Life Update

Yeesh. I've been so busy I forgot to blog yesterday and almost forgot to blog today. Sorry about that.

March and April are crazy application deadline months. Every scholarship under the sun has their applications due in the next couple weeks, and I apparently feel obligated to apply for every single one of them. Maybe I've gotten on such a winning streak that the success is getting to my head, because I've never applied to this many before. There are at least two or three a week due. My poor film teacher. I should have warned her that writing a gazillion rec letters came with my friendship.

On other notes, my dear friend Shiloh Hubbard (married a super swell guy a year or so ago, who then carted her off to Maryland - less than swell) just welcomed her first child to the world. Lydia was born today, and judging from the tiny picture text I got, she's a precious little tyke. I hope I get to meet her soon!

Elections for UOSA (Student Body) President and Vice-President are today and tomorrow. I have been wearing my Ally & Zac periwinkle blue shirt every day for the last four days, in an attempt to be a walking advertisement for their campaign. Every time someone's eyes wander toward my shirt, I suppress my instinct to slouch back (hey, I'm a girl) and instead puff out my chest and invite them to admire the beautiful pink script that promotes my favorite candidates. And though the shirt may smell a bit from such frequent wear, it sure does do wonders for my eye color.

Also, the video "Moving Dead Week Forward" now has close to 370 views! I've never had so many people see my work before. Granted, I acknowledge that most aren't watching for my work (except you, my readers) but instead want to find out about the campaign. But that's no matter. Combining all five videos together, over 700 people have seen my videos in the last week. Score!

My trip to Las Angeles is not this weekend but next. I'll have to remember to recharge my camera battery so I can take stellar pictures of my adventure to share. I love the people I am going with, so that whole element of the trip is going to be a blast. But the part I am looking forward to the most is just seeing the town and getting a good feel for it. I will have the opportunity to meet a number of Film and Video Studies alum who work in Hollywood now, and I hope I'll have the chance to pick their brains for information and advice. Another note to self: Bring copies of my resume and DVDs of "OU, I Love You" to L.A. as well... just in case.

Love it!

("This is not a moon.")

Campaign Films Complete!

I am finally finished with all my campaign films!

"Moving Dead Week Forward" is personally my favorite of the ones that I made. The camera work, color, and sound are the best quality. And the filming style mimics The Office, which was fun to do (and fun to have people notice).

"Moving Student Organizations Forward" is the other film that I did that took a bit of time. It was really fun to make, because it was a great crew. But the video itself didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, and it was more difficult to edit. But it's not too bad, I guess.

(Side note: The blog cuts of part of the right screen, so if you'd like to see the entire picture, just double click on the video and it'll bring you to its YouTube page.)

Heart Healthy Lifestyle

When the exercise conversation would come up with friends, I used to put in my two cents by saying that I just don't know how people find time to work out in college. I don't have the time to get on a treadmill (and all the before and after stuff-- like showering again-- that comes with it), and all cardio has taken a back seat to school and work and extracurriculars. I'm just too busy to work out.

But I have revised that statement this week. I am so busy that I actually am working out. Every day.

Have you ever tried to speed walk? It's an art. You have to lower your center of gravity in order to significantly widen your stride. But you can't sink too low or you have to bounce up and down to move. And bouncing reduces your efficiency in energy expenditure. Bouncing is also a pain (literally) when you are carting around heavy books and a laptop in your backpack.

I have recently become an expert at speed walking. I am trying to fit so much into such short amounts of time that I inevitably am almost late for everything. But running is hard to do with a heavy backpack (and its unsightly). So I've become a speed-walker. And let me tell you, I think I could give those little old ladies at the mall (the ones who walk with their arms in perfect unison with their stride) a run for their money.

For example, today I traversed from the southern to northern end of campus in six minutes. Thats traditionally a ten minute walk at standard pace. In fact, I believe I can safely say, without exaggeration, that I have sped-walked at an uncomfortably fast pace to eight of my ten classes this week.

The advantage of this new (or perfected) skill is that I can now leave my house at least three minutes later and still get to class on time. Three more minutes of emails and homework = valuable time.

The other advantage, which I hadn't forseen, is that I have officially squeezed in eight workouts this week. Because anyone who tries to argue that speed-walking isn't cardio is foolish. Cardiovascular exercise is defined as anything that raises your heart rate and keeps it elevated for a period of time. If I arrive at my seat with heavy breathing, burning lungs, a throbbing pulse, and a heart that feels like it's about to explode (not to mention a little perspiration), I would count that as cardiovascular exercise. I have gone from too busy to exercise to being so busy that I am exercising. I consider that a win.

How to Spot a Film Nerd - Tip #1

I was walking up the South Oval today after class, lugging my backpack and the large camera I've been using for all my film projects of late. I was headed toward the Film and Video Studies film library, where I had yet another morning of logging footage and exporting files ahead of me.

Normally as I walk around campus with camera equipment on tow, no one pays any attention. If they even notice, they aren't very curious. But today I was walking along with my large camera, in a nondescript dark blue bag with orange piping, when I noticed this kid staring me down as I walked by. Or staring the camera bag down, rather.

Considering that my roommate once asked me why I was carrying around a large cooler, I was surprised when the kid passed and I heard him gush to his friend, "She's got a Panasonic HDV Cam! Nice!"

. . .

"I pity the French Cinema because it has no money. I pity the American Cinema because it has no ideas."

Jean-Luc Godard

Being an Artist

Over the break, one of the things I really wanted to do was paint a painting. Ever since my girlfriends and I signed the lease for a house next year, I've been hankering to paint something to go over the fireplace in our living room.

I decided that Spring Break was the perfect time to do it. And when I ran the idea of painting by John, he was totally game.

So here is the painting before...

...during...

... and after!

Apparently, painting sunflowers (in bright primary colors) was a rather girly thing for a guy like John to be painting. In my defense, however, he didn't mention anything about that until we were already almost done with our painting. If I'd known, I might have considered switching subjects.

Isabella at Three Weeks

Tell me I don't have the cutest niece in the world. I dare you.

I can't wait to meet her. It'll be soon too. On my flight back from Las Angeles in April, I get to make a one-day layover in Las Vegas. That means I get to spend a wonderful twenty-four hours with my niece! I can't wait!!!

Butte for St. Pat's

As promised, here are my thoughts on Butte for St. Pat's:

1. Lots of people.

2. Lots of people wearing green.

3. Lots of people sporting outlandish costumes.

4. Lots of beer.

5. Lots of drunk people in green holding said beer.

6. Lots of drunk people in green holding said beer as they mill about, wearing outlandish costumes.

Of course, this should come with no surprise. After all, St. Patrick's Day is the only holiday I can think of that exists solely to get drunk (preferably with green beverages). Even Mardi Gras has some beads and jazz music involved.

My friend John and I arrived at Butte at 2 pm and left at 5 pm. We purposefully went for only the afternoon, as we had no desire to be there (or on the surrounding roads) after dark.

Our first stop was for delicious burgers at Metals, a neat restaurant that used to be a bank (I guess). Then we headed out to the street and sat on a bench to people-watch.

And there were plenty of things to be seen, I assure you. Though it was only the middle of the afternoon, there were hundreds of people already walking about. The crowds were most dense outside the doors of bars, but the alcohol wasn't limited to establishments alone. Everywhere outside, people were carrying around cans and cups. Beer was the most popular beverage of choice, naturally.

My friend Alice had warned me before I left to be prepared for "nudity and public urination." When I mentioned to my friend Michelle that we were headed to Butte for the day, she asked if my escort was a big guy and if he could protect me in a fight against the locals (I couldn't tell if I was the one getting in the hypothetical fight here...).

Needless to say, none of the above proved true for the time we were there. However, the day was still young when we departed, and as people were already well on their way to a night of revelry, these things were still a possibility.

But the closest encounter we had with nudity was a large burly man whose kilt showed far too much leg (think mini skirt). And our unexpected brush with the locals was a random gift of green beads "for the lady" from a skinny drunk man who swooped in with a toothy grin. Hardly intimidating.

Overall, it was an enjoyable time of good company and entertaining people-watching. I'm sure that I will never be coming back to Butte for St. Patrick's Day, but I feel I can say with certainty that I have now seen "Butte, America" at its finest.

Back to the World

I had an amazing break, and now I'm back to reality. Life bites. Just kidding. But the transition hasn't been the best. Its my first morning back and I wake up at 5:30 am with some sort of internal attack on my lungs (stress setting in early, I suppose).

I then head to the Film and Video Studies library at 8:15 am where I spend the next four hours editing footage. After a short lunch break, I am back in that library until 3 pm. Then, after almost falling asleep twice and being horribly disappointed when I discover I left my wallet at home (no coffee break for me), I go to class, where I try to show the movie I just spent hours editing and the damn DVD wont play (excuse my French).

The joy and pain of being a film major. I love filming and I love editing. But until I figure out all of this silly footage compatibility issues, I will never be able to complete a project without a huge headache and an adrenaline rush as I race against the clock to tweak something yet again, after the previous three edits (or compressions or exports) -- which I had originally started with plenty of time-- failed on me and forced me to start again.

If I gain anything in this film editing class by the end of the semester, I hope it will be an understanding of all the rules and guidelines that come with importing and exporting footage, so I never have to make these stupid mistakes again.

Flying to Big Sky Country

I am about to hop on my plane. Destination: Montana! I am so very, very excited about the break and the chance to see friends and family. And I'm ready for some crisp mountain air and SNOW!

Expect limited contact (aka blogging, phone calls, emails, etc) from me for the next week. There may be a possible update on Wednesday evening following the adventure that is St. Patrick's Day in Butte, but other than that, don't get your hopes up.

Lots of love!

Next Year's President

The Student Film Production Club held elections last night, and I was elected the President of the club for 2010-2011. Hooray!

I am really excited about the upcoming year. I have a lot of ideas, which I think are pretty good (of course). One of the biggest things I want to do is get more people to come speak at our meetings. Even though we aren't in L.A. and there isn't an over-abundance of professional filmmakers here in Oklahoma, there is actually a surprisingly large amount of them. And they are pretty active. I want to get some of them to come speak to our members about what it is like to make a living off making films. By nature of being in Oklahoma, we'll get a lot more people that'll be talking about independent filmmaking, which will be fine. It would be nice to get a few L.A. perspectives if possible, but we'll see if we can swing that.

Spring Break

In exactly an hour (when I get off work), my Spring Break will begin! I am so so so ready to run away from classes and work and homework and responsibilities for an entire WEEK. All I have to do is make sure that I edit all my videos over the break. That's all I have to accomplish. And even that isn't a lot to do (and it's fun so it wont feel like a chore).

My break is going to be great. While other girls have been worrying this week about their upcoming trip to the beach (and all the stressful girl things involved with that), I haven't had to worry one bit about my beach body or the fact that I am not tan in the least. My legs are so white, they're reflective.

Instead, I have been pulling together all my winter clothes and am preparing for a trot back home to Montana to see family and friends. I've already put all my events in my planner (those pages were feeling lonely)... Wanna hear it?

On Saturday, I fly into Billings late at night. Sunday will be filled with seeing friends -- lots of coffee dates and lunch dates. On Monday, Dad and I are having lunch. Then I'll meet my friend's adorable new lab puppies (two of them-- a golden lab and a black lab).

Wednesday will be an eventful day in Butte. And I do mean eventful... because Wednesday is Saint Patrick's Day, and Butte knows how to celebrate. I've never been there on St. Patrick's Day before, but I've heard that they close off the streets downtown and there are a lot of outdoor bands and all the beer is dyed green. We'll see how that goes. I'll try to remember to take pictures for the blog.

The week will also contain a day trip to Red Lodge and a trip to Chico Hot Springs (and possibly the hot springs right inside Yellowstone Park). Lots of road-trip-ing will be occurring in Montana this week.

I am very excited and very ready to get going. It should be quite enjoyable and possibly even relaxing (despite all the driving around, I think there will lots of down time... which I plan to fill with frequent naps).

The Best.

Yesterday was awesome. So awesome, in fact, that I'm still talking about it. I promise I'll move on to other topics soon. But really, it was a great birthday. I had lots of friends wish me a happy day, I finished watching A Serious Man (the newest Coen brothers film), and my roommate bought us cheesy bread at 11pm (which we devoured).

Basically my entire evening consisted of lounging around, taking a nap, and generally got nothing done... until about 2 am, when I realized/accepted that I had a crap-ton of stuff due the next day. So I wasn't able to get my final birthday present, which was going to be a full night of sleep. But no matter. I ended up getting a ton of work done in the middle of the night and am now ready for the break!

Thanks FB!

After much deliberation, I have decided that Facebook is not the detroyer of all real social interaction. Quite the contrary, in fact.

Without Facebook, there wouldn't be half as many people out there who know that today is my birthday. That would mean fewer "Happy Birthday, Virginia!" texts and notes and wishes from my sorority sisters as I leave the house.

I love Facebook... mostly because I love birthdays.

Open Letter to the Couple in the Back

Dear You Two Over There,

You went through all the trouble of waking up this morning and dragging yourself to class. And its a morning class, no less, meaning that you have to make a serious effort to get here. Its not easy to make a 9:30am class. Believe me, I know.

But if you are going to go through all that effort, what is the point of sitting in the back and talking the entire time? You definitely aren't here to learn anything. Stay at home, get some more sleep, and meet up for coffee later. Better yet, take that girl on a date, kid. You both are obviously into each other.

We aren't in high school anymore. Attendance in our ginormous Microeconomics class is hardly mandatory. I mean, a girl I know still has yet to attend a single class (and had to ask where our classroom was located when test time came). If she can do it, then you can definitely miss at least one Wednesday morning, no sweat.

And even on the off chance that you don't value sleep and don't wish to meet up later to discuss your extremely important issues, please be courteous to others. You may not realize this, but when you chat in class, your voices carry. They carry really far. Think about it scientifically. When there are only two voices in the room at a time (the teachers and yours), they both are pretty easy to hear. Fact.

So while I commend you for talking indistinctly enough for me to not get the gist of your conversation, I still wish you would have put a lid on it (or at least have talked loud enough to let me in on the gossip). Really. Its distracting and annoying. And unfair. I'm paying for this class and want to understand what's going on. But that droning coming from you two is frustrating me to the max. Next time, please stay home.

But hey, it's my birthday! So I'll forgive you today, because I'm in a great mood.

Your Fellow Classmate,

Virginia

P.S. I was serious about taking that girl out on a date, dude. She really likes you.

Today is my birthday.

Hooray!

Officially the Best Friends Ever

I have wonderful friends.

Earlier today, my roommate Allie surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of bright yellow tulips. I walked in our room after an afternoon full of classes, and right inside the door, on the dresser, were these flowers. And sitting on her bed, my exhausted and stressed-out roommate (who is currently pulling another all-nighter) grinned at my surprise and appreciation. Giant bear hugs ensued (she's tiny and easy to pick up, which makes the bear-hugging quite easy).

I really don't know where she found the time to go to the store. She had this monumentally long list of things to get done before Thursday morning. Yet she found time (during one of those days where time is definitely more valuable than money) to stop and buy me some flowers.

And not just any flowers. These tulips are so bright that they are practically beaming. They are like rays of sunshine in a vase, perking up the room with their spectacular color.

And that's not even everything from the friend department...!

Madison, Valerie and I were studying in the basement of the library tonight, per usual. I had gotten there at 10:30 pm, which is later than usual, because I was doing some filming for Ally Glavas' film campaign. So by the time midnight rolled around, I was just starting to really get work done on a couple papers that are due soon.

It was quiet, and the three of us were clicking away on our laptops, when I happened to glance up. And I saw Brittany (the fourth of our group). That's odd, I thought. What's she doing here? At that moment, I glanced down at my laptop clock. It read exactly 12:00 am. And that's when I realized... the tradition!!!

Ever since freshman year, we girls have been surprising each other at midnight with a birthday cake. I'm not sure when it started or with whom it started, but we've been doing it with every one of us ever since.

Its kinda funny too, because every time my birthday has rolled around (three times now), I've briefly thought during the course of the day of the possibility of cake at midnight. But then I always push it out of my mind and remind myself that my friends are busy and that it would be silly to get my hopes up. They've done so much for me already. But sure enough, they came!

Sometimes its not as easy though...

When Madison had her birthday in October, we almost didn't get to carry out the tradition. She had decided to go to bed early that night, instead of studying late with us at the library (which would have been an easy way to surprise her). We were at a loss. Oh, what to do?

That semester, Madison and I were roommates and the room next to us was the guest bedroom, always empty and always open (making a great study room or place to talk on the phone). Anyway, on the night before her birthday, we had to get creative about how to surprise her.

We decided to ambush her in the guest bedroom.

Valerie and Brittany snuck into the adjacent room while I went into our bedroom to scope out the situation. I remember hoping that Madison wasn't asleep, as I'd have to come up with some reeeeaaalllly good excuse to get her to wake up. Thankfully, she was still awake. She was sitting up in bed with her little light on, probably on Facebook and procrastinating going to bed. We chatted for a second and then I left the room, presumably to go brush my teeth.

I snuck back into the guest bedroom. Then we waited in silence (the walls are super thin) until right before midnight, when I texted Madison and told her that I had something important to talk about and (so as to not wake up our other roommate) she should come into the next room so we could talk. Of course, being the great friend that she is (and probably thinking she was coming to my emotional rescue), she quickly leapt off the bed (or so I imagine) and immediately came into the guest bedroom.

And when she opened the door, there were the three of us, sitting on the edge of the bed in a perfect line with the cake and single candle (technically not allowed in the house) between us. Her face was priceless.

Anyway... that was a great moment. It'll be one of those memories of college that I keep around forever (and maybe write into a movie).

Tomorrow!

*clear throat, stand tall, puff out chest, and sing at top of lungs (ignore the cracking notes)*

"Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya, tomorrow! You're only a daaaaaaaaaay aaaaaaaaa waaaaaaaay!

My birthday is tomorrow...in case you couldn't tell already.

Un jour! Uno día! Uno giorno! One day!

TWO DAYS!!!

This picture seems extra fitting to me, since Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for Best Actress (In a Leading Role) last night. Her acceptance speech was definitely one of the best-- so graceful, humble, and heartfelt.

Two days until my birthday!

If Baseball Writers Picked the Oscars...

This article is supa' funny....

"If Baseball Writers Picked the Oscars" discusses, among other things, the scoring system for picking the top in each category (too confusing, should be more like baseball). He then ranks the ten films, from least favorite to most, and relates it all to baseball. It's great.

THREE DAYS!

Three days until my day of birth!

Who doesn't love this movie?

Updates!

I feel like I haven't been keeping y'all updated about things in my life (besides my upcoming birthday).

So the long and short of (some of) it all is:

1. Remember that horrid accounting test? Well I didn't do too terribly after all. I got an 88%, which is monumental, considering I'd left the testing room telling myself that if I even made an 80%, I'd be happy.

Oh, and apparently I have too many accountants in my family to count. For example, my grandmother is an accountant and still actively does accounting work for the various organizations that she is a part of. And my sister is married to an accountant. Not only is he an accountant, but he entered the business school at the University of Arizona in the top 5% (or close to that) of his class. Apparently he's a phenomenal tutor. Awesome. Next time around, I'll be sure to use such valuable resources.

2. Isabella Maria Petroni is beautiful, happy and healthy. Did I mention beautiful? For a newborn, she is the prettiest thing I've ever seen. She doesn't have raisin-wrinkly skin and her head isn't a funny shape. She's wonderful. The pictures below are for reference:

Four Days!

I love birthdays. I mean, I obviously love my own birthday (who doesn't?). But I love other people's days of birth too. I always try to make a special effort to wish them a great day, and if I'm close to them, I want to do everything in my power to make it wonderful.

The people who don't appreciate birthdays are a mystery to me. When else do you get to be treated like a princess (or prince, I guess)? When else do you get to plan fun events and get all your friends to "roll out" to them, under the guise of your birthday?

Birthdays are awesome days. And I'm pretty sure that even when I get to be forty-seven, or sixty-seven, or eighty-seven, I'll still think that birthdays (mine included) are the coolest days ever.

FOUR days until my birthday!

FIVE DAYS!!!

FIVE days until my birthday!

L.A. Bound

I just found out that I got accepted to go to Los Angeles for an extended weekend this April with six other students from my film department. We are going to tour studios, meet FVS alumni (who have jobs in the industry), and make lots of contacts. Not to mention the fact that the group going is a ton of fun! Hooray!

The Oscar Bump

How much does an Oscar win boost a films earnings? I found this really neat graph below that shows the last ten Best Picture winners and their pre- and post-Oscar earnings. Check out how much Million Dollar Baby benefited from their little gold statue. And Chicago earned over $100,000,000 after their win.

Of course, Titanic had the biggest overall monetary increase post-Academies (at over $260,000,000), but it hardly counts, seeing as the film had already grossed well over $300,000,000 by then.

(I found the graph at www.hollywood.com/AwardsCeremonyCentral)

Six Days!

Six days until my birthday! And seven nights until.... uh... everyone goes out to O'Connells to celebrate?

A Fan of GaGa

Facebook has this concept where you can "become a fan" of things. Someone will create a page for something, anything, and invite people to become fans. For example, I can be a fan of Michael Jackson or The John Tesh Radio Show. I have, in fact, become a fan of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Norman and Gray Owl Coffee Shop, among others.

(Disclaimer: I am explaining the concept of Facebook pages for my grandparents... bear with me...)

But there's this new trend where people give their pages the most ridiculous names possible. There are pages that are titled, "I really hate slow computers," "That was not your last piece of gum. Stop lying!", and "Pretending to text in awkward situations."

As a rule, I don't become a fan of those types of pages. No one looks through them anyway. And even if people do browse through other people's pages, I doubt they go through and think, "Hmmm... this girl has fanned some interesting pages. I bet she's an interesting person."

So becoming a fan of pages that are supposed to somehow describe me seems beyond silly. Especially since I definitely don't define myself by things like "I hate it when I sleep at someone's house and wake up ages before them" (... although that particular page isn't very applicable anyway, since my friends and I don't have very many sleep-overs anymore).

Anywho... my point is, pages are pointless. But every once and a while I'll come along a page that is almost too clever to resist. I just might "fan" the following...

The GaGa Law: (RAH)² (AH)³ + RO (MA + MAMA) + (GA)² + OOH(LA)² =Bad Romance

Seven Day Countdown... Commence!

So my 21st birthday is in seven days, and I have decided to count down the days with pictures. But not just any pictures, mind you. Each picture will be a movie with the number in its title. And so to begin....

. . .

"I don't think you should feel about a film. You should feel about a woman, not a movie. You can't kiss a movie."

-- Jean-Luc Godard (French filmmaker and one of the founding members of the "French New Wave")

Love Art

"People discuss my art and pretend to understand as if it were necessary to understand, when it's simply necessary to love." -- Monet

CNN Hero: The Biblioburro Man

CNN.com is doing this cool series called CNN Heroes, in which they honor people around the world that have dedicated their lives to something bigger than themselves.

I absolutely love this particular story... A primary school teacher, Luis Soriano, teaches children to read and brings hundreds of books to impoverished rural villages in Columbia, all on the back of a donkey. He calls his traveling library a "biblioburro," and he has been doing this for over twenty years, having spent almost 4000 hours on those donkeys, visiting 15 villages on a rotating basis, and touching the lives of over 4000 children.

"For us teachers, it's an educational triumph, and for the parents [it's] a great satisfaction when a child learns how to read. That's how a community changes and the child becomes a good citizen and a useful person," Soriano said. "Literature is how we connect with the world."

Read the rest of his incredible story HERE. He has also given what looks like his personal email address at the bottom of the article, if you want to get involved. I know I do, though I don't really know how.

"OU, I Love You" Synopsis

To complete the Withoutabox profile for OU, I Love You, I had to include a 250 word synopsis of our film (for the festivals programs, etc, if accepted).

Since its already written and all, I thought I'd share the synopsis of OU, I Love You with you.

OU, I Love You, inspired by the film Paris, je t’aime, is an anthology of short films about love, set on the University of Oklahoma campus. The film showcases numerous shorts exploring different types of love—romantic, platonic, patriotic, and more—combined into a feature-length film created entirely by OU students.

For this unique production, SFPC solicited directors’ reels and screenplays about love from all corners of OU. The response of creative students from a wide range of disciplines—from the usual suspects (Film and Video Studies, Journalism, Fine Arts and Drama) to the less expected (Finance)—was overwhelming. SFPC received fifty story ideas and scripts, as well as twenty-five director’s reels. Faculty judges then selected twenty screenplays and directors who were then given one month to film the screenplay of their choice on the OU campus. Over one hundred OU students have participated as writers, directors, actors, crewmembers, composers, and editors.

Withoutabox

We (my fellow producers and I) decided to submit OU, I Love You to the deadCENTER Film Festival. The submission is due on Wednesday, so I have been spending my entire evening creating a profile for our film on Withoutabox.

Withoutabox is a company that does for filmmakers and film festivals what the Common Application does for prospective students and university admissions offices. It creates one centralized place where filmmakers can upload a complete profile of their film, including information such as a 250 word synopsis, the list of directors and talent, and the format of the screener (physical film sent to be shown). Then, after creating a profile, I can submit my film to any festival that subscribes to Withoutabox services. And its a long list, including the Austin Film Festival and deadCENTER (our festival of choice).

The deadCENTER Film Festival is every June in Oklahoma City, and it is the perfect venue for our film, as it is very friendly to films made in Oklahoma (we are submitting our film under the "Oklahoma Films" category). This is a fun festival, and last year when I attended, I was lucky enough to get a Production Assistant job out of the mix.

So I am excited to submit OU, I Love You. I think it has a great chance to make it into the festival, and if I am in Norman in June, I'd love to attend!

A Repeat

I posted this quote about a month ago, but I just love it so much that I think I'll put it up again. A message like this is worth repeating...

"The world we live in will either be better or worse, depending on whether we become better or worse. And that's where the power of love comes in. Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are."
- The Alchemist

Bonjour!

I love running into old teachers. Yesterday I ran into my first French teacher, who is here from France to get her Masters. We stopped and said hello, chatting a bit in French.

Things were going along really smoothly, and I was feeling pretty good about how well my French had stayed with me (considering I'm not taking a language class this semester), until I said, "Je vais aller en Cannes pour un espace."

She looked really confused and didn't say anything. After a long pause, I realized that instead of telling her I was going to Cannes for an internship, I was going to Cannes to go into space. We switched to speaking English after that.