Star Wars Marathon

Kent, Shaun and Chris came over tonight and we watched A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. We decided against continuing on to Return of the Jedi as it was going to put us at a finishing time of about 1:30 or 2 in the morning.

All-in-all, I'm extremely pleased with the changes that have been made to the films - they make the who series draw together rather nicely. While Jabba still looks like an animated slug, Han stepping on his tail looks a lot better ... and Jabba really does look a lot more like his ROTJ counterpart. Han and Greedo firing at the same time is better than Greedo shooting first, but it's still rather ... clumsy feeling. The best scene, by far in my opinion, is the replacement of that sub-par Emperor in TESB with Ian McDermid in full Emperor makeup. The image quality is so much better, too. And the way they discuss the appearance of Luke Skywalker is pretty cool.

Everyone left, several more visitors surprised at how awesome it is in this section of Jersey City.

My First Scoop

Hehe, aside from being on IMDB, I now have another online milestone in my life: My first valid scoop for a movie news website. Check it out: My Story! I had to send an update cause I forgot to mention that Dan Harris and Mike Dougherty were both present, and that they talked about more than just Superman. But it's all good.

Our Living Room

I was going through some pictures on my computer and I realized I haven't put up any pictures of my apartment. Not many people really know what it looks like now that it's ... well ... now that it's nice. So check it out. Nice, isn't it? Thought so. It's where I spend most of my time. I have found that it's a comfortable place to write. It's also good cause when I'm not writing, I can be watching movies on that hugegantic TV.

I'm working on writing about four projects right now, producing and directing my own, raising funds for my film (which is just beyond what any film student ever does as a producer - the only reason I count it as a separate job entirely), working as a sound mixer on Shaun's project, and possibly producing Kent's narrative project. In addition to that, I have classes, so my posts have become short and relatively ... boring ... as of late.

However, today I got to meet Bryan Singer. He was at the school for our Contact Series, and he brought Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty with him. They talked about Superman, Logan's Run, X-Men and The Usual Suspects. All three were really funny, and Mike and Dan are unbelieveably young. They're only 25! 25!!!! That could be me in four years! It will be me in four years!

So, apparently, their visit to NY was not just for the Contact Series ... they were getting a feel for what Metropolis should feel like. They even toured The Daily News to get an idea of how The Daily Planet should look. Bryan said that they are going to cast an unknown as Superman, and immediately after that comment someone asked if Jim Cavaziel was in the running; Bryan didn't miss a beat, saying, "He's known, so that automatically disqualifies him, doesn't it?" When asked about casting of supporting roles, Bryan said that they were concentrating on casting Lex and Superman simultaneously, then they'd take care of the other roles. But he also said that he had a pretty good idea of what he wanted in those characters.

Kent got a picture with Bryan while I talked to Mike and Dan about writing. The funny thing was that, and they pointed this out themselves, the three of them represented all three of the major film schools in New York City. Bryan went to School of Visual Arts, Dan went to NYU and Mike went to Columbia. Being as polite as we were, none of us made any derogatory comments about Columbia, but we all laughed at the idea that Columbia teaches film production.

Music as Muse

Well, despite my prior attempts at motivating myself to write something, I couldn't get anything into print. Then I listened to music ... and the words flowed forth like a river.

Fantastically, writing seems to be so much easier when you have music to back up the images you're trying to create in your head. It's really amazing. Now if only I could use music to come up with a budget for my color sync project.

-> Edit: To see my playlist, click here.

35mm no more ...

I talked to Tisch's resident 35mm expert and Camera I instructor - he said that I'd be better served "taking your money, walking over to the East River and chucking it in." He doesn't think shooting a color sync project in 35mm is a good idea. From the explanation of costs and logistics, I'm inclined to agree. I think what I'll do instead is just rent lenses for the color sync 16mm rig and make transporting the equipment and such a ton easier. At any rate, this project will move forward, and I will kick the shit outta this class. Why? Because I'm just that good.

Now, all I have to do is convince others of the same thing.

Wisdom

When I was in film school there was a small group of us that were making films, while the rest of the class sat around and said, "Gee, we can't make movies-the teacher won't let us do this, or I can't do that, or you never get a break around here." While they were complaining about why they never got to make movies I made eight movies. And they're still sitting down there saying, "Gee, I can't get a job-and you can never make it in the film business, and when are they going to give me a break, and when is somebody going to let me make a movie?"

Nobody's ever going to let anybody make a movie. You have to go out and do it! And those who can figure out how to do it-do it. And nothing can stop them. - George Lucas

The more interviews and articles I read about George Lucas, the more I realize that we share many of the same ideas; now, I realize that if I really want this project to get off the ground, next week I have to kick my ass into high gear and solicit donations like crazy. I have a nice schedule set: Monday and Tuesday, call around for prices; Wednesday, set up a budget and prospectus; Thursday, Friday and the entire following week, take the prospectus to businesses and individuals. I can imagine that the fundraising portion of the project is going to take longer than a week and a half, but if I at least have my prospectus ready by next Thursday, I can send it to other people so that they can solicit donations, too.

There's no chance in hell this is going to be easy, but nothing's been easy this far, so why start now?

Rich Aunts and Uncles

Wanted: Rich, wealthy or otherwise "well off" individuals to make tax-deductible donations in sponsorship of my Color Sync project. Screen credit will be given to donors.

Do you know any patrons of the arts? Have an aunt or an uncle who might be willing to send me $250 to produce my intermediate production film? Well, point them in my direction.

I'm determined to make this project the best it can possibly be, and I am going to need to rely on sponsorship to do so. I had an interview at the Gap and they're only hiring seasonally, meaning that if they do hire me, I'll only be working 10-15 hours per week. They can piss off. I need serious money and I need it right now.

So what I'm going to do is submit my project to Film and Video Arts, making them my fiscal sponsor so that my donors can make tax deductible contributions. Of course, it's gonna be a hell of a time trying to get the necessary money - but you don't get anything if you aren't willing to ask for it. Money doesn't fall into your lap - you've gotta go out and get it, one way or another.

This project will be the best damned thing I've ever done - Period!

Industrious Me

Indeed, I am formulating ideas in my head to raise money for my color sync project and my advanced project in the spring. I'll get back to you when I have something solid, but if I'm not back for a few days, it's because it looks like things are going to get busy in the next week or so. Hope things are going well for everyone.

Retail and Bullshit

Yes, they go hand-in-hand, I know. Mostly it's just "retail bullshit." I have an interview at ... The Gap. *sigh* If I recall properly, I disliked retail work at The Sports Authority sooo much that my lung collapsed. Twice. Requiring surgery.

I mean, I'm not superstitious, but ... well, in this regard, I really think I might wanna be cautious. Last thing I need is surgery sidelining me during the important final semesters of my undergraduate studies. However, getting money again will be nice.

As for the bullshit, apparently, I showed my acting colors today by doing the exercise where you tell two stories, one of which is pure bullshit, and the other of which is the truth. The class then tries to determine which is true and which is bullshit. I had them stumped. I was goooood. Which makes me all the more determined to portray myself in my color-sync project.

PS. Inside Informants (re:DI) tell me that a Hollywood bigshot director (re:SS) may be coming to NYU and that someone (re:ME) might be the first to know. I love being an NYU student. It rawks my sawks!

Steven Spielberg

Ok, so after telling a friend of mine in Cinema Studies the story about George Lucas and my letter to my department chair (David Irving), she turns to me and says, "Well, you know about David Irving and Steven Spielberg, right?"

No, I didn't know about Irving and Spielberg. But tiny processing units in the back of my head had an immediate reaction to those two names being in the same sentence. "Amy Irving is David Irving's sister. Amy Irving was married to Steven Spielberg."

Click.

I had thought they divorced. They did divorce. "Yeah, Steven Spielberg cheated on her and David Irving punched him in the face." This is apparently the story that's been circulating around NYU for years now.

So I sent David Irving a follow up e-mail saying that I had heard he was, to put it mildly, not on good speaking terms with Spielberg, so he can scratch that name off my list. Well, the next day, David sent me an e-mail stating, simply: "Steve and I are good friends, so put him back on your list."

I don't doubt that that was a genuine statement, because he called him "Steve." So I thought that was very cool. But in the process of trying desperately to verify the story of David punching Steven, I came across a legal battle between Steven Spielberg and another David Irving, an author whom Spielberg accused of anti-semitism. So apparently, Spielberg has issues with David Irvings, but no longer with NYU's Film Department Chair David Irving. It's a small world, after all.

Finally

Finally, a response from Lucas regarding those stupid bastards who critique his changes to the original trilogy:

Naturally the changes are causing a huge amount of reaction from the SW nutters, so Lucasfilm reps are already out and spoke to Sci-Fi Wire about the changes and why they happened: "It comes down to what [Lucas] has said constantly, which is that he very strongly believes in an artist's right to have his work presented in the way he wants it presented. In terms of your own personal art, and how you want it to be presented, the artist has that right. With the '97 version of the film, or what he feels is closer to his original vision, he couldn't accomplish [certain things] back in 1977, and people either like it, or they don't. We respect that point of view. But at the end of the day George feels very strongly about artists' rights."

The Cosmic Joke

It's a real knee-slapper, too. I will simply paste the e-mail I sent to the film department chair, since re-telling the story means listening to the horrible details over and over again. I believe I'll get right to work on repressing this horrible thought. Oh, for those of you who don't know it, I'm a film student at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

David,

Steven said I should tell you my sad tale of woe.

Today (Friday), I was in 018 waiting for the rest of the class to get back for the second half of Color-Sync. I was reading a book, quietly minding my own business, when some of my classmates came back. One of them found a rolled up poster for THX-1138, then one of them commented that "Oh yeah, George Lucas was here yesterday." My interest was piqued. "What was that," I asked. "Oh, well, they showed THX-1138 yesterday and George Lucas did a Q&A here. In this room, actually." I believe the look on my face said it all ... but if that weren't enough, they noticed the book I was reading: George Lucas Close Up: The Making of His Movies.

David, my deity visited my shrine yesterday, and I was not there. I can't tell you how crushed I have felt for the past four hours. It feels a great deal like a huge cosmic joke on my part. So I was just wondering if you could do me a favor: if ever George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, John Williams or, by some means we've found a way to transport him through time, Stanley Kubrick ever does a Q&A session at our school, could you please send me a little notice? Just something along the lines of "Hey, Dave, one of your gods has come down from Mt. Olympus ... why don't you stop by to stand in awe." It would make paying $46,000 a year to meet guest lecturers feel a lot more worth it. :-) Thanks!

- Dave Richardson
- Junior and a Half

So ... that's my day.

Oh, and the Days Go On and On

For want of good writing material, I am left only to put a list and perhaps some quotes here today, just to keep this thing fed until something more interesting comes along. So, I've already put my favorite films and most inspirational films ... the best follow-up I can think of is to put my favorite film composers and film scores.

Top Ten Film Composers (in order):
1. John Williams
2. Danny Elfman
3. James Horner
4. Jerry Goldsmith
5. Howard Shore
6. John Ottman
7. Alan Silvestri
8. Michael Kamen
9. Hans Zimmer
10. Elliot Goldenthal

Now, I've highlighted the first five composers because several of their scores make up my top ten film scores.

Top Ten Film Scores (1st, 2nd, 3rd in order, others not):
1. Superman
2. Jurassic Park
3. Edward Scissorhands
4. The Empire Strikes Back (SW main title & Imperial March)
5. The Rocketeer
6. Batman Returns
7. Star Trek
8. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
9. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
10. Air Force One

Now, there must be a story to go along with at least one of the items on one of the lists; John Williams is the reason I make films. The music of John Williams can be directly credited to my desire to be involved in the making of films - from a very early age (5th or 6th grade), I have been in love with the music that accentuates the films I watch. Jurassic Park would be nowhere near as impressive if it weren't for John Williams' unbelieveable score; The Rocketeer wouldn't have been as light-hearted and feel good if it weren't for James Horner's flighty theme, resounding in tones of 1930's Hollywood. Superman could not have flown if not for John Williams' music, nor could Batman have sped through Gotham City in the Batmobile if not for Danny Elfman's contribution to the film. But it is, above all, John Williams' music that makes me feel connected to the world of cinema. It is through his masterful compositions that I feel the heart of the movies he scores.

Pick up a copy of a John Williams' score ... any will do. I recommend Superman, Jurassic Park and Star Wars (ESB is good, RotJ is also good). They make for good listening and, more importantly, good feeling.

The Time of Scented Candles

They say that scent is the sense most strongly linked to memory. Which is why the ocean smells the best to me ... it is probably my first recurring scent-linked memory, having been raised for the first two years of my life in Ocean City.

But another of my favorite scents is a candle scent called "Sex on the Beach." My mom has gotten me that same scented candle for almost 4 years now, and I link it directly to some of the best days of my life - during one of the most painful times of my life.

Three of my best friends would come to my house and we would sit in my room and talk for hours with those candles burning. The smell still brings vivid memories of those nights - the exact placement of all the furniture in my room, the places where each person would sit, and the things we would talk about.

Sadly, all three of those people are far from me now. One by one, they each shut me out in their own way. Sometimes, it was reciprocal - a fight in my senior year, a fight during the summer after my senior year ... and betrayal. Those bonds of friendship quickly faded away - never talking, never seeing each other.

And one by one, the fire of those friendships was rekindled. I rarely ever speak to one of those friends. I did something one day that scared him ... that will never change. Another of those friends I speak to on occasion. I said something one day that hurt her ... that will never change. The third friend I speak to frequently. He betrayed my trust, and yet I gave him opportunity after opportunity to make up for that betrayal. And he did it again, and again, and again. And it will never change.

And that is the saddest part of the memory that the scent brings back. That at one point, we all trusted each other completely. There was no doubt that we would be friends forever. We are still friends, but the bonds of friendship have no strength. We are people who now can only say, "Yeah, I used to be good friends with them."

Please forgive me if I act a little strange
For I know not what I do
- David Gray

For now, I remember Babylon, baseball, Star Wars trivial pursuit and Texas Roadhouse. And better days ...

A Night on the Town ...

Bill and Jim visited yesterday. On a whim. I got the call Saturday night ... or rather, Sunday morning ... at 1 AM. They were here by 10. Impressive.

So we went into the city and I gave the tour of NYU. In the way that only I can, too ... "this is the library, people died ... this is my building ... that's the arch ... and that's about it." We went to Gonzalez y Gonzalez and had margaritas. The tacos made me sick. We came back, played video games, Bill and JJ each took naps, had some orange creme TGI Fridays drinks, then went back into Manhattan for the night.

I found this bar on Digital City that sounded pretty good - South's on Church Street. Highly recommended for good food and some drinkage. A bit pricey on the drinkage end, I suppose. The steak was good, if a bit small, though. The nachos, however, were the highlight there. The charred tomato salsa was fantastic. The best nachos I've had since ... I've had nachos.

So from there, we went up towards campus to find a watering hole ... and landed at Karpaty's Bar. Ukrainian ... and good. A few whiskey sours later, we were at Ryan's Irish Pub - 20 feet away. Some more whiskey sours and we were in a taxi cab headed back to the WTC PATH station.

I got semi-sick around 4 or 5 ... apparently, about a half-ounce of whiskey was acting up, so I vomited that up. The rest was fine. I don't think I've ever puked that little of anything, except when my stomach is empty and all you can puke up is that nasty yellow bile. Those kinds of sick suck.

Bill and Jim left today, to hit Atlantic City on a whim. The weekend was a lot of fun, albeit a bit spur of the moment.

Oh, and we set up our bed yesterday. It's nice and big. Good for being sick. Now it's time for taquitos and Penn & Teller's Bullshit!

Getting Close

Oh, yes we are. Three days 'til classes resume! Whoo hoo! And tomorrow, my bed will finally get here. And I put in an application at the Gap today (sigh! retail ...), after which the manager gave me a semi-interview. She said they're going to start hiring in the next two weeks, so she would most likely give me a call then. So rawk!

More Pikchurs

Hmmm ... well, I've been rummaging through those pictures I took off JJ's camera. Here's one of my desk. You'll have to pardon my not putting the picture directly on the site. It messes with the formatting if the picture is larger than 400 pixels wide ... and 400 pixels doesn't do anything justice. Especially nude pictures. Not that I have any nude pictures ... or distribute them to anyone online.

*Ahem*

Anyway, I also have not yet become any more motivated than before I made my lists of films that motivate me. I really believe its my environment. It'd be easier to write if I were locked in a closet with a laptop, me thinks. I'll go job hunting next week before class. I'd have gone today, but I waited all afternoon for the Verizon guy to not show up.

Those fuckers were supposed to have a service call set up for today. I was supposed to have a local line put in. When they finally do get back to me, and they finally do set up the line, I'm gonna switch over to IDT just to spite them. I'll pay $10 more per month for unlimited calls to anyone in the US. Fuck Verizon.

Oh, and I printed out all my previous blog entries and put them into a binder in chronological order. I was going to order them by post length, but that just didn't make any sense. I think I'll go read the past two months worth of posting while I ... brush my teeth.

International Fame and a City of Gold

Apparently, my website has been getting hits from ISPs in Singapore, Brazil and Canada. So either someone is trying to hack my blog for secret information about how I plan to contest potential amendments to NJ state law that would ban same-sex marriages ... OOOOR ... I have an international fanbase of people who like to read about a dorky film student living in Jersey City, NJ. Kinda cool. My friends from afar, post some messages, will ya ... :-)

Now, onto the City of Gold. While not quite as cool looking as the Emerald City, NYC when basked in the warm glow of a bronzen sunset can still be an amazing sight.

It's images like those that try to lure me back to that overpopulated, overpriced and overrated nightmare of an example of poor city planning. Of course, I just shut my eyes and think about how great it is to live in NJ. Or something.

Pikchurs

JJ, exposing his secret photographer's eye, managed to grab his camera and catch some beautiful shots of a golden sunset illuminating the waterfront of Manhattan a few weeks ago. I also took some pictures, but haven't yet developed the roll. Here's a shot that JJ got of me taking pictures of the beautiful imagery.



I'll post more cool pictures as I sort through them.