I'll take rational thought with a side of Atheism, please.

I am incredibly disheartened today. I read an article not long ago about Pope Benedict attacking Atheism as "cruel and unjust"saying that it had led to some of the “greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice” known to mankind. What? Explain please. (He doesn't,) Perhaps the good Pope forgot that "he who asserts must prove."

I think the very basic aspect of all of this can be boiled down to one single question, especially when he is labeling Atheism as cruel and unjust and saying that it has led to cruelty and violations of justice: When was the last time someone attacked someone else (be that plural or singular) in the name of Atheism? When was the last time it happened in the name of god?

You still want to argue that religion is good for our world? Without religion the twin towers would still be standing (arguably.) Without religion we'd be a whole lot smarter and technologically advanced. We'd be a whole lot more rational, we'd be a whole lot safer. We'd be a whole lot less scared, and a whole lot more responsible for our own lives.

I'm also disheartened that Benedict completely misses the idea behind Atheism. He says that Atheism was created to explain the creation of justice by man since there was no god to do it. False, good sir. Atheism is the rational and logical explanation for the state of the world. No god has provided laws for us (men have, in all cases.)

The Pope said, but “the claim that humanity can and must do what no God actually does or is able to do is both presumptuous and intrinsically false”. Again, false, good sir. It is not intrinsically false to say that humanity must do what no god does. That's like arguing that it is intrinsically false for one teammate to do what another cannot. The Pope's quote above, actually makes no sense at all whatsoever. The more I read it, the less sense it makes.

There are good aspects to religion, and the idea of god. I cannot deny that. But religion openly and actively tries to slow down progress, make people afraid, and control lives. There is also absolutely zero basis to the theory that without faith in god people are "evil" "morally suspect" or "morally corrupt." Those are just blatant falsehoods. I have been an Atheist since I was 12 years old. That is when I reached the age of reason and realized that the idea of god just didn't make any sense whatsoever. I am not morally reprehensible, morally corrupt, unjust, or evil. I am a good, kindhearted person, who believes that helping people is good. The more you help the better life will be in general.

There are some who will argue that those are religious tenets -- with that I cannot necessarily disagree, but it's worth noting that just because it has some good ideas, that does not warrant diving full-on into it.

I'm an Atheist. I have been for a very long time, and I will be for the rest of my life. I don't want to raise children believing in god, but believing in themselves, and being good people. Logically it makes sense. I want to raise them to question things, find their own truths and answers, and never seek the easy way out. And most importantly, never let their search for answers in anything lead them into cruel and unjust areas. I guess that means keeping them away from Pope Benedict.

Fiscally Overreactive

In more irony news, King Bush and his White Castle (mmmm burgers) have accused the Democratically led Congress of being fiscally irresponsible in their efforts to pass a bill (which he vetoed) that would increase spending on federal education expenses federal healthcare expenses through medicaid and medicare. His beef was a $22 billion increase in the bill over what his budget had laid out over the next 5 years. While Bush is technically correct that paying for those programs would come from the increase of taxes, it's incredibly poignant when we couple his accusation with the knowledge that his 100% unnecessary war has so far cost the nation $1.9 trillion dollars, and with no end in sight, that number is only going to grow. Now, that's $1.9 trillion dollars. Here it is with zeroes: $1,900,000,000.

Additionally, a new report issued says that from 2002-2008 the Iraq and Afghanistan war contain hundreds of hidden costs (two of the most notable: increased healthcare costs for returning veterans [which is another story altogether, given the fact that more are coming back mentally injured, and more are becoming homeless FASTER THAN EVER BEFORE] as well as increased oil prices -- that's right folks, sick of high oil prices? The military uses a lot of it..end the war...watch prices fall,) which end up costing a family of four almost $21,000 over the period of 2002-2008. Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I can't think of a single REGULAR family of four (you know, middle class) that can really afford $21,000 over 6 years (yeah I know it's less than $4k a year.) Honestly, who can afford that? And it's not as if we're spending it for any benefit.

The biggest outcome of this war will be the blowback that my generation and my kids and grandkids generations will have to face, when we help to breed a specific brand of people who hate America at a rate far greater than we've ever seen before. We're asking for destruction with this war, not protection.

Fucking ridiculous. Talk about being fiscally irresponsible. Let's spend money to demolish our country, who's with me?

Anyone?

Anyone...?

Didn't think so. Demand Impeachment Now.

Right To Life....really?

So I read online that the National Right To Life Committee is going to be endorsing Fred Thompson his race for the Presidency. I just wanted to check to make sure, because I would be completely blown away if a conservative committee/group of any kind had any sort of hypocrisy, but the National Right To Life Committee is virulently anti-war, correct? I mean, they are virulently anti-abortion, but since they are the "right to life" committee, they must be incredibly anti-war too, right?

Right?

Anyone?

~J

It's Like Raaaaaain, On Your Wedding Day

Isn't it Ironic, don't you think?

Bush recently vetoed a Bill with overwhelming bipartisan support (the bill would be approving lots of water projects to help make our water systems cleaner and safer) saying that it would be too costly and would overtax the army corps of engineers.

So how ironic is it that Bush finds an issue with "overtaxing the army corps of engineers" and the spending of money to approve projects for the country's water systems (another incorrect notion: this bill doesn't approve spending, it only approves projects, further appropriations bills will provide funding) but has absolutely no problem with spending Half A Billion Dollars (at the time of this posting) to finance an unjust, illegal, and useless war? Not to mention the fact that he has no problem with keeping troops in Iraq for longer than ever.

I wish I could say I was more surprised about this, don't you? At least we're getting a veto override out of the deal.

~J

This...this I don't get

Now, there will be a World Series Experience recap coming soon. I've honestly got notes on the whole experience to make sure there are things I don't forget. Should I figure out how to email cell phone pictures to myself, I'll even upload those so you may bask in the glory that was a Red Sox World Series Championship right here in the place I call home, Denver, Colorado.

But that has to wait for a time when I'm a touch less busy -- and perhaps a touch less ridiculously pissed off.

Dennis Kucinich, bless his heart, soul, and Presidential Run, introduced another bill in an attempt to impeach Viceroy Cheney. But when faced with the prospect of actually having to vote on the bill (Republicans were voting to table the bill, but then suddenly said 'no wait, let's vote on it!' forcing Democrats to actually vote on the resolution thereby indicating their position on impeaching Cheney, Democrats suddenly reduced their challenge to tabling the bill, and it was sent to committee where it is expected to die.

What the fuck? Seriously, What the fuck? Pelosi, as much as great change you were over previous house members, you don't deserve to be reelected. You took office with a promise of impeachment, and have since announced it has been taken off the table. Both of the leaders of the executive branch are guilty of multitudinous offenses punishable by impeachment. They have lied, straight faced over and over and over again to the American people. This fact is not even up for debate, it is straight truth, and I cannot in any way shape or form understand why on Earth Democrats do not support impeachment. It makes absolutely no sense to me. End the war, end the lies, end the corruption which has run COMPLETELY rampant since Bush took office. End the oil prices, end the Republican slowdown of healthcare and education bills that will help millions of Americans (the slowdowns of which are subsequently blamed on Democrats and the media dutifully then reports the Conservative line.) I really don't understand what the big deal is. The majority of Americans disapprove of what this administration has done and continues to do. The majority of Americans understand that we were lied to, and have been treated like children. This administration deserves nothing less than impeachment and I cannot for the life of me understand why it is not being done.

Demand Impeachment Now. There is not a single good reason on the face of this Earth why it should not be done.

Texting Dr. Unk, Texting Dr. Unk...

It has come to the forefront of my attention that texting, IMing, and even surfing the web while intoxicated may yet be the greatest threat facing our generation.

Look, I know, we've all been there. All you wanted to do was say hi. All you wanted to do was find someone cute to talk to. All you wanted to do was see if she wanted to hang out this weekend.

Dude, you're an idiot. First of all, half of the girls you just IMed, texted, messaged on Match.com and OKCupid aren't even that attractive. You're just so drunk that the lines between fat and ugly, thick and kinda cute, soft and cute, reasonably hot, and smokin' have become inextricably blurred. They are one in the same now. Your attraction checklist looks less like the 12 step program it ought to be and more like the 3 step instructions on the back of a shampoo bottle. 1. Check for Tits 2. Make Sure She's Breathing 3. Figure out her favorite position and find the nearest bathroom.

So why don't you slow your roll, step away from the computer/cell phone and just take it easy. Have some water. Why don't you sit the next couple of plays out. Because you're only going to embarrass yourself and ruin your chance of ever seeing her again. Of course if you don't like her and/or she's fat/ugly then just don't forget to wrap it when she caves and wait until 2am to leave, that's the deepest sleep. What's that? She's coming over your house?

You're a moron. There is no hope for you.

This week in what pisses me off...

Okay so everyone does things they aren't proud of. I've used match.com. Those aren't necessarily related. While I don't walk around yelling wildly about how I've used Match.com before, I don't exactly shy away from the fact that I have. When asked, I'll admit. Now, I don't really use it anymore, for various reasons I'm quite happy right now in my dating life.

That being said, I randomly got on to my match.com page, I do every now and then, who knows maybe some delicious honey sent me a message. (Though it's more likely that one of those plastic bears full of actual delicious honey will send me a message.) What usually ends up happening is I look to see if I have a message or something, maybe look at the talent to see if anything will wake me up from my relationship hibernation, and when I see that there is not, I close the window and go back to whatever I was doing before. Or watching pornography. Which is often what I was doing before.

Now, on seldom an occasion, I will send a message to someone. Often this happens when I am drunk. It has not happened in a long time, the span of a couple of months, but I will sometimes send a message to a girl who falls into the "below my league" category. I often engage in the self-deprecating practice of finding a girl who will not be so hot as to never talk to me, but in fact be a paper bag short of being able to date anyone. Okay that's harsh, but you get the point. She could be cute if the light was right and she was wearing the right kind of makeup. The Right Kind = Plenty of it.

The most infuriating thing in the world, or maybe just my little world, is when the BMLG (below my league girl) doesn't respond. I sent her a message because it was a sure thing. She's not that attractive, probably more than her fair share of overweight, and is shy. Those girls are easy, especially if you can spit game. I can spit game.

One sends a message (or talks to her in the bar, or sits down next to her at a coffee shop or chats her up at a bookstore) simply because she's a confidence booster. Maybe not exactly a slumpbuster (though depending on where you started talking to her, it's basically a Phil Jackson coached transition away.) Read: Smooth. But the bare bones fact is that she will most likely go out with you, or talk to you, become interested in you (because she's below your level, she knows it, and is surprised a guy like you is attracted to her) and because she is interested in you, you will feel better about yourself.

It's fine, ladies, don't try and say you fuckers don't do the same thing. Anyway, when girls like this don't respond, or don't return messages it's incredibly baffling, infuriating, and against the laws of physics. I believe this is known as Kepler's Second Law of Fat Bitches. How can she possibly not respond? Wait a minute here, Jabba the Hut doesn't find me attractive enough to at least say hi? You're kidding me. Out of all the unattractive women on match to whom I could've sent a message, (there's a formula for that. It's like t=total # of women so T-9=x whereas X equals the total number of unattractive women on the site) I sent it to you, and you actually didn't reply. Unbelievable.

Of course this immediately causes a rash of self-destructive introspective thoughts. They are largely self-destructive simply because they are introspective. Guys, don't do that, seriously. That's an order. So you have to sit back and question why they didn't respond. Am I unattractive? Am I too forward? Do they not like my profile? Are my interests to broad? Are they too specific? Usually before I get too far, I just conclude that because my picture was not a picture of a twinkie bar, or because I failed to mention that I am, in fact, oft-attracted to 5's and 6's that they just don't take me seriously.

I mean, not that this has ever really happened to me before.

Tis The Season

You know, fall usually brings many wonderful things. The Red Sox settling in for a hard playoff run, the beginning of the football season, and of course Hockey and the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

Sure, for many of us start school again, or those of us with S.A.D. begin drawing up blueprints on the best and safest ways to kill others, but by and large fall brings about the rich and creamy goodness of padded violence, sweaters, falling leaves, and the chance to bag a hot chick as she's hoping against all hope that this isn't the last time she gets to wear something ridiculously slutty in the sun and have it count as normal wear. (Note: It's not. If you live anywhere near a college campus, girls are still "fucking retarded" enough to think that skirts and ugz boots with bugeye sunglasses and some sort of faux-hip jacket qualify as "in" winter-wear.)

But there's something that is really pissing me off. Go ahead, call me a homer, call me blind to the realities of sports, or unable to look at a situation objectively. In true fitzy fashion, I say GFY. That's "Go Fuck Yourself" for those of you unfortunate enough to be familiar with Fitzy. (Hint: www.townienews.com)

Can you be serious though? This much outrage about the Patriots possibly videotaping Jets signals? I mean...honestly? People are going to call for the coach to be suspended? Terrell Davis (former Denver Donkey's RB) says that they should be banned from the playoffs for two years? Some of the Eagles have said that they think the Pats should be forced to forfeit their Superbowl victory and the Eagles should get their rings. Really? Go fuck yourself.

I hate Philadelphia. I've been there once or twice or too many times. It's dirty, it's gross, and it produces the worst sports fans in the world. True, New England fans can be obnoxious, but at least we have a reason for it. And we're still not New York, that waste of a fucking state. Think Mexico would buy it? Anyway, the Eagles are so down on themselves because they cannot produce a team anywhere near championship quality that they have to find something to bring down a team that beat them? Goddammit I hate you Philadelphia. Why do you have to be such a worthless city? Your fucking nickname is "city of brotherly love." What? Not only are you gay, but you condone incest? Holy god I hate Philadelphia. I never ever ever thought Benjamin Franklin was wrong, until I just checked to make sure on Wikipedia that he helped to start the American Revolution there.

Anyway, enough about how shitty Philly is. If you've ever been to Pennsylvania, you know pretty much the entire state sucks. If only charm was toothless...

Of course, objectively one has to be upset at this Pats thing. The absolute hands down best team of the last 6 years was caught cheating. It makes a modicum of sense to assume that they've been doing it a while, but when it comes down to it, taping defensive signals can't make people run faster, jump higher, remember patterns, catch or hold the ball better. There are so many fucking variables in the game, that it's asinine to assume that stealing a couple defensive signals will win a game for you. And it's ALSO asinine to assume that they were able to get all the defensive signals, interpret them all, and then adequately see the signal, call in a change of play, and get the offense to pull of the perfect play around the called defense. It's called Occham's Razor folks, lex parsimonae. The simplest explanation is the truest one. They are just the better team.

Now take off your jealous pants and get ready for another ass-whooping. I hope as they cross the podium and hold the Lombardi Trophy in February, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady both have video cameras.

GFY.

I know nobody reads this...

I know that nobody reads this thing...

But I just read the most distressing thing on CNN.com. Apparently the United States is working on a $10 billion arms package for Saudi Arabia. What? Excuse me? Do I look like I'm fucking stupid? Does the rest of the country look like they are fucking stupid?

Very quickly, I'd like to say this: 17 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi. Which to me is reason enough not to give those motherfuckers weapons... The reason they were Saudi but joined up with those who like to attack America is because they had firsthand experience with the grubby and greedy hands of American capitalist enterprise trying to weasel their way into controlling Saudi oil interests. THAT'S why they don't like us. Because we put our noses where they don't belong, and try and control things that we have no business controlling. So now we're going to give money to S.A. in an effort to help them fight Iran? You must be fucking stupid. Here's what's going to happen: We're going to make MORE war in the Middle East (which is NEVER GOOD FOR ANYONE) and we're going to give Iran a better case for hating us -- we're helping other people fight them.

I do not hold Iran in high esteem, but I do not hold the Saudi's in high esteem either. Quite simply, the United States is spending ANOTHER $10 billion to directly finance terrorism.

How in the name of all that I find holy (bagels and doughnuts) is this going to Help America? If there was a god, he/she would never let this shit happen.

ESPN -- You suck.

Dear ESPN:

I want to start with this: I love you. You are the source of so much joy in my life. You allow me to learn so many pointless stats about sports that I don't even like so that I may impress male strangers and force many an attractive woman to roll her eyes at my dorkiness.

I would like to continue with this: You fucking suck. I check your website probably 600 times a day. 650 if it's a slow day at work, and 550 if I found a fun porn site when I got home from work, and every time that I do, I get your sportscenter sound. You know, "da-duh-da, da-duh-da." At first this sound made me smile, I got all happy about getting to hear something new from the sports-world that day. But on these past billion occasions, it has been on your website, with this little banner updating me on Barry Bonds and his chase for the Home Run Record. ESPN, I don't give a shit. ESPN, the majority of America does not give a shit.

Honestly. I feel like the SportsNation polls you put on your website daily should ask this question, "Do you care about the Barry Bonds HomeRun Chase?" Overwhelmingly the nation will answer NO. NO. HELL NO. I WOULD RATHER GO LONG MOONLIT STROLL WITH PARIS HILTON than hear about Barry Bonds. Absolutely disgusting. Nobody cares, stop promoting it. The worst part about it is that the people who DO care, only care because SC pimps it like David Beckham coming to America.

Please. Stop. He used to do Steroids. He's a cheater. Nobody cares.

I would like to close with this: Despite your programming supersaturated with coverage of shitty sports (especially basketball) I still love you. It's just unfortunate that the reporter has become bigger than the game, and their ego shows it. Shame on you ESPN. But I still love you...

This, is Rocky Mountain Golfer.

So in the spirit of being all high on myself, I've embedded a segment from Rocky Mountain Golfer, the show that I work on. The voice is mine, and the segment I edited a large portion of. Comment if you want, I guess. It is what it is, I just feel like being a showoff.









And just for your internet enjoyment, Rocky Mountain Golfer is a production of SportsHD in Denver, CO. You can find out more at SportsHD.com, as well as Rockymtngolfer.com.

What you think you know often has nothing to do with reality...

For some DUMBASS reason last night, after getting back from dinner and some bar action, I had a ridic amount of completely horrible dreams. Like...dreams about throwing up, dreams about Paris Hilton trying to have sex with me (directly preceded the throwing up dream, ironically enough.) Umm...I also had a dream about being a celebrity...this kind of goes along with the Paris Hilton thing. I was at a party all cool and hanging out with celebs and people wanted to talk to me...really random.

I guess it has something to do with the fact that I do the voice-over for a show called Rocky Mountain Golfer that airs out here in the west on Fox Sports Rocky Mountain. I just felt really cool, and I really enjoy that what started as an unpaid internship has turned into a full-time job that has some really cool perks, is a lot of fun, and I get to do voice talent stuff. What Mike Rowe is to Deadliest Catch, I am to Rocky Mountain Golfer. Except...not even close to as cool as he.

It's Saturday...and I have to fucking work at the restaurant tonight, and I am PISSED. Cannot fathom (aside from keeping my discount) why in the world I volunteer to give up my Saturday nights. Not only that, but when I originally asked for every other Saturday and they said no, I said I'd do every Saturday as long as they gave me a good shift. So that means a cocktail shift (come late, leave early) Open Dinner (start at 3, out by 9) or a Swing (start at 1, first cut at night around 8) So those shifts let me have some of my night free, while helping me to maximize my time and money. So I call yesterday to find out when indeed I do work, and it turns the fuck out that I had a meeting at 11 (no way in hell I'm attending) and I also have to work at 4:15, so what that means I'm a dinner single. Dinner Singles (only working a single shift all day) is the worst thing to be because you have to stay there forever. I will be there all night, and have no free time this evening. Not that I really had a lot going on, but I am ridiculously protective of my free time.

Okay, enough bitching. Shit has been great lately.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner.

~J

mmmm clubbin!

There's nothing like being in a club, being white, with your polo shirt tucked in, not knowing any single song that comes on, but dancing with a ridic hot blonde because you told her you were an astronaut and she bought it like a fkn claiborne blouse on sale at Saks.

That is all.

~J

Part hit, part run...

Everyone hears about hit and run accidents. They see it on TV, or a friend of a friend of a friend's pool cleaner got involved in a hit and run. Nobody ever thinks it'll happen to them. They happen in Boston or LA or Dallas or the ghetto, they don't happen in Denver.

Si, they do.

In fact they happen in the parking lot at the Bull and Bush right down in Cherry Creek (and apparently semi-frequently.) My dad is out for Father's day, my uncle is as well (since my roommate is my cousin.) So our dads are brothers. They fly out, we're having a fantastic time. Enjoying the weather and the sights and sounds of Denver and meeting people and eating too much food and going to sporting events and the mountains and everything. So we're at the Bull and Bush having dinner and some beers (PHENOMENAL create your own burger section on the menu, by the way,) when the waitress comes out and says, hey do any of you happen to drive a black Ford Focus?

Why yes I do, I say, expecting to hear that I left my lights on, or that she just happens to think people who drive Focuses (foci?) are sexy. Someone just hit your car, she informs me. So I hop up from my seat and speed-exit the patio in order to check things out. I'm fully ready to throw punches at this point.

I get out there, with my crew in tow, turns out someone backed up from a parking spot located behind my car, and to the passenger side, and put their right rear bumper corner into my door, along the entire length of the door. So, I need a new door. Hooray. It could've been worse, nobody was hurt, I wasn't driving it, it's not completely out commission, even if the door doesn't close properly. The waitress comes out and says "I have some good news." Excellent, hopefully they know who it is, and they're holding him in the tap room for me to punch repeatedly. Close. There were two witnesses who saw the whole thing happen and not only got the make of the car, but the license plate as well! Sweet! It was a black Jaguar that hit me, license plate # yada yada yada. Bartender gave me the info, passed from the other patron. Cops come, take statements, license plate does indeed go to a Jaguar, all is well.

So now I just need to get my car in the shop, get things taken care of post haste, and get my car back for next weekend (just in time for more friends to come out and visit all weekend.

This should be an interesting week...

Copyright Infringement

For the first time in my life, though I'm not sure why that timetable is a surprise to me, I have apparently been accused of copyright infringement. Posted below is a YouTube/Paramount Studios email to me.


"This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Paramount Pictures Corporation claiming that this material is infringing:

Anchorman Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K7eMSu5mic

Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to avoid future strikes against your account, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube's copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, please go to our Help Center to access the instructions.

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.

Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc."



In one of the previous posts on this blog, I made a link to a video on YouTube that was a parody of Anchorman. It was a trailer I created for a graduate class, and was displayed on the web. I am simultaneously proud and pissed off at its removal.

The trailer was created under both educational fair use, and fair use for parody. It was a non-profit creation, and was displayed on the web to illustrate educational achievement. But apparently Paramount Studios disagreed with me, and chose to force YouTube to remove my trailer.

It's a form of educational free speech, and a form of parody. Parody in that I made fun of the character of Ron Burgundy in the movie, and worked to illustrate him as a character of deep emotion while still inept at love -- which is similar to the way he was truly portrayed in the movie, but I did it in a different way.

So despite that my trailer was legally made, and posted under the auspices of legal use, Paramount had an issue with it. I feel ridiculously excited to fight this, and to see what Paramount thinks they can do to me. I'm not rich, I'm not a genius, and I'm not some superstar artist, but I'm willing to fight, even if it's minor. And this could be very fun.

Stay tuned.

15 Minute Performance

This video, albeit long, is something I'm actually rather proud of. The more I watch it, the more I find to like about it. The third and final project (after a live in-class performance that was not recorded) for my Digital Cinema Theory class, this 15 minute piece is made up of videos from other projects, as well as videos that I simply felt fit the music. The music is a combination of three songs by an Icelandic band called Sigur Ros. The First song is Untitled 4 off the album (), the second song is called Avalon, and the third song is called Untitled 3 also off the album, (). Please watch the video, then read my synopsis below.





The idea behind this video was to overcome my previous inability to get a message across by honing my skills and making images more clear. While there are a lot of muddled images where it's difficult to tell what's going on, when that happens that's kind of the point. The ones you see clearly, are the ones I want you to see clearly. Given the fact that this is constructed of three different songs, there are three distinct movements to the piece, and there is also a bit of storytelling as the work goes on. The first movement has music that is happy, but careful, and by the end turns downright wistful and sad. We are carried through the second movement by a more somber and dangerous sounding track and we get to a part where the video shows us war, bombs exploding, and a president making a speech. Without being too much of an overt political statement (I never show the actual face of the man in the foreground) the viwer can infer that something is going desperately wrong with the happiness that occurred in the first act. The second act ends with shots of a space shuttle flying away, presumably to another planet or another place -- the act matters little, it's the metaphor of escape and departure from the previous movement that is the most important. The third and final act of the piece returns to a happy state and employs much of the same imagery of the first act while still remaining unique.

Feel free to comment.


:-)

Timeline VJ Performance

For this project, the second in a series of three video pieces for my Digital Cinema class, I used both Sony Vegas and Resolume to create a timeline based digital video remix to sound. My attempt was to send certain messages by the visual imagery in the piece, but I ran into a problem where, quite simply, I had too much to say for the digital video vocabulary I posessed to be able to say anything effectively. It comes out repetitive, dull, and pedantic in a way that seems like I tried to hard but looks as if I didn't try at all. All video, images, and audio are used under Educational Fair Use, and the song is Canon in D (strings) by Johann Pachelbel.

The music serves as an antithetic to the reactions the visual imagery suggests, it also happens to be one of my favorite classical songs.





It moves way too fast, and the audio editing is horrible. If you promise never to watch this again, so will I.

Trailer Remix

This video is a remix of the movie Anchorman starring Will Ferrell, in a way to construct a trailer that makes it...well...dramatic and hilarious at the same time. It was the first project I did in my Digital Cinema Theory class, and was probably the most fun to create given the material I used. Sony Vegas, Final Cut Pro, and a host of decrypting programs were used to construct the video. The song used is a cover of Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah, as sung by Rufus Wainright. All video and audio are used under freedom of parody and educational fair use.

It's a decent trailer, I suppose. After watching it many times I came to the conclusion that there would be some things I would do differently, but it serves it's purpose. Enjoy, comment if you like.








It's the pleats.

lips

Honestly, who sunburns their lips?
Seriously, do you see that? How gross is that? It got all cracked and peeled and it hurts to eat because my lips have to stretch to open because I am completely American and can't eat portions that fit normally inside my mouth.

Er, new blog. I'm cool.

Here is a robot rabbit who hangs on to your cursor. You will spend at least 45 seconds playing with this before you realize how dumb it is.