"I have always preferred to spend every possible penny I can scrape together for the films themselves, even if I might not know how I will pay my rent next month. Somehow I always manage, I have always lived with few possessions, most of which are the tools of my trade: a camera and a car, a laptop, and a Nagra tape recorder... It is not money that moves ships over mountains, it is faith. And it is not money that makes films, it is these things [holds up his hands]. You have to establish just one little heap of money and make it seem big." Werner Herzog

I love his attitude towards filmmaking. We'll see if I'm someday able to get away with a similar lifestyle...

I finished my sociology book.

Out internet is down for some reason, I'm on dialup at the moment.

Posted by Ben at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Wow, the new Outkast album is so great. It puts me in a really good mood whenever I listen to it. More so than Ludacris' song "Act a Fool."

Today I downloaded some Radiohead concerts, in .SHN format! I'm turning into a digital music snob! For those of you who don't know .SHN is a lossless format of encoding music that's popular in the use of trading live concerts. People who typically trade in .SHN will freak out if you ever turn the .SHN into an .MP3 and try to trade it. It's just wrong! There's an extreme snobbery about it in the online music trading community and I'm slowly getting sucked in... I even store the concerts in .WAV format now instead of degrading it into an .MP3... of course this doesn't mean I'm going to erase all the .MP3s I have...

What else... I'm downloading a 4gb Radiohead concert (video) right now using Bit Torrent which is a cool file sharing program. Basically whoever is taking part in the BitTorrent is part of a network containing all the people trying to download the particular file you are. All the computers connected are simultaneously downloading while uploading to others what they've downloaded. So the more people who are a part of the bit torrent the faster you're going to download and proper bit torrent etiquette is that you leave the bit torrent open for awhile even after finishing the download just so others can download it faster. I've found this to be really useful and average downloads speeds are usually about 110kbps. Not too shabby.

Good places to find bit torrents for concerts are

http://www.sharingthegroove.org

http://groove-salad.org

Okay, enough advertising.

I've been reading Puberty, Sexuality, and the Self for sociology. It's basically about how adolescents going through puberty (especially girls) have really low self esteem and explains to figure out why. It's pretty interesting and is a quick read, I should have it done by tonight.

Okay, I should do some reading... the CDs almost over so I'll start as soon as it ends. I'll probably post one more time tonight. Until then: Goodbye.

Posted by Ben at 7:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I watched the first two episodes of Twin Peaks today with Claire. I love that show so much. It's unhealthy...

Ian, Jimmy, and I went to a Chinese restaurant... I think it was called Golden Island something or another. It was pretty good. Afterwards we went to the China Town Ice Cream Factory. That place is so good. I got coconut ice cream and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The highlight of the day was a 3 on 3 counter strike match against Georgia Tech. Me, Jimmy, and James played against Jason and some of his friends. They were lagging a little so we pwned them good. I think we would have pwned them even if they weren't lagging.

What else... not much else to say...

The new Outkast album is very good. I'm borrowing it from Francis and enjoying it very much. As soon as I start spending money again I might have to pick it up.

That's all for now. More tomorrow! Goodbye.

If you got late billz and you lost your job! Watcha gonna do? ACT A FOOL!

>Ludacris<

Posted by Ben at 12:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Haven't updated in longer than usual.

Well, here I go.

We watched some videos in my sight & sound video class. Most of them are really bad but the worst grade given so far is a low B-... I might have mentioned this before but I can't read my old entries because my internet is down...

One of the videos was about a girl waiting for the subway. It was to Radiohead's Myxamatosis and was chock full of lame slow mo and fast motion effects. Shaky camera work, sloppy editing, and just flat out boring. It was five minutes long! It should only have been half that length for the subject matter. Had she presented it in a more interesting manner five minutes would've been okay, but this was unforgivable.

Our professor leveled lots of criticism on the work then gave it a B+... wtf? Everybody in the class complains that he's too hard too! wtf x 2...

I watced Bunuel's The Exterminating Angel. Very interesting and I liked the story. Basically a bunch of rich people gather for a party and then none of them can leave and they're trapped inside the house. The print of the film was AWFUL! I would love to be able to see it again in a better version so I won't be as distracted. Some of the shots in it were EXACTLY as I had envisioned for my own script I'm working on about a party gone bad. Bunuel beat me to it by 40 years. Damn.

I also watched Herzog's Lessons of Darkness. It's a documentary about the Kuwaiti oil fires and basically the aftermath of the Persian Gulf war. It's only 54 minutes long but the images captured and the few interviews he conducts are haunting. It reminded me a lot of Reggio's Gatsi trilogy. Good stuff.

Tonight I watched Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me with Claire, James, and Kate. I don't care what other people say, I still like the film a lot. Gobble Gobble Gobble.

After FWWM we watched the pilot to Twin Peaks... Looks like my obsession is starting again... Uh oh...

I'm going to watch Herzog's Fata Morgana now and then go to bed. It's 2am and I'm typing this up but like I stated before my internet isn't working so I don't know when I'm going to be able to post this entry. Most likely Saturday morning. Bye.

Yep, it's 11:40am Saturday and my internet is finally working. Here's the post.

Posted by Ben at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today was a long day of class.

In Actor's Craft our instructor lectured us for awhile then we did relaxation exercises for about the last 45 minutes. That was nice, I was tired and didn't want to do anything so getting to stretch and relax was a nice way to start the day.

Afterwards I had Sociology. Blah. It was all right.

After that I went out to eat lunch with Lee. We went to some care in Greenwhich Village which supposedly has the very first espresso machine in the United States. It dates back from 1907! They also had a real Caravaggio painting on the wall. I had a chicken salad sandwich and a strawberry milkshake. Yum.

Dramatic & Visual Writing recitation was alright. The story that Alex and I had been working on involving mass suicides and a sun that doesn't rise was on hold for awhile but I think I've finally got it now. I pitched it to the class and recieved one very constructive idea which is now setting me on my way to write the damn thing. I was also told by my professor that it's highly reminiscent of a Bunuel film called The Exterminating Angel. What a cool title.

After class I went to the video store and renting The Exterminating Angel and another Werner Herzog documentary. It's a two movie set and the films are called Lessons of Darkness and Fata Morgana.

I'll be watching the Bunuel film tonight and the other two tomorrow.

My D&V Writing lecture didn't go well. We were watching Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train. I fell asleep and missed a substantial portion of the plot. I don't think I missed out on much though, what I saw was just alright.

I just had a burrito from Burrito Mariachi which was very weird. It was a chicken burrito but the chicken was like the chicken you would find in chicken teriyaki back home. I miss that about Seattle, there aren't very many (if any) teriyaki places in New York. *sigh*

Still having trouble outputting my movie to a DV tape.

I've been thinking about the movie Alex, Andrew, and I are working on and I think it's going to be really good as long as we can pull off all the technical parts of it. The material is good stuff and I think it's important stuff too, more will be divulged in the future. I need to email them or something I'm sure you two are reading this get on AIM so we can discuss stuff again! then again they are just starting school... I'll give them some time...

My progress in the book Herzog On Herzog slowed down immensely the past week but I'm back on pace again and should have it finished any day now. His outlook on filmmaking is such the opposite of what I would have expected from him such as the fact that he's not intellectual about it at all and rather considers filmmaking a very athletic activity. I disagree with him in some respects, such as when it comes to digital filmmaking, but he's one of the masters of cinema and I've found the interview to be an intensely interesting read.

Speaking of digital filmmaking. I've come to terms with the fact that digital filmmaking is the wave of the future and that it's actually a good thing. Filmmaking right now is such an inaccesible art form because of the insane cost of just buying film and getting it developed but Digital Video opens up the art form to much more people and makes it much more feasible for students like me to gain experience and make features eventually. This leads to much more crap being made but also opens up the medium to those that might not otherwise get a chance to delve into it and offers a voice in the film world to people that are otherwise not represented or are otherwise represented by people who lack the life experience necessary to properly tell their story (a reason why Alex, Andrew, and I are writing a story about suburban life). Sure camcorders and computers aren't cheap but relative to making an actual film it is. I guess it's a step in the right direction, although film will always reign supreme, DV is a good thing. Now if only I could save up enough money for that new camera...

That's all for now, I think I'm going to go watch a movie. Bye.

Posted by Ben at 10:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's 8:44am... I hate being awake this early...

Today's schedule:

Actor's Craft
Intro. To Sociology Lecture
Dramatic & Visual Writing Recitation
Dramatic & Visual Writing Lecture...

I'll be home around 8:00pm...

I can't wait until today is over...

Posted by Ben at 8:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Dear Livejournal,

AGH! I should be doing my writing homework but I decided to write in here instead...

All I have to do it write one paragraph describing a location in my script I'm working on and it's hard. He gave us an example written by Billy Wilder and it's just discouraging because whatever I write won't be as good as it.

It is grandiose and grim. The whole place is one of those abortions of silent-picture days, with bowling alleys in the cellar and a built-in pipe organ, and beams imported from Italy, with California termites at work on them. Portieres are drawn before all the windows, and only thin slits of sunlight find their way in to fight the few electric bulbs which are always burning.

(from Billy Wilder's screenplay for Sunset Boulevard)

I just need to write something like that... yeah... I really like the way he writes, at least in terms of being a screen writer, it's very visual and easy to follow unlike other scripts that I've read.

I'm also having trouble with my Gyro video. I can't output it to a tape! My computer is being really stupid and isn't letting me output stuff.

Today we watched two finished videos in class. One about acupuncture and one about a guy taking a jog in Washington Square park. Both of them were awful and boring but Jim Brown gave them both B plusses. PSH! He was probably too afraid to give them lower grades in front of the class. Oh well.

What else, oh yeah.

Leonard is taking a shower right now. Sometimes when he's taking a shower I just stare at the door to the bathroom and wonder about things.. Leonard insists he does the same when I'm in there... *sigh*

Hmmm... it rained a lot this morning.

I might be going home for Thanksgiving.

My cold is gone.

It's freezing cold in our room because we sleep with the a/c on.

I need to get a hoodie.

I haven't cut my hair for a long time... since late July? Yeah...

Okay, it's time to be productive for about 15 minutes. Good night everybody.

Posted by Ben at 12:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The first part of my day wasn't much of an improvement over last night. My sociology recitation is awful. It's full of a bunch of cry babies who whine about the tests being to hard and other stupid things! AGH! It's like my high school AP English class only worse!

Later the day got much better.

I saw Lost In Translation today after all the hype about it and hearing so many great things I gave in. Lee and I went to see it and I enjoyed it a lot. The acting was great, Bill Murray is awesome as usual and Scarlett Johansson is very charming and (as I just told Leonard) all kinds of hot. Every time I see her in a movie I develop the biggest crush on her.

Sofia Coppola demonstrated that her directing skills are a gazillion times better than her acting skills with this movie. Everything about it was good. I enjoyed the cinematography a lot even though it was nothing flashy, the writing was good as well. What bothered me was a certain moment at the end but I won't go into it. Anyway, it's a much better film then anything you usually find playing in theaters and I highly recommend it.

I think the best thing about it was just that the characters were so interesting and the relationship between them was a fun one to watch blossom. Coppola developed the characters really well just through their actions and mannerisms and actually made the audience care about them (as cheesy as that sounds). I enjoyed it, a very good solid film.

Afterwards we got ice cream at the Chinatown Ice Cream factory. Mmmm. I got Green Tea ice cream today. Good stuff.

When I got back to Lafayette I had a package from FedEx! It was my Radiohead tickets! FINALLY! I was so excited yet I was scared to death getting off the elevator because I was afraid I was going to drop then in that crack between the elevator and the floor when I was getting off. True story. I clutched them and jumped over the crack real quick and ran to my room. Good stuff.

Um, the end.

Posted by Ben at 8:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The gyro guys were frontin today. I ate there and was setting up to shoot when they freaked out on me and made me stop. Wtf? These are the same guys who let me shoot there a last week. Almost makes me never want to eat there again...

UGH

Harris is arguing with me about Radiohead lyrics. We're actually both right because we're listening to different versions of "True Love Waits" but I'm more right because I'm listening to the official version. He for some reason doesn't understand that there are different versions of the song. Wtf?

UGH

Jimmy's shoot went pretty well. We shot with a bicycle taxi guy named Erwin. He rode us around Times Square as we taped him doing his thing and we did a short interview with him too. Too bad the gyro guys weren't that cooperative.

Not much else to say... One of our light bulbs is out and it's really dim in the room. Wtf?

Complain Complain Complain.

Some guy asked me if I was from the Chinese news when I was setting up to shoot. Wtf? I'm Korean bitch.

UGH

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/issues/2003-09-17/music.html/1/index.html

The above link will take you to an article in which someone played Radiohead's music to 5th graders and asked them to draw pictures. Funny stuff. I would make it a link but I'm in too bad of a mood and too lazy to do it. You can copy and paste right? Damn right.

I got my ass kicked in Counter Strike today too.

I have a lot of sociology reading I have to do by tomorrow which I'm never going to be able to finish. UGH, I can't wait to fall asleep...

The End.

Posted by Ben at 1:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today was a rather non eventful day...

I ate lunch with Leonard and Ian at Hayden. It was pretty good for dining hall food. Raspberry Lemonade. Yum.

For dinner I got food with Leonard at a Pakistani place. Mmm.

Today we unbunked our buds and made it much more comfortable and convenient to watch tv. I have nowhere to put my chair anymore though since I just sit on my bed because it's so close to my desk.

On the way home from getting Pakistani food I found some parts of a mannequin in some boxes some fool was discarding. I found one part of the mannequin that was from the waist down which I dressed up with some old jeans I don't wear anymore and my shoes. I also found the forearm of the mannequin which is just sitting next to the other stuff.

Unfortunately I couldn't find the rest of the mannequin but this will do.

Today I downloaded two Dashboard Confessional albums using soulseek... Um... why I'm admitting this on here I have no clue...

I also downloaded some Supergrass (the band opening for Radiohead)... eh... I'm still going to arrive super early to get a good spot.

It's 11:53pm and I'm waiting for Jimmy to show up so we can go out and shoot in Times Square. I'm getting more and more lazy as time passes. He better show up before I fall asleep...

Posted by Ben at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Woohoo! My internet is finally working again and now I can play Counterstrike and download various forms of stolen media!

Today I went to the San Genarro festival in Little Italy. Lots of food, I didn't have very many small bills. I just got something to drink.

Afterwards, Katie showed me where the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory is!!! They have the best ice cream. I had coconut ice cream and it was so freaking good.

I was going to go see Mean Streets today at a midnight screening but I was too tired when I got home and didn't want to walk all the way back out to Houston st. so I chose not to go.

I got Little Dieter Needs to Fly in the mail today from Netflix. It's a Werner Herzog documentary. I'll probably watch it later tonight, I still need to watch Heart of Glass as well...

Posted by Ben at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Shot at the gyro stand last night. Went well, my prof. liked the footage which is good since he doesn't seem to like much that the students in the class produce.

This morning I had a dream I was trying to hit a friend and I ended up punching Leonard's amp and waking up yelling in pain.

I also slept through my alarm and three phone calls. I made it to class though because my friend came over and woke me up. Phew.

I'm watching The Shining right now. This movie rocks so much ass.

Super cute girl on the elevator today. Uh huh...

It's really windy and rainy and we're not even getting the worst of it.

I'm out. Goodnight.

Posted by Ben at 1:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I woke up today at around 8am and could barely move. Because I felt so sick I crawled over to the alarm clock (which was set to go off at 8:15am) and decided to skip my first class and see if I felt better at 11am.

I woke up at 11 and felt a little better although I still felt pretty gross. I was good enough that I could make it to class though and I went.

Class was all right.

Afterwards I was in the basement of Tisch waiting for my next class when a British girl came up to me and asked me what time it was. She was a grad student in the film department and was late for her class. She was hoping she'd be able to sneak in during the break time but unfortunately they never ended up having a break.

Anyway, we talked while she was freaking out about missing her class. Turned out she had a degree in Political Science and Philosophy from Oxford and was now making films. Funny because she didn't strike me as that intelligent... well anyway eventually her class got out and I don't know what happened to her. The end.

Her British accent was also one of the less cool British accents that I've ever heard.

I went to class at 3:30. It went well.

I had a break from 4:45 to 6:20 so I went back to my dorm and picked up my package. Sandals for me and shoes for Jimmy. They were on sale on the Butterfly (a table tennis company) website so we picked them up. Cool stuff. I had pizza for lunch while I was here too. Sad that I had lunch at 5 o'clock...

In class we read the first part of Billy Wilder's screenplay for Sunset Boulevard. The script is really really well written. It's a joy to read and is incredibly visual in its descriptions, I wouldn't have minded reading the whole thing but we only did a little part of it. The script is a lot different from the final version of the film, at least in the parts of it that I saw. Interesting stuff, he's a great writer on top of the fact that he's a great director.

Class ended around 8pm. I'm back here now. Leonard is taking a nap as I wistfully gaze in his direction, the air conditioning is whirring away after having spent much of the day having frozen itself to death.

I'm going to go out to Times Square really late tonight when it's empty and do some shooting with Jimmy. Hopefully the Gyro guys will let me do some shooting there too.

Goodbye.

Posted by Ben at 8:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just woke up from my nap and I have a stuffy nose. Colds suck, I'm sure sleeping with the a/c on doesn't really help either...

I'm listening to Radiohead right now for the first time in a long time. My stereo was unplugged and I had nowhere to put it so I havne't been able to listen to much. It's temporarily being stored underneath my desk. The sound is kinda weird because it echoes around in the little space under it, oh well, it could be worse...

Tonight I have to write up three story ideas to present to my dramatic and visual writing class, make up a 2 minute conversation that I was supposed to have eavesdropped in on and transcribed. I forgot so I'll make it up. I should also finalize the monologue that I want to do and study for the sociology quiz tomorrow and finish up the reading for that. How exciting. Tomorrow's my long day, I think we're going to do the gyro shoot tomorrow night around one in the morning as well (Thursday morning).

Woohoo, I'm getting all excited about seeing Radiohead again, less than a month!

Mean Streets is playing at Sunshine Cinema this Friday and Saturday at midnight! I love this film, it's probably my second favorite Scorsese film after Raging Bull. Seeing it on the bigscreeen will be pretty cool especially because Sunshine Cinemas is such an great theatre.

Posted by Ben at 9:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ugh... I have a cold! My throat feels all gross and my nose is stuffy... yuck.

In other news: I went to my classes yesterday, ate with friends, then came home, did some work and watched Band of Outsiders and Full Metal Jacket.

The day before I watched Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Great great great great great film.

Yesterdays viewing of Full Metal Jacket made me realize how well crafted the film is, of course you can say that about any Kubrick film, but I had never really noticed that about this film until yesterday. Not one of favorite Kubrick films but that doesn't say much.

It's 9am right now and I can't think straight. I have class in an hour and I should get home around 6ish? My crew and I have a shoot today inside an Indian restaurant... mmmm.... maybe I'll just have to eat there too, darn.

Um....

Okay, I had clicked post right before going to class and now I'm back and apparently it didn't work...

Anyway, class went okay. The shoot went alright and we got free Indian food. Mmmmm. Very very good stuff. My cold is still around though which sucks. Boo to that. Okay, that's all for now, I'll write more later tonight, peace.

Posted by Ben at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

party in armani: hey
blim8183: hello
party in armani: are you gay
blim8183: nope
party in armani: oh ok
blim8183: why?
party in armani: just thought you might be.. saw your stuff on lj
blim8183: what is it exactly about it that made you think that?
party in armani: you have some gay friends on your friend lists
blim8183: ?

How odd, the person failed to elaborate after that. Amusing...

Posted by Ben at 12:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last night, before falling asleep I finished My Best Fiend by Werner Herzog. I thought it was great, it was a look at an incredibly interesting and incredible actor by someone who had a great deal of admiration for him and it really showed through the way he was portrayed by Herzog. He showed Klaus Kinski's nasty side but also had lots of nice things to say about him. Yeah... just watch it if you're familiar with the works of both artists. If not, watch some of their films first then see it. Good stuff.

I woke up with a sore throat today. Weak.

Two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches this morning. Yum.

Jimmy and I are planning a big Sushi night where we're just going to go out and blow a bunch of money on sushi. Mmm... I'll have to set aside some money for that.

What else... I have lots of Sociology reading to do which sucks, I'm going to start being productive once 6pm comes around but for now I have to pick up my laundry. Peace.

Posted by Ben at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Mmmm... I had Pho AND Gyro today. It's been awhile since I've eaten so well so much in one day.

Today I also watched most of My Best Fiend before I had to leave (I was thoroughly enjoying it though).

I also watched The Sweet Hereafter which I liked. At first there was some controversy over the ending, what exactly had occurred, and whether the shot of the girl and her dad in the barn was really necessary, but we did finish the film around 4 in the morning as well. It's not great but it's worth watching. It had a lot of stuff going for it.

I thought the narrative structure of the film was really great. It did lots of jumping back and forth through time in a manner that wasn't gimmicky like with a film like Memento. I like both film, but I think The Sweet Hereafter did it in such a manner that really aided the story and made it unfold more clearly. Yeah... It's 4:25 and I should be going to bed but I think I might finish off the last part of My Best Fiend...

Goodnight.

Posted by Ben at 4:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Watched The Sandlot today.

Had an NYU bus driver close the door in me and Leonard's face, open it again briefly, close it then drive off without us. Jerk.

Watched Agguire: The Wrath of God.

Am currently watching Ping Pong again.

I love having a TV and DVD player in my room.

Posted by Ben at 1:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday night Andrew, Alex, and I held an online chat session to discuss our future film project. We made some progress and are currently working on the structure of the film and what exactly is going to happen and how it's all going to unfold. We're coming up with some really good ideas now and I'm starting to get excited about it. If it turns out how we want it to it should be very good and you'll want to watch it and you will!

In other news: I woke up this morning... er.... afternoon around 1 and went to the mailroom and picked up my DVD player. Now I just need to get my TV later today and I'm set. I can never leave my room for the rest of my life... actually... I need a mini fridge... lol. Somebody buy me one!

Turns out Netflix has a distribution center in Flushing, NY. Sweet, my copy of The Sweet Hereafter arrived today, I only ordered it a couple days ago. I'll probably watch it tonight then return it tomorrow. I think I have two movies showing up tomorrow. Cool.

Okay, I need to go eat lunch soon if only Leonard would get out of bed...

Posted by Ben at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today I had sight and sound video class and it went okay. We finally got some drama about our crews worked out and I'm back in Jimmy's crew. Phew... this Japanese guy that was in my group named "Tada" annoys the hell out of me and would have driven me nuts.

In other news. I went to the Manhattan Table Tennis Club today and asked if I could shoot a documentary there. Basically he wanted about $200 an hour to shoot. Uh... no thanks.

I did play there for awhile though. The guy I practiced against was all thugged out but he plays on the U.S. National team and is traveling to Japan next week to play in a big tournament. He was cool, we talked about a Korean movie (My Sassy Girl) that he thinks is the funniest movie ever even though he watched it without subtitles!

Later I played against a regular at the club and got rocked! It was okay though, I had fun. Unfortunately, it looks like my documentary might have to be about something else... but never fear! I know just what it is...

THE GYRO STAND! Hells yeah, there's a phenomenon surrounding that place (I mean what other stand uptown has a line at 1 in the morning???) and it would be interesting to do something on it. I'm going there tomorrow night to ask for permission.

What else... I had some crappy Chinese food today... my region free DVD player arrived but the mail room was closed when I went... I'll pick it up tomorrow and I'm buying a cheap TV tomorrow too. Cool. TV and DVD player in room + Netflix account... uh oh?

All right I have to go, Leonard and I have scheduled a pillow fight then full body massages...

Posted by Ben at 1:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just read the greatest bit of news in a very long time on Pitchfork media. The Pixies are reuniting for a tour in April! THE PIXIES ARE REUNITING FOR A TOUR! AGH! OMG! AGH! OMG! AGH! OMG! I'm all over this like white on rice.

Posted by Ben at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Long long long day.

I woke up and went to my Actor's Craft class at 9:30. That lasted until 12:15. The class was fine.

Immediately after that class I went to Sociology which was from 12:30 to 1:45. It was also fine.

After Sociology I didn't have class until 3:30 so I went to Subway and grabbed a bite to eat. Had a really good chocolate chip cookie then went to the Kim's Video on Bleeker street. I'd never been there before and I was quite impressed but it still pales in comparison to Scarecrow Video back in Seattle *sigh*.

At Kim's I bought a copy of the Japanese film Ping Pong which I adore and I also bought Godard's Band of Outsiders one of my favorite films of all time. Woohoo!

After that I went to the basement of the Tisch building where my class is and I read until class started.

Class went from 3:30 to 4:45. It was my recitation for my Dramatic and Visual writing class. People pitched story ideas and lots of them were so bad. I wanted to punch myself in the face. Coming of age stories, Forrest Gump rip offs, zombie flicks, kidnapping flicks. Ugh... The professor is great though.

I had another break afterwards so I went to the NYU Bookstore and picked up a copy of Herzog on Herzog. Great stuff! I read about 50 pages of it when class started. The last class went from 6:10 to 8:20. It's my Dramatic and Visual Writing lecture. The professor is great so I enjoyed myself. We also watched the first act of Sunset Boulevard and I enjoyed it. I should borrow it from Ian and watch the rest... After class I grabbed a slice of pizza and decided to walk home instead of taking the bus. It was a nice walk and now I'm sitting in the comfort of my chair exhausted and listening to some Sonic Youth. Am I cool or what?

Oh yeah, I found out that my acting instructor is the daughter of famous actor John Garfield and she also played Robert DeNiro's wife in Goodfellas. Yeah, that doesn't make her a good teacher but it's pretty cool anyway...

I'm done for now. Bye.

Posted by Ben at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today I had another long day of Sight & Sound: Video which is a fun class but the instructor for our tech session doesn't know what she's doing and also seems to dislike me and Jimmy.

I got some DVDs in the mail today!

I got the Lee Chang Dong Collection. Lee Chang Dong is one of the best filmmakers alive in Korea right now and is also the minister of culture there. He directed Oasis which I think is probably the second best Korean film I've ever seen and that film along with Green Fish and Peppermint Candy are included in the set. There's also a two disc set with information about the films.

I also got the film Save the Green Planet, another Korean film. Very good.

Unfortunately, I can't really watch these since they're region coded and my region free DVD player doesn't arrive until Thursday... Once that arrives I think I might need to get a TV for my room so I can watch movies. It's way too loud in common room.

I might just have to do indulge myself in some fine Korean filmmaking once that damn DVD player finally arrives. I can't wait.

Oh yeah, I also set up my NetFlix account yesterday to mail stuff to the dorm and not to home. Here's my rental queue so far...

Carnal Knowledge
Heart of Glass
A Woman Under the Influence
The Sweet Hereafter
In Praise of Love
Grand Illusion
Nashville
Hidden Fortress
High and Low
Akira Kurosawa's Dreams
Fulltime Killer
Modern Times

any other suggestions? let me know.

Posted by Ben at 8:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've just seen one of the best films I've seen in a very very very long time. I've seen lots of very very good ones and I've written about them but this one is near the top of any films that I've written about. Sidney Lumet's Network is a brilliantly written satire of the television industry and much more.

The writing is great, the acting is good, and the film shifts between varying tones without being awkward. This was watched as a result of an urgent email from Andrew after he had seen it and declared it "one of the most well made films" he's ever seen. I must agree.

This film pretty much predicted FOX television and is also one of the most quotable movies ever.

One observation.

Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Network. Three of the most quotable movies ever... all have Robert Duvall in it. Coincidence? I think not.

In other news: class today went fine. I had coffee in the morning and classes went by. I didn't fall asleep and as a matter of fact, I only yawned once!

I had a cupcake at the Magnolia bakery today. Mmmmm.

What else? I don't know. Bye.

"I want you to go to the window, open it, stick your head out and yell: "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"

-Howard Beale

*edit - Network lost the best picture oscar to Rocky...*

Posted by Ben at 12:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I watched Haskell Wexler's Medium Cool today because Andrew was citing it as an influence for the film that we're in the planning stages of. Overall it was just okay but it had some great stylistic elements to it and was worth watching it for that alone.

Ian started watching LA Confidential while I was watching that so as soon as that was over I went into the common room and watched the last hour and a half of that. That film is so incredible, I love it. Great style, great acting, great script, everything about it works. It also forever changed the way I watch the movie Babe. If you've seen both films you'll know what I mean...

Sociology tomorrow from 12:20 to 3:15 and then I'm done. I love Mondays. I just have one more reading to finish up... it's kinda long though...

Okay, off to finish work and get some sleep. Bye.

Posted by Ben at 1:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The day began at around 10am. I woke up and ate my leftoever Chicken Fried Rice while watching No Retreat, No Surrender, one of the finest films ever made.

After that Me, Leonard, Ian, Jacqueline, and Evan went on a journey.

The journey first took us to the Staten Island ferry and then to a subway train then on about an hour walk. A very long and grueling journey indeed. The whole trip ended up taking us to the woods near an old abandoned hospital with only a barbed wire fence seperating us from it.

Having traveled that far we weren't about to let that stop us and we hopped over it in one of the spaces that had conveniently been left for us. Woohoo. Anyway, while getting eaten alive by mosquitos we explored the hospital which was really old and very abandoned. Not that creepy surprisingly, just pretty cool. Lots of benches covered by trees that have grown around them, broken windows, rusty chairs, all sorts of stuff. Yeah, I'm not describing it well but I'm tired. It was a lot of walking and wasn't even near the end of it.

On the way back we figured out we could've just taken a bus so we did and we got back to Manhattan a little past nine.

This posed a problem for me and Leonard because the Mogwai concert had started. The doors opened at 8 and we had left the tickets in the dorm room and I was lugging around a really heavy camera bag. Well, we turned what is normally about a 20 minute walk into a 10 minute or so one and quickly grabbed our stuff. Then what is normally another 25 minute or so walk from our dorm to Irving Plaza was turned into yet another 10 minute one plus some time to grab a bite to eat.

Anyway, we got there to catch the last song by the opening band and had some time to get unsweaty and ready to enjoy the music.

Mogwai rocked. They're very good live and are also very loud. I approve.

After the show while we were leaving Leonard and I saw John Mayer. We wanted to do something mean but we also didn't want to end up being "that guy" or just looking like dorks. We just sort of looked at him disapprovingly as we walked past him. Then upon realizing we were going the wrong way we turned around, walked past him again and this time we glared.

More power walking afterwards. Tired Tired Tired. I need a rest. My mosquito bites itch. Ugh...

Posted by Ben at 12:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Class today was long again.

10 - 4 to be exact. Well not really exact, but more exact than saying "long."

Today while one of our instructors was teaching us how to capture video on Avid I fell asleep and apparantly she saw me because at the end she said "let's have one of you come up and demonstrate" and she immediately picked me. Well, the joke was on her because I walked up there and did it. MUHAHAHAHA! I think she hates me though... that's okay since she's not the one giving me my grade and she's really dumb and has no right to be teaching us because she seems to be making it all up as she goes along.

After class I came back and got a little rest then went out to eat with some of my friends. We ended up trecking all the way back to Third and North which is the dorm we lived in last year and ate there for old times sake. Chicken and rice... mmm...

No Class tomorrow! I'm so happy, I can sleep in and finally go exploring around the dorm.

My professor had Osh Kosh Bagoshish pants on that had elastic around the waist so you don't need a belt. We took pictures.

Leonard and I just listened to parts of the Mortal Kombat soundtrack. I can't really describe the album with any word other than "stunning."

That's it for now, bye.

Posted by Ben at 12:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today I woke up and went to class which started at 9:30.

My first class was Actor's Craft in which we do acting and learn to direct actors as well. I think this is going to be my hardest class just because acting is so tough. This class was from 9:30 to 12:15.

My second class was my Sociology lecture which went from 12:30 to 1:45. Boring, I fell asleep for an instant. The class should be all right though.

Next I ate lunch and waited in the basement of Tisch until my next class which was supposed to be at 3:30. I met up with a friend who I hadn't seen yet, talked to her, then went to class. I got to class and it was freaking canceled! I had wasted a couple hours just sitting there. Oh well. I came back to my room and bunked my bed and now I'm here waiting for my next class which runs from 6:20 - 8:10. I'm tired and I don't want to go but skipping is a bad idea. *yawn*

maybe I should take a short nap...

Posted by Ben at 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

First day of classes today, whew!

I only had one class today but it was SEVEN hours long with one 45 minute break. SEVEN HOURS!

It's my sight & sound Video class and it should be fun but it was sooooo long. We're doing documentary shorts and stuff though so that should be fun.

I also got some black and white Super 8 film for my camera, yipee.

What else... tomorrow is killer. Class from 9:30 - 8:10 with only about an hour and a half break in the middle. AGH!

I visited Water Street today and failed to visit my friend Kumudha, who's now angry at me... I'm sorry!

In other news, Water Street dorms are REALLY nice. The common area is gigantic.

Speaking of Common. A story:

Yesterday on the plane there was a guy that looked like a rapper, dressed like a rapper, and talked like a rapper. I was sitting in his friend's seat accidently and he said something to me although I forget what exactly.

Later, during baggage claim, I noticed a girl getting his autograph and I thought to myself "this has to be a rapper" but I couldn't figure out who the heck it was.

Fast forward to this morning. I'm reading about Bumbershoot and I read that Common performed. That's when it struck me! I quickly looked up his photo and sure enough, I had had a run in with Common! Crazy! He could've beat me up for sitting in his buddy's seat but instead he said something and I apologized. Whoa. Anyway, I guess I'm some sort of Hip Hop Heathen for not having known who he was...

*sidenote* I don't think he's a real rapper because he wasn't flying first class and he didn't have any fly honeys with him. Psh! The guy needs to know his role and roll like a real balla.

What else... not much more to say... I need to find somewhere to go play ping pong...

Oh yeah, Lee was really nice and gave me a Q Magazine that's devoted entirely to Radiohead and also an issue of Bang Magazine that has articles about them and them on the cover. Cool.

When did I get in the habit of writing little paragraphs or sentences then adding a word at the end that sums up my feelings regarding what I just wrote about... weird. <--- I'm sure most of you saw that coming, am I too predictable? Hahaha... funny.

For people who wish to send mail or return CDs:

Ben Lim
80 Lafayette St.
1607
New York, NY 10013

Okay, that's all for today. Bye.

Posted by Ben at 9:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Whew! I'm back in NY and almost unpacked now but before I get into that I'm going to write about the concert last night.

It was incredible. Stephen AMlkmus and the Jicks were awesome. AMlkmus is an awesome guitarist and he simply doesn't get enough love.

Radiohead was amazing. They played Fake Plastic Trees which was the best live experience I've ever had with a song. I was in awe and a lump developed in my throught when he started strumming the first chords. This was of course after I screamed out "YES! THANK YOU!"

Paranoid Android was great.

Myxamatosis was awesome with Thom Yorke showing off some pretty cool dance moves.

Aside from Fake Plastic Trees the highlight of the show was when Thom Yorke played FOLLOW ME AROUND! AGH! They haven't played that song forever and it's never been officially released. I freaked out but no one else even seemed to know what song it was and thus didn't know how special it was to be hearing that song live.

Basically the show was incredible and I can't wait for the NY shows now.

I took a 2 hour nap after the show and after packing then woke up at 5 to go to the airport. The flight was okay, baggage claim took forever and there was lots of traffic. I got to Lafayette around 7 I think.

After doing a little unpacking I watched Cannibal Holocaust with my suitmates and a couple friends. As for the film... no comment... interesting.... yeah....

Not much else. Classes start tomorrow. Agh!

Posted by Ben at 12:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)