I have recently updated my website to include the movie Magic Flakes. This movie was Written and Directed by a friend of mine, Antonio Cervantes, and I was his Director of Photography for this project. He was also one of the great Directors of Photography for Before the War. We made both of these projects together in a class during the Spring 2006 semester at the University of Texas at Austin.



Just like Before the War, Magic Flakes was shot on 16mm B&W Reversal film using a Bolex camera.

Well, today is the first day since June 9th that there hasn't been World Cup soccer on TV. Yesterday the Round of 16 finished, and 8 teams have moved on to the quarter-finals. You can check out the World Cup Bracket on Yahoo! Thankfully, England is still in the hunt for the cup.




Here is the schedule for the Quarter-finals:
June 30th, 2006 10am CST - Germany vs. Argentina
June 30th, 2006 2pm CST - Italy vs. Ukraine
July 1st, 2006 10am CST - England vs. Portugal
July 1st, 2006 2pm CST - Brazil vs. France

My prediction for the Semi-Finals:
Germany vs. Italy
England vs. Brazil

My prediction for the Final match:
England vs. Germany (England wins 2-1)

Playing Chicken: The Movie! has been selected as a finalist in the South by Southwest Click 2006 Online Film Festival. In case you have forgotten, this is the halarious comedy about a guy in a chicken suit who defeats impossible odds. (and I play Mime #2) There are 15 total finalists in this competition, and the winners are selected by number of online votes recieved. This is where you can help. On June 30th, 2006 visit the SXSW Click site and vote for Playing Chicken: The Movie! There are 3 finalists in 5 different categories, so our movie only needs to beat 2 others in it's category to win!

This movie was produced by my good friend (and Super Producer #1) Charles Mulford. Pictured in the image above on the left side.

So I finally have gotten my student film from my last semester, Before the War, uploaded onto YouTube.com. This movie is based on a feature that I am also writing by the same title. There really isn't a strong story, but I hope the theme is evident. Basically this film just expresses the feeling of American monotany glazed in fear. All day, everyday, on the news (with Bill O'Reilly and the like) they talk about terror, war, and fear in general, yet we live our lives devoid of any real connection to it. Eventually we will have to face the reality that our country is not isolated from the world at large. What will the future hold?



You can find this film on my website, as well as other films I have helped make.

Ok, so the USA vs. Ghana match was seriously disappointing. At least we didn't leave the World Cup without scoring a goal for ourselves. Clint Dempsey, of all people, was the only goal scorer for the USA in this years tournament. I keep forgetting whether or not Landon Donovan ever came to Germany. I certainly didn't see him playing any soccer. Granted there were some seriously bad calls by referees in this game, and the game against Italy, but that's no excuse for just extremely poor playing by the entire US squad. I am just going to give props to a few players that I feel deserve some respect: Brian McBride for playing hard and never giving up and Josh Wolff for being snubbed a chance to play again after showing some guts during the match against the Czech Republic. Oh yes, and I'd like to congratulate the Ghana team on their victory. Now they can stay in Germany for another week or so, instead of having to go back to their home country. That's one good thing about US Soccer, at least when we lose we have a country worth going home to.

I don't know if anyone cared to watch the England vs. Sweden game, but it was pretty lame. That's saying a lot for a game that ends 2-2. I mean, really, England is lucky the game didn't wind up being 3-1 against them. That's what would have happend had they let Wayne "Ogre" Rooney stay in the game and not put in Steven Gerrard. (As soon as Rooney was taken off the field he started stomping around just like an ogre, which he is.) Gerrard single handly won they game for them. 2 minutes after his sub-in he deflected a Swedish shot on the goal line. Without Gerrard in the game it would be 2-1 Sweden. Then, a few minutes later, here comes Gerrard again, scoring a goal for the Red Coats putting England up 2-1. Then...Oh, wait that's right, they didn't win. (who's suprised?) They allowed a ridiculous corner for a goal, that was sloppily played by Sweden. The ball went through at least 3 players before Sweden farted it over the line. England needs to stop worrying about the glamour shots after the game and finish it out. I'd like to see them each take a look at the video of Gerrard today. He only played for 20 minutes vs. the Swedes, but he did more than the whole team combined (except Joe Cole, man of the match) throughout the entire game. That's more than I can say for the Ogre, who just throws his shoes around and cries like a little baby.

Rooney, I realize you can't stop looking like an Ogre, but can you stop acting like a little baby one? I mean, how about letting your ogre out on the ball and scoring some goals, rather than just stomping around on the sideline.

As a Sidenote: Michael Owen injured himself in the first few minutes of the game. "It doesn't look good"

Hey, I see the counter ticking up, up, up. So, this means there are some people reading my blog, and I'm sure that you have an opinion about the content. I would really appreciate any comments that people have about this blog, in order to have a better idea of who's reading, and what the have to say.

All you have to do is click on the Comment link below and then if you are not a Blogger member, just click OTHER or ANONYMOUS. Thanks! Keep reading!

Well, I finally recieved my diploma from the University of Texas at Austin for a Bachelor of Science in Radio-Television-Film. I couldn't actually be sure that everything was finalized til I saw the piece of paper with my name on it, but as you can see...I'm a graduate. I added this on my homepage along with my diploma from Klein Oak High School. (You know it's sort of silly, these kinds of accomplishments.)

Wow, talk about an entertaining day in 2006 World Cup soccer. The USA tied Italy 1-1 in today's match in Kaiserslautern. The first half was probably the most entertaining half of soccer I have ever seen before. The referee was calling everything, including picking your nose. It was just ridiculous. Italy lost the first player to a red card, Daniele De Rossi, who blatantly threw an elbow in to the face of Brian McBride. The US lost two crucial players, Pablo Mastroeni and Eddie Pope. I think any one watching this game knows that it was a physical match, but some of the calls were a bit unjustified. Even though Italy scored the first goal, and scored on their own goal to give the US team their only point, the US played a vastly different match than their previous one against the Czech Republic. The US was agressive and made a lot of attempts to score, which was basically the opposite of how they played against the Czechs.

Also, Ghana shocked the world, defeating the Czech Republic 2-0 today. It's the first World Cup victory for the African nation, and definitely some good news for the US team. The group standings are very close now, and there is still a good chance for the USA to advance to the next round.

This is what has to happen for the USA to advance:
- USA defeats Ghana on Thursday June 22, 2006
- Italy defeats Czech Republic on Thursday June 22, 2006

If these two matches end in the USA's favor, than we will finish Group E in second place. The second place team will go on to play the First place team of Group F. This means it is likely that if the US advances they will be playing the winner of the Australia vs. Brazil match on Sunday.

USA! USA! USA!

Here is a link to a video. This video is the funniest TV moment ever. I have seen this guy on infomercials so many times. I have seen this guy on TV recently, he's still working in infomercials. What a guy.

Sadly, the FIFA World Cup (the world's most popular sporting event) is not so popular in the US. I guess this isn't too astonishing, considering that the United States is ranked 5th in the world, yet played worse than Trinidad & Tobago. However, they have only played one game thus far, and still have a chance (however small) to make it into the next round. The next match (tomorrow) is against Italy, a traditional powerhouse, who had a rough game against Ghana. Even though they lost the match 2-0, the african players sure did have a good time throwing elbows and overall kicking the shit out of the Italian players. Anyway, the first game for the US was an embarrassing loss, even for the US. If they can manage to muster some sort of spirit and come out against Italy to show the world that USA soccer is not something to be scoffed at, maybe we will see a bigger interest at home. I'm not looking for us to give up Baseball, Football, or even Basketball, but I hope everyone reading this realizes that NASCAR is the most popular sport in the United States. I don't have anything against NASCAR, but seriously...NASCAR? I think we could show a little spirit for our boys overseas (yes, the troops too.) How fun would it be to actually beat the world at their own game? Sure, "they hate us enough already" you say. Well, let's give them a hell of a good reason to.

USA!
USA!
USA!

As a side note, I'm rooting for England as my second choice team. Unfortunately, they also have a reputation for playing poorly in the World Cup. They have some excellent players, and although their match against Paraguay was probably the silliest World Cup match victory ever, they did play somewhat better against T&T. COME ON ENGLAND!

I'm currently listening to the best show on the radio, Coast to Coast AM w/ George Noory (590AM from 10pm - 4am in Austin.) If you haven't ever taken the time to listen to the show, you really should. I'll be the first to tell you that there are a lot of nut jobs on there talking about how they can teleport you to the cave where Bigfoot mates with the Lochness Monster (or some such nonsense), but the show also has a lot of other really interesting information about less ridiculous concepts and ideas. I listen to this show nearly every night before I fall asleep and it certainly presents things to think about that I may have never otherwise considered, and to me that makes it great.

For the last few weeks, since I've graduated, I have really been enjoying my time off. I am still working on campus for the Biological Sciences IT Deparment, but only until the end of July. You see, July 31st is the last bouy before I hit open waters. This is the day that I am finally free. The last thing holding me down is my lease at my current apartment. Now, I am realizing that I really need to start figuring out just what the hell i'm going to do with the rest of my life. (or at least for the next year or so)

Here is a little glimpse at what I've started to do in order to plan my move to Los Angeles, California.

First of all, I'm going to need a place to live. I haven't found anything specific yet, but I've been looking at listing on Craigslist - Los Angeles, and it looks like rent is going to be in the vacinity of $800/mo. I know this sounds like a lot, but it's the price you pay to live in intoxicating weather on the beaches of the west coast. It's possible I can find something cheaper, but this is my guesstimate, just to be safe. I would really like to have a roommate I know, but chances are I may have to live with someone I have never met before. We'll see. Living alone is bascially out of the question, considering the cost of living.

Also, I have had some time to investigate job opportunities. I have been working on a list of 10 companies I'd like to work for, which looks a little something like this: (in no particular order)
1. Industrial Light and Magic
2. Universal Pictures
3. New Line Cinema
4. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
5. Warner Bros. Studios
6. Paramount Pictures
7. Miramax Films
8. 20th Century Fox
9. Sony Pictures
10. Spyglass Entertainment
Hon. Men. Lions Gate Films

These are just some of the bigger studios and productions companies, and they are all basically located in and around Los Angeles. A lot of them also have off-shoot or "independent" branches to their companies (i.e. Warner Bros. has Castlerock and Universal has Focus Films.) I'm just looking to find a PA (Production Assistant) position or some other entry level job. I am fairly confident that given the opportunity I can land a job at one of these companies and we'll see where I can go from there. There is also another resource on the web that has new listings everyday for jobs, EntertainmentCareers.Net. Anyone who is interested in finding a job in entertainment should certainly take a minute to browse throught their site.

Well, I'll be keeping everyone updated, but this is where I'm at for now. I'm ready to welcome any advice, and especially any financial support that anyone would like to donate. Take it easy.

Man, Ann Coulter sure is a freak. I mean, granted her political beliefs are a little fascist, and she can be annoyingly argumentative without providing any real substance to her point of view, but that's not what bothers me about her. What I can't stop thinking about his her striking resemblance to Grand Moff Tarkin. If you don't remember him, he was the nazi like Regional Governor of the Outer Rim for the Galactic Empire. (Basically one of Darth Vader's goons in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) Don't believe me? Look for yourself.

I'm just posting an update to my blog to let anyone who is checking this to know that I am planning on updating more. My next post will probably be about my job search, and following posts will include information about where I'm planning on living when I move to California, and what kinds of things I have to look forward to.

I am also planning on doing some general posts about topics and events that are interesting or important to me.

Wow, so last night was the Grand Opening party for the website, and while a lot of people were out of town and unable to make it, that just left a lot of alcohol for the rest of us. Believe you me, that was certainly a buffet of soberiety that Crunkasaurus Sex just couldn't even wait to indulge in. He annihalated every single one of us. Here is an excerpt from a conversation I had to day with my good friend Dan:

UTDan8306 (6:18:03 PM): like i remember driving back home like a dumbass and everything was a blur, I had to throw up so i pulled over at a what a burger to yak and i got out all stumbling and this cool guy was helping me out, so i ended up just yacking behind what a burger, left my keys in the ignition of my truck and left my door unlocked, i drunkenly walked a few blocks away to a field and threw up so more, then i guess i fell asleep, i don't even remember waking up, i just remember walking to a taco cabana for breakfast tacos. And i had totally forgotten i had driven so i started walking back home, then it all came back to me and i had to remember where my car was, i was freaking out I thought that dude who helped me stole my truck, but i just remembered what a burger so i looked for it and there was my truck in one piece, fucking crazy night.....

gobuffs10 (6:18:55 PM): that is awesome

Ok, so I decided that a blog is obviously the way to go. I am now convinced. I was using the one that godaddy.com gave me for free, but I realized that I could get one on blogger.com for free too, and this one is way better. I will repost my last message from the other blog, and then we'll start from there. enjoy.