Street Fighter 2 Challenge - Round 2

This is possibly one of the greatest things happening in Brooklyn, if you're a videogame nerd, like me. My friends from college is bringing back 16-bit gaming into Rope Bar for some old-school-videogame action. Arguably, the greatest game ever made -- Street Fighter 2 for the SNES will be projected on a big screen, ala The Wizard, using authentic arcade sticks on a pedestal, for your true arcade enjoyment. It's FUN times infinity, folks. This is the 2nd round and the 1st round was a blast, even though, I didn't win.

More info:

Street Fighter 2 Challenge - Round 2
Sunday, June 24 (9PM)
@ ROPE BAR
415 Myrtle Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11205
(G train to Clinton/Washington)

http://www.myspace.com/streetfighterchallenge

For Reel Part Tree

I recently upgraded Final Cut Express 2 to Final Cut Express HD 3.5! I will spare you the computer-related drama, but for a while there, I almost thought I had wasted over $200 on upgrading my system. But, I am glad that everything is working fine, again. FCE 3.5 turned out to be a worthwhile upgrade. It comes with Soundtrack 1.5 and Livetype, which allows people to really get into sound design and add slick-looking graphics to their videos. Not only that, both programs come pre-loaded with hundreds of royalty-free music loops and graphics. So far, my aging Powerbook is handling it well and I should be fine with it as long as I stick to SD.

Below, is another sample reel I made for fun, while playing with the new features. The beginning title, which I just realized is too short a clip to be able to read any of it was created with LiveType and the soundtrack was created with Soundtrack....

Rain vs. Umbrella

Before leaving the house on Tuesday, it had just rained and the sun showed up to tease me into believing that I wouldn’t need an umbrella. I had already stepped out of the house twice. Once when it was raining and once when it was shining. I was now thinking that I didn’t need to bring an umbrella, at all, even though the weather forecast said otherwise. I do like to check the weather once in a while, you know, and even, get soaked in it. And even though it is always a hassle to bring an umbrella, I brought one, anyway.

The sky turned suddenly dark, while the bus was inching its way into the Lincoln Tunnel. An hour later, I got on the subway and out the other end of town. On my walk to the movie theater is when it poured. One of those torrential summer rains. I was tempted to ditch the umbrella altogether and revel in being a totally wet duck. As it was, I was only a half-wet duck when I arrived at the bar for that preliminary movie drink. And wouldn’t you know it, the rain stopped considerably when I stepped back out unto the street. Upon arriving at the theater, a person dressed as a shark gave me one of these....



The person on the desk asked me if I had a guest and I said, “No, I’m flying solo.” It was one of those free film screening invitations that I got by living in the internet. I seated myself and relaxed. In these moments, I always remind myself what I’d be doing if I was at home and I am usually glad that I stepped out of the house and away from any computers. If nothing else, I could blog about the whole experience.

As it turned out, the film, called Eagle vs. Shark was quite funny. I laughed-out-loud many times. It’s a dark-ish romantic-comedy with characters that reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite. Upon seeing the trailer, a friend who bailed on the movie commented that “It looks like somebody has been watching too much ”Napoleon Dynamite.” And although true, you can never have enough of Napoleon, even if he’s now more like a lamer version of Macho Man.



It opens in theaters this Friday at Sunshine Cinema. Go see it, or not.

After the film, I walked east towards the smoky bar where I smoked until they kicked me out. I was totally drunk, but drunk in a good way because I remembered to bring the umbrella and didn't lose anything at the end of the night.

Gee wiz, four-eyes, what shall we do tonight?

There's nothing like staying in on a Saturday night and watching a couple of youtube gems. Here's 2 films that I watched today that are totally mind-blowing, not to mention, free.

The first time I saw Dan Neely's film was at The Brooklyn Underground Film Festival a few years ago. Now, that it is on youtube, I can watch it over and over, again. It is that good, people. And, I am not even a Potter-head....

WIZARD PEOPLE, DEAR READER

Another youtube-feature is Four-Eyed Monsters, which I never got to check out in the theater. I am glad, though, that they decided to go online with the film because I can now watch it at the comfort of my own bedroom.... I like the film very much and I'm glad somebody made a film like this.

FOUR-EYED MONSTERS

That's all. Must go before Dumbledore gets back....

Film news and a poster

This is a teaser poster that I created for this interesting project, called A SWARM OF ANGELS. The main picture was provided by PALLA to do as we please. The project is a web-based collective, of sorts, where they are aiming to "...create a million films and give it away to over a million people using the Internet and a global community of members." It certainly is ground-breaking. I am all for digital-content, and I certainly can't get enough of it -- the web-junkie that I already am. If you are curious to see more posters designed by other people, point your mouse here:

http://www.aswarmofangels.com/2007/05/the-unfold-poster-design-contest/

I found out about A SWARM OF ANGELS thru SHOOTING PEOPLE, which is a network and resource site for film folks. I have met wonderful people thru their networking parties and has been invaluable in getting myself out there.

Also, if you are in town this week, the people of "A Swarm of Angels" will be a part of the 1st ANNUAL CREATOR SERIES events, which starts this Friday (June 8-10) in NYC and then, continuing in LA (June 14-16). The series is a multidisciplinary salon-style conference dedicated to emerging creativity and ideas.

For reel part deux

This one is a little more humorous and I think better...



What do you think?

For reel

I finally started to put my work together in a reel. It's really the last thing I wanna do, even if it should be the first thing I should have done.... Just like cover letters, I find the whole idea of putting myself in this standardized-context very difficult. But, what appeals to me is re-learning how to edit and making a reel lets me do just that. This is also the first time I have extensively edited video since 2001. And, what better way to practice editing than using my own work. It's like killing two birds with one stone. I am not sure, if, it's ready for prospective employers, just yet. I am still going to work more on it, but here is my first attempt:




And, of course, comments are always welcome.

Update

I spent my evening rescanning some of my old sketches for my PICTURE CALENDAR. I should have done this a long time ago, but I didn't have the convenience then of having my own scanner. I can print, scan and digitize now, which is all really sweet. The only gadget that I have yet to get is a camcorder, which I am waiting on getting until, A) I get a job, or B) I finish my script, whose title I've recently learned is now a book. I thought of the title first, I swear on my mother's grave. But, since I got beat to the punch, sorta-speak, I either will have to, A) Change the title, or, B) Keep title, but add "The Movie" at the end of it, if they let me. I will probably just change the title and recently, a friend helped me think of a new one. As far as the sound of the title goes, the new one sounds more movie-ish. Hopefully, I will have better luck writing with this new title in mind than the old title.

So, that is what's on my plate. I think I have finally gotten around presenting my work the best I could on my WEBSITE and what's left is to create more work.