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.