Sunday, February 28, 2010

The Storm

Somewhere in the future a storm was brewing, and he could either let it take him somewhere new and potentially wonderful or he could just let it pass him by.

For the past few months he had been caught in a funk, one spurred on by disappointments and lack of development or progress in seemingly every aspect of his life. "Change is minimal, real change, lasting change, is minimal, we don't see instantaneous results, stuff like that only happens in movies and story books," is what he needed to remind himself of, but lately it had been difficult to do so. Every day he was subjected to the same mind numbing activities, or so he believed. The fact of the matter was that there were plenty of things going on around him, he was sure of it, but he was just dumbing himself down way too much to see it all. It was time for an attitude adjustment, however, change is minimal, change is slow, so if he wanted to be prepared for the coming storm, he needed to get his shit together and start changing now.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Film Festival Results Pt. 2

Hi Matthew,



Thank you for submitting HAM to the 2010 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. We greatly appreciated the opportunity to consider your film.



We regret that we are not able to include your film at the festival this year. We received about 1200 submissions and with just over 60 spots to fill, we had to make many difficult decisions. We apologize that we cannot offer any further details on our selection committee’s decision. With such a large number of entries, we do not have the resources available to provide individual feedback.



Again, thank you for submitting to Full Frame. We look forward to hearing from you in the future, and we wish you great success with your work.



Best regards,



The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival



2 festivals down, one more to hear from.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Prince Royce and Jesse Boykins III Music Videos

Back in mid November I gaffed a music video for a Bachata- R&B artist named Prince Royce, and I found out last night (through random google-ing) that it was completed and posted to youtube on January 31st. Here's the results of it:


I'd like to think I did a half decent job with the lighting, but there are things I would do differently now. Opinions are always welcome.

Here's another music video that I gaffed a few weeks after I did the Prince Royce one. I'm not sure if I posted this one earlier, but if I did I'm doing it again, since, well, you know, I'm not sure if it had earlier. By the way, this is an R&B artist named Jesse Boykins III and the song/music video is called "The Itis"


Again, feedback is always welcome.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Specter Corporeal Pt. 1 The Sighting

He saw it, just from behind, but he instantly knew it was the specter he had attempted to challenge moons earlier. It's cloak and satchel, all the same as from what he remembered from his earlier encounters. He didn't see it's face, not much of it aside from its back and it didn't see him so he hid himself behind his hood and continued on along his path. He wondered if he was making a mistake not confronting it then and there.

His Year

Months earlier, he had stumbled upon a fortune telling of the year to come for him. It read, amongst other things, "aggressiveness will bring you financial success,". Now, he was never one for fortune tellings or predictions of the future, not by humans and certainly not by kitschy calendars found in the tiny Hawaiian version of Chinatown that he was, at the time, wandering through.

Despite his typical skepticism of such things, the generic calender fortune did point out one of his greatest flaws; his lack of aggressiveness. He was typically a sit back and allow things to happen kind of guy, and in many areas it was failing him miserably. Now, this wasn't to say that he should push excessively for things to happen that wouldn't happen and expect a favorable result, but a little more persistence, enthusiasm and drive might get him much further than he was now.

Financial success wasn't at the top of his list, although it was up there, but this idea of being more aggressive was something that perhaps would benefit him in achieving goals in other areas of his life. He thought to give it a try; it was, after all, his year.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

新年快樂!

Happy Chinese New Year!

新年快樂!

I guess I may try to color this when I get my paints back from my grandma's... or I may try with color pencils... or something.

More later!

Monday, February 8, 2010

The Old Man's Apartment

The apartment held that familiar musty scent, an oder of dust and age permeated throughout the small 3-room studio.

He hadn't stepped foot in that apartment for what must have been at least four years, but he did so today. The apartment belonged to his grandfather, an 80-some odd year old diabetic who had moved to New York City from 臺山 China, bringing with him his two sons.

The apartment was a mess; it always had been. Littered with miscellaneous items from bird cages to books and magazines dating back at least 30 years and they were all covered in dust. Inside the bathtub, which rested several feet from the broken down kitchen stove, rested the old man's umbrella as shirts hung to dry from the curtain bar above.

It had been years since he had stepped foot in the apartment building and since then much had changed, though his grandfather's unit itself, had remained quite the same. The bathroom door still didn't shut all the way, the markings still remained on the door post, chronicling he heights of his brother and himself growing up, the bed in what could conceivably be the guest room remained dusty and browning, as did the old man's bed in the master bedroom. In fact, the only thing that seemed to be used was the new flat panel t.v. that sat on top of the old antique table-sized set.

Moments earlier he had spent a good 10 minutes with his brother ensuring that their grandfather, weak and shaking uncontrollably from low blood sugar, got up the six flights of stairs to his apartment and to a seat where he could rest and catch his breath.

Upon entering the old man's apartment, he was immediately reminded of his childhood moments spent in the apartment while visiting with his parents and he also immediately came to the realization that his grandfather was a man that was terrible at taking care of himself, from leaving food out on a table unattended to for days to letting junk amass in piles for years. He wondered how two children could ever be raised in a place like that.