Orwellian...and beyond

Finally having the time and inclination, I sat down and watched George Lucas' THX1138, and I have to say on a first viewing that I was simultaneously impressed and unimpressed. His depiction of an Orwellian future was visually stunning. While the images and cinematography were great, the pacing was a little slow. It felt like Lucas was spending far too much time drinking in the sets than he was worrying about how the story was progressing. I am not talking about the acting here. Duvall and Pleasance did fantastic jobs, especially given that they were working with a director who really doesn't direct his actors. When the locale is one where emotions are chemically subdued, then Duvall does a great job holding back and then climbing out of the emotionless pit. The iconic scene of the three guards with long poles holding back Duvall was just as awesome as the stills I had seen previously. Lucas has a great eye when it comes to setting up shots, and he would make a great dp or even better a producer since he seems to excel at that job. Lucas, while stealing heavily from George Orwell and Ray Bradbury, creates a film that allows me to let the flaws and the blatant stolen ideas and phrases (Nixon speeches anyone?) go by. I am a huge Orwell fan in general and 1984 specifically. There is something about the Orwellian films that I just enjoy them even though they are sometimes the same idea with just a different outcome. I wouldn't mind either acting in or making my own version of 1984 or Fahrenheit 451.

So this past week has been quite busy with my improv class and voiceover class, I am getting a good amount of practice and training from some talented teachers. Besides that I was able to audition for a couple of independent films and two voiceovers. The voiceovers I should hear something by next week, but the independents I have no idea if they'll contact me. One of them, I think I would look a little young for, but since they had it in my age range I still went. I'll never pass up a chance to network or audition. While the jobs are infrequent right now, at least my auditions are frequent which at least makes me feel like I am pushing forward. I have still been doing extra work on my days off to both add to my income and hopefully get my third SAG voucher. However, the biggest avenue I am looking at is still voiceovers (at least for paid work), since they are simple and quick to do and are good money. I will be doing a short film for a friend who is a great writer. I am excited to work with him and see what is in store for him.

Other than that the week was a lot of fun. My uncle came into town over the weekend and so on Monday we were able to hang out and I got to show him around. Luckily, he has seen all the "tourist" stuff, so I didn't have to drive him to downtown Hollywood which is honestly worthless in the daytime. He wanted to go on a studio tour and so after reading a couple of reviews of the Universal Studios and NBC tour, I just took him to Warner Bros. and we took the tour there. Even though I had gone in January with my mother, it was a blast to go back since the strike is over now and we were able to see some filming in progress. Also, my camera had died about halfway through the tour last time, so I was able to get some better shots of the water tower and other sets that I missed the first time. Of course, no visit to Burbank would be complete without a night out at Don Cucos, so we met up with one of my uncle's coworkers there and enjoyed some margaritas and dinner.

So finally after six months in Los Angeles, I finally swam in the Pacific (which brings me to only 3 more of the seven seas to swim in!) and while cold was fun. On Thursday, I went down with a bunch of friends and was able to just relax on an almost deserted beach around the Santa Monica area, catch some sun, and skim board along the beach. It was a perfect day for the beach, and I had a blast of course (how can you not have a great time at the beach?). I have a couple of good pictures, but while I look good, I am still way to white to show.

Right now music-wise, I am going through my Itunes library and giving a listen to those albums which I have only heard once or not at all. Some are good while others I couldn't care less about. Been listening to a good amount of Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds too.

I'll leave you with my wonderful picture of someone having fun with their De Lorean DMC-12.

Live Musicand the glorious SoCal sun!

So I was able to score a ticket to the Bamboozle even in Irvine, Ca on Saturday, and while I didn't know or care for 90% of the bands, it was still a blast. Of course, Saturday was absolutely gorgeous. The sun was out, the temperature was in the 70s, and there was a slight breeze blowing making it a perfect day to be at the amphitheater. While it was mostly bands playing on the six stages around the theater, there were also carnival rides and other events happening (like the required guitar hero tourney). Though I hate carnival rides that can be packed up and moved elsewhere. I have no desire to go upside down in a ride that has traveled across the country and back. Call me scared and silly, but seriously, that just doesn't make sense to me.

The two highlights for me were being able to fall asleep on the lawn in front of one of the stages and take a nice nap while listening to some no-name band play (hey, I had opened the store at 4:15am that morning and was working on 3 hours of sleep, give me a break), and seeing Alkaline Trio perform since they haven't for a while. Alk Trio was a blast to see live. Though there was a band there called RX Bandits who were definitely a jazz band and I had a blast just watching them play. They were pretty good too, enough that I bought there CD.

Anyways, it has been a busy and exhausting week, and I am happy this next week will be a little slower, though I'll be heading to Vegas in the middle of the week to visit some friends.

On a more interesting note, Absolut Vodka has a new ad that has been causing quite a controversy. I won't go into it much, but it just depicts what a "perfect Absolut world" would look like and shows Mexico having control of most of the western United States. The one thing I will gladly harp on is that Absolut states that they are pushing for the Mexican national pride. That is all well and good, but wait, isn't most of Mexico living in the U.S. now? If the Absolut version of the world was true, then the Mexicans would just have a lot longer of a walk to get the the U.S. We've actually done everyone a favor! Mexico is such a worthless country, what kind of pride would you have when most of the people in your country want to leave! Oh, and if Manifest Destiny had been allowed, there wouldn't be a Mexico today, so enjoy what you have!

Anyways, if you have no true understanding of where the "idea" of this map came from, read some history especially around the years 1846-1848! Something called the Mexican-American War should pop out at you.

Vampire Weekend!

Well, I have to come back to this cd. While I definitely enjoyed it my first couple of listens, I must say the more I listen to it the more I love it. This album will definitely not change the world, but I continually find myself humming the tunes on this album. The songs are fun, upbeat, and just plain catchy. You can tell that Vampire Weekend enjoyed their studio time because it shows in the songs.

I was able to turn this album on when I had a group of people over last night. We were just hanging out eating Bison burgers and drinking wine (2005 Columbia Crest cabernet sauvignon to be exact, and it drank great!), and as the music began to play I had several people ask me who this was. Everyone was digging the music and just made the night that much more enjoyable. I definitely have to thank Vampire Weekend for adding to the party. This is definitely something you can just let play through and even put it on repeat.

My favorites are Oxford Comma, M79 and Bryn, though I could name probably most of the others as favorites too. I would definitely suggest at least finding someone who has this album and giving it a good listen if not just straight up buying it!