brianna thought out some of our questions, and I don't think their true answers will be very surprising. They don't really know what they're doing anymore.
Now it's time for homework and then sleep and then Carolyn's coming to visit for the weekend!!
-Steph
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