getting married

Holy shit I never thought that I would be married, but that is how life goes. One day you are traversing through different countries with only a dollar to your name and the next you are planing to start a family. Getting married has been the most incredible thing I have ever accomplished. If you think you will never do it, you might want to rethink about it in future years. You may be surprised when you find that person that compliments you perfectly. Life changes without you knowing it.

blacksmith demonstration on Sapelo Island

This is what I do when I am not at school and building sets. This video was filmed at Sapelo Island about an hour south of Savannah. Paul Thompson, Lee Bloodsworth, and myself are making a cut off hardy, which is a tool that goes in the anvil for cutting hot steel. This is made the old fashioned way using muscle and precision. We did this demonstration for the public there on the island. The island is populated with Gullah people and is hard to get there without an invitation by someone on the island. It is a beautiful island and the people are amazing. It is cool to see a different culture that exists right on our doorstep. There is an old R.J. Reynolds mansion on the island and beautiful beaches. You travel by ferry to the island. Anyway, enjoy the video.
 Oh, and you can purchase this full length documentary on amazon.

The Young Ones

Ok, so I have seen this show. Every episode about a thousand times, but I still wanted to write about it because it is the best t.v. show to have ever come on the idiot box. The show only lasted one season but not because it wasn't any good.

With an all star cast, well at least probably in England; Adrien Edmondson plays Vyvyan, an out of control punk with spikes on his head, who like to break everything in his path, Rik Mayall plays Rick, a political and want to be rebel(you might have seen Rik in Drop Dead Fred), Nigel Planer plays Neil, a suicidal hippie who takes all of the crap from the other guys(might have seen him on Yellowbeard), and Christopher Ryan who plays Mike, a pimped out version of Kevin from The Wonder Years. All four guys are college students living together and doing what college kids do, nothing really.

All of the episodes are mixed with music(bands like Motorhead come from nowhere) and puppetry(Vyvyan's hampsters) to give a hilarious show. It is filmed in front of a live studio audience and it kind of has a theater feel to it. The jokes are somewhat hard to understand sometimes but witty.

If you love British comedies then you have to see this show. 

Costa Rica

Man, oh man. I can't wait for the semester to end. I am going to Aruba for a week and Costa Rica for two weeks. I leave for paradise in a little over a week from now and it is not coming fast enough. I plan on sitting on the beach drunk for the entire week in Aruba, and exploring the jungles of Costa Rica for the next two weeks. I can hardly stand the excitement. I am reading right now about the country of Costa Rica and trying to plan what to do first. It is a little overwhelming to plan for a trip and usually I like to show up and see what happens. I probably will do a lot of that this time, but I would like to be prepared some. Especially after reading about some of the crime in the capital city of San Jose. I can't decide if I want to take buses everywhere or rent a car. Renting a car can be expensive but it was the greatest thing I did when I was in Ireland. Nothing is better than getting off of a plane and jumping into a car and driving from the right hand side of the car, on the wrong side of the road, and shifting with your left hand. Simply priceless.

drafting

My hands hurt so much from drafting. I am preparing a packet of drafting plates for Macbeth. It is my capstone and time is ticking very quickly. I have to give my presentation Wednesday and I am beginning to get nervous. I really like building a set, but all of this drawing is making me realize that may be the only thing that I like about sets. The design process is fun to imagine all of the possibilities but putting it on paper SUCKS. I am also taking a drawing class and we are supposed to draw for a couple of hours a day. Yeah right! I am sick of drawing. Actually, let me rephrase that. I am sick of this semester. I say that every semester though and when it is all said and done, I am very proud that I did it. Well, cheers to college.

just ranting

Ok, so I wanted to rant for a minute. There are a couple of pet peeves that I have and I thought I would share them. One of them is blogs. I am writing these entries and wondering if anyone is even reading them, and why do people insist on telling the whole world their thoughts. I like the idea of movie reviews, but looking around the internet I think that there are a lot of blogs out there where people just share their entire lives for everyone to read. Who the hell do you think you are? I like technology but I hate facebook, blogs, and any other social website. I just don't get it. Sorry, just my opinion. We are turning into zombies.

Another pet peeve I have is a traffic annoyance. Get off your damn cell phone and fucking drive! Get out of the fast lane if you are slow, and pay attention to what other drivers are doing and fit in with the flow. I have to drive down Abercorn everyday and I want to murder people. If the speed limit is 45, you better be doing 45 or I am going to run your ass off of the road. It really is that simple. Man it feels good to type that.

City of Ghosts

Jimmy(Matt Dillon), travels to Cambodia to find the truths behind an insurance scam. He gets there and finds a lot more than he was ready for. It was a lot of fun to go as a class and see this film. I really enjoyed waiting in line and seeing it in such a beautiful theatre.

I don't feel like I need to go into great detail about the plot because everyone has seen it that is in this class. Jimmy discovers a great deal of secrets about the insurance company he worked for that he was not exactly ready for. It ends up being a wild goose chase to uncover the truths behind the scam and his family.

There were a lot of dark shots in this movie that made it very dramatic and creepy. It made everything seem dirty, including the characters. The music was really good and gave a sense of what it might feel like to be in Cambodia.

I thought that Matt Dillon played his role very well and I believe that it was written so that the character was a lot like his real personality. I felt like he did not have to act like anyone other than himself.

I had fun seeing this, and it was awesome to see Matt Dillon in person. I didn't on the other hand like the movie. I thought it missed something and I didn't really feel like I could connect with it. I think Matt Dillon should stick to acting.

media #2

My favorite scene from a movie is from 'Boondock Saints."

1. The two Irish brothers had just killed some big mob bosses at a peep show place, and the scene is where Willam Defoe's character is investigating the scene of the crime and narrating what happened. The scene is very dramatic and shot in slow motion with narration. Willam Defoe reacts what happened and his motions are matched with the actual motions of the brothers.

2. The scene is in slow motion and it is very dramatic because of bullets bursting through walls and glass in slow motion and the movement of the shooters as they fire the guns.

3. Because it is in a peep show place, the lighting is very dark and the Irish brothers are wearing black. The camera angles are looking upward to the brothers to make them seem larger than life and are medium shots to aid in dramatics.

4. The mood of the scene was dark.

5. The costumes on the brothers showed that they were trying not to be seen, and the mob bosses were very flashy to show off their power. There were strippers too and they, well, were dressed like strippers.

6. The music was dark classical and it's speed played right into the drama of the scene. It and the slow motion really sold the scene and played the most important story teller in the scene.

7. That the narrator, Willam Defoe, was very good at what he did and could read everything about this crime scene, and that he was beginning to see why they committed the murders and he was in an emotional and moral dilemma believing that they were right for doing so.

8. I guess that people who commit crimes deserve what these brothers are doing to them.

weekly recap

I wanted to write a little about filming our final project. I really enjoyed doing it and everyone was very professional on this shoot. I felt uncomfortable at first to be acting in the film, but I got over it fast and enjoyed it a lot. Talking in an accent was strange but I think it went well. Please let me know if it sounded horrible, I promise you will not hurt my feelings at all. Jonathan did a really awesome job writing the script and directing it. It was a pleasure to work with him and Mike, and I think they were opinionated when they should be and listened to other ideas when they should as well. Everything was well prepared and we went into the filming process knowing what we were doing and it showed in actual filming time. I can't wait to see the final product and think that it will be a proud thing for other people to watch what we worked so hard on.

Crips and Bloods: Made in America

Hell yeah, shoot em up cowboy! Just playing. This is actually a really interesting documentary about two rival gangs. It talks about the history and how this whole problem is because of the white man. Beginning around the 60's with segregation was really bad all over America, blacks were pushed into neighborhoods with tight living conditions and arrested for crossing certain streets after daytime hours. I know, interesting right? So, started as a club for black men it grew into a territory rivalry. This film goes into greater depth than what I just went into, but it is incredible to see how racism has formed our modern country. You begin to see how ghettos all over the country have been formed because of racism, and it is really sad that there is still products of that hatred around. I feel like I look at this country a lot differently than I did before I saw this film. It makes me feel(this is only my opinion) proud to have Obama as president at least as a poster for equality among all races. It shows growth in this country and that change is needed no matter what some traditionalist might think. Anyway, I don't want to go on a political rant, but I highly recommend this film to enlighten your minds.

what is up with coffee shops?

I am having a lot of fun writing these blogs, but sometimes it is hard to come up with something to write. I am sitting at a coffee shop and working, which I never do and in fact make fun of people who do. I am strung out on caffeine though and ready to write. So, proposing the idea of working at a coffee shop to my wife, it sounded like a great idea, but it is hard to find a coffee shop that you can find a seat at or that isn't so loud you can't hear yourself think. Well, we rode our bikes all over downtown to at least four coffee shops trying to find a comfy spot to rest my ass. I found it though and here I sit. I guess this is probably boring as hell to read, but I thought I might express how difficult it is to find a good coffee shop. Hint, hint to all of the entrepreneurs out there.

Gainsbourg

Everyone probably thinks that I am obsessed with French films, but actually it is my wife's fault. I do really like them but she likes them more and can understand them without reading. Every time I watch a French film though, I fall in love with them. They are shot completely differently from American films and I think that they are more artistic than American films. This film particularly gives a certain since of elegance to songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. It portrays the demon/other voice that artist sometimes hear in there own minds in a really cool way.

Serge Gainsbourg(Eric Elmosnino) fights his way up to stardom and proves himself as a talented songwriter. He as a rotating door for many women in his life, though he battles with a negative view of himself. This film is very much like Terry Gilliam on acid.

The animation that is blended with real life footage is pretty incredible. It is neat to see imagination mix with reality. This film has a real "bad boy" image to it. I highly recommend this film to anyone. Again, a foreign film, so you will have to read but well worth it. Watch it!

Moliere

This film is an awesome account of a French playwright. He leads a troupe who has fell on bad luck and gets put into prison. Among Molière's best-known works are Le Misanthrope (The Misanthrope), L'École des femmes (The School for Wives), Tartuffe ou L'Imposteur, (Tartuffe or the Imposter), L'Avare (The Miser), Le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid), and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (The Bourgeois Gentleman). I copied that last sentence from Wikipedia so all of you theater lovers out there could link to some of his most popular plays. His birth name was Jean-Baptiste Poquelin and he went by his stage name, Moliere. He is known for his comedies and it is funny because the film touches on his want to write tragedies and his struggle with realizing that writing comedy was his talent.

Ok, back to the film. This is a really good film. He gets imprisoned, Sorry, he being Moliere(Romain Duris), and his bond is payed by a wealthy man named M. Jourdain(Fabrice Luchini) in exchange for Moliere teaching him acting skills. Jourdain wishes to impress a young woman with his acting abilities and Moliere falls in love with Jourdain's wife. In the end everything ends well and Moliere leaves Jourdain's home to pursue his acting. Anyway, that is all I can tell you about that.

I really like period films because they give you as the viewer a glimpse into what the past may have been like. Being a history buff, I like to step back in time and witness daily activities of a long past time. It is a well written story and it somewhat follows the life of a legendary playwright. I like the dramatic shot angles that bring the landscape into the shot to give a certain romance to the characters.

I strongly encourage everyone to see this film. It is incredible to see into the lives of artist and how and where they draw inspiration from.

Oh my God, Green Truck!

Today I rode my bike downtown and ate lunch at Green Truck Pub. By far the best restaurant in Savannah for burgers and beers. I highly recommend it to anyone. There is always a wait so be prepared to wait for a table for at least an hour, or if it is two people grab a seat at the bar(very little wait). There is not a better burger anywhere, and if you get a salad, you have problems by getting a salad at a burger place.

design

I have been spending this week infatuated with furniture design. Furniture design is a passion of mine, and honestly something I would rather do than theatre. There is something magical about drawing an idea and building that idea. I guess that is what I love about set design too though. I just finished making a platform bed and some night stands. Both are more modern industrial design. I really like the essence of natural materials with contrasting dark and light materials. If I had money, tell you what I would do; fuck the ford truck I would start a furniture business and work out of my house. It would be heaven to get up and take my coffee to my shop and turn up the radio and zone out. Maybe one day, until then...........

Heartbreaker

"Hearbreaker," is a cheesy French romantic comedy. It honestly had me laughing secretively under my shirt because I didn't want anyone to know that I thought it was funny. It was though and now I am writing about it on the web.

Alex(Romain Duris) and his sister Melanie(Julie Ferrier) run a business that break up couples. They break up couple that don't know that they are unhappy. Alex begins to seduce them and then leave them without breaking their hearts. They are hired to break up a beautiful French woman Juliette(Vanessa Paradis) and her British fiance Jonathan(Andrew Lincoln) that are a perfect match. They have one week to do so and everything is on the line. Alex ends up falling in love with the woman and ends the deal to break them apart. He soon realizes that he loves her and they run to each other and a lot of mooshy stuff happens. Well, you get the point.

All of the cast did an excellent job. The main character Alex has been in many other great movies like "Russian Dolls", The Spanish Apartment(translated),.......... He is great and I really like all of his films, and in fact it was the reason that I decided to watch this film. That and the French club at school showed it and my wife is a French professor at school.

I really like the way that French films are shot. The camera angles are a little more artistic and dramatic and I think that it adds to character development. It closely resembles an American romantic comedy though and holds true to that style of filming.

I do recommend this film to any couple who has a bottle of wine or two, a blanket, and the couch. It is a good date movie, and guys, they will like it if you pick it out. The French are a little "wordy," but it is easy to follow while reading. So get loaded, cuddle, read, and enjoy the film.

weekly recap 11/16

Holy shit it is almost Thanksgiving! Where did all the time go? Suddenly it is time to do all of the stuff that I have been putting off for months. Like write these blog entries, make a portfolio website, apply for jobs. It feels like there is always things to do. I believe that college is intended to keep you freaking out for four years so that you can handle yourself in the real world. That is the only lesson needed. I am going to Aruba and Costa Rica for the month of December, and amongst all of this chaos, all I can think of is sitting on a beach with a drink in hand. I know, it is hard to concentrate with that image in your head. We are almost through this frustrating time though, and I have to keep reminding myself of that. It helps me to pull through when all I want to do is say "Fuck it." Keep your head up guys and push through. We are all in your boat.

To Live and Ride L.A.

To Live and Ride L.A.

For anyone that loves bikes, this documentary is for you. The film follows a couple of guys who live and breath fixed gear bicycles. Their lives rotate around a bike wheel. These kids set up races throughout the city and bust tricks out on park benches.

A group of friends that are mostly bike messengers throughout the city, dodge and weave through traffic and on the race course. They give an insight to the culture that surrounds fixed gear bikes. The urban setting lends to influences from music, tats, and above all bike grease. The film touches briefly on the history of the fixed gear bicycle and the evolution of where the sport has come to. It is really cool to see how the bike rules these kids lives. They work on a bike, get together with fellow riders, and even drink and socialize on a bike. "Spinning spokes and telling jokes," as one of the riders said. My favorite part is seeing them organize a race through L.A. that is about thirty miles to the finish line, but it doesn't matter which way you go to get there. There is no course and if you stop for a red light you will loose. It is awesome to watch them weave around cars, buildings, and pedestrians.

I highly recommend this film to anyone. It is full of great music, bike tricks, and underground culture. It reminds me of skate videos from the early 90's, and yes I am that old. Check it out.

week review

Man, it is so nice that Macbeth is running. I am very glad to be getting some time to do other things and concentrate more on school. I have been spending lots of time working on the set, and I think that it looks beautiful. I never thought that it would turn out as well as it did. It is fun to see something go from a drawing to a complete set. The show is incredible and probably one of the best I have ever seen put on at AASU. Now that my senior thesis is complete it is time to focus on finding a job. I just registered for the last semester at Armstrong and I have to say that it made me a little sad. Everyone has been a guiding force behind everything that I have done at this school. I will miss everything and everyone. It is a little scary to think that now I must enter the real world, but I have been a part of the real world for so long that school was weird at first. It is funny how you get accustomed to something so fast and like a butterfly change into something else. I really believe that school is all about experiences and those experiences are what make you prepared for the "real world."