Regaining Unconsciousness

Dear Facebook

2011-09-20T23:26:00.001-07:00

What the fuck? Really. What the fuck?
Sincerely,
Sean

Do You Know What The Words "Low Profile" Mean?

2011-09-02T08:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, so after quite an extensive hiatus from this blog, I'm forcing myself to get back to it. I gave up because I didn't think anyone was reading this before, but I determined that I don't care if I have an audience or not, I'm going to write anyway. Eff it. If no one's reading this, then it'll just be like my journal, Doug Funnie style. Or if people do read this, it'll just be like my journal that a bunch of strangers are reading all the time, Anne Frank style.

So it's school time again. This semester I have Physics, Organic Chem, Statistics, and Ecology. Exciting right? Didn't think so. So this is the last time you'll hear of that.

Work's been good. After a year of working as an attendant and an extremely delayed and extended three week long training period due to some mishaps, I'm finally CBO (Control Booth Operator) trained at Dragon Challenge. It's pretty much awesome. I had my first real day yesterday, and it basically involved sitting on my ass in the air conditioning, pushing some buttons, scolding the occasional guest for pulling cameras and such out on the ride, but mainly it involved talking and bullshitting with my fellow team members about 82's, shemales, sound effects Asian people make, and Action Jesus. Clearly, we take our job very seriously.

Lately, I've been on a HUGE Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez bender. In the last week or two, I've watched Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Death Proof, Four Rooms, Sin City, Planet Terror, and From Dusk Till Dawn. I've also watched Full Tilt Boogie (the feature length documentary of the making of From Dusk Till Dawn), and I'm actually watching El Mariachi as I type this. To seem even more like an obsessive cinephile, I'm in the process of reading "Rebel Without A Crew," Rodriguez's book about the making of El Mariachi. It's pretty interesting stuff, particularly that he funded the making of the movie primarily through basically quarantining himself to a hospital and subjecting himself to various medical testings for a couple thousand dollars over several months. That's dedication if I've ever heard it.

Using that as a segue (and to indirectly compare myself to two of the greatest writer/directors of our time), I've officially started writing my first script. Originally, I had planned on writing two or three short "Laser Cats" type skits, and then later adapt those characters into a full feature length movie. But the more and more I thought about the actual movie, it seemed like those characters would be really hard to write a whole movie for, plus I'm sure by that point I would have completely run out of shitty cinematic (or "shitematic") gags to use. I had also starting considering the idea of making a real attempt at an action movie, which is something I've always wanted to try since I was about 16. So, why not just combine the two and turn it into an Action/Comedy? Now that I finally have a decent camera, technology, knowledge of filmmaking, and (minor) income, it's actually become a possibility. So my idea therefor morphed into this: I could make the first two Laser Cat cop skits, use those as practice to get used to camera techniques, lighting, sound, etc, and then put those experiences to use for the actual movie, which has now been adapted from the cop movie into an entirely different concept altogether. The (tentative) basic gist is this: two guys work in an office and one day they just get fed up with their mundane jobs and decide they're going to plan to rob the place and skip town. In the process however, they find out their boss is a crime kingpin and end up becoming his next targets. So in two days so far, I've written three scenes, and they're actually not bad (which is saying something, because I'm INSANELY critical of my own work. I'm basically my own worst critic).

So for now I'm writing, figuring out how to build makeshift camera equipment, and looking up cheap ways to replicate special effects on YouTube. It's quite an exhilarating process to me.

Now if only I could find people who want to act in them...

World's Best Boss

2011-05-10T19:12:00.000-07:00

Back in Deerfield for the week on my break before I start work full time for the summer. I wish I could say it was an actual "vacation," but honestly it's far more relaxing being at home in Orlando. I've only been here a little over 24 hours, and I'm pretty ready to go back. But I digress.

I'm finally all caught up on The Office. I watched all of Season 7 in about three days. All night Saturday, morning yesterday, all morning today, and all night tonight. And I have to say, it's pretty bittersweet. Michael's been gone for a total of one episode and I already miss him too much. The combination of the post-Dundies musical number and Jim's goodbye kinda got me. It was much more sad than I could have anticipated. It's just not going to be the same without him.

However, it could be pretty close to the same, if they just get rid of Will Ferrell's character. I don't know why, but he irritates the shit out of me. He's just like Michael Scott, only even more annoying and stupid, even down to the whole "thinking he can play basketball but he really can't" bit. But unlike Michael, he doesn't have that special charm or aura about him that makes you want to like him. I've never been more glad to see somebody go to a hospital. Hopefully he stays there for a while.

The Management position should have gone to Dwight anyway. Duh.

The Threat Level Midnight episode has got me starting to write an actual script (finally) for the cop video. Instead of making it a skit within the movie I'm already doing, I've decided to save it for it's own mini-series of shorts for the YouTubes and such, and if the series takes off well enough, maybe a feature film once we get cancelled (fingers crossed!).

Speaking of filming, I unearthed a tripod and a treasure trove of old video cameras in one of our closets today: One fairly old but still good and perfectly useable Sony Handycam from the late 90's, a desperation-only Sony Handycam from the early 90's (before LCD screens were invented), and one behemoth of a video camera from the 80's that's so big it rests on your shoulder and actually records directly onto VHS tapes. Yes, you read that right. You stick VHS tapes into the camera itself and it records to them.

So at least I now have a tripod and a backup camera, and an extra camera or two for the scavenger hunt!

Konichiwa, bitches

First Blog Manifesto

2011-04-28T14:36:00.000-07:00

Well hi.
This is my first blog post, so don't expect too much.

Today I said "peace out" to Spring semester '11 at UCF. I kicked my Plant Anatomy final's ass all up in it's grill, real shit and fo shizzle and whatnot. That's what the kids say these days, right? Time to see what this summer brings, other than a lot of working for the weekend.

Also, John and I have become addicts. It's disgusting. We just mindlessly wander through the day like zombies, anxiously waiting and living second to second until we can get our next fix. The drug I'm referring to is the (social) life destroying Batman: Arkham Asylum. You just can't stop. There's so many mysteries to figure out, so many asses to kick, and so much up to be fucked. If heroin is anything like this, I can't say I blame those addicts either. Despite these warnings, if you haven't already done so, play it. NOW!

At least until Arkham City comes out in October. It might take me that long to beat this one.

Alright, that's enough for now. Time for some of my favorite post-school activities: some more video editing, napping, Tosh.0, and um... uh... a whole lot more Batman.