1 Week

Wow this has been a crazy week. Until a few days ago I didn't have regular access to the internet so I apologize for the delay. I don't have a ton to say even now.

I've been here a week and it has been quite a whirlwind. Class started on Monday, but we've mostly been doing orientation class stuff, not so much real class work. That's not to say we haven't had assignments, and I am even now working on my script for an 8 minute short film. If my script is chosen it will be produced by one of the teams in Hollywood Production Workshop. I'll keep you up to date on that, I really think I have a shot at being picked for that.

Other than school it's been a pretty eventful week. I got to attend an Angels game on Tuesday with a friend from Minnesota who also just moved out here. It was a bit of a drive from this side of town and the Angels lost but it was still a blast. The Angels have some of the game's best fans and the stadium is beautiful so it's always a good time regardless of the outcome. I also got a free Angels cup that lights up because some drunk guy left it behind :)

I also got to meet Michel Gondry (director of Eternal Sunshine..., and Science of Sleep) on Wednesday at a big signing thing he was at not far from La Brea. It was cool, even though I didn't get to talk to him at all. Eternal Sunshine is my favorite movie ever so it was really awesome to have him sign it for me.

On Thursday I got to meet actor Doug Jones (Hellboy I and II, Pan's Labyrinth, Fantastic 4 - Silver Surfer) when he came to speak to our LAFSC group. He stayed and talked, very casually, for about 4 hours. He does a lot of creature acting (his first role was Mac Tonight in a series of McDonalds commercials between 1986 and 1997) so he talked a lot about acting with crazy makeup and prosthetics on. He is in with driector Guillermo Del Toro and is expected to have major roles in Guillermo's "Hobbit" films. He was a lot of fun and very entertaining to talk to.

Today we went on a tour of the Kodak Theater, where they host the Oscars. Ironically, no pictures are allowed there...

Things are going reasonably well so far, though 3 girls have had things stolen already (cell phone, clothes from a washer and a wallet). It's kept things interesting. They were all avoidable things and serve as nice object lessons for the rest of us. We're all treading a little more cautiously now.

The weather has been gorgeous, though hotter the last few days. There's also some wild fires all over California right now which keep it interesting. Some are visible from where we are, though they are much too far away to be dangerous. It's pretty commonplace here, but still new enough for me to be interested.

Anyways, I should probably get back to my "homework". The professors (if that's what they're called here) have advised us to brush up on movies in general, but especially the classics off the AFI top 100 list (apparently movers and shakers like it when young'uns know about the movies they grew up with). Now I have to watch at least a movie every day or I will fall behind. Work, work, work...

More later, stay tuned.

Luke's Pick: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

As previously mentioned, this is my all time favorite movie. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. After a bad fight, Clementine decides to undergo a procedure to erase her boyfriend from her mind completely. Devastated after he finds out what she has done, her boyfriend Joel decides to erase her back. But he gets more than he bargained for when the erasing process begins to remind him of the good times they shared. Unable to wake up he must try to find a way to stop the procedure the only way he can; inside his mind. It makes for some trippy stuff but it's a beautiful story.