Music videos

I said I was done with narrative for a bit. I'm about to get into some serious music videos. right now I have two proejcts so far. On the 18th of June im filming a music video for this band name Galaga:The Movie. insane.

And then I also have been talking to this other artist called Thrill Monster, a little pop/electronica/ badass..

http://www.purevolume.com/thrillmonster

and then I also wanna work with these guys that I just met, theyre vacaville/washington based and honestly, I havent heard a sound like them in a long ass time.

http://www.myspace.com/sleepsteady

You don't learn to play music, you just do it.

I make music at night cause I can't sleep. its nothing new, people do it all the time. Sometimes I work on things and then dont touch it for months at a time. Then I wonder where it came from. As if someone during the day records music on my computer. I finally fixed the broken guitar that Seth's mom allocated for us. Its pretty rare cause I looked up the make and model and its made by some small guitar company out of Montreal. Its handcrafted and made entirely of Canadian wood. For some reason I can actually tell the difference in sound quality... or maybe its just the new strings. haha.

I've been playing guitar since about 2001. I remember when I was younger I wanted to be in a band and play music for a living. I had amassed a small collection of musical equipment but I sold it all to buy a camcorder. Sometimes I wonder what I'd be doing if I stuck with it.

I love Sarah Jane

I first watched this short film about 2 years ago. These are the kinds of stories I like. Of course its a zombie movie (who doesnt like those), I really enjoy that the writer of this short took the time to slap in a little meaning behind the gore. I always say that the best zombie movies, arent about the zombies. They arent the point . Zombie movies are about the human condition.

And I just love the pacing of this movie. I hate how music videos and youtube have completely destroyed the attention span and dramatic tension. Those two kids display so much emotion on screen, even though they're just sitting there looking at each other.. This film is amazing, just watch it.

I love internet haters, and MYSTERY TEAM!!!!

They make me feel great. I never care about questions like these on my formspring but I thought this one was funny. My only response to the person asking this that only fucking cowards ask anonymous questions on formspring. I always talk a lot of shit about other filmmakers, but I only do it cause my work stands for itself. wocka fucking wocka

Anyways, I just watched Derrick Comedy's Mystery Team. AMAZING. This sketch group has some of the best writing I have ever seen. Its a little bitterswet though cause I've been following Derrick Comedy since they first started, and all of a sudden I overhear people talking about Jerry, or Girls Are Not To Be Trusted. and I'm like, dude I've seen those videos millions of times. It was like a cult following that suddenly went mainstream, damn.

The only problem I had with the movie was that the cinematography was TOO good. I highly admire the fact that the film utilizes a lot of single take scenes that cover pages of dialogue, but for some reason all the steadycam and dolly work seemed too distracting at times. Idk that movie is hilarious.

Screenplay This Disaster

I guess I'm gonna start posting some excerpts from random scripts I've started and never Finnish. I hope one day I never have trouble determining whether I based a script off my life, or my life off a script.

These next few posts are gonna be a fun.

Good afternoon world, I forgot how beautiful you are.

I still have my medical bracelet on. I wanna see how long it will last. I think tonight I'll attempt to drive. We'll see how that goes. I've been sleeping for most the day and I just can't stay inside right now. I don't wanna go all gushy and stuff but I do feel like out of all the things in life, this is my first real second chance. I always joked about being a blind filmmaker, but I was being half serious when I said that if I actually went blind I wouldn't be able to live.... But thats all over, and now its back to bidness. So no more of that downer shit from me.

Btw, Minus The Bear is one of my favorite bands.

Yeah... You're kinda fucked up for that.

I'm not even gonna say anything, you know what you're doing.

Post Op

I looked outside today at the tree in front of my house, it was beautiful. That tree has been there my entire life and but today I saw it for the first time without my glasses. I watched the branches sway from the wind. I could actually see the leaves instead of patches of blurry green clouds. Fucking amazing...

So I just underwent cataract surgery for my right eye and I just took the eyepatch off.. haha I look hilarious with it on. My sedative juts wore off and I am feeling so fucked up. I wish I was Linda Blair from the Excorcist right now. I feel like I'm getting skull fucked by a demon's fiery cock. The procedure basically me staring at three lights and it felt like the Dr. was either filling my eyesocket with sand and salt or punching me over and over in the face...

I feel fucking fantastic right now... haha. Its kinda cool cause I cans see close with my left eye and now far with my right eye. My depth of field is all fucked up now, which is kinda cool cause everything is in focus.

Coffee and pie, oh my!

"Insomnia with a caffeine addiction? Now that defeats the purpose" - Eli, Insomnia Bites

Shit dude, I dont know why I'm still drinking coffee after all this time, its almost 4am. I just got back from a freakin Denny's where Seth and I were going over the once over for what I guess will be our film project to end all film projects: Our Last Days As Sailors...

We came up with that project last year and I finally convinced Seth that now it the time to do it. We need a big point in our win column and I truly believe that we can tackle a project of this magnitude... And this little tale about 4 men on an island is HUGE. I mean we're talking complex characters, beach locations, costumes and continuity, filming backwards (for the beards), fighting the weather, funding, and our biggest enemy to the very livelihood of our equipment: SAND!!!!! and lots of it.. I hate sand so much. If our camera drops once this project is donesville..

and we don't even have the script written yet. But we got this.. hopefully.

The greatest love story ever

Isn't considered a love story. Its called Return of The Living Dead 3. Seriously no joke, you'd have to watch it to believe me. Theres this young army brat that moves everywhere with his dad. He meets this girl and they want to run away together. But Dad will have none of it. (btw the dad is an army general experimenting with a chemical called Trioxin that reanimates dead corpses). So they decide to leave and they get into a motorcycle crash and the girl slams into a telephone pole. The kid then takes her body to the army base and reanimates her corpse. (if thats not love, then I don't know what love is)... jump ahead about 40 minutes, 10 dead bodies and an entire subplot with a schizophrenic homeless guy and 3 stereotypical mexican gangsters and we find our protagonist back at the army base, all hell breaking loose, military lockdown enforced and the son has to choose wether to go with his dad, who all of a sudden cares about his son and shows it by vomiting one of the cheesiest monologues ever. OR choosing to stay with his girlfriend who has become some kind of sexy BDSM zombie. In the end he gets bitten and him and the girlfriend choose to climb into an incinerator together. Fade out and credits as you see them holding each other as the flames get higher and higher.. what an image.... I cried.

do the math

I'm sitting in the studio right now burning discs for two of the shorts I had to do for the trabajo..

I need to burn 15 dvds..

This computer is suprisingly fast, but it takes about 7 minutes to burn one disc. and in between it takes about a minute to load another disc and get ready to burn, so lets say 8 minutes. times 15 discs equals 120 minutes. 2 HOURS!!!!!! and currently I'm burning my 3rd disc.. lame..

I'm talking to Vic on the internet right now. Yeah its via facebook, but I just say internet...

I guess I'm gonna go watch a cinema 10 presentation to kill some time.

if only for the sake of the weather

im right about to head to school to burn discs.. ohhh god kill me now.

I make music at night. I made this song which has to be the most singlehandedly devious song I've ever made. Its so cheesy its good.... those I told sad it was sad also, which I agree.

I had this conversation with my friend Kristine about being happy. I claimed that I dont think I really know what being happy is. There are things in the world that truly make me feel alive, like film, music, art and friends. But happy? How the fuck would I know? Haha.

but anyways 4 more days till surgery.

Look to Science

Sometimes, (like now for instance) I hate being in the office. I sit in here trying to work on things, but I end up just bulshitting the day away. Im end up scouring the internet for signs of a hopeful outlook on my current inquisitiveness.

"and all we have are our regrets/look to science, when god quits".

song lyrics, titles, and sample dialog always rush through my head and speeds that would make a cheetah look like a winded fat kids running after the ice cream man. I think I forget half of them by the time I write them down. The above phrase about god is a lyric that I eventually want to put into a song somewhere. Im not a very religious person but for some odd reason god is ever present in my songs. I'm not praising the shit out of the guy, in fact its quite the opposite. Maybe its all the As Cities Burn that I've been listening to.

Final cuts and finishing touches

Last day of class is on Wednesday. I have one more short to edit this weekend and then its off to burning discs. I think for a person that works with cameras a lot, I have ben pretty elusive cause i rarely appear on camera. I was editing and I saw myself walk into frame and for some reason I didn't recognize myself at first. I laughed.

i spent this morning trying to sleep but all I could think about was this coming week. I have so much to do, on top of that I have my right eye operation. 5 days left. I promised not to panic. I tell myself that its routine. I got this.

I feel like I keep making the same mistakes when it comes to that one thing.

wedding gift

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82cFbUL4uy8

I'd rather just post the link cause for some reason the embed cuts off with this blogspot format..

so this all started when I was just so bored that I had to film something. I've wanted to have a tv smashed for so long and I just never got around to doing it. It was pretty fun.Jamiel had to hit it twice cause the first time the crobar just bounced off and made a huge clank sound. haha.

Call me up sometime, lets chat awhile.

This blog window has been open since yesterday. I've been trying to think of something to write about.

So later today is the last day for my tv class. I'll admit, I will miss it. It was one day out of the week where I got to see people that I actually wanted to see. haha. I'll bring a fruitbasket, or something of the sorts.

I started watching Californication. David Duchovny is a fucking beast. If you liked him as Fox Mulder in the X Files then one must check out this show. I think he has sex in almost every episode. Of course thats not all what this show is about.

Anyways...

I wanna start posting more of my thoughts on film and working in it. Working with actors is one of the things that I'm always on the fence about. At my job I work with a lot of people just breaking into the acting game. Its sometime deterring to work with them cause I feel that half of them don't really want to be there.

but anyways, I always get off track.

Working in depth with actors to prepare for complex roles is a necessary thing. I'm all for letting an actor work with a role and become the role. I have complete respect for the craft and the process. But they still need a starting point. I'll tell them what to think, and how to think it. Suggestions are always welcome and dialogue is very flexible. Without going cheesy on the subject but I'm gonna use that old actor=canvas and I'm holding the brush analogy.

Jokingly I told my friend Cecilia that the secret to directing is to watch the rehearsal of a scene, then tell the actors to either do it again exactly the same, or tell them to do it differently. In a sense thats really all there is to it.

We interrupt our normal broadcasting.....

May 21st - Dr. Prasad - 11:30am - Vacaville

(some kind of appt to see if I have glaucoma cause the pressure in my eyes don't seem to be going down)

May 27th - Dr. Diamont - 9:10am - Vacaville

(Lens replacement/cataract surgery and removal of scar tissue on tear duct/repair - right eye only)

May 28th - Dr. Diamont - 9:10am - Vacaville

(post surgery checkup)

June 2nd - Dr. Diamont - 4:30pm - Vacaville

(post surgery checkup)

June 23rd - Dr. Diamont - 3:50 - Vacaville

(left eye operation.. I think)

I got a busy schedule ahead of me. I've been ok for now. I'm treating this like a routine business meeting. So I don't get all freaked out. The cataract surgery is technically a routine procedure, but the repairing of my tear ducts it the thing I'm a little worried about... Actually I'm less worried about the surgery than I am about the medication I've been taking. Upon agreeing to taking the meds, the doc let me know about the possible side effects. I run the risk of some serious health issues in the long run.. I'm gonna be so pissed if ten years from now I get lymph node cancer. I'm knocking on the biggest and woodiest piece of wood I could find right now.

Sunday May 16th 2010, 2:45am

I'm listening to Gregory and The Hawk. Awesome band. So I finally watched Julius Ceasar on its closing night. Funny thing that they told me after the show was that, during the scene in which Brutus and Cassius (played by Stew and Lyndsay) drank some wine, the crew actually replaced the usual iced tea with hard liquor. I talked to Stew and Lyndsay after and they said that they had the hardest time trying not to break character. Everyone including them thought that was funny as fuck (their words not mine.. this time).

I noticed recently that my typing skills have gotten really better. I mean, I've been typing since a kid, but now after all these years, I finally feel comfortable typing without looking at my hands too much. I guess all that screenwriting is starting to pay off.

So with The Kitchen Sink, this little music project that me and Seth started a while ago..Our recordings of our songs seem to keep getting better. I really love playing music and I feel that this could get some real attention. Cause I play the guitar like I'm ringing a bell. (Johhny B Goode) and Seth has got lyrics thats epicness rivals the bible.

I went to a party today and saw some friends that I haven't seen in a long time. We all pretty much grew up together. And they've been together since 2001 or something. To see them nowadays and they're still just as young and in love as they were when they first got together. I think thats amazing and a truly rare feat. I wish I could tell them that when I think of relationships, I wish I could have had something like that. And I honestly believe that if two people like that couldn't last forever, how the hell could I? I guess I'll say that at their wedding.

Breaking Bad

is such an awesome show. I started following it during the middle of their second season. I'm actually going back and watching it from the beginning.

The show stars Emmy award winner Bryan Cranston. Most people will know him as the dad from Malcolm in the Middle. This guy is amazing. Like seriously, IMO one of the top actors right now. But yeah, this show is about this high school chemistry teacher names Walter White and just got diagnosed with lung cancer. He decides , with the help of his former student/meth head/drug dealer that he's gonna start cooking meth in rolling lab (winnebago) to make money for his family for when he's dad.

seriously, what a fucking premise.

There needs to be more hours in the day....

Wow did that just happen?

anyways, i just spent the whole day sleeping. That felt really good. I havent slept like that in quite a bit. Now what am I to do now that I'm awake and my batteries are fully charged? I think I'll clean the office. (i know I always say that) I started writing the new script for the boss. Its coming along swimmingly.

Oh and I can cross off a NYR (newyearsresolution).. The other day in class I started an applaud for no reason. I just started clapping and people followed. Hhaha ahaha.

tomorrow night is the last night to see Julius Ceasar, directed by my friend Angelina Labarre. Ive done the BTS vlogs for it, but have never seent the play past the first act. I think I'l check it out.

Now that this is done

Whats new? Well, I am yet again at the end of another semester. I'd say it went fairly well. It may seem that I've been going crazy these past couple of weeks but I really haven't. The last couple of posts were just me getting out my frustrations.. I'd rather type this out than snapping at someone.

So I'm at another fork in the road. Currently I have my two main options going for me. Film school or University. going to film school will let me work on projects, music, and trying to get another job. and going the university route means summer school and 15 units in the fall semester.... trying the film school means I have to quit my job at scc. (which I wouldnt mind cause I've pretty much had all I cant take of it).

I really want to go to Berkeley Digital. They got the RED cam. I think I can hang with them. I feel pretty confident with my skills right now. But damn that place is expensive.

AAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I hate this movie so much.. I hate everything about it.fuck this movie. Fuck this story, the actors, the shots, the sound.. everything.

Its almost done and im a little scared that people will agree with me.

Its always funny to me

That, i think like twice a year I always say that I'm done with doing this film thing.. and then all of a sudden, more opportunities to work with bigger and better people come around and im right back in the shit again. I'm getting ahead of myself again, where I have to finsih editing one thing, but im doing some preprod planning for five other things. and they're good too.. I'm finally gonna do Blood Runners, and Anne Frankenstein.. and there's also this thing where my boss George wants me to write something for him and another actor. Damn. I'm gonna be busy this summer, but thankfully its projects that I want to do.. Its time for me to really start to own things.. I have a newfound confidence lately. Insomnia Bites really helped me on my directing skills... I never really wanted to originally, but after I was able to coax a decent performance out of amateur actors, I wonder what would happen if I had some Sag folks on my hands..

I don't think I've ever procrastinated this much

I've been putting off this edit for a couple of days now... I don't know why. Its not that I find it hard.. maybe I'm juts trying to prolong the inevitable. Finishing it marks the end of a journey for me. does that sound weird? What is next for me? Can I really let this story go?

and all we are, are empty vessels

...searching for the things that make us who we are...

ive been working on that lyric for a while, with still no progress.

I just watched Iron man 2. eh. I need to work on my apathy, sometimes I feel like I care too much.. these are just random thoughts swirling in my head. There is no context to the things I say. Why do I write these blogs when no one reads them? Well some people do, and that surprises me. eh. I need to start editing this damn movie. I don't know what it means to me anymore... or actually it changes by day.. the term Fuck this Movie is the best way to describe it...

when this is all over, I'm going to spend one entire day sleeping. Thats the least I could do for my self.

one wording tells me you dont really give a fuck.

fuck these glasses, broke ass pieces of shit. and its my fcucking fault for breaking them.. fucking idiot. Right when I need to start editing where i fuking really nedd them, life fucks me in the ass, just hard enough to make things a little more difficult. God I hate this shit.

I like to scream in my car sometimes when I'm driving, it helps me relax. try it someitime i think it works. Sometimes I feel that my hard work is under-appreciated. that frustrates me.. I just talked to someone on online and was given the film school lecture.. and i kinda dont really know this person.. Fuck you, you dont know shit.. 4 fucking shorts (granted two of them are complete and utter bullshit) and with the exception of Adam, I did all by my fucking self. and then you wanna turn around and fucking say we need to work on some shit... what the fuck.. I get to like 4 fucking get-out-of-jail cards for that one..

and I fucking give up, and I know i say that shit all the fucking time, and then next week I'm back to myself again, but this time I mean it. I'm dumb for dragging what is pretty much nothing out for the longest time. Its like walking into a room and finding all your friends murdered, and then you spend five minutes looking at everything and touching everything, and then the cops come and arrest you, and all your prints are everywhere. And you cant explain your way out of it. Bullshit. I fucking hate you.

i dont lilke the sound of my phone beeping anymore.

But today was cool. Hung out with Camber, Seth and Cecilia, played guitar and some frisbee.... ate some pizza and walked around the farmers market in downtown fairfield with Cecilia.. went to sleep, woke up and watched Iron man2 at midnight with Jennifer, Rebecca, and Cecilia. Today was fun.

Post production jitters

posting for Insomnia Bites is underway... I want this thing to be over with.. The faster I can finish it, the faster I can move onto the next whatever it is I wanna do... To be honest I'm very proud of this film.. I took a subject, wrote about it and got it made. I worked through all the problems with the story, both on the technical/production side, and on the personal side.. Its gonna be at the schools film festival as an alumni work. thats kinda cool cause I was asked to submit it by my former prof. (usually its the other way around.)

I think everything is looking good for me right now. I just hope that after this is all done, things could get a little better.

Wednesday May 5th 2010

I think I was sleep walking today cause all of the sudden I was packing up my equipment into m car and then all of a sudden I was buying a taco from the cinco de mayo people. I dont remember how i got from my car to the mexicans...

Im done. Four short films in a month aint bad. Now I just have to edit. That'll be a breeze.

Directing my movie was tough. I really wanted to make this good so I worked with my actors a lot. I was suprised because not only did they have their lines down, but we we're able to film sequences up to a page long. They hit all their marks every single time. And we ran scenes over and over and each time was the same as the last or better.

This really got me thinking about what I really want to do as a filmmaker. I think I am becoming a capable Director, but theres too much stress invloved, but thats partially because I was The writer/director/DP/Gaffer/editor... I think I want to take a break from narrative and get into music videos. They're all look, and half your job is done cause the sound is provided already..

I need to sleep, I haven't slept since yesterday morning.

I hope this movie turns out ok... ever since i started posting pictures and outtakes, there has been this hype building around it.. shit..what have I done? So many people want to watch this thing... but i really only care if a few like it

fuck you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaaIA7n0iGA
gotta make shit difficult, fuck dude im done with all that

Tuesday May 4th 2010

Day one of shooting well fucking splendidly. The in class shit went off without a hitch and the night shoot went fucking awesomly .. fuck im finna finish insomnia bites by fucking tonight.shit

Monday May 3rd 2010

Today is the day. I've done this time and time again but for some reason this feels a little different. I've film binged before but for some reason this time seems a little more important. I've been waiting to film Insomnia Bites since around March. Its finally come to pass and it feels like the night before the first day of school. I still need to find all my props. I hope my actors are ready. I've given them all the direction I could possibly give. I hope they can deliver. I wouldn't blame them if they didn't cause ultimately any fault goes to me. It all stared from the script. Shitty script equals shitty movie.. fuck, fuck fuck fuck this movie. Seriously take my advice; don't make movies. They take away your sanity and replace it with anxiety. It sweeps the rug from under you while you're trying to drink from a glass.

Come see me, I'm finna knock this out of the park.