Title

Alan Rickman now has a final title, it is called Limbo.

Starcraft 2

Yes, I am playing it and it is awesome. Thank you Blizzard for single handedly ruining my productivity.

A Break

No, not from this blog, but from the screenplay I have been spending the past week slaving away on. I not going to touch the dastardly monster for the next few days, and hopefully re approach the project with a renewed vigor come Monday. Or at least I hope.

Goodbye Scott Pilgram

Today the final issue of Scott Pilgram was released, marking the end of an era in contemporary pop culture. If you have never read this fantastic series, I highly encourage you to do so now. Amazon is currently selling them all at a discounted rate (I think each issue is about $8). Now just to wait for the, hopefully, fantastic movie.

Writing A Screenplay Is Hard

As most of you know I am currently devoting all of my free time to writing a screenplay that is kinda sorta about Alan Rickman. Well, I am here to report that the difficulty of writing something of this magnitude has exceeded my wildest expectation. Yesterday I spent four hours on a single monologue, and I'm still not satisfied with it. I just hope I actually finish this monstrosity before the summer ends. I will be posting excerpts soon.

A Magical Musical Experience

Everyone needs to watch this My Little Pony: The Musical Video. It's fantastic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wouG4GpL1-I&feature=player_embedded#

It's LOST...kinda

18th-Century Ship Found at Trade Center Site http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/18th-century-ship-found-at-trade-center-site/?scp=4&sq=world%20trade%20center&st=cse

First Half of 2010 Award

My award for the best things from the first half of 2010

Best Movies
1. Toy Story 3
2. Inception
3. Kick Ass

Best Albums
1. How I Got Over - The Roots
2. High Violet - The National
3. Odd Blood - Yeasayer

Best TV
1. LOST
2. Breaking Bad
3. Chuck

Best Games
1. Red Dead Redemption
2. Mass Effect 2
3. Everyday The Same Dream

Best Books
1. The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris
2. Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett
3. The Big Short by Michael Lewis

Biggest Disappointment - World Cup Final

Should Go Burn In Hell Award - BP

Things Looking Forward To In The Second Half Of 2010

1. Starting College
2. Outsidelands 2010
3. Potential New Radiohead Album

Creative Process?

Since I just spent a ton of time working on another photo album, I thought I would take the time to elaborate on my so called creative process

1. Post-album complacency. I sleep in. Read a book. Enjoy any and all feddback. Play a game or two.

2. Late start. Maybe I should get some material for the next album? I know: I’ll go for a walk in the woods and try and do something of merit. That’ll be productive!

3. Desert wandering. I hate the stuff I took during step 2. Screaming at the (metaphorical) blank page, uncertainty sets in. Fear of failure is close behind. Paralysis.

4. I don't touch my camera for photoshop for at least a week. This helps with the before mentioned screaming.

5. Think of a loose them, go for a casual outing, and become shocked at how well some of the photos turned out.

6. Dedication to process, discipline. I stare at a computer screen a lot. Even more mouse clicking.

7. Obsession. In the process of making slow, sure progress on the album, I stumble upon some thing in a photo that interests me greatly. I get horribly obsessed. All other work ceases. The grind begins. This is the fun part.

8. Completion. I tell you all that I’m going to have it done by some certain date, but I miss it and put it out a week later. Usually, I end up erasing numerous photos as I'm about to upload them. Nevertheless, I cross the finish line.

Searching For The Heart Of An Island

Here is the link to the photos I took on my recent trip to Maui. Enjoy, and I appreciate any feedback. http://picasaweb.google.com/cjonny21/PinkMoon#

Star Wars + Art = My Love

This series of Star Wars inspired art is nothing short of mind blowing. Check it out.

Ramblings On A Beach

Someone who shall remain nameless wanted me to post a short little piece I wrote on a beach. This is unedited, disjointed, and almost completely incomprehensible.

Starring up at the cosmos,
the ever flowing starlight, illuminates the tranquil shore.
Energy from another era, providing the fleeting light tonight.
The eternal ocean, breaking shore until the end of time.
Where am I going?
I loose weeks like pencils and erasers,
years like buttons from my shirt.
My life is slipping away,
like black stand slowly falling from my hand,
eventually returning to the greater force below.
I am hear now, but eventually will not be here, now.
I am dying, we are all dying.
Realize or not, our lives are slipping until.
Until we make like Pluto, and are prematurely cast from the galactic stage,
having committed no wrongs, or disturbed the cosmic balance,
we are tost away like the toys from last Christmas.
Our children will remember fondly,
our grandchildren, a faint memory,
our great grand children, a rumor, a fable,
and finally to our great grand children, just an ancient fossil,
the only proof of our existence,
a six foot deep hole in the ground.
Our lives never text book worthy,
destined to the endless depths of oblivion.
We contemplate art, history, our lives, but to what purpose?
We record ourselves, make home movies, write.
Yet, this exercises only exist to make purpose, some vague allusion of meaning to the ticking time bombs that are our lives.
The only guarantee in our lives is not taxes, but that eventually everything we love will be lost. Ripped from our hands far far too soon. But without this loss we have no life. This loss grants us meaning, purpose. It gets us out of the bed in the morning, gets us to talk, to debate, to learn. For one day, we won't have those opportunities anymore.

Back to the beach, I'm sitting here, now, with people, without people, thinking, fearing, scared. Yet, before I am inevitably cast off to the fate befitting only a dwarf planet, I know one thing, I am here, I am me, and I am now.

PS: I hope this makes you happy. I never had any intention of posting this.

What I Have Been Working On

So a few of the readers have recently commented on how the blog has recently consisted of lots of little short posts. Well, there has been a reason for this. I have recently started to work on a screenplay, and it has been taking up a lot of the time I would usually use to blog. The script is kinda sorta about the actor Alan Rickman, and trying to complete something of this scope has been far more challenging than I previously imagined. Don't worry, I will be posting excerpts shortly.

Dark Star?

I love astronomy, so im passing on this interesting article about the sun and dark matter. I hope you all enjoy. Via Wired.com

Listen...Please

This American Life needs an award for act 2 of this show. A painfully personal look at the horrors of war. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/411/first-contact

What America's Birthday Means To Me

I can't believe it has been a year since I left for my Immersion trip to El Salvador.

This is how I feel about it

My Metamorphosis: Two Weeks of Shock, Violence, Love,and Hope

Oscar Romero, the late Archbishop of El Salvador once said, “Peace is not the
product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. It is right and it is duty.” This past July I spent two weeks in El Salvador, listening, working, and living with the people, in an attempt to grasp a better understanding of their daily lives and the countless challenges they valiantly face. The situation in El Salvador is dire, but not all hope is lost. The trip deeply impacted me through my realization that in my position of privilege, I have a deep-rooted responsibility to help the people of El Salvador, and that began through witnessing strength in the face of great suffering, and realizing the effect of true love while living in solidarity with the people.

During my trip to El Salvador my group heard numerous presentations, yet one has haunted my dreams ever since. We heard an account of personal civil war experiences from a lady named Alicia. Through an organization called Comadres, Alicia attempted to locate people kidnapped by the death squads. She described how her 12-year-old son was taken off a bus and killed, just because he had a copy of the New Testament. The death squads came into Alicia’s home, raped her and her daughter,violently beat her family, and left them all for dead. She vividly described electric torture, water boarding, and sleep deprivation as just some of the horrors she experienced. By the end of the talk my stomach felt sick and tears were filling my eyes. Leaving that meeting I was thoroughly depressed, contemplating the destructive nature of the human race. Yet, despite all of the sorrow, I felt there was an underlying message of hope. Alicia has spent her life under constant besiegement as she works to improve El Salvador, and I realized that if one day I only possess a fraction of her strength, I will have the ability to make the world a better place.

Before embarking to El Salvador I found it difficult to connect with the harsh realities featured on nightly newscasts. Over the course of the trip, I discovered that in order to truly be in solidarity with the people one must experience their lives first hand. After spending a number of days in San Salvador, our group ventured into the countryside to spend a few days in a Salvadoran village. As we drove into the village I began to feel my nerves swelling up. Looking out of the window of our van, I realized I had never witnessed anything like this before in my life. I was surrounded by pueblo and sheet metal huts, flea-ridden dogs roamed the dirt streets, and there was trash everywhere. After hesitantly disembarking from the van, we unloaded our few belongings, and met our host families. Walking through the village with my hosts I tried to make small talk but failed as my fears got the best of me, struggling with my Spanish, and avoiding eye contact. As we reached their home, I was immediately taken aback as the reality of the situation was setting in. The house had dirt floors, barbed wire covered all the windows for protection, the scent of burned tortillas filled the air, and cockroaches seemed to be everywhere. That night at dinner I began to talk with my host family, and was immediately overcome by guilt. Their lives seemed horrendous, lacking any opportunity. The mother ran a tortilla shop and made a profit of about a dollar a day, while the father worked as a janitor in San Salvador from Monday to Saturday, 4am to 6pm. They have a young daughter, Jessica, who with her innocent buckteeth smile, and adorable dimples, was the cutest little girl I have ever seen. The family lives in extreme poverty, works incredibly hard to survive, and despite all this they are the most loving and welcoming family I have ever met. A clear illustration of this was during my second night in the village when an intense rainstorm hit the area. Despite the tempest surrounding us, we happily sat on dilapidated plastic chairs, playing cards and engaging in light banter under candlelight. These surroundings indicated the family had nothing. Yet, the welcoming attitude and love I felt during that evening felt so incredibly genuine, from the little jokes and humorous asides, them asking me about my family, and Jessica innocently standing up to take a look at my cards. When I left the village, with tears in my eyes, I felt like I was part of their family. I will never forget those five days for the rest of my life. This experience has changed me twofold. First, being able to enter the Salvadoran peoples world, for just a tiny epoch of time, I have realized that I have a responsibility to try and help the country in whatever way I can. Second, it has shown me that true love can exist in a society that is corrupt and manipulative. It occurred to me that when you have no desire or ability to obtain material possessions and all you have is love, family, and faith then these three things can flourish completely unrestricted.

The situation in El Salvador is dire, but not all hope is lost. The trip deeply impacted me through my realization that in my position of privilege I have a responsibility to help the people in El Salvador, and that began through witnessing strength in the face of great suffering, and realizing the effect of true love. I realize that I can’t change the world at seventeen, however I do have the ability to retell the stories and experiences of the trip. My group is currently organizing a series of fundraisers, where we will retell our experiences and all the proceeds will go to our home stay families. I can tell people of Alicia’s strength, my home stay family’s undying love, and through spreading these stories I can only hope to inspire others to make a contribution towards changing the world. As William James once declared “The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.”

Dance Sayid, Dance!

Why didn't LOST have an awesome dance number? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocNFQioWM5c&feature=player_embedded