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.