Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Asian Porn

I wasn't going to post this article because it is so damn long, but I'll let the reader decide if they want to read it. It's about the depiction of Asian males in pornography.

The reason I'm posting it, however, is that I've had an interesting back and forth with Cindy about the article.

Here goes:

The author starts out complaining about hollywood images colonizing the world, and how this affects those colonized ideas about sexuality...fair enough, we've heard all this before, so what's the solution? What's the alternative? Should we ban american films from being shown? Of course not. People want to be entertained and there are plenty of exciting things happening in non-hollywood cinema around the world, especially hong kong, mexico, american independent film, and iran. So i can't get too wrapped up in the argument, although there is probably some validity to it. But gimme a break, it's not like pre-hollywood distribution to foreign markets there was all this egalitarian, utopian sexual practices around the world...i'd venture to guess that "hollywood" values of sexuality, while mostly white, are probably more equal and empowering to women than the way men treat women in most countries throughout the world. Read about how women are treated in saudi arabia and tell me they wouldn't benefit from a good dose of JLo or Julia Roberts.

But he makes some interesting points later:

1. Non-existent representation of asian men in straight porn. And the almost exclusive use of asian men as the "catcher" ie the bitch, punk, under, etc in gay porn. It's true and it's weird. I've said it for a long time - asian men have it the worst. I almost never hear of girls digging on specifically asian guys. Asian girls like asian guys, sometimes. but never do white, black, latina, jewish, any of those type of chicks ever express particular interest in the physical attributes of asian men. It sucks, what can i say.
So I don't know what to say other than, it's rough for asian dudes.

At the same time, I know plenty of cool asian dudes that do pretty damn well with the ladies, so again it goes back to the individual vs. the group.

2. The inverted power structure in straight porn...it's a women's world. Women command the power in the porn industry - they get paid way more and therefore weild the power. Men are secondary, almost a piece of furniture in porn. I saw some documentary about john holmes a couple years ago and they talked about why he was the perfect male porn star - huge penis, with a big dorky personality. Porn tends to depict men with a dorky exterior, but with enormous sexual prowess underneath. This plays into the male porno watcher's fantasy - he's a dork, usually, and especially in the moment when he's generally watching porn. he dreams of himself having an abornally large member and all the girls going crazy over it. I think it's interesting, not necessarily good or bad - sure it objectifies men, but i've never really understood the problem with objectification, to be honest. I have no problem if girls what to objectify me and sexually fantasize about me. Shit, i'd be flattered. I guess i would have a little bit of a problem if a guy was fantasizing about me, though...not exactly sure why, probably just some homophobia.

Cindy's response:

The inverted power structure of porn is merely in representation. Although this is increasingly changing, men are ultimately the ones that have all the power in porn. They produce and direct it and have largest say in the salaries of their employees. An interesting, but still problematic doc that you might be interested in watching is "sex: the anabel chong story". you can get it from netflix. Its about this chinese-singaporean girl who enters the adult entertainment industry. Her calling card was doing the largest gang bang at the time. At one point in the movie she's trying to negotiate her wages, thinking shes a big star and should get top billing. In the end she has no clout at all. There are many other interesting aspects of the movie and i think its worthwhile to watch. It also brings up issues of the etiquette of doc filmmaking.

My Response: Hmmmm...you think the directors and producers wield the power in porn? i couldn't name a single porn director or producer, but can name a ton of porn actors and actresses. People watch porn to see certain performers - even more so than in regular film. In hollywood, I think stars just as much wield power as directors and producers -- see Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts. Sure, there are powerful directors, Spielberg, and producers, Bruckheimer, but just look at Entertainment's list of power players - many of them are stars. Although ostensibly directors tell actors what to do and producers tell directors what to do - that doesn't mean they wield the power. There's this great book, Easy Riders and Raging Bulls all about 70s American filmmakers and on certain projects, it's director-centric, but on others, the actor has a lot of power because he's the one that's saleable - I'm thinking of Warren Beatty.

I don't think any porn producer or director tells Jenna Jamison what to do. You can't have a Jenna film without Jenna, so ultimately she's the asset, not the producer and not the director.
The example of the girl you gave - she's not a personality. She's just performing a particularly crazy act and like any employee, probably getting the shaft. But I guarantee porn personalities that are valuable in and of themselves, ie Jenna J, Kobe Tai, etc, they command big bucks and can tell producers to go to hell if they want to.

Cindy: I can see your point but for the most part it doesn't work like that. Within porn there are only a few who can command the big bucks. The rest are just peons in the game.

My final response: Fair enough, but I think Cindy's final point is a more general comment about porn actors in general getting "the shaft" and not specific to female pornography stars.

Rattlesnakes

A friend of mine from college, Eric Dugan, was apparently on Venom ER last night on Animal Planet. I missed it and only heard about it this morning, but apparently it will air again May 4th and May 25th. It's funny how things work, Eric was a soccer teammate of mine during college and he used to grab lizards on the sidewalk while we walked to practice. I guess he's found a way to making a living out of it. Incidentally, he is also the best soccer player I've ever played with - if it wasn't for the bias against smaller players in the US, I think he could have played MLS. Funny how the world works.

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

I haven't posted a think on the Richard Clarke allegation NOT because I don't think he has some legitimate points, but mostly because I'm willing to give everyone a pass on the pre-9/11 security issue. I'm sure there are hundreds of things hundreds of different people could have done differently, from low levels of government to high levels of government. But I, like almost everyone, was smug about the threat of Islamic Fascism. How our government was supposed to respond to this minor threat (how I viewed it at the time), I'm not sure. I know no one would have advocated invading Afghanistan at the time, although in hindsight we should have. And of course, if the FBI had done their job and tracked the terrorists more effectively earlier, 9-11 could have been prevented. But we all know the FBI is set up to find criminals once crimes are committed, not the preventative force that we need to fight terrorism.

To me, it is now important to acknowledge Islamic Fascism as a major threat to the US and the rest of the world and to understand that it is not only a war against specific terrorist groups, but against an entire apparatus, of financing, recruiting, and conditions that give rise to this threat.

Monday, March 29, 2004

Hope for the Palestinians? Couldn't be.

These are the moments where leaders step up and change the world for the better. If the Palestinians can get organized and restrain from violence, well, that would be amazing. Perhaps it would give Israel reason to stop targeted assassinations. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.



The Math Tutor

I just want to point out that the Sopranos featured a math tutor last night for Anthony...Carmella, however, did not try to seduce him and steal the manual. Too bad.

Sunday, March 28, 2004

Good news. Maybe this war on terror is working.

What happened to number two in Pakistan?
Asian Persuasion

Here's a jpg from Details magazine asking the question: Gay or Asian?

So what concerns with this is two-fold. The obvious first thing is that it's totally racist and fucked up, perpetrating all the Asian-male stereotypes, yada, yada, yada. Boring, we get it. The second issue is that it's not really even close to being funny. The way I see it, racial and ethnic jokes, have a place if they are funny. Sure, they still may be offensive and they still may perpetrate stereotypes, but I feel like humor is a trump card for political correctness. This ad isn't funny and quite mean-spirited.

I don't like the response, though, either.

It sounds like Hezbollah or something. Jesus, relax a little bit, criticize in the public forum - get it up in the blogosphere and in the mainstream media. The whole PC movement, while having good intentions, is way too serious and angry. Have some fun with this - make some other mock ads that are better and funnier than the Details ad. I feel like life is too short to go around boycotting products because a couple of idiots published something in a magazine, a magazine I didn't even read in the first place. Or perhaps I'm just lazy...

Saturday, March 27, 2004

Duh. I can't possibly work on film related stuff anymore, screenplays, preproduction, research, etc. I need to go out and get some drinks and socialize. Can't find anyone to go out with. How annoying. This caps an annoying weekend. Last night, I had several solid plans - all good options and I ended up BSing the whole night. It turned into a disaster, none of my friends could agree where to go, ended up spending too much money on BS drinks on the Sunset strip, the nightmare of all LA nightlife.

Social life is like having a part time job. You need to keep it alive and keep it moving along or else it settles and dies. Since I started school, I've been too busy to have a true social life and now, in a period where my work level has subsided a minute amount, I'm trying to rekindle the going out spirit and it's not been all that successful. A few good nights here and there recently, but tonight's annoying.

UPDATE: Forgot what I said above, I had a great night.
Taxes

Wow. I got my tax refund today and it was huge for two reasons. 1) I purposely withheld a lot of money last year because I knew I'd be back in school and needing cash around this time. And 2) Because some wise politician came up with the tuition credit. I ended up getting 2G's back simply because of the tuition credit. That's a lot, and I mean, a lot of money to me right now. This is the first time I've ever been happy with the IRS.

Hmmm...with this plus the war on terror, if it was someone other than Bush, I might consider voting Republican. Blasphemy, right?
Chinatown

Finally made it to LA Chinatown today. Was always interested in seeing it because I'm familiar with SF Chinatown and because of the Roman Polanski movie. I had a great time - the ostensible reason for going was to get China flats for the movie, but I got some great deals at the Chinese markets, picked up another prop for free, and ate some Chinese style fried chicken and chaw-su bows. It's a much more spacious place than SF's Chinatown, but it has the same things, dirty restuarants and dim sum places, touristy shops with swords and "oriental" dresses. Everything was super cheap, $3 for the China flats, $2.80 for 8 chicken wings and 2 chaw-su bows (steamed pork buns).

Friday, March 26, 2004

I've started doing research for this voting documentary and coming across a series of interesting things...

Urban Outfitter's teeshirt "Voting is for Old People," is getting protested by Punkvote and Russell Simmons.

This is funny. Of course I don't agree with the sentiment, but you gotta love the irony.
Well, if you are going to bite the online dating bullet, here are some good tips.

Thursday, March 25, 2004

Now I know, again, why I wrote my thesis in college on Politics and Irony...

(see my prior post). A friend of mine recommended me for assisting with research on a voting documentary being produced by Drew Barrymore. They are going to send me a list of things they need my help on tonight. I hope most of it is background research on issues on voting surrounding the November election. I'm stoked to combine my dual interests in filmmaking and politics...

on another note, we awoke at 5:15am today and started shooting for Belly Dance. I'm a tad bit worried about lighting continuity since we were shooting indoors in such a small place, it was tough to light. I hope it turns out...the test shoot went quite well, with a few under exposed shots that we rushed without taking meter reads.
An article on the future of internet interpersonal relationships (thanks Cindy).

This article advocates friendster as more than an internet dating service in disguise (see my March 1 post on Friendster vs. the Blogosphere) - but as a networking site. Well, I have more others problems with it as such...Primarily rooted in my distaste for networking. First, I'm not very good at it. I don't like doing it. I don't like a) Using my friends for business relationships or b) pretending like my business relationships are my friends. I recognize right now I am coming across as an anti-social, incompetent a-hole, and a hypocrite because many of my jobs (in fact nearly all of the good ones) have been a result of a friend or friend of a friend, networking, etc.

Nonetheless, this entire transactional social interaction bugs me. Interpersonal ads bug me. Networking for business contacts bugs me. Fancy schmancy restaurants that primarily exist as deal-making places bug me. Internet dating bugs me. And yes, friendster bugs me.

There are certain things that once commodified, eliminates the value of the thing. Friendship is the perfect example. Imagine paying someone to be your "friend." I need to put it in quotes because the idea of paying someone already undermines the entire idea of being a friend. That's part of my issue with fraternities and sororities. Same goes for love.

Now with friendster, I understand you aren't exactly paying for friends - but you're bartering and viewing advertisements and you're generally moving into that realm of interaction. And to me, ironically, the more popular something like friendster becomes, the more diluted and uninteresting the network. It's like a big web of the people who send email forwards to everyone they've ever had as an email contact.

Maybe I'm being harsh. Maybe I'm being crotchety. Who knows. Send me comments.

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Well, this is good, I guess.

Hamas is weird. Clearly, they are brutal terrorists and as I understand it, one of the principal groups that started using suicide bombings. As an organization, they are much less corrupt, but much more brutal than Arafat's various versions of the PLO.

I wonder what will happen with Hamas in the future. They have yet to expand attacks beyond Israel - and don't seem to have the religious and anti-modern, anti-western slant to their ideology. As I understand it, many of their leaders are well educated Palestinian nationalists. Their principal cause is the elimination of the state of Israel and the creation of a single state: Palestine.

From an American standpoint, the root argument for a single state, one person, one vote in Israel/Palestine does not seem unreasonable. There are two issues with this: 1) It means that the state of Israel would cease to exist as a Jewish state and 2) There is zero evidence to suggest that a viable, fair, democracy could exist under a mixed Palestinian/Jewish/Christian state the the Israel/Palestine area.

Hmmmm. I wonder if Hamas will eventually budge and throw their energy into peace as fervently as they have thrown their energy into war. I wish something like this would happen, but sadly do not think it is possible. They've been breeding hatred in their schools, developing and recruiting suicide children, and I think, make their money based on their attacks of Israeli citizens. Unfortunately, one day or another, either we'll come under their sights or they'll come under ours. For now it seems, we are sufficiently scared of each other not to attack.

Update: A Time article on how killing Yassin affects the US.

By reading this, I am impressed with Hamas' ability to maintain support throughout a region where loyalty is slim. Can we work with them to negotiate a peace? Or is that completely naive?

I think it might be beneficial to view these terror groups as rational agents, rather than the fanatical crazies. These Al Queda and Hamas folks are smart - they don't have a ton of money or access to superior technology, but they are smart nonetheless. It's to our disadvantage to view them purely fanatics.
Just another good articulation of the dueling policies on Iraq:

"Rational Bush opponents are happy to see Saddam gone but do not see any connection between the war in Iraq and the larger war on terror. Rational Bush supporters will acknowledge that at best there was a loose connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda, but that remaking Iraq is a vital part of the war on terror because it will help to remake the Middle East, terrorism's primary source. "

I'd substitute War in Iraq for Bush because I think you can both support the war and not support Bush - at least I hope so...

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Chungking Express

Today in class we watched a bunch of clips and one that completely mesmorized me was a scene from Chungking Express. California Dreaming blasts loudly. A policeman comes up to a take-out stand and orders a chef salad. The new girl working aloofly takes his order. He tries to start conversation

"You new here?"
She nods.
"You always listen to loud music?"
"Yeah. It keeps me from thinking."
"You don't like to think?"
"I don't know, I've never thought about it."
"What do you like?"
"I don't know. What do you like?"
He leans into her and motions her forward to whisper, "Chef's salad."
"Ohhhhhh..."
And the camera stays with her for 8 seconds or so afterwards...

I can't do it justice. It almost made me cry. I thought about it all day, couldn't get California Dreamin' out of my mind all day. I rented the film and watched the whole thing. Great movie - but I must admit, this scene was still the best part. Wong Kar Wai's small films - In the Mood for Love, Chungking Express, have so many scenes with characters completely by themselves. They're both an expression and cure for loneliness.

Monday, March 22, 2004

It's funny, I used to argue at my old work about freedom and ingenuity vs. statsis. I was never able to articulate it as well as this book review of Virginia Postrel's The Future and it's Enemies.

We used to run projects where people had little control to make decisions, many things needed to be cleared by managers. Decision making was concentrated in few hands and rigidly enforced. We had rule book after rule book trying to list out all the acceptable processes for any and all projects. I often found myself in small bits of trouble for ignoring such rules in order to keep a project solid and clean and the people working on the projects happy. And the ironic thing was that this was in a small consulting company - and compared to our clients, we were inventive and flexible. I kept arguing for being more inventive and more flexible, but often found myself with few allies when the time came to make changes - or decisions, I should say.

Guess that's why I quit and went to film school.
Staged?

Are you kidding me? A staged hate crime at my college. This is practically worse than a hate crime itself. Like a dirty cop.

I wrote about this when it was first reported, about my own experience at Pomona college:

"While I was at school, a "hate" incident occurred at the hands of a soccer teammate of mine. He was a freshman when I was senior, a big forward, decent soccer player with a tremendous amount of baggage - I think his parents messed with his head (they were both psychoanalysts). He used to drink a lot and lurk around campus, always stopping by my and the rest of the seniors rooms looking to hang out and possibly smoke pot. He got injured during the season and therefore fell out of favor with the coach (sad truth of sports). After the season ended he got weirder and weirder, always reportedly in trouble of one sort or another.

Also going on my senior year in college was a bunch of over-zealous Residential Advisors. For some reason, my class at Pomona took their RA jobs extra serious and seemed to relish in the opportunity to break up their classmates parties they weren't invited to.

Austin, my teammate, developed a reputation amongst the RA's as being a trouble maker. My friends and I, while recognizing Austin's idiocy, were somewhat sympathetic to the guy as our teammate and because our distrust of the RA cult.

Towards the end of the year of building tension, Austin went on a drunk rampage and ended up writing homophobic slurs on a gay RA's whiteboard. This was treated by the school as hate-crime - not dealt with by the police - but instead by the school. People jumped all over Austin at the time. I don't justify Austin's actions whatsoever, but I sometimes wonder if he was baited a little bit, but the over PC animosity towards his behaviour. I know that after I graduated he did not return to Pomona. He didn't fit in.

I'm not trying to draw a parallel with Austin's behaviour and the current hate crimes. I have no idea why someone vandelized the professor's car. But I'm sure Austin's behaviour was NOT the result of true animosity towards homosexuals. Rather, I think it was a cry for help, an adolescent lashing out for not being accepted or acceptable to others in his community. The reason I tell this story is that it may help alleviate the problem down the road. It might be worth exploring whether the hate crimes stem from a deep embedded anger towards particular peoples or cultures, or whether it's a bunch of kneejerk kids reacting to an overly PC environment where they feel out of place. In neither case are the crimes justified, but I think the two possible motivations warrent different solutions.

Regardless of the motivation of the perpetrators, the colleges are going to come down real hard on them, certainly boot them from school and perhaps have them arrested and jailed. This would be the appropriate reaction to a criminal with a history of racism, and if the victims bore no relationship to the perp. If, however, it turns out to a couple of spoiled kids, I think it might be worth exploring the specifics of the events - why the animosity towards the particular teacher or particular victims versus general animosity to those different from us. Figuring out those details might help prevent such acts of racial vandelism in the future."

And now, with the revelation that it was possibly staged and-by a professor? Ohmigod - a completly different beast. This is the type of moral bankruptcy that causes Watergate's. The far left has become deeply troubling. They've bought into conspiracy theories about right wing business interests guiding all policy, so much so, they think that using the same tactics are justified. Wow! What weird times we live in.

Saturday, March 20, 2004

Is this some sort of joke? Noam Chomsky calling hobbits drug smuggling criminals. I have to admit it's a rather funny conversation.

Thursday, March 18, 2004

So this is a new Al Queda strategy.

These guys aren't stupid. Now they are threatening to focus attacks on Russia unless they elect someone who will pull out of Chechnya. Like I said, they aren't stupid. They understand how to use fear. Attack Spain in a vulernable moment in a close election. Get anti-war folks in power. Break down the support of the Iraq war even more. Alienate America from Europe, or should I say, Europe from America. Propose peace, in exchange for "leaving Al Queda alone." It worked against Saudi Arabia for 10 years. Grow in power. Alienate America. Lose our UN support in Afghanistan. Take over Afghanistan again. Alienate Musharraf. Kill Musharraf. Take over Pakistan. Own nuclear weapons. Take over the Middle East. Blackmail the world. Empower the mullah's and religious fundamentalists everywhere. Take over Europe.

It has happened before. It can happen again.
And on a related note to the below post from Andrew Sullivan:

"In Europe, there are no bad guys, even those who deliberately murdered almost 200 innocents and threaten to murder countless more. Ask yourself: if the Guardian cannot call these people "bad guys," then who qualifies? And if the leaders of democratic societies cannot qualify in this context as "good guys," then who qualifies? What we have here is complete moral nihilism in the face of unspeakable violence. Then we have the absurd canard that there is a "divide between Muslim and Christian communities." There is no such divide. There is a divide within Islam between a large majority and a small minority of theocratic, extremist mass-murderers, men and women who have killed Muslim, Christian and Jew alike, young and old, and almost always innocent bystanders in free societies. That small minority has terrorized large populations, enslaved women, murdered Jews and homosexuals, launched a murderous war against Western civilians, taken over whole countries, and targeted individual writers and thinkers for murder. With them we need a dialogue? With them we need an unremitting, unrelenting, unapologetic war."

Amen.
Looks like Ayman al-Zawahiri, aka Number 2 in Al Queda is done for. I guess we shouldn't get our hopes too high after Tora Bora, but I've got a better vibe about this one. 200 Al Queda guys ready to fight to the death. GOOD! Since they want to fight to the death - this is the place to take it to them - on their turf, on our terms.

If this proves to be successful, just as much, if not more, credit needs to be given to the diplomatic efforts made by the US and Pakistan to secure support in the tribal areas and to get the Pakastani troops and militias involved - as with the actual military handling of the situation. Pakistan appears to becoming more reliable as opposed to less, which may be the best long development from this particular action - what's become known as the Spring Offensive.

Dying in your hometown after years of hiding, while perhaps somewhat heroic in the eyes of potential future followers, is a hell of a lot less glamorous than ramming a plane into the Twin Towers.

Here's a good article about how Al Queda might not be as tightly run as we think - rather it's a looser organization with more operational autonomous groups.

Quote: "While most Westerners have imagined a tightly coordinated transnational terrorist network headed by Al Qaeda, it seems more likely we face a set of largely autonomous groups and cells pursuing their own regional aims. Yes, some groups — from Ansar al-Islam in Iraq to Jemaah Islamiyah in Indonesia to Pakistan's Jaish-e-Muhammed — seem to be coordinating strategy and perhaps tactical operations among themselves. But for the most part the factions are swarming on their own initiative — homing in from scattered locations on various targets and then dispersing, only to form new swarms.

While these groups share the motivations and methods of Al Qaeda, it is likely they have had only distant relations with Osama bin Laden and the Sunni salafists around him. In fact, Mr. bin Laden and the Qaeda hardcore should perhaps be viewed as they were in the 1990's, as just one hub of a loosely knit global network of mujahedeen leaders left over from the Soviet-Afghan war. It was only after the F.B.I. began investigating the 1998 American Embassy bombings in Africa that American prosecutors — and the rest of the world — began referring to Al Qaeda as a global terrorist organization. We may be overestimating Mr. bin Laden's reach."

The operational aspect to Al Queda, while important, isn't the most significant factor in the war on terror. This is a war of symbols: freedom/westernism/liberalism/capitalism vs. fundamentalism/death orgies. We did not make this a war of symbols, Al Queda did. One of the ways we will win this war is through symbolic victories: ie, ousting the Taliban, ousting Saddam, capturing and/or killing Al Queda members. Capturing BL or the shiek may not cripple Al Queda operationally, but it'll crush their spirit, their rallying cry, and the symbols of their organization. It will cripple their recruitment and the flow of money so long as it appears they are losing. Al Queda knows this and continues to try to make it look as though the West is faltering. They made a big hit with the Spanish bombing and affecting the elections. They are trying to create as much chaos in Iraq as possible to make it look as though we are coming apart at the cracks. They are exploiting our skepticism and our doubt about our own actions, and trying to sell that they have no doubt, no qualms, and only a spiritual quest.

The fundamental error Al Queda makes is thinking that because we question and debate and are skeptical about our laws and our leaders, is that we are weak. It is the opposite. That is what makes us strong, and rich, and capable. That is why we will win. Fascism fails because it will never capture the spirit of the richest minds, the boldest fighters. Fascism preys on the weak and the scared and the helpless.

So we're fighting this on two fronts and slowly winning. 1) The operational - above, cooperating with the Pakistani's, making deals with tribal leaders who are probably tough to work with, and kicking ass with the best military in this history of the world. 2) Empowering the scared and helpless. We are working to get rid of fascists in Iraq and we can, if the rest of the world will help us, get rid of them. And then we'll move on and get rid of or reform the other fascists in the middle east and then the rest of the world, and then at home. That's how we'll win. And about this, I have no doubt.
Notes on 5 Minute B&W Films

It's so obvious that you sometimes forget it during film school: story and character are everything. We focus so much on beautiful shots, creative sound, continuity in lighting, editing, etc. But any technical problems are easily forgiven when the audience is engaged with the story. Likewise, if the story or characters suck (or much worse-are boring) we start to pay attention to the details for good or for bad.

My class screenings were last week and I completely enjoyed watching all of my classmates films. Amazingly, I was able to experience most of them as an audience member (as opposed to a classmate whose been watching the films developed over time), and evaluate them along those lines. We spend ungodly amounts of time 100+ hrs a week for 2 months straight to get all these little details right, sound, picture, performance, costume, set, location, etc. While working, you get bogged down on these details and little victories (and likewise little failures). These consideration, while important are for naught, without the basic idea and story and character - this is what the audience remembers.

The trick to filmmaking is to work your ass off to make it look effortless. Ironic, huh. I think the downfall in post-modernism is somewhere in this disconnect.
The last couple days have been slow blogging. Since I'm on spring break I feel like it should have picked up. But I guess our "break" doesn't really count all that much, since we're in pre-production for Avital's movie. We need to do a test shoot and Avital's project requires shooting out in the desert, about an 1.5 hour drive. Plus, we need to plan a first shoot that we are going to do early because of actor conflicts. Already I can see this is going to be a difficult to produce project.

I'm trying to relax a bit, but it hasn't really happened and I don't forsee it happening. I've got a bunch of work due in addition to this project, writing my script, writing a short script to submit for a film, doing a research paper, figuring out a new car insurance, working two jobs. I've also been going out more than usual, which has been good, just costly both in time and money. But whatever, right?

In other news, I might be doing some research for a documentary my friend gabe is producing on voting issues. It's being made by Drew Barrymore and apparently they need someone to do research on the issues surrounding the November election and Gabe recommended me because I'm a blogger-politics junkie. Unpaid, but something for real and I pretty much do that kind of research on my own anyway.

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

On terrorism by Fareed Zakaria.

The money quote: "Al Qaeda's declaration of jihad had, as its first demand, the withdrawal of American troops from Saudi Arabia. Osama bin Laden does not seem to have noticed, but the troops are gone -- yet the jihad continues. The reasons come and go, the violence endures."

This is why focusing distrust on American arrogance or imperialism or hyperpower is mistaken. We might disagree about how to wage the war against terrorism, but there shouldn't be an argument over whether it's a war.

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

I haven't been blogging in awhile, it's been a nutty week that started with watching my and my classmates 508 screening. For this entire first half of the semester we have been working in partnerships on 5 1/2 min black and white films. We screened all of them in three screenings, Sat (3/13), 2 on Sun (3/14). It was the most enjoyable experience of film school thus far - watching my classmates projects grow from the script stage all the way to the final screening for friends, family, actors, teachers. And since then, we've been trying to "keep the party going" and thus far been pretty successful - I'm getting in all my partying for the semester these last couple days and into this week....to be cont

Friday, March 12, 2004

Somewhat interesting article about Johnnie Depp, one of my favorite actors. He basically takes parts he thinks are weird. I like that.

The article also notes his rough time as a young actor taught him to stay in control of his own image, something he's done for a long time now.

Thursday, March 11, 2004

YIPES! What's going on at my alma mater? Hate crimes at the Claremont Colleges. I guess this happened at CMC - our arch rivals, but it's good to see the entire 5C community rally behind this problem.

An interesting article by one of my college professors. The hate crimes don't surprise him.

The L.A. Times article.

While I was at school, a hate incident occurred at the hands of a soccer teammate of mine. He was a freshman when I was senior, a big forward, decent soccer player with a tremendous amount of baggage - I think his parents messed with his head (they were both psychoanalysts). He used to drink a lot and lurk around campus, always stopping by my and the rest of the seniors rooms looking to hang out and possibly smoke pot. He got injured during the season and therefore fell out of favor with the coach (sad truth of sports). After the season ended he got weirder and weirder, always reportedly in trouble of one sort or another.

Also going on my senior year in college was a bunch of over-zealous Residential Advisors. For some reason, my class at Pomona took their RA jobs extra serious and seemed to relish in the opportunity to break up their classmates parties they weren't invited to.

Austin, my teammate, developed a reputation amongst the RA's as being a trouble maker. My friends and I, while recognizing Austin's idiocy, were somewhat sympathetic to the guy as our teammate and because our distrust of the RA cult.

Towards the end of the year of building tension, Austin went on a drunk rampage and ended up writing homophobic slurs on a gay RA's whiteboard. This was treated by the school as hate-crime - not dealt with by the police - but instead by the school. People jumped all over Austin at the time. I don't justify Austin's actions whatsoever, but I sometimes wonder if he was baited a little bit, but the over PC animosity towards his behaviour. I know that after I graduated he did not return to Pomona. He didn't fit in.

I'm not trying to draw a parallel with Austin's behaviour and the current hate crimes. I have no idea what they are a product of. But I'm sure Austin's behaviour was NOT the result of true animosity towards homosexuals. Rather, I think it was a cry for help, an adolescent lashing out for not being accepted or acceptable to others in his community. The reason I tell this story is that it may help alleviate the problem down the road. It might be worth exploring whether the hate crimes stem from a deep embedded anger towards particular peoples or cultures, or whether it's a bunch of kneejerk kids reacting to an overly PC environment where they feel out of place. In neither case are the crimes justified, but I think the two possible motivations warrent different solutions.

Regardless of the motivation of the perpetrators, the colleges are going to come down real hard on them, certainly boot them from school and perhaps have them arrested and jailed. This would be the appropriate reaction to a criminal with a history of racism, and if the victims bore no relationship to the perp. If, however, it turns out to a couple of spoiled kids, I think it might be worth exploring the specifics of the events - why the animosity towards the particular teacher or particular victims versus general animosity to those different from us. Figuring out those details might help prevent such acts of racial vandelism in the future.

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

For me to take the anti-war camp seriously, I'd first like them to admit that some of their own ranks would like to see the US, Britain, and Australia to lose in Iraq simply to prove their position is correct.

This is Pilger guy is completely ridiculous.
The Soprano's
Without a doubt, the best form of visual entertainment out there these days. I freaking love the Soprano's. I like it better than Lord of the Rings. A couple of comments on the first episode: it's so brilliant, they've laid out the conflict for the entire season - all these mobsters getting out, Chris and Paulie, Johnnie and Tony, Dr. Melf and Tony, Carmella and Anthony, Carmella and Tony (those little looks while the Fish and Game people were around - wonderful). Jesus, they were taunting me with seeing Steve Buscemi in only still picture frames. Love the details in the Soprano's. The egg salad stuck in Carmine's mouth that they try to remove as he has a stroke. The funny battleground of Chris and Paulie over dinner tabs. The clever dialog ref: bowry thugs. The BEAR. How symbolic! And Vinnie Delphino from Doogie Howser as Tony's new boy replacing Furio - who's pretty much a dead man.

God, how will the Soprano's end? Tony has to die. Who's going to get him? Johnnie Sac? Furio? The law - no way. Carmella? Christopher? Ohhhh the possibilities for drama....

Tuesday, March 09, 2004

Some good points on the Iraq war and why we're winning. Unfortunately, we are fighting an asymetrical war and all it ever takes is another Queda strike and it'll look as though we're losing...
A classmate last semester pointed to my libertarian leanings, so I took the test. I scored a 20 - so I'm a soft-core libertarian.

What does that mean exactly?

Monday, March 08, 2004

I don't think this financial problem is unique to first generation students. I'm taking out waaaay to many loans to attend film school right now and my parents are pretty well off. (Although I am a grad student and therefore doing much of the paying myself). I'm not sure if it's completely an issue of financial aid and communication between parents, schools, etc. These issues are bound to exist so long as there is this game to be played with financial aid and scholarships, etc..

I like the model of Rice U, which spreads it's endowment evenly among everyone, and for a great private school education, students pay considerably less for tuition. The efficiency in such a system whereby people know exactly how much it will cost year in and year out vs. the amount of their aid packages, etc. would help plan the cost of education and avoid all the numerous middle men reviewing and weighing the merits of one student against another.

Perhaps instead of employing massive numbers of administration and food service people, colleges employ more students, not so much based upon need, but upon willingness and time to work.

It does seems like school costs way too much. It really ought to be possible to "put yourself through school," through work and not through aid. Why the skyrocketing cost of tuition? Is it because more people are attending college? Why would that increase the cost? Shouldn't there be economies of scale related to that influx? Shouldn't new schools open, with good teachers, to compete with bastions of students? I think part of it has to do with the "brand." A lot of top tier colleges can justify tuition on the basis of what a "Harvard" degree is worth. There seem to be a lot of people profiting, ie textbook companies, administration, equipment companies in film schools, and certainly businesses and companies who profit off the labor and hard work and education of college graduates (but at least they pay for it).

A better society would make it possible to incur less debt, therefore allowing students more freedom post-college. All the money seems to be "back-ended," that is, you make all the money down the road, when you really don't need it as much. But what do I know? I'm just a poor graduate student, feeling like I'm overpaying some mediocre professors and getting my money's worth with others.
Interesting article about America, as a whole, not properly dealing with the psychological scars of 9/11. Good sections:

A friend of mine recently said that he did not like the concept of the enemy and that, as far as he was concerned, all men were his brothers. But what if the man whom you wish to regard as your brother does not return your fraternal feelings of affection; what if he regards your offer as an insult to his honor? "You dare to call yourself my brother, you dog?" In which case, what do you do then? Do you respect his feelings, and accept him as your enemy? Or do you treat him as an inferior being and wave aside his protestations as if he were a four year old child -- "Now, now, Bobby, you don't really mean to say those bad things about mommy."

To insist that your enemy is not your enemy when he insists on being one is to rob him of his humanity, and to endanger your own existence -- and all for the sake of preserving an unsustainable illusion. To recognize an enemy, and to treat him as one, is not to dehumanize him -- on the contrary, it is to treat him as your equal. It is to take him seriously. It is to meet him on his own terms.


There's a quote by Longfellow on the window of our sound department, "If we could read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility."

I wonder.

The Bush administration has announced that its campaign theme will be that we are in Iraq to keep other 9/11's from happening on our soil; but how could anyone who understood the first 9/11 possibly think such a thing? If the first 9/11 was brought to us by Arab nationals living in Hamburg, acting out a fantasy, how could the occupation of Iraq have prevented it then, and how could it prevent another such event in the future?

Here is a genuine issue for the Democrats to criticize. They could point to it and say, "This shows that the Bush administration does not really yet understand the nature of the beast that we are dealing with." And yet, instead of taking on this question, they insist on beating up the President for daring to remind the American people that 9/11 ever occurred.


I favored the Iraq war not because I overreacted to the fear created by 9/11, or because I was cajoled by the Bush admins claims of WMDs, or because I think an American empire is a desirable goal, or because I think it's our duty to poke our noses in every country we don't agree with, but because I do not see another viable alternative to dealing with an Arab world who cleary cannot or does not want to deal with the fundamentalist element in their society. I'm still waiting to hear other viable options, none of which have been forwarded by the democrats (or anyone for that matter).

Saturday, March 06, 2004

Jean Pierre was one of my profs last year. This is a great article about the demise of film at the hands of digital technology.

Another interesting article.

Friday, March 05, 2004

Thursday, March 04, 2004

I don't know how he comes up with it, but Asmussen is the best thing the SF Chronicle has going for it.

Greg
Blogging Documentary

I was thinking about doing a documentary on blogging on the way home from school today. There's an interesting story in there about free speech, political activism, and the marketplace of ideas. But there are other interesting aspects as well, for instance, why so much blogging is "warblogging," whether other services like Friendster could be considered blogging, and bloggers relationship with other media. It's an interesting story, I'm not sure how visual it would be, but I may start outlining some ideas.
A Missed Opportunity

Glenn Reynolds just did a post from the Daily Trojan about Bush visiting USC and asked about the pro-Bush vs. anti-Bush camps. Amazing. I should have been there to report, I was just across the street, editing the sound for my film.
T.O.

Well, after getting rid of Garcia, it makes sense to get rid of Owens, who was too expensive and dropped too many passes anyway. But only getting a 2nd round pick? Come on. These NFL teams are smarter than baseball teams - they don't give up big bucks and their future for all-pro players. But a 2nd round pick for arguably the best receiver in football?

Wednesday, March 03, 2004

Doubt

You know that weird, sinking feeling in your stomach that one feels when one feels like they are making all the wrong choices, big and small, with respect to everything? Okay, so maybe not. But I've got some of that right now, after driving up to Studio City in traffic to tutor a student (nice kid) instead of working on my sound for my film - which is a mess - and probably can't be saved without a miracle.

It's strange, I've talked a lot about of self-doubt with amigos, but never written much on it. For the first 21 years where and how I grew up, self-doubt was a good quality...it kept you "real" and honest and not full of shit. It was funny and neurotic and the best defense against the tyranny of high school cliches and pretentious college platitudes.

But in the real world, self-doubt is a symbol of weakness and indecisiveness. And for good reason, it's not very useful for early 20s folks trying to forge their way in a big, rather inhospitable world. But doubt can be both useful and crippling, I wish Saddam and Hitler had more of it...

It seems to me there's a happy medium that I have yet to find. I welcome thoughts.
I always liked Jeff Garcia, thought he played with a lot of heart and he certainly exceeded expectations. That being said, the Niners certainly need to regroup and they've got a bunch of good, young players to do so (Barlow, Lloyd, Peterson, Rattay). Therefore, this is a good move towards the future.

Tuesday, March 02, 2004

Research for Bellydance

1. Locations:

Saddleback State Park, with filming information.
--------------------------------------------
Littlerock Dam and Recreation Area
32700 Cheseboro Rd.
Palmdale, CA 93352
Phone: 661/ 533-1923
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Palmdale Dry Lake. Could be cool.
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Basquez Rock County Park
Agua Dolce Exit
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I am based in the Palm Springs area. Most desert areas are very green at the moment, nothing desolate. You might check with Sheri Davis at the Inland Empire Film Commission. She knows a lot more locations and can also assist with permitting those areas.
Good luck,
sylvia


Inland Empire Film Commission
Tel: 909 779 6700
Fax: 909 779 0294

1201 Research Park Dve
Ste 100
Riverside, California 92507
USA

Contact: Sheri Davis
home: 760-731-6153 cell: 909-377-7849
Website : filminlandempire.com
----------------------------------------------

2. Scheduling

Weekend 1: 3/19-21 (100ft)

Test weekend: Shoot desert, day for night (using filters)

Weekend 2: 3/26-3/28 (200ft)
Location:
Day:
Cast: Rachama (busy 26th), Marit (gone all weekend ex 26th), Simeta, Hasmin, Maya(?)

Weekend 3: 4/2-4/4 (400ft)
Location:
Day:
Cast: Rachama (busy 26th), Marit (gone all weekend ex 26th), Simeta, Hasmin, Maya(?)


Weekend 4: 4/7-4/9 (400ft)
Location:
Day:
Cast: Rachama (busy 26th), Marit (gone all weekend ex 26th), Simeta, Hasmin, Maya(?)


Weekend 5: 4/14-4/16 (100ft)
Location:
Day:
Cast:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Casting

Marit - 2 good options
Simeta - 1 good option
Ruchama - 1 good options
Hasmin - NA
Maya - NA
Extra man - NA

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Props/Set

Sony Props
Craigslist - good lead
Belly Dance costumes

Tent
-Set Designer
-Diorama

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Camera/Lighting

Day for night shooting



This should cover the history of bellydancing.
War as Entertainment

Watching Dennis Miller with George Carlin as a guest. George is a few years too old for my age/generation. My first stand up comic was Eddie Murphy. Then Andrew Dice Clay, sadly. After that came Seinfeld and Chris Rock and the Original Kings of Comedy. I can't remember anyone inbetween. Anyhow, I've checked out Richard Pryor - freaking genius - and George Carlin, because of his reputation amongst comics. His shows were decent, not great. But on Dennis Miller tonight, he said something terribly disgusting and profound.

Mr. Carlin said the reason for his existence on this earth is to be entertained. He thinks all the philosophers have it wrong, that we don't have any higher purpose than to be entertained. And here's the bad/interesting part...what entertains him on the TV is mass death, War, terrorism, etc. He could care less about balancing the budget or a bill being passed. What he finds so cool about war is the longevity - it's long term entertainment for the masses....1984, I guess.

But what a profound thought... We've made these tremendous technological advances over time but for some reason we haven't made any similar moral progress. We still kill each other to protect our property. And what purpose does war serve? To ostensibly protect us, but we must admit, it also entertains us. It's worth investigating to what degree we are entertained by war and how that impacts our behaviour.
A Half-Day in the Life of a film student

I finally got a site meter up in the lower right corner and it's cool seeing the number slowly trickle up. I'm not sure how many of the counts are from me looking at the site from different computers, but nonetheless, I at least feel as though someone is viewing and that encourages me to write more.

What else? I recorded Voice Over for the Math Tutor this morning and am looking forward to completing this project and moving on to my partners. The title: Bellydance. It will be set in an ambigious time period in the desert and is a loss of innocence story about a young girl seduced from her home by a bellydancer. A mix between Mad Max and Dirty Dancing.

Monday, March 01, 2004

Friendster vs. the Blogosphere (the first shot is fired)

I have a problem with Friendster. A disclaimer: I've never set up an account or participated. The reason I've never done so is because I think the whole set up is internet dating in disguise. Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem with internet dating. I don't participate (yet), but I don't have a problem with it...other than the fact that it takes the organic (human, interpersonal relationships) and makes it transactional. But I have no problems with lap dances or prostitution (if the prostitute is not coerced), which is also making a traditionally organic act transactional. With internet dating, prostitution, and lap dances, I have no beef - I just don't personally participate.

With Friendster, however, I don't participate and DO have a problem because it pretends to be something it's not. What annoys me is the people who participate on friendster (and just the name annoys me, too) generally scoff at the idea of internet dating or classified ads, yet avidly participate in friendster, which serves the exact same function, albeit, in a clever, oh I'm just innocently out there meeting friends of friends online, kind of way.

I also am creeped out by people tallying up a number of people one can call their "friends." It also creeps me out the way people are presented on friendster - it's like posting a resume. I hate resumes. I understand their necessity, but if I'm looking to meet people, I'm not interested in how "cool" or "funny" they can present themself one a resume. It encourages shallowness and clever, cooler than thou speak. It seems to me filtering up the bad elements of youth (shallowness, group-think, social competition) and leaves the good elements (innocence, hope, acceptence, curiousity) to.....THE BLOGGERS. Well, I'm pretty much joking about the last part, but blogging is similar in technology to Friendster, having a webpage in which you control content and contacts, but the blogosphere is fundamentally expressive, creative, and thoughful vs. Friendster, which is transactional, hip, and clever.

So word to that, bring the battle on. They'll have to come to the blogosphere, though, 'cause I sure as hell ain't going to friendster.
The Good Teacher

Every time I leave my screenwriting class I want to write. There's one simple reason for this: Professor Gardner. There's no way around it, he's a great teacher. Most of the writing classes I've taken, screenwriting and creative writing in college and in film school have all be frustrating and pretentious and never EVER inspiring. For the first time, I come out of class with new ideas, rather than feeling insecure about my old ones. I think he possesses one simple thing that other writing teachers have not: he cares. That's all it is. He cares about the story you are writing, and he listens, and he makes sure everyone gets to make comments and he always makes sure everyone gets to discuss their film, provided they turn in their outline, scene, or script on time. And because he cares, he makes the other students care about your work - it's contagious and it's just good. I don't know how else to explain it.

Here's to great teachers....their value unsurpassed.
Public Meanderings

Last night I was perusing the blogosphere for some Oscar commentary and ran across Apt. 11d on Dan Drezner's blog. Beyond the Oscar comments, I became mesmerized by Apt 11d. A large number of posts were devoted to childcare issues, one of the last things that normally concerns me. I was talking with my roommate about it and we basically concluded that part of the appeal of blogging is the ability to wander into people's lives - even if just for a moment - and become connected to their story. It's more or less the same relationship you develop with a novelist, I think. I was affected so much, I needed to add an additional sidebar category to include this blog as a link.

On a totally weird note: perhaps part of the appeal is that we basically have the same blog template and my mesmerization had to do with a subconscience, narcissistic love of my own blog...see Crumb, in which Crumb was known to masterbate to his own work (as was Picasso). I said a weird note...
The Next Generation?

I've noticed the next generation hasn't been writing much on their blogs....as Jared said, "We're the next generation, whenever we get around to it." It is temping to wonder whether we ever will....