Apocalyspe Now, or Later?

For my communications class, we've been assigned The Conversations, a text about film editing that is, in actuality, a conversation between friends Walter Murch (an Academy Award-winning sound mixer) and author Michael Ondaatje.

Ondaatje. Good luck pronouncing and spelling that. I think I'm just going to copy and paste his name whenever I need it.

Anyway, it's a really interesting book about the process of film editing. From the average consumer's perspective, the most important part of a movie is the finished product. We see the actors and special effects, hear the music and voiceovers. But, I know I've always wondered what goes on behind the scenes.

Have you?

Coincidently, I'm also taking a screenwriting class this semester, and this book adds another perspective to my film education. If you've never heard of Walter Murch, you've probably heard of, or seen, some of his movies:

Apocalypse Now, Ghost, Cold Mountain, The Godfather Part III, and The English Patient, among others.

What's really neat about this text is that Murch has also worked with some very famous names, including Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. It gives such a fascinating inside look to the world of film, which I've always been interested in. It's so much more than the finished product...the real work happens after the actors go home and the editors sit down with hours upon hours of footage.

If you think about it, they're the real stars.

This Blog's Like a Box of Chocolates....

You never know what you're gonna get. I love this movie, and I'm learning to love this blog. It's my first one, so I'm still getting the hang of things. But that being said, there's a few things I'd like to improve upon.

1. Put more pictures up. I promise to get better with this. Now that I've discovered how to do it, I'm addicted. Expect something extra with every post. I'm still working on videos, but as soon as I get that...booyah. It'll be magic.

2. Trackbacks = evil. They don't like me. Not here, and not on my internship's wordpress site. I don't see us forming a friendship, but I will try. They are kinda nifty.

3. I have, what I call, English-major syndrome. I like to write long paragraphs and then wrap everything up nicely in the end. I need to stop doing that here. My posts have been shorter recently, and I've been actively trying to keep the paragrahs separated and to-the-point. I don't want to bore anyone, and I know that I can be intimidated by long, wordy pieces. I won't pull a Forrest and start narrating my life story to the first person who will listen. Promise.

4. Aesthetically, I'd like to change things. I'm pretty stumped on how to changed my layout, and all the pinks and purples are starting to get to me. It looks kinda amateurish, and I'm not a huge fan of that. I'd like to make it more professional looking with the template. However, I do like the simplicity of it. I don't like anything that's too busy. I hope I figure out how to tweak these little tings and fix everything up nicely.

RIP

I'm absolutely devastated because Patrick Swayze passed away today. Not only was he one of my favorite actors, but he was a stand-up guy with a big heart and great talent. He will be greatly missed. My thoughts and condolences go out to his family, especially his wife (they've been together for almost 40 years). RIP, Patrick. Hollywood won't be the same without you.

Pretty Pictures = Successful Site?

Ever checked out the Webby Award winners? Don't feel bad; I never did either, at least not until my last communications class. It stemmed off our discussion of how websites garner their appeal, either through great information or aesthetically pleasing layouts and designs. One website in particular, http://www.saab.com/turbogenetest, has got to be one of the coolest sites I've ever seen. Give it a click, and check it out. You'll see why it was a Webby winner in the cateogry of Best Visual Design--Aesthetic.

There's something so dynamic about this site. I know it's superficially about finding the perfect car to fit your individual needs, but there's something innately personal, too. The graphics are absolutely gorgeous...the seamless way the different scenes flow together is all sleek and whatnot. It's also a lot of fun, which has to count for something, right? Even the music draws you in...one of the girls in my group said it sounded like VIP music. The personal touch pulls you in and makes you want to continue on...it makes the whole experience enjoyable, which for a consumer, is very important. No one's going to waste their time on a clunky site that doesn't hold any sort of interest for them.

Heck, you may want to go buy a Saab after seeing this. Marketing genuis, I tell you.

Guilty Pleasure?

I follow a few blogs, but they're probably not, what some might call, reputable. My roommate last year was a huge fan of Perez Hilton, and she got me hooked. He's something of a diva, with a huge attitude and a pretty crass way of writing. But you get sucked in, and it's pretty tough to quit cold turkey. It's fun; that's pretty much the only reason I read it.

I'm also a member of Twitter, which is more of a micro-blog. I always feel restricted by the 140-character limit, so I'd much rather blog elsewhere. On a positive note, it's quick news updates, and it gets right to the point. If I see something on Twitter that grabs my interest, I can go almost anywhere else on the web to get the full-length version of what's going on.

I'm also an intern blogger for collegejolt.com, a website written by college students for college students. It's a lot of fun, and not every post is school-related. You can go there for advice, how-to's, book and movies reviews, etc. I follow it mainly because I work for it, but I think I'd follow it even if they weren't my employers.

I looked up the Top Blogs, and two really caught my eye. I'm now going to follow /Film (pronounced slash film) because I'm a big movie buff, and I can appreciate a good review. Also, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman looks fascinating; it reminds me of the premise for the Amy Adams/Meryl Streep movie Julie & Julia. I like reading things that are more lightweight--I follow CNN on Twitter, and sometimes I think that's all the death-and-destruction-mixed-with-a-good-economic-crisis I can handle for one day.

It's Like That Really, Really Bad Jonas Brothers Song...

It's not quite the year 3000, but the future holds some pretty daunting ideas. Technology seems to grow everyday, and some new application on FaceBook constantly pops up in my notifications. With nifty things like webcams and Skype, we can see each other through computer screens. (And I thought AIM was the coolest things since sliced bread.)

Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, the future is coming, and it's coming soon. The videos we watched in my communications class last week really got me thinking about what the next decades will bring. The video titled "The Future of Communication" was probably the scaries thing I've subjected myself to since reading 1984...even though it's fiction, there's something eerily true about it. At the rate we're going, who's to say that Google won't buy out Microsoft? It's not inplausible to consider Yahoo! and Amazon merging, is it? Especially in the economic crisis we find ourselves in, companies will consider anything to remain in business. There will be mergers, it's just a matter of who and when. Scary.

Even though "The Future of Communication" was done well, there was something Big-Brother-esque about it. Will we live in "virtual worlds," where experiences are simulated? The new movie with Bruce Willis called Surrogates seems to explore this idea. It's pretty creepy, if you ask me. I want to live my own life, on my own terms. I hope to God technology doesn't make that simple desire impossible some day. The other clip we watched, "Epic 2015," was a little better--not as morbid, and instead focused on technological advances and not the crossover between humans and machines.

They're all interesting concepts, and they certainly have the power to get the brain-juices flowing. But just how much of our future has already been predicted? It's a pretty unsettling thought.

Disclaimer: I, in no way shape or form, promote the Jonas Brothers. Frankly, they hurt my ears and eyes. Their song just serves my own purposes.

Bacon is Good for Me!

So I saw this clip on YouTube and decided it was too hilarious to keep to myself. If you haven't laughed yet today, take a look at this:



Now go have a piece of bacon.

Long Time No See

Ciao bloggers! It's been a really long time since I wrote here....maybe it had something to do with the fact that I landed a blogging internship (unpaid, but I'm not complaining....not yet, at least) at collegejolt.com. Now I have deadlines and all that junk to pay heed to, and my cute little E&E blog fell by the wayside.

My sincerest apologies.

I'm back because of my communications class. I started my junior year at SJU yesterday, and so far, so good. I'm dropping a class, but picking up a better one. I've been around this block numerous times now, so not too much surprises me. I still love meeting my friends for a coffee break at Starbucks and watching cheesy ABC Family movies on Saturday nights. I'm really excited about this communications class, mainly because I just declared it as my new minor. I'm an English (writing) major, and writing is the one thing I feel I was born to do. I have a lot to say, and it takes a lot to shut me up. The only thing I love more than writing is reading, which is probably why I want to (ideally) write novels for a living, but I'd settle for opening my own book store. A good Borders or Barnes&Noble is my idea of heaven, so just drag me there if you want to make me happy :)

Anyway, enough about me. As the semester progresses, I'm sure there will be lots of interesting stuff to write about. So stay tuned....