Thursday, November 6, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Abhay
Abhay is what I aspire to be when I grow down:
It’s the Lord of the Rings idea of “action”. In those horrible, horrible Lord of the Rings movies, they’d just locked some nerd in a basement with a Macintosh and told him to generate 5 million Skeksis and Gelflings on top of each other. And then they’d just put that on screen for 4 hours at a time. That’s not action; that’s just a nerd with a Macintosh.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
A Funny Thing Happened to Me Today...
...I had the best day I've had in a looooong time! Seriously. Incredible day.
Watched "Brand Upon the Brain" which may very well go into my top ten films of all time. And is quite possibly the third best film I've ever seen editing wise (1 & 2 are The Fountain and 2001).
I've been strapped for cash for a bit due to some weird money issues, and I had to dip into my nest egg to cover my expenses for a bit. Oddly enough, whenever I do this, whenever I crack the egg, overall quality of life seems to improve ever so slightly. Then the money is replaced immediately within two days.
Read "Robot Dreams" at the school library, read a bunch of books on Titian and Raphael (two of the greatest painters of all time). The most interesting thing about these two men is that if you put their pictures into gray scale, their still just as three dimensional if not more so.
As I left I was stopped on the street by a member of the ACLU, he was a big guy with a sort of Zen like Po-ness about him. I laughed in his face and kept walking to the corner. The light was red, so I thought it over for a second and turned around and decided to talk to him. Had a great conversation about politics (non-partisan of course) and I am now a proud card carrying member of the ACLU!
Every election I feel like I can't be any more of a political junky and I constantly out-due myself.
Came home, blogged for a bit, snuggled with Nicole, then went to work. I love my job. It's nice and simple. Watch movies all day, talk to fun people and then go home.
EVERYONE IN SAN FRANCISCO, GO TO GRAMAPHONE VIDEO ON POLK ST OR GRAMAPHONE VIDEO/VIDEO CONTROL ON MARKET ST! IT'S WORTH IT! $4 FOR TWO DAYS, ALL OLDER FILMS ARE FIVE DAYS!
TUESDAYS AND WEDNESDAYS ARE 2 FOR 1 AND THURSDAYS TOO IF YOU ARE A STUDENT! LATE FEES ARE $2 A DAY!! PLUS, IT'S FASTER THAN NETFLIX!!!
Anywho, as I'm closing up shop, this guy comes in and says "I NEED FOUR MOVIES, FAST!" Luckily, all of them were in the same section. We started talking about Brazil and how much better it is than Twelve Monkeys and after a bit he told me he owned a production company and was doing research for a new project. I said if he ever needed an editor he should look me up. He said "As a matter of fact..."
Looks like I may have a new job! ; )
Watched "Brand Upon the Brain" which may very well go into my top ten films of all time. And is quite possibly the third best film I've ever seen editing wise (1 & 2 are The Fountain and 2001).
I've been strapped for cash for a bit due to some weird money issues, and I had to dip into my nest egg to cover my expenses for a bit. Oddly enough, whenever I do this, whenever I crack the egg, overall quality of life seems to improve ever so slightly. Then the money is replaced immediately within two days.
Read "Robot Dreams" at the school library, read a bunch of books on Titian and Raphael (two of the greatest painters of all time). The most interesting thing about these two men is that if you put their pictures into gray scale, their still just as three dimensional if not more so.
As I left I was stopped on the street by a member of the ACLU, he was a big guy with a sort of Zen like Po-ness about him. I laughed in his face and kept walking to the corner. The light was red, so I thought it over for a second and turned around and decided to talk to him. Had a great conversation about politics (non-partisan of course) and I am now a proud card carrying member of the ACLU!
Every election I feel like I can't be any more of a political junky and I constantly out-due myself.
Came home, blogged for a bit, snuggled with Nicole, then went to work. I love my job. It's nice and simple. Watch movies all day, talk to fun people and then go home.
EVERYONE IN SAN FRANCISCO, GO TO GRAMAPHONE VIDEO ON POLK ST OR GRAMAPHONE VIDEO/VIDEO CONTROL ON MARKET ST! IT'S WORTH IT! $4 FOR TWO DAYS, ALL OLDER FILMS ARE FIVE DAYS!
TUESDAYS AND WEDNESDAYS ARE 2 FOR 1 AND THURSDAYS TOO IF YOU ARE A STUDENT! LATE FEES ARE $2 A DAY!! PLUS, IT'S FASTER THAN NETFLIX!!!
Anywho, as I'm closing up shop, this guy comes in and says "I NEED FOUR MOVIES, FAST!" Luckily, all of them were in the same section. We started talking about Brazil and how much better it is than Twelve Monkeys and after a bit he told me he owned a production company and was doing research for a new project. I said if he ever needed an editor he should look me up. He said "As a matter of fact..."
Looks like I may have a new job! ; )
Thursday, September 4, 2008
To the Right:
Why is it that I'm a pinko leftie communist faggot for thinking that we should not use up a natural resource and try and find sustainable resource for running our society?
Wouldn't it be better to run a car or a train or a plane on something that will never run out? Sunlight never runs out. You can run a home on sunlight and it doesn't cause any harm to the sun. What about a plant that grows faster than we can cut it down? George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin all were major proponents of Hemp. Heck, they wrote the Declaration of Independence on it. It grows like a weed and is easily replenished. Ford made a car that was made almost entirely out of hemp (except the windshield).
I realize that the idea is to find the terrorists and stop them from killing more people, but this step makes their oil worthless. They can't make any money to buy the weapons they need. If we say to them, "hell oil isn't worth a red cent. I wouldn't touch that stuff even if it was growing in my back yard." Wouldn't that be a kick in the teeth?
Imagine if oil companies worked together with car companies. What if oil companies bought car companies and made cars that didn't need oil? Seems a mighty fine solution to the problem. Oil companies get to keep making money around the world.
I'm not against the industrial revolution, quite the contrary, I say we can evolve beyond it. We can make energy free if it's overly abundant. If energy becomes free, then costs can go down and only labor must be paid for. A man's worth will be his own, and isn't that what we all want? Our pay and what we pay will reflect the dollars earned in a more pure sense. Cut out the middle man. Cut out the unnecessary spending of your hard earned cash on something that does not need to be there.
I'm not a chronic pedestrian because I'm afraid of cars, I just don't want to fund terrorism of any kind.
Wouldn't it be better to run a car or a train or a plane on something that will never run out? Sunlight never runs out. You can run a home on sunlight and it doesn't cause any harm to the sun. What about a plant that grows faster than we can cut it down? George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin all were major proponents of Hemp. Heck, they wrote the Declaration of Independence on it. It grows like a weed and is easily replenished. Ford made a car that was made almost entirely out of hemp (except the windshield).
I realize that the idea is to find the terrorists and stop them from killing more people, but this step makes their oil worthless. They can't make any money to buy the weapons they need. If we say to them, "hell oil isn't worth a red cent. I wouldn't touch that stuff even if it was growing in my back yard." Wouldn't that be a kick in the teeth?
Imagine if oil companies worked together with car companies. What if oil companies bought car companies and made cars that didn't need oil? Seems a mighty fine solution to the problem. Oil companies get to keep making money around the world.
I'm not against the industrial revolution, quite the contrary, I say we can evolve beyond it. We can make energy free if it's overly abundant. If energy becomes free, then costs can go down and only labor must be paid for. A man's worth will be his own, and isn't that what we all want? Our pay and what we pay will reflect the dollars earned in a more pure sense. Cut out the middle man. Cut out the unnecessary spending of your hard earned cash on something that does not need to be there.
I'm not a chronic pedestrian because I'm afraid of cars, I just don't want to fund terrorism of any kind.
Back to the 8:30am to the 11:30pm.
Classes start tomorrow. Interesting schedule.
Non-Linear Comp. Edit 3: Avid
M 12:00pm-02:50pm
Miller,Crystal (although online it says I have Dave Taylor)
Dunno about this. If it's Dave Taylor I'm happy as hell to have a class with the editor of both Grizzly Man and Pootie Tang. Don't know anythign about Mrs. Miller (potentially Ms.).
20th Century Art
T 12:00pm-02:50pm
Griffeath,Craig H
Mr. Griffeath's stock and trade is as a musician. Hopefully a fun new slant to viewing 20th Century art.
Silver Screen & Ivory Tower
T 08:30am-11:20am
Levie,Matthew B
I'm excited for this class. Mr. Levie studied under Woody Allen's editor and he seems to have a fair number of credits to his own name (nothin' I've heard of though). Always happy to sit at an editors feet and listen to them muse about the world.
Science Fiction and Fantasy
Th 12:00pm-02:50pm
Marcoux,Tom
Mr. Marcoux seems to be the inventor of personal branding (or at least so his bio reads.
Lighting 2 (The Set)
F 03:30pm-06:20pm
Redmond,Lee
Lee doesn't have a bio up yet, but he is hands down my favorite teacher at the academy. He's the reason I'm not an editor 100% of the time, he helped foster my love for Conrad Hall, Roger Deakins, Christopher Doyle, Matthew LeBatique and Greg Toland. I learned more about film and who I am as a filmmaker in one semester with him than I have in the three years I've been here.
I graduate in fall of '09 and of course this has my mind reeling. I'm 23, I'm an art major and I will have a slip of paper which says "please pay me more money!" Now I'm very happy to have that slip of paper since it takes a doctorate to work at a McDonalds these days, but I can't help but feel like the piece of paper is meaningless and my reel is more important.
And besides that, my education isn't ending there. I'm taking a course every semester at CC just to keep learning. Also plan on getting my teaching degree at some point. Maybe flesh out that Philosophy major I started at GVSU two years ago. There's just too much out there and to many interesting people to learn from. And heck, if CC's only $25 a credit hour, why the heck would I pass that up?
I keep looking at my job that I have right now and wondering if it will continue to sustain me much longer. It pays okay, but I could use something that at least has a quarterly raise.
One of my issues as an independent filmmaker is that I want to create my art and I don't want to be paid for it. I want to put it out there and just hope it changes people's lives. I'm learning about cinematography and editing because I feel it puts me in touch with the divine. When I'm playing with light or making people tell a story from pieces of their conversation, all of a sudden there is this sense of harmony. I can honestly hear the voice of god and feel the universe wrap me in its love. Why would I ever give that up? And I have a real difficulty asking for money for something that is so spiritually fulfilling. But I suppose that's what I must do to survive as an artist. Make myself a commodity and hope what I can make of myself will last beyond my lifetime.
Non-Linear Comp. Edit 3: Avid
M 12:00pm-02:50pm
Miller,Crystal (although online it says I have Dave Taylor)
Dunno about this. If it's Dave Taylor I'm happy as hell to have a class with the editor of both Grizzly Man and Pootie Tang. Don't know anythign about Mrs. Miller (potentially Ms.).
20th Century Art
T 12:00pm-02:50pm
Griffeath,Craig H
Mr. Griffeath's stock and trade is as a musician. Hopefully a fun new slant to viewing 20th Century art.
Silver Screen & Ivory Tower
T 08:30am-11:20am
Levie,Matthew B
I'm excited for this class. Mr. Levie studied under Woody Allen's editor and he seems to have a fair number of credits to his own name (nothin' I've heard of though). Always happy to sit at an editors feet and listen to them muse about the world.
Science Fiction and Fantasy
Th 12:00pm-02:50pm
Marcoux,Tom
Mr. Marcoux seems to be the inventor of personal branding (or at least so his bio reads.
Lighting 2 (The Set)
F 03:30pm-06:20pm
Redmond,Lee
Lee doesn't have a bio up yet, but he is hands down my favorite teacher at the academy. He's the reason I'm not an editor 100% of the time, he helped foster my love for Conrad Hall, Roger Deakins, Christopher Doyle, Matthew LeBatique and Greg Toland. I learned more about film and who I am as a filmmaker in one semester with him than I have in the three years I've been here.
I graduate in fall of '09 and of course this has my mind reeling. I'm 23, I'm an art major and I will have a slip of paper which says "please pay me more money!" Now I'm very happy to have that slip of paper since it takes a doctorate to work at a McDonalds these days, but I can't help but feel like the piece of paper is meaningless and my reel is more important.
And besides that, my education isn't ending there. I'm taking a course every semester at CC just to keep learning. Also plan on getting my teaching degree at some point. Maybe flesh out that Philosophy major I started at GVSU two years ago. There's just too much out there and to many interesting people to learn from. And heck, if CC's only $25 a credit hour, why the heck would I pass that up?
I keep looking at my job that I have right now and wondering if it will continue to sustain me much longer. It pays okay, but I could use something that at least has a quarterly raise.
One of my issues as an independent filmmaker is that I want to create my art and I don't want to be paid for it. I want to put it out there and just hope it changes people's lives. I'm learning about cinematography and editing because I feel it puts me in touch with the divine. When I'm playing with light or making people tell a story from pieces of their conversation, all of a sudden there is this sense of harmony. I can honestly hear the voice of god and feel the universe wrap me in its love. Why would I ever give that up? And I have a real difficulty asking for money for something that is so spiritually fulfilling. But I suppose that's what I must do to survive as an artist. Make myself a commodity and hope what I can make of myself will last beyond my lifetime.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Who Will Watch the Watchmen?
Looks like no one if Fox has anything to say about it.
Apparently they've owned the rights since 1986 and are suing WB to ensure the film never gets released. This is the strangest case I've ever heard of, and one of the sneakiest things Fox has done since the creation of Fox News!
Apparently they've owned the rights since 1986 and are suing WB to ensure the film never gets released. This is the strangest case I've ever heard of, and one of the sneakiest things Fox has done since the creation of Fox News!
CINEMATIC TITANIC!
So I've been sad that MST3K has been gone for a while. Oh wait, who isn't?
But now the crew from the Satellite of Love has more projects than I have money!
I count three projects, but if anyone knows of more ....
1. Cinematic Titanic. OMFG JOEL!
2. The Film Crew. OMFG, NEW CAST, NEW MOVIES, NO SILHOUETTES, BATMAN AND ROBIN!
3. Riff Tracks. OMFG NEW CAST, OLD FORMULA, NO SILHOUETTES!
But now the crew from the Satellite of Love has more projects than I have money!
I count three projects, but if anyone knows of more ....
1. Cinematic Titanic. OMFG JOEL!
2. The Film Crew. OMFG, NEW CAST, NEW MOVIES, NO SILHOUETTES, BATMAN AND ROBIN!
3. Riff Tracks. OMFG NEW CAST, OLD FORMULA, NO SILHOUETTES!
Monday, September 1, 2008
Xanga, I hardly knew ye.
I'm starting to remember why I love Xanga, and why I left. It's sad that those things can happen in 24hrs.
I left Xanga because it was simple. It wasn't MySpace; it was a blog with some friends. I left because I wanted to play with all the Krazy kOOl features that MySpace had to offer. That was too cluttered so I moved over to Facebook. It was clean, everything just ran. Then applications set in and suddenly everyone was either jumping ship for MySpace again, or embracing the non-stop onslaught of application invites. Now Facebook has begun aping MySpace even more and MySpace is aping Facebook and I'm hoping the social network site bubble will burst soon and all those people will come crawling out of their web havens rubbing their eyes and seeing what a big world it is again. But as with all my hopes of internet desegregation and freedom of information, they tend to end in disappointment as throngs of techno-junkies scream "GIVE ME MORE! GIVE ME MORE! I WANT SEGREGATION! MAKE MY INTERNET SMALLER! HOOK MY FACEBOOK UP TO AMAZON! IS MY GROCERY STORE ON HERE!? I WANT TO ONLY VISIT ONE SITE A DAY, BUT BE ON IT FOR TEN HOURS! PUT IT ON MY iPHONE SO I CAN SEND PEOPLE MESSAGES ON MY FACEBOOK THROUGH MY TEXT MESSAGE ENABLED PHONE!! THESE THINGS ARE IMPORTANT THESE THINGS ARE NECESSARY! THESE THINGS ARE REAL!"
Xanga used to take a second to post because the site was nothing but text. Now, I guess I'm old and everything looks feels and acts like MySpace. Xanga's become so cluttered it's the exact opposite of why I tried to come back to it. On to another blog site I suppose. Branching out into new territory. Someplace deeper in the internet where I am farther away from the BUY button.
There's something about visiting a blog that exists in its own world outside of Facebook or MySpace that is rather liberating. "The internet seems big again" to quote odinwise. I miss the text based internet. I miss the DIY nature of the freedom it represented. Now I feel like the internet is a gigantic void of time and space that sucks out your soul and replaces it with an Amazon Prime membership.
I know the internet can never be endless chatrooms again. But hell, the information super highway is a vast place, I'll keep trying to carve out my own niche.
So long Facebook and MySpace, you can find my videos on YouTube and e-mail me at dcassard@gmail.com.
I left Xanga because it was simple. It wasn't MySpace; it was a blog with some friends. I left because I wanted to play with all the Krazy kOOl features that MySpace had to offer. That was too cluttered so I moved over to Facebook. It was clean, everything just ran. Then applications set in and suddenly everyone was either jumping ship for MySpace again, or embracing the non-stop onslaught of application invites. Now Facebook has begun aping MySpace even more and MySpace is aping Facebook and I'm hoping the social network site bubble will burst soon and all those people will come crawling out of their web havens rubbing their eyes and seeing what a big world it is again. But as with all my hopes of internet desegregation and freedom of information, they tend to end in disappointment as throngs of techno-junkies scream "GIVE ME MORE! GIVE ME MORE! I WANT SEGREGATION! MAKE MY INTERNET SMALLER! HOOK MY FACEBOOK UP TO AMAZON! IS MY GROCERY STORE ON HERE!? I WANT TO ONLY VISIT ONE SITE A DAY, BUT BE ON IT FOR TEN HOURS! PUT IT ON MY iPHONE SO I CAN SEND PEOPLE MESSAGES ON MY FACEBOOK THROUGH MY TEXT MESSAGE ENABLED PHONE!! THESE THINGS ARE IMPORTANT THESE THINGS ARE NECESSARY! THESE THINGS ARE REAL!"
Xanga used to take a second to post because the site was nothing but text. Now, I guess I'm old and everything looks feels and acts like MySpace. Xanga's become so cluttered it's the exact opposite of why I tried to come back to it. On to another blog site I suppose. Branching out into new territory. Someplace deeper in the internet where I am farther away from the BUY button.
There's something about visiting a blog that exists in its own world outside of Facebook or MySpace that is rather liberating. "The internet seems big again" to quote odinwise. I miss the text based internet. I miss the DIY nature of the freedom it represented. Now I feel like the internet is a gigantic void of time and space that sucks out your soul and replaces it with an Amazon Prime membership.
I know the internet can never be endless chatrooms again. But hell, the information super highway is a vast place, I'll keep trying to carve out my own niche.
So long Facebook and MySpace, you can find my videos on YouTube and e-mail me at dcassard@gmail.com.
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