Wow. Absolutely incredible. It’s such a pleasure to see President Obama represent the United States in such a powerful but human way. His speech touched on some very important issues on the relationship between the people of United Sates and the Middle East. I feel like it should be required viewing for any person in the US and abroad.
He admits we have made mistakes, but that we are willing to work to improve. Like any nation, the United States is not infallible. For far too long the people of the US and the middle east have cast judgement upon each other based on mis-understandings or the actions of a few extremists. The people of the world are at a crossroads where we can choose to go down the path to peace and prosperity together, but it will take diplomacy and hard work from people of all nations.
He encouraged the acceptance of all people. Tolerance. I am overjoyed to hear my President talk about things I have felt my entire life. The power that comes when we choose to love one another. To accept and celebrate our differences. I am very proud to have President Obama speaking on behalf of me.
He described a peaceful future for the world. A future I hope we will one day achieve, and he challenges all of us to make that future a reality. Naysayers dismiss they idea of a peaceful world far too easily, calling it nothing but idyllic. I do believe in my heart that it can one day be possible with tolerance, peace, and love.
“It is easier to blame others than to look inward, to see what is different about someone than to find the things we share.” - President Barack Obama
President Obama, you’re doing a wonderful job. Thank you.
Tonight I went on a jog for the first time in months…
It was the first time in a long time where I’ve been alone with my thoughts. Just me. No iPod, no phone, no computer, nobody else, nothing else but me, the road, and my thoughts. It was exhilarating.
I’ve been busy. In December I began work on my latest short film, Red. To say it has kept me busy would be an understatement. I gradually fell back into a schedule similar to my days at LA Film School. I was away from home on average about 12 hours per day. Meetings, auditions, rehearsals, etc kept me busy (all while maintaining a 9-5 job). I loved every minute of it. Not a day went by in the past 5 months where I didn’t think about Red.
Well now it’s in the editors hands. I’ll see his cut this Friday. I’m not nearly as busy as I was. I spent the past two weeks in Arizona celebrating friends graduations from ASU and my little brother’s graduation from High School. I spent time with my girlfriend, visited friends and family, I even worked from home. I was definitely busy, but not at all in the same way.
Now I am home. I eagerly wait to see the cut of Red. I’m excited and scared. Excited to see the product of the months of hard work of myself and my crew. Scared to see all of the mistakes I made but don’t even know of yet. I thrive on learning from those mistakes and applying it to the next project (which is also beginning to consume my time).
When I’m working on a project, I invest everything I can into it. I think it comes from my days in cross country where we were taught to leave everything on the course. I finished production on Red knowing I couldn’t have tried any harder. That’s what I expect of myself. But now, between projects, I have time. I have spare thoughts, I have random feelings, I have time. More than 140 characters can contain Why not let them go on this blog again? Maybe I will…
Looks like I’m late to the party again. This song/video is hilarious. I actually made me LOL, I rarely LOL, I’m more of a haha kind of guy. Andy Samberg has to be my favorite comedian. I find most everything he does to be incredible, ever since Lazy Sunday.
These are my personal bests for 2008. I saw most of the nominees, but I didn’t see Doubt or The Reader yet which could throw off some of them. These aren’t necessarily who I think will win, just what I liked the best this year.
BEST PICTURE:
Milk
BEST ACTOR:
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
BEST ACTRESS:
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler
BEST DIRECTOR:
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
BEST SCREENPLAY:
In Bruges - Martin McDonagh
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Frost/Nixon - Peter Morgn
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
The Dark Knight - Wally Pfister (close 2nd for Benjamin Button - Claudio Miranda)
BEST EDITING:
Chris Dickens - Slumdog Millionarie
BEST ART DIRECTION :
The Curious Case of Banjamin Button - Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo
BEST MAKEUP The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Greg Cannom
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Milk - Danny Elfman
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
The Wrestler - Bruce Springsteen (Wasn’t nominated but it is the best.)
BEST SOUND NOMINEES
The Dark Knight - Ed Novick, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo
BEST SOUND EDITING
The Dark Knight - Richard King
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
WALL·E - Andrew Stanton
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Entre les murs (Unfortunately didn’t see any of the nominees so go France!)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Man on Wire - James Marsh, Simon Chinn
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306 - Adam Pertofsky, Margaret Hyde (Didn’t see any. Random pick.)
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Oktapodi - Emud Mokhberi, Thierry Marchand (Didn’t see any. Random pick.)
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Caleb Couldn’t Love (wink, wink)
Director: David Fincher
Writers: James Vanderbilt (screenplay), Robert Graysmith (book) DP: Harris Savides
The Fincher craze continues. This was my first time watching Zodiac. It kept me interested the entire 2 hours and 40 minutes. Sometimes I get restless after the 2 hour mark. Fincher is so incredibly talented and he has such a visual imagination. Jake Gyllenhaal and Mark Ruffalo were outstanding. Very well done movie.
Director: James Foley
Writer: David Mamet (play/screenplay) DP: Juan Ruiz Anchía
Perfect. This movie is incredible. How could it not be with a screenplay by Mamet and actors like Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris, and Kevin Spacey?!? I had never heard of the director James Foley before, but he did an amazing job of bringing this play to life on the big screen. The majority of the film takes place in an office, but they way he shot it kept me interested and engaged throughout the entire film. Great, great, great.
