Current Events
Current mood: accomplished

Hey All,

Soooo much has happened in such a little amount of time.... where to begin?! Maybe I should break it down into sections...

Grampy's Visit: Grampy flew in from Florida and stayed with me for a few days to experience the rumble and tumble of my daily routine. He was absolutely legendary in EVERY sense of the word! He helped me move my entire apartment in 1 day, we worked out together in the kickboxing gym, We visited the Getty (Pictures to soon follow) and he was my guest of honor at the EastLA Premiere! Where, mind you, he received a standing ovation as well as receiving the BEST NETWORKING AWARD for the post party bash. He was simply brilliant and dazzled EVERYONE with his positive personality, genuine affability and overall wonderful Grampyness that only he can exude :-) He got to finally meet so many people that he's connected with over Myspace it was a surreal experience for him and all ours friends involved. As a personal side note, we connected on a level like never before and I can't thank him enough for all the wisdom, compassion, patience, and love that he has given me... if one day I were to write down all that he means to me it might fill a novel. LOVE YOU GRAMPY and I can't wait to see you for our family reunion in July!!!!! WOO HOO!!!

EastLA Premiere: Went off without a hitch and we got a really good response from the students, faculty, staff and guests who attended. It was nerve racking making the speech in front of a couple hundred people but hopefully something intelligible was transmitted. If not:
To all involved and all attended: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! I couldn't have done it without you!

Summertime: I've had a couple of Production Assistant Jobs so far this summer. One for Big Brother and one for Spike TV (specifically the Guy's Choice awards) both were very eye-opening experiences in different ways and helped get my feet wet a bit in the industry. I wont bore you with the details but it's been a wild ride from a filmmakers perspective. Also I've been interning at NationalBanana.com and helping them shoot their projects. It's been great because I get to have HANDS on experience operating cameras, lighting etc.... with Jerry Zucker! (The man behind Airplane, The Naked Gun movies etc..) On one project I was actually one of his cinematographers! Which is a HUGE step for me! Hopefully if I don't mess up I'll have some sort of career when I graduate. I would still like to direct but understand that very few get a chance straight out of the gate... So until then I'll be developing Bellwether (the TV pilot) and The Comedy feature film that has yet to be titled. Both of which I'm very proud of and can see a future for in Network TV and commercial box office respectively.

Mud Run: Justin, Jared, Mr. Ground and I finished the Camp Pendleton MUD RUN! It was awesome! It was a 10K (6.2 miles) on the Marine Base that we muscled through mud, lake, walls, tires, tunnels and came out sweaty, soaking, filthy and exuberant on the other side. The best way I could describe it... and I had a lot of time to think about it during the trek... was "An invigorating yet humbling spiritual experience that resembled a metaphor for life." Probably one of the more physically challenging things I've experienced in my lifetime. So it was quite fun and I'm looking forward to doing it again!

Living Situation: One gigantic leap from being an RA to living in a duplex with Justin and little Ty near Culver City! We have a beautiful, renovated house on Bedford street 2 min. from the 10 freeway. It's a gorgeous place with hardwood floors, crown molding, 2 car garage, a kitchen and living room that will be the center of many a grand gatherings. :-) We are all very excited about our new pile of bricks and welcome our friends and family to stop on by and check it out! (Once we chose our furniture and color motif that is ;-)

For the Future: Big Ty is getting married on Saturday! After one heck of a bachelor party (don't worry guys... I'm not saying a thing) they are consummating their partnership on the bluffs overlooking the pacific ocean. :-) And of course we are going to party our little butts off the night of.

I'll be in NY from July 4th till the 12th for a HUGE family reunion and Gramy's 86th Birthday!!! I can't wait!!!!!! I'll get to see all of my cousins, aunts and uncles that all live on the East side and we are going to have one heck of a shindig for 8 days. However, I will be back just in time for the opening of The Dark Knight.. which by the way... I think we have 30 people going to the midnight premiere this time...? Let me double-check with little Ty on that one...

AT ANY RATE... I think that's all my little insomniac brain can dish out at this time...if I've missed anything please post below or if not thanks for reading and hopefully I will see, hear or talk to you soon!

~joshua

12:44 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Why?
Current mood: curious

So this is my question: Why do people habitually try to take the wind out of other's sails? These Naysayers drive me absolutely CRAZY!

Example: On a road trip... someone asked how I was doing and I respond with "Great, I'm as healthy as a horse." Now EVERYONE knows this saying... it's a figure of speech. HOWEVER there always has to be that ONE Naysayer, that one KILLJOY, that has to deconstruct it and needs a F$%^&*() diagram drawn up for them. So she responds with "Horses aren't healthy." This however, isn't even playing devils advocate... because what she said was a statement not a question. I could tolerate it if she said, "Are horses really that healthy?" At which point I would respond with, "Yeah, they are." But she didn't... she said "Horses Aren't healthy." Which REALLY means, "F-YOU you are WRONG." So, I take the challenge on: "Actually horses are extremely healthy creatures because they get plenty of exercise and eat hay... which contains oats, barely and wheat." To which she responds with "All horses aren't healthy." This drives me absolutely BATTY! I mean... she just said, "No." and provided no evidence to back up her argument. Granted she was correct in the sense that there are some horses that aren't healthy... I get that.... all horses are not healthy... but does that mean that we can't have that saying? Does that mean I should have said, "I am as healthy as one of those horses that runs a lot, eats well and gets plenty of rest?"

These are the type of people that when you are telling a joke or story they want to slow down or take away the momentum to get some minute detail. I.E. "This one time we were at this bar having a drink when-" -"What bar?"-

To Which I always respond "Really? Does it matter? You are going to ruin the story to find out the details of the bar? Would you like to know what street it's on? Or how about it's Longitude and Latitude coordinates as well?! I can draw a map... In fact... let's do that... let's draw a map and deconstruct this... let's figure it out." This especially annoys me when they wouldn't have ANY CLUE what bar you are talking about anyways because they NEVER GO OUT! I could understand if AFTER the story they say, "That is hilarious... which bar was that where that happened?" But NOOOOOOO they have to know in the middle of the joke/story where it is before you can continue. Did you ever notice these types of people never tell stories or jokes? Can you imagine if they did...

"In the universe, in our galaxy, on planet earth, April 2nd, 2007 at approximately 8pm Eastern Standard Time Three friends of mine, Jessica Martin, aged 22 born and raised in Boise Idaho, in a town called.... and Sarah Bernheart, aged 23 on and on and on... Well we met at 2507 Midvale Street..." I mean... do we need these details for the story? I can understand if the BAR'S name is somewhat crucial to the joke but if not you use this thing called your imagination!!!!!

Ahhh, it drives me crazy... How do you all respond to these people? What do you say?! Completely ignore them? Stop your story and stare at them until they feel uncomfortable? Answer all their questions and kill the story you are telling? Or fire back with "Why?" Or joke with them and say "Ya', let's completely ruin this story so I can answer your asinine questions. Let's do that... that would be fun."

Why do these people consistently kill a good time? Do they hunt for fun just so that they can ruin it for everyone else? Are they suffering from extreme schadenfreude? I want to know WHY. Is it because they can't imagine a story unless they have all the details? Do they want a quantitative diagram or how one derived at this place in time before you can continue with the story?

Please someone tell me because I can't figure it out...

2:48 PM - 7 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

San Frantastico!
Current mood: refreshed

Travel Blog Earth Date Monday December 17th:

Well, Jared and I took a road trip up to San Francisco this weekend to get away for a while. It was great! We stayed at The Carlton in the heart of San Fran. on Sutter street right next to Maia's pad. When we first arrived we were greeted with free red wine and a nice little view of the city. The first night Maia came over and took us to an artsy little restaurant just a couple of blocks away. Then after that we hit up a little Moose bar where they lit the entire bar on fire to the tune of "Welcome to the Jungle" Jared, Maia and I had a little booth that didn't have an end cushion and we were sitting there casually chatting when a drunken girl tried to sit down next to me on this non-existent cushion and all we saw were her feet that went straight up in the air as she landed on her tail bone. I thought she was really hurt and helped her up but when she got up she said "It's okay you can laugh out loud" and quickly made her way across the room. Jared and Maia just started laughing and I was inclined to join in but tried to act as though nothing just happened. After that we headed over to Maia's friend's place where they were having an end of the semester bash. Music, drunken debauchery and artsy smartsy talk all around. The next morning Jared and I woke up and worked out at an over-priced gym and quickly got ready for the day. Maia accompanied us to Fisherman's Wharf where we ate the world famous and delectably delicious Clam Chowder/Beef Chili sourdough bread bowls. God they are soooooooo good. I polished off an entire bowl (all 3 lbs. of it) and we waddled our way over to Maia's campus to take a look around. Her university has a great view of the city and we took a plethora of pictures on the roof, casually strolled through the photography exhibits then made our way over to Haight-Ashbury. "The Haight" as Maia refers to it, is a street that has a lot of clothing shops, coffee places and touristy sites. We walked the streets, listened to the street performers play, had a wonderful "Chocolate to the People" coffee that was utterly divine. After that, Maia departed for work (after having received a parking ticket from the wonderful city of San Fran. - You meter maids are the DEVIL by the way) and Jared and I continued to tour the city. That night we visited Maia at Yoshi's. It's a fine dining sushi place that has a 400 maximum occupancy Jazz concert attached to it. The lighting, decor, food and service were amazing and we ate and drank till our hearts content. Jared had brought up my favorite bottle of red wine "Whitehall" and Jared even got a signature "R and R productions" series of it! (Very rare indeed!) We had a three course meal and Maia got us the hookups when it came time for the bill then we retired to the upstairs bar to watch the live jazz that was being displayed on the t.v. After too much drinking, Maia joined us and we had ANOTHER round of food and drinks to which I still can't get over... that garlic edamame was the BEST I've ever had. Good God! After Maia checked out of work we headed over to another local pub where we played pool, listened to music and drank some more. Although at this point Jared and I were sucking down red bulls so we wouldn't fall asleep on our gracious host. ;-) The bartender didn't put some of the drinks on our bill and we headed out unscathed.

The next morning Jared and I woke up at 7:30am and made a record breaking 5 and 1/2 hour drive back to La La Land. That night I met up with Jared again at Louise's on Montana (the place that Big Ty is working at) and we had a nice little surprise party for him. Val had organized it all and we ate and drank some more. Ugggh... After that we went Ice Skating on 5th and Arizona which was AWESOME!!!!! I haven't done that in years! I can't wait to see all the crazy pics. to come on that one. Lastly we hit up a movie and departed ways.

All in All I'd say it was a great way to end the semester.

9:21 AM - 4 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

A New Chapter
Current mood: thankful

Well it's a new chapter in my life. First off I want to thank all my friends for their support these past couple of days. Even though you didn't know the whole story you supported me and I can't thank you enough for that! With the bulletin of "I had a bummer day please cheer me up" You sent messages that made me smile during some of the toughest times of my life. I'll never forget that. You are truly loving people that I am honored to call my friends.

Things are much more clear to me now and I will begin picking the pieces back up after a long grieving process. So, with that being said, I'm looking forward to the Winter break! Some of you guys are coming to visit and some I'm going to visit! Some I haven't seen in ages and are reconnecting and some will be brand new. I can't wait to meet and see you all and catch up on all the stuff we've missed.

I can now get some rest and relaxation after a tumultuous ride.

Let me know how things are going on your end!

Sincerely,
~joshua

1:40 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

it’s been a while
Current mood: awake

Well it has been a while since my last blog so here is an update for you! Let's see I left off at the Darfur documentary... okay, since then school is now in full swing and I've got a full plate this semester. Between taking classes, being a Resident Advisor and a Teaching Assistant I barely have time for a social life but I manage to fit it in there ;-) The Darfur documentary is now out in theaters and you can see my name up on the big screen! They also have a myspace site so here it is: www.myspace.com/darfurnow If you get a chance check out the film please let me know what you think. :-)

This Halloween was great! Ming, Jared, Justin, Val and I went to West Hollywood with 450,000 other people for the street scene there. I LOVE to people watch and with so many people in such extravagant costumes my eyes were as busy as watching a ping pong match in fast forward.

Porterville, one of my favorite live bands, just came out with a great album and we've been hitting up their concerts on Sunset. Although after the last one I don't think I'll be drinking alcohol for a while. uuggghhh.... :-P

Justin Ground has moved up from Temecula and is living next to little Tyler near UCLA. Justin is looking for a job and hopefully he will get one soon. Big Tyler is back in town with his fiance Masha and it's great to see them again. We often spend long nights with coffee and good conversation. It's great to have that big guy back!

Speaking of big guys, I think my Dad will be coming up for Thanksgiving in a couple weeks and I'm looking forward to spending some time with him and Carrol and Don. It'll be nice to see family again. It's been too long.

Humm... that's it I think. It is 5 in the morning and I can't get back to sleep so here I am. My foggy mind has probably missed a few things but I'm sure I'll post more later on. So, there ya' go! :-) hope all is well with you! What's new in your world? Anything exciting?!

5:03 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Darfur Documentary

Hey All,

Just a quick update. I'm working on a Darfur documentary. Nothing big, I'm just logging footage for the most part. Basically that means I watch the timecode and type up what is happening, every, 5-10 seconds or so. Logging takes up 90% of my time there and another 10% is transcribing. Now, transcribers are people that I really feel for. They have to type out word for word what someone says in the film. I've only done it for 8 hours but it is the most mind numbing job to listen and type out every little "Ah, er, so", that a person says. Especially when English is their second language and they use it a lot to give them time to think. :-P

However, on a separate note, this footage is truly moving. The conflict that is happening in Sudan has affected thousands of lives and listening to their stories and watching it happen on camera is extremely poignant. Hopefully when this documentary is released in theaters we can all go watch it and eventually help do something about it.

Check out the site at: http://stg.participate.net/darfurdoc

Let's not end on a sad note though... Ummm... let's see... something light.. teddy bears and ice cream. Oh wait! Got it! So, it is really funny to watch celebrities i.e. Don Cheadle and George Clooney on the documentary being themselves. You always have this vision of stars being perfect but it's relieving to see them stumble on their words or do something stupid and look embarrassed. Definitely makes them more human and less amazing. They really are just normal guys in an extraordinary situation.

Well, anyway that's all for now. Hope all is well and let me know your thoughts on this!

~joshua

8:43 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Virginia Tech Tragedy

For all those who have suffered from this horrible and senseless tragedy, my heart goes out to you. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

2:29 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos

Our Spring Break Cruise
Current mood: drained

So, as most of you know Ming and I went on a cruise over spring break. It started in Long Beach, sailed out to Catalina then down to Ensenada and back up to LB. The first few days on the cruise were great! Ming and I exercised in the gym that overlooked the pacific ocean and kayaked around Catalina on Tuesday. We ate a lot of free delicious food and paid for most of it by purchasing a drink or two at the night club on the ship entitled "Paradise" I don't know what paradise charges 14 dollars for a watered down cocktail but I guess this floating one did. Anyway, we became wise and purchased our own alcohol on Catalina and smuggled it aboard. We met some great people on the ship and became fast friends with a couple of Mormons from Utah and Jews from New York. We all got along famously and it felt like we were family after the first night. Wednesday was my highlight where we docked in Ensenada and traveled around Mexico for a bit. My Dad and Sonia (step-Mom) picked us up in front of Papa's and Beer and we traveled a little bit to gain the company of my Dad's long time friend Javier. We all ate delicious lamb tacos and traveled down to La Bufladora to see the natural "water spout" from the ocean. (Pictures to come) That night we went to El Olivo and Mi familia treated Ming and I to a delicious dinner with some great red wine that I can't pronounce the name of. (that's when you know it's good ;-) Dad, Sonia, and Javier dropped us off back at the boat just before it left and Ming and I felt like a million bucks. We decided to get a party started in our room so we invited our newfound friends over and (like any new fraternity party) we played drinking games till everything was happy. That night was the best! We all went to club Rex and danced our little alcohol filled heads off. When we got back to the room I felt a little under the weather. I didn't think I had drank that much to throw up but I eventually went to the bathroom and "took care of it" At least I thought I had. I took care of it about 15 times that night until I couldn't take any more care. Ming found the toilet bowl taking care of me and for the next entire day I dry heaved and hacked up (for those who are weak on the stomach stop reading) green bile that looked like Slimer from Ghost Busters. When it continued all throughout Thursday, Friday and Saturday I knew that it was more than just a hangover. I'm still getting over what I've self diagnosed as food poisoning... but at least it doesn't feel like snakes are eating away my intestines anymore. :-)

I guess those of you who have traveled with me wouldn't expect anything less... How could I have traveled and had such a fun time without getting sick? HA! That wasn't in the cards at all and God let me know it.

However, the first part of the trip wasn't a bust and now I can honestly say that I've been on a cruise! While it wasn't exactly what I expected the newly washed towel sculptures that the staff left on our beds every day were such a pleasant surprise I wouldn't mind going on one again.

5:10 PM - 5 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Update

Well, I'm back from Winter break and hitting the ground running. The next project is a Documentary on an Artist who does "Scar Art" He was featured in the NY times and has recently been approached to do some sort of short film for HBO. It'll be great to get the jump the project before it goes main stream. :-)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/04/arts/design/04scar.html?ex=1317614400&en=48244526c728854a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Winter break was great (as you can see from the pics) Highlights: My bro. getting his wings, playing golf with Grampy, seeing Mom, Gramy, Chrissy and partying with Taylor.

Along with the Documentary class, I'm also taking Intermediate Directing. That comprises the majority of my work. Also, I got a Student Assistantship this semester and am now helping teach and administrate a Graduate acting class. That on top of my RA job will definitely be a challenge... I feel like I'm juggling a lot right now but maybe that's just because I was used to sitting on South Beach soaking up the sun.

So this semester looks to be challenging, rewarding and exhausting all rolled into one! How's does your spring look? Drop me a line and let me know what's going on :-)

11:13 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

With my luck recently I could die a happy man
Current mood: cheerful

Well this week has been surprisingly awesome. 

Last night I went and saw my favorite band BareNaked Ladies play at Universal.  They rocked the house as always.  It was great getting that transcending feeling you get when listening to your favorite music/song.  It bridges all gaps and connects you with the artist on a personal level.  I would describe it as a rare unifying feeling that is at once reassuring and inspiring.

And just 20 minutes ago I met my favorite actor, Morgan Freeman.  He was on campus for the release of his new film coming out and I was standing outside of a film building when he slowly walked by.  I raised my head and smiled at him and said, "Howdy" and he smiled back and said, "Hi."  Then I went to the Q and A session and listened to him speak.  It was in Norris hall and there were several hundred students there.  We asked him questions about his more recent work and after he took the side exit.  Everyone flooded towards that door but I actually went out the front because I had to get back to writing a paper.  As luck would have it we met up again as he was walking in the same direction I was headed.  We walked a while next to one another and I said, "Funny we keep bumping into each other like this."  He laughed and said, "Yeah, its a small world."  His entourage escorted him a different direction.  He waved good bye to me and I waved back.  He has a very reserved person with a laid back air to him that is only seen in our wiser generation. 

So yeah, quite a few unexpected twists and turns this week but all in all not bad.  And now back to my 45 page paper I have to write :-(

10:32 PM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment