El Post Final

Though my Spanish title for this post is bordering on Spanglish, its no less bittersweet.  I’ve had a fun time keeping this blog for a while and recording my thoughts from class on here.  Though sometimes I wasn’t quite sure what to say; I feel like I reflected way too much.  I didn’t live for the moment as much as I would have liked.  Hopefully living for the moment will carry over into my everyday life so I can enjoy it fully.

Rob wasn’t in class today so I’m unaware how the scriptwriting is going.  I want to get some of my writing ideas in on the script so I might have something small to show as a writing talent.

I was doing some serious thinking for a while now about getting into scriptwriting and I might want to just keep doing that in my spare time.  Eventually when I come up with a comedic monster of a script, I can pitch it to the right people and make some sweet money.  Oh if only life were that easy haha.  We’ll see how it all plays out; life’s too short to spend it worrying about what the future holds.

Lazy Dreams…or another working title if we come up with one

Well here we are.  Towards the end of the semester and I’m no longer surprised or stunned at how fast it’s come about.  I’ve learned that time is always going to go by fast.  It’s a fact of life that will never change.

Today in class my partner Rob and I pitched our idea for our webisodes project.  It’s basically about an up and coming skateboarder who’s on the verge of getting some major sponsors.  He gets invited to an annual invitation only skateboarding event where only big names are allowed to go.  It’s not revealed exactly what happens, but he fucks up royally at the event; the audience gets hints that he was attempting a trick that was far too ambitious and ended up ruining his whole routine in front of the judges.  Word of his terrible routine gets around within the skateboarding community and sponsors become too weary to sign him, due to the fact that everyone knows about what happened.

The storyline picks up a few years later, where the main character works a dead-end custodial job to support his girlfriend and pay the bills.  On weekends, he participates in local competitions for some small cash, time and time again showing potential but lack of motivation to get any better.

Though we didn’t pitch this portion, this was an idea that I came up with.  One day when he comes home from work, he finds an unknown man in a suit sitting on his futon/couch.  This man, who is a talent agent of sorts, eventually becomes a great friend and constantly pushes him to become better throughout the series.  At some point, he quits his janitor job and becomes a full time skateboarder, eventually getting back to his former level and beating out the competition.

It sounds a little like Good Will Hunting in a few distinct ways, but overall I think the core idea is very strong, especially since Nick Colby’s doing the skateboarder character.  I’m very pleased with what we’ve come up with and it should be a great project to work on.

Thoughts on Faith

Faith is a rare thing in this day and age.

Religion has certainly come under some real scrutiny in modern times.  Many people are looking for something to believe in and have since turned away from religion and started relying on themselves for security and comfort in turbulent times.  When you have credible sources such as Bill Maher analyzing the intricacies of religion in his new documentary Religulous, it’s only natural to want some legitimate answers.

Money troubles have got people wondering what the future holds, and if they’ll transcend into a poorer, struggling demographic, or if they’ll eventually recover their losses and be able to retire comfortably.  I’m quite scared about what’s happening lately.  I wish I had as much faith in something as the person in the picture I posted.  Recently, I’ve questioned it a lot and I’m not quite sure where I stand.  I suppose it’s just something that I’ll have to figure out for myself one day.

Driver’s Etiquette: What’s Acceptable?

So my roommate and I were on our way back from the grocery store/Best Buy when we noticed someone staying at a Stop sign for an amount of time that would be deemed more than necessary.  The reason?  He was letting people go before him on three other sides at a four way stop.  He was there for about ten seconds, and the person behind him in a red pickup truck was noticeably pissed off, slightly waving his arms and probably cursing.

If only we all had a mirror when we're this pissed off.

Watching this situation, I started to wonder, why is it that we get angry when people don’t drive as fast as WE think they should?  Is it because we all have somewhere truly important to be?  Or because we’ve become a society that doesn’t like to take in what’s around us and just get from point A to point B as efficiently as possible, including driving too fast.  I admit, I’m as guilty of this as anyone.  There have been times where I’ve driven too fast and probably gotten angry at people who were actually driving the speed limit.  It’s funny though.  When did this transition to unnecessary anger while driving begin?  I can’t really think of a time where it was more prevalent than now.  Maybe it’s just because of the area in which I’m doing all my driving that has given me this conclusive notion about drivers, but I don’t think I’m that far off.  You decide for yourself, but I’m convinced that us angry drivers are here to stay for the long haul.  As unfortunate as it is, we more than likely will not find the ability to take in our surroundings while we drive, only enhance our angry attitudes towards fellow motorists.

Another year gone by

“Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” – Jack Benny

Well it was my birthday last Thursday. Now adulthood is unavoidable. Someone once told me that after each birthday, life seems to go by faster and faster. She wasn’t wrong. I’m looking for that pause button to slow life down and enjoy everything that it has to offer, but school and having a job after graduation will no doubt delay my search.

Speaking of job, I’ve been applying to a bunch of places and I have no idea if I’m going to have something or if I’ll end up being a freeloader at my parents house until this stupid economic crisis passes. It’s a sad sight to see our world in such financial turmoil and I wish I could personally do something to help. Unfortunately, my current monetary situation is very bleak, as I might have to resort to my chest of spare change in order to pay for groceries, gas, and other various expenses throughout the next couple weeks. After that, heeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s poverty!

Metaphors and media

So for the past week, I’ve been brainstorming mostly to no avail.  I always find it frustrating when I run into brick walls and can’t think of something tangible to film a project on.  But then, in the midst of my endless complaining, an idea finally hit me on how to create a visual metaphor video in tune with my interests and what kind of message I wanted to convey.  Here’s a snippet.

I think this picture is rather thought provoking, especially when thinking in terms of my metaphor. It makes me sad because I see the car as a person who met their demise out in the desert, the body transitioning to decay and almost completely rusting out, much how a human body would decompose and be nothing but bones.

After doing a photo montage of people from the past and showing them posing with their cars from their generation, it got me thinking.  The lifespan of a car is not all that different from a human being.  The only obvious difference is that you would hope a human would outlast the lifespan of a car, or several, at least.  When a car is young, its in the best shape of its life, smoothly running from point a to point b for a long time.  Over time, the paint fades and dulls, the inner mechanics growing more brittle and frail.  In some cases, cars need surgery in order to survive, ie, a new engine or transmission. The list goes on and on but hopefully you get the idea about what I’m trying to convey with this visual metaphor.

This is a link to my newest video on youtube, at least until I can get the embed link from frames and fields working properly. It should be up and running very soon.

Technology and such

The comeback of LP's seems to counter technological transition.

Self-proclaimed "audiophiles" claim that the analog vinyl record is far superior to the digital compact disc.

When I was home this past weekend, I suddenly got a craving for things from yesterday.  Figuratively, it’s yesterday. But literally, it was from quite a few years ago.  I went through all my parents old records and hooked up the automatic turntable to listen to a couple that jumped out at me.  With vinyl LP’s making a small comeback, I thought it would be prudent to address the resistance to transition that many hardcore audiophiles are still fighting for, and have been fighting for since the introduction of the music CD in the late 1980′s.  These days, it’s not uncommon to find pressings in small quantities of vinyl records by many mainstream bands.  At first I found it odd, but now I’m not sure what to think of it.

As someone who considers themself in the middle and not really picking vinyl over CD or vice versa, I have no preference.  I think both formats sound equally great and while digital doesn’t have the click and pop that records do, some find solace in the little things of listening to music with those clicks and pops.  Sometimes, simplicity is golden.  I spent the last day of my weekend at home with the girlfriend listening to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and a couple Doors records on vinyl and I have to tell you, there’s an eerie calm that comes over you when you’re listening to vinyl.  It might be psychosomatic but I’m starting to wonder if I’m becoming an audiophile myself.  Only time will tell, I suppose.  But needless to say, there might be something to the whole vinyl over digital thing in the music world.

The woes of web design

If evolution exists, it makes sense how we have transitioned from cave dwellers to basement dwellers.

I saw this picture the other day and felt it was an interesting image.  I was listening in on a debate about evolution when it got me thinking about this picture.  According to this image, we have also retroactively transitioned from upright walkers back to being hunched over, this time in the form of white collar computer users.  Something to think about in between the stress of finishing up the webpage.

It’s not easy to work on something when you don’t have much of a concrete idea about what you’re doing.  This whole web page thing is fairly new to me and I don’t have much experience with HTML, embedding, etc.  But I can’t give up, eventually it’s going to work as long as I keep trying.  Just need to burn the midnight oil and keep giving it the old college try, pun very intended.

A little thought on transition…

“Growing up is never easy. You hold on to things that were. You wonder what’s to come. But that night, I think we knew it was time to let go of what had been, and look ahead to what would be. Other days. New days. Days to come. The thing is, we didn’t have to hate each other for getting older. We just had to forgive ourselves… for growing up.”

-Kevin Arnold from The Wonder Years

What I'm going to be doing again in t minus 4 months. Scary.

The above caption firmly describes my thoughtful descent into transition, as in truly transitioning into the real world and quite possibly leaving college forever.  Scary?  You betcha.  Ready?  I think so.  But all in all, a little mind boggling.

I wish this was my picture. It perfectly describes what was happening today.

Another interesting transition I want to point out, as I did in a previous post, is the transition from winter to spring, which took a big step forward today with beautiful temperatures outside.  I was walking around in just a t-shirt today and enjoying every minute of it.  Usually after my birthday (in March) is when things start warming up a little more consistently.  Right now, the weather could totally go either way, but the transition back to great weather is just getting started

Snow day tomorrow?

“A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.”

-Carl Reiner

I would probably feel that way about it if I ended up having a snow day tomorrow. The first Wednesday back from home has rendered itself “unnecessary”, if you will, and I like having the day off when no one else does. It makes me feel like I legitimately have a better schedule. But the snow is messing with my head a bit and rendering that point moot.

Anyway, since I knew I had to make a blog post, I went and searched for a winter weather picture and came across this.  It seems to reflect my attitudes about snow and winter quite remarkably.  To me, winter is the most dreary of seasons.  Everything’s cold, dark, ice covers everything like it does on these branches, and the driving conditions are simply awful.  The only real highlight is the holidays and those come and go quick.  Other than that I find nothing really positive about winter.

However, the transition to spring is where I get excited, as spring is my favorite season.  The ice melting off the branches and plants sprouting up signifies rebirth, and a rejuvenation of my excitement for weather.  Plus baseball begins up again, and who could hate that?

Another FailBlog success.