Happy Birthday Cole!

I know what you're thinking: sweet nose cup in my hand.  Just kidding - that's me and my buddy Cole, a.k.a. Little Dude #2, a.k.a. my Godson.  Today is his 2nd birthday and I wish I could say happy birthday in person!  Already looking forward to Meg's wedding in May when I can see Cole, Chase and the rest of the crew!

Happy 2nd

Birthday Cole!

...and when you're older, you can blame me for this picture.

If the Earth were a grain of sand on a beach..

...then the distance from our planet to the edge of the visible universe is about the same as the distance from that grain of sand on the beach all the way to the orbit of Mars (about 36,000,000,000 miles).

What happens when the Earth rises above the horizon of the moon?

An Earthrise - one of my favorite things out of this world.

Using the beach for another analogy...

There are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on our entire planet.

If these facts make you feel small or insignificant, I think you're looking at them the wrong way.  When I hear stuff like this, sure I feel small, but I also feel inspired because I realize how lucky I am to be here now on this floating rock.

Think of it like this: if 13.7 billion years ago the Big Bang hadn't distributed just the right mixture of elements... if our sun was at a different stage of its life like millions of other stars out there... if our planet hadn't settled in a perfectly situated orbit around that sun (if it was any further, Earth would be frozen... if it was any closer, all water would evaporate)... if all of the people in your family tree hadn't met and started those branches that eventually lead to your parents coming into existence... and if they hadn't met and created the one-in-a-trillion combination that makes you who you are... then you wouldn't be here.

But you are here.  You're reading this sentence, breathing air and forming thoughts.  It almost seems impossible, doesn't it?  Looks like the impossible is possible - and if that doesn't make you feel special and significant then I don't know what will!

Pale Blue Dot - a view of our Earth from a little less than four million miles away.

Happy Monday everyone.

"I Will Win."

If you haven't heard of The Company Men, you will soon.  Released on Friday, I have a feeling that this movie is going to blow up and become very popular - I think it has the potential to spark nationwide buzz, maybe even on the same level as Up In The Air did last year.

I wanted to find a good poster for the movie while I was talking about it, so I did a Google image search and found these:

  

So after looking at these two posters, what do you think the movie's about?  I don't know about you, but when I look at each of these posters individually I get a completely different vibe.  This got me thinking: who knew the movie poster had such an influence on the movie its advertising?  It kind of makes you appreciate the art of movie poster design a little, doesn't it?

I did a search and found a few examples of good movie posters that are excellent representations of the movies they're advertising:

 

 

Each gives off a certain impression that doesn't lead to disappointment when watching the movie.  If someone had looked at one of these posters then gone to see the movie, I would be shocked to hear them say, "Well, that poster completely misrepresented that movie."

Good Will Hunting's classic sepia tone means we're going into something dramatic and serious, but the two main actors are laughing so it can't be all bad.  Smokin' Aces: I see guns, cards, guns, a woman's legs, and more guns.  Those images combined with the bright colors says this movie's probably fun and action-packed (I've never seen it but I've heard good things).  For me, Juno's different costumes with the orange and green colors (and tons of stripes) gives off an off-centered youthful vibe.  Finally, Jaws... Seriously?  It's terrifying.

Finding a poster that gives off the wrong impression was hard to do, but I think I managed it:

M. Night Shymalan's The Happening.  Have you seen this movie?  If you haven't, don't.  If you have, I'm sorry.  This movie's terrible!  I like Mark Wahlberg and I like Zooey Deschanel but damn they act horribly in this.  Here's a hilarious clip that I quote very often: What? No!

Anyway, check out this poster.  It looks creepy - the buildings are a little bent inward (what does that mean, I don't know, but it worked for Inception), the streets are abandoned, Mark and Zooey are protecting a little girl from something... what could it be?  Who knows, but it looks like something really scary and dangerous...  [Head's up: I'm about to ruin the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it...]

It's the trees.  And I don't mean like the Wizard of Oz trees that talked and threw rocks, or the Lord of the Rings trees that walked around and held meetings and stuff.  I'm talking about the trees you see when you open your front door.  Stationary, non-talking, blowing in the wind trees.  In The Happening, trees are killing people off.  How this movie was ever made I'll never understand, but it was, and this was the movie poster.  There's not even one single tree in the poster!  If they're going to make the killer something we see every day, then put it in the poster so later I can look at it and be like "wow I didn't see that the first time, that's cool that they put that in there" or something.  Definitely misleading - and just a sidenote, Shymalan could use a few lessons from Hitchcock.  Hitchcock made a movie about birds killing humans and called it The Birds and he even put birds on the poster.  Sometimes direct is the way to go.

So back to The Company Men.  Look at the first poster:

I actually get a vibe similar to that of Smokin' Aces - they don't have guns, but they look suspicious as hell and like they're ready to pull weapons out at any second.  The font choice and the tagline 'For them, business is anything but usual' also contribute to this gritty, bank heist feel it gives off.

Here's the second poster:

This gives off a thought-provoking vibe.  It looks way less action and much more dramatic.  The art at the top of businesspeople on tightropes suggests we're going to be dealing with the struggle of the modern professional.  And that's exactly what we're dealing with here.

I don't know where that first poster came from, but this second one hits The Company Men on the head.  That ends my rant on movie posters, but I'll definitely be analyzing them a little more now that I've thought about the art behind them.  Just thought of a new blog post - check back soon to hear about minimalistic movie posters.

Watch the trailer for The Company Men and you'll see that each of those four names on the poster are Academy Award winners.  Not bad, eh?  The story's laid out really well in the trailer, and I think it's worth watching so I won't ramble on with a summary, just quick commentary.

I can't wait to see this movie.  The story looks timely and the cast is phenomenal, and my favorite part?  I have a feeling they'll be a healthy dose of inspiration served with this one.  I get chills at the end when Affleck yells the self-help mantra he reluctantly recited early on:

"I will win.  Why?  Because I have faith, courage and enthusiasm."

I hear something like that and think of optimism, confidence and hope.  Things each of us can use especially when things aren't going our way.

Next time I'm feeling down, I'll think of these three words:

I will win.

Ready... Set...

BOOM.  (that's a gunshot)

Ran my first 5k this morning along the Venice Beach Boardwalk [Quick tangent: for someone who grew up in New Jersey, the term 'boardwalk' means that there are actual wooden boards underneath your feet when walking on it, not cement or asphalt.  It should be the Venice Beach Walkway or Venice Beach Really Wide Sidewalk.  I'm just saying I can't call my studio apartment a villa so why does a stretch of pavement get to be called a boardwalk?].  It was a lot of fun, came in at 30:19 which isn't like Usain Bolt timing but for my first 3.1 mile run I'll take it.  Like the announcer said, "All you first-timers look at it like this: whatever time you get is a personal record."  Just set myself a new PR.

Didn't beat my sister, Megan, though.  She got a supposed 28.22 (but she thinks the timers were wrong and she did it faster).  I'll have to work on that for next time - and here's something cool about the 5k I did today: I talked and ran with Kimberly Locke who was 2nd runner-up to Ruben Studdard in the 2003 American Idol.  Pretty kickass, right?  She was real cool and me and my buddy RJ made plans with her to run again soon, maybe she'll join us for the next event.

But as I'm sure you've figured out by now, whatever my blog posts are about, I try to apply the theme to some aspect of my life and the current situation I find myself in.  Well today's was easy.

See, I remember a few months ago talking to my mom about the fact that it was so good to be in film school because I'm learning so much about something I find so fascinating, but at the same time there was a big part of me that was ready to get into the business of television/film and hit the ground running. The most appropriate analogy for how I've felt recently is like a horse at the starting gate waiting for the gun...  I'm pumped, excited, passionate about what I'm going after and ready to tackle it.

That's why this internship at ABC Studios has been so great - it's been an amazing outlet for all of the energy I've been storing up for when I'd get that chance to show this industry what I have to offer.  My bosses have been encouraging and supportive but also very appreciative of the hard work I do when I'm in the office.  Well this past week it all paid off.

On Tuesday I was asked to greet some producers who were coming up to our floor for a meeting.  I stood by the elevators and one by one I'd introduce myself and then walk them to the conference room.  I got people waters and then waited for the meeting to end so I could clean up.  Apparently I left a good impression on those producers because one of them, Christopher Moynihan, called my boss later that day and asked if I was available to work with him.  Starting next week I'm going to be working as Chris' assistant which is an excellent opportunity because Chris has created a new pilot for ABC called Man Up that he'll be both writing for and starring in.  It's going to give me an insider's view of how to create, write and even act in your own show and I can't wait to get started.

Chris is a really cool guy, too.  He's been in a few things like a show that ran on NBC called 100 Questions, and he starred in the Christopher Guest movies A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration.  It was cool as hell when he called me up and we talked like it was no big deal - afterwards I hung up the phone and was like... that guy's in movies!  Crazy.

I also wanted to explain the whole pilot thing more.  You probably already know this, but a pilot is the very first episode that a television series shoots.  This time of year, LA gets a little hectic because it's known as "pilot season".  For the next two months, all television production companies (like ABC Studios, HBO, Fox, NBC Universal, J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot, Reveille, etc.) will put together pilot packages which include a shot pilot as well as all of the information regarding the financial aspect of putting the show on television.  These packages get shipped off to network/cable execs who then decide if they'd like to place the shows on their channels.  What that means for me is that I have a guaranteed job until mid to late April, and at that point ABC Studios will shop Man Up around to the networks.

[In case you were wondering... ABC Studios is not ABC Network (the channel you watch at home).  ABC Studios is a production company that will, of course, shop any and all shows they create to ABC Network at first, but sometimes ABC Network will pass and allow ABC Studios to shop the show around to other networks.  For example, Criminal Minds is produced by ABC Studios but airs on CBS.  Another famous one that people often don't understand is Modern Family - it's made by 20th Century Fox Television but airs on CBS.  Believe it or not, I even corrected Modern Family's Wikipedia page because someone mistakenly wrote that it was produced by ABC - it isn't.  And I'm a dork.]

So a guaranteed job until mid-April... What does that mean for me?  It means I have to spend the next 3 and a half months making the best impression I can on Chris as well as the rest of the crew so that I can make connections and find the next job.  It's possible, trust me - it's what's gotten me this far!  And hopefully Man Up gets picked up by ABC or another network so I can work with the crew for the remainder of the season, but regardless, I have to remember to work hard and learn everything I can throughout the process.  Another positive is the strong foundation I've created at ABC Studios that I can rely on for great connections and resources.

Back to the theme: hitting the pavement running.  To keep the momentum going I'll soon be signing up for a February 10k and I'm also going to start working finally, and I am pumped about both.

Over the moon

On the way home from school tonight I was thinking to myself, "What am I gonna blog about today?"  And there it was, floating up in the sky.

Quick, what movie?  This sketch was in one of my all-time favorites, It's A Wonderful Life.  Thought it was appropriate for the topic: the moon.

I really dig the moon, and now my mom and I will tell each other when there's a good looking one in the night sky.  It's a cool connection to have over 3,000 miles away from home, but also I just find the whole idea of the moon so humbling.  This HUGE rock floats around the planet just because that's the way space situated it.  It reminds me that I'm so small in this infinitely large universe, and I'm reminded how lucky we all are to just even exist here and now.  My respect for the moon has taught me to appreciate the short time I get to live on this rock, and that's inspired me to make sure I'm living to the fullest.

Fun fact: I was 22 years old when I first learned that the crescent shapes we see on the moon aren't from the earth's shadow.  Smart guy I am, huh.  A friend of mine who taught middle school science told me that it's a common misconception (I think he was just being nice) to think that the dark part of the moon is the earth's shadow when in reality, we only really get to see the earth's shadow on the moon during lunar eclipses (like the total lunar eclipse that happened on December 21st - and yes, I did stay up to see it, and yes, it was awesome).

I didn't expect this to become a science lesson but I'm just going with the flow.  This diagram explains what I had wrong about the light hitting the moon.  The inner circle is what the moon looks like in space (always the same).  The outer circle shows what we see when looking at it from our small little planet.  So it's not the earth's shadow that's causing the different phases to occur, it's just the angle that we see sunlight hitting the moon from.

You're probably like, "I've known this since 3rd grade."  Or maybe you didn't.  Either way, it's cool to think about.

In closing, I'm a nerd who appreciates the moon and I'm cool with that.  Maybe next time you go outside and see that pale yellow light you'll give it a second thought, but if you don't, it's all good.  The moon will still be there either way.

Who eats white dots and runs from ghosts?

C'mon, you know the answer.

The one and only Pacman.  While we're on the subject, here's a great internet joke that's gone around:

Clever clever.  But seriously, Pacman was one of the originals - and how much simpler could it get?  (I guess Pong was simpler but work with me here...)

Tonight we had an elective class from one of the New York Film Academy's great teachers, Adam Moore, about writing for video games.  Adam talked about the evolution of games from Pong up until the practically-real games of the Xbox 360, and while the whole lecture was great (we even played games throughout which rocked) there was one particular part that blew my mind a little and it all had to do with that little hungry circle, Pacman.

Pacman was one of those games that you learned how to play almost instantly.  You use very simple controls to move this guy around to collect the white dots.  Hey, what's that ghost thing?  Oh, it killed me.  Note to self: stay away from ghosts.  BOOM.  You just learned the essentials of surviving Pacman.

Adam made us think about this a little deeper, though.  What's the story behind Pacman?  It's not like the game starts with a cinematic opening sequence like the games of today, but there's still a story there, right?  You need to collect those white dots and stay away from the ghosts or you die.  And don't tell me that when you were playing and you got cornered by ghosts you didn't start freaking out a little bit - your heart starts beating and you yell something out loud like "Where do I go?!" but it's too late.  Game over.  Who knew the death of small circle thing would invoke such emotion?

Another classic example: Tetris.  It starts easy with a kickass soundtrack but then it starts getting faster... and the music picks up... and your layers are building up... and the wrong pieces are getting dumped into your once neat and organized game space... and before you know it your screen's filled up and it's all over.  Is there a story there?  Absolutely!  It's a survival story, just like Pacman, but with different rules.

These and other classics (Space Invaders, Centipede, Asteroid, Missile Command, Dig Dug, etc.) had very basic gameplay, so basic that it left a lot of room for the player to flex his/her imagination and inspire a story behind the game.  Gameplay inspired story.

But time has passed and we went from these...

...to these, almost 40 years later:

Big changes.  Let's go back to the topic of story in these new games.  Does gameplay still inspire story?  In a lot of cases you could argue it still does.  But for people to drop $300 on a new system and then $60 on a new game, it's become clear that story matters.  So much so, in fact, that it has started to change the way people play these games and the paradigm's shifted.  Story has started to influence gameplay.

This may not feel applicable to you, and I'd understand that.  I just find it fascinating that technology has changed how we play.

Back in the day, the baby boomers went out to the ballfield and played pick up games to pass the time.  The rules were simple but the story was exciting: Who would win?  Who would have bragging rights?  Would there be a rematch tomorrow?  Playing the games inspired the stories that they'd be talking about all around the neighborhood.  

Today?  Kids don't need to go far to find a story to invest themselves in.  All they have to do is fire up the new system and play whatever the new hot game is.  It's quick, fun and accomplishes the goal of finding entertainment.

Are we better off for it?  Time will tell.  And I think we'll get an answer quicker than we all think.

Great picture of me and my 3-year-old nephew - in it he's schooling me in Angry Birds, a popular game for the iPad.  It didn't hit me at that moment, but I later realized how my nephews will never know a world without iPads and computers and the internet.  The idea of a typewriter will make them feel like I do when I think of a Model T: ancient, extinct, belongs in a museum.  Of course I hope the best for them and the rest of their generation, but thinking of their future makes me glad I experienced a world before computers and the internet, when I relied heavily on my imagination to fill simple scenarios with exciting stories.

Technology is a great thing, and the advancements that have been made in storytelling allow us to fully immerse ourselves in new and exciting worlds where all we have to do is sit back and enjoy.  I just hope that in the future we still take the time to exercise our imagination.

I'm sure you've heard this before: we've ran out of ideas.  With regard to films, we keep remaking classic stories from the past (and doing a terrible job at remaking them, but that's another blog post).  We recycle and reuse stories over and over again, tweaking them here and there to make them "different" from previous interpretations.

I think we could use a lesson from Pacman.  Let's play by simpler rules and be creative.  Let's use our imagination and allow it to inspire new stories.  It's either that or we'll be in our 80s watching our grandkids play the latest virtual reality version of Pacman... and if that day comes, I just hope I still have enough hand-eye coordination to try that out because it sounds cool as hell.

Born to Run

Someday, girl, I don't know when, we're gonna get to that place where we really wanna go and we'll walk in the sun... but til then tramps like us, baby we were born to run.

Nothing says Jersey like a little Bruce Springsteen.  One of my favorite stories involving Bruce actually centers around another genius musician, Bob Dylan.  Apparently as Dylan got older he started making the rounds to the childhood homes of other artists like John Lennon and Neil Young.  In the summer of 2009, Dylan was detained by police in Long Branch, New Jersey after a family called the authorities with concern about a suspicious person wandering around their street on a rainy night.  When the 24 year-old police officer - who didn't recognize him, even after he said his name was Bob Dylan - asked him what he was doing in town, Dylan replied that he was touring the country with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp.  Even after driving him back to the location where all of his tour buses were parked, police still weren't convinced and after getting a look at him a sergeant even said, "That's not Bob Dylan."

Anyway, back to Springsteen... Dylan was, in fact, wandering a few blocks away from the shore house where Springsteen wrote his "Born to Run" album.  Was that where he was headed?  Maybe.  The old rocker never said.  But I like to think he was.

I love the idea of a genius like Dylan still being enamored by the idea of other musicians being inspired when they were young.  So often you get the vibe that talented artists (whether from music or film) get jaded and forget what is special about their work.  For Dylan to keep a curiosity about him seems really cool to me, and in an indirect way it makes me appreciate the work of musicians and filmmakers even more.

Another appropriate reason to reference "Born to Run" today?  I signed up for my first 5k ever.  January 16th in Santa Monica - looking forward to reporting back how it goes.  In the meantime, I'll keep hitting the gym to train.  2011 = healthy eating + healthy living.  Let's hope it lasts.