Building the Collection

Okay, yes. I did go on a hiatus for quite a while. I guess I should have expected my viewers to drop off a bit. I really wanted some response to that question though. Oh well, that’s the price I pay for having to turn my focus away from here. We’ll get back to this here in a few minutes, because as of right now I’ve wrapped up my first week of classes.

I’m rather pleased with how everything looks this semester. Most all my classes seem interesting. I’m still on the fence with that Media Law class, but it looks like I stand to learn a little about copyright law, which would be pretty nice because I’m evidently confused on how long the process takes. I’ve got a couple of pieces of music that have been sitting in the ole government processor since about 2008. That seem a bit long to anybody else? Yea, me too. Haven’t checked up on it in a long time, but I know it’s still in queue.

Anyways…classes.
As anticipated, Audio Production looks like it will be some good fun. The professor is fun, and she’s got 4 projects planned for us. Better even, our T.A. that teaches the lab essentially told us, “I don’t really know yet what she has planned for you, but I want to get y’all into Pro Tools…Audition sucks.” Good news, hopefully I can fill in some of the gaps in my Pro Tools knowledge this semester.
Film Style Production looks like it will be a blast as well. We’ve got another 4 projects planned in there, and if I finally get myself some editing software, that means that I can probably avoid having to use the lab facilities too much. A couple of the projects are group projects, and while my faith in humanity has been somewhat restored, I don’t know if I could have the luck that I did with my Recalibration group. Luck like that is hard to come by, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Speaking of the Recalibration crew, I’m hoping we can get a production meeting set up soon, so that we can start working on that podcast within the next 2 weeks or so. I’m really keeping my fingers crossed for that one. I think this podcast will be a good way to keep my sanity up here.

Cinema Verite seems like it will be pretty interesting. It feels like the subject matter will be very similar to the Documentary History class I took last semester with the same professor, but this time around we will be focusing more on style, methodology, and ideology. This class should really be helpful for getting into the heads of some of the filmmakers we will be studying, an opportunity I don’t want to pass up.
There will be a lot of screenings and lecture, but it all should prove pretty insightful.

As I haven’t met with my Film Style Lab yet, that’s all I know up to this point. Feels like it’s going to be a fun semester.

Now…last week I asked y’all a question, What is your favorite Sci-Fi movie? I get it, it’s a new year, and plenty of work to be done. I ask the question because, after my Sci-Fi class last semester, I realize that I very greatly need to add to my personal Sci-Fi collection. If I’m going to be a Sci-Fi film buff, my collection needs to be a lot bigger than my 15-20 flicks that currently fit in the category.

Seeing as I just had a birthday, and Christmas, I had some spending cash to throw around over break. Needless to say, I expanded my inventory. Limited funding though, so I could only pick out a few from my list.

That list is:

The Alien Series
The Terminator Series
The Fly (not sure whether I want to pick up the ’58 version or the ’86 version first)
12 Monkeys
Gattaca (by a friends suggestion)
Total Recall (the original, I need to see it before I see the new remake, which most tell me is an abomination)

and finally, the new gem of my collection…

Blade Runner: the Final Cut

This is why I posed the question…I wanted to try and spark a debate over the best Sci-Fi movie of all time. Just as well though, there is only one right answer…Blade Runner. It’s got everything, how could you not love it?

Anyways, from that list I decided to pick up Alien, Aliens, Blade Runner……..Gattaca, Terminator, and Total Recall…and for what its worth I also picked up Book of Eli and Sherlock Holmes (the Robert Downey Jr. version), just because I need a little variety.

I’ve got some good projects and some good entertainment to keep me occupied for a while here. Hopefully not too much though, I’d like to keep this thing going for a good while.
Well, I don’t know what the plan is for next time, but I’ve got a lot of stuff popping up, so I’ll be sure to have something interesting to speak on. Until then.

Keep your heads up, your minds sharp, and your hearts open.

– CVSleen

Homemade Bacon, Blue Cheese, and Jalapeño Burger.

The Shot List

I’m not sure if I’m ready for this break to end. In one hand, I’ve still got some things that I want to accomplish before school starts back up. On the other, I’ve got some production classes to look forward to, and I’m anxious to get back to that. Well, I say I’ve got things that I still want to accomplish, but mainly that’s just spending some Christmas money.

There is one thing though, I really wanted to finally try and get a tattoo before school starts back up. I thought that I had a design in mind…

…something like that, but I wanna add some speakers and some film strip to it for lettering. I guess I’m still trying to figure out what I want.
And, perhaps I’m still too chicken shit to go and do it. I’ve had a friend say that she’d go with me when I wanted to go, but I’m still not ready to commit without a better idea of what I want to have done. So once again, I may be sitting on this one for a while.

I also might have a project to work on before I go back, now that I’m thinking about it. I got a call from an old boss that wants a short little promo video done for the golf course that I used to work at, and the first person he thought of was me. Pretty cool. I was supposed to get a call back yesterday with more details, but that came and went, so we’ll see if this pans out at all. If it does, hey, maybe I can start letting my skills pay for themselves a little.

So, other than that, what am I looking forward to in the coming months? Here’s a list of the classes I’m taking:

RTVF 3210-001 Audio Production
RTVF 3230-001 Film Style Production
RTVF 4320-003 Electronic Media Law & Regulations
RTVF 4550-001 Cinema/Video Verite

I’ll explain what some of those classes are once we get syllabuses and stuff, but it’s a pretty nice 12 hours that should keep me plenty busy. Syllabuses…syllabi…sylla…eh? I don’t know.

I also will probably be starting up a project that I’ve been wanting to try and attempt doing for a couple of years now, a podcast. The guy that played the main character in my latest film, Recalibration, has an idea for a show that he’s only executed several occasions before, when he’s had people willing to do it. Well, the four of us that work on the film all were interested, so we are planning on starting up a weekly podcast once we all get back and start classes again. I’m kinda psyched about that. The format won’t be all that dissimilar to the Rooster Teeth Podcast. No points for originality for us, but something that I’ve learned that Hollywood seems to be doing spectacular at right now, “You don’t have to be original to be entertaining.”

There is also the possibility of a small non-profit production that might occur in late March that I may or may not be helping with. I’m not trying to sound intentionally vague here. What I mean to say is that I’ll participate if the project directors can dot all their I’s and cross all their T’s. I may not have much more than a consulting role, and I really don’t want to consult on anything that isn’t well coordinated. I’m still waiting to see how that one pans out.

It’s nice to see stuff stacking up on the calendar though. Even though idle time is nice, there is only so much a creative mind can take before it starts to go rampant. That’s what’s nice about winter break: not too short and not too long. That…and the snow…

Yep, we had a White Christmas this year. The one day North Texas gets a decent amount of snowfall and it happens to be on Christmas. Sometimes, things just work out perfectly.

You might have noticed that I was out of town last week. Well, after we had this lovely little episode of snow on Christmas, we headed south the day after with our targets set on Port Aransas, Texas. Spent a week down there with one goal in mind: Relax. Mission achieved, and got a few cool pics while I was at it.

I always told Morgan we were going places, and now we have. Won’t be our last exotic photo session, but that’s all we have for today.

Before I go though, I have a question, which relates to next weeks post…or whenever I get around to it…

What is your favorite Science Fiction film?

I’ll be diving into the Sci-Fi genre in the next post, and I’d love to kinda “poll the audience” before jumping in feet first. You can either leave a response here, or wherever you’re attached to me with social media. I have links to both my Twitter and my Facebook on the toolbar to the <left< here, so don’t be shy, and drop me a line. Until next time…

Keep your heads up, your minds sharp, and your hearts open.

– CVSleen

An egg fried medium, with a little garlic salt and steak seasoning, muenster cheese, and a little bacon, between two pieces of sun-dried tomato bread. A variation on what we call, “The Art Burger.”