This Things I Believe

Well, I sent off my application for the Directors Guild Assistant Director Training Program! Huzzah!

I'm really hoping I get in. It's PAID training, and man oh man I need a job after graduation.

In other news, I saw "Pirate Radio" last weekend. Personally, I thought it was a fab 60's romp with lots of laughs and great music. But in reading the reviews around the interwebs, I found that a lot of people didn't like it. Their reasons ranged from terrible and extremely shallow characterizations of women to certain musical anachronisms - especially the use of the The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again," given that the song was released about five years after the events of the film. I suppose all of these arguments are valid in their own way, but really, it was just a silly, crude, fun little movie about rock and roll and the people who love it. All the performances were great, though Kenneth Branagh was channeling John Cleese so much that he may very well get sued. But he was still funny.

Anyway, I liked it. Movies made simply for the fun of it are rare these days. Either they take themselves far to seriously or they have been futzed with by a committee so much that all the soul and life have been drained from them. It was refreshing to see a film that takes its subject seriously, but doesn't take itself too seriously.

Senior Year starts today!  Huzzah!

Of course, with that comes the inevitable "What Do I Do After Graduation?" question.  There are a couple options.

1) Go out for the DGA (Directors Guild of America) training program.  You have to take a few classes regarding on-set safety, contracts and other stuff, but after that, they put you to work as a second-second (that is, a second assistant).  Or at least, they help you find work to that effect.  I've heard a lot of good things about the program, but it is hard as heck to get into.  I'll have to keep asking about it, but this seems to be the best way to find work after school.

2) Continue as a working stiff and just do some small projects on the side.  The money won't be great, but I'll have a few options open to me.

3) Move back home and...do commercials?  Work for a church?  Do local news?  There aren't a whole lot of options in NW Arkansas, unfortunately, but that's where most of my family is.

Just some thing's I'm considering.

My Hollywood Business Practices and History class went on a tour of Hollywood and the surrounding areas today.  It was pretty awesome, even though is was the hottest day of the year and there was a huge fire burning just over the mountains, which means it was also a nice day to get out of the Valley.


( And yes, I took pictures. :D )
As Mel Blanc would say, "That's All, Folks!"

When I was younger, I loved smoking.  It was cool, it was hip, it was rebellious and all my friends were doing it. 

Now that I've picked it up again, I've noticed something.  I absolutely hate it.  It smelly and gross, it gives me a headache, it exacerbates my already jangled nerves and it makes working out at the gym a bit more difficult.  So I'm quitting.  Cold turkey.  I've only been doing it for six weeks or so, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Right?

Another odd dream last night:

Apparently, my Mom had become really good buddies with Lynn Johnston (of "For Better or For Worse" fame), and she had invited us - that is, my Mom and Teenage Me, to her house.  She was nice enough to my Mom, but when I started looking through an old collection of her work, she got kind of persnikitty.  And in a real passive-aggressive way, too.

Not too sure what to make of this, as I don't even really like FBoFW. 

Oh and by the way, guys, my LiveJournal is going to be Friends Only from now on.  Though I'll usually double-post to my Facebook page if there's something there I want to share with the world at large.  So if you read my journal and you want to continue to do so, let me know so I can add you to my Friends List. 

So...I'm smoking again.  Boo, me.

Yeah, with all the stress I've been going through, I finally caved in and am puffing away about three or four times a day.  No, I'm not proud of it and I hope I can quit again soon, but that's what's up.  Mom and Dad have already expressed their disapproval, as is natural, and urged me to quit ASAP.  I know I should and I'm chewing gum more than I'm smoking, so I'm hoping I can wean myself off. 

As I'm pretty sure everyone knows by now, Sheana and I have decided (quite amicably, actually) to go our separate ways.  Yes, I am sad about it, but is really is for the best.  She's still a super lady and I will never say any different.

Of course, this does mean that one of my biggest fears - that of being "single" again - has come to pass.  Needless to say, even though this decision was mutual and for the best, that doesn't mean it hurts any less.  For the past few days, I've been pretty moody, to say the least.  A lot of emotions have been cascading through me - fear, anger (aimed mostly at myself), guilt (ditto) and so on.  I've also been afraid because some of my bad habits (smoking, among other things) are starting to make a comeback in a bad way.  But in spite of all this, I've been taking the past few days to reflect and refocus on things.  I'd been pretty lax living out my beliefs as of late, which is only natural when something like this happens, so I've made a re-dedication and am trying to live up to that.  I've got a lot of stuff at school to keep me busy and I hope to focus all my energy into making the best of that.  

So, yeah.  One day at a time, man.  Even if I don't quite believe it right now, everything's gonna be okay.

Ripped this off from dizzywhip .

Reply to this meme by yelling "words!", and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your journal and explain what they mean to you. Keep in mind that if I don't know you that well, your words might end up kind of esoteric/oblique.

The words she chose for me were:

L.A. - Yes, I do live in Los Angeles right now.  I moved here to go to film school and be close to my sweetie (who has since moved to Tucson, AZ, making the me the Saddest of Pandas).  It's the weirdest place I've ever been.  It's so frustrating and cool all at the same time.  It's chock-full of Hollywood history, it's right next to the ocean and it's the Movie-Making Capital of the World.  It's also expensive as hell to live in, almost everyone here is a crook and it's damn near impossible to find a job.  I love it and hate it in the same breath.

Acting - I first got the acting bug in high school when I was in the chorus for Hello, Dolly!  We got to do the title song in front of about 2,000 people and when they all started applauding at the end, I knew that this is something I wanted.  Now that I'm in L.A., there really isn't much in the way of stage acting.  It's all film, which is a whole 'nother animal and takes some getting used to.  I'm kind of in a weird place right now, where I don't know if I want to act or direct or do one while waiting for something to happen in the other field. 

Scriptwriting - I actually haven't done too much scriptwriting.  I took Screenwriting 1 my first quarter at CCH, but that's been about it.  I really need to get to doing more of it.

Arkansas - Though I was born in Kansas, I was raised in Arkansas.  I lived there from age 3 to age 27 and I really have a soft spot in my heart for it.  It's strange, in that the part I live in is home to Wal-Mart, JB Hunt and Tyson Foods, all within a 25-mile radius of each other.  So there's this weird dichotomy of city and country, which is part of what makes it so endearing to me.  I'd love to retire there, assuming I ever have a career to retire from.

Beard- Hahaha, yeah I have a beard.  Or rather, a goatee, as I can't seem to grow a full beard.  I've had the same beard, in different permutations since high school.  Occasionally I shave it off, but I hate the way I look without it, so it stays on for most of the year.
 

I'm getting lazy, folks.

I'm putting on weight, I'm not exercising as much, I'm not writing, my dorm is a mess and I just don't feel like doing much of anything. 

This must change.

I think a lot of it may have to do with the fact that I haven't been very emotionally stable for a while.  I've been up and down and up and down for weeks now.  I hate feeling powerless to do anything about it.  Other than regular exercise, I'm not sure if there's anything I *can* do.  Well, besides talking to some folks at church (the CCH counselor is hard to get a hold of.  Besides, I have a hard time trusting strangers).  

YEAH I KNOW, WHINE WHINE WHINE.

I'm actually doing pretty good today, thank God.  Hope it lasts.

I think my LiveJournal is well overdue for a theme change.  So I chose the cool colors, why not?  They just seem to be very calming, soothing, and all that.

Starting the Summer Quarter today.  On my plate for the next ten weeks:

Hollywood Business Practices and History
Final Cut Pro
TV Directing and Producing
TV Commercial Production

Yeah, that's right: ten weeks as opposed to the usual twelve.  So no time for dilly-dally.  Good news is that after this quarter, I've only got another year to go!  Woo!

As for the fall...well, that depends on whether or not I can get some money.  I'd like keep up with school and get it over with as soon as possible, but it's just that darn money thing keeps popping up.  I've got some options, though, if I can't get tuition.  I can find a good paying job and stay put in my dorm room.  I can move out of the dorms and into a room with a friend who won't charge an arm and/or a leg for rent.  Mom and Dad even offered to take me back for a few months so I can work with Steve at the Nuthouse and at football games again.  So I've got some options, all while navigating the quagmire of loans, grants and possible scholarships.  

Man, only one more year.  LET'S DO THIS THING.

Hello, LiveJournal.  I know, I know.  You think I forgot all about you, but I didn't.  I've just been really busy lately.  And that whole Twitter thing?  Well, not to be judgemental or anything, but I can update that from my phone, which is pretty sweet.  But you and me, LiveJournal, we'll always have somethin' special.  Don't you ever forget that.

Besides, there are some things I can do here I can't do on Twitter.  Like a Photodump!

 

( Are my photos getting better, or just less blurry? )( Are my photos getting better, or just less blurry? )

 

I've been thinking a lot about that last bit of advice from my previous post and I think I'm gonna send a letter to Matt Groening.  Couldn't hurt, right? 

Besides, Stan Sakai has a story he likes to tell.  One of the first things he did when he moved to California from Hawaii was to look up one of his heroes, Sergio Aragones.  How did he find him?  By looking him up in the phone book, of course!  Says Sakai: "Don't bother looking for him now, though.  He got his number unlisted soon after I called him.  I've often wondered if there was any connection."  Well, Sergio didn't think too poorly of Mr. Sakai, as a few years later, he asked him to do the lettering on "Groo the Wanderer."  They've been great friends ever since.

So I'm not saying Matt Groening and I are going to be super pals or anything.  I'm just letting someone I admire know that I admire them and why.  And try to see if he needs someone to bring him coffee and/or pick up his dry cleaning.

Oh, hey!  That seminar was super-helpful.  Anyone looking for a job could have taken some lessons from this lady.  Her name was Adele Sheele and she let us in on some secrets about getting that internship/apprenticeship/job of your dreams.  Actually, it's not really fair to call them "secrets" as most of them were pretty obvious.  Even if I'd never thought of them before.

1. AN INTERVIEW IS A TWO-WAY STREET.  It's not just about you and what you bring to the table (though that is a big part of it).  Talk to your interviewer.  Ask them how they got involved in the company or how they got to where they are now.  Try to relate their story of personal growth to your own.  In short, get to know them.  They like that.

2. TAKE THE LOW/NO/DEFERRED PAYING JOB.  She told the story of her nephew who started out as an intern for a producer in the TV biz.  When the internship was over, he was offered a job on the game show "Supermarket Sweep."  Feeling it was "beneath him," he declined and went back to the East Coast.  About a year later, he tried contacting them and begged them to take him back.  They wouldn't.  All the people he'd met and worked with had moved on to bigger and better things.  And he was bartending in New Jersey. 

3. GET TO KNOW YOUR EMPLOYERS.  Try to find what likes and dislikes you share with your employer.  When the time comes for a promotion, they're much more likely to promote the ones with whom they have a rapport.  The old showbiz axiom is true: It's not what you know, it's who you know.  And how well you know them.

4. IF YOU HAVE NO OTHER OPTIONS, SEND A LETTER TO YOU HERO(ES) AND OFFER HIM/HER/THEM YOUR SERVICES.  Let them know how much you admire their work (citing specific examples) and let them know that if they are looking for an intern or an assistant, they need only ask.  The worst thing they can say is "no."

I'm typing this up for my own benefit (and that of anyone who wants the info).  I'll let you know if any of them work! 

Though, I'm not sure if I have the courage to send Steven Spielberg a letter...

Decisions, decisions!

I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to cram a full load of school AND a job AND an internship in this summer without going crazy and/or ending up broke.  All of this stuff is stuff I need to do, but danged if I know how to do it.  Not only that, but if I can't get the money, I won't be going to school this fall.  Which is nice on the surface, but that means there's no financial aid to help with rent.  

I'm actually thinking of leaving the place I'm living now and seeing if someone at school or church can take me on.  I won't be a mooch or anything - I'll pay what I can as far as rent and utilities and I'll buy my own groceries, of course.  But if I could, man, I'd like to be done with school as soon as possible.  I want to graduate by next year. 

There's a seminar tomorrow night about Starting Your Career In College.  I will be there in the front row taking notes.

But in the meantime, keep applying for any job I can get, I guess.  Keep on keeping on, stiff upper lip and all that!  And I just need to take it one day at a time and not get all worked up. 

So Nestle Toll House didn't call back.  But I did get an interview with Wokano, a pan-asian restaurant in Santa Monica.  They're looking for bartenders so I applied, why not?  Should know if they want a second interview by next week.

Spent the day at the beach today and did a ton of beach walking which is pretty much my favorite activity.  Sucks that it was so cloudy though.  For some reason, the Valley can be sunny as all get out, but the beaches will be all foggy and overcast.  But I love the beach anyway, so I'll go whenever it ain't raining.  I want - nay, need - one or all of the following: A boat, a surfboard and a fishing pole.

I don't know if something's in the air, but a lot of marriages and relationships of people I know are ending/on the rocks, and it just saddens and frustrates me.  Granted I don't know all the details, but dang.  It seems everytime I turn around, somebody's breaking up with somebody else.  Depressing times.  Well, maybe it's not really depressing.  Distressing maybe?  I hate to hear about stuff like this.                         

Trying to psyche myself up for a big night of writing, so I'm makin' me an LJ post!  So what's going on...

I have an interview tomorrow afternoon at Hagen Dazs/Nestle Toll House Cafe in Canoga Park!  I can't tell you how much I'm hoping I get this job.  Not only is it better pay (not much better, but better than what I'm making now), more hours and benefits, but c'mon, free ice cream and/or cookies?  Yes, please! 

I have found out that the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has a student organization that I can join for $25 a year!  They hold little get-togethers throughout the year, so it's good for networking and all that.  Plus, for an extra $75 per year, I can go to a free screening of every major new release film.  If the money's there, I'm definitely doing that.  Also, I'm told that this is a great thing to have on your resume, since senior members love to help junior members get started.  I'm going to see if the Director's Guild of America or the Motion Picture Academy has anything like this as well.

My Aunt and Uncle are in Santa Barbara and had to evacuate due to wildfires for the second time in six months.  They're fine, thank God, but their house is kinda right there in the Danger Zone.  Hope it comes out okay! 

I'm watching "Fireproof" right now.  All my Christian friends tell me it's amazing and the best movie ever.  And I'm here to tell you it ain't.  It's talky, boring, preachy and the characters have all the depth of a baby's wading pool.  Now I think they had a noble goal here: make a movie about a failing marriage in order to give hope to people who are in failing marriages.  Good idea, bad execution. 

This movie is built on stereotypes.  Caleb Holt (Kirk Cameron) is a firefighter who is a manly man who likes manly things, such as lifting weights, internet porn (at least I think it is.  They only imply it) and yelling.  His wife Catherine (Erin Bethea) is a nagging, unpleasant woman who likes womanly things like scented candles and yelling.  Caleb's co-workers, the fattest group of firefighters I've ever seen, are all either dim-witted hicks or stereotypical black characters that make Uncle Remus seem progressive.  Speaking of which, there seems to be a subliminal undercurrent of racism in the movie.  All the black characters have lines like "Girl, you GOT to get out that house" and "I think the doctor got a THANG for Catherine!" and "MmmmmmmmHMMMMMMMM" *head bop.*  And I won't mention the fact that the two black firefighters ride in a separate truck.
EDIT: Okay, I've now watched the whole movie and I don't think they meant to be racist, even though they don come off as stereotypes sometimes.

After going through all this, I don't really care whether or not Caleb and Catherine ever work things out.  Besides, the whole movie is little more than an ad for "The Love Dare," a marriage counseling book by Stephen and Alex Kendrick.  But if your marriage is on the rocks, just get the book and skip the movie.  

This is the major problem with most Christian entertainment.  It is trite, surface-y, and doesn't seem to bother with things like character development or plot.  It's sad that for every "Ben-Hur" or "The Apostle," there are about 500 "Fireproofs."  This trend could stop if Christian filmmakers were daring to make a story about a guy who was actually cheating on his wife or was physically abusive or a wife who was unfaithful or a drinker....something real.  Something where the stakes are raised to the point where I actually care whether or not the couple works things out.  But I guess that would be too "offensive."  But showing Christ getting nearly skinned alive and nailed to a cross for a couple hours is perfectly okay?  Get this, my fellow believers: Christian artists cannot be afraid to be artists.  If you don't take your craft seriously, nobody else will either.

So the Powers That Be finally made me get my California license plates.  How, you ask?  By impounding my car!  :D

Yeah, this morning, I came out to my car to find a cop car parked right next to it.  I thought they were going to give me a ticket, but apparently, the punishment for having expired out-of-state plates is much more severe.  So to remedy this problem, I had to go to the DMV (a good few miles from my apartment) and drop a not-insignificant amount of money for a temp tag, go the Devonshire police station to get a release, THEN go back to the impound lot and drop another not-insignificant amount of money to get my car back.  Oh, and I had to do it all by bus and good old fashioned walkin'.  

But here's the funny thing: anyone who knows me knows that something like this is more than enough to set me off on a temper tantrum.  But...nothing this time!  I had more than enough money to take care of it, which is a miracle if you ask me.  I get paid in two days and I should be getting a financial aid rebate from the school in a few weeks.  So while it kinda hurt me today, it'll be okay in the end.  And I didn't panic.  Not once.  Not panicking is a new experience for me.  But instead, I'm thanking God I had the money (and then some!) to take care of everything.     

Besides, this was entirely my fault, so I've got no one to blame but myself.  But I'll tell ya, I'm never letting this happen again!   

I've got the writing bug again.  And, as usual, when I get the writing bug, I tend to go about things all scattershot - working on about three or four projects at a time until they all kind of pile up on me and I end up getting absolutely nothing done.  So for the time being, I'm going to focus on school stuff, since it's the most important thing to focus on right now.  I've got to write and direct a script in the next six weeks, I've got to learn about all the budgeting, safety issues and contracts on a film set AND write two ten-page reports on the history of horror films.  Obviously, I've got my hands full and it wouldn't be prudent to focus on anything else.

BUT I do have an idea.  In an effort to both ingest as many films as possible AND boost my writing ability, I have come up with a project: "100 Days, 100 Films." 

Basically, it'll be a journey of discovery.  For 100 days straight, I will watch and write about films I have never seen before.  Then I'm going to take all the crap I wrote and try to make a halfway decent book out of it.  Like I said, it'll have to wait until I actually have the time to do it, but this is my pet project now.  Why?  Because in the event I'm not able to make a living as a film director, I'd like to make a living as a film critic.  Or maybe as a film teacher.  And I think this project may help me do that!  

But for now, school.

Two weeks since my last post?  I fail Livejournal.  I'm sorry, my Twitter account has taken over my life.

Well, not much to report, really.  The new quarter starts this week.  Here's what I'm taking:

DIRECTING I (I'll finally be making my first short film.  Wheee!)
UPM/AD (That is, "Unit Production Manager/Assistant Director."  Deals with budgeting, scheduling, permits.  You know, all the boring crap that's gotta get done)
DIRECTING: CASTING THROUGH REHEARSAL (Formerly known as "Stage Directing.")
MOTION PICTURE HISTORY: HORROR FILMS (On Saturday mornings.  Ugh.)

Funny about that last one; I had signed up for all my classes to be on Tuesday and Wednesday so I'd be free to work.  But the daytime section of Directing: Casting through...screw it, "Stage Directing"...was cancelled due to low enrollment, so they moved me to the nighttime class and moved me from my first choice of MP History ("The New New Wave: Darren Arronofsky and Christopher Nolan") to this one.  Now I don't really care for Horror films, but this is the third class I've had with Mr. Steve Haberman, so I know it'll be good.  He's an arrogant guy, but he's funny and he knows his stuff, so I always learn something new in his classes.

Also, may be going to Sacramento for a wedding at the end of May.  Sheana's cousin is gettin' hisself hitched up, and I've been invited.  I hope I can make it!

Also, working on an idea for a short.  I may be very limited in my first one.  For example, I will probably only be able to shoot during class (a four hour window of time) and probably only on one standing set with a limited number of actors.  The challenges abound, yet I will prevail for WE ARE SOMEBODY.

yeah.