Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Update

Surprisingly, I have been receiving a lot of questions about my vlog!

First, I was just shocked that people actually read my blog.
I mean, it's not even good!

But, anyways, my vlog is having issues. I'm still trying to do it, but the footage that I have gathered so far has been destroyed.
This sunday I went on campus with my parent's little DV camera (the only one I have at my disposal), and filmed all the church footage I needed.
The next day I checked the footage out, and discovered that everything I shot was all jumbled, and completely unwatchable.

This is no good, but as soon as I can get my hands on a working camera, I will start filming once again, and my vlog will be posted in no time!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Mission: Mesmerization

Does anyone have that one thing memorized from when you were a kid?
-The Gettysburg Address
-Scripture Mastery from seminary
-A poem you had to recite

For me, it's a poem. It's been three years, which I understand isn't a long time, but I still have it memorized.
It's actually a very depressing poem, but for some reason I really like it.

I Am by John Claire
I am. Yet what I am non cares or knows.
My friends forsake me like a memory lost.
I am the self consumer of my woes,
They rise and vanish in oblivious host.
And yet I am, and live like vapors tost.

Into the nothingness of scorn and noise,
into the living sea of waking dreams,
but the vast shipwreck of my life's esteems.
Even the dearest that I love the best are strange,
nay, rather, stranger than the rest.

I long for scenes where man hath never trod,
A place where women never smiled nor wept,
There to abide with my creator God,
to sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
The grass below, above the vaulted sky.


It's funny how I can memorize this, and yet I struggle with remembering the little things in life.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Mission: Vlog

Obviously, I am not so good at this whole blog thing.
I never seem to be consistent in my posts,
My writing is horrible,
and I just can't ever seem to come up with good things to write about.

It took me a year to figure out that I don't have to write a blog in order to share opinions.
I can actually do what I'm good at in order to pass messages along.
That is why I am starting a Vlog.
Documentary film is my favorite form of visual arts, so I am going to (try to) make a weekly vlog of my life, or just life in general, here in Provo.
Now, to some this may seem stupid, but it is actually going to be directed to non-LDS people.
If you have lived, or grown up in Utah as a Mormon, daily traditions that are normal to you, are not anywhere else. Just the way we act here in Provo, is different. I'm not talking in a negative way, I just mean different.

I want to show people that there is no reason to be afraid or hate the Mormon culture. There are some traditions I, myself, disagree with, but that doesn't mean you should hate the people and their intentions.

Some examples of what I want to film are: clothes shopping, dating, family dinner, weeknights, classes at BYU, etc.
It's the little things that make up the culture, and now people can see what the similarities and differences actually are.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Mission: Pick-ups

Have you ever exhausted yourself on a project so much, that you just can't even think about it anymore?
Th
is is me right now!

Cimmeria Grove is going great, but I've been working on it for the past year and three months. That is a long time for a college student.
We are so close to finishing, but we still have to shoot some pick-ups this week. Now that festivals are seriously just around the corner, we need to crack buckle down and get to work!

This seems simple, right?

Wrong!

Now that I have overworked myself with this film, I have no desire to think of it. Every once in a while I get this thought in my head saying, "Hey, how about that Cimmeria Grove? you should get to that." Then, I never do.
Luckily DJB is there for me, or else I wouldn't finish...probably.

Secretly, I think DJB is having the same problem as me, though.

This might be a problem for my future career.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Mission: Posers

I'm not talking about people who think they're cooler than they are.
I'm talkin' girls who pose in front of the camera and make silly faces to make them seem "more attractive."
Well, I am now traveling with four of them.

We can't go anywhere without each girl taking her picture in front of every view possible, in every pose possible!

If you don't believe me, take a look in my photos from the British Isles.
I can't stand it.

The purpose of photography is to capture a moment in time.
A photo says a thousand words, but doesn't it say a thousand more when you actually capture the actions of the time.
I, personally, love finding photos of myself when I was captured in a moment of pure joy, or enthrallment.
When it's posed, it's not real. You look back at the photo and can't remember what you were thinking, or looking at. You only remember posing, and looking at the camera...maybe the location.

I like remembering how I was tossing bread at the seagulls, or what our inside joke was that day.
-not things you remember while puckering to a lens.

"Oh, look, a tree! Take a picture of me sitting in it!"

"Ooh, roses! Let me place myself in the center for a picture pose."

"Another castle! Let me stick my hip out, put my hand on my waist, and whip my hair around in a dramatic motion!"

Eww, ugly, ew!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Mission: Hens

I feel like an idiot, but I have never heard of the term "hen" before. I understand now....oh do I understand!

Tonight we decided to go on a Ghost tour while here in Edinburgh.
We thought it was going to be pretty darn awesome, but when we arrived, we saw a dozen or so girls in matching black tank tops and pants. Each one said "Hen tour" on it and on the back each girl had their own slutty nick name.
My personal favorite was "Nympho Nic"

Anyways, these girls were so drunk! and they would not Shut Up. What's worse is that they were all English!
There was one who was constantly swearing at the stupidest of things, as well.
She would always say it twice, too. "Shit.......Shit."
Very entertaining.
Soon, we entered into a torture museum where we saw disturbing instruments of tor
ture for those who committed some kind of crime.
One was a chastity belt for women who would often cut themselves on the metal and die from infection. There were also blunt knives, bamboo splinters, a thumb drill, a jaw breaker, funky shackles, a face peeler (looks as nasty as it sounds), metal links in a whip, etc. There were some that were just for humiliation, so people would throw garbage at them when they saw them walking down the street.
While we traveled through the underground tunnels, the girls would not stop talking even though the tour guide would tell us to be quiet. Not only is it polite, but we are in a haunted tunnel!
Don't mess with the spirits, man.

First, we saw this room that I thought had a little set up as if from back in the day (you know, like in museums and such), but I was wrong! As I looked closer I saw a place of worship, and above the alter was a giant five sided star.
WICCA!
This was a Wicca temple in use today.
The guide told us they used to be in another room with a circle of stones in the center of the room, but they had to move cause it was so full of evil spirits.
The group that made the circle of stones where also witches, but they were witches that would kill people and take their energy from them by places a ring of stones around the body.
People who step into the circle end up having bad things happen to them. Some faint, some end up with large gash wounds, and other times, it doesn't hit them till later.

Of course some of the hens stepped in the circle.

Next we went into a room where most of the paranormal activity occurs.
We were told to be absolutely silent (but of course the hens weren't), and I was actually really scared.
The guide told us a story about the room. It was back when Edinburgh was in disaster and fires were everywhere around the city. The people underground were safe until the only entrance to the tunnels collapsed. The men shut the women and children in a room that contained the most air as they tried to clear the exit.
However, the fires from above heated up the rocks surrounding them, and the women and children slowly cooked to death.
They found bodies with the skin literally melted off the bones!

All of a sudden we hear a girl scream and I look to the only door to the room and see a black piece of cloth (a robe or flag of somesort) flash out of the room. We have no idea what it was! It was just gone!
The guide turned on her flashlight (it was off before), and we saw one of the hens lying on the floor with scratches all up and down her arm.
She said she had no idea how she got there!

The guide made sure she was okay, then told us the tour was over and ushered us out!
We still had about twenty minutes left of the tour, and we even passed rooms that had displays in them as if we were supposed to see them, but we didn't.

I don't know if what happened was paranormal or not, but it was definitely bazaar, and spooky (even if it was just at the time.)


Mission: Energy

I've only been in Edinburgh for two days, and it has already felt like a week.
We have been hiking here and there, and back to here over and over again. The first day we walked all the way from to the North East side of the city to the South East side, then back to the center, and then down to the North West side. It felt like two days just right there.
In fact, while passing a clothing store, I saw a really cute dress and said, "That looks like the one we saw yesterday." Talia then told me that that was only this morning.

My feet feel like they are slowly being massaged with hot coals. And I seem to have discovered a new set of muscles in between my shins and calves, and boy are they killing me! I don't know how I have survived today!
Actually, we ended up not taking the free city tour today because that would be another three hours of walking, and we decided that we were going to save our energy for the Ghost tour tonight.
Even while at Edinburgh Castle, we started to rush through exhibits in order to get back to the hostel so we could rest.
Hopefully I won't be as stupid in Ireland.