Today I was assigned by shoot dates for color sync. I am in the first trio of people to shoot. That means I shoot on March 5th, 6th, and 7th. That's only about five weeks away. My script was finished yesterday. In that time I need to do the following:

Make my script not suck
Storyboards
Blocking
Scout locations
Secure locations
Get insurance for the locations
Find Asian American actors that are around age 50 or over. (I feel like this is going to be a super mega ultra pain in the ass)
Rehearse actors
Rent any extra necessary equipment
Get insurance for the extra equipment
Put together a crew
Find catering to feed the crew
Rent a car or truck to lug all the equipment around
Work and make some money to pay for all this
and a buttload of other stuff I'm forgetting...

The good news is that I get it all over with and can go to Paris without my project hanging over my head. By spring break the film will be in the can and hopefully at a lab being processed. It's sad though because that means I will have less time to make iPod cases until the shoot is over...

My other classes are going well.

It's been awhile since I've watched a movie. I'm going to do a lot of that this weekend.

I'm going to an Arcade Fire concert tomorrow. I'm very very excited for that. They're supposed to be amazing live.

Happy anniversary Lee.

Posted by Ben at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Version 3.0

Yes, I have no life.

But this case is so badass I don't care.

A funny New Yorker comic

edit:

This one's not so great.

It's okay though.

Enjoy.

Posted by Ben at 9:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This is an iPod case that actually was originally conceived as one. The other one just looks like one but is way too big.

This is the case with the iPod inside.

Another view of the case with the iPod inside. The string over the top is to keep the iPod from slipping out.

A view of the back.

Posted by Ben at 11:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

With Lee gone I have a lot of time on my hands. I'm already ahead in my classes so this is what I did.

I made an iPod holder...

It is nice and colorful.

It has a button and a loop.

So you can lock it like this because if your iPod were to fall out while walking that would suck hella ass.

It even has a belt loop.

They're only $49.99 so if you're interested, feel free to leave a message

Posted by Ben at 12:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The first couple days of Lee being gone sucked real bad.

The next couple weeks were okay and I decided it wasn't going to be so bad.

Now, it sucks real bad again.

In other news I was contacted by the head of production at Moxie Firecracker Films. She's the sister of someone that I met through Lee (she babysit's their daughters). It's a really cool production company that makes socially conscious documentary films. It's not looking too good in terms of getting a paid position with them for the summer but an unpaid internship might be possible... I'd just have to find a different job that would cover my rent for the summer. Either way I think it would be a good experience with a good organization.

I also received a very nice e-mail from my writing the essay instructor from freshmen year. I had given her a burned copy of a Sigur Ros CD and she e-mailed me to thank me for introducing them to her because she had just scene an "absolutely sublime" concert in which the Kronos Quartet had played a Sigur Ros cover. One of my favorite things in the world is to show people things that I love and to have them love it just as much so this e-mail made me happy.

I learned how to knit yesterday. I suck but it's so much fun.

This is my practice scarf I'm working on. Kumudha knit the first couple inches.

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

So earlier this week it was cold as balls outside and today I wake up after spending the night at Vadim's and discover that it's ten degrees out (feels like minus two) according to weather.com. There's also a huge snowstorm headed our way and when weather stations predict giant snowstorms they're usually right.

Sure enough, it's snowing like balls outside and it sucks. Why couldn't it snow like this when I was a little boy growing up in Bothell? *sigh*

I've been pretty productive lately. I've done the dishes twice. I woke up at 7:30am on Wednesday and Thursday and at 7:00am on Friday. Partly to chat online with Lee (who is six hours ahead in Paris) and also to go biking at to the gym with Leonard. Waking up that early is actually really nice and working out in the morning really makes you feel much more relaxed and awake during the day and also results in some pretty good sleep at a reasonable time. It also makes the day feel so much longer. On top of that I'm doing 18 credits (mostly academic courses this semester) and I'm putting in 15 hours a week at Pfizer. All that keeps my schedule pretty busy and makes the weeks go by pretty quickly without making it feel like I'm just always sleeping and wasting my time.

Once the weather gets a little nice I can take my bike out. I've still yet to ride it in the city but I've been biking at the gym so that I don't end up riding my actual bike somewhere and end up being too tired to ride it back home. That would be lame.

Hopefully I can keep up this early morning routine. Wish me luck.

Posted by Ben at 12:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

First day of classes tomorrow. My day will consist of work, 20th century Korean literature, and arts of China. Wooha.

The new Beck album was leaked today and I have five of the tracks thanks to . I am enjoyed them very much.

Not much to say. Lots of interesting things have been happening around here lately... nothing I'll write about though.

Posted by Ben at 9:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm going to use my livejournal for what blogs are typically used for: whining about things that no one else cares about...

I MISS LEE. Wtf, being away from someone for a mere three days isn't supposed to feel this long. *sigh* It's better now that other people are starting to come back for school and also because I've somewhat reestablished contact with her.

Fifty four more days to go...

I've been reduced to a sad sad man...

Okay back to normal entries, in the past couple days I've watched Scarface, 3-Iron and The Rules of the Game.

Scarface was fun. Pacino is bad ass but the movie is horribly overrated. I won't lie though, I liked it. Not DePalma's best though.

3-Iron is possibly my second favorite Kim Ki Duk film behind Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring. Really original, well directed, and painfully beautiful.

The Rules of the Game was great. The only other Jean Renoir film I've seen is The Grand Illusion and I liked both of them a lot. Especially this film. It's really funny, intelligent, and finely crafted. Nothing spectacular just good solid filmmaking with a great script.

I got a holiday gift box from Pfizer. Listerine, a tooth brush, rolaids, kleenex, etc. Fun.

Work is going all right. I discovered that the piece hanging behind me (which I had liked a lot) was a Sol Lewitt! Sweet. We also have Rauschenbergs, a Leibovitz, and some other well known artists in the collection including a Chuck Close which we are donating elsewhere because it's "scandalous."

L'Aventura is playing at MoMA tomorrow. I might go see it...

Posted by Ben at 2:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm currently updating from "Ben's room" at the Welling residence in Rye, NY.

Lee is taking a shower and I am recovering from approximately six cuts on the chin and neck from attempting to shave with a disposable woman's razor. While waiting for the bleeding to stop I thought I'd update my journal for once.

First of all, Lee finally has a live journal which you can find at . Who knows how often it will be updated... but it's there...

Recently I've been hanging out in Rye since getting back and dropping into the city once very briefly to go to the MoMA. To my surprise I found out that I get free admission for myself and up to five guests. Very nice.

The museum was awesome as well. I was SO HAPPY to see that they had Eve Sussman's "89 seconds in Alcaraz" (sp?) which is an experimental film that I had seen at the Whitney Biennial. It's a short film that takes you into the room in which Velazquez is painting Las Meninas. It's brilliant. The museum is pretty big and full of beautiful work. I will be going back again very soon, anybody wanna go? I will sell you a ticket for five bucks :) Okay... actually, you just have to pretend to be my friend while we're there... leave me a reply and I will let you know when I'm going.

I've recently also eaten at a vegetarian Korean restaurant called Hangawi. The food was really really good. Some of the best Korean food I've ever had and it was nice not to feel all disgusting afterwards although typically it's worth it when you're having Korean bbq...

My chin still stings...

Turns out Lee is quite a nasty Monopoly player. She has killer capitalist instincts and to make it worse she complains about how much she hates the game and everything it stands for the entire time she's kicking your ass. Way to show respect to your opponents who are working their asses off only to get their asses kicked by the one who doesn't even care.

I'm going back to work at Pfizer on the 12th.

Seeing "Avenue Q" tonight.

Had Grimaldi's recently. It was damn good.

TV on the Radio was amazing as usual. George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars were... funky. I wasn't able to stay for the whole thing but I think I got the point. It was very surreal.

That's all for now. I have to go.

Posted by Ben at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)