Post Holiday Assessment

Alright...semi-long hiatus here from the old blog but I'm back!

Fall semester is over with no difficulty. Next semester I'm looking forward to shooting some film finally. Christmas yielded a Krasnogorsk 3 16mm film camera for myself and so I feel rather prepared. :)

If one can't tell I'm rather enamored with this hunk of Russian metal. I can't wait to shoot some footage with it!

In other news - Rock Band. I don't know if any of you have been graced with the opportunity to try this game but , for lack of better words, it rocks! Take your standard guitar hero game and then add a bass, a mic, and a drum set and that is rock band. This game, unlike the others in the genre, relies on multiplayer participation. Guitar hero is mostly a single player game where you have the option as an added bonus to plug in a second guitar and play your homies. Rock band does this as well but you can also choose to do a band tour where you and your buddies play and progress to the goal of rockin' the world. My brothers and I named our band "teh Griffin" and I have to admit we do rock. My character is a pirate with nimble fingers made for sliding through solos. Andrew's character is a hardcore hitter who isn't afraid to spank his drum set in public. Then finally there is Ryan...we put him on mic and he does pretty well...granted he doesn't always know the words. His Character is a bit emo but that doesn't hold him back from affecting the crowd with his mass vocals!

My favorite song in the whole game has to be Boston's Foreplay/long time. I was SOOO excited when I first got a chance to play it. I always thought to myself that that song would be a great one for guitar hero. I absolutely love that now with rock band I can play just about every instruments' part in that song now, save for the organ...watch that's coming next I bet.

Rock band is no doubt a great game but one must ask one's self whilst playing...well, why don't I just get real instruments and play those...

It is a bit silly I think to look at yourself while playing and realize that - except for the singer - you're not really playing these instruments....they're toys. They might as well just sell a big box with the actual instruments. Wanna start a band? Okay lets go buy....blahblahblah and start one. Could that be rock band's founding company Harmonix's goal...world wide rockouts! A world where those that can't rock are labeled obsolete and then exterminated...maybe we would live in a better world. At least there would be good music before we die.

I know it has been on all your minds...why the crazy villain 'stache. Because! I've been called Luigi, Dali, Snidely Whiplash, and sinister. I've been called pretentious, over-zealous, and shameless. I agree with you all. I don't use hairspray as doing so would 'cause brain damage and provide trips that I just don't want to go on. I use Clubman Mustache Wax:

It is simple to apply and smells like the air after a light rain. My reason for growing the 'stache is quite unclear even to me. Everyone wants a reason especially since I've been curling the ends lately. I just like it. My favorite characters from the old silent, noir, and western films I believe have a large subconscious influence on me. I also believe that Brandon Flowers, the lead singer for The Killers, and his recent mustache growth was a trigger for me. Whatever the reason may be the fact remains...I like my mustache. Your last and final question, I'm sure is how long will this "phase" of mine last...here's your answer:

(All in due time! Muahaha!)

The Columbian Review

Hello my faithful readers (I think I can pluralize that...),

Just putting out a notice for a new project that I'm working on. My roommate Adam and I have started a restaurant review page and have titled the project the Columbian review. We originally named it the Bearnaise Buddies but I believe that name to be a bit too cheeky. So far all we have posted is our mission statement but our first Vlog is in the woodworks and will be posted as our first video review of a place called the Thai Spice. Be sure to check out the link under my Friendlies section on the right column of this page. If you like what you see bookmark it and be sure to keep an eye out for new reviews as our restaurant quest matures. I'm honestly quite excited about the idea. As we progress through our reviews you may find other tidbits such as mini cooking show segments where Adam and I will show easy and tasty ways to make some of our own favorite dishes. Production is still pretty early as far as the site goes so expect changes and additions as time goes on and as I have a more free schedule to fiddle around with the layout. Until we get things going spread the word and keep checking the site for any new developments.

Nick & Susan

Here's our three minute film:

Nick & Susan

Feel free to leave comments and give a rating.

Again thanks to everyone who helped out!

Insomnia

Thanks everyone!

Although our efforts were in vain, working with you all was exciting and a privelage that no award from any big name company could ever award.About a week or two ago my roommate sent me an e-mail regarding an Apple sponsored contest called the 24 hour insomnia film festival. The idea was intriguing enough...24 hours to write-shoot-edit-post a 3 minute film using 3 of 10 prompts that are given to you at 9a.m. eastern time. The winning teams would be picked by the public for one prize package and by a panel of judges containing renowned directors and other such "pros". The prizes themselves were 5 apple mac book pros with a myriad of apps for editing and such.

Well Adam and I got a team together and started off. The team consisted of 5 people -

Adam
Myself
Gunnar Jebsen
David Aragoni
and
Jordon Hoeft

Since Gunnar is a graduate he couldn't technically be in the festival so we just credited him as our sound guy in the credits and had Adam's GF Erin (whom was basically already a team member with all the work she had put in) register herself in lieu of Gunnar.

We've spent the past week planning and getting everything together from elaborating on an idea of Adam's to pooling equipment and people. At the film building here at Columbia there was a flyer offering the rental of a Panasonic HVX...very nice camera to say the least. Our five man team was all thumbs up for renting the Camera despite the $200 a day fee. I called the liaison's name which was printed on the flyer and told him of our interest.

Now we couldn't do much until the festival started even in regards to writing but we decided to go ahead and write up a loose idea of an idea that Adam had wanted to film for and decided we could just amend it when we got the prompts so that it could cater to the requirements.

Friday came around and it was time to get the HVX. I called the liaison Jamieson again and told him we were ready to pick it up...then he mentioned he didn't feel like lending it to us since he realized we were rather inexperienced...his advice was to hire him to come along with us and watch the camera for an extra 50 to which I said...NO! thus began the problems. Although we didn't have an HVX we had an old mini DV cam that Adam owned and we decided that for our purposes it was all we needed anyway.

Saturday came and we all woke at the crack of dawn. Breakfast was served - cinnamon swirls - and the prompts were received. the prompts were as follows:

Location: Park Bench

Prop: Bird Cage

Character Name: Robin Darjeeling

Background Sound: Radio Static *

Costume: Tuxedo

Camera Angle: Dutch Angle *

Narrative Device: Dream Sequence

Editing Technique: Match Cut *

Dialogue: “Don’t tempt me.”

Makeup: Old Person

* We chose these

The dutch angle was easy since at the end of our film there is a part where the girl stands the guy up and also because it is one of my favorite filmic techniques.

The match cut was simple enough since it's such a standard editing technique.

and the radio static was all too perfect since what we had written even before we got the prompts was for there to be a split screen of two radios in the first and last shots.

Filming started at 10a.m. and ended near 7p.m. -

we rode the el to Gunnar's house where I edited the video and Gunnar mixed the sound and did some Foley sound.

from 8p.m. to 5 A.M the next morning we confined ourselves to Gunnar's studio except for two leg stretching breaks one of which consisted of a trip to El Taco Loco. there were a few scary points throughout the night that made for locked muscles and shouts of profanity. Earlt on in the video editing I lost all of my work when the power on Adam's Mac Book went out...someone had kicked the power cable out and I had forgotten to save. I was only about halfway through though and I was quick about getting everything back to where it was. Gunnar's sound mixing had also provided some mini heart attacks since after we loaded all the video onto Adam's external hard drive we realized Gunnar's computer had no firewire port so transferring the audio to him was mired by this. Thanks to Gunnar's 2 gig lexar thumb drive that problem was a non-problem. Then when he began mixing another problem occurred when all the drivers on his audio mixing program uninstalled themselves. Restart -reinstall - fixed -OKAY! once 5 a.m. rolled around it was time to upload!

5a.m.
.
.loading....
.
6a.m.
.
.error - file too large
.reloading........ :I
7a.m
.
.
.recompress resubmit
.recompress resubmit
.recompress resubmit
8a.m..................... shit.

Apparently Apple hate us. The file was supposed to be 15 mb and we had compressed our film down to about 2 mb...looked like shit but even so despite our accommodation the site kept telling us that the file was too large. We felt so good about our film and to have worked for so long to have it never shown just outright stinks. Many screams and clenched fists waved at the air as if Apple was some deity this morning here in sleepy Chicago. I was the loudest and most vicious of them.

Thank goodness we didn't end up renting that $200 HVX...that woulda sucked.

On the bright side we have this real cool little film. :-)

I'll post it up here in the next day or two...for now I'm going to bed. Maybe I'll get back on a regular sleep schedule tomorrow...

Till then here's some pics to hold ya over:

Erin's amazing set design work

We had an issue figuring out how we could match the dialogue we recorded earlier of Jordon (Nick) talking to Kim (Susan)
Gunnar came up with an instant solution - the sound genius that he is

Just inert earbuds here

Viola! The new Iphone. we made an audio file of Jordon's dialogue loaded it to an Ipod and just played it to her. Quite the technical feat.

Gunnar was pretty impressed with himself.. as was I

?????

...we're not stressed... :/

Mixing

Nice

The Darjeeling Limited

Spooky...absolutely spooky!

I won some tickets in a raffle to see Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited advance screening this previous weekend and tonight me and my collegiate friends went to go see it. I won't give away any plot since I'm sure you're all going to see it...you should. It was funny and it struck a very personal chord within me. For those of you who don't know the premise of the film it follows the story of the three Whitman brothers who set out to reunite on a spiritual journey through India via the Darjeeling LMT, a train line. The movie was artfully shot and although Wes did a spectacular job of orchestrating the mise en scène it's really hard to go wrong shooting in the beautiful countryside of India. The Whitman brothers played by Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman are met as they resurrect their relationship after a 1 year hiatus since the death of their father and this sets the scene for sibling feuds, absolutely hilarious bloopers, and moments of monumental camaraderie.

One theme that follows through to the end of the movie is the importance of family. Despite time and space family is always family. Sometimes life leads family apart but to keep those ties is an inherent goal and to some is worth traveling across India and risking your life for.

The spooky part comes where I could absolutely relate with the brothers, minus the whole traveling across India thing. My father is quite alive, thankfully, but my father's father died in April of 2007 after fighting cancer. Since his funeral there hasn't been a large scale family reunion. I don't want to say our family has grown apart but I feel that since our loss there hasn't been a moment for us to all sit around a table and have our own spiritual adventure. I love all my family tremendously and I used to look forward to having large get togethers and Grandma and Grandpa's house. Grandpa was always the center and seemed to hold us together. I lie in saying that I haven't seen family since his death because I have but those reunions filled with endless platters of food, hearty laughs, and games of backyard baseball where all the balls would innevitably end up in the neighbors yard are so long passed. I feel I have lost touch with some family and would absolutely love to just catch up. Mrs. Whitman put it best...I forget word by word what she said but something along the lines of maybe we should try not talking and just show how we feel. I feel my family needs to stop using words and just be. Just share being. Sitting together eating together and best of all laughing together. Grandpa would want that. thoughts lead to words and words are the worst means of communication.

I'm done. I feel really good being so moved by a film. It has been a long time since that has happened to me.

Aside from the D.L. I've had an altogether spectacular time here in the windy city. I went to a tea party where I won the advance screening tickets, movie poster, and other assorted D.L. merchandise and then I had two cookouts. I LOVE COOKOUTS! I promised you some pictures ma so here they are...wish you could be here to share in the festivities!

Me with my buddy Roman Coppola son of Francis Ford Coppola and producer/co-writer for D.L.
This was from the previous previous weekend at the screening of part one of D.L.
Hotel Chevalier
After the clip there was a Q&A, very interesting to say the least.

we were there starting the line at 4

stoop sitting till 6

Adam and Erin

watching the sitarist

The Sitarist

First one in the door and the holder of the winning raffle ticket shown here

me burning myself

Sipping on Darjeeling

Joe Griffin + fire - fear = good

We are go for cook

Adam surveying the damage

Shopping for consumables

mmmm

Hey

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/eae26bb96d - Watch this

Mic Night at the Fixx

Today (yesterday) was perfect.

I slept in until work at noon. Did barely anything the whole time. Got off at 4. Went to the Film meet and greet and got my name and number passed around to a few directors that need help with films this semester. Met up with Mars (short for Marshall [ A friend from my Development and preproduction class]). Met Gunnar up north off the Belmont stop and signed up for an open mic night slot (we've been practicing here and there). Mars being the savvy photographer that he is took pictures of us at the show - I'll have to get some pics to post. Gunnar and I did two of three songs we prepared (kinda miffed about being cutoff before our show stopper) - Gunnar was on guitar and sang and I sang harmony vocals and accompanied with mouth harp. our lineup was:

1. Kings of Convenience - Manhattan Skyline
2. Gunnar Jebson - Caught a cold in my bed
3. Jim Croce - One less set of footsteps ( : ( stupid two song limit)

Granted not all my days are this eventful but still ...

Right here is perfect.

School is exciting, work is easy and pays well, and in my free time I do things that I absolutely love to do, with other people! Sounds sad in a way but when I juxtapose my summer happenings to what's happening right now I honestly feel as though my feet can touch the bottom and my head is above the water. I'll die before I ever have to go back to the way things were this past summer - No friends, underpaid for painstaking work, and no sense of direction. I hated it!

but I'm here now. Finally.

I can't wait for next week's open mic night!

In Retrospect

Alright...long week

1st line of business - Columbia is everything I hoped it would be and more.

For the first time since high school I feel I'm at a place that will lead me to where I need to go. Classes are amazing and my profs. make it all the better. My Development and Preproduction prof. looks like Ed Harris and talks like Billy Bob Thornton and my History of Cinema prof.'s name is Ben Hur Uribe, no kidding. I got a job through the school doing bitch work but I'm being paid 8 bucks an hour (25¢ more than my job as a security guard) and I've learned more in these first 2 weeks at Columbia than I did over the course of a complete year at BG - FACT.

My roommates are the shiz and I've done massive networking, taking names and promising to kick ass.

Gunnar and I have been chilling out anytime I've had free time. Just the other day we went over to the beach by the aquarium and played Aerobie for a couple of hours. Earlier last week Toyoyom Cound came up and visiting and we just meandered around town...not lighting fireworks off. Then earlier this week I got a phone call from Josh Huppert who was in town auditioning with two of his buddies for the musical Wicked. I of course gave them a place to stay for the night.

I feel at ease finally despite a myriad of issues I've faced as well.

• My camera is broke and can't be fixed - this means no pictures for awhile
• A package my mom sent me is forever lost amongst the postal service
• I still have butt-loads of financial malarkey to sort out

and

• I still can't fly my kite because the strings that go with it were in the package my mother sent me (refer to bullet point 2)

Still despite all that stuff I find solace in knowing that...HEY I'm in Chicago! I love what I'm doing and what better way to enjoy it than without a way to document it pictorially, without the aid of foodstuffs a pillow and kite strings that were lost in a package, and with little to no money!

Hell I don't know how I could be more optimistic.

P.S. any thoughts on me shaving my head?

Columbia

Here I come.

Troop 817

So this last weekend was pretty good.

It's kinda late in the Summer but I decided to finally begin my service to the society that has made such a huge difference in my life...no this time it isn't SPEBSQSA... The BSA - Boy Scouts (of) America.








At first I found myself pretty rusty in the outdoors. I haven't been camping since before I got my eagle award back in November of 2005. I had just signed the forms that state that I am now a working assistant scout master the week before the campout and I've only been to one or two of the meetings before then and so this was quite the crash course back into scouting not to mention I had a lot of people to meet and get to know. I feel a bit at a loss since now I have to leave for school. The personality I've portrayed and the ones that I was presented with are still fresh and I have a lot of work before I am considered a next of kin among these scouts. No worries. I plan on spending more time with them in the future.

I've already planned far in advance and will be a camp counselor at the nearby Scout Camp. I applied and as soon as I told them I was over 18 years old they kinda hinted that the job was pretty much a guarantee. The pay is good and the housing and food is provided by them. All I have to do is do what I love and whatever they require of me. I told one of the camp counselors that my favorite merit badge to learn was sailing. I felt so at ease and free with the wind as my power and the boat as my guide across the water. This being said when I received my acceptance letter I was quite pleased to see that my area of expertise will be water Sports (that means I'll be teaching sailing while getting to do it myself) AHHH! Next summer will be simply perfect! Besides that from what I've seen the camp is an amazing complex and the staff are all tightly knit. Just what I'm looking for.

Well, I digress. This is much farther in the future than I should be concentrating on. in just three days begins my intensive study at my dream school. I just can't lose sight of that open lake. That's my drive.

Homescapades

So I'm packing my things for Columbia today and in addition I've decided to go through some of the boxes we have yet to open since we've moved here to Loveland. In doing so I've attached my survival knife to my belt so I could have easy access to a blade in which to cut open boxes.



Lunch was late today and when my lil' bro Ryan called me up I made a dash for it. m mm, Pizza.

At the end of lunch my mother inquired as to why I had a knife sheathed to my side. I withdrew the blade and proceeded to show her it while explaining I was opening boxes. I also showed her the compass, fire-starting kit,sewing needle and thread, and fishing line and hook that was held in the secret compartment in the handle. Nevertheless it did seem a bit overkill for any situation one might be faced with.

The next thought that crossed her mind was for what reason would I need a survival knife in Chicago for.

she says," Are ya gonna skin homeless people?"

dramatic pause...

Ryan adds,"For their fur??"



So the laughter ensues! and a halfway swallowing Andrew rushes to open the back sliding door but fails to do so in time thus jettisoning the remainder of his chug from his nose onto himself and everything in a two foot radius...he falls to the ground flinching with laughter.

I haven't laughed that hard in a long long time!

As anxious as I am to leave for school I will miss my family and all their oddness.

Colum

Today I got back from my expedition back into homeland Illinois. I won't explain in much detail my anticipation for the move to Columbia, everyone knows the feeling I think from at least once in their life. It's that full body excitement. You feel every part of your body just surge with an intuition that "this is right". From my fingers to my toes and ending in my heart there is just the sense that something great has come to fruition. Too bad School doesn't start till the 4th of September.



On a second note...why isn't it easier to win the lotto? I could really use an ass-load of cash real soon, more like right now! I'm thinking of starting to invest some of what I already have...I'm just not sure where to start exactly. Maybe a mutual fund just to be safe. Then when I amass some more cash then maybe try my luck on buying my own stocks. I took a class in high school and know a lot about the market and even did really well in a little mock market practice that lasted the whole class. Damn just what I need more stress...

Lastly, and to take my mind off of school and what I need for school, I've realized how detrimental it is for family to be in limited contact with each other. Living in Ohio has for my family pretty much taken us an equal distance in every direction away from family. The las family reunion I remember having was my father's father's (my grandfather)funeral. That wasn't exactly in highest of spirits either. My big bro and sis are coming into town soon and for that I'm super psyched about! It seems we only find it in our schedules to see each other about once a year nowadays. There will most definitely be some good catching up once they get in.

well I 'spose that sums it up for now. Lots going on here in the future but that's something to be eager about. Tomorrow it's back to guarding the King on his Island. Then towards the end of August begins a new and very exciting chapter in the life of a Griffin.

Higher Ground

Things seem to finally start making sense it seems here in Ohio.

I love work! Being a security guard at Kings Island was the perfect job for me. It's the perfect blend of down time and busy work that I can call comfortable. Not to mention all the adventures I've been on. Just in the past week I've disarmed about 5 fights/ belligerently drunk people, witnessed the escort of two young 14 year olds whom were caught having oral sex in a changing room, and have closed out every night with a pseudo-spectacular firework show. Most days I slump into my house with a feeling of fulfillment and anticipation for the next day.

Tomorrow I pack for my Chicago trip. Orientation is upon me and I feel like I'm quite literally not on top of it. Things are a bit fuzzy as to what is going to happen when I get there but I'm crossing my fingers and saying a little prayer in hopes that that is normal. GOD JUST LET IT WORK OUT!

The 4th

Everyone has their favorite holiday. Some love the gift giving and the religious meaning of Christmas. Some enjoy the togetherness of family and friends that Thanksgiving seems to embody. Myself, I just like to see things blow up, turn bright colors, and come 2 decibels from shattering my eardrums. I also have a certain sense of national pride, despite the travesties our nation has faced in the past ::cough:: Bush ::cough::. Tonight was the 4th of July ...eve...fireworks show at Kings Island and there was quite a show! All the noise and lights just send my adreneline skyrocketting. I love it! If anyone wanted to ransack the park tonight would've been the night for it since all I could do was stare on at the works going on above our 1/3 sized eiffel tower. I'll admit I've made some stupid mistakes in the past when it comes to handling fireworks myself, I.E. blowing up the back seat of my dad's car, but again I'm drawn to the light like a huge wingless moth. Tom Cound, Chad O'Brien, Erik Shute, and Ethan Young can all attest to this fact. I'm a firework junkie if you want proof...I'll send you THE video. So many good memories of mine involve explosions. God I love this holiday!!!!!!!

My New Desk

I live in the basement of my family's new house and have done most of my computing from a small crowded folding card table. I decided I'd go to Goodwill to fix my space problem and to upgrade from card table to wooden table. 15 dollars, a very precarious ride home and a sore back later I've got a nice new/old table. A rather good investment I'd say. It looks very executive and has plenty of space to work on so I'm rather excited. Now if I can only finish the walls...I think I might be able to make something of this subterrainian abode.

NPR : Ben Gibbard Gives Solo Concert

NPR : Ben Gibbard Gives Solo Concert

How To Eat a Watermelon

Walking

Have you ever gone on a long walk and just wished that all the lights around you would just turn off. I find myself almost every night going for a walk right around 1 o'clock. I like being alone and sometimes just wish the lights would all shut off for the duration of my expedition. I seem to always find myself ending up at this one special place where the only light that seems near to me is that of the stars. I'll just sit there. In actuality I think that although I am there and I want to seem solitary I truly could use someone by my side. Anyone. I feel like I've gone down a path too far and that there is nobody but just me. I haven't made a single true friend here at "home". It sucks all too much lemme tell you. Is it possible to find anyone in the dark? Someone who is alone and wants to be alone as well? I think my efforts are in vain. Until I can find it comfortable in the light again I just want to walk in the dark. There is nothing for me here and I am very unsettled. I think I've quite literally become the stranger on a quiet street.

AHHH! 911!!!

Today seemed like it was gonna be one of another in a series of boring days. I had spent most of my day, sadly, in my basement on my computer. At 9 o'clock my little brother andrew ran downstairs and told me my little brother Ryan had broken his arm. I can't describe the amount of urgency I took as I bound out of the basement. I ran upstairs and out the back door and sure enough back behind our playground in the backyard was my little bro with his arm bent in a place it very well shouldn't have been bent. My brothers and one of Ryans friend were running around chasing each other when Ryan slipped down the ladder on the playset. His arm, unfortunately, became stuck between two rungs and snapped. I told him not to move it and immediately called 911. It's really scary to see a loved one in turmoil. I'd never broken a bone in my body but I can guess it is similair to the pain I felt if not worse when I had torn my lateral meniscus. He was in shock at first when I had initially arrived on the scene but after he quit moving it and my mom calmed him down he immediately wanted to solve the problem. He didn't cry a bit from that moment on. The sight of his bent arm made hime a little sick to his stomach but he endured the pain like a real champ. I'm in absolute awe as to how well he dealt with the situation. My dad was at a town meeting so my mom and Andrew had to pick him up. We couldn't reach him on his phone because he was speaking at the meeting. Thanks to one of the neighbors that offered to drive over and tell him what had happened we could rally the family together. As the family was getting together I offered to ride with the paramedics and Ryan in the ambulance to help answer any questions.

The paramedics were extremely nice and Ryan
answered all their questions
including the ones about school and baseball.

He could feel but it hurt to move his fingers

Even on the bumpy ride to the hospital all the way in Cinncinnati he kept the most calm composure. The paramedic asked some questions and with a little help from me the topic of conversation eventually landed on whether he was going to be able to play baseball or go to school. At the Hospital everything went by smoothly.

Not a Bit Nervous

He got put to sleep for a bit and they re-aligned his radius and ulna and they bound it in a temporary brace and fitted him for an arm sling.

Taking a Nap

Drowsy Thumbs Up

Already Being Pampered

Walking out of the hospital all he was worried about then was how much longer he would have to wait to get home so he could eat some oatmeal. we just got back home at about 1:15 and he's off to bed and hoping that next week when they put his cast on if he can have it done up so it looks like camoflauge...he loves anything army related. I can admit to coming to tears a few times tonight. I can't stand seeing anyone I love come to harm. Even when the doctor raised his arm a bit and he winced in pain. I felt just absolutely distresed. Now everything is better and from here Ryan gets the king's treatment. Unfortunately he will have to stop playing baseball...too bad too he caught a line drive at 3rd base the other day. I'm just glad that he isn't in any more pain and proud to have such a truly brave little brother.