Winter Movies Ahead

If your anything like me, you probably have some DVDs somewhere on your Christmas list, if you can wait until Christmas. Some of the great movies I saw in the theaters that are now coming on DVD include: 1. Inglorious Basterds 2. District 9 3. Public Enemies 4. Star Trek 5. The Hangover 6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Now we talked about good DVDs, let's mention what's coming soon theaters. Some coming in the next few months include A Single Man, Invictus, Crazy on the Outside, Prince of Persia, and Alice In Wonderland. I think the movie coming out soon that everyone's talking about is Avatar. I saw a 3D preview of it last weekend when I went to see Jim Carrey's A Christmas Carol. I have to say, it looks pretty awesome. I like a handful of James Cameron's films, specifically Aliens. What makes me curious though, is I wonder if everything is going to be in 3D soon. Clearly, I love 3D, however, I sort of wonder how this will affect the attitude toward smaller, independent films. On one hand, I think 3D helps the viewer feel to be more a part of the narrative. On the other, I feel it might distract what is interesting about the film. I'm pretty happy that the new Disney film, The Princess and the Frog is going to be hand drawn and in 2D, because I don't feel that there is enough of that.

Bus Crashes and Guitars

Sunday, just outside of Albany, New York, Weezer's tour bus crashed from an ice slip. There were a few injuries, the largest being lead singer and (on and off?) guitarist Rivers Cuomo who to a small cut to the spleen and a small puncture to the lung. Doctors report his injuries are not fatal. Reports claim the other injuries were less serious. Cuomo's wife and two year old daughter who were on the bus were unharmed.

Awkwardly and completely unrelated, Weezer has just released a new album named Raditude. It's the band's most Pop oriented album, that even features a club song I Can't Stop Partying which features rapper Lil' Wayne. Despite the new album's accessibility, the album's overall songwriting is a little stronger than their last few albums. In the mid-nineties, Weezer released an album this critics at the time hated called Pinketon. Despite the lack of sales and acclaim, in went on to be the most influential album in the second half of the 1990s, and was credited for inspiring the indie emo movement. Cuomo said he hated the album for years, and wouldn't play it live. Despite still refusing to play the songs like, Cuomo has recently come to like it and it's message. Do you think bands should be able to choose what songs they play life regardless of the audience?

You pick your friends, but what about your actors?

We filmed a movie for BVFA this past week, it was fun. We're having some technical difficulties, but it might turn out fine, we'll see. Anyway, it gave me an interesting idea to blog about.

Basically, when we, as college students, make films, we don't necessarily go through the same casting process that hollywood executives go through. To be judgemental and make a generalization, one of three things usually happen: 1. You give parts to your friends. 2. You hold auditions for people you know, who you may or may not know well. 3. You hold auditions open to the public.

This BVFA film was really the first film I directed when I wasn't directly people who I had mostly known for years. On one hand, I felt it was more appropriate because I didn't feel the need to give the actors roles that I thought they would like, because I felt it was more business. On the other, I kinda felt the communication was a little more awkward, I was kind of afraid to yell or give acting advice. However, the issue I have had in the past with directing people I've known for a very long time is that I'm afraid that some sort of disagreement or clash that I've had in the past with the person might screw up the work chemistry. So what do you think, who are you most comfortable working with?

Peace, Love, and Kissing Up

This sort of goes along with last week's chapter. Yesterday, I was all ready to go CVS to get the things I need for my dorm. But my friend called me to help out his radio show. So I went out of that for a little while. When I left, some girl I knew begged me to come watch a gentleman sing and play guitar who hired by the program committee. I felt really bad because there was no one there. He was pretty good and I enjoyed watching him, but I really had stuff to take care of. So when I got out, it was about 15 minutes short of 10 o 'clock. By the time I got to CVS, it was about 9:54, and when the clock struck 10:01, some worker yelled at me and told me I have to leave. I was so frustrated I didn't buy any of the things I had picked out, I just put them down and walked out the door.

I feel the same way sometimes when having conversations with people. For instance, on one hand, I feel there is no such thing as bad music, so I shouldn't say that I think Hillary Duff's So Yesterday is a terrible song if a friend likes it. On the other hand, I feel lame like I might lose my credibility if I am not honest about music. I think it works the opposite way too. When I'm with a group of guys and I admit that I didn't think the film Twilight had bad acting, that might not benefit me so well either.

Open Mic Night At BSC

I haven't played at open mic night here at BSC yet this semester. I went to see my friend sing a couple weeks ago, and sadly I missed her, however I got to see my other friend play, so that was cool. The moved it to the room next to the GLBTA room instead of having it at in the large ballroom. Now that I think about it, I think that was a good choice because last year everyone sort of had their back to the stage. It didn't really bother me when I performed, because well, you expect that when doing a little acoustic ditty at an open mic night. However, I thought it was sort of harsh for the comedians and spoken word poets because they weren't able to bounce off the audience. Therefore, I felt it was a better environment despite the fact it was a little harder to meet up with friends when in the audience.

I quite often tend to second guess myself when I do these types of things. I was original like, yeah, I'll do one of my songs and then cover "El Scorcho" by Weezer. But then I was like, I can't do that, it would be a sin to cut out of all the background vocal. So then I was like, "Well, I do a good version of Bob Dylan's 'Forever Young Continued'." But then I think, "I can't play that at an acoustic night, that's like playing 'Stairway To Heaven' at a guitar store!" Last I like, "Okay, I'll do 'Under the Milky Way' by Church." But then I think I might forget the words. The inner turmoil goes on...

Where Do You Get Your Music From?

Well, in short, I have this band called Ductape (we're considering changing our band name for the 5,000th time), and now that brother's football season has ended and winter break draws closer, we're working on getting back down to business. Back in the glory days of Ductape (Freshmen year of college) we used to get handfuls of people to come to our shows through myspace. There we would constantly have new music updated, a list of our concerts, and the opportunity to wish all of our fans happy birthday.

Now that we blinked our eyes, myspace doesn't seem very cool anymore. As a band, we've been rather lackadaisical with updating the myspace since these young hipsters (yes, I'm trying to sound square) seem to be more interested in facebook and twitter. Not to long ago, we made a facebook for ductape, but it didn't seem very assessable. There is no place upload your music and you can only add a few people at a time. Twitter, although I find it fun, is even less useful for music in nature. We have a link to our myspace page on facebook but I think people see myspace and think "losers". Other than making better music (I know you were thinking that Bruce Wayne, so I'll say that diss before you do), how to you think we can promote our band so we can play shows and have fun?

"This land is your land and this land is my land, sure, but the world is run by those who never listen to music anyway"-Bob Dylan

Is anybody else sick of politics by now? This is a question that I never thought I would ask, because well, I'm really interested in politics. However, recently, it just seems like I can't avoid politics at all. I can't walk to the RCC without seeing the "I get paid to give out pictures of Obama with a Hitler moustache" people. I can't go online without hearing some filmmaker complaining that the country needs full universal health care instead of a revised plan where 5% of people get free health care and the rest get affordable.

I can't turn on the television with out hearing how 65% of people feel Afghanistan war is no longer worth it, and 51% of people think Obama should listen to the generals (Which doesn't even make sense! The generals want to continue the war without an exit strategy, and then invade several other countries over the next 20 years. 65 + 51=116. That means 16% people are contradicting themselves! I'm failing statistics and I still figured that out! Okay, I had my moment). Not to mention the stupid polls seem to change 25 points a day. Who the heck are they polling? They haven't been calling me. I only got called up by the Catholic Church. It was a machine, and it said, "The new health-care bill is going to raise the abortion rate, are you pro-life?" That's a loaded question if I ever heard one. I wonder if the news programs do the same thing. What do they do interview one hundred people phone? I can think of one hundred people that wouldn't answer.

In the end, this is all sort of funny, because I remember in a conversation a few years back I blamed baby-boomers from becoming apathetic during the Clinton-era because times were good. I fear now if this apathy returns from people like me we may lose our voice as a people. But I myself haven't written a political song in months. It just seems as I get older I care more about people than politics. Maybe we need both.