Summer Movie Marathon '10

So we have Netflix. With a Netflix memberhsip, obviously you receive DVD's in the mail and mail them back to receive new ones off your queue (list). Along with the DVD queue, you have an Instant queue, which is a list of movies you have chosen to watch on your computer, TiVo, Xbox 360, Wii, or some other Instant viewing device. The movies that you can watch instantly is limited to mostly old movies, classics, foreign films, indie films, and short films.

Lately I've been going on a movie rampage of films. So far I've seen indies like: The Vicious Kind, A Clockwork Orange, Mr. Holland's Opus, and Les Miserables. I highly recommend all of them except The Vicious Kind which was average. And A Clockwork Orange is a book, so if you plan on reading that first, don't watch it. And it will mindrape you. You will finish it and wonder what you've just seen. My reasoning for watching indies is because they have lower budgets and less effects so they have to be more creative with their limited resources. Therefore, when the movie is good, it is that much better.


In terms of foreign films, I've watched: Paris, Je T'aime; Un Chien Andalou; and Mongol. Paris Je T'aime is a French film with English subtitles made up of 18 five-minute films by notable directors. All of them share the common theme of Parisian love. Un Chien Andalou is directed by Salvador Dalí. Dalí=enough said. Mongol is a movie about Genghis Khan's beginnings in life pre-reigning Khan. It is extremely historically accurate, and filmed like a movie, not a documentary. It was nominated for Best Foreign Film Academy Award. It is in Mongolian with English subtitles and is the first of a trilogy about Genghis Khan. The second movie comes out later this year (2010).

All of this has further motivated me to become a movie writer. I've noticed that movies have systems that are intricate and would probably take experience to develop. One thing in particular I've observed is the occasional screen shot of the film that doesn't further develop the plot. I think those shots' purposes are to further exaggerate emotional statuses. I can't think of an example right now, but if I ever watch a movie with you, ask me about it and I'll point those shots out to you.

American Film Institute Conservatory, here I come.

Entourage: A Math Lesson

Have you ever seen that show Entourage? (We'll label how often I watch the show variable x and the show itself variable z) The one about an up-and-coming Hollywood movie star living with his washed-out former-actor brother, his bestfriend/manager, and his driver/childhood friend/pot dealer?

This is gonna sound stupid, but since this is one of the new shows I've gotten into heavily, I've learned a lot about the actor/manager/agent/director/writer relationship(s). Granted, it is a TV show, but nonetheless it is supposed to generate a simplified portrayal of the backstages of show biz.

Now cut to Kenny Stewart. We'll label him variable y. Straight A's. FCAT Writes 6.0. Writer of the Year in 8th grade. For as long as I can remember, I've been told I have a skill with words. I'm not being pompous, I'm just stating that as a fact. I HAVE been told that since for as long as my memory will let me to recall. I've always had an intrinsic motivation to write creatively, to write elaborately, to write. (Hence this blog.)

Now, the math lesson begins. What happens when you perform the function y varies directly as Kenny watches (x) Entourage (z)? You get y=kxz. This means that the more I watch the show (x) combined with the show itself (z), the more I (y) want to become a screenwriter.

I feel like because I was granted the gift of vocabulary, syntax, and grammar, I have to apply it toward something. However, I've noticed that the best films are the independent ones that not many people have seen or the ones that feel independent but everybody's seen them. Another way that great movies are made is when the writers themselves are in the movie, because they feel more of a connection to the characters. My favorite movie is Good Will Hunting. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote this movie, and they both played lead roles. Though an award-winning film, every time I watch it, I feel as if it's something only I've seen and I'm special enough to watch. This is what a good movie is supposed to do. This is why indie flicks are the best flicks. Not to say that I don't like hyped up movies like Step Brothers, The Hangover, 300, etc. But they don't have the same quality of plot that indies have, the same texture. So in a way, I'm saying I wouldn't want my films to be mass-produced.

Oh yeah, I'm also kind of a math wiz. Congratulations, you now understand the show Entourage in terms of algebraic variation functions.

The Rootbeer Chronicles, Pt. 2

So since our last trip to Mazzaro's, my parents have taken to buying me bottles of root beer to taste test. This time, my parents got me IBC Root Beer, Virgil's Microbrewed Root Beer, and Boylan Root Beer.

-IBC Root Beer Ingredients: High Fructose Corn Syrup, Caramel Coloring
-Virgil's Microbrewed Root Beer Ingredients: Licorice, Vanilla (Bourbon), Cinnamon, Molasses, Nutmeg
-Boylan Root Beer Ingredients: Pure cane sugar, Caramel Coloring, Yucca extract
-Verdict:Boylan's Root Beer was the best. It wasn't Bulldog quality (see The Rootbeer Chronicles), but it was decent. It had an odd taste that was still relatively delicious. The Virgil's Microbrewed Root Beer was alright, but the licorice flavor was very prominent, and I'm not a fan of licorice. However, all of the other spices made it rather enjoyable. The IBC shouldn't even be called root beer. It had no remote root beer flavors or ingridients. It was like drinking carbonated cough syrup. Not cool.

I think this Chronicle's main factor was flavoring ingredients. IBC contained none, ergo it had absolutely no taste. Virgil's was licorice, which gave it the very candy, bitter-sweet licorice taste and Boylan had yucca, which is a tropical root plant that can be very sweet.

For more info on the listed sodas, click links below:
Boylan Root Beer
Virgil's Microbrewed Root Beer
IBC Root Beer

Photography/Art

As I said before, I've been getting increasingly interested in photography, Photoshop, and computer animation. I recently went around taking pictures with my phone camera, which is better than my stupid digital camera. Below I've posted the artsy-edited-modified pictures I took. If you want to see more of the stuff I've edited click here.

Wow.

It's been quite some time since I last posted but here's the rapid-fire scoop on what I've been up to lately:

-I've decided I'm going to start collecting novel tees. Just anything I see that tickles my fancy. I'm so tired of all the logo and regular tees that I see people wear everyday. I want shirts that mean something or represent an organization. Or shirts that just look cool, but no more just plain "Volcom" or "Nike".


-I've declared that I'm moderately out of shape but I'm stuck in a niche. I'm too lazy to exercise regularly and I love my current diet (or lack thereof). I wish I had a gym membership to make use of. I guess I have no excuse; we have a treadmill, a pull up bar, dumbbells, and anyone can do push ups or sit ups. But when you think about it, the gym environment is just a much better place to exercise: there are no distractions there, no food to tempt you, and no homework to use as an excuse. I also started and online P.E. class as a graduation requirement that requires I do 6 hours of physical activity a month. Obviously I could fake it, but it makes me realize how out-of-shape I am.


-I'm very conflicted as to what I want to do about college/career/post-school. I've had it embedded in my mind that I'm going to do one of two things: 1. Go to an Ivy League college (Preferably one of the big three; Harvard, Yale, or Princeton), get into a top notch Med School, and become a neurosurgeon. However the setbacks there are enormous. I would have to go through AT LEAST 8 years of school, a residency, and a training. That would be almost 12 years of school, innumerable amount of loans, and I'd be up to my ears in work. 2. Start taking voice lessons and get into FSU College of Music for either Vocal Music Education or Vocal Performance. However, even kids who take voice lessons for years don't get in and there is FIERCE competition, which is quite discouraging. Unfortunately, my parents would only consider voice lessons if I'm positive this is what I want to do. Unfortunately I'm so darned indecisive.


-I've been expanding my musical tastes extensively: I've recently started listening to Phish, which is a heavily Grateful Dead-influenced psychedelic funk-rock jam band. I've been watching videos of guitar techniques and piano soloing ideas. I'm also very proud to announce that due to perseverance by me and a friend, we are having AP Music Theory as a class next year. It will increase my musical abilities tremendously, not to mention increase my chances of getting into FSU Music.

We'll see...