My Joker

So yesterday I had a bit of an adventure!

There has been alot of viral marketing for the new Batman movie The Dark Knight, that involve websites that you need to explore, real life scavenger hunts, etc. etc. So they had this one where you explore the website, then you get a time and a location to be somewhere but they dont tell you what it is (even though everyone knows that it is the trailer for the movie). Well I had the location and time even though I didnt have a ticket.

I had to real plan of going because the time to meet was at 6pm and I had class scheduled till 7pm. But lady luck was shinning on me the whole evening, because class ended around 515ish, I booked it to the R train. Transfered to the 3 in no time and made it to the theater around 535ish. The line was really long, and someone gave me a spare ticket. Around 620 they loaded us all in the theater, I got a fantastic seat, and the writer Johnathan Nolan introduced the movie.

The clip was shown in beautiful Imax, and was about five minutes long (Spoiler-ish description to follow), and it showed a bank robbery of people dressed in clown masks, mayhem insues, and at the end, the clown prince himself appears! After that there is about 2 minutes of footage from the rest of the movie shown(spoilers over). And obviously it was awesome! But still short. It was great because this is the first in motion footage shown from the movie. All we have had to see as of yet has been only pictures.

After the clip was over the lights came up and people started to leave. A few people were REALLY pissed off because they exspected an advanced screening of I Am Ledgend. They kept yelling "Give us Will Smith!!" but it never came. While exiting they handed out these fake news papers that had the head line "CITY AT WAR!" so on the way home on the subway people kept giving the paper some strange looks.

After that I went home. Watched Scrubs and then put in this movie called Heavenly Creatures which was really good, but REALLY disturbing.

Anyways, this weekend looks to be a fun one. Going to try and hit up the Moma and catch a screening of Golden Compass. Here is the radio show.

http://rapidshare.com/files/74270237/My_Mixed_Tape_12_3_2007.mp3

My Lazy Weekend.

I have some work to do over the next few weeks. Two papers (one is finished). Shoot and edit an interview. And three finals. I was stressing them a little bit last week. But I used this weekend to compartmentalize what I need to do.

I shared my screenplay with my class and it went over really well. This one kid who I thought really hated said it was the best thing he's read of mine for the class. Now granted I'm not saying we are friends now but thats kind of a big deal for me. I am going to shoot it sometime next semester. And I want to try and scheduel it so that people can come up and make cameos in the movie.

Heroes first draft

I did get to see two of the six movies I was attempting to see this weekend. I saw I'm Not There on Thursday after spending time with my aunt and Ellery. It was a really insane movie. It was all over the place. To people who are not used to incoherent movies will not like I'm Not There.



Friday was the day that Mark celebrated his birthday. I had work during the day but we didn't really do anything. We did play the Wii for a while and was alot of fun. After work I met Mark and his friends and we went and got some really good pizza. After pizza we went and got margaritas. And before you ask "How did you do it even though you are underage", the answer is NO ONE up here cards. They just don't. After the mexican place closed we went to this hookah bar down the street. It was the coolest hookah bar ever. It looked like they stole it from out of the set of the Darjeeling Limited. I got really light headed and decided to not take the subway home. It was around 1am so it would not have been a good idea.

I had quiet possibly one of the worst nights of sleep of my life. I kept on getting woken up. It was a combination of the air conditioning being loud. Insomnia in general. And my roommate and his girlfriend talking to each other at 530 in the morning. After sleeping till about 9 taylor and I just bopped around the dorm getting food and what not. Then we decided that we would go see Diving Bell and the Butterfly. But when we got to the theater it was sold out.

I still haven't fully gotten used to the fact that movies sell out here all the time. And also the theater didn't accept credit cards! How lame is that.

We went back to the dorm after walking around Manhattan for a little while and just chilled for the rest of the night. I went to bed REALLY early. Like 1030 or 11pm.

Today really was a lazy sunday. I got up at 930 and got dressed and made my way to go see Diving Bell and the Butterfly. After that I spent the rest of the afternoon writing my two papers that are due this week. One is on the editing of a movie and how it affects the audience. I choose to do it on Diving Bell. The other is for my comic class and I think I might do Heroism VS. Vigilantism: where can you draw the line.

It was nice though. I used this weekend to analyze my anxiety about all my work and I realized that I have alot more time than I thought I did.

My Rambelings

I decided that I'm going to let my hair grow out for a little while. I haven't done that for a very long time. Well at least intentionally. I do let it grow out either because I'm too cheap to get a haircut or I'm too lazy to seek out a place to get it cut.

Back at work for the first time in a little over two weeks. There are no productions in house so its just the 6 main people who actually work here who are all pretty cool people. I spent about 6 hours cleaning out office supply room. And I must say, it looks good. I pride myself on being able to organize. Even though I'm not very organized myself. I just randomly get a itch to clean every once in a while. It usually happens when I have a paper to write, or a test to study for.

Reason number 74 that NY is awesome, the advanced screenings of movies that are always playing. I went and saw Juno last night and I am going to see The Orphanage tonight. The Orphanage is Spain's selection for best foreign film this year for the academy award. It is "Presented By Guiermo Del Toro"which means that he had nothing to do with but they will slap his name on it to sell tickets. It basically makes him the Spanish equivalent of Quentin Tarantino.

It is ridiculous how many movies that are out or that are coming out on Friday that I really want to see Margot at the Wedding, I'm Not There, Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and The Savages. Hopefully I can fit them all in.

My Southland Tale

I went and saw Southland Tales again. It is the first movie in a while that I seeked out to see it a second time. I don't have a problem with seeing a movie multiple times in theaters. But lately I only have the time and finances to see films once. I know that I would not be apposed to see Southland at least two more times.


Here is the show! Enjoy. Look for a post this week of a new script.

http://rapidshare.com/files/72549346/My_Mixed_Tape_11_29_2007.mp3

My Three Plates of FOod!

Yes. Haven't blogged in a while. But I have found some free time while I am digesting all of my food and my mom is watching silly Grey's Anatomy spin offs to write my audience of at most five, a long diatribe about my life for the past two weeks.

So when I last left you guys I had a weekend where I finally got caught up on some movies. I saw American Gangster, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, and No Country for Old Men. It was a crime trilogy weekend.

I got off work on Friday (Nov. 9th) and just didn't know what to do with myself. Everyone was out of town or busy and couldn't get any calls back from anyone. I got off work early, and had almost two hours to kill until a movie I wanted to see started. It had been raining off and on all day. But luckily it wasn't raining when I walked to the Angelika. I bought my ticket to Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and was just chilling for the movie to start. But I got a call from my uncle and we planned to go to a later showing of American Gangster. So I started to walk to their apartment and of corse it started to rain again. By the time I got to their building I was soaked with cold rain. Not so fun. But I dried off, played with Ellery, and put her to bed. Stacy and I booked it to the theater and made it just in the nick of time. It was a pretty ok film.

On Saturday ( Nov. 10th) Alexa came into the city for an open house at SVA and afterwards we went to the Angelika to see Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. A really interesting movie, really depressing, but really well acted. It was shot beautifully considering it was on HD cameras. And apparently the director Sydney Lumet who is 87 years old, only does one or two takes per shot. I tip my hat to him!

Got done with the movie and put Alexa and her family on their way. I expected a few people to go with me to see No Country for Old Men, but they all more or less bailed. Which kinda perturbed me. We changed plans to see the film the next day. I was back at the dorm at about 8. Elias was there with some friends from Connecticut. They were about to head out to a party or something. I didn't feel like being that desperate and begging to come along so I decided to pack it in for the night. I cleaned my room and did my laundry, then watched The Fountain with director's commentary.

Sunday (Nov. 11th) was a great lazy Sunday. Elias, Samantha, Taylor, myself, and Elias's friends all went and got delicious bagels and coffee. Then played guitar hero in the afternoon before going to see No Country for Old Men in the evening. But getting there was no easy feat.

There is a curse upon the city of New York. It has no name but it can be described like this. Imagine you want/need to get somewhere by a specific time and you are going to use the subway. Your curse is that you will always have 3 trains come to the station going in the opposite direction that you want to go in. Then when you want to get somewhere in a hurry, the train will run all the local stops instead of the express. The trains somehow instinctively know that you need to get somewhere and they will fuck you over as much as possible.

Thats what happened with us when we were trying to get to the theater. All the trains we wanted weren't running. And the trains that were running were all local stops. So through a good solid 30 minutes of misadventures with the trains I decided to screw it and get a cab from the West 4th station. Again we made it to the theater just as the credits were rolling. The film was great. One of the best I've seen this year. I can't wait to go see it again and read the book.

But arriving almost late was NOT fun at all. I wanted to leave alot earlier than we did.I have a lot of -isms. But getting to places early (especially movies) is a big thing to me. I just like getting to places and not having to worry about rushing there late and what not. I like being able to go to the movies buy my ticket. have plenty of time to go to the bathroom, buy pop corn, and get a good seat.

Monday and Tuesday were kinda blah days. Just passing the time till I go to Cali. But before I went to L.A. I had a very appropriate experience with a little film called Southland Tales.

The story of Southland Tales, for me begins two years ago, when I read about it on IMDB. Then in the summer of 2006, the showed an unfinished version of the movie at the Cannes film festival. It was booed and received the worst reviews of that year. So for the next year the director Richard Kelly (who is from Richmond !), re-edited the film and added over a million dollars in special effects.

The plot of Southland Tales is this, in an alternate reality where the US has been attacked twice by nuclear bombs in Texas, World War 3 has started, we are running out of fuel. The insanity all culminates in a 4th of July weekend in Los Angeles in the year 2008, where the world may very well end, and it ends in the Southland.



I haven't been more excited to see a movie for a long time. And it did deliver. I was literally left speechless at the end of this movie for a good 2 minutes. I could only recommend this movie to very few people. It is a mind fuck on the grandness of scales. Its like David Lynch meets John Waters on acid.

Thursday (Nov. 16th) was kind of a bland day. I was basically counting down the hours till I went to the airport. In my screen writing class we talked about my script, and the teacher had a very different take on what he thought the story was about. He thought it was about two people who aren't sure if they want to be in a relationship. But through seeing others in a happy relation ship they decide to be together.....Now if you have read my script (its posted below) I put absolutely nothing like that in my script. I thought that it was kind of funny that someone could have that interpretation of my script. I felt that it was pretty straight forward. But I guess not straight enough.

After classes I went back to the dorms and packed my bag for L.A. and watched the last new office until the writers strike is over. I packed very light and only took my back pack. I tried to get some sleep and went to bed around 12ish.

I woke up at 4:30am. Took a quick shower and made my way downstairs. I was waiting for my car to come pick me up. But I got a call them saying they would be late. I got lucky and found a cab that was the same price as the car service. I got to the airport on time, grabbed a bagel and a chai and waited for my flight. We took off at about 7am. I luckily had the window seat and caught a few Z's. I woke up and looked out the window to see the country pass by. I got to see the grand canyon for the first time and it was really cool.

The plane landed in L.A. at about 10am their time. Jeff was a little late picking me up but as soon as he did, we booked it to a movie theater to catch an early screening of Beowulf in 3D. I throughly enjoyed it. I loved the animation, to me it added alot to the visuals of the story.

After that Jeff, Annie, and I bopped around L.A. for the next few hours. The city was just how I imagined it would be. It is a very spread out city. And the layer of smog above the city DOES exist. It is kind of cool to see all the souvenir shops all centered around Hollywood memorabilia. I went to a store that centered in selling old and current screenplays. They had over 10,000 scripts for purchase!!! I bought the script for Southland Tales. It should be sent to me soon!

Scientology has run a muck there. On a joke we walked into the Elrond Hubbard Museum, but it was closed for renovation. They gave us free tickets and told us to come back. We saw about tow other Scientology stations within two miles of that place.

But after walking around for a few hours it got dark, and we started to look around for Mulholland Drive, which is this twisting and winding road that goes up a hill and gives a great view of the city. We found it after a few tries and the view was quite impressive.

Being exhausted, we went back to Jeff's place in Ventura county and went to bed around midnight.

On Saturday (Nov. 17th) we went to Six Flags Magic Mountain. Which is quite possibly the best amusement park I have ever been to. They have so many roller coasters that they had to start building one in the parking lot. I kid you not. One of the rides there is called simply X, and its considered by most to be the best roller coasters ever, I would happily agree with them. The video below is not something I shot. But its really funny to watch. For some reason they keep saying "sexy" for no real reason



On Sunday (Nov. 18th) we all just lounged around for the day showing each other random videos on youtube. I will share some with you right now.









So for the rest of the day we relaxed and enjoyed each others company. Annie and I packed our bags and began our journey to L.A.X. We stopped and got food at In and Out Burger. Which was fucking delicious. If someone put one in N.Y. they would make bank. Saying goodbye was kind of hard. Because I wont get to see Jeff until July.

My plane left at midnight on Sunday. I had the really stupid idea to take a Tylonol PM before I got on the plane. I thought it might help me get some sleep on the plane. It didn't. Around 3am in sometime zone, I was really awake, but really asleep at the same time. And of course they had to play the most culturally devoid movie of all time (High School Musical 2). I think I fell asleep a little while later. The plane landed around 9am and I took the subway back to the dorm and caught a few hours sleep.

After getting up around noonish I repacked my bag and made my way to the bus stop around 4pm. The bus ride was really uneventful. I just read a bunch of books and listened to some great music. I arrived in VB around midnight. After 4 days of travel. Two cabs. Two airports. A bus. 5,500 miles. I finally got a chance to sleep. And sleep well.

The last few days in VB have been pretty relaxing. I've just been watching movies and visiting with my friends. In the last few days I've seen Dan in Real Life, No Country for Old Men, Hitman, Top Gun, and I'm seeing Enchanted tonight with my mom. I was able to see Denise for the first time in over a year. And I ran into Christina Cox in Borders. I also got to meet Erin in person for the first time. So alot of first this weekend.

Thanksgiving was good. I ended up not going to Richmond like I had planned. My mom, my sis, and my grandma all ate some delicious food. My mom is an excellent cook.

So AMC Lynhaven is doing a modern classic series every Friday and Saturday for the next few weeks. Some of my favorites like The Goonies, E.T., Army of Darkness, Mallrats, and many others. And what is great they are film prints, not projected DVD's which is what normally happens.

I'm going back to my city where I hang my hat. I have some big projects and term papers
coming up pretty soon. I have a new screenplay in the works so I will post it when its finished. Its very different than my previous script.


The last nine days have been a well deserved vacation if i do say so myself. It was great seeing everyone. And I'll be back faster than you can say OLLY OLLY OXEN FREE! Ok maybe not that fast.

My Rainy Fridayhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

Ok I'll admit it. My posts as of late have been quite lame. So this one will hopefully make up for it. There will great music to download and hilarious videos to watch. Which is what I'm all about!

This week has been a good week. Not that my other weeks have been bad persay. I usually just feel really drained from errands, class, etc. I guess just lately it has more to do with the fact that I had alot of impending projects and tests that I was more or less dreading. And now that they are done and I feel that I did a good job on them. Thats what I'm mainly concerned with. Grades matter, but for the most part, if I'm creating something I'd rather enjoy doing it and be content to put my name on something than to have it liked by someone. That was a main problem I had with 90% of my projects that I did for my art classes last year, for the most I hated them. They weren't the medium that I wanted to be working in but there are a few pieces that I kept.

Anyways I have posted all of my projects down below in case you haven't seen them yet. The other videos from my class were good. I didn't even think to shoot in widescreen. {Slaps forehead!}. You can see them here! The choices were to make one about sex, death, or food. There was another option but I cant remember it, cause no one did it. Beware, some of them are pretty much softcore porn. Just a heads up.

I turned in my script yesterday, and as usual with everything else I've turned in it divided people. Half liked it, half thought it was horrible. My dialogue was called trite and cheesy. Which I don't really agree with it. I mean its not the BEST dialogue in the entire world but I feel that it was pretty antiquate. I guess that was the thing that I took most offense to. Because I really am not one of those people who can't take constructive criticism, but it kinda ticked me off when they said that people don't talk how I write. And the thing is whether it is a script, an essay, or a term paper, I ALWAYS write how I talk. I guess that maybe the fact that mine was about 20 pages didn't help, when the average script length is around 3 pages. I don't know. We are going to discuss it more next week.

I bought the Stanley Kubrick collection the other week and man is it awesome! Elias and I watched The Shining the other night, and I forgot how creepy that movie is. I think before that I had only seen it once when I was really young.

At work on Wednesday we were trying to figure out what to get from the grocery store. And someone mentioned pudding. We then had a whole conversation about the different types of pudding. It all culminated in the finding of this video which is just soooooo funny. Its from the sketch comedy show from the 90's and it almost made me pee my pants.



Anyways the movies are finally starting to pick up after about two months of blahness. This weekend I have No Country for Old Men. Then next Wednesday there is my most anticipated film Southland Tales! I seriously have waited over two years for that movie! Then there is Beowulf! And then it just keeps going after that.

Next week is going to be a crazy. Not so much school work but more in the sense of travel. I'm going to California next Friday. My flight is at 645 in the morning! Then my returning flight is on Sunday night at 12 or so and i will get in 8ish east coast time on Monday morning. Insane! Then I have to go to class just to drop something off. Then I'm traveling to Virginia Beach in the afternoon for Thanksgiving break. But it will be nice because I get something like a 9 day vacation. My plan is to do nothing and have a good time doing it.

I went to see one of my favorite bands in concert last night. They're called Athlete and they are really really good. Kinda like Snow Patrol but not really. They are just amazing. I was really worried when I first got there because there was no one waiting in line. But as it got closer to show time more and more people started to show up. I've noticed that about seeing shows in New York, everyone shows up late. I guess I just take concert going really seriously and like to show up early. And if you aren't up front its almost not worth going to the show.

I take alot of trivial things very seriously. Movies especially. Music, concerts, comic books, and TV shows are up there too. I don't really know anyone else who is as into those things as I am. We were talking about Japanese culture in my comic criticism class and there apparently is a term that more or less encapsulates all of my quirks. The term is called otaku. Its basically an elevated term for comic book nerd in Japan. But the term isn't limited to comics it also extends to such things as sushi. Which made me laugh. I just wish people would get more excited about things coming out. So I'm not left feeling like a dork so often :-)


So the new Angels and Airwaves CD is amazing! I really like their first one. Whenever I listen to it I am immediately transported back to a very specific time period in my life. This new one is truly a great CD. Download it NOW! I'm leaving the link here for you to do what you will.

Angels and Airwaves- I-Empire

Anyways not much planned for the weekend except watching some movies. Tonight I'm seeing Before the Devil Knows Your Dead, and tomorrow I'm probably going to see Control and No Country For Old Men. So I shall keep you updated on my boring weekend.

My Real Girl

Saw Lars and the Real Girl and it was really great. I'm done with all of my homework and stuff before midnight. Its really weird! I shorten my script alot. Almost in half. But I was still able to keep alot of the stuff in it. So it wasn't too bad.

So here is the new video post. Enjoy.

My Work

I always find time to blog when I'm at work. I love it here but there is alot of down time. This week hasn't been as busy as previous weeks. I got done with my midterms and they weren't too bad. I got a perfect score on my film history one.

My group and I finished our project. We had to do a one minute montage on death. Its edited and uploaded to youtube. But it isn't the final product yet. We may change the music.

I will post the final product later.

I cant wait to see No Country For Old Men this weekend. it looks oh so good!

My Insomnia (I seriously think that I have it)

So again I couldn't sleep last night. And today was kinda long. I dont feel like blogging. But I have the new show. So enjoy! I'm going to curl up and read before passing out!



http://rapidshare.com/files/67753374/My_Mixed_Tape_11_5_2007.mp3

My Friday!

So I was going to go to the Decemberists concert last night with Annie who is in town for the weekend, but the show got cancelled. Which sucked. So we went to grab some food at Bar Pitti and macked on some cupcakes!

I took my script into class and the teacher said we couldn't accept it because it was too long and I have to make it shorter. I like alot the way it is. I feel that making it shorter would make the story feel rushed. I dont know. It was kinda deflating. I worked on it for about 3 weeks and I can't even turn in.

I had two midterms this week which both went really well. I have my editing mid term on monday which won't be challenging at all.

I need to see like 4 movies this weekend. Slipstream, American Gangster, Darfur Now, Dan in Real Life, Lars and the Real Girls, and I still need to see Eastern Promises. So really like six.

Shooting this weekend with my group hopefully it goes well. I will post it when it is done.

My Script

I wrote this for class and I'm pretty proud of it.

I'd love to hear some feedback from it.

It's the first draft.

Also its just a working title (Click on the link)

To the Stars by Paul Aftanas

Also music is featured heavily in this script. Here are some of the songs that are in it (either just click on the link or right click and "save link as"):

Iron and Wine- Love Song for Buzzards

Explosions in the Sky- Your Hand in Mine

The most important one. It will take some time to download/load up.

Le Loup- To the Stars! To the Night!

My Richmond Weekend

Alrighty. So my weekend started on Friday when I left work early to catch my bus and pick up Magnolia cupcakes for my friends in Richmond. I caught the bus and made it into Richmond around 1145 pm. Shelby, Julia and bopped around a bit before Phil and Kelsey got out of rehearsal. I stayed up till about 4 catching up with people before passing out.

On Saturday I got to sleep in (finally) after a week of really bad sleep. We lounged around and watched Meerkat Manor before grabbing some lunch. Went by Velocity and picked up a comic or two. I miss the familiarity of the people that work there, but I like the ease of finding comics at the one that I go to now, called Cosmic Comics. Anyways, after that I met with my dad and we hung out in Carytown for about an hour. I bought this card game called Lunch Money (essentially the point of the game is you're in a fight with people and you must beat them up.), then headed back the the apartment where we watched all three Back to the Future movies. Which I hadn't watched in a million years. Then Shelby and I enjoyed a beautiful sunset out on Julia's balcony

After we all got done doing whatever we were busy with during the day. We ordered some pizza, got a little drunk and watched The Office. Around midnight or so we all traipsed over to the Hookah bar down the street where we were treated to a ginormous hookah! When we were trying to pay they tried to charge us for getting this mondo hookah even though we didn't ask for it. After a bit of haggling we got the price to a fair amount.

Everyone but Shelby and I went to bed. We talked for a little while then put in The Royal Tenenbaums which Shelby had never seen. Around 4am we began to doze so we decided to finish up the movie the next day.

So the next day was a little like the one before it. We got up. Putzed around and went and got food at Qdoba. After that we can back to the apartment and chilled until my mom, sister and grandmother all came to visit me and go get some food. I had to say good bye to Shelby which was sad but I will see her again at xmas. We went to this amazing place (at least to me anyways) called Galaxy Diner. I had fried oreoes for dessert. It was like heaven in my mouth! They left after that and I went back to the apartment to study for my Film History midterm that was happening later in the week.

After Phil got back from rehearsal we recorded a podcast (like re posted below), and I would like to apologize for Phil's dirty mouth. After that we played a little Guitar Hero before going to bed for the night. I said my goodbyes then because I had to leave at 630 the next morning.

I got up and Billy drove me to the stop. There wasn't many people on the bus so I was able to catch a little sleep on the bus. Which was no small feat on to itself. Because buses are designed so that the occupants can't sleep comfortably. Its a scientific fact. Seriously, try and sleep on a bus, you can't do it. But I figured out a super secret way of doing it.

We made a few stops to pick up more people. And by the last one the bus was at capacity. So I had to give up my two seater. Damn!

I got back in the city around 1pm on Monday. Then went straight to class at 3pm.

The last few days have just been school and homework so nothing overtly interesting to report

I did go to this comedy show at a bar called Heathers. It was a bunch of different comics and was hosted by someone I met while shooting the commercial. It was alot of fun.

I'm shooting another group project this weekend. And hopefully that goes well. I'm going to finish my script tonight and post it later. So check back for that.

http://rapidshare.com/files/66282482/The_Richmond_Show_10_29_2007.mp3

My Teaser

I order you to go to this site and listen to this song.


http://www.myspace.com/daftpunk


the song TOO LONG XX STEAM....

Its amazing. I love daft punk.

If you don't like techno don't listen to it.

I will right about Richmond when I can. I'm busy as usual.

We recorded a podcast there

http://rapidshare.com/files/66282482/The_Richmond_Show_10_29_2007.mp3

My Shelby

psh
whatevs
I can't wait to bring it on with you
you better do it properly
9:25 AM
wow
that could be taken in a bad way

My HD DVD!

Ok so I apologize that I haven't updated this week. As per usual I've been really busy. Monday, was class and the show. WSVA radio station is my favorite radio station because they gave me free tickets to go see Morissey in concert on Tuesday, and all I had to do was write really bad poetry. I mean this shit is really bad. I mean it is worst than Vogon poetry. (Its a hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy reference, look it up).

Our bath tub drain was clogged and the water had been sitting in there all night. So I decided not to take a shower. I can't remember the last time where I didn't take a shower in the morning.

Tuesday was the one day that I was going to sleep in really late, because I haven't been able to sleep alot the last few days. But I was awoken at 10:30 (early i know right!?) so I could let in the maintenance guys to unclog our bath tub. Anyways I showered, and fiddled about and began to make my way to my class. I stopped at Bust Buy to pick up the new Stanley Kubrick Collection. It has new editions of 2001, Eyes Wide Shut, Clockwork Orange, The Shining, & Full Metal Jacket.Unfortunately it was sold out. Not only there but every Best Buy in New York. Lame. Anyways so I had my comic class where we talked about American Splendor and Harvey Peakar for about an hour. We also talked about The Fountain a good while.

After I got out of class I had shit to do. I not only had the Morissey concert but I also got envited to a screening of American Gangster through RSA. So I went to the Hammerstien and got my tickets. I had an extra one so i gave it to this girl who was about to get ripped off by a scalper. I gave it to her for free. It seemed to make her day.

I traveled uptown to the screening and watch the first hour of American Gangster. It was pretty good. After that I went to the Hammerstien and Morissey kicked some major ass. His fans worship him.

Wednesday was a pretty decent day. Didn't get much sleep (seems like a reoccurring thing) and went to work. I spent way too much time organizing the supply room. After I got off work I had to do some running around before I began to edit my assignment. Which came out alot better than I thought it was. And here is the finished product here. I apologize for the sub par quality. I'm going to try and do another dubbing when I get the tape back from my teacher.



I went home and worked on my script for a while. It keeps getting longer. Most kids in my class only write about 10 pages or so. This one is almost 20 and not done yet. I really like it. I might post it when I'm done.

I woke up at 430 in the morning and couldn't fall asleep. I wanted to be asleep but I physically couldn't. It was one of the most frustrating things ever.

Anyways. I eventually got to sleep around 5 and got up around 11ish. I went to my classes and my video went over better than I expected. My apprehension comes from the fact that I had never done anything on film before then. I think I might shoot with it again some time.

After class I went to Best Buy to buy some camera equipment and I bit the bullet and bought and HD DVD PLAYER! It was a deal I simply couldn't pass up. You buy the XBox 360 attachment it comes with King Kong. And since I purchased it at Best Buy they give Heroes Season 1 on HD. Annnndd Toshiba is having a deal where you mail them a proof of purchase and they give you 5 FREE HD DVDs! I picked The Italian Job , Hulk, Full Metal Jacket, The Frighteners, & Black Rain. So seven HD DVDs for buying one player. You really can't pass that up. I'll probably trade some of those in for HD DVD'S that I actually want like Children of Men or The Fountain.

Anyways so I'm off to Richmond tomorrow to visit my friends who I miss very much. But we are going to have an awesome time. I also get to see my family which is pretty nice as well. Expect a big update when I get back with lots of pictures.

My Favorite Tuesday

So the new show is up.

I love working at the radio station. I got free tickets to go see Morissey tomorrow night at the Hammerstine. I also got invited to a cast and crew screening of American Gangster. I'm just way too popular.

Stanely Kubric Collection comes out tomorrow! And so does Breathless!!!! Tuesday is a busy day!



http://rapidshare.com/files/64527346/My_Show_10_22_2007.mp3

My Determination

I was looking at my livejournal account. And the posts are just plain retarded. No one is allowed to see them. I did find this one thing that I thought was interesting it was a survey of your itunes and I'm going to do it again.

What is your longest song (Not including full albums in one mp3)?
I have a bunch of spoken word/comedy concerts that range from an hour to two hours

What is your shortest song?
Transforming Sound 3 seconds

What song have you played the most?
my itunes doesn't have an accurate play count but on my ipod?
Coldplay- Talk (407)


What song name is the longest in your playlist?
"The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience but You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, 'I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!'

How many songs do you have on your playlist and how long is it?
56208. and that is after i've deleted a bunch.

What artist do you have the most songs of?
Coldplay 201

How much hard drive space do your mp3's take up?
31 Gigs 17 days worth of music


So Friday.....what did I do Friday? Oh I went to work and ran all around. Then Mark and I went and saw Wristcutters. It was a well done film. It just needed to be worked on a bit. The main idea of the movie is that if you kill yourself you don't go to hell. You go to a purgatory like place that resembles earth just worst. The rest of the movie is about a guy trying to find his girlfriend who recently killed herself. Sounds really depressing but if you dont smile at the end of the movie than you have no soul. Thats all there is to that.

I shot my individual project on Saturday with Mark. We ran all around NY. We had to carry the equipment all around, which wasn't too fun. But we got some cool shots in. I just hope it comes out ok because the light meter may have been messed up at some points. I just have to wait for it to get developed.

After shooting I chilled for a bit. When it looked like there wasn't going to be anything to do that evening. Being that Elias and Taylor were out of town, I decided to try my luck at getting a ticket to the sold out Band of Horses concert at the Bowery Ballroom.

So I got there about an hour or so after they opened up the doors. There was already a band playing. I walked up to a bouncer looking dude and asked him if I could still get in. He said no at first but then after a second he said that they were still selling tickets. He pointed at me at the front door and said walk in and pay them. But when I walked in there wasn't anyone selling tickets. So I effectively got in for free! I got right up front. It was pretty sweet.

The first band that was playing was a jam band of sorts. They were like a mix between Sufjan and Explosions in the Sky. The band's name was Le Loup. I highly recommend them. Then after them was a band called Foals. They were a mix between Modest Mouse, The Cribs, and 65daysofstatic. Also really awesome. There was another band called The Brunettes who were ok. Band of Horses came on at about midnight and played a really solid set.

But Sunday was a very relaxing day. I didn't get up that early. Then Elias (who got back late last night) and his girlfriend Sam and I all went and got bagels and coffee. It was a great way to start off the day.

I went to see Stacy and had a nice long talk about my life in general and he made me feel alot better about it. I love it here and can't wait to prove myself.

Tomorrow is going to be kinda crazy (big surprise). But I will upload the new show later on Monday.


Current Song (Right Click and Save as!)

Le Loup- Fear Not

My Teaser

I went to the Band of Horses concert and filmed today. I shall go more in depth later

My Rainy Day

It rained today. It was rather wet. And Converse shoes are not made for rain. It is quiet today in the office. There is only one production going on right now.

Everyone is out of town this weekend. Well just Elias and Taylor. So I have the dorm to myself.

I'm shooting this weekend. Just Mark and I around the city. Shooting some stuff. I'm excited.

So there are people waiting in line outside of my office building. They have been waiting since around 9 AM. There are about 50 people waiting in line. They are waiting to buy......wait for it....shoes! Fucking shoes (like Nike or something). And guess what else.... the shoes don't even come out until tomorrow! I dont think I have heard of something that rediculous for a while. I just never understood that fetish for sneakers. If I had the choice I would never wear shoes.

I'm going to use this weekend to catch up on my home work and finish my script or two. Also I might try and see Eastern Promises or Dan in Real Life. So who knows.

I went to see Blade Runner on the big screen. I went to the Zeigfeld Theater which is the largest theater in New York. It has 1160 seats! The largest theater at Surf and Sand is 190. I got there about an hour early and got the best seat in the house. Blade Runner is a rediculously amazing movie so go see it.

Current Song:
Radiohead- House Of Cards

My Insomnia AGAIN

I cant sleep. Even though I want to.

My throat is sore and I want tea.

Current Song:
Death Cab for Cutie- Brothers on a Hotel Bed.

My Nap

I took a nap in the park today. I had about two hours to kill before my class so I decided to check out this park on 23rd and Broadway. I plopped down under a "tree" and pulled out my book. I use the quotations because it was a metal statue in the form of a tree. It was pretty sweet.

Anyways I finished my book The Red Pony by John Steinbeck. It was good. It ended a little too abruptly for my taste. I still had another hour till I had to go to class so I put on some Simon and Garfunkel and laid down in the grass and sun. And it was quite peaceful I must say.

Class was good. We read the comic Black Hole by Charles Burns and had some really great discussion with it.

After that I hopped the train to back home. I decided to walk along the promenade as the sun was setting. It was quite cool.

Current Song:
Simon and Garfunkel- Bleeker Street

Current Movie:
The Last Days of Disco

My Graduation

No I didn't graduate from college. I did however watched The Graduate for the first time and throughly enjoyed it. I can see where Zach Braff got some of his influences for one of my favorite movies Garden State.

Today was a long day. Didn't get that much sleep (as usual) and had alot to do. Class. Then the radio show (Which is posted below). Class with a really long movie. Then after that to the library to read my assignment for my Comic Criticism class. How cool is that? I get college credit for reading and talking about comics! Then Heroes after that.

So yeah, I have to start preparing for my shoot this weekend. Its a short film only a minute long. Somewhat narrative. I'll post it when its finished.

Next weekend I'm going to Richmond! I never thought I would be this excited to go to Richmond but I am.

I also just figured it out and I am going out to California for a weekend in November to visit with Jeff before he gets shipped to Guam for 6 months. I've never been to Cali and am looking forward to it very much. I love to travel. There is something amazing about putting yourself out of your element. I'd give anything to drive across the country again. Just me and maybe 3 or 4 other people. So I would truely emulate On the Road. Which they're making a movie of in the next year or so. So thats groovy. Now all they need to do is make a (good) movie for Catcher in the Rye and life would be complete.

So here is the show. Enjoy. I was told there were some technical difficulties with the last show.

http://rapidshare.com/files/62874537/My_Mixed_Tape_10_15_2007.mp3


Oh and one last treat. This video is amazing. Andy Samberg is a god of comedy. And the music is pretty sweet

My Procrastination

I've decided that this is my favorite song of all time. Take it or leave it.

Optimal conditions to listen to this song:

Night or around sunset. Driving in your car. Few to no stop lights. Windows down.

or!

Night. Lights off. In your bed. With headphones.

(Right Click and "Save Target As")

Explosions in the Sky- It's Natural To Be Afraid

My Insomnia

I did a stupid thing. I drank a large iced coffee at 11:30 last night and I can't fall asleep. Very very stupid thing Paul!

I might put in a movie but knowing me I'll just end up finishing it. I dont feel like reading either.

Since I had to restore my ipod and lost all of my play counts, I changed the start and stop time on some of my tracks and loop them so that I can get the play counts to a high number again. I know I am a dork. But I like a diverse play count for some reason.

So there are some really interesting movies coming out in the next few months.

My top 5 Most anticipated fall/winter releases are:

1.Southland Tales
2.No Country For Old Men
3.The Golden Compass
{Tie}4. Sweeny Tood & Beowulf
5.I'm Not There


Honorable Mentions:
The Wristcutters
Slipstream
Darfur Now
Kite Runner

I really wish I could watch Southland Tales right now. Not because I've been wanting to see it since I heard about it over 2 years ago, but I feel like I'm in the most perfect mindset for it right now. I'm really tired but WIDE awake.

Note to Shelby, don't even think about giving me crap about Beowulf. I already know!

My Doggy

Ok its not my dog but I've been taking care of my aunts dog for the weekend. Her name is Honey and she is the best dog ever.

Today I really didn't do anything. I just walked Honey around this sidewalk sale which was pretty neat.

So I'm going to try and see Eastern Promises tomorrow. Either that or Michale Clayton.

My Third Post in 24 Hours

This is short but it made me laugh alot. And I have to share it

My Random Factoids

My posts all had titles that began with "My...." the reason for that is its a reference to the show Scrubs. Because all of the episode titles are "My [blank]"

Colloquial and colloquialisms are my current favorite words.

Current Book:
The Red Pony by John Stienbeck

Current Movie: (Seeing it Tonight)
La Chinoise

Current DVD:
Brazil

Current Album:
Radiohead - In Rainbows

Current Song:
Band of Horses- Is There A Ghost

My Busy Day/Week/Month/Year

I really am busy up here. I love the challenge. It does get a little tiring though. An average day for me consists of me leaving between 9 and 11 am and not getting back to my dorm until usually 9 or ten (thats if I'm lucky)

Right now I'm on a mini vacation. I am house sitting for my aunt and uncle. And its nice. There are little to no distractions here. And I'm just chilling. The Film Forum and Chipotle are right around the corner. What more could anyone need?

Iced Coffee is such a New York thing. Like we have them and heard of them in VA but no one is ever caught really drinking them. They are all over here. And it is one of the few things that I've picked up on while I am here. I was warned not to come up here and change who I am, but I think I can join the trend of iced coffee. I LOOOVVEEE starting my mornings with an iced coffee with milk and sugar and a toasted everything bagel with cream cheese while waiting for my 2 or 3 train! I guess I really am a New Yorker :-)

I am so excited to go to richmond and hang with my friends. I miss them sooo very much. Its funny how alot of my memories with them are tied to music. Like rocking out to "Hazel Eyes" and "Grace Kelly" in my car. AH! Such good times.

Today was such a weird day. My classes weren't the best today. My treatment got jammed in the printer, a my group project turned out really bad. But it just inspired me to do better with my other projects. And it rained! Its only rained here like 2 times since I moved here.

So tomorrow is RSA, and then I am going to go see an advanced showing of '30 Days of Night' so that is going to be awesome! I'll let you know how it is~!!

My New Show

New show!

http://rapidshare.com/files/61284790/My_Mixed_Tape_10_8_2007.mp3

From the download count i guess only 4 people have downloaded my show in total. but what ever. i still like making it.

My 48 Hour Day (Plus a little extra)

So I PA-ed

Alrighty so my day(s) begin around 10am on Thursday.

I stayed up kinda late the previous night writing a script for my storytelling class. It is the first piece of fiction that I've ever written that I am honestly proud of. I will post a link to it soon. I need to do some rewrites. So I get up and plan on leaving early so that I can have enough time to go to the comic book store, then go to the library to print out my script and make copies. So I go to the train station and THREE! northbound trains stop (NOT the train I needed) and no southbound trains do (the one that I needed). I only needed to go one stop so I decide to walk. As soon as I walk out of the station I see on the video monitors the southbound train coming. I was a little pissed. I walked to the station and got on a Manhattan bound train. I didn't have enough time to go get my comics. And it was a new Buffy this week also!

After that I have my screen writing class. My script went over well I thought. I got a couple of good notes on it, and my teacher appreciated the fact that it was an actual short film. Because most people in my class don't write short films. They write scenes that fit the criteria for the assignment. And poorly at that. They are rarely in the proper screenplay format, which I understand that most of them have never even read that format. But honestly, it isn't hard at all. If you read one screenplay you will know how to do it.

I left early from my last class and went straight to the set on 59th and first street. They closed down part of the 59th street bridge and they were going to have a guy jump off the bridge and on to a passing truck. I got set up with a walkie and then did some random setting up. Like move chairs and stuff. I met some other P.A.'s who were all really cool. After the first few hours of that there wasn't much for me to do. So I was assigned to watch a truck for the grips department. I guess it was a good thing that I was there because some old guy swung out and hit the car causing a 5 inch dent in the side. He tried to tell me there was no damage and then proceeded to drive off. I got his plate number. It was really random.

We broke for "lunch" around 11:30. And they had fantastic food. I had salmon, pasta, and pumpkin pie that was to die for. After "lunch" they sent me up to the bridge to help them out up there. It was around this time when they started to test the cables for the bridge jump. It was kinda cool watching some guy jumping off a bridge and being ok. After we got that shot then there was a car chase of sorts. It was funny we were standing on the side of the bridge when they were doing a practice run and the driver skidded to a halt about 10 feet from where I was standing. It was kinda cool~! We shot alot more after that. We wrapped about 5:30 am and one of the main P.A.'s named Niki decided to be the best person ever and gave me cab fair so I could go home and sleep for an hour and shower before going to my internship.

I slept for about an hour. It felt like I was only asleep a few minutes. But I showered which was a good thing because I had been sweating from doing all the stuff on the set.

Luckily there wasn't any labor intensive things happening at RSA on Friday. So I did some paperwork and other things while having a cup of coffee or an energy drink permanently attached to my hand.

The call time for Friday night's shoot was 5:30 Pm. So at this point I have only had one hour of sleep for 32 hours of straight work. This night's shoot consisted of a guy jumping through a glass window, running down the street, and then shutting down the street so they can do a car crash.

My night consisted mostly of telling pedestrians to not walk into frame. They were getting really agitated with having to wait all of one minute for a shot. When I asked this one guy to please wait for two minutes he was so mad that you would've thought I asked him to wait for 4 hours.

"Lunch" was even better on Friday. I had steak, pasta, and fantastic apple pie. We did some more shooting, and then around 3:00 am (41 hours) we shut down about 3 blocks to do the car crash. It took three hours for them to just to do the rehearsal. I was set up at a street where no one walked by for over an hour and a half. I walked back to hang out with Niki for a couple of hours. We were both really tired and we started getting pretty delirious. Like everything started to get really funny. We were quoting Anchorman and Talladega Nights for a good half hour.

After 3 hours of just setting up the shot and rehearsing (which they did for an hour) we got to shoot the car crash twice. Once the car got dented and then the next time the director told them to destroy the car if possible. They hit the car so hard that the wheel came off and the car spun around before stopping! It was kinda cool. So we were done shooting around 6:45 am (about 45 hours of no sleep), but we still had to do some packing up and stuff. I had to wait for the grips to pack up all their stuff. They took a little while to do it, and it wasn't something I could really help with cause I didn't want to break their equipment. So I finally got off the set around 7:30 am, and was at home and asleep by 8:00 am! So after 46 hours I finally got some sleep!

I would say that I slept but it was more like I was in a coma till about 3 PM when I woke up. I piddled around for a couple of hours doing laundry and getting a haircut, before getting ready to go to the after party.

Even though we invited alot of people from different departments it was really only production who showed up. But it was all really cool people. We had an open bar at the lounge for about an hour. But it was a vodka bar only, so it kinda sucked. But they started playing some good tunes and we all had a great time. After about two hours or so we went to this other club called "Fat Cats" where they had live jazz, pool tables, ping pong! and chess! It was really sweet. Around 1230 I decided to call it quits and head home.

So today I didn't do anything. It was great. I slept in and read my comic books. I also caught up on my shows. Reaper was great. And Grey's Anatomy was really good! Much better than the season premier. I'm all caught up on Californication and its really good.

But to some up it up I had a fantastic time on set. I met some great people and got some really great experience I hope that I can do it again some time soon.

My Preview of My 48 Hour Day

I have been up since 10 AM Thursday morning. And I wont be able to go to sleep till 6:30 AM Saturday Morning.

Full details to follow later. Probably on Sunday. Depends on if I'm in a coma or not.


OH OH OH!!!!

BEST. NEWS. EVER.

BROWNCOATS KEEP FIGHTING! IT AINT OVER YET.

My Conan

Oh heres the clip of me on Conan O Brien. It was alot of fun to see that live. Conan is the best.

†

My Window View

So I'm at work today and its a little crazy. The president of the company is here so we have to make everything all nice and neat. I only recently got to sit down and eat my bagle.

Now, I am just sitting here chilling looking out the window on this grey New York day. I really do love this city. I am really comfortable here. Even still, I haven't entirely settled here yet. Ive lived here almost a month and I still almost have this strange feeling that I'm just waiting to get back on the bus to go home for good. But I guess I just need to get that out of my head. Because I'm here to stay.

So there will be a couple of posts in the next few days that you should keep your eye out for. One, I will be posting the clip of me on Conan O Brien. Then Elias, Taylor, and I had to do a project where we had a fake shoot out in the hallway. Its silly but i think you guys might get a kick out of it. Then tonight I'll probably be posting this scene I had to write for class.

My Revision

Ok so here is the playlist.


And here's the link to download:
http://rapidshare.com/files/59684574/My_Mixed_Tape_10_01_2007.mp3

Priya this is still your mix. But everyone else will like it as well.

And if you will notice I put the first track for the new Band of Horses album!!!!! Its really good. I will try and upload the whole CD for you as well! So keep checking back.

My last week was good. Just really crazy. Monday was Heroes, and Halo 3. Which were both sweet. Then Tuesday was James Gandalfini Q and A. Tuesday was also the Q and A with Wes Anderson at the apple store which was really really cool. Then I had work and class over the next few days. Then on Saturday I did absolutely nothing all day and it was incredible! I slept in and had cereal for breakfast. It was awesome.

I did see "Into the Wild" and "The Darjeeling Limited" this weekend and both were really good. You should check them out.

And all the new TV shows have started and theres alot of good stuff. Reaper is awesome for fans of Buffy. Chuck is ok. It has lots of potential. As does Gossip Girl. If you miss the OC like I do then watch Gossip Girl. It's set in NY so thats pretty cool.

Shows that came back and I'm glad; The Office, Heroes, and House all had great season premires.

Shows that came back and I don't think will hold my attention for much longer; Prison Break and Grey's Anatomy. Both seem pretty lackluster. I mean there is only so much that you can do with both shows. Prison Break has definitely run its course.

As for Grey's, I loved the second season. The third was pretty decent. But this one just seems like the same thing over again. I don't know. I'm going to give it a few more episodes.

I finished a book I was reading. It was called "Soon I'll Be Invincible" and it was a novel about superheroes. On paper it sounds like a decent idea but in actuality it was kinda boring. I have some scripts to read that shouldn't take me more than a day to read but after that I am going to probably do some non fantasy fiction reading for at least two books. Because I've just been reading fantasy books for my last 4 books. I need a change.

My Messed Up Mix

Ok so I recorded my radio show and when i played it back you can't hear me talking. SOOOO I'm just going to put all the songs together as one mp3 file and upload the track list. So it will be a digital mp3 mixed tape! So you wont really get to hear about my week. But you'll listen to some sweet music!!!!

I'm working on the mix and should have it uploaded in a little while. Until then here is a picture of my cousin in a tutu. Its pretty darn cute

My First Post

Alrighty. So here is my blog that I set up for my radio show that I am just going to upload every week. Because the radio show is a little sporadic in their uploading.

So this is the link for the newest show. To download it, go to the website and click the "Free" button. Enter the code, save. Listen. Repeat. This site doesn't have viruses. I promise.

Enjoy the show. I am going to try and post here as frequently as I can. I am going to upload the video of me when I went to a taping of the Conan O Brion show earlier today. I think its kinda funny.

My Mixed Tape Show 9*24*2007 :

http://rapidshare.com/files/58544399/Mixed_Tape_9_24_2007__Shelby_s_Mix_.mp3