"2" Derek
I'm glad I made it out for your show. I enjoyed the strumming and singing, particularly the improvised lil-sumthin-extra parts. There were, however, some times in the middle it was hard to hear Roxanne; you were simply overpowering. Whether you tampered with the microphone volumes is not much my concern.

Then there was the awkward no-applause pause. Sorry, I wasn't sure how things were done in a worship group (it's been some time since my last). After a while people clapped... but I noticed that after that you never really stopped between songs, thereby denying people the chance to revive the awkwardness. You kept strumming a little--even when you were taking a drink of water, don't think I missed that--that hand of yours just kept plucking tunes.

I took some photos, to sell on eBay when you get famous. It was pretty dark in there though, so some turned out awful, others okay, and none great. I would have used the flash but I didn't want to disturb the artists at work or get accused of stealing souls.

Now "I was born to worship you... I was made to worship you..." is stuck in my head. Hopefully I won't be singing it out loud when my boss comes by to check on me.

"II" Brendan
This post is for Brendan or anyone else who might have given me a starring role in a short student film.

I haven't looked very thoroughly at the Web site, but my first answer is come on chums les do dis! I'm looking for a challenging position in a creative and technical field, and feel that my background, training, and work ethic would be a great asset to the group. Seriously, I appreciate the invitation and encouragement, and would be glad to join in whatever creative work's going on. Although I get the feeling the other guys just want to see more funny faces to make the work days a little easier.

On a side note, I never really responded directly to your idea about refilming the dance movie. I challenged opinions and promoted reconsideration, as is my wont, for its own sake. However, I would definitely want to reshoot with better dancing, a clearer story, a closer location if possible, and perhaps even HD, if it's going to film festivals regardless. I don't want to be all over the Web known as Worst Locker Ever Seen On Film. So if that's still an option we can discuss the details some time. I also still want to re-edit some of the original, one of these days.

Back to the important issue... If I join "A2D + Mike" does the name become "A2D + Mike + Jon - typos"... "Jonathan, BAM!"... or perhaps "JAMBox"? I think our best bet is "J + Crew"--that way anyone else can join in too and the name still works.

This post is for Jonathan or anyone else that might be interested in joining A2D + Mike Productions! Hehe. I was pleasantly suprised to find out that Jonathan wanted to learn how to rotoscope for the short film. I was a shitty teacher, but Jonathan produced a shot for the film that I didn't really have to touch. I will take the fact that he finished it and view it that he might be semi-interested in learning some special effects for film...which leads me to the purpose of this post...

Jonathan, Ari found a site that really changes how we can learn more techniques to help us flesh out some creative things we want to try with special effects. The url is...www.pixelcorps.com. It has all the info there and was wondering if you would like to be part of our team at Pixel Corps. It really sounds awesome...just a rundown before you actually visit the page.

200 dollars gets us 50+ hours of DVD training. This is good since I am very visual in terms of learning things. They have forums that we post our work on and get critiqued only by those who took the course and also by working professionals. These professionals really do work in the industry and didn't just give themselves the title of professionals. Challenges that we can work on as a team and individually that we will be able to put together in a demo reel at the end of the semester. There are no grades...you do what you want. They basically say that they give you so much information that most students spend the three months working on a couple of things then continuing with the program to learn more stuff after the first three months. They give us licenses to software that lasts the three months so we have access to all the professional programs we need...they also give us actualy working files so we don't need to go out and shoot our own stuff...but can focus on getting the techniques down so when we do shoot our own stuff we will be more knowledgable.

I know there are times you might like Lockheed or what not...remember when we talked about not using our brains...well I think you are very creative and I think that its getting wasted at Lockheed. You can say that I am shitting you or whatever...but Mike, Ari and myself would really enjoy having you in our creative team. Think about it.

Alright so it is 4:10 in the morning and in two nights I finished watching the whole first season of Scrubs. I always thought the show was funny but stupid of me never to make it a priority to see it every week. Well this set shows what a strong cast it is and the character developments are awesome. This will make me buy every single set that comes to DVD and it is now a top priority for me to make sure I see it every week. Awesome buy for 34 bucks. Now that the Scrubs review is over I think it is time for the review that I never saw coming...until Mike called me up yesterday afternoon for some awesome news...Batman Begins.

Now my hopes for this film has pretty much diminished solely because of Joel Schumacher or Shmucker or whatever the fuck his name is. He ruined it. I don't think Val Kilmer was too bad and I sure don't think George Clooney was totally at fault for making Batman into a shitty franchise...I think that the scripts and the overall feel of the last two Batman movies just made it all kinds of fucked up. Basically we all know that Batman doesn't really have a super power at all...he is basically driven by his psychological behavior and money to buy anything he wants. Those last two films ignored the thinking of Bruce Wayne and why he is what he is.

I'm not going to spoil anything for anyone and I put a stamp of guarantee on the new film...all I know is that three cocky wannabe directors fucking loved this film and thought it was THE best Batman film yet. It is dark, but not crazy Tim Burton dark. It is more realistic rather than creating some different type of comic book world. It really does seem like a city here in the United States, but still have that dirty look that throws itself back to the film noir type days. Christian Bale is fucking awesome as Batman and really shows you that Bruce Wayne is a man that is haunted by the past and by his own mind. Don't get me wrong now. It is an action movie, but really makes sure to put the psychological behavior of Batman the driving force in the story.

Also the villian in the story isn't as comic based as the last films. Hell even less comic than Burton's films. The bad guys in this film really seem that they could exist in this world which plays along with the whole realism type setting that Nolan, the director, decided to go for. Oh yeah, and Michael Caine as Alfred is fucking awesome. The "Batmobile" which I thought looked questionable in pictures like a year ago really does shine in this film. In fact I think it is the best "Batmobile" ever. I use quotation marks because it is never even referenced as that...again shows the realism factor of the film.

It also really explores Bruce Wayne's past. Not too much where it bores you, but enough to show you why Bruce Wayne is a troubled soul. It also shows why he fights and where he learned to kick some fucking ass.

Bottom line: I absolutely loved it. I liked the Tim Burton films and I honestly liked Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne, but Tim Burton really did in a way put too much of himself in those films...I mean c'mon, Joker's henchmen wore purple coats and had spikes on the bottom of their boots while the Joker fell in acid or some shit...I don't even remember fully. Even the Penguins had these spiral looking missles or something... This film kept me on the edge of the seat and honestly, I wouldn't mind a sequel in this Batman universe. I expect Batman will be a huge favorite on the Halloween costume list...now more than ever.

Aww..fuck it. I'll put Brendan's stamp of approval...that might not mean anything to you...but at least the stamp has higher standards than Andy's stamp of approval.

Sin City was pretty fucking awesome and that might get my BEST COMIC TO FILM award, but Batman Begins is probably THE BEST SPIN ON A COMIC BOOK TO FILM EVER. Good shit. Call me up when you go see it so I can see it again!