Film Content Only?

I am considering a shift in content on this blog. I mean, I really enjoy my ramblings, but as long as they remain ramblings, I wont build much more readership than you few faithful. 

And ideally, I'd like at least a few more people to read what I've got to say. Otherwise, this has the potential to turn into a glorified newsletter to keep my family informed of my doings (not good). 

So a shift in content is being considered....

Since I'm a film major, I'd like to talk about movies. Lots of 'em. Unfortunately, of what about them do I talk? There are so many avenues... 

I set up as my ideal (for focused-content blogs) the blog of my fellow FVS major... Read and enjoy! (Robert Ebert even commented on her blog!)

Owl City

I have found a new band to love. Owl City. Here is their amazing music video to their incredible song, "Fireflies."

 Watch it and love it!

Nothing is absolute.

If I come out of school having learned anything, it will be that there are no absolutes in life. Nothing is black and white or crystal clear. Everything comes in different shades and has different faces and can be seen from a different angle. 

"First Day of My Life"

This is an adorable music video to "First Day of My Life," by Bright Eyes. I found the music video on my friend's Facebook page (I tell you, Facebook provides a never-ending source of content), and now I've just finished watching three more of their songs on YouTube. I may have found a new band to love.

Watch this adorably romantic music video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwFS69nA-1w

Tulsa for the Weekend

I just got back from a great weekend in Tulsa. My cousin got married on Friday, so my mom flew down from Montana and my sister flew in from Las Vegas for the wedding. It was such fun to see them both.

All My Single Babies!

CHECK. THIS. OUT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQKYdbhGh0Q

Austin Film Festival

The Student Film Production Club is getting a group together to go down to the Austin Film Festival in October, and I am going! 

The festival spans a number of days, but the conference itself is four days, from Oct. 22-25th. Basically the conference is stuffed full of tons and tons of panels and parties and discussions and roundtables and gah!

We all bought student ticket passes, and many of us have gotten into a roundtable event where we will be able to meet with film executives, including: 

•       Richard Bever, Chill Entertainment 
•       Ashley Brucks, Paramount Pictures 
•       Curtis Burch, President of Latitude Productions 
•       Carlo Eugster, Out of the Blue Entertainment 
•       Juliana Farrell, Jersey Girl Films 
•       Jessica Julius, Disney Animation Studios 
•       Maggie Malone, Disney Animation Studios 
•       Matt Summers, Vice President, 821 Entertainment 

And that is just ONE event! There are so many more events that I haven't had time to look at them all (it's really an overwhelming list). Good thing I still have a few weeks to decide what I want to attend and who I want to meet and what movies I want to see. For a list of all the conference events at the AFF, click HERE! 

*<:)#=8

So I'm totally stealing this from a friend... but the title of this blog is a happy clown! See it? =)

But honey, that's just so... permanent.

I saw on Facebook that some girl I know from class got a GINORMOUS tattoo of a flower all the way across her left shoulder. I mean, it covered the entire left shoulder blade, from top to bottom, with a large grouping of flowers (looking like cherry or apple blossoms) attached to some sort of stem (that actually looked rather like seaweed). 

And this was her FIRST tattoo. It's not like she started small, with some cute little symbol on the inside of her ankle. Nope. She went all out with a huge tattoo that sprawls all over her back. There's no return from something like that. There's no, "Oh, I guess I don't like tattoos after all." There's NOTHING she can do about that huge thing in ten years when she has kids or sixty years when she's a grandma. 

Goodness.

All I can say is that I really hope that science comes up with a way to gracefully remove tattoos (less expensively) so that all these poor girls can get their wrinkly, shapeless tattoos removed when they are eighty.

Well Shoot!

Today I turn in my last paper of the week! Yes!

When most people have test week and spend hours in the library pouring over their books and working out problems, I have paper week. And I also spend hours in the library, clickety-clacking away. 

Today was paper week. I had three papers due:

1.) a 3-pg paper on how the Maasai tribe in Africa is trying, with the help of the World Intellectual Property Organization (part of the UN), to copyright their dances and songs to keep economic control of their cultural heritage

2.) a 5-6 pg paper on the themes of the 1910s and 20s that run through the films The Birth of a Nation (the most racist film on the face of the planet-- and also one of the first feature films, which means that it is black and white, silent, and loooooong), The Kid (starring Charlie Chaplin in his first of many famous roles as the Tramp), and the obscure The Crowd (by King Vidor, which is about some poor guy who gets swallowed in the fast-paced industrial age).

3.) a 3-pg review of a book, Folklore/Cinema: Popular Film as Vernacular Culture, which I didn't read and still had to summarize (in my defense, it was a terrible book full of essays that were ONLY written because some professor somewhere wanted a tenure position)--- Although, one of the essays was fascinating, because it talked about how Leni Riefenstahl, a German actress and director of the famous Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will, first established her career by making mountain films (about the rugged honesty of the high peaks and the peasants that lived on their slopes) and how that brought her the special attention and friendship of none other than Mr. Adolf Hitler. 

Anywho... done and done. I'm so glad that's over. Now I can get back to reading four chapters for class tomorrow, finishing a chapter in my French workbook, and writing four emails to send out for the Student Film Production Club. 

Library + Pandora = Effective Studying

My friends and I spend a lot of time together in the library. A lot. In fact, if it is anywhere between 9 pm and 2 am on an evening Sunday through Thursday, you can be pretty certain that you'll find us there... in the same place, on the same floor. Every time.

Valerie, who I spend particularly the most time with at the library, just sent me this facebook note:

"So this is how much studying i've been doing this month: i was just informed through e-mail by pandora that i am approaching my free forty hour limit this month. there's a limit."

Conflicting Schedules

As a member of a student group, there is no bigger headache than trying to find a time for everyone to meet. Especially if its an officer's meeting.

I mean, if you join a club, you just go to the general meeting time if you can make it (and don't join the club if the time doesn't fit into your schedule).

But if you are a club officer, or in a small group of students, then trying to find a time that fits neatly into everyone's schedule can be crazy and hectic.

Until now... (insert "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" music)...

My friend Andrew found the perfect website for organizing schedules and time. Simply go to www.whenisgood.net, click on every single time that could possibly work for you, and then email that link to whomever is in charge of the schedule. Viola! Magic!

Its a neat little way to make sure you know everyone's available time. Now you have some semblance of a chance of finding a time that works for all.

Boomer Blogging Again

My freshman year of college I was a Boomer Blogger for OU, which means that I blogged for their freshman recruitment weblog. And I'm doing it again!

The Boomer Bloggers page used to be made up of freshman writers (with one token transfer student), but now they've changed it so that older student can also contribute (which will increase the number of blog posts overall). I was one of those older students recruited, so I'll be blogging in two different places this year. Woot!

The problem with the Boomer Blogs is that I can't say just anything I want. For example, Boomer Blogs will not be privy to my Stories from Work blogs (which I plan to be a recurring thread), since they contain inappropriate material-- i.e. alcohol-- not suitable for a recruitment page. And while this stipulation about content makes perfect sense to me (they are trying to put their best foot forward after all), it does feel a trifle stifling. So I am going to be constant in maintaining my VirginiaFilms blog as well.

So if you want, you can also follow me on www.ouboomerblogs.com ... otherwise, you can just keep it here, since this is where you'll be getting ALL my thoughts (and not just the "recruitment appropriate" ones).

Stories from Work

I am a cocktail waitress at one of the bars on Campus Corner (a few square blocks north of campus that has lots of shops, restaurants and bars), and I worked last night (which also happened to be a football game day). So it was a very, very busy night.

One of the things I enjoy about my job is that there is an endless supply of comical moments when it comes to drunk people. They have no censor, and they say/do the stupidest/funniest things. I also have the opportunity to overhear many interesting conversations which actually provide quite a bit of insight into people (after all... a drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts).

For example, as I waited by the bar for one of the bartenders to make a drink order, I happened to eavesdrop on an amusing conversation behind me. Although really, it couldn't be considered eavesdropping, since I was almost forced to listen to the conversation as the girl was standing directly behind me and screaming at full volume. The poor thing was crying hysterically to some guy and could only manage to get out the words, "But I've always loved you, (insert name)! I've always loved you!" It was kinda sad actually. I was torn between wanting to give her a huge hug and slapping some sense into her... The guy was obviously less than quality (he'd been grinding on at least three or four girls that night), and she looked like such a sweet girl. And yet too much alcohol had severely impaired her ability to look at the situation and realize that she was 1) ruining whatever remaining chances she had with the kid and 2) that everyone within a five-foot radius could hear her.

Another entertaining moment came when I went into the women's restroom to pick up the empty cups and bottles that lined the walls (Why do girls insist on carrying their drinks into the bathroom with them and then leaving them there? Leave it outside with a friend.). While I was in there, I happened to notice that there was a guy in the women's restroom. I was just about to make him leave when I realized that the guy was gay. Adorably flaming gay. So I figured that there was no harm done-- none of the girls in there were bothered by him in the least.

Which brings up an interesting issue about male/female restrooms... if you are gay, which restroom do you use? This gentleman obviously felt most comfortable in the women's restroom, and I don't think he would feel comfortable if he used the men's restroom (nor would the other male restroom-users). No wonder large companies have started to designate some bathrooms as unisex. It just makes things to much less complicated for the lesbian woman who really doesn't want to use the women's restroom and the gay man who feels unnatural in the men's room.

Gotta Love Handouts

Before class one day, my friend Madison happened to look down and notice a stray paper sitting on a lonesome desk. Normally unattended papers get tossed without a passing glance, but not this time. Nope. This time, Madison read the handout and saved it to pass on to me. I have no idea what class the handout is from or who wrote any of it, but its contents are so incredible that I feel compelled to share them with you.

The paper is entitled "Movie-A-Minute Summaries."

Brilliant.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
(1980, Directed by Irvin Kershner)

Luke
I have to go to Degobah.

Yoda
You have to use the force.

Luke
I have to go to Cloud City.

Darth Vader
You have to go to the Dark Side.

Luke
No I don't.

Darth Vader
I'm your father.

Luke
No you're not.

Darth Vader
Fine. I'll cut off your hand.

THE END

----------

THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK
(1997, Directed by Steven Spielberg)

Jeff Goldblum
We must never go back to the island.

(Goes back.)

(Everybody dies.)

Jeff Goldblum
I told you we should never go back to the island.

THE END

----------

And my personal favorite...

GREASE
(1978, Directed by Randal Kleiser)

Danny
I like you, but you're not cool enough.

Sandy
What if I dress like a slut?

Danny
Now that you're not who you are, I can love you for who I wanted you to be.

THE END