While watching SNL clips on hulu.com, I realized something.

I miss college.  I remember in between computer sciences classes we would have pretty fun communication classes (for a multimedia minor).  We would write our own scripts, operate high end studio cameras, and act in a real studio setting with backdrops and props.  Cutting and transitioning to different cameras, and being able to talk to your camera crew and directing the whole thing.  Really awesome experience.

My team ended up doing an ESPN-isque Battleship Tournament with outrageous characters; ranging from pirates to some foreign exchange student.  We did commentary as if it were a real sport and made it as stupidly exciting as possible.  It felt like something straight out of SNL except way lower production quality.  I will see if I can dig up the script.

There was also another class where we had to make a movie trailer.  The premise is something way beyond classic murder, suspense, heists, etc.  It was about student parking on campus.  We were sending a message with this assignment.  It seems that even though you pay top dollar for a parking pass for that term, it is still nearly impossible to find a parking spot on campus.  So, what's the point??  Anyway, that was a very fun project for me.  My friends and I worked together to brainstorm the dumbest possible ideas and put them in.  I think it came out pretty well.  I think it was the best in our class if I may say so myself.  Unfortunately, we had a teammember that was a loud mouth and critiqued the professor's favorite movie trailer from last quarter and wouldn't shut up.  She showed it just as an example of what she was looking for, and he insisted that he could do better.  In our brainstorming sessions, it was clear that none of that guy's ideas were any good.  They were crap.  We mostly let him do as little as possible.  I think our grade was knocked down a notch because of that argument with the professor though.  Unfortunate.


One of my favorite projects in school was creating a 3D animated short using Maya.  This one was very very fun.  It was a team effort putting it together, spending long hours in the computer lab modeling and animating the characters and set.  Guess who did the model for the throne?  Thankfully, my pal Barry uploaded it to youtube years ago, so here it is for your enjoyment:


Not bad for 2003 eh?

After 4 years of working in the real world of software engineering, I realized that I've lost my way.  I'm missing out on the fun stuff I could be doing.  The pay is good, the people I work with are great, but it's just not exciting and fun anymore.  After each project it's a sigh of relief, not, "dude check out this awesome thing I made!"  I miss having a "coolness" factor to show at the end of each project.

To an extent, I envy the people in Hollywood.  They get to push the envelope, use their imagination and make movies.  Their budgets are also pretty awesome/ridiculous.  At the end of the day, they get to show their awesome (or not so awesome) project to everyone, for a fee.  And they get to do this for a living.  Make movies.  How fun is that.

I also made a high school movie loosely based on King Lear, but more on the Matrix.  I forget how they relate, but at the time I thought it was the awesomest thing ever.  Now that I try to rewatch it, it is the most unawesome thing ever.  Word to the wise, do NOT watch old high school videos.  They will likely to be terrible.  If you are in high school now, and you think your video is awesome, wait a few years.  Like 8 years.  Your awesomeness will fade, trust me.  Hang on to whatever awesome memories you have left, and don't ruin it.

Anyway, I guess my point to this post is, don't get too comfortable.  When you get comfortable doing something every day or every year, it means it's time to switch it up.  Do something fun that you used to enjoy, personal projects, group projects with your friends, etc.  It's a great way to get closer to your friends as well.

When I have some free time again and when the weather clears up, I want to make another movie.  Stupid or not, here I come!

Beware!

A coworker of mine brought in a lifesize zombie and placed it in front of our office. Freaked a lot of people out!

I love how this election is so fair and unbiased!

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/177863.php

Be informed!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EzTJlK8Chts&feature=PlayList&p=F29C75CBC723E594&index=0

The only tiny sliver of light from this election.  Get the word out before the primaries and go vote.  Change your registration to republican if you still can and vote in the primaries.  We need all the momentum we can get.

I know he's a republican, and I'm sure after 8 years of Bush Jr. you probably have a distaste for republicans.  I would too.  But don't look at the party, look at the person.  Ron Paul is the only person with a consistent (and respectable) voting record.  He is the only real conservative (which is actually a good thing).  He is the only one that knows what the root of the problem of our country is.  Even after explaining everything loud and clear in the debates, the other candidates just mock him and try to play it off like he's wrong.

But he is absolutely right.

One thing that makes total sense to me is how he approaches our economic problem.  All the candidates are concerned about the lower and middle class.  All of them want to create plans, agencies, increase government spending to help the poor.  For instance, creating a universal healthcare plan so everybody has healthcare.  Well, first we need to create the government agency to run, regulate, and design the policies.  Hm, increase spending to help the poor.  Interesting.

What they don't realize is that poor people not being able to afford healthcare is a side effect of a bigger problem: our monetary system and how we are spending our money.  Money is greatly impacted by several things - 1. Foreign Policy, 2. Government agencies, 3. Federal Reserve and probably more.

We borrow money from foreign countries, increase taxes, and print funny money to support a war that doesn't even belong to us.  We create federal agencies that the government should not be regulating in the first place.  We print funny money whenever the government needs it because it is not backed by anything so the value of the dollar drops rapidly (inflation).  When you add all these together, the poor is impacted the most because minimum wage simply cannot keep up with the rate of inflation.  I would say it has gone up around 30% just over the last 6 years.  We earn more over time, but our buying power decreases.  Poor people get affected the most.

It seems like only Ron Paul understands this.  He is for getting rid of the IRS if possible, eliminating income taxes on tips (I love this, he says, "The government should not be tipped when you do a good job.").  He is for getting rid of useless government agencies.  He is for a humble foreign policy that does not support pre-emptive war and world policing.  Doing these things will decrease our nation's spending dramatically, have money leftover to help people domestically, and in turn have less pressure on us to keep up with inflation (you know, so the poor people can actually afford some decent healthcare).  Things are not getting more expensive, our dollar is just worth less and less.  I forget where I saw it or who said it, but if you look at the cost of oil and gold over time, they are the same. And if our currency was still backed by gold, oil wouldn't seem that expensive afterall.

Did you know that the Federal Reserve is not owned or controlled by the government?  It is a privately held bank owned and controlled by a couple of people.

His plans sound very radical, I'm sure.  But in fact, he is restoring what once made our country great and prosperous.  The things that got us to where we are now are MISTAKES.  We are at the brink of bankruptcy, and we don't even know it.

At the very least, watch the video and come to your own conclusions.

I'm actually very turned off by the democrats right now, bickering at each other instead of discussing what can be done to fix the state of our country and discussing real issues.  Most of their 'plans' sound underdeveloped like empty promises.  I wonder even, how are they going to fund their new plans?  More taxes?  More printed money?

Also, the media hosted debates generally suck.  They are extremely biased.  Trust your own research, it is worth it.

The next 4 years depend on what you do TODAY as a voter, and more importantly, a citizen of this country.

Update: Ok, I stand corrected with the Federal Reserve statement, but it is still partially owned by private entities and still flawed in its operation. The bottom line is, our government spends way more than it should, and the rest of us suffer because of it.