Bay Ridge MASSIVE!

Verrazano Narrows Bridge,
originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

As most now, I live in the part of Brooklyn known as Bay Ridge. I really like it. It's right by the water, there are families. It's pretty low-key. There's also a lot of history in this region, which I didn't know about until a bike ride along the shore.

Of course, there's the massive Verrazano Narrows Bridge, which connects Brooklyn to Staten Island. At first, I thought it was the LONGEST BRIDGE IN THE WORLD. However, I've recently found out that it's the longest bridge in the USA.

Going to the Toronto Film Festival this year?

Some of my favourite memories of Toronto is being the annual Toronto International Film Festival. I attended every single year from about 1995 until I moved to the USA in 2002, and unfortunately the festival always happens during school time. It's perhaps my greatest aspiration to have one of my films show there. That is one of my measures of success.

Anyways, one of prof's films will be screened this year. His name is Jay Anania, and his film is Day On Fire. Don't know much about it, but he was very stressed during production last winter, and one of my classmates has a small role in it.

I spoke with Jay last night, and he's definitely going to be there for the screenings. He was also taking calls from his assistant who was with the colour timer, and a proper sound mix wasn't even done yet. But, it will get done. So if you're bored, go and check out his movie. After the Q&A, tell him I sent you. For real.

For screenings and tickets go here.

I saw the Kid that Saw Dead People

Apparently, Haley Joel Osment is now a student at Tisch. I think M. Night Shyamalan pulled some strings for him.

Manatees are so hot (and smart too!)

Our poor friend the roly-poly manatee is having a renaissance as of late. Getting respect for finally not being as dimwitted as once believed. I didn't know this, but the manatee doesn't eat animals. Also, no one eats manatee!

Huzzah for the manatee, our cute, portly, misunderstood friend.

Boot Camp

Classes formally start next week, but this week we started on our "Writing Boot Camp". Basically, it's a chance to workshop our 10-minute scripts for faculty and class mates in a constructive setting. The idea is to get our screenplays very strong so that when classes start, we just focus on producing, casting etc...

I was dreading it because, quite frankly, I think my story sucks. Everyone shared their ideas, and we read a few completed scripts. Some of them are pretty good.

After class I met up with the prof, and we discussed my idea more in depth. I pretty much knew the weaknesses in it, and we found some solutions to the problems. I came out of the meeting with a stronger story, and a direction in which to take it. So, I feel somewhat at ease of my idea, because I feel that it is filmable.

Either way, today is the beginning of a massive undertaking. Stay-tuned.

Screw Pluto (ignore previous post)

Although it's great to see Pluto dominating International newspapers, and generating so much interest amongst the general public (myself included), it really is kind of useless news. Yes, it affects people's funding, and yes, textbooks will have to be changed. At the end of the day, the whole Pluto thing boils down to semantics. There is no new science.

What is far more important, and what is a real discovery is the fact that not all stars in globular clusters are of the same age. Globular clusters are just spherically shaped groups of stars that orbit the core of a galaxy. It was originally thought that globular clusters were some of the earliest objects accreted in a newly formed galaxy, and were the same age. The new research clearly shows a variation in the age of stars within a cluster. In short, everything I know is wrong.

Globular clusters are sometimes useful in determining the Age of the Universe, but these new results probably will not affect the accepted values for the age of the things by too much.

Poor Pluto (an ode to an ex-gf)

I once dated a girl that was in love with Pluto. She knew everything about Pluto, and would rattle off stats about "Percival Lowell who discovered Pluto at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona".

We had this one astronomy prof who belonged to a small minority (at the time) of people that refused to recognize Pluto as being a planet. She would get so upset whenever Pluto came up and vowed to never take a class taught by this prof. I'd try to persuade her to take it (it was required), but she'd say "No Way! Jeez, he doesn't think that Pluto is a planet. Imagine what else he's wrong about!"

As it turns out, the astro nerds have decided that Pluto is not a planet. That girl must have her head in the oven today. Then again, she also claimed to have been an alien, so maybe she's long gone.

Here's also a really nice/funny op-ed about the drama concerning Pluto.

More Signs that I am old

I went to Canada's Wonderland today, which is the equivalent to a Six Flags type amusement park.

Went on most of the roller-coasters and a few of the other thrill rides. There is this one called Shockwave (pictured above) and that was a mistake. I still feel nauseus and dizzy. I'm not kidding.

I also feel old since I kept on thinking about all of the physics involved: conservation of energy, conservation of angular momentum.,etc...

There is such thing as too much fan.

Perserverance

I recently heard the story of a friend from high school. As long as I can remember, she always wanted to be a dentist. That is a completely questionable desire, but hey who am I?

Anyways, a clever girl she busted her ass through high-school and did quite well. Went off to a good university, applied to dental schools and got rejected. Kept on working, but never lost sight of dental school. Rejected over and over and over. I think it's been at least 5 years.

Anyhoo, apparently she finally got in this year and starts in September. I probably would have given up long ago, but I'm glad to know that there are still a few people that still believe in themselves, are willing to put in the work and suffer a bit to achieve their goals.

Here's to them and hopefully you.

The Best Ball Players Ever

At the game last night, they handed out those perforated carboard ballots that they usually hand out for all-star voting. I was like "huh? The All-Star Game was back in July!". Anyways, it turns out that it's a new list that MLB is trying to do: Who are the best players ever to play for each franchise?

An interesting list, which I can't even imagine beginning to compile, especially for storied teams like the Yankees, Red Sox etc...

As I was casting my votes, I realized that it's really tough to do this. I mean, there's no doubt that Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson etc... they were all great players. Or so I've been told. I haven't had the opportunity to really see them play before my eyes. Like I *KNOW* that Ken Griffey Jr is incredible. I *KNOW* that Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens are dominating pitchers. I guess, I wish I could have seen all of the 'greats' play on a field, such that I'd have a greater appreciation for them.

You can see the list here. There are a few interesting things:
- Greg Maddux doesn't appear for the Braves, but John Smoltz does.
-Randy Johnson doesn't appear for the Mariners, but for the Diamondbacks.
-Pete Rose appears for the Reds. Could this be a sign from MLB to let things go?
-Nolan Ryan appears both for the Astros and the Rangers.
-Marc McGwire doesn't appear for the Cards or the Athletics.
-Barry Bonds appears, which I think is great.
-The Nationals, I'm assuming also had the Expos past to draw from. Why wasn't Andre Dawson included?

Now for the Jays: Pat Hentgen, Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter, Tony Fernandez and Dave Stieb.
Joe Carter and Tony Fernandez are shoe-ins. Dave Stieb is questionable. Alomar and Hentgen definitely don't belong on that list. Alomar was a supreme douchebag. Hentgen wasn't dominating.

Because of these glaring ommissions, I wrote in George Bell(which should have been a no-brainer). I also think Fred McGriff, Jesse Barfield and Roy Halladay deserved to be on this list.

What do you think are the good choices, and not so good choices for your team?

Gratuitous Cute Cat Entry

IMG_5930.JPG,
originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

I never thought that I'd be passing around photos of cats, but here it is.
This little guy is my sister's, and his name is "Moo Moo". An all round cutey, he's really interested in running water.

I shall never post another cat picture. Mark my words.

I went to the fights tonight, and a baseball game broke out!

High Drama at Skydome tonight.

The Jays laid into the Athletics in the first few innings, hammering out 8 runs going into the 3rd inning. Somehow the A's came back with a bunch of solo HR's and kept on coming. The Boss comes out to give Ted Lilly the hook, and some choice words occurred between the two. All of it to see up on the massive screen in the stadium. Not sure what they were arguing about since Lilly should have been yanked after giving up a comfortable lead. Using my masterful lip reading powers, I clearly saw a 'Fack aff' from Lilly.

With the relief warming, the manager followed Lilly to the tunnel where they physically duked it out. Gibbons emerged back to the dugout with a bloody nose.

Look for Lilly to be sent down in the coming hours.

(the Jays lost, in the end).

I'm all set for the New Fall Fashions

According to various reports from the world's red carpets and runways, I will be at the height of fashion this year. Hats (which, if you know me, I'm always wearing), and thick eyebrows are all the rage.

Don't hate me because you want to be me.

Bottom of the Pack

Maclean's Magazine, which is like a Canadian version of Time or US News puts out an annual ranking of all the Canadian Universities. As in the USA, these rankings have become points of shame/pride amongst students and schools. However, there have been a lot of people on both sides of the border questioning the validity and honesty of such rankings and just how useful they are. The good thing is that a lot of the big schools in Canada are choosing to not deal with Maclean's anymore. I think the whole ranking system in the USA and Canada needs to be revised or just completely done away with. The only way this can be done is if the top schools refuse to deal with the rankings. Students should be concerned with getting an education that suits their needs rather than the brand name.

The Greatest New Show

Reason to get cable

The Sweater

The National Film Board of Canada has finally gone through their vaults and digitized a lot of their awesome animated shorts. Most of them were just impossible to view, and to have them so readily available is really a great treat.

My favourite has to be Sheldon Cohen's "The Sweater", based on the childhood story of Roch Carrier. I hadn't seen this since grade 5, and honestly I think it still holds up today. The story concerns a young boy in rural Quebec that plays hockey with all his friends, all of them donning the very same Maurice "Rocket" Richard Montreal Canadiens jersey. Soon, the guy's jersey becomes way too old and small so his moms goes through Eaton's (R.I.P.)catalogue and orders him a new one. What comes in the mail a few weeks later is not a red, white and blue Canadiens jersey, but a blue and white Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. Mon dieu! His mother forces him to wear it, and he must deal with the fall-out.

The animation is just impeccable. The film elevates to a folk-art with it's caricatures and fluid transformations between people, places and things. Also, Roch's francophone accent is so beautiful.

This film is a national treasure, and YOU MUST WATCH IT HERE.

The Coolest Record Store in the World?

On a recent tour of the East Village, a friend and I checked out Hospital Productions. The self described "shrine for noise and black metal", which I am not a fan of either per se. I like my metal doom or death.

Anyways, it's a pretty cool little joint. You have to literally go through another record store (Jammyland), go to the back, climb down this rickety old ladder, **ask a guy for an egg, give a secret handshake, and say "Blaze in the Northern Sky", then this secret vault appears**. OK, everything between the ** is false, but you do have to go down a ladder at the back of some other store.

What you'll find there in the space equivalent to my bedroom, is bins and racks of noise and black metal (as advertized), and the helpful proprietor. The dude, who is also in his own band, is an all round good guy. Although they didn't have what I was looking for, some old Impaled Nazarene he had a good stock of stuff. I ended up buying some Wolf Eyes.

I wish duder well in actually trying to fill a niche market. Good for him.

Zen and the Art of Cashing In

I read 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' as part of my 1st year Philosophy course back in undergrad, and it completely blew my mind. It really changed the way I thought about science, and I became enamored with this value of quality. I haven't read the book since then, and I really do wonder how I would think of it after all my physics training.

'Lila' the book after Zen, never really was as popular. A copy is sitting on our bookshelf, about half way read. The problem with 'Lila' is just that it's not so well written. It's really heavy-handed, whereas Zen read like a road story with quick little diversions.

Phaedrus himself, Robert Pirsig, has recently resurfaced to push the new re-issued 'Lila'.

It's a kind of shame, because I like my recluses to remain reclusive like Terrence Malick, J.D. Salinger. They keep it real.

On the Road Again

IMG_5840.jpg,
originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

With the summer dwindling away really quickly, and classes finally ending yesterday, I decided to take a bike ride from my place in Bay Ridge Brooklyn all the way to Central Park. I decided to follow the 4th-Ave subway route into the city over the Manhattan Bridge.

Passing through some of the 'hoods in Brooklyn, I got to see so many things that I never get to see on the subway. I felt a better understanding of the diversity involved. The stank of Chinatown, the radical-chic of the East Village, the madness of Mid-town. I felt one with all of the bike couriers.

Anyways, I've posted a few pics from my trip on my new flickr page.

Feed Me Seymour, Feed Me

My spies told me about this freaky plant that's on display at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. The rare event has this flower blossoming and smelling like dead bodies. Scary!

Perhaps, I'll check this out while I've got a c-47 on my nose.

Snob Movie Review: Miami Vice

Michael Mann treads a very similar aesthetic path in Miami Vice as he did "Collateral" a few years ago. It still kicks ass though. Filming mostly at night once again with a hot colour pallette, you can feel the steam in Miami. The Director of Photography, Dion Beebe, will probably be forgotten come Oscar time, but he's done great work here.

Instead of an opening title sequence, Mann gets right down to business putting us in a pulsing club with Crocket & Tubbs as they negotiate the underground crime syndicates.

Much like the great TV-Series, the plot is a bit run-of-the-mill, but Mann is able to throw in a few twists to always keep us interested.

My only qualms are Colin Farrell's awful hair, and the casting of the stunning Gong-Li. The former looks really dumb, while the latter looks like a fish out of water in some of the more dramatic moments on screen.

Make no mistake, this is a well made and entertaining summer movie.

Trailers for Books

Apparently, all the rage in the tough publishing industry is to make video trailers for your books. Get people interested in your story by showing them a glimpse of what the story's about, and hopefully they will go and fork over some cash for the hardcopy. The Times has an article on this trend. They get film students to make them on a budget. Cheap labour for the publishers, something to add to the reel of a film student. Mutually beneficial.

I actually did let the publishers know that I was interested, and they did send the three books over. Nice covers (i.e I haven't opened any of them yet). I still don't know if I will have time to even carry out the production of this trailer even if I won (which is slim), but maybe I'll try on whim. You've got to submit a script and a storyboard for them.

The books look to be geared towards young adults, and they should be sending a few more picture books. I think that will be more interesting.

Chuck Norris Bridge

The whole Chuck Norris thing is completely done in my books. I'm not even gonna pretend to post a picture.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that still think it's the cat's meow.

More unfortunate, are the poor Hungarian people that built a new bridge and opened the naming of it to the internet. By the recent vote casting, Chuck won't win, but if this thing spreads around the world, jeez, the possibilities....

What would Nell Carter Say To This?

NYU is planning to build a big 26 floor dorm right in the East Village (a few blocks from Campus). It seems that a lot of the locals are angry.

PUH-LEASE! Greenwich Village/East Village residents are perhaps the richest people in the city paying huge amounts of rent, or sometimes very little rent in their controlled buildings. The Bohemian life that made that whole area cool in the first place (remember the glory days of RENT?) no longer exists amongst the overcrowded bars, chic boutiques and trendy eateries.

It's called a free market, homies.

Snob Music Review: TV On The Radio: Return to Cookie Mountain

I first learned about TV On The Radio when they opened for legendary The Fall in Chicago back in 2003. The crowd was filled with a bunch of old punk rockers, which didn't really care for them. In all honesty, they weren't that great, but you could see the potential. Their 'Young Liars' EP came out, and then their first LP 'Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes' dropped. The latter getting a ton of acclaim. I didn't like it. I thought it lacked a focus, and at times was just boring.

The Brooklyn-reppin TVOTR's 'Return to Cookie Mountain' is already released in other parts of the world, but won't get a domestic (US/Canada) release until September. It's well worth a steal (then buy it when it comes out), because it's awesome. Their avant-garde tendencies somehow workout this time. Parts of jazz, soul, electronic, harmonizing vocals and straight up indie-rock really come together really nicely. It's definitely the most original music I've heard in a long time.

Hog Butcher of the World

I spent last weekend in Chicago, and (as expected) I had a great time. A lot has changed in the year that I have been gone, mostly for the better. However, the racial polarity is still such a problem.

The near-South Side is being rejuvenated and there seems to be a bit more Sox caps around town. Where did that Pink line come from?! Looks like a waste of time.

Had some really good times with the group of wacky people that I'm lucky enough to call friends. What struck me was the pace of the city, which is much much slower than what I've come accustomed too. Walk faster you Midwestern folk!