LW Speaks.

On my way back to my house from the Spanish house I saw a path of red ants crossing the sidewalk that leads up to the Russian house. There must have been hundreds or maybe even thousands of them in total, because the line (it wasn't a single file line, more just a mob of them all going the same direction maybe three inches across, but I can't think of a word for that) just kept coming and it continued a fair way into the grass on either side. I couldn't tell either where they were coming from or going to, but as I followed them backwards through the grass to try and find their originiation point, I noticed that there were a few black ants there too, but they were not getting along. It reminded me a lot of SimAnt, which I haven't played in a long time. I saw one black ant and one red one fighting each other, and surprisingly the black one won and then carried around the balled up remains of the red one somewhere. I expected the red one to win, if for no other reason than because he had the masses to back him up (and the fact that I always lost in SimAnt and you played as the black ones, so the red ones were always killing me). It was pretty amazing.

The copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy from the library that I am reading smells just like the old 1995 or 1996 or something Guiness Book of World Records that I used to have, before they used to be huge hardcover things. I haven't looked at that book in probaly 8-10 years. It's weird the kind of memories that smells can remind me of.

I can hear kids outside, playing or something. They sound no older than 7 or 8, maybe as young as 4. It is 1:30 AM. I have been hearing them for at least half of an hour now. This weirds me out, since they probably should have been in bed hours ago. And I am going to sleep before some kids who may be one fifth of my age.

Back in the twin cities for some time. Wednesday, I lose some teeth, then when I am off of the drugs, I drive back to Beloit. That is what I am up to.

The End.

Featured in this months Northwest Airlines something-or-other newsletter as a getaway destination was Cedar Rapids. Here's what they had to say about it:

Cedar Rapids, IA: An American Gothic
Come to a place where you can get behind the wheel of a tractor and view world-famous art on the same day.

Yup, that's all. I thought maybe you two would appreciate how the rest of the world views your hometown.

That's all I have to say for today, save for the fact that the public library helped me cut my netflix queue down to almost half of what it was. Yay for finally getting a library card, eh.

Today I took a bike ride, something I haven't done in a while. On my way back I decided to stop off and spend some time at the pirate park by the river. I got on a swing and after a few minutes a kid who looked about 4 years old walked over to the other one and was too short to get on it but swung it back and forth a bit. I didn't want to kick him, so I kept looking down at him to make sure I knew where he was. After the swing got uncomfortable, I walked over to the lookout tower. I was looking out to the river when the same kid started climbing up the tower. When he got to the top I greeted him with a hello, because it seemed that maybe he liked me since he seemed to be following me around a bit. Then he told me to get down. I thought he was joking or maybe I misheard (after all, a 4 year old shouldn't be that bossy, should he?) so I clarified and he indeed did tell me to get down, as it was apparently his tower. So I asked which way to climb down and when started to go down I told him to be careful climbing on the side rail since it's a long way down and he could hurt himself if he fell. When I got to the bottom, he asked me 'what are you laughing at?' I told him I didn't really know, which was true. Then he said 'I will kill you.' I was terrified. I said 'that's not very nice' and again laughed a little awkwardly as I made my way away from this scary kid. He told me that it was indeed nice, even though I still think he was wrong about that part.

On the way home from the grocery store this evening with Katy, a black animal was crossing the road from the right. I was in the left lane, but it was coming towards my lane. We were on the highway, so I was going about 60. The car in the right lane slowed down but the animal, which showed itself to be a dog, got out of that lane before that car had to stop. I hit my brakes hard and finally came to a stop a foot before hitting the dog, who decided to stop right in the middle of my lane. The car behind me squealed and swerved into the other lane around me, as the rest of traffic back there did too. They probably all thought I was crazy, but this fucking dog wasn't moving. It finally decided to go off to the left, which was good because if it went to the right one of those cars going around me likely would have hit it. It was in the median, but at least it was safe for a few seconds. I drove on, shaken. I felt really weird and fucked up by this for probably a half hour.

At least my bike decided to shift gears for me today.

Oh man guys, you all have to check this out. The article is titled "Snakes On A Plane, For Real." So read it now. Also, check out the official website if you haven't already. www.snakesonaplane.com. For some reason I never went to it before today, and it's pretty awesome as well.

My bike is a piece of crap. I rode it to work the other day for the first time in probably a year, and remembered why I never rode it before. It looks pretty awesome, but in reality it's terrible. The seat is uncomfortable, it's rusting, it won't shift so it's stuck in third gear (and it's only a three speed to begin with) so I can't really go up hills with it, the rear brake doesn't work and the front one's pretty bad so I have to start braking like half a block in advance, which also means that I can't really stop while going down hills. It's pretty much a useless bike. I'm going to get killed on it this summer, probably. At least I got it for like 25 bucks a few years ago.

In other news, I was wondering why the raisin bran I was eating yesterday and today had so many raisins in it until I noticed that the box said EXTRA RAISIN Rasin Bran Cereal. Now it makes sense. At least it's pretty good cereal.

In real news, I'm going to Milwaukee in a half an hour with Ed for the day. Also, I pretty much have my visits home planned out unless my wisdon teeth removal is harder to schedule than I'm hoping. It's too bad that surgery and jury duty are two of my reasons that I'm going home this summer. Oh well, I'll make it fun anyways. And tell the jury duty interviewers that I'm a hardcore racist, maybe that will get me out of a trial.

My house is weird. The floors were either in the process of being refinished or had just gotten refinished when I was there, so most of the furniture was gone and things were in boxes in the basement or garage. My room had three pieces of furniture in it: a dressing table covered with things of Gertie's, a wadrobe filled with Gertie's clothes, and my mattress, sans bedframe. It was weird, to be at home when it didn't feel like my home at all anymore.

On Saturday Steve, Jim and I went to the horse track. That was awesome. I bet like 20 some bucks and only came out 6 dollars down, plus the addmission and cokes I bought there to mix with the malibu rum we smuggled in. There was one race that Steve and I won pretty big on (something like 15 bucks on a 5 dollar bet, okay, so it's not that big but it was big for us for that day) but then another jockey called foul and they reversed it. So we didn't win. That fucker.

Anyways, now I'm in Beloit for a while. And I'm off to go get wood to make a table.

The fog outside right now is so thick that I can hardly tell that there is a street half a block from my building in two directions. I couldn't see Church from College and Clary at all. There was no way to tell whether or not the Peace House was still standing on my walk home from Gregory's room this evening. It's beautiful though, and it fit the feel of tonight very well.

The party at the music house was awesome and the after-party of sorts on the basketball court out back next to the art house was also very nice. I realised tonight though that I'm really going to miss many of the graduating seniors this year. It's a weird feeling.

Okay the entry box is getting longer as I type and it has been doing this for about a month now and I thought that they'd fix it by now but they haven't and I can't deal with it any longer. So I'm done updating for now. Enjoy your nights, all.

I just drove to O'Hare and back. It's weird how it doesn't feel like it took that long. I was gone something like 3 hours though. Also, one of the oases didn't have any gas but premium, which was lame because my gas light was on and I had to pay the 3.20 or whatever for a couple gallons. My bill-thingy was over 6 bucks for less than 2 gallons. Shitty. Anyways, premier tomorrow night (tonight I guess, technically). I'm excited.

That's all.

and i can't really
figure out why they work but
i don't take good care

not mine i realise
it's a better even though
it's kind of a wuss

that's the one about
the makeover that was a
game show we did it

Probably the last time with the questions. This time from Andrew. ( Here. )

Less than a week to the premier. I'm really scared. It'll happen, I know it will, even if it's not a 100% finished perfected version we screen, but I still have a lot to do in the time that's remaining. I am really happy with the way that music is coming along, everyone's being really helpful and is coming up with great stuff. I'm really excited to get it all together, I think it's going to be pretty darned good. So you all should do your best to come (reminder, it's Saturday night at 10-ish). Not just for me, but for Amy and Nick M and Andy and Glenda and Nick B and Meg and everyone else (there's far too many to list everyone's names here, that's what the credits are for). That's all about that for now.

P.S. To anyone who had issues with the trailer in the last day or so. I believe it is working properly again, and playing all the way through. Just so you know.

I watched The Royal Tenenbaums tonight again, and I again realised that it is pretty much a perfect movie in every way. The writing is incredible and solid, the soundtrack is brilliant, every since shot in the movie is amazing, the acting is wonderful, the colors and sets and costumes are great. So many things. Wes Anderson is truly a genious, and I hope that maybe someday I can hold a mic on the set of one of his movies or something. Working for/with him would be really cool. And as much as watching movies as great as his inspire me in my own adventures in film-making, it is also sometimes discouraging in that I realise that I can't make anything that good. Oh well, I'm still happy with what I've been doing.

It also made me realise that I need to take back what I said earlier about my favorite Wes Anderson movie line. The one I said is good, but there are better ones. The title to this post is one. I think maybe my true favorite is when Eli Cash says "I always wanted to be a Tenenbaum" and then Royal says (to Pagoda, but mostly really to himself) "Me too. Me too."

Oh yeah, also, the Brewers game today was great. For 10 bucks, I got 4 hot dogs, 2 small pops, and a bag of peanuts. And they got 5 homers in one inning, and the Brewers starter shut the Reds out. Plus good company in the stands. All in all a great afternoon.

And that's it for this time.

A lot more answers to the silly questions.

( Read more... )

The full trailer for Switchtrack Alley is live. Check it out here, eh. Then tell me what you think.

Answering questions in the order they come in. Also, you all know the drill by now. Tell me if you want me to make some questions up.

( Answers! )

Yesterday Amy and Emily T and I got some of the last remaining shots for Switchtrack Alley. We went around Beloit and I took about 20 seconds of various cool locations around the city, including the cool bridge behind Cub, a shopping cart in the stream under the bridge, an abandonded shopping center and a really really awesome abandoned gas station on the border. The last was quite an incredible location and I hope to be able to find another use for it in something because it is just that great. Now I just need to shoot a couple of pieces of paper, which will be quite easy. And get a few voice overs.

There are less than two weeks until the movie premiers. Shit. There is still quite a lot to do. I have an odd feeling that we'll be screening a somewhat unfinished version of it. The part I'm most worried about getting done is music. I think everything else will be fine, and we should even have most of the music. Maybe we'll get it all done. I hope so. In either case, everyone in the Beloit are, if you did not already know it, keep Saturday April 29th at 10-ish PM free. Also be free at 8, if you can, since that is the rest of the festival. Switchtrack Alley will show at 10 though. And again on Sunday the 30th at some time I'm not certain of yet.

I guess now is as good a time as any to mention this here. Most of you already have heard me talk about this, but I wanted to get the word out to as many people as possible and remind those of you who already know: my plans for my next movie require the input of many. What I want to do is film a series of conversations, each written by different people. Sort of like Coffee and Cigarettes, except less of a unifiying theme. And all written by different people. I want to get different perspectives on things and am leaving my description of what I want vague so that everything will be different. Thus, I am calling for help. Anyone that is interested in any way, write a conversation. Then give it to me somehow. Base it on a real one you've had, make it up entirely, transcribe one you overhear somewhere (although maybe not that, since it's kind of sketchy in some ways...), it doesn't matter. And the format is not too important. I can format it later. You needn't think of yourself as a writer, everyone has conversations and knows what they are. So if this is something anybody who's reading this would be interested in, write a conversation and give it to me in some form or another by the beginning of September. The earlier the better, but I can't film until then anyways. And if you want to act in it, awesome. If you want to direct it, that would be cool too. If you want to do neither, that's fine as well. Any other clarifications I can make, let me know, here or otherwise. And that is all for that for now.

In the world of non-film things, I have been recently informed by my mother that within the next year, my parents are planning on moving out of the house I've lived in since I was 9 months old. They want to be able to be closer to their horses, of which there will soon be 3 (what the hell?). This is so strange. I may never have lived there again anyways, what with my being here this summer and graduating next year and all that, but it's still weird. I always kind of hoped they'd live in it long enough that when they moved out they'd just give it to me and Gertie. No such luck apparently. I don't know what else to say about it except that I go between not really thinking about it and being really very sad. Oh well, what can I do.

Steve and I discovered a pretty good restaraunt today on accident on account of Dog World being closed. I don't know its name.

The end.

Switchtrack Alley's back on Wikipedia, for the second time in two days. It's a better article this time, so I hope it stays. Feel free to improve upon it, as that is the true spirit of that ridiculous site.

But after seeing it's first incarnation, along with Fair Enough Films, Benjamin Idaho, Nick (The Brick) McCann, Nathan Fisher-Koeln, and Christine Rendak all disappear from there in about 12 hours (no more than 24 for sure), I have decided that some people have way too much time on their hands.

I guess I can be included in that group at this point.

Now I need to go move my car.

EDIT. It's been nominated for a speedy deletion due to the fact that it's relisted content that's been deleted before or some crap like that. Just because they deleted it before I could improve upon it. If they decide to delete it again, I may wait a bit to put it on again, just because I'm sick of their hassling bullshit. So check it out now. But maybe they'll listen to my case this time, I think it's strong enough.

I signed up for three classes for next semester. I turned in my card two days late and filled it out in about 30 seconds trying to catch Jerry before he went downtown. I found him halfway to his car. I'm glad I hurried. The classes were Econ 251 (Quantitative Economics, the class that I've been dreading for three years), Econ 315 (Management and Organisation with Jerry, a class that I've been looking forward to for a while), and IDST something or other, The Emperor of Ice Cream - the first film class I've signed up for since my first semester here. The first two I am taking for my major as much as anything else, but the middle at least legitimately interests me and should have immediate real world applications. I had been thinking about taking the last one ever since we got the books but was hesitant because sometimes I feel like writing about and over-analysing films can sometimes ruin them for me. To be honest, I wrote it down in desparation to fill the card so that Jerry would sign it and for a lack of anything else in the entire book that interested me, but I'm glad I signed up for it. I hope I get in and if I really hate it I can drop it and add a special project for my next movie project like I'm planning anyways. So that's that much.

I'm living on Blaisdell 2nd next year. Room 236B to be exact. I don't want to talk about it. Also, I don't know who my suitemate is. Stupid number draw.

The movie is coming along well. We're down to the wire as far as music stuff goes, but the rest of editing and all that is going quite well. I've got between 15 and 20 minutes of edited footage, discounting a voice over and some background audio tune-ups. It appears that it will still premier on the 29th of April at the student film festival (after Ash Girl gets out for the evening). I don't think the DVDs will be as filled out as I was hoping on that night, but I'll still try to make better ones eventually. I can put a lot of work into them this summer. I hope to cut another trailer really soon, maybe by next week sometime? I think the biggest thing keeping me from that is that I'd like original (or as least legally cleared) music in it, and that's the one part we're a bit behind on right now. We should be up on that real soon though.

I'm really excited for the release of the new Zelda game in a month or two. It's going to make this summer awesome, as is splitting a netflix dealy with Ed and Martin. I'll finally be able to knock a lot more movies off of my long-ish list of movies I really should have seen by now.

Also, I've fallen in love with Imogen Heap. She is seriously amazing.

Ok, that's enough for now.

Bad News.

When I left commons on Saturday after dinner, my coat was not where I left it. I left it on Greg's and Greg's was still there. Thus, I assume it wasn't just moved. Security didn't have it, as I expected. My iPod was in the pocket, as were the gloves from Erin that I waited over a year for. At least in a sense. Fuck, I want those gloves back.

I picked 246 in the room lottery today. And our group average for a townhouse is 160-something. Shitty. I'm holding out very little hope for the townhouse. And I don't even know if I can get into Haven with that. Fuck.

Just News.

Friday I turned in my summer housing application. Today I was all but guaranteed a job for Jerry this summer getting paid between 1800 and 2000 dollars. This means I'll (almost definitely) be here this summer.

The dean is being useless about the proposal I turned in over a month ago. She has yet to watch the videos I turned in over three weeks ago. I'm this close to just telling her I'm not interested in working for someone that disorganised and unhelpful, but if I can get 2500 (or even somewhere in the 1500-2000 range) for it, I'll take it.

Good News.

My parents will pay for the room for the summer, plus give me money worth the approximate equivalent of a meal plan for food. This means with the ~2000 I'll be making from Jerry, I can finally pay them back the thousand dollars I owe them for my computer. Sweet.

My mom realised that my grandma has a car that she hasn't driven in years. Thus, I can keep my car here for the summer and Gertie can drive my grandma's old Buick. Sweet.

We fucking did it. Switchtrack Alley wrapped filming tonight. I feel so fucking good right now. I don't think I ever thought we'd really get to this point. There's a lot of work ahead, but at least that's what I do. I just directed 31 scenes. I've never directed a single scene in the same way I directed each and every one of those 31. Shit.

There was so much alcohol at the Music House tonight. There's still so much. I didn't drink enough, and apparently neither did enough other people. Soon I'll have a lot of cheap beer and boxed wine in my room if anyone wants any. Just so you all know.

I still can't believe we did it. I'm so excited right now.