Squanto

Ok here's the deal: tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  Tomorrow is the day kindergartners talk about the Pilgrims and Squanto.  Maybe have a Pilgrim party where they pretend they are about the Mayflower.  Tomorrow is the day 95% of American families will devour a prepared turkey.  Tomorrow is the transition from Halloween to Christmas.  Tomorrow is the 25th of November, the 25th of November? I feel like my rant on "October didn't even happen.  November? Time... time goes...." was just yesterday.  Now it's more like "November didn't even happen.  December? Time... time goes...."  Increíble.

So, that said, I'm at home.  I am at home in Simi Valley, California and it's a straight up party.  Seriously.  I got my eyes checked at the optometrist this morning and I'm going to the doctor's office in a few days.  That's what happens when you go home, get your annual checkups COMPLETED.  At least I don't have to go to the dentist.

I don't have much to speak on today.  I guess...here's something...relaxation is a beautiful thing.  It can be synonymous with boredom, relaxation can cause boredom, boredom can cause relaxation.  I'm not talking about boredom/relaxation confusing madness.  I'm talking about run-yourself-dry-with-a-bajillion-things-for-the-last-month-and-now-it's-time-to-relax relaxation.  Mmm...it's wonderful.  To simply sit. Sit. Sit.  And breathe. Breathe. Breathe.  And when this relax/sit/breathing turns into boredom, that is the cue to begin once again.  Alas, I do not think it will reach the boredom step.

Here's something else.  I recently created an art video for my 4D design class.  It took me majorly by surprise, the concept of an art video is completely different from the concept of film major video.  It's hard to explain, I would say ask me in person about it, but I don't even know if I could explain it in person.  Fact is, I was taken aback by the differences between the two "types" of film, this project turned out to be quite a lot of fun and I think it can definitely be classified as an art video.  In this sense, the video is succesfful.  Nevertheless, here it is:

FOUNTAIN





Pretty strange, huh?  Intrigued.



In other news, last week, my floor had our GYRAD.  This stands for "get your roommate a date."  I'm not going to go into the details, let's just say the preparation for this event was absolutely OUT OF CONTROL.  Anybody who knows the situation is probably, hopefully, probably not laughing right now.  Here's the completed product: my floor, the Stewart Armory, hosted a Nacho Libre themed gyrad, we packed up our gear, hauled all of us to Huntington Beach and proceeded to play pin the tail on the donkey, bust open the piñata of a donkey that we pinned the tail on, and then cook magnificent marinated meat over one of those sketchy fire pits in the sand.  Fast forward through the chill time on the beach, getting perhaps too close to the water, etc.  We then cruised back to Biola and feasted our eyes upon the film that is Nacho Libre.  We did not eat toast.  Here's what I looked like.

It was a good time.  Thank you Ms. Danielle Erickson, Mr. Kenny Becker, and Ms. Megan Vesevick for accompanying me in my vehicle and throughout the night.  Armory GYRAD Fall 2010=success.



I have one video for you.  You may have heard of Conan O'Brien.  You may have heard he has a new show, CONAN.  You may have heard of Reggie Watts.  You may have heard Reggie Watts appeared on CONAN.  You may have heard that Reggie Watts, who appeared on CONAN, put on a killer show. 




PRO.  I sat in disbelief throughout this entire performance.  I still don't even begin to understand it.  Brilliant.



That's the post, folks.  Another edition.  It's Wednesday.  It might not be Wednesday when you read this.  It might be next Wednesday when you read this.  I have no way of knowing, only you, humble reader, know when you read what you read.  What a concept.


Have an eventful Thanksgiving and don't forget to give thanks.

I'm thankful for all of life, everything single thing about it: good and bad, boring and exciting, controversial and breezy, physical and non-physical, peanut butter and jelly, thought and action, Calvinism and Arminianism, them, you, us.


Thank you.

The Bow

Today's post may be indecent indifferent.  It may be lacking.  Here's why, I have a bajillion deals to deal with, and it's not that I don't have enough time, but it's that my mind is mindfully wandering to other deals that I need to deal with within the next few-dy hours.  Up until probably Saturday, run run run running I am.  Full sprint?  Actually not really as much as a full sprint as the last few weeks; those were full sprints and a halves; so I guess this week is more like a brisk jog.

So that said, I do not have too terribly much to talk about.  Well, here's something: last week, something absolutely blew my mind clear out of the water.  So here's the deal, on November 3rd, two weeks ago, I wore a certain something and I wrote about some stuff.  But here's the deal, I randomly stumbled upon the post I had written exactly a year before, November 4th, 2009, and what I was wearing was remarkably similar.  I was baffled.  Here's the kicker, the first paragraph of both posts speak on the same matter, the same topic, the EXACT same thing.  Let me show you:

NOVEMBER 3, 2010:

It's November 3rd.  Read that again, look at your calender.  October didn't even happen.  November? Time... time goes.... blink once and you're retired.  I'm just waiting, I know it will happen any minute now.  Seriously? November?  Already we're supposed to deciding which classes to take next semester.  This semester just started yesterday.  It's almost 2011, I just got used to writing 2010.  October didn't even happen.  November? Time... time goes....  speed, speed, speedest.

http://emliv.blogspot.com/2010/11/speedest.html


NOVEMBER 4, 2009:

First matter of business, today is November 4th. Let me repeat that, today is November 4th. Yes, it is November already. Time is flying folks. Speaking of flying, October 31st has come and gone...and the Christmas "stuff " will be arriving, if it already hasn't, in stores in a very minimal amount of days.

http://emliv.blogspot.com/2009/11/explanation-is-necessary-for-this.html


I had no previous knowledge of this.  I guess years play out similarly, super strange, super whack.

Now I have a video for you, one solitary video.  I stumbled upon this kid last night, I must say, I don't think I have laughed as hard as I laughed last night in quite a long time.  It may have been the time of night (which doesn't matter) or it simply was that funny.  Here's the video:

Adam Peterson is SO STINKIN' LEGIT.  He's SO PUMPED.  He LOVES Lewis Park.  He REALLY LIKES swinging.  He LOVES basketball.  I can't even believe it.  He just so jazzed! 

We need to all be like Adam Peterson, be SO INCREDIBLY PUMPED about EVERYTHING.




That's the attitude, I like it. 

I REALLY LIKE you.  You know that?  You spend your good, hard earned time reading and watching the pitly content I choose to publish.  Goodness gracious, you're the best.

The Maid

The lineup is quite on this Wednesday.  You're in for a treat.  Be ready.

First off, I heard some positive feedback from last week's "October didn't even happen.  November? Time... time goes...." spiel.  Fact is, it's almost the end of November.  It's November 10th, double digits.  I'm almost 20 years old, 10 is half my age.  It's already the tenth, it's basically 2011.  Unbelievable.  I could go on, but I already "went on" in last weeks post.  If you're interested in a in depth description of how fast time flies, scroll down a bit and read the first couple paragraphs.  There you go.

This week's been good.  Still a million objectives to accomplish, says the life of a college student.  I think college is just one big busy party.  When you ask anybody, the response is "pretty tired, busy" a common theme among the one big buys party people.  It's beginning to slow down I think.  That's what I said last week and a number of projects were introduced, evolving the "slow down" to a "slightly less insane."  It's been good though; see, here's the thing, most of these so-called projects are film projects, I've been immersed in film for the last two months and it's been "good."  It's good because I am a film major and doing film things is a "requirement" to benefit my experience and knowledge of the expanse of filmography.  So being weighed down by film projects is a blessing in disquise, yeah it might wear me out and cause a considerable loss of ever-important sleep, but hey, I'm getting trained for my craft.


Speaking of craft, I just wrapped my latest film project.  Boy, was this a long time coming.  I kinda want to explain the entire process to this film, the immense amount of trial and error, the frustration of innumerable problems, but I honestly don't quite feel like doing that.  Let's just say this: this is : UNTITLED :, my latest film, it's finally complete, finally finished, and premiering here for your enjoyment.  So sit back, grab a pal, and enjoy! 




: Untitled : from Morgan Lott on Vimeo.

: UNTITLED : (2010) USA/3:24 min

Summary: "God hides things by putting them all around us." - Author Unknown

Filmmakers:

Morgan Lott - The Entirety

Cast:

Ben Jacuk




Moving on.  I have two topics to discuss today.  Here's one: walking fast.  I recently have noticed the speed of people walking.  I personally walk very quickly.  I had a discussion with my sister last week about walking speed because, no offense to her, she walks incredibly slow.  I asked her how in the world she pulls it off, she says she loves taking her time and enjoying life around her.  I can't blame her, life is incredible.  Nevertheless, I believe walking slow is one of the worst things to do.  Don't get me wrong, walking slow can be awesome, especially when you don't have anything specific to do and/or you're with a significant other and/or you're taking your Sunday joy ride.  There are many times where walking slow is great.  However, most the time, especially at school, walking speed greatly influences time management.  At least for me, if I spend 15 minutes walking from the cafeteria to my room, enjoying the world, that's 10 minutes I have "wasted."  I have especially realized the important of "little time" this semester.  I "power walk" if you will, in order to get to my destination with efficiency and ease.  I have somewhere to go, why dilly-dally?  Let's get there, do what needs to be done, and then leave.  The action of walking is not included in this schedule.  All that said, I love enjoying God's creation, I love basking in it's beauty, however, there is a time and place for that and walking to my math class is not that time OR place.  If you walk slow, good for you; if you walk fast, good for you; you do what you like, you do what works best for you.

Next, I need to vent a pet peeve of mine.  Have you ever seen the phrase "someone hacked my facebook!"  This phrase, the use of the word hack completely out of context, irks me incredibly.  Here's the thing, when the majority of the people on facebook who claim "my facebook got hacked," this is what they are saying, "I was irresponsible and forgot to log out of my facebook, so someone, either a friend or a stranger, had complete access to my facebook so they posted a status or requested a friend or other squirrely business and I just found out!"  This is not "hacked," people.  According to UrbanDictionary (quality resource) to "hack" is "to break into computer systems with malicious intent. This sense of the term is the one that is most commonly heard in the media, although sense 1 is much more faithful to its original meaning. Contrary to popular misconception, this sort of hacking rarely requires cleverness or exceptional technical ability; most so-called "black hat" hackers rely on brute force techniques or exploit known weaknesses and the incompetence of system administrators."  So when you say "someone hacked my facebook" that most likely means someone cleverly acquired your login information, attained your password and now has overarching control of your account, whether you know it or not.  To regain control of your account, you must change your login information, whether that is your email address or password.  That is a hacked facebook.  Don't get me wrong, facebook accounts get legitimately hacked all the time, but, at least in my experience, when I see "hacked" in a facebook status, it normally means someone left their facebook logged in on their friends computer, prompting their friend to post something seemingly funny to the victims wall, resulting in a realization, "oh man, I left my facebook on again, and my stupid friends....lame."  What's funny is nothing's going to change because of this explanation, and that is okay.  People are still going to get "hacked" right and left.  I just figured I'd rant a bit.  Maybe someone will be enlightened.



Now lots of video for you, it's been a good week.


First up, this pal's backpack was stolen, he wants it back, he goes to youtube and unknowingly is launched into fame and hundreds of people, including Jimmy Kimmell, offer to send him backpacks full of goodies.  His original backpack has not yet been returned.  Either way, his plea is priceless.





Next, this pal goes to the streets and has a good time with his harmonica.  Something about this video made me smile.  I will say that if this pal approached me doing what he does, I would jam all day long.  Made me smile, hope it makes you smile.





Next, we've all experienced Line Rider at some point.  Whether we were enthralled with the game, annoyed at the kid next to us to is enthralled with the game, interested in why your kid is enthralled at the game.  Point is Line Rider has made an impact upon this generation and this video marks the evolution of the ever popular game.  I was never into Line Rider, I was the kid who was annoyed at the pal next to me who was enthralled with the game; nevertheless, this video is OUT OF CONTROL.  The immense amount of time and effort to contrive such an effortless output blows my mind.  Definitely worth a watch, the music is worth listening to as well.



Lastly, here is a gem I stumbled upon earlier this week, an incredible stop motion love story.  I enjoyed it thoroughly, you should as well.  The minute long "making of" is embedded below the film "Bottle," stop motion is no easy task.  Enjoy, it's great.















Phew, that was an intense one.  Glad I survived and if you got to this point, I'm ecstatic you survived.  Lots of content today, you're eyes need a break.  Turn them to a pal of yours and have a meaningful conversation.  Oh, meaningful conversation, you have a special place in my heart.

Have a representational day.

Speedest

It's November 3rd.  Read that again, look at your calender.  October didn't even happen.  November? Time... time goes.... blink once and you're retired.  I'm just waiting, I know it will happen any minute now.  Seriously? November?  Already we're supposed to deciding which classes to take next semester.  This semester just started yesterday.  It's almost 2011, I just got used to writing 2010.  October didn't even happen.  November? Time... time goes....  speed, speed, speedest.

In other news, school is starting to slow down a little bit.  This is wonderful.  The last three or so weeks have been arguable the busiest three-weeks-or-so of my entire schooling career.  So much stuff going on, most of which required bundles of time.  It wasn't the sheer amount of stuff to do, it was the amount of time required for each task that completely stole every minute of every day away.  It's slowing down, it's nice, but, that said, there is, obviously, still, for school, lots of stuff to do.  I'm finishing up my cinematography project within the next week, you'll see it here, only here, next week.  I like it...I think.  It's been on my mind way to long to really know how I feel about it, I'm pretty indifferent.

In other news, the San Fransisco Giants are the 2010 World Series champions.  I have waiting my entire life for this.  My dad has waiting his entire life for this.  It's been a long time coming.  They have never won a championship in San Fransisco, last time they did it, they were the New York Giants, winning in 1956.  This is a big deal.  San Fran is haywire.  I'm haywire.  I've never had one of "my" teams win anything.  Now the Giants have done it.  I can't say "I've never had one of 'my' teams win anything" anymore.  It's a good feeling.

October didn't even happen.  November? Time... time goes....




I had a lapse in thinking, I want to talk about something meaningful sometime soon.  I want to tell you about something that I find interesting, something that blows my mind.  I can't think of anything, + I don't have very much time.  Hopefully I'll have something for you to ponder next week.  Here, ponder this: what makes a thought "ponderable."  You can think about something, this can be fast, this can be slow; but you, yes you, know those moments where you really need to take time and think, ponder if you will, about something.  Like dedicating time to dedicated thinking.  Our brains are incredible.



I've got video for you.  Lots of video.  Lots of good video.  Lots of interesting video.


First, you've probably seen this around, you'll probably recognize the teacher, he's done this type of trick twice before.



Here's the thing.  This guy, Professor Matthew Weathers is my Nature of Mathematics teacher.  I was in this class when this video was filmed.  He pulled this stunt before my glossy eyes.  Professor Weathers is a youtube phenom, he has captured the hearts of people all over the world with his clever, witty "tricks" for Halloween and April Fools.  Many comments to the video declare a wish to either have "this guy" as a teacher or that more teachers were like "this guy."  I am proud and honored to learn Egyptian addition from Professor Matthew Weathers.  Thank you for the show.



This one, I just get a kick out of.  This dude owns the jumbotron.  He owns the crowd.





Lastly, "intrigue" is the word given to this video.  I'm not sure what it is, the subject matter is intriguing, the style of video is intriguing, everything about it caught my attention; I really like this video.  Funny thing is, I really don't know why.  It's about an alcohol fire: flames that are invisible, and the hardship this particular type of fire can bring.  Intriguing.













That's it.  This blog posts just go by so fast.  Everything is fast these days, cars.  We strive for speed.  Oh, humans.  Our focus.  The speed we dwell on.  Remember dial up internet?  Tying up that phone line?  How about the Model T Ford?  How about the story of the tortoise and the hare?  



October didn't even happen.  November? Time... time goes....