Snob Music Review: The Golden Upturned Nose Awards - Music Division

I can't say that I listened to a lot of music this year, or at least not a lot of new music. Also, most of the new stuff has been of the indie-rock hipster variety. I'm going to try to change that next year.

I reckon this year has been more of a 'where's the beef?' kind of thing, as I found most big releases disappointing: Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Feist... all of them were duds in my books.

Anyways, here's a list of the albums that I listened to the most, and thus worthy of the coveted Golded Upturned Nose Award - Music Division:

LCD Soundsystem- "Sound of Silver"
The National - "Boxer"
Spoon - "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"
Panda Bear - "Person Pitch"
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - "Once Soundtrack"
The Most Serene Republic - "Populatiaon"
Do Make Say Think - "You, You're a History in Rust"

We thanks all of those that submitted their work for consideration.

It Takes Two To Make A Thing Go Right...

True Subatomic Fans will know of my affinity for all that has to with units and constants.

Thus, we were happy to read this interesting article about the three natural constants that are all we need to define pretty much everything in the physical universe.

Of course, there's our good ole pal c, the velocity of light. Then there's h, the work-horse Planck's Constant. If you didn't know, Planck's Constant gives the ability to calculate the energy of a certain frequency of light. Then there's also G, the gravitational constant.

I never really thought about other constants, but when I do, I can totally see how all other constants can be understood in terms of these three (or two depending on how you look at it).

Perhaps there's no new physics involved here, but at least it's changed the way I think of these constants, what they mean, and how astonishingly simple (yet it isn't at all) the Universe is.

In Transit

Midnight at IAD
Originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

My voyage back to Toronto turned into a big debacle, and involved me spending the night in Washington-Dulles airport. That sucked. A lot.

Now I am back at my parent's place in Toronto, and things are fine. I've been sleeping at least 9 hour days and just sorta hanging out. For the first time in a while, I feel that I can enjoy myself, free from stress.

So I will.

Climbing Mountains

Today, a massive personal accomplishment happened. My writing partner and I finished the first draft of our feature screenplay!

I would say that we started at the end of the summer, and it's taken us this long. It's a relief, as I set it as a goal and it was achieved.

I'm also happy in terms of it being a first draft. I mean, there are tons more work to do with it, but as one of my writing teachers says about first drafts: don't get it right, get it written.

Now comes the arduous process of rewriting and then trying to get it made!

Snob Music Review: Radiohead: In Rainbows

Is it just me, or does this album kinda suck?

Church of St Luke & St Matthew

Church of St Luke & St Matthew
Originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

It's been a really busy couple of days. The semester is winding down, and with it comes deadlines and commitments.

I worked on a 2nd Year shoot for the past couple of days. Yesterday, we shot in the Church of St Luke & St Matthew in Brooklyn. It is absolutely beautiful, but sadly it's deteriorating. I bet about 50 years ago, it was as grand as any of the 'big' churches in this city.

This weekend is going to be absolutely crazy though, with the amount of work that has to be done. However, it should have moments of big fun.

Crazy Cat Problem #3

Watching Snow Flakes
Originally uploaded by Ewwwww.

My crazy cat Theo told me that he had a dream last night that he (AKA ‘little baby’) was enormous, and I shrank extremely small to mass m. Theo turned me into a cat toy by attaching a spring (with some spring constant k) to my back and suspending the spring vertically from a door knob. He held me in his paw such that the spring was not stretched. He lets go, making me oscillate to a max distance of 20cm from the release point. If I oscillate at more than 1 Hz, I will lose my grip and fall into Theo’s giant claws. Are Theo’s dreams of play or homicide?

Baadasssss!

Autographed!
Originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

The department hosted the legendary Melvin Van Peebles tonight. The man, I can truly say without any hyperbole, is one of the greatest individuals in the history of mankind. A true renaissance man.

His bio just can't even begin to touch on some of the fascinating tales (some of which he brought out tonight).

I mean, he self taught himself how to make movies, moved off to Mexico, moved back to San Francisco where he worked on the city's trolley's wrote a book with photos about his experience. That caused him to move to Holland and work on a PhD in Celestial Mechanics. While there, his shorts got some attention in France so he moved there. Wrote a few books, made a few films. Moved back to States and completely revolutionized the American film industry with 'Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song'. Then moved to New York and became a trader on Wall Street, wrote some Tony award winning plays, wrote some more books, collaborate with some rappers... etc...
completely CRAZY.

But he is a complete original. No bullshit, no pretense just genuine curiosity and passion.

He treated us with an unfinished cut of his new film, literally straight from the editing room. As usual, it had some moments of complete genius.

I played lame fan and got my DVD signed.

Definitely a night to remember.

Most Anticipated Movie Of Next Year

I've always thought that Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle to be one of the most underrated comedies of our time. Quite honestly, it was truly original and treated minorities with respect but a sense of humour.

Beneath the humour was a subversive tale of the American Dream and 1st generation immigrant issues.

I didn't even know that a sequal was in the works, but it looks like the dudes that wrote the original directed the second one. The title is brilliant: Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.

Come on, check out the genius teaser poster with NPH on a unicorn!

Keep on Truckin'

trailers.jpg
Originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

The Subatomic Films office visited our Pennsylvania Bureau for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time eating and playing board games and poker. Fun Fun.

Now back to reality, and the reality is that I have my Thesis Table reading on Wednesday afternoon. Faculty is trying to make it a big deal, and there's a lot of production money available so I kinda have to do a good job.

What happens at a table reading is that actors usually sit down around a table and literally read your script out loud. This is fundamentally flawed, especially in cinema where it's usually the visuals and not the dialogue that is important, but so be it.

So I reckon the whole thing is just an exercise in screenwriting, which is fine. So the last week or so, I've been trying to track down actors that are willing to do a table reading for a film that will probably shoot in a couple of years. That's been the toughest part.

But it's coming together and rehearsals start tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.

Crazy Cat Problems

Resting
Originally uploaded by Ewwwww.

In the physics class that I'm teaching, I've been told to create a problem each week for the students to solve.

Here is last week's:
"My crazy cat, Theo (aka “little baby”), convinces me to go bungee jumping. He leads me to a bridge that is 60m above molten lava. Before going on this trip, I go on a diet and slim down to 75kg. The bungee cord is 15m long and has a spring constant of k= 50 N/m. Does Theo love me, or want to see the end of me?"

Here is this week's:
"My crazy cat, Theo (aka “little baby”), steals my girlfriend’s Saturn and picks up a few General Physics I Students for a joy-ride. They figure out that the braking distance from 60km/h is 20m.

They head up the BQE and spot me 150m away. Theo decides to steer right at me and speeds up to 120 km/h. When they are 100m away my girlfriend shows up. In that instant, a nameless A+ Gen Phys I Student convinces Theo to hit the brakes.

Assume that the maximum braking force is independent of speed. Use the Kinetic Energy-Work Theorem to figure out if I owe my life to the nameless A+ Gen Phys I Student."

Solve them, if you dare.

Know Your Enemies

As most people know, I hate lobsters. I don't eat them, I don't like to look at them. I've never trusted them.

Now, I know I was right, and I hope people will pay attention to me when I urge them to leave lobsters in the sea.

Check out this.

Putting the Star back in 'Rock Star'

Somehow we missed this one originally, but Brian May, the guitarist for Queen, wrote his PhD back in August in astronomy.

I was kinda surprised, and thought it was a PR stunt, but it's for real. Apparently, back in tha day he was writing his dissertation but left it alone to become a rock star. He finally got around to finishing it up, which is really cool. His thesis is called "A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud"

Once again, I thought it may still have been a stunt, so I did some more research.

The good news is that he's legitimately a nerd. On his site, he posts quite passionately about astronomy and posts pictures that he's taken of stellar objects. Definitely worth a visit.

Truly Indie

Indie horror auteur Larry Fessenden came to our class today and spoke about his career.

It was really fascinating as here is someone that has mostly made all of his films outside of the studio system, with his own money. He's been able to eek out a lifestyle from his own films and the small production company that he started.

Lately, we get caught up with trying to sell a movie to some studio or get some big time producer to snatch it up, or get actors tied to a script. It's very refreshing and inspiring to see that it is possible to make feature films that people will watch with a couple thousand dollars and a seven person crew.

Obnoxious Cat Post #2: More proof for my thoughts

Couch Potato
Originally uploaded by Ewwwww.

Every morning we wake up to our cat meowing at 7:15am. It's kind of interesting because he works like clockwork. Every day. He has no concept of weekends. He's gotten so bold that he'll jump into bed and munch on us until we wake up (i.e. and feed him).

Poor fella.

This weekend though, we put the clocks back, so poor Theo was waking us up at 6:15am. Smokestack has no concept of daylight savings time! It truly is an unnatural and ridiculous convention. One in which, the universe could do without. I also preach the elimination of all time zones.

My First (and Goal)

Well I can finally strike off another one off of my "things to do before I die" list. I finally went to an NFL game!

We made the trek out to the Meadowlands to see the NY Jets lose to the Washington Redskins, in OT.

I went to a few CFL games growing up in Toronto, but let's be honest that game is not taken seriously in the city, despite the fact that the Argonauts do quite well.

But I digress.

It was a great time! It was everything i was hoping it would be: crazy tailgaters, crazy/rabid fans, cold weather (it wasn't too bad though) and lots of memories.

I've lived in the US for over about 5 years now, and football is something that I'm just now trying to get into. It's a really tough sport to follow, as there are levels that must be followed, whether it's High School, College or NFL. It seems that it's nearly impossible to follow all of them. What I do like about the fans is that most fans aren't just fans of a single team, but they are just as likely to watch a game featuring two teams that they have no interest in. It's more of an appreciation of the game on a whole than allegiance to a team.

I'm going to try to follow the sport more and more. Maybe not to the level where I just sit on the couch all Sunday, but at least keep up with scores and websites.

My Future is Poverty

There are really interesting statistics coming out of Canada with respect to 2nd Generational young people (those with two immigrant parents) and their "integration" into the workplace vis-a-vis their income.

The study concludes that 2nd gen young women get paid MORE than their Canadian bred colleagues.

However, 2nd gen young men get paid considerably LESS than their Canadian bred colleagues.

The study seems legit taking into account geography and education.

Basically, Cakers still Run Tings.

The Science of Fall Folliage

Western Maryland
Originally uploaded by Ewwwww.

It's old news that trees don't 'turn' colours in fall. The green (cholorophyl) just goes away, and the colours that we see (reds, yellows, oranges) were there all along. This much is true. However, beyond that is still not understood.

Current work is showing that the soil that the trees are rooted in makes all the difference. The less nutrients in the soil, the more red the leaves will turn, as the trees try to mine as much energy as it can from the leaves heading into the winter.

So it makes sense that trees of similar colour are usually grouped together, as they share the same type of soil, as illustrated in this wide photo.

Communing with Nature

Western Maryland
Originally uploaded by Ewwwww.

Last weekend, the Subatomic Films office closed up shop and went over to Western Maryland for a wedding. Along the way, we stopped off in Pennsylvania and then drove through the mountains to reach our destination.

It was great to be in that part of the country during this time of year. So many wonderful trees at the peak of their colours. Fall Folliage!

We also found time to take in the Orionids Meteor Shower which was dazzling.

Thanks Mama Nature!

Hobnobbing with Stars/Teachers

My usual 'Directing the Actor' prof is Austin Pendleton. He's off in Chicago working on a play, so as his replacement we've got Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis! She is absolutely a screen legend, and did incredible work in some of my favourite movies (including this year's Away from Her). The good news is that Olympia is a fantastic teacher. I feel that I've learned a lot from her, and we all benefit from the small class. She gives such great insight into working with actors, and how to get interesting performances every time. She'll be with us for another couple of weeks.

Today I also had lunch with Brett Morgen, who graduated from Grad Film at NYU back in the 90's. He's pretty much the example of how the program should work. His thesis film (On the Ropes) was made on a shoestring and utilized the equipment and crew of NYU, but it made a huge splash getting nominated for an Academy Award. From that he's been able to write/direct/produce so many projects, mostly documentaries that challenge the form, and also tons of commercials. Incredibly intelligent, he told so many stories about the industry, how he got to where he is and how he intends to stay there.

All in all, a pretty interesting couple of days.

Snob Movie Review: Persepolis

Another early review, Persepolis opens Christmas Day under limited release.

Directed by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrape, and based on her book which is more of an autobiographical comic book, Persepolis is the best animated film to come out in many years. It won the Jury Prize at this Cannes this year, and was nominated for the Palme D'Or.

Don't be confused, this is no kids movie. This is a well crafted adult story, bursting with creativity. Marjane is a young girl that grows up in Iran during the revolution, moves to Vienna for high school, eventually returns to Iran, only to leave again, for good.

The trials and tribulations of an intelligent young lady, makes the story completely universal, but somehow completely unique. Filled with genuine emotion, and genuine laughs, the storytelling is what shines here.

However, it's also drawn so beautifully. With stark black and white, and backgrounds that nods to Fritz Lang and the early German silent films, the animation is wonderfully creative.

In person, I found the author to be a tad annoying, but the wonderful Catherine Deneuve (the Belle du Jour!) is still beautiful, and there were some legitimate tear eyed folks, most of them crusty old critics themselves.

Physics for the Birds

Pigeons
Originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

Flocks of pigeons is no surprise to any Brooklyn resident. Let's be honest, it doesn't matter where you live, there's always birds and most likely the travel in flocks.

I've always been amazed by the complexity of motion within the flock of birds. How do they know which way to turn and how do they all move so quickly in unison?

I've been reading up on various sources over the past years. Of course, know-it-all Cecil (my go to source for knowledge) has already tackled it.

Now, the physicists are getting in on it. Turns out, there's a lot of physics involved (don't be scared, the layperson can understand the article).

Dream Homes

Some dudes would love to have a massive HD TV in their homes. Some would rather have a nice kitchen. Tennis courts? Pools?

I'd love to have an observatory!

There's a serious movement amongst amateur astronomers to build observatories on to their homes. I'm pledging now: if I ever have the opportunity/cash, I will do the same.

Into the Fire

Today my thesis script was read for the first time in Michael Showalter's class. It's always awkward to hear your movie being read, but it's always informative.

The good news is that I feel that this draft is miles ahead of my first draft.

The bad news is that it still needs lots of work.
I think I'm just touching the surface of where I want to be with this thing.

This, however, is the beginning of a very long journey that will probably last a few years.

Prof. Steve Buscemi

Today, perhaps the most important actor in the history of independent cinema, Steve Buscemi, came to my directing class. Apparently, he's chums with Alexandre Rockwell (accomplished in his own right), my prof.

He watched our exercises, answered questions, showed clips from two of his favourite movies and talked about them.

I was struck by his earnest, and sincere comments about our work, his work and others work. Very insightful strategies and experiences was what he told us.

It was just great to hear one of the true legends in a very small and intimate environment relate honestly to a bunch of lowly folks, such as ourselves.

It gives me great pleasure when people are just as cool and interesting as you think they would be.

Reaping What has been Sown

So apparently, the US is the largest arms supplier in the world. Again. The message is clear, buy from us or we have problems.

This article just adds fuel to the debate about the US government's role in the world since 9/11. A great op-ed article also sheds light on the fear mongering that has dominated a lot of American politics in the past 6 years. Definitely a good read.

Sitting in the East Village

Yesterday, I had a great meeting with my directing prof (Alex Rockwell). I gotta admit, it was great just talking with him about my ideas and each other in general. It's always interesting to get to know teachers outside of the classroom. He gave me some really good feedback, like absolutely useable, defined notes.

Many years ago, when I was living in Toronto, I'd attend the Film Festival. I remember one year, the HOTTEST ticket was for a film called Four Rooms, equally directed by Tarantino, Rodriguez, Anders, and Alex Rockwell. The lineup was around the block, and I never got in. Who would have known that years from then, I'd be sitting in a cafe, a student of that guy.

Certified Genius

These days, there seems to be such an influx of awards, that seem to celebrate mediocrity. The Emmys, Grammys, Golden Globes even the Oscars seem less and less relevant each year. There's probably an award being given out right now.

Don't get me wrong, genuine originality and achievement should be lauded. That's why the only award really worth getting is the MacArthur Foundation grants. Completely anonymous, the folks over there really have a pulse on talent and originality. Seemingly random and esoteric, discovering the grant winners and their work is a showcase for what's really going down in America these days.

One of the winners this year is the writer Stuart Dybek, whose book of short stories The Coast of Chicago is one of the best collection of short stories I've ever read. I've been singing his praise for years to anyone that would listen or that cared. I had the fortune of meeting Mr. Dybek a few years ago and he was warm and full of wisdom, just like his stories.

Lame Lame Lame

Celebrity blogger, Perez Hilton, posted weeks ago about the death of Fidel Castro. Of course, nothing was ever confirmed, but Perez kept on insisting that ole Fidel had died.

The rumors were so loud that Castro himself had to confirm that he was still very much alive.

Ooops!

Perez, dumbly defiant, just won't admit that he screwed up, and won't acknowledge that Castro is alive, saying that he'll only admit he was wrong if Castro "[is] accompanied by an independent news organization, like the Associated Press."
And if he produces three pieces of ID, stands on his head, drinks four cups of coca cola while eating a boiled egg.

I always knew he was bogus.

Academics TMZ

I was on the train this afternoon, and I saw one of the Professors that I used to work for in the Physics Department. I can't say that I like this guy, he's a bit of a jerk.

Anyways, I kept my head down so that he wouldn't see me. I saw him walking towards me, but he kept walking past me. Then he proceeded TO WALK BETWEEN THE TRAIN CARS!

Only crazy people (or panhandlers/musicians) do that.

My suspicions are always right.

Rush, Rush.

Not much time allowed in the day to get bloggin' done. The big deal is that I decided to finish my film get it packaged and send it off in time for the Sundance Film Festival. Wish me luck. It was very enlightening to go through the whole packaging process. A friend of mine did the artwork, and it looks great. Then getting it to a DVD production house, and that was cool. I picked it up today, and it looks awesome.

Because I've been so busy with that process, I've kind of neglected my coursework, so the rest of the week is me playing 'catch-up'.

Official

Contact
Originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

The trailer for that film that I recorded sound on during the summer is up. I have to admit, it's pretty BADASS! For real, it's good.

In other news, I am now officially listed on imdb!

Weights and Measures

When teaching physics, I always teach people that a quick way to remember a formula, or a good way to check your work, is to take a look at the units.

Units are a fundamental thing in physics, as it's related to the concept of quantity. Ultimately, the idea of units is totally bogus. In most cases, they are just completely arbitrary objects that have withstood the test of time.

So, it comes with no surprise that the kilogram (the one that all kilograms are based upon, held in a vault) is losing it's mass. The best part, is that the nerds can't figure out why.

So now, the race is on to quantify a kilogram to natural phenomena. For example, there was once a metre stick that defined what exactly a metre was. Say that friggin metre was stolen or warped or something, we'd all be screwed. So now, it's defined as the distance travelled by light in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. Speed of light is a universal constant, so good job. Wait.

We've defined a unit in terms of another arbitrary unit, the second. Well, a second is now defined as the amount of time it takes for 9,192,631,770 transitions between two levels of the ground state of Cesium 133.

The kilogram, me thinks, will have to be defined by something on the atomic level, perhaps related to the number of atoms in some element. It really could decades for the nerds and politicians to agree on this.

But, when it's all said and done, most other units are just combinations of metres, seconds and kilograms so we need to get this right.

UPDATE: For rather fascinating insight into the whole units thing, read the wikipedia article on Fundamental Units

Not Tonight Dasha, I've got a Headache

Yesterday's Times had an amusing article about the rising middle class in Russia, and their penchant for remaking the American Situation Comedy.

What better example than to remake Married...With Children. It's a funny article, only because of the clips also attached show an exact replica of the Chicago home of Al and Peg Bundy.

The US, is of course no stranger to stealing shows from another country. Three's Company, The Office, American Idol etc... have all been pilfered for American sensibilities.

Sucker!

So, Apple reduced the price of their iPhone by $200. Awesome. Great news, except for the suckers that bought one a couple of months ago.

The snobs are PISSED! Which, quite frankly, I don't understand. The chumps have raised such a stink that Stevie Jobs is giving them all $100 to use on Apple stuff. What a mistake! Any high school kid can tell you that it's simple demand and supply economics.

If you just had to have the latest gadget, and you clearly have six bills laying around
not doing much, then you got to be cool for a couple of months.

Let's be honest, a $400 price tag is still out of reach of the average person, so the iPhone is still a status symbol.

So stop your cryin' you spendthrift elitist suckers.

Light-en Up New York!

The City that Never Sleeps has been dozing while many cities have been staging all night culture fests. One night per year, several venues/locations open up all over a city for the entire night, where contemporary artists can do their thing.

Some will argue that you could do that in New York on any night. There is a difference though. It would be free, open to the public and it becomes and event. People get excited about events and are more likely to go out and support the arts. It also gives parents an option to take their kids to a family friendly late night party.

A few years ago, I did the L.A.T.E. Ride through Chicago (ride throughout the city late at night) and pushing your body through fatigue was one of the best times of my life.

Tha Real Gangstaz

Although it's old news, the Times has an article today about the many towns in America that are trying to make saggy pants illegal. I've heard that story before, but it looks like it's reaching a head now.

My favourite quote: . “We used to wear long hair, but I don’t think our trends were ever as bad as sagging,”

....uh actually, it's the EXACT same thing. What did people think of the long hair hippies, and remember the Zoot Suit Riots? It's called a fashion trend. Albeit, not a good one. One that will go away, hopefully soon.

However, we all know that the bad men that steal millions of dollars from thousands of people and kill tons more people, and get away with it don't wear sagging pants. They wear suits and ties.

Japanese Monster Movie - For REAL!

The ugly cicada is wreaking havoc in Japan. They love to munch on Fibre-Optic cables, thus cutting people's internet. They also emit that annoying noise. Couple thousands of them together, and they could make you deaf. For real.

Did you need another reason to hate them?

Google Earth, now with more Sky!

I got so excited when Google Earth first came out. Who knew that so many people in my 'hood had swimming pools?

Well the nerds have compiled another huge dataset and have added the sky to Google Earth.

Not geared towards the nerds, or professional astronomers, Google Sky looks like it should be just fine for the lay person, and perhaps turn some of them into astronomers.

You can search for astronomical objects by their NGC number (nerdy), their Messier Catalogue Number (geeky), or their common name (why bother then?). You can also choose a piece of the sky and zoom in to Hubble Space Telescope grade images or zoom out.

Although not as useful as Starry Night (still the standard), I'm sure Google Sky is on it's way to putting them out of business.

They Call Me Mista Silva Fox

I was brushing my teeth last night, and in the mirror, much to my horror, I saw one massively long grey hair.

Apparently, I have another one near my ear too.


It's all downhill from here, folks.

Two Middle Fingers

Oh, Po-Po why are you getting so ridiculous?

At a seemingly peaceful protest in Montebello, QC three obviously different looking protesters started making a big deal. Most protesters were middle-aged middle class folks. These guys were dressed like stereo-typical anarchists.

The three outsiders turned out to be a bunch of cops acting as 'provocateurs'.

I couldn't make this stuff up. The video is something else.

Totally Trippy....

A really interesting story about nerds being able to produce 'out-of-body' experiences for subjects.

I think it works something like this: They get a volunteer to put on virtual reality glasses. The image they see is of their self. Then they stimulate the person, like rubbing them with a stick. They see an image of themselves being rubbed with a stick.

Then, they stop rubbing the real person, but the volunteer sees their image still being rubbed. Then the nerds pretend to like smash the virtual volunteer. The real volunteer will wince in pain, as if they had really been struck. Freaky.

They say it could explain other out-of-body experiences.

Like, Whoa. Duuuuuude.

Vawoooosh!: An ode to Al Bundy

Growing up, my parents were pretty liberal in the music, tv and movies that my sister and I could watch. However, Married With Children was where the line was drawn. When my parents weren't at home, I'd always sneak an episode in, and always enjoyed it's low brow jokes.

Somehow, I stumbled upon this page that celebrates Al Bundy and his trusty Ferguson toilet. The source of the page is The Poop Report. A site where a big ol' dump is celebrated. My kind of place.

Humor aside, the site is actually interesting with some good writing.

Breakfast for Dinner

Who's Hungry
Originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

I've been working on a commercial/film for Johnnie Walker the last few nights. We've been shooting in a pretty cool space in the hipster wasteland of East Williamsburg called 3rd Ward.

It's been pretty straightforward, as I'm recording sound on it. However, there really isn't that much dialogue in the piece. However, it's still fun to be on set and learn from what's going on around me.

The one drawback, we are shooting nights, from 6pm to 6am. It's taking me a while to get used to the switched schedule, and so I've been exhausted the last couple of days.

Red Envelope, Never Blue

We here at Subatomic Films have been Netflix subscribers for years. The overhead at the office is high, so we can't afford cable. But for $17/month we watch a lot of DVD's. TV Shows, indie movies, classics or even heavy metal shows, Netflix has never let us down. In fact, they've completely changed the way we watch movies.

On the other hand, we hate Blockbuster. They ripped off millions of customers for years, and are finally feeling it. Unfortunately, their home delivery service (a shameless ripoff of Netflix) is getting larger and larger.

Netflix though, always has the upper hand and are the true innovators. They've done away with email support completely, and offer proper US-based customer service 24/7.

Watch for Blockbuster to make similar moves next year.

The Office is Open

DNA Inspiration?
Originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

The Subatomic Films office took a little jaunt down to the Dominican Republic for a little R&R. It was actually a friend's wedding, but a lot of R&R was had.

Haven't been on a vacation in many many years, so it was great to do absolutely nothing for a change. Some may question that last sentence completely, but whatever.

I had no clue that there was so much important history in Santo Domingo (namely, it's the first city in the New World).

Either way, we are back in the office, and regular blogging shall return.

Obnoxious Cat Post #1: Smokestack, we love you.

Wink Wink
Originally uploaded by Ewwwwwwww.

I've resisted posts about my cat for far too long.

I've heard rumours of it, and I've seen evidence of it before. I saw it with my own eyes last night. Theo tracked down a bug in our kitchen (just an itty bitty one) and killed him. I think he ate it after.

Go Theo Smokestack!

Pictures Flying through the Air: RIP Tom Snyder

We here at Subatomic Films are saddened to hear about the passing of Tom Snyder.

He had a show after Carson ages ago, but I got to know him once he started to host the Late Late Show after Letterman moved to CBS. This is before Craig Kilborn.

He had the most chilled and relaxed set, with no audience and a very simple set. The guests genuinely enjoyed themselves with a break from the usual dumb interview questions.

Above all, it looked like he was having a good time.

I'm such a nerd that I even sent him a fan letter back in highschool, and he responded with a cool autographed pic.

The best part of the show was before the first commercial when he'd fire off his eloquent catch-phrase: "Fire up the colortinis, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air"

Oh America

Making the "Pilgrim"-age
Originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

The production has moved to the East Coast, namely Coastal MA. We've been shooting at this amusement park named Edaville Railway. The park is pretty much for train enthusiasts and their families. I've got to admit, I think I'm a train enthusiast in training. I've always wanted to yell "All Aboard!" and travel across the country, picking up hobos and other good people. One day. One day.

I also made the trip to Plymouth Rock, and that was kind of cool. It's kind of cheesy and touristy. But I'm able to look past that.

Hershey = Poor Man's Cadbury's

The Times has a great article confirming what we here at Subatomic Films already knew: you can't get a decent chocolate bar in the United States unless it's imported.

To think that people here think that Smarties are something other than chocolate with candy coating.

It's like Looking in the Mirror -again!?!?

Some of my faithful readers will remember my post about my Francis Ford Coppola alleged look-a-like.

Well on this shoot, working with the same people for 13 hours a day, people usually have nothing better to do than makeup nicknames for each other.

Mine has become "Sully", after the Monster's Inc. character. Here's a description of the character: " Sulley is a gentle and easy-going creature"

Usually, I'd be offended by being compared to a hairy, huge beast. However, Sully is just so cool. I'm taking it all in stride.

A Whole of Trubble

WTF?
Originally uploaded by subatomicfilms.

Shooting continues on the movie that I've been working on. No major developments. We've even made it into the local paper. Unfortunately, you have to subscribe to the paper to read it's online content. I've got a newspaper clipping which I will post later. After a few personnel changes, I think the crew is settling in quite nicely together and I've made a few new friends.