They're Identical, but Opposites!

NEWFLASH: Diablo Cody (Who I HAAAATE, but, after Juno, she's allowed to do whatever the fuck she wants, like make Jennifer's Body, run red lights, and scalp babies) is slated to write a script for a new full-length feature film based on....

(wait for it)



SWEET VALLEY HIGH.

Don't even act like that's not the best news you're going to hear all weekend.
Jean and I will see you in line on opening night... you know... because I'm going to force her to come with me.

to keep you occupied

there are few blogs that need to be written, but for now.. this one is the easiest. hopefully it will entertain you and tide you over as we get those other posts rolling.

i volunteered for this film festival in LA for the last week and a half. it was okay, i learned things from it, met a few people and hopefully somethings can pan out from it. i got to semi-produce/edit daily pieces of festival coverage. as much as i tried, i couldn't quite control what or how things were being taped, but i think i did an okay job on a few pieces, which hopefully shows my strength as an editor. i find myself wondering if my previous yearning of editing full time is still 100%, but the situation wasn't ideal, so it may not have been the best test for it. regardless, here are some of my favorite ones that i worked on.


this one is my was my favorite because i felt like it was the most well put together.. but then someone tinkered with it after i finished and i don't love what they did, but i think it's okay overall, i'm just not 110% about it. :/ like the guys say at the jungle cruise, if you like it, that's what i did, if you don't, it's the other guy's fault!


i worry about this one being cohesive, but i like this one because i translated the entire interview and then edited and added subtitles for all the pieces that are in spanish. yup, i'm a bad ass.


this is one of the earlier ones we did, so most noticeably the titles aren't as fancy. i didn't have the best b-roll either which contributes to some lacking of cutting to the right shots, but i didn't want the interviews to drag on either. but i like what they are saying and mostly i like it because of jordi laforge & luke wilson :P

there you go! the earlier one we turned around that night mostly.. so edited in a few hours. the later ones we took a little more time on because we would get the footage so late at night it was impossible to turn it around that night, plus we realized we didn't have to, so we allowed ourselves to wrap it up the next day.

(shameless plug: we edited these on a mobile editing bay CONFIDENCE BAY - a RV gutted and outfitted to be used as editing stations! pretty neat actually. any filmmakers/commercial producers out there should consider it for your needs! confidencebay.com)

tell me what you think!

... And Counterpoint.

On Sunday night, my very best friend - who is a dude - invited me to the movies to see He's Just Not That Into You. (Yeah, he's a straight man, I promise you.) Despite the fact that Jean gave it a freaking glowing review, I still went along to check it out. Sometimes I do ill-advised things. And I paid money. At the expensive theater.

Prior to Jean seeing it, I did have a mild interest in watching the movie because I was hopeful it would be like an American version of Love Actually, which is a really great movie, in my opinion. Jean hates Love Actually. I like Love Actually. I can't hate anything with Hugh Grant in it, even though he's most likely a giant fucktard in real life.

That being said, I guess it kind of makes sense that I didn't actually hate this movie.

I didn't luh-huve it, like my companions did. But I was pleasantly surprised at how amused I was by it. Obviously, it was completely predictable. It's a movie, and movies are meant to be "uplifting" because that's what the public wants. (Case in point: Slumdog Millionaire - UGH.) Generally speaking, I hate uplifting movies because they're so cliche. But you don't go into a romantic comedy and not expect Harry to make a scene about how much he adores Sally on New Year's Eve. If he didn't, it would be a different kind of movie. Probably, overall, a better one.

The whole exception-versus-rule thing in this movie is important and stupid. When Crazyface Girl realizes that she's The Rule, it was a big moment. I totally bought that. But, an hour later, the movie spins it with this moral: "If you wait long enough, you will eventually be The Exception." Wuh? ...And then I ralphed into my popcorn bucket. Waste of perfectly good popcorn. Maybe I'm still in the "I'm The Rule" phase of my romantic career, but I didn't buy that shit. They tried to give it to me for free with my $14.50 movie ticket, but I didn't even take it. All I wanted was my parking validated.

Also, I'd like to note that I don't remember a single character's name. That's generally a bad sign. The characters in this movie weren't really people - they were characatures. Crazyface Girl. Married Couple (Bitchy Lady and Lying-Cheater Dude.) Unmarried Couple (Hot Girl and Awesome Dude - sorry! I liked him and I'm on his side.) Clingy Real Estate Dude. Attention Whore. "I'm a Mac"/ Afraid of Relationships Guy. Drew Barrymore. But I think that was kind of the point - you were supposed to be able to relate to one or some of the characters on some level or another.

So what exactly did I like?

First of all: afterwards, you get to play with "Which Character Do You Relate To Game." (After a lot of thought, I've concluded that I'm "I'm a Mac"/Afraid of Relationships Guy.) Could be worse, right? And then you get to tell your friends which characters they were: "Dude. You are so Real Estate Guy!" "....Oh, God, I'm Real Estate Guy!!! NOOOO!"

I liked the woman-on-the-street mock interviews between scenes. They were funny. I liked that I genuinely laughed at things. I liked Drew Barrymore's monologue about MySpace/texting/emailing/cyber-tag. (Because I agree- if it's a text, it ain't a date. And I'm not shaving my legs - so there.) I liked that the basic message boiled down to not playing games. (i.e. He's probably not playing games. And you probably shouldn't be either.) I liked the set design A LOT because I'm a lame nerd like that. I liked that it allowed you to laugh at the person who was acting like a total shithead retard because, in real life, that person is usually your friend and you usually have to be nicer. I liked that it was honest about the way women tell each other silly advice to make each other feel better that may or may not be true. I liked that when my friend said it gave her "hope," it made me a little happy, but also a little "You're so cute and naive; it's a good thing you're so pretty."

I'm Just Not Into That Movie

So I held off on this blog, so I wouldn't totally spoil someone's movie experience. Chances are, if you REALLY cared, you went and saw this movie last night. Maybe you didn't want to deal with crowds, and I'll try my best not to spoil anything - but stop reading if you really don't want to know anything.

Tuesday, I went to a press screening of He's Just Not That Into You with my boss @ The Grove. I was slightly excited to see this movie, I'm not sure why. I thought it might be good. I thought maybe I would learn or enjoy or at the very least be entertained. I was uncomfortable. Maybe not through the whole movie, but there were a few moments where I slunk down in my seat, cringed, and prayed that girls are not this stupid. But they are, at least in this movie. Maybe Andrea said it best when she said "It makes you uncomfortable because you know girls like this." Maybe seeing it on the big screen was just too much. But it was HARD to watch. I also got really uncomfortable when I would laugh out loud about things that might make normal girls go "aww" - and silently cursed myself for being a "jerk", and wished Dorina was there so she could laugh with me.

My boss said that she could relate to every single woman in the movie, even the craziest one. She's also a bit older than I am, and has been in tons of relationships - so maybe it comes with the territory. But still, I hope I am never as crazy at the crazy one in this movie. And it's not like I can't relate. I related to Katherine Heigl's character in 27 dresses, I liked that movie. I can't relate to crazy people - like Meg Ryan in Sleepless, or in this case - Ginnifer Goodwin's character.

So, because she was crazy, I found her slightly annoying. (spoiler) And then when things happen the way they do for her. I don't agree. And I'm not happy for her because she bugs the sh*t out of me. Plus it doesn't make sense to me. And it was uber predictable, really early on. And then I think the biggest reason of all is that I feel like plot is then counter to what the book is supposedly trying to stand for, and thus give crazy girls hope and they can be crazy it's okay. Sooooo not the point of the book. Although, the book is a little crazy itself - it's supposed to be about giving the women power and sense, I don't feel like this movie did that.

I like the Jennifer Aniston story line, (spoiler) and although still a little bit of false hope is infused there, it makes sense. The Jennifer Connelly storyline is okay, (spoiler) but her husband is such a douche, that it just makes it sad. (That guy always plays these kinds of characters huh? Must be STBHim, being pigeon holed as THAT guy.) Drew Barrymore's story is entertaining, and maybe solely there for comic relief, and also to (spoiler) be able to wrap it up in the end, just so everything can be wrapped up. Why does the movie ending have to have a neat little bow on it in the end, even if the movie spent less than 5 minutes getting to that end. Makes. no. sense.

I get all crazy analytical about the behavior of girls and what does and doesn't work, and a LOT of times it doesn't make sense to me. I think this movie supports a little bit of that, and thus - it doesn't make sense to me/makes me not like it. Which is sad, because it so had the potential - but decided to be cliche instead. It had the potential to be "new" and "different" - which is why I feel like the book was so popular. The shock factor. This movie, had a point where it could have turned and been good and developed well, but it turned right around and got all hopeless love story on me. Aside from the crazy one, there were a few other characters that often made me say "really?!" and wonder if that's what trying to find love, dating or being in a relationship was like - cuz if it is... I'm so not having it. (Explains a lot huh? I'm totally going to be the crazy cat lady... or the crazy electronics lady (when I'm too lazy to take care of my cats)).

It wasn't all lost though. They had cute promo items... one being this date decoder - while being a little farfetched.. it can be a little downright mean. aka equals a good time. These 4 statements are my favorite: