Journey to the West Coast

"'And now at last it comes.  You will give me the Ring freely!  In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen.  And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night!  Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain!  Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning!  Stronger than the foundations of the earth.  All shall love me and despair!’ She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illumined her alone and left all else dark.  She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful.  Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly she laughed again, and lo!  she was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad.

‘I pass the test,’ she said.  ‘I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.’"

I left Colorado with a heavy heart. Like many people, I felt that the world I knew was kind of flipping itself on its head. “Familiar” didn’t make sense anymore. So many people I loved had died, moved, distanced themselves… My state job wasn't enough to distract me from these small town blues.  I needed to either flip my own life or be subjected to the whims of this gravity. The latter was not an option. So I put my head on the ground and my feet in the air…

I have reached a very key point in my filmmaking career and I believe that makes my trip to Lala Land a little less scary. I have dispensed with any notions that I am going to "make it big" or that such a thing is even possible.  The conclusion I have come to is this: I have tried many things in my life, from astrophysics to teaching.  It ALWAYS comes back to film.  It has been my passion since I was a child.  As long as I am doing what I love, I'm happy.  On top of that, I’ve always liked California. I was a bad Coloradoan/New Yorker that way.  Is the traffic bad?  Sure.  Are the people fake?  Well, yes, but no more than they are anywhere else.  Is Hollywood a hellhole of trash, noise, and tourism? Yes, actually. For the most part, it really is. But no one says I HAVE to spend all of my time there.

I like Los Angeles, actually, and I LOVE Santa Monica (my new home, which is actually its own city). It’s a bit tough to find the cultural gems through all of the strip malls, but they are here! There’s no better place for a film lover- even for one who loves alternative, independent, foreign and avant-garde films.  There’s even a silent movie theater! It’s a great place for independent music, as well. The big industry giants make the most noise, so I can see how people might think that there is nothing else out here, but there are thriving pockets of independence in this town. I love it. I always knew I would end up here. Everything I love to do, everything I’m good at- it’s all out here. With beaches! What’s not to love?

Me and a pegasus

Still, Colorado is home. I am a fourth generation native of the state. The goodbyes were extremely hard, but the date to leave was set: my birthday. I drove out to Las Vegas with a good friend and met up with a couple of new friends from L.A. It was a great drive and a great birthday weekend, Vegas-style. That is an experience I’d never really had. I’d never stayed there more than just “overnight” on my way to California, finding it unappealing on many many many levels. But hey, I freakin' hi-fived a Pegasus! Well… low fived. And for me it was five, but he only had one… but it was still AWESOME!

I didn’t have much of a plan once I got out here. I had some cash and a great friend in Burbank, but there was a lot that was still “unknown” and quite a bit of mental upheaval, as well as an insane amount of emotional pressure. I needed it, though. I loved the chaos. In fact, to quote the musician whose video I embedded two posts ago:

“I found the secret to life: I’m okay when everything is not okay.”

And I am.

Changes!

"Greetings from California. I've been very busy. Am having a great time trying to make it as a writer in LA. It's just as easy as everyone thinks it is. I've been working the room at a lot of Hollywood parties." –Brian Griffin, Family Guy Yep, so here I am: Los Angeles. City of Dreams. City of Angels. “Lala Land.”

To be more precise, I am in Santa Monica, a much saner neighbor that is closer to the beach and smells a bit nicer, but for all intents and purposes, it is Los Angeles. The film industry spreads its sinuous tentacles all the way to the edge of the west coast and even dips them out into the Pacific (at least as far out as the surfers can go)…

If you read my blog, you might be somewhat confused by this. The last time I posted anything, I was in Colorado. Sure, I had expressed a desire to move, but I kind of just dropped everything and… went. Also, if you read my blog, I’m sorry. It was part of the everything I dropped. I plan to rectify this, however.

If you’ve been here before, you may have noticed that things have changed. I have a simplified site that has integrated my blog so that they don’t live in two places. Per people who know, it’s a major paradigm shift that has optimized my workflow and synergized my… um…

It was a big job and I think it looks prettier and does fancy things that you can’t see on your side.

So… welcome! Or welcome back. I won’t leave this hanging- won’t leave comment-leavers out on the periphery of “approval” while I try to remember my password for the 85th time. More importantly, I’ve got a lot of great stories to share and have a burning desire to do so. Hollywood is an interesting place for a lover of astronomy when most here can’t seem to see the universe for the Stars...

Tori Amos performs on KCRW

Tori is my absolute favorite musician. For Robert.

https://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/morning-becomes-eclectic/tori-amos-1

If I Could Give the World a Hug...

It seems like almost everyone I know (myself included) is going through some major and challenging life changes right now: breakups, foreclosures, job losses, moving, legal battles, money trouble, restlessness, scandals, loss of loved ones, losing homes in fires... the list goes on and on. I am just beginning to clear my mind of a little of my own funk.  I have found that two things help me get through a rough time more than anything else: A. Doing things that I love and B. Sharing those things with the people I love.

Luckily for me, there are many things that satisfy "A."  (Truth be told, there are probably too many things that do, but that's a post for another day.)  One thing that has been there for me 27 of my 31 years on this planet, however, is music.  I've mostly played the piano, though I love to sing and have experimented with the violin and the flute (no, not in a "this one time at band camp" sort of way...)

I have always been reluctant to share my music.  It is my sanctuary when things go wrong in my life.  I had always feared that if I played and people didn't like it, it would somehow lose its healing power.  That and the fact that I was teased about it pretty ruthlessly in school, which pretty much makes anyone reluctant to revisit anything...

This past year has been pretty eye-opening to me, however.  I have learned to be a lot more open to new people, new ideas and to trying new things.  So, in an attempt to share the love, I offer two of my very favorite Satie songs to play on the piano when I am feeling blue:

Erik Satie: Gnossienne No. 1

Erik Satie: 1ere Gymnopedie

I recorded myself playing these using my digital piano (Yamaha S90ES- best digital piano ever), some fancy gadgets that hook up to my computer, and Cubase recording software.  I'm hoping to continue recording more music, perhaps a bit with some vocals if I can figure out how to use my microphone properly and either work around its presence in front of my keyboard or work on my ability to record the vocals and instruments separately (not an easy task when you are used to doing both simultaneously).  And maybe, just maybe, I will include some of my own compositions in time.

Anyway, that's my little virtual hug.  Go do something you love and share a little with someone else.  Passion and compassion are great healers.

I Heart Writing

Most of what I write has no place in the public sphere, but I do enjoy writing and I do enjoy telling stories.  I've always thought I have a knack for both, but beyond this blog and a few online videos, I've never really sought to publish any of the things I've written. That is about to change.

I've been reading my journal a lot lately, trying to figure out who I am and what I want.  Wedged between the pages of "mean people suck" and Zoolander-esque "who am I's," I have found several fictional story lines that I have been juggling over the years.  The one that currently has my full (or as close to "full" as my mind allows) attention is one I have been pondering for about six years.  I think it would actually work best as a television show or miniseries.  I have begun the difficult task of translating my journal jotting to screenplay format in the hopes that I can film the pilot this summer.  As an important first step, I purchased a copy of Final Draft 8 (a screenwriting word processor).  So far, I'm loving it.  I'm still in the process of learning the ins and outs, but below I have posted my first "screenplay" written with the program.  I'm hoping that more... interesting... things result from this software purchase, but reading through this, I giggled enough to think that maybe it was worth sharing.  Enjoy:

"larningfinaldraft" by Courtney Hoskins

Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.

---

INT. CAFE IN BOULDER - DAY

   A WOMAN sits in a cafe, learning how to use Final Draft. Four
   WAITERS from a nearby high-end restaurant enter.
   The woman attempts to focus on her tutorial, despite the fact
   that the waiters are relatively cute and talking loudly.
   The waiters order their breakfast from the hipster BARISTA.
                       WAITER 1
             Do you have bacon?
                       BARISTA
             No.
                       WAITER 1
             Oh! Are you kidding?
                       WAITER 2
             Dude, you should totally get a
             Bhakti chai.
                       WAITER 3
             Yeah, man, that stuff is awesome.
             It's like total Taj Mahal.
   The barista smiles, but rolls her eyes.  The woman
   attempts to decipher the intricacies of why the hell isn't
   this putting in proper line breaks?
                       WOMAN (V.O.)
             Writers often draw their inspiration
             from observing people and their
             interactions in real life.
             Sometimes, they realize that doing
             so is a bit of a waste of time and
             is actually just keeping them from
             writing the pilot episode to their
             television show that they know will
             be awesome if they can just get the
             damn thing filmed.
   The woman considers this for a moment and stares at the
   screen, still unable to comprehend the line break situation.
   She wonders if it has to do with the "Hour TV Drama" template
   that she is using.
                      WOMAN (CONT'D)
             I wonder if this looks weird
             because it is a funky template. Do
             people not use line breaks in TV
             land?  You know who is cool? Joss
             Whedon.  Joss Whedon is insanely
             cool.  So is Damon Lindelof.  They
             are awesome writers.  I bet they
             never waste time like this.
   She takes a swig of her cappuccino.
                       WOMAN (CONT'D)
             I really need to stop drinking
             dairy.
   She looks up and realizes that the cute waiters are gone, as
   is fifteen minutes of her life.  The result of both missing
   elements in her life is this one page of inane script.
                            END

---

Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.

Taken by Taken

My friends and I have been watching the miniseries "Taken" that was on the SciFi channel a while ago. I had already seen it, but watching it again has really made me appreciate the writing, especially for a show about aliens! I have gathered some of my favorite quotes, spoken by the character Allie Keys (played by Dakota Fanning).

My mom told me once that when you're afraid of something, what you want more than anything else is to make it go away. You want your life back to the way it was before you found out that there was something to be afraid of. You want to build a high wall and live your old life behind it. But nothing ever stays the same. That's not your old life at all. That's your new life with a wall around it. Your choice is not about going back to the way things were. Your choice is about hiding, or about going right to the heart of the thing that scares you.

You know in cartoons, the way someone can run off a cliff and they're fine, they don't fall until they look down? My mom always said that was the secret of life. Never look down. But it's more than that. It's not just about not looking. It's about not ever realizing that you're in the middle of the air and you don't know how to fly.

Some people have given up all hope of anything in their lives ever changing. They just go on with it day by day, and if something were to come along and make things different they probably wouldn't even notice it right off, except for that kind of nervous feeling you get in your stomach. My mom and I used to call that "the car trip feeling," because it was how I'd feel whenever I knew we were going to go somewhere far away or somewhere new.

People like to examine the things that frighten them, to look at them and give them names, so saints look for God, and scientists look for evidence. They're both just trying to take away the mystery, to take away the fear.

We all like to think that we have some control over the events in our lives, and a lot of the time we can fool ourselves into thinking that we really are in charge. But then something happens to remind us that the world runs by its own rules and not ours and that we're just along for the ride.

The world is made up of the big things that happen and the small ones. And the part that's so unfair is that we call them "big" and "small", because when something happens to you, when you lose something or someone that you really care about, that's all there is. The world may be blowing up around you, but you don't care about that. You don't care about that at all.

I have this idea about why people do the terrible things they do. Same reason little kids push each other on the schoolyard. If you're the one doing the pushing, then you're not going to be the one who gets pushed. If you're the monster, then nothing will be waiting in the shadows to jump out at you. It's pretty simple, really. People do the terrible things they do because they're scared.

We're all standing on the edge of a cliff, all the time, every day, a cliff we're all going over. Our choice isn't about that. Our choice is about whether we want to go kicking and screaming or whether we might want to open our eyes and our hearts to what happens once we start to fall.

Some people put a lot of work into their lawn, as if a patch of green grass was the most important thing in the world. As if they thought that as long as the lawn out front was green and mowed and beautiful, it wouldn't matter at all what was going on inside of the house.

People move through their lives sometimes without really thinking about where they're going. Days pile up, and they get sadder and lonelier without really knowing why they're so sad or how they got so lonely. Then something happens. They meet someone who looks a certain way or has something in their smile. Maybe that's all that falling in love is; finding someone who makes you feel a little less alone.

People talk a lot as if the most important thing in life is to always see things for what they really are. But everything we do, every plan we make, is kind of a lie. We're closing our eyes and pretending that the day won't ever come when we won't need to make any more plans. Hope is the biggest lie there is, and it is the best. We have to keep going as if it all mattered, or else we wouldn't keep going at all.

People say that when we grow up, we kick at everything we've been told, we rebel against the world our parents worked so hard to bring us into, that part of growing of is kicking at the ties that bind. But I don't think that's why we kick at all. I think we kick when we find out that our parents don't know much more about the world than we do. They don't have all the answers. We rebel when we find out that they've been lying to us all along, that there isn't any Santa Claus at all.

Is every moment of our lives built into us before we're born? If it is, does that make us less responsible for the things we do? Or is the responsibility built in too? After you hit the ball, do you stand and wait to see if it goes out, or do you start running and let nature take its course?

What makes a man who he is? Is it the worst things he's ever done, or the best things he wants to be? When you find yourself in the middle of your life and you're nowhere near of where you were going, how do you find the way from the person you've become to the one you know you could have been?

My mother always talked to me a lot about the sky. She liked to watch the clouds in the day, and the stars at night... especially the stars. We would play a game sometimes, a game called, what's beyond the sky. We would imagine darkness, or a blinding light, or something else that we didn't know how to name. But of course, that was just a game. There's nothing beyond the sky. The sky just is, and it goes on and on, and we'll play all of our games beneath it.

People are lonely in this world for lots of different reasons. Some people have something in their disposition. Maybe they were just born too mean, or maybe they were born too tender. But most people are brought to where they are by circumstance, by calamity or a broken heart or something else happening in their lives that wasn't anything they planned on. People are lonely in this world for lots of different reasons. The one thing that I do know is, it doesn't matter what any one of them might tell you--nobody wants to be alone.

The hardest thing you'll ever learn is how to say goodbye.

My Musical Soulmate

Every few years, I discover a musician whose music goes to the core of my heart... or the heart of my core.... hmm... Being something of a musician myself (one who has always been afraid to write her own music), I always think that this is because our musical and lyrical cadences are in step with one another.  "If I wrote songs," I imagine, "they would be just like this."

My latest musical BFF is Sia. Her child-like sense of humor and adventure mixed with wisdom and "serious" emotion is something that I've felt is hard to find in other people. So many of her songs are really encapsulating what I feel right now- on both the silly and the serious sides of life.  Below are music videos from my favorite songs of hers (where I am allowed):

My absolute favorite Sia song is Breathe Me. The music video also feels like something I would make.

Second favorite (bonus for the great lyrics) is Academia:

Soon We'll be Found (again- just the kind of music video I would want to make and I can't embed it here).

Enjoy! I certainly do...

"I Was a Film School Reject"

These may be words that come out of my mouth someday in an interview with Filmmaker magazine or Inside the Actor's Studio.  I'll say those words right after James Lipton asks me what my favorite swear word is... I have officially received the "best of luck in all of your endeavors" letter from the film and video program at CalArts.  I have to admit that I wasn't really expecting that.  I was expecting to panic about having to find a way to pay the extremely high tuition costs at that school after having been accepted.  Based on the advice of people I've known who have gone to that school or who currently work there, I thought I had a real shot.

Yeah, that might seem a little cocky, sure.  I am pretty confident in my abilities, though, and 100% sure of my ambitions and motivations.  I also think my work shows at least a little talent.  If not, I think the potential is there.  It's quite possible that I had just applied too late, applied to the wrong program, expressed too much love for Terry Gilliam or the color blue, or just didn't have the academic recommendations or variety of film work they wanted.  Whatever their reasons, I know what I'm not doing in September, now I just have to figure out what I am doing...

Why am I sharing this with the world? Because I learned something valuable in all of this:  if you really want to know more about yourself as an artist, apply for an MFA!  Even if you don't get in, it's worth the application fee to discover valuable things you may not have known about yourself.  I learned so much about myself, my influences, my goals, and my ambitions and desires through writing my "artist's statement," and my "thoughts and influences" and whatnot that I actually still feel more confident than defeated by the rejection.  In fact, my personality is such that it makes me more determined to do what I want to do.  In the end, all this means to me is that I'm saving $36,000 in tuition this year.  That money might be better served as an investment in my own film, anyway.

I share it too because perhaps this could apply to a lot of people in a lot of situations- not just artists seeking MFAs.  You might get rejected, but you have to try.  So many of us build up walls around ourselves and live in "some day" while the world goes on around us- we don't apply for that job or that scholarship, ask that cute boy out, tell someone we love them, move to that new place, etc. because we feel that a "better time" might come along...  So far, the only thing I have gained from that philosophy in my short lifetime has been a feeling of regret.  So I'm plowing forward full speed.  I'm proud of my rejection.

Just thought I would share that with the inter-sphere, the web-iverse, or what have you.  We tend to be critical of ourselves and one another fairly easily, but support and understanding is often a little harder to find.  Whoever you are in the world, let your freak flag fly!  I don't know why we have to make things so hard on ourselves and on each other, but often times, we do.

In response to one of Lipton's other "10 questions," when he asks "If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?"  My answer will be "yeah, so... sorry about all of that weird shit." :)

Please Say Something

My friend Pericles sent me this by way of Twitter by way of These Are Those Things (all of these interconnections- it's how the interwebs work). It's a really great animated short called "Please Say Something" by David O'Reilly. I think it really touches upon many thoughts and emotions I and others have had concerning relationships and daily life (and even touches upon my annoyance at the unrelenting winds that have been afflicting Boulder lately). It won the Golden Bear for best short film at the Berlin Film Festival this year: Please Say Something - Full Length from David OReilly on Vimeo.

I'm not going to make any empty promises to update my blog more frequently, but I've been posting a LOT on Twitter lately. I'm anticipating grad school news, preparing for South by Southwest, doing yoga and kung fu until I pass out (see: anticipating grad school news) and dealing with a lot of new emotional territory that comes with being alone for the first time in... ever. Oh, and as always, I'm trying to update this damn site because it doesn't make any sense!

Autodesk Educational VFX Package

I am one of those strange people who was able to teach themselves Maya and ZBrush.  It can be done, but it is not easy (admittedly, ZBrush was FAR easier to learn than Maya, but that's beside the point).  That being said, if you are a student (or an employee or affiliate of an educational institution) and would like to learn about 3D modeling, animation and/or video compositing Autodesk has a GREAT deal going on right now: For $200, you can get a 14-month educational license of Maya 2009.  But that's not all!  Act now (actually, I think this deal will be around for a while, so don't impulsively blow money) and you will also receive: Mudbox (a 3D digital sculpting program that is awesome), Toxik (a node-based compositing program that is awesome), Motion Builder (a 3D character animation program that is awesome) and Cleaner XL (which comes with Autodesk everything, whether you want it or not)!  If you weren't able to gather from this paragraph, this is awesome!  Several months ago, it would have cost me more than $300 just to upgrade to Maya 2008.  With the exception of Motion Builder, I have other software that will do much of what these other programs do.  This deal, however, might be too good to pass up.

My favorite place to get educational software is Torcomp.  You can find this deal on other sites such as Academic Superstore.  The license is a few dollars cheaper and a couple months longer at Torcomp/Studica...

http://www.torcomp.com/products/product_detail.cfm?productid=57961

If you're not a student, I'm not sure if there is a bundle like this.  I honestly haven't looked into it because I'm not yet really making money on any of this software so I have no need to have a full license.  Some day, though.  Some day...

Just for Now

So, I've been listening to "Speak For Yourself" by Imogen Heap kind of nonstop lately.  These are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs and I found them quite funny and "holiday appropriate," so I thought I'd post them here:

Just for Now:

It's that time of year Leave all our hopelessnesses aside if just for a little while Tears stop right here I know we've all had a bumpy ride I'm secretly on your side How did you know? It's what I always wanted You can never have too many of these Will ya, quit kicking me under the table I'm trying, will somebody make her Shut up about it! Can we settle down please? It's that time of year Leave all our hopelessnesses aside if just for a little while Tears stop right here I know we've all had a bumpy ride I'm secretly on your side Bite Tongue, deep breaths, count to 10, nod your head. (sniff sniff) i think something is burning No you've ruined the whole thing Muffle the smoke alarm Whoever put on this music had better quick sharp remove it Pour me another and don't wag your finger at me It's that time of year Leave all our hopelessnesses aside if just for a little while Tears stop right here I know we've all had a bumpy ride I'm secretly on your side Get me out of here Get me out of here Get me out of here

Have a very happy and sane holiday season!

Film Screening at the Pompidou

One of my less frequently screened films is going to be playing at the Pompidou center in Paris this weekend. I doubt anyone who reads my blog will be there, but if you happen to find yourself in the City of Lights with nothing to do on Saturday, you might want to check it out. It will be part of the "Festival des cinemas differents de Paris," playing on December 6th at 8:00PM. The film is "Ether Twist" (click the link to read about it) and is one of my early experimental polarized light films. I don't really like for people to watch my films online. I mean, I don't "mind" when people do, but I haven't put HD versions up yet (does that mean they are forthcoming? Yes, it does! In fact, my whole site is being slowly overhauled.) The pieces lose their power when they cannot envelop the viewer, so I try to push the live screenings when I can. This film in particular is rather dark and quiet and tends to lose its "mood" on the small screen. Still, I've embedded it here, so happy viewing if you care to watch!

It's abstract, but has a scientific sort of logic behind it. The images are polarized bits of plastic while the sound is VLF radio recordings or auroras and meteor showers and the like. Oh, and yes, the title comes from Tori Amos.

Queue: An Awesome Word!

Queue: a word that takes five letters to spell, despite the fact that it is only one syllable and could be represented by a single letter. An exciting blog post, I know.  I'm in an odd (read: goofy) mood.

I have always depended on the kindness of strangers

Moving has been... interesting.  It's always a bit of a challenge adjusting to a new space and a new routine, especially for someone like me who kind of needs order, but that's for another post.  On top of that, I'm adjusting to living alone, which has special challenges. For example, on the "curious" side of that spectrum, I got a bottle of wine to have with my dinner last Saturday.  I've had a glass every night since then and I STILL somehow have half a bottle left! I think wine pixies are sneaking into my house and refilling it while I'm sleeping... If you follow me on Twitter, you might have known that I lost my wallet on Halloween- literally the day before I moved.  Lucky for me, someone turned it in to the front office of my office building.  Of course, I had already canceled/replaced my cards and whatnot, but at least I got the wallet back, along with a $10 Starbucks gift card and some other "sentimental" things.

Now, I lost my wallet AGAIN this last Sunday night!  Having just gone through this whole process, I was beating myself up a LOT for this.  I don't have familiar places in my new apartment in which I place my keys/wallet/change and whatnot, so I had to investigate every conceivable spot three or four times before I was satisfied that it was not there.  I drove to every space I'd remembered occupying between paying for dinner and going to sleep.  Nothing.  I called the police department and checked craigslist (where I even posted a "lost" ad).  Nothing.

I was thinking about how awful the next day would be: I wouldn't have my bus pass, the campus card office is offline, so I would have to beg coworkers to be let in and out of my office, I wouldn't be able to work out, I'd have to visit the DMV again (shudder), I'd have no access to money, I'd have to cancel my credit card again and pay replacement fees on all of those things, when suddenly, I got a message in my e-mail inbox:

"New Message from Vanessa on Facebook"

I assumed it was a friend of mine of the same name who was asking to become online friends, but I opened it:

Vanessa sent you a message.

-------------------- Subject: Wallet

Hey I have your wallet. I found it in my friends kitchen. are you in Boulder or away for the week... I will be around so just let me know what you would like me to do with it. feel free to call me. my number is XXX XXX XXXX

- Vanessa --------------------

I can't even tell you how quickly my mood changed!  It was like the end of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas;" my heart increased by several sizes.  Apparently, someone found it on the sidewalk and popped it in their mailbox.  This kind person actually took the time to look me up online.  I didn't get to meet her, but she left my wallet in a safe space for me and I retrieved it last night.

Vanessa, whoever you are, I thank you SO much!  And Facebook, you have proven to be more than just a way to waste time!

War of the Worlds 2.0

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! If you didn't notice, my last two blog posts were a little... unusual.  While stargazing is a favorite pastime of mine, a few of the things I wrote about were... shall we say... "slanted" for entertainment purposes.  Hey, at least I'm telling you.  Hollywood never extends you that courtesy when they stretch scientific truths.  I'm talking to you, "The Day After Tomorrow" (though I still loves ya in my geeky way).

Everything I wrote about in my "Planetary Stargazing" post is 100% true.  Every time I take my telescope out, I look for Saturn and Jupiter first (and then I head over to the Orion Nebula and the Andromeda Galaxy, if the time of year is right).  It was, however, a setup for an online mulitplayer reenactment of Orson Welles' famous radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds."  It was called "War of the Worlds 2.0" and it was set in motion by these folks at Twitter.  Twitter, as many of you know, is a sort of broadcast mini blogging system.  Those of us who took part in the broadcast offered updates throughout the day as we made our way through the carnage and terror.  The puppet masters at WotW 2.0 told us what was going on so that we were all on the same timeline.  Obviously, I made more of these updates via Twitter than I did via my blog because in the event of an alien invasion, I would be FAR more likely to have my iPhone with me for Twitter updates than I would be to carry a laptop around for making coherent, lengthy observations.  Whether or not said iPhone (or even Twitter) would be up and running in such an event is another matter.  Hey, it's still fiction.

Which brings me to my "Flee?  Not me!" post.  Yeah, this one was a crock.  I mean, it's all real, but it wasn't observed two nights ago and no one was fleeing (that I know of).  The first two videos I linked to were taken about two years ago by local Colorado news traffic copters.  It is actually footage of a Russian rocket body re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.  It is NOT, as the idiots at Fox "concluded" the Quadrantid meteor shower.  For my full, original rant on that subject, read my post on Chicken Little and the Notion of God.  I mention it about halfway down.  The third video is footage of a fireball (big freakin' meteor) that someone captured.  I offered them up here on my blog as the kind of post a quizzical astronomy enthusiast/healthy skeptic would write if alien cylinders were raining down on the planet.

I, for the record, am not that healthy skeptic.  I would simply assume they were UFOs and run around pointlessly through the streets, praying to whatever god would take me.  I mean, I've seen movies.  Duh.  Ahem.

If you are interested in reading about my "very bad day," I will be posting my tweet feed within a day or so (I have to move into my new house first).  I'll included a couple of other folks for clarity's sake (because I "reply" to them), but there were too many players who made this fun for me to really list everyone.  You can also see the archive of the entire War of the Worlds 2.0 event here.

Flee? Not Me!

Exciting stuff today! Turns out last night was the perfect night to look at the stars! Check out this atmospheric weirdness:

And:

What is all this stuff? It's NOT a meteor shower, I can tell you that. The quadrantids? I wish they were that cool! Not only that, but the first two burnt up like something unnatural- something man-made. I'm guessing it's a satellite or a rocket or something. I just can't figure out why there are so many of them all over the place. Some people are freaking out and skipping town. I'm going to investigate. Apparently there are some on the ground.

Planetary Stargazing

I have to say, it is always a pleasure to look at the planets when stargazing. They are sometimes shockingly bright. Venus is so striking that it is often called in as a UFO when it is at its brightest. Even if you don't have a telescope, the planets "stand out" in their way in the heavens- they don't twinkle as much as their neighboring stars, they are always in a different place in the sky, and their colors tend to stand out (particularly Mars, which is a bright red/orange). However, if you DO have a telescope, they can be a real treat. The first time I looked at Saturn through a telescope, I remember seeing the shadow cast by the rings on its globe. I suddenly felt very dizzy and became keenly aware of the fact that I was standing on a similar globe- a "planet" called Earth. I realized that the solid ground upon which I was standing was in fact a sphere hurtling faster than I could imagine through the vastness of space (a sphere many times smaller than the one I was looking at through the telescope).

Many people never experience this sense of smallness and wonderment. I might add that many of these people also tend to be the "skeptical" voices when it comes to life outside of this planet. Once you start reflecting upon the vastness of space and the variety within our own solar system, extraterrestrial life doesn't seem to be so far-fetched. In fact, we seem to be making new discoveries of extra-solar planets, and possibly even Earth-like planets, every day. Just one more variable becoming more of a certainty in the famous Drake equation supporting the likelihood of extraterrestrial life!

If you have clear skies and even a good pair of binoculars, I suggest trying to find Jupiter (and its four largest moons, which are easy to see with a small telescope), Saturn (and its rings), and of course, the red home of many a terrestrial science experiment: Mars (and its ice caps). I plan on doing so tonight, as we are having unseasonably warm weather and crystal-clear skies! In fact, it's odd how still it is right now...

Don't Vote. Wait... what?

The original sarcasm video went viral and prompted thousands to go and register to vote (reverse psychology works every time... or doesn't it?)  This is Steven Spielberg's remake (or a spoof remake, anyway).  I think it's hilarious.  You know, just in case you aren't one of the people swayed by reverse psychology: Oh, and if you live in the USA and are registered, go vote.  Even if you're cynical about it.  Seriously, we are required to do so little to actually live in this country is it really that big of an inconvence to make some federal-level choices once every four years?

Don’t Vote

Magic Mirror

I think I need one of these.  The more I think about it, the more I know it to be true. Interactive Mirror from Alpay Kasal on Vimeo.

Marilyn Manson at the Oscars

This was a dream.  I feel I should state this in the opening, lest the title of this post trick people into reading it, hoping to find some tawdry gossip detail about the goth king/queen on the red carpet.  Then again, if you've read even this far, I've already won. So I dreamt that I was at the Kodak Theater with a friend, trying to get into the Oscars.  Despite the fact that we had already walked down the red carpet and looked FABulous, the usher wasn't going to let us in.  We watched wistfully as the Hollywood elite passed us, one by one, to enter the building (in reality, the thought of watching the Oscars in uncomfortable clothes while unable to get up, eat stuff or "change the channel" during the Billy Crystal parts is not altogether appealing).

Suddenly, our good friend Marilyn Manson showed up (he always saves the day- that bouncing ball of sunshine)!  He was excited to see us (of course), and told the usher, "they're with me."  Well, that was enough to get us into the second row!  Marilyn was REALLY excited because they were going to premiere a trailer of his new (and first) film.  He claimed it was going to have an amazing visual style and that he felt that he was really entering a new chapter in his life.

Apparently, they show trailers before the Academy Award ceremonies.  I mean, I would assume they would...

Anyway, the trailer started.  It was a disaster.  The amazing visual style was completely absent because no one had bothered to render out any of the visual effects.  They were basically just screencaps of a 3D grid with nauseatingly colored particle effects flying across the screen.  The audience booed.  Marilyn was DEVASTATED.  So upset, in fact, that he had to leave.  My friend went off to console him.  I stayed for the rest of the preshow.

I can tell you from my dream that the pre-awards goings-on are really exciting! Not only do they show cutting-edge movie trailers, they also feature live projections given by avant-garde film artists!  A man sitting right behind me was projecting the most beautiful light show on the ceiling of the theater.  The crowd was loving it, and I was excited about what I might be able to someday do with some of my light-based pieces.

After the light show, I talked to the man about his projection device- a $3 trinket he purchased from a toy store. We laughed about how cheap it was to entertain Hollywood, while they spend millions trying to entertain us.  Marilyn returned to the theater, his gothy makeup smeared by his tears.  Then there was something about a goat.

I woke up because my cat stepped on my face.