My computer died again on Sunday, right in the middle of Game 7 of the world series and just as I was about to finish the second act of my screenplay. My computer did the same thing last year, so I'm hoping it's the same problem. I had a power surge in my apartment on Wednesday, just as I was turning on my computer on and blew a fuse. When I replaced the fuse, the computer was working fine. Last night, when I checked the back of hard drive, it was very hot. I wonder if the two incidents are related.
Thank god I have my baby laptop, so I can at least check email and not feel totally computer deprived. My baby laptop runs pocket explorer and Blogger Pro doesn't support it, although regular blogger did.
I'm not ready to buy a computer yet, although a friend just purchased a computer from Gateway for $1,000. Buying a new computer is going to take a lot of research. The tech guy at work told me he would build me a new one for a fee. I just need a new hard drive, and want to keep all my other peripherals like my monitor, scanner, cd burner, modem and printer. On the other hand, my last computer was built by a friend of mine and it wasn't without problems, so I'm wondering if I should just order a new computer from Dell. Then there's the process of transferring my files, and I'm not looking forward to that.
I'm also still torn between buying a pc and just getting a laptop with a docking station, but I'm starting to think it would be nice to have both in case one breaks.
I think I can get another year out of my old computer, if it can be fixed, so I put a note in my Palm to buy a new computer in August 2003. Delaying a new computer purchase till then buys me time to figure stuff out. What I could do is buy an old laptop for now, and start migrating my files to the laptop, so when I'm finally ready to get rid of the old computer it won't be such a big deal. An old but serviceable laptop would also be insurance in case the computer decides to die again.
I doubt now that I'll get my computer fixed in time for me to enter my screenplay into that contest. But if my computer isn't fixed by Friday November 1 when Nanowrimo starts, it's not a big deal because I start writing on my baby laptop since it has Pocket Word.
I definitely want to finish the screenplay with or without the contest. I'm trying to look on the bright side. I'm telling myself that I was arrogant in wanting to send a second draft of my screenplay to a contest. I know some of the people entering the contest probably wrote 8 or more drafts of their screenplay before submitting it, maybe even more. Some of the people entering the screenplay contest have written at least three or more screenplays, and are submitting their best work, and not just their first ever written screenplay like me.
I'm surprised by how calm I am. I don't know if I'm in shock, or I'm not being fazed since the same thing happened to me last year. I used to think that in my ideal world, I wouldn't have any problems. But that's not true. I think if you live in this world, you will always problems. Maybe an ideal world means that when bad things happens, you don't freak out and you have faith, supreme faith that everything will work out and works out for the best. That maybe you'll stumble a little, but you won't fall flat on your face, and if you do, you won't die, you'll get up and live to see another day. Now that's an ideal world.
Monday, October 28, 2002
Saturday, October 26, 2002
I'm a little over my posting limit for the the next three days, so the posts will be very short.
On tap for today.
Heading downtown to get my bangs trimmed and to buy some items. I hope that the anti war rally is over by the time I get down there. Those anti war protestors can be downright nasty sometimes. I am a cautious supporter of the war on Iraq, only because I think if we don't do something, they will. 9/11 has definitely scarred my dove attitudes.
Then back home to write and watch the game. I think I read somewhere that no baseball team has ever won the world series in game 6. It's baseball, so it's all about tradition, statistics, records, and momentum changes. I love the Angels, only because they are such underdogs having never won a world series. The Angels are also very friendly to the media and fans, which I admire. The Giants, well they're the home team and you have to root for the home team, no matter what, even though they're not the most media friendly team in the league. So Go Giants.
There's a big Nanowrimo/Halloween party in Oakland tonight, hosted by the founder of Nanowrimo Chris Baty. Depending on how I feel, I might drive over there to check it out. Only after the game, of course.
GO GIANTS!
On tap for today.
Heading downtown to get my bangs trimmed and to buy some items. I hope that the anti war rally is over by the time I get down there. Those anti war protestors can be downright nasty sometimes. I am a cautious supporter of the war on Iraq, only because I think if we don't do something, they will. 9/11 has definitely scarred my dove attitudes.
Then back home to write and watch the game. I think I read somewhere that no baseball team has ever won the world series in game 6. It's baseball, so it's all about tradition, statistics, records, and momentum changes. I love the Angels, only because they are such underdogs having never won a world series. The Angels are also very friendly to the media and fans, which I admire. The Giants, well they're the home team and you have to root for the home team, no matter what, even though they're not the most media friendly team in the league. So Go Giants.
There's a big Nanowrimo/Halloween party in Oakland tonight, hosted by the founder of Nanowrimo Chris Baty. Depending on how I feel, I might drive over there to check it out. Only after the game, of course.
GO GIANTS!
Friday, October 25, 2002
The Giants win Game 5 of the world series, and I have a writing breakdown. Life is great isn't it? I never hit the wall when I was running marathons, but I think I might have hit the wall with my writing. I tried to sit down on Thursday and write, and I couldn't do it. Then I just freaked out, canceled my Friday earling morning appointment with my screenwriting teacher, and started crying. I really thought I could get it done, but I couldn't.
I spent the rest of night watching the game, and trying to figure out why I had a writing breakdown. My conclusion was I was just tapped out, and I didn't know it. I hit the writing wall. I never pushed myself this much in my writing. I've had to do it at work, but not in my writing. I've had impossible deadlines to get stuff done at work, and I've gotten them done, but it wasn't without much pain and agony. I hate working under a deadline. I can do it, but I hate it.
TV episode writers work under intense deadlines to get scripts written, but they're writing one hour of TV scritps. I wrote an hour's worth of my movie in three days. Maybe that's the limit. Maybe you can only write one hour of movie time in a short period of time. I wish I knew.
I reread "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron last night. She says that you have to take care of the creativity well, and keep it stocked. She says to set small and gentle goals and meet them. I guess I didn't do that. I guess I didn't take of my artist child, and like any child, she threw one hell of a tantrum, shit fit and sulk all at once.
This was hard lesson to learn, but one that was probably necessary for me. I can't just write exclusively like I've been doing. Maybe I can do that work, because I've had, but creativity is different. I can't put my life on hold and write, and I did that for the script. I haven't been going out and I didn't rent any movies. I let myself watch the world series, but even when I was watching the world series, I felt so guilty for not writing. Silly huh?
I'm still mulling over my writing breakdown. I don't know if I'm lazy and undisciplined, which a part of me thinks, or if I just hit the writing wall and didn't know it. All I know is I'm exhausted and mentally tired right now, and I still need to finish the rest of my screenplay by Sunday.
I spent the rest of night watching the game, and trying to figure out why I had a writing breakdown. My conclusion was I was just tapped out, and I didn't know it. I hit the writing wall. I never pushed myself this much in my writing. I've had to do it at work, but not in my writing. I've had impossible deadlines to get stuff done at work, and I've gotten them done, but it wasn't without much pain and agony. I hate working under a deadline. I can do it, but I hate it.
TV episode writers work under intense deadlines to get scripts written, but they're writing one hour of TV scritps. I wrote an hour's worth of my movie in three days. Maybe that's the limit. Maybe you can only write one hour of movie time in a short period of time. I wish I knew.
I reread "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron last night. She says that you have to take care of the creativity well, and keep it stocked. She says to set small and gentle goals and meet them. I guess I didn't do that. I guess I didn't take of my artist child, and like any child, she threw one hell of a tantrum, shit fit and sulk all at once.
This was hard lesson to learn, but one that was probably necessary for me. I can't just write exclusively like I've been doing. Maybe I can do that work, because I've had, but creativity is different. I can't put my life on hold and write, and I did that for the script. I haven't been going out and I didn't rent any movies. I let myself watch the world series, but even when I was watching the world series, I felt so guilty for not writing. Silly huh?
I'm still mulling over my writing breakdown. I don't know if I'm lazy and undisciplined, which a part of me thinks, or if I just hit the writing wall and didn't know it. All I know is I'm exhausted and mentally tired right now, and I still need to finish the rest of my screenplay by Sunday.
Thursday, October 24, 2002
My review of Baz Luhrmann’s La Boheme.
First impressions. The set reminded me of Moulin Rouge. I read in the paper that Luhrmann created La Boheme long before he created Moulin Rouge, and you can see in the set and costume designs echoes of the movie.
What was different about this production of La Boheme, was the opera singers. Most opera singers in are older and look it. Most opera singers also tend to be broader and bigger. The cast members of Luhrmann’s La Boheme all looked so young, probably age 30 and under, and looked like normal young people. For La Boheme’s story, this type of casting works incredibly well since the opera is about young bohemians. The guys actually looked like the parts they were playing. Since Luhrmann sets the opera in the 50’s, the time charge further added to the very modern look of the opera. The modern look definitely draws a more younger audience in, especially an audience not used to opera. Opera has the reputation for being stuffy. Luhrmann’s La Boheme was anything but stuffy.
Luhrmann uses 3 pairs of couples to sing the role of Rodolpho and Mimi, since the roles are so demanding. The three pairs have been dubbed by the media here, “the red, white and blue” cast. I saw the “white cast”, which all the reviews said is overall the strongest pair of singers and actors.
I thought the singing was very good. The only thing I didn’t like was the singers were miked, and you can tell they were miked. For the size of the theatre where La Boheme was performed, microphones were unnecessary and a good opera singer would have been able to be heard without a microphone. In interview, Luhrmann said that microphones were used just so the singers didn’t have to worry about being heard.
What I loved about this version of La Boheme was the costumes, the set, and the activity going on in the background in the café scene. Everyone in background cast, except for the main people were all dressed in shades of gray. Most of the sets were also gray. With the gray costumes and sets, the main characters really stood out when they were on stage. My friend and I immediately thought of the girl in the red dress in the movie “Schindler’s List”. That girl in the red dress really stands out in the movie. Here the color scheme is reversed, but it has the same effect with the main characters standing out so to speak from the crowd.
The best scene was the one where the main characters are in a café in town. There was so much activity going on, and so many background people on stage, that it was hard to actually pay attention to the singing. But all the activity and people really made for a very visually exciting scene, that I’ve never scene before in a musical or an opera. I was reminded of the freneticism of Moulin Rouge.
All the activity and background characters on stage reminded me of watching the new Star Wars movie, “Attack of the Clones”. I saw the movie at a special digital theatre. There was so much going on in the scenes, that sometimes I would start paying attention to something that was happening on the right edge of the screen, and not care about the main action. I had the same thing happen at La Boheme.
If the tickets weren’t so expensive, I would definitely go to La Boheme again to view that one busy scene just to see what I missed the first time around.
Of course, I loved the story in La Boheme. What I got this time around, the tragedy of the ending. How a person can convince themselves that everything will be okay, even when they told themselves earlier that a situation was hopeless. It’s kind of like to get through life, you have to always be hopeful, be an optimist, even if you know that the coming events are going to be unpleasant and unfortunate. This is tragic to me, because it’s like you experience the pain twice over. First, the initial pain of realizing that a certain situation is hopeless, and then the second pain of hoping against hope that the situation is not hopeless, but having your suspicions confirmed at the end. I didn’t cry at the end of La Boheme, but there were people who did so, and that’s always the sign of a good opera.
Other things I liked about Buhrmann’s La Boheme. They had subtitles which were easy to see, but SF Opera does that too. When they were set changes, the audiences sees the set changes and even the director, so it’s kind of like you’re watching movie. The characters are also in freeze position in the beginning, and then come to life when the lights go up. The people who moved the set were also in costume, which I thought was a very nice touch, because then it gave continuity to the whole production.
Some scenes that were slow moving, but as a whole the production moved along very nicely. Baz Luhrmann’s La Boheme adds a modern, young, and visually exciting look to opera, and for that I think Luhrmann should be congratulated.
First impressions. The set reminded me of Moulin Rouge. I read in the paper that Luhrmann created La Boheme long before he created Moulin Rouge, and you can see in the set and costume designs echoes of the movie.
What was different about this production of La Boheme, was the opera singers. Most opera singers in are older and look it. Most opera singers also tend to be broader and bigger. The cast members of Luhrmann’s La Boheme all looked so young, probably age 30 and under, and looked like normal young people. For La Boheme’s story, this type of casting works incredibly well since the opera is about young bohemians. The guys actually looked like the parts they were playing. Since Luhrmann sets the opera in the 50’s, the time charge further added to the very modern look of the opera. The modern look definitely draws a more younger audience in, especially an audience not used to opera. Opera has the reputation for being stuffy. Luhrmann’s La Boheme was anything but stuffy.
Luhrmann uses 3 pairs of couples to sing the role of Rodolpho and Mimi, since the roles are so demanding. The three pairs have been dubbed by the media here, “the red, white and blue” cast. I saw the “white cast”, which all the reviews said is overall the strongest pair of singers and actors.
I thought the singing was very good. The only thing I didn’t like was the singers were miked, and you can tell they were miked. For the size of the theatre where La Boheme was performed, microphones were unnecessary and a good opera singer would have been able to be heard without a microphone. In interview, Luhrmann said that microphones were used just so the singers didn’t have to worry about being heard.
What I loved about this version of La Boheme was the costumes, the set, and the activity going on in the background in the café scene. Everyone in background cast, except for the main people were all dressed in shades of gray. Most of the sets were also gray. With the gray costumes and sets, the main characters really stood out when they were on stage. My friend and I immediately thought of the girl in the red dress in the movie “Schindler’s List”. That girl in the red dress really stands out in the movie. Here the color scheme is reversed, but it has the same effect with the main characters standing out so to speak from the crowd.
The best scene was the one where the main characters are in a café in town. There was so much activity going on, and so many background people on stage, that it was hard to actually pay attention to the singing. But all the activity and people really made for a very visually exciting scene, that I’ve never scene before in a musical or an opera. I was reminded of the freneticism of Moulin Rouge.
All the activity and background characters on stage reminded me of watching the new Star Wars movie, “Attack of the Clones”. I saw the movie at a special digital theatre. There was so much going on in the scenes, that sometimes I would start paying attention to something that was happening on the right edge of the screen, and not care about the main action. I had the same thing happen at La Boheme.
If the tickets weren’t so expensive, I would definitely go to La Boheme again to view that one busy scene just to see what I missed the first time around.
Of course, I loved the story in La Boheme. What I got this time around, the tragedy of the ending. How a person can convince themselves that everything will be okay, even when they told themselves earlier that a situation was hopeless. It’s kind of like to get through life, you have to always be hopeful, be an optimist, even if you know that the coming events are going to be unpleasant and unfortunate. This is tragic to me, because it’s like you experience the pain twice over. First, the initial pain of realizing that a certain situation is hopeless, and then the second pain of hoping against hope that the situation is not hopeless, but having your suspicions confirmed at the end. I didn’t cry at the end of La Boheme, but there were people who did so, and that’s always the sign of a good opera.
Other things I liked about Buhrmann’s La Boheme. They had subtitles which were easy to see, but SF Opera does that too. When they were set changes, the audiences sees the set changes and even the director, so it’s kind of like you’re watching movie. The characters are also in freeze position in the beginning, and then come to life when the lights go up. The people who moved the set were also in costume, which I thought was a very nice touch, because then it gave continuity to the whole production.
Some scenes that were slow moving, but as a whole the production moved along very nicely. Baz Luhrmann’s La Boheme adds a modern, young, and visually exciting look to opera, and for that I think Luhrmann should be congratulated.
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