12.10.2010

The Frets

 Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Frets. My first year film at Simon Fraser University. See my previous post on production.

This was a very personal project for me - after being rejected from this film program a handful of times, I wanted to complete this on my own. I think I really needed to prove to myself that I finally belonged in this program. I picked a concept that I could relate to, simple as it was. Unfortunately, I think I kept it too simple. To me, my camera work was a little dry. If the scratches weren't present (for whatever reason), I'd put everyone to sleep. Most of my shots worked out great - fantastic exposure (I think it's pretty good, I mean, for someone who still doesn't completely understand exposures), great colour.

As per first year requirements (and much to my immense delight), this film was shot on 16mm film with an old, spring motor Bolex and cut on a Steenbeck flatbed editor. One thing that I really wanted to do with this first film is experiment with the medium of film itself. You can't take paint and bleach to video - so I went a little crazy. After cutting my film and putting together a solid cut on the Steenbeck (one of these badboys), a set up a work table at home consisting of a transparent cutting board propped up on stacks of paperbacks, a bare lightbulb, a film reel winder on top of the desk, and a pen stuck into the chair to put my take up reel on (which was interesting). I also had a little standup magnifying glass and a wide variety of acrylic inks, paint brushes, q-tips, tiny glue applying brushes, x-acto knives and a large jug of bleach. The hand work on this was excruciating. 24 frames go by each second. So to make anything consistent, it was extra killer (the breakfast foods especially destroyed me).

The night before I showed it in class, I was up all night - still scratching and bleaching away (trying so hard not to pass out from chlorine fumes). I left the sound mix for last (aka starting it three hours before class started). Originally I had a much more complex sound track planned. But I quite like how it turned out. I had my bff and amazing talent, Durae over to do voice overs. Upon going to put them to the film, it just wasn't flowing. SO. Me, who hates my voice, at 6 am, after a night of too much bleach , an entire box of Pot of Gold chocolates (yes, I am THAT disgusting) and a good solid 20+ hours of zero sleep, does this voice over. Upon listening to it back, all I could think of was Nicolas Cage's Charlie Kaufman in Adaptation. This has also been pointed out to me numerous times after the fact. Good thing or bad? Not entirely sure. At around 8:30 am, I wrapped it up, synced sound one last time and bit my lip. My loathing for this project was so unimaginable - an hour before class and I thought it was the worst, an abomination to film.  The biggest pile of steaming bullshit this world has ever seen. The whole way to class, my heart was pounding in my ears as I was thinking of some way to apologize for it's horribleness to the entire class.

I could hardly concentrate on the films that came before mine (I was glad I had other opportunities to see them, because they are amaaaazing (I will never see escalators the same way ever again)). My heart was in my throat. The butterflies in my stomach turned to bees. I was shaking and sweating. My hands still smelled like bleach. I fumbled the film into the projector, I was on the brink of apologizing for the dreadful end result - then, without saying a word (well, after panicking at the lab instructor because I didn't know where the focus knob was on that particular projector) proceeded to stare at my feet while it played.

The Frets from Laurel Brown on Vimeo.

What I heard was laughter, than applause. My heart slowed down a bit, the class began to discuss. With every word, I started to feel so much better. Having done scratch work on film themselves, they understood the trials that are involved to do it. I even got a compliment pertaining to my, "... unique perspective of the world," and even my voice over. I wanted to say grandiose things about my film, having my faith in life restored, but all that came out was a nervous dribble of words about nothing in particular.

Post screening, I have got to mention,  I experienced such a feeling of elation I had never felt in my life.

I have wished numerous times to myself in the past years that I wish I had gotten into the film program previously. But here is something I have discovered, coming to the end of this first semester, I am so happy to be with the fantastic people in my class. We are all very different, ranging talents, backgrounds and ideas, but all of us have this common thread running deep within us - an intense passion for film. Each film that was presented was completely different, personal journeys, exploring the medium of film, the artistry of it, the processes and labors. Each unique, fantastic and inspiring. I will be proud to work with these people for years to come.

And I just have to mention - that a computer did not touch this film until it was recorded to be put on the internet this morning. Four days after it's completion.

Thank you for reading all this - I just thought I would preserve it for those rough patches where I need something to hold onto for dear life.

Sorry for the cheesiness and nostalgia. I think it's appropriate right about now.

12.01.2010

Hey there, ho there, DECEMBER.

Oh December, how bittersweet your arrival.

I did a lot of Christmas shopping today. Most of it in fact! Now I have sewing supplies spread all over my living room floor, am chiseling haystacks off of a plate I neglected to put parchment paper on and watching some good ol' Pulp Fiction.

Last week, I said goodbye to a feltie that's been with me for a little while. Little Buckaroo!
May he find peace amongst the dutch tulips!!

School is done on Monday, thank goodness. Monday is also the day I show my film to the class. When you show your film to the class, the following things happen: fingers trembling with trepidation, load the projector, fiddle with the sound, roll it, short round of applause, the class talks about your film for a while without any of your input, then you get to talk about it, then you take some questions, then you sit your ass back down. Needless to say, all I'm feeling is fear... but that is normal.

I picked up some inks from Opus, along with a variety of super skinny paintbrushes and my very first real X-acto knife in preparation for the post production portion of my film. Opus is now one of my favorite establishments because they give student discounts. I love a solid business who knows the financial perils of the student. I finished a rough cut today and will spend the next few days doing some all-too-fine work under a magnifying glass.

My one paper for the term is complete, pathetic as it was. My lame math presentation is done, thanks to one super group member who thanklessly did most of the work. Once my film presentation is done, it's on to studying for three exams. I will be done the Fall 2010 semester on the 14th and will be flying home to chilly Canmore on the 17th! I'm fairly excited to have a home visit after an entire year. Hard to believe it's been so long!

In recent (as in 10 minutes ago) news, I have finally started assembling this giraffe for my friend Amanda to give to her boyfriend's cousin who is two years old! I just put these fantastic eyelashes on it, aaand I sort of had to share it ASAP. SNEAK PEAK.

Working with the minky fabric has been a little bittersweet. Although it is extremely soft, it has a bad bad habit of looking a little mangy at the seams, and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it. It was probably a fabric made for more large scale things like baby blankets.... but it will have to do!!

State of the floor. I'm going to have fun vacuuming out all of the minky bits out of the shag. Not.

I'm really happy to be sewing again. I haven't finished anything since the Rainbow Owl. I've sold a couple of felties since then. I seem to be missing them a little more than I had expected. I guess every feltie I make has a little bit of my love stitched into it (corny much?!). Bahaha. Anyways. Life goes on. More felties come to life!

Back to felting I go!

I do plan to finish that VIFF review sometime...

11.16.2010

'The Frets' photojournal

Bolex #4 - a mysterious enigma that does not like to count film properly and enjoys giving me anxiety.

The paperwork... before it got stuffed into my pocket for three days.

Organization. A bitter sweet process.

This then happened. 90% of the clothes I own were unfolded and thrown on the floor. But, with any luck, it will be the best stop motion double exposure anyone has ever experienced.
Overall, it was a pretty swell, but extremely tiring process. First and foremost, thanks to my one talent/superhelper/drinking buddy Durae! She put up with three days of not only me, but FILMMAKING me, which is this entirely different entity.

For this first project, I decided to go without help. I got lots of offers for extra hands on location from my super film class peers, but this was a journey I had to make to myself - perhaps only to prove that I could do it on my own.

My weekend (mid-Thursday through very early on Monday) went as such:
  • 4+ hours of planning, storyboarding, checking and double checking equipment
  • 10+ hours of set ups and shooting
  • 200 feet of 16mm film
  • numerous mild aneurysms over-thinking exposures
  • trying to justify to a stranger or two why I was shooting on film and not digital
  • a lot of puns
  • 5 hours of my normal job
  • 12 hours of Lord of the Rings at the Rio
  • Way over budget on food
  • 6 hours of late night philosophical conversation
  • a soup pot filled with spiced rum cider
  • so much coffee
  • 10 hours of sleep

My film is currently being whisked to Ontario to the fantastic Niagara Custom Lab. I hope to have it back by next Monday, so I can begin the arduous process of post-production I have assembled for myself. I am sure there will be lots of cursing when I get the film back. Then when I have to cut it on the Steenbeck, then again when I'm hunched over it, carving impossibly tiny things into a 16mm wide piece of emulsion with a knife. But this is the moment I have been dreaming of since the day I woke up and figured I would devote the rest of my life to film. Life is good.


On Sunday, the amazing Rio Theater showed all three Lord of the Rings films (the extended versions, too!). It was a struggle to stay awake through them, as I had gotten 10  hours of sleep over the course of three days and I was extremely exhausted. It was so great to see them all again. I realized that I hadn't seen Fellowship of the Ring in theaters for eight years. Which makes me feel old. The first and second of the trilogy were shown on 35mm. Unfortunately, Return of the King was shown on DVD and seeing the two compared so close together made me see the difference. It's something I always knew was there, and now I have physical proof for myself. There was digital noise, the colour was different (in a sort of contrast-bumped way) and even the sound was distorted. Nonetheless, it was a rather emotional experience; partly because of the lack of sleep and the rapid 'coming down' after two days of caffeine high, but mainly because I realized that The Fellowship of the Ring was the film that introduced me to the concept of cinematography. The day I watched that film, not only did I want to make films even more, but my perspective of filmmaking changed. It sounds really lame - but it came out when I was 12 or 13, I had never seen anything so amazing. Nothing will ever influence me the ways that these movies did.

"Fell deeds awake... now for wrath... now for ruin... and the red dawn."

Anyways, I'd just thought I'd justify my Lord of the Rings love. If you have it seen it, see it now. It's got an ocean of depth (compared, especially, to the puddle of depth Avatar has). Also, read it. I've read Fellowship of the Ring so many times. When they pass through Farmer Maggot's field has always stuck with me, a long with the parts with Tom Bombadil. ANYWAYS, it deserves a lot of respect, both the books and the films. I'll stop having a glory rant.

I still owe my blog some VIFF reviews. One of these days.

Hope everyone's having a great November!

11.10.2010

Bazinga.

Just a quick, low-sugar update:

I got a Tumblr account. Check it out if that's the sort of thing that floats your boat. Weird things happen there.



That is all.

Except for: I just picked up my sweet, sweet Bolex today. I'm shooting my first year film this weekend - it is called 'The Frets'. STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES.




I need less espresso and more real food....

11.03.2010

ALRIGHT IT'S NOVEMBER

^Bee that is busy.
Okay, so long time no posts. Busy as a bee, universe likes to throw weird things at me. But that is normal. I've had a few days this week that I have just been as sick as a dog. This has made me pretty sad. As no one really likes getting sick.

I made some awesome cookies that I found via Stumbleupon last week from The Picky Palate. I substituted the dried blueberries with frozen ones, rolled oats with regular oats and (disappointingly (if that is, in fact, a word)) butterscotch chipits instead of caramel bits. They turned out delicious and chunky. Damn good, I say! I highly recommend them.

I also made some fairly awesome potato and leek soup that I found in one of Jamie Oliver's cookbooks (and apparently, on the internet, HERE). I froze a bunch of it, storing up for winter I guess. Although it is a little bland, it's quite hardy and extra awesome when you crush up A LOT of soda crackers in the soup. Mm. So delicious. I am hoarding food. Tomorrow I make a huge amount of curry, which I will subsequently divide and freeze into happy little packets.
Via.

In other food news: check out the best hot chocolate in existence from Big City, Little Kitchen. Nutella. WHAT?

More food news: THESE. Minty chocolate goodness. In a cookie.

I like food too too much.

In and around Vancouver? Pretty please check out the Beaty Biodiversity Museum! I went there with my Pops a few weeks ago. Go see a blue whale skeleton! Find out that it's heart is the size of a car! Find out what the skull of a platypus looks like! Check out my flikr slide show of my experience! I even got to do a treasure hunt! Life was swell!



I've got some VIFF reviews coming. REALLY REALLY late reviews. But they exist.

I've been getting my astronomy on lately via the world of books. I finished reading The First Light by Richard Preston last week. It sort of amped up the 6 year old child that lived in my brain and brought back the wonder that comes with stars. The First Light is about the history and construction of the tremendous Hale Telescope. While on this binge, I watched Apollo 13 the other day (while in a neocitran/soup/tylenol daze) and am reading Out of Orbit: The Incredible True Story of Three Astronauts Who Were Hundreds of Miles Above Earth When They Lost Their Ride Home by Chris Jones. The book is tremendous. It has put space in perspective (I think we so often lose perspective of what is outside our atmosphere) once again for me. The amount of work that goes into sending people to space and maintaining them there is astronomical (ha.) and absolutely incredible. The idea of being in space, of surviving in zero gravity and in an environment so few people have touched. Absolutely amazing.

Another thing that has existed for a while, but I just discovered it's awesomeness? Dangerous Days, the Blade Runner documentary. I've been a huge fan of Blade Runner for a long time, but this just blew my mind. One of the last, great science fiction films made without computer effects. That's right. No CGI. All effects are in camera, hand made wonders. The number of highly skilled artists all working manually - with film, with paint, Plexiglas,  wood - it actually blew my mind. Most of the time I was wondering why modern day Hollywood sci fi flicks cost so much when everything is done on computers. Dangerous Days made Blade Runner even more incredible to me. If you haven't seen Blade Runner? See it. Probably see some sort of directors cut that doesn't have a narration. If you haven't seen Dangerous Days? Please, please see it. The amount of craftsmanship that went into the film puts everything that has come out in the last 30 years to shame (well, with some exceptions). It makes me sad that I will never have the opportunity to make such an incredible work without the aid of computers. *sigh*

Check out this excellent film I helped out on (a.k.a. put lasagna's in the oven and gave some people coffee sometimes). It's called MANTIS! (It's full of some gross things, so viewer's discretion!) We made it for the 2010 Bloodshots film festival. We won for Best Cinematography, which was pretty awesome. But no dice for best picture or audience choice! See the rest of the contender's videos at the Bloodshots MySpace page!





















Something awesome is happening this Saturday. STAY TUNED.


On a final, political note, I want to say one thing. Now I don't pretend to know a whole ton about politics. I really do not. BUT. A president who does not make your lives infinitely better in two years dumped for a bunch of right wing yahoos. Something does not compute. This does not compute. Ta dah.

Via.

10.06.2010

Universe says : 'Hai thur.'

October is coming in like a lamb, but will be a firecracker of excitement by the start of November..

I've completed my pattern planning for my long-planned giraffe I'm making for a friend's two year old cousin. I'm really excited about it! It's probably the largest scale thing I've done. I special ordered this delicious giraffe print minky fabric from the states - it's so, so soft! It's also going to have cream and brown felt embellishments. Should be fun! I just finished building a paper model of this giraffe. I like having it SUPER planned out before I start cutting fabric, especially when it's nice fabric. I think the legs and neck are going to be a little shorter and the head a little smaller, but it will look rather similar to this. I'm actually quite fond of this paper fellow that I have constructed. He sort of has a personality, don't you think?

I have talked to my film instructor about the film I proposed on paper on Monday. I was so nervous about this (the cappuccino I had right before I went in didn't help the anxiety so much). But it turns out, she liked the idea and said I was quite clear with my description. She gave me some great pointers on how to focus the purpose of the film a little more. It is going to be absolutely amazing! The shot list is due next week, I may post some 'teaser' storyboard panels if I feel like it. I've come up short on finding a kind of paint that adheres to film without flaking or being too opaque. It seems ink is my only option. I'll see what I can do with that! I shoot my film start of November. Then I get  to show it to the first audience I've had since high school. Should be.... nerve wracking.

Also happening next week: proficiency tests with film equipment, film midterm exam. My Aunt is coming into town on Thursday, which should be fun! We've got five VIFF films lined up, possible plans to go see The Guardians of Gahoole (seriously cannot get over how adorable those owls are), and on Saturday we're having my Gran and a friend over for a Thanksgiving superfeast. After my Aunt departs, then my Dad's coming to visit for a few days. While he's here, I hope to check out the Body Worlds exhibit at Science World, the Beaty Biodiversity Museum and also have him move my refrigerator for me.

One thing I've started doing is drawing onto old book pages. I have this copy of Doctor Zhivago that I bought for a dollar my first semester at University., read once, and truly, truly did not understand what it was about. It was a pretty haggard copy when I got it, and by the time I finished with it, it was basically falling apart. It's an edition from the 60's, so it's got a bit of that gorgeous brown tint around the edges of the pages. The pages have also become quite brittle. I did a set of botany drawings on them. They can be seen on my Deviantart (here, here and here) or on my Etsy! I'm quite proud of them. The pitcher plant is my favorite, inks wise. The ginkgo is my favorite colours wise. The orchid I'm not too fond of, I screwed up the perspective a bit and it turned out a little sloppy.

I went to see Let Me In (which I kept confusing with Never Let Me Go,  for some foolish reason) with a friend this evening. I wasn't entirely sure what it was about going in, which always makes for fun viewing. It is a remake of a Swedish film that I haven't seen (yet), it's about a fairly bizarre relationship between a young boy and a vampire who appears to be a 12 year old girl. Aside from the bizarre pacing of the film, it was creepy. It was a creepy relationship that had moments of innocent, adolescent cuteness, punctuated by lots and lots of blood. The whole film (plus the temperature of the theater) made me feel strangely cold. What was refreshing about it, however, was what a vampire actually was. I've been hearing way too much about this sparkly-man-Twilight nonsense. A cold, dark, slightly bloody film with an odd spark of  a relationship that endures a remarkable number of horrors.

I'm realizing, lately, my severe lack of horror movie knowledge. I mean, I have seen remarkably few. Maybe I'll turn this October into my horror month. Tell me things I need to watch!

Two things that go amazing together: Genetics readings and the Blade Runner soundtrack. So awesome!

Phrase I haven't heard in a while: nah nah nah nah boo boo.


Anyways, tomorrow is a big day of Aquarium, begging for a job, film lab, shopping, baking, furious cleaning and maybe a nap. Hope everyone has a great rest of their week!

What I'd really like to be doing right now. Via.

10.02.2010

Things, more things, other things

Well, it's October now. September went poof, and I am listening to Christmas carols periodically THREE MONTHS early. No big deal, I've just fallen off my rocker.

Things that have happened in the past while: I've succumbed to student loans, joy of joys. I guess this will keep my mind off money for a little while. Job hunting's been a little difficult here, I've been told numerous times it's because of the economy, but because I don't understand the economy, I just take out my rage by swearing loudly at Craigslist. I think I've killed my ficus by repotting it. It just... dropped all of it's leaves and now it's this tremendously sad skeleton of a plant.  Two of my fish, Leonard and Androcles, turned a year old a couple weeks ago. One of my fish, Julian, died before he made it to a year (sad panda). Starbucks and I have developed a love/hate relationship.

On Wednesday, I had the most super day! I started at the Vancouver Aquarium - where I volunteer! I got to pick up a tortoise, which was all kinds of amazing! I sort of made up excuses to pick them up; like 'Oh, you're standing on a piece of lettuce I need to take out - I GUESS I'LL HAVE TO PICK YOU UP NOW!'. I also saw red tree frog eggs, which, turns out, are the most bizarre colour of seafoam green. I can't wait until they hatch and wee tadpoles emerge! Then I went to spend time in Victory Park downtown before class - soaking up the sun! I had a shifty fellow come up to me and ask me, 'got any weed, darlin'?' which makes me laugh because I look like the biggest square in town. I also had to shift my position every little while, because jerks kept sitting upwind from me and lighting up cigars or doobies. But generally, it was a magnificent couple of hours spent sitting on the grass. THEN I went to my film lab, which is always tremendous. The mysteries of 16mm film, exposure meters and the nature of all things film production are slowly unraveling before me! Anyways, on this particular lab day we were paired up and sent out into the city with a Bolex and a 100 foot roll of 16mm film to shoot whatever we please! We're always told that it's awesome we're shooting on such old cameras - in a digital age it's always a topic of conversation. We also had a weird lady come up to us and give us contraceptives - which was awkward, but Hastings has a weird sort of local colour that I love despite everything.

Favorite things of the week

Kunstformen der Natur by Ernst Haeckel
The images in this book are amazing. I have Stumbledupon it a couple of times and have just found it tremendously inspiring. I have always loved naturalist drawings - and these are top notch. Please have a look here for zoomable, gorgeous, full pages of the book. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

The new season of The Venture Brothers



Favorite television of the time being:

Breaking Bad and Star Trek: Next Generation. I can't seem to stop watching either of them.  Breaking Bad just breaks my heart. It's such a good show - so emotionally devastating! I feel like I need to either scream or cry into a pillow after watching a couple of episodes. I highly recommend it, two whom in particular, I don't know... but it's about a high school chemistry teacher who turns to cooking meth with a former student to make money so his family can sustain itself after he dies of terminal lung cancer. Yeah, it's an emotional well. Seeing Bryan Cranston NOT being the weird, whimsical dad on Malcom in the Middle is bizarre. I don't like it. But then again, I totally do. Just watch the show.
Via Fuck Yeah TNG
I seriously spent most of yesterday watching Next Generation. Now, this is the science fiction show that my mom always would watch, and I would always find outrageously boring as an eight year old. But the seeds of science fiction fandom were planted (well, in addition to the ritualistic watching of Star Wars on VHS every time I was home sick from school), and I got into Deep Space 9. And now, all things have lead to me watching Next Generation from the very beginning. It's very interesting to see everything in context, as opposed to random walk by's of "Whacha watchin'?" "Engage. Make it so. Those aren't muskets." "Oh. I'm going to go stare at a wall instead."

Favorite Artist of the day!
Shuichi Nakano! Supremely surreal gigantic animals gracing cityscapes! Check it out! I'm a big fan of the humungo fish in the sky!

Via Empty Kingdom

Via Empty Kingdom

Next thing I intend to bake: 
These absolutely amazing looking Rhubarb Oat Muffins from Shared Sugar!! I think I'll make a ton of them before my aunt comes to visit and freeze a bunch, so then my dad can also have some when he comes to visit! SO MANY VISITS.

Via Shared Sugar

Anyways, sorry for the lengthy/link heavy/photo heavy/video heavy post. It's late (early) and I probably should be going to bed (but will instead lie in bed playing gameboy for like... two hours instead). All of my VIFF tickets are purchased, including Cold Weather, The Ugly Duckling, Rubber, Armadillo and R. I was really hoping to see Feathered Cocaine, but it would seem all of the screenings have been canceled. I may try to pick up a screening or two if I have time. Maybe Cold Fish or Psychohydrography. WE SHALL SEE.
Via Fuck Yeah TNG
Hope everyone has a FUNtastic October!

PS. Check out this frigging huge pepper I picked up at the Main Street Vancouver Farmer's Market last week. It blew my damn mind. Then I cooked it into a curry.


PPS. My new, most favorite rhyme: WEIRD BEARD.

9.17.2010

Farmers Markets and Film School

So, oh my goodness - Vancouver Farmers Markets are the bees knees. I had neglected to go, mostly because I'm lazy - and went the first week of September and again this past week.

The first week I went, it was a nice sunshiny day - I bought a couple of buttons to start. Then I perused the fantastic assortment of goodness! I bought corn from Chiliwack, carrots, green beans, all kinds of plums, all kinds of tomatoes, pork sausages, bread and THE BEST PEACHES EVER.

On another note, I've discovered the kind of people who shop at these markets seem the finer kind. I dropped $15 dollars, and after scouring the ground for a few minutes, I mentioned to the info desk that maybe perhaps if anyone might turn some in, that it would be great if it could be returned to me. Needless to say, I was positive I would never see that $15 again. This thought was quite depressing, as I fully intended to spend it on delicious vegetables. Whilst I was deciding which tomatoes looked the most exotic, the kind woman from the info desk came to find me - saying someone had found and returned my $15! I was sooo very happy, not to mention grateful!

This past week I picked up more tomatoes (more different kinds), peaches (so, so good), corn, bell peppers and carrots. This was after a trip to T&T to pick up some steamed buns, which I just can't get enough of apparently.

So, this week was my first week in the SFU film program. I downed a cappuccino (yes, I've finally broken into coffee) and approached the Woodwards building downtown. I walked into that classroom and it felt like my heart had dropped into my stomach. I've been waiting for this for a long time, and it was almost surreal being there. It was both gratifying and nerve wracking, glorious and humbling.  At last surrounded by people who share the same passions, yet who come from so many different backgrounds. There's a fellow from Germany, a fellow from the Czech Republic, folks from Alberta, from BC, from Africa! All with different aspirations and ideas!

My lab time was incredible! We were given black and clear film leader, exacto knives and sharpies to draw, colour and carve into this film... Learned how to splice properly, which was fantastic. And the sheer differential in ideas between 6 people given the same media in the span of 3 hours. I'm excited to see the rest of the class' work next week!

I've found out I'm in the last shoot group in the semester, so I'll be shooting my first semester film the beginning of November. It seems a long ways away, but I have lots of time to formulate my plan. We're each given basic equipment and two one hundred foot rolls of 16mm film, and we can do whatever we want. We can work alone, we can work in groups. Next week we start getting into the nitty gritty with the Bolex's. It'll be interesting to see how I'm actually supposed to use one, instead of just sort of guessing.

In book news, I highly, highly recommend David Mamet's Bambi vs Godzilla. If you have any interest in the film business, screenwriting, film history... it's a fantastic book chalk-full of Mamet's extremely intelligent insights on many of the strange discrepancies in Hollywood and it's politics. I'd say it's one of the better books on film I've read! I've just started to read Steven Pinker's The Stuff of Thought and am so far finding it goes in one ear the out the other, but hopefully I'll find a foothold in this psychology mind-brain mumbo jumbo.

In film news, I've been trying to watch more new films these days. I have a list about 43 miles long filled with films I have yet to see, everything from Citizen Cane to the Godfather Part II to Dirty Harry. I caught up on films like Se7en, Man on the Moon and Juno earlier in the week. Se7en was mentioned about a half dozen times in my first film lecture and lab, so it was bumped to the top of my watch list. Juno was alright. I've heard from lots of people that it's horrible and lame, while others hailed it as brilliant. I'm just going to say it was pretty darn adorable, and that's that.

I watched Fantastic Mr Fox, whose level of detail truly blew me away. Although Wes Anderson irks me a bit (although he does produce superb and unique films), Fantastic Mr Fox is a real piece of work. The detail in each and every character - yet the small reminders of the imperfections of the artist, the shifting of the fur during stop motion, some fingerprints in clay. The styling is just genius. The tall, lanky, awkward foxes; the thin, devlish rats; the bizarre enigma that is the opossum. Wes Anderson and Rauld Dahl might be a good combination after all!


Another film I just watched was John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China. And although this seems a rather typical 80's kung fu action flick, I've got to say that it was a lot of fun to watch. Kurt Russel's character of the 'hysterical American' just cracked me up. I was also a big fan of his all-American mullet and 'wife-beater'. I may need to invest more time in John Carpenter's films. I believe the only other of his I've sort of seen is Escape from New York, which I may or may not have fallen asleep in.

If you want some amazing classic film fun, I'd recommend checking out this YouTube video, in which classic movie scenes are dubbed over by Spongebob Squarepants, Patrick Starr, Squidward Tentacles and Sandy Cheeks. So, so great.

Anyways, I hope everyone's having a great September/start of their fall semesters. I'm trying to get my hands on another part time job to fill up my weekends, but that search isn't going so well.


Ps everyone, Rainbow Owl is still on sale! He's gotten a tremendous amount of views, but no takers just yet! He's sitting here on my Wii feeling quite lost without a home. Anyone? Bueler?
Via Sponginess Gifs!

9.15.2010

Catching up! Pie-Wise!


First up: my pie making adventure! This thing was frigging delish, I'm not going to lie. I got this recipe from the tomb that is The Joy of Cooking!

I did the basic pie/pastry dough:
Blueburries!

Basic Pie/Pastry Dough for one 9 inch or 10 inch double crust pie (page 665)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp salt
3/4 chilled veggie shortening
3 tbs cold unsalted butter
6 tbs ice water
THE MIXTURE.
Bottom shell.
Sift together flour and salt - add half the shortening and the butter, work lightly with fingers until it has the consistency of cornmeal. Add the other half of the shortening and work until it forms pea sized bits. Sprinkle with the ice water! Work it gently into the dough until it all holds together, add a little more if it's not working together yet. Divide dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap.

THEN, pie time!!

Blueberry Pie - One 9 inch double crust pie (page 677)
The lattice.
Puking pie.

5 cups blueberries
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
3 1/2 to 4 tbs cornstarch
1 tbs fresh lemon juice
1/8 tsp salt
1 to 2 tbs unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 425 F and position a rack in the lower third of the oven.First, combine blueberries, sugar, cornstarch (use the larger amount if you're planning on doing a lattice top like I did) lemon juice and salt in a bowl and let stand for 15 minutes or so. Pour the mixture into the bottom crust and dot with the little bits of butter before covering the top!

BAKE.

My only supreme mishap with this was the fact that, about 10 minutes before being done, my pie decided to throw up all over the inside of my oven. I opened the door and smoke comes billowing out, sets off my idiot fire alarm and fills my low-ceilinged basement right up with smoke. I'm really glad the people upstairs weren't home, because they probably would have kicked open my door and blasted the place with a fire extinguisher - shooting first, asking questions later. A couple weeks a pork chop I was pan frying caught a little and they came downstairs and made sure I wasn't going to burn down their house, haha.

In other baking news, as apparently I've been doing a lot lately, I made my first red velvet cake, which was pretty delicious. I got that recipe out of Joy of Cooking as well. My plan with this two layer cake was to fill it with buttercream icing and cover it with fondant. Fondant is horrifying. I'm never making it again. I ended up filling the cake with it, just so it wouldn't go to waste, then icing it with basic butter and confectioners sugar icing. Because the butter cream icing didn't ever become anything but a runny liquid in a pan. I call this cake the 'Diabetes Cake'.

Also, made more booze cupcakes for my boss' birthday. They're always a huge hit whenever I bring them anywhere - here's the recipe again if you're behind the times! Unfortunately, I ended up slightly undercooking them, and in my haste, the gnache was still super runny while I was filling and the icing was also slightly runny and they got slightly rained on, so I got there holding a box of cupcake sludge, but they still turned out pretty tasty.

Made banana bread last night, mostly to use up bananas in the old freezer and to warm up my fricking house.

This post is getting a little lengthy, so I think I'll just post more things later!!

9.04.2010

OOOWL!

Hello everyone! Behold my first significant felt creation for quite some time! I've been fiddling with the pattern for about a week and in the past couple days the assembly began. Lots of things did not go to plan, but I think he turned out pretty swell!





See a quick progress photo in my last post, here!
The thing I love most about him is his shape That turned out pretty well. I ended up doing a lot of snipping and extra stitching than originally planned, but that is so with many of my creations. I love his colours and his lidded eyes! What I think I could of done differently is his front feathers - they could have been a little shorter I think. Originally, the pattern had him sitting a lot taller, so it would have worked in theory. He's a little lopsided (again, like most of my creations) and he doesn't sit quite like I wanted. But I think he's still quite handsome!

Side profile, so handsome!
I'm a big fan of how his tail turned out!
Ahoot ahoot?
Top view to see his glorious wings!


His gorgeous amber eyes are from Suncatcher Eyes, here on Etsy.

Such eyes!


See this sweet owl's listing on my Etsy!

Happy September everyone!!