Bring Out Ye Dead...

The moment you've all been waiting for has finally arrived. Here is the first movie I made in NYC. It's actually pretty horrible for a few reasons. First of all, it is a little too dark but that's my fault, I bought the wrong film stock. Second, you can't really read the book title but it's called, "Rasing Evil Spirits." Third it's very short because it had to be less than a minute and the story doesn't make any sense. Fourth, I am the star of it and I can't act. Anyways it's worth watching if you have a minute and a half to spare.



As always, get your feet off the ground an keep reaching for the stars. Go big or go home. Pain heals, chicks dig scars and glory lasts forever. Carpe Diem bitches.

I'm out

-M, p & z

oh ps - There is not any sound for the movie but that was the point of the exercise.

Apparently, It is Cool to be in School...

I never thought I would ever say this but school is the greatest thing in the world. I assume regular school still blows, but film school is legit. True, it will be an eventual hard knock life, but for now it is the greatest institute in existence. We have already started shooting. I mean on actual film stock. I am no longer using silly Hi-8 tapes, or even mini-DV on unworthy cameras. I am shooting 16mm Black and White Reversal Stock Film. This is the stuff the news used to be broadcast on (granted that was 70 years ago) but it's still cool nonetheless. Anyways, school rules so far. Everyone in my section is very cool and nice, or at least nice. There is only one guy that I cannot stand and I found out that my boy Phil (my new friend in class) doesn't like him either. We bonded over how annoying the kid is, well we didn't bond over it but we definitely talked about it for at least 30 seconds.

[Here's a picture I took at Riverside Park, it's on the west side on the Hudson (I was feeling patriotic)]















Anyways there isn't much to tell so far. We have our first assignment this weekend and I believe we will be learning how to edit next week, presumably using this footage; so hopefully I will have something to post here late next week. I have started packing lucnhes again (sometimes class goes from 9-6 or 7) and I forgot how easy it is to eat a packed lunch. There is no scramble to figure out what I'm going to eat, or wonder if I will have enough time or money to get what I want. No sir, there is just the sqashed sandwich dented by my chocolate pudding Snack Pack. I also eat breakfast now because I cannot eat until 12:30 or 1, which is okay if you have nothing to do all morning but not if you need to pay attention and do stuff.

Anyways I guess this is going to be a short blog. I am trying to find something to add to my trademark sign-off paragraph and also I am thinking about taking one of them away. Here are a couple options that I have so far:

"It's the new american dream: work hard, flop the nut and win 12 million dollars." - Watching WSOP on ESPN2.

"Good day gentlemen, and until that day comes, keep your ear to the grindstone." Good Will Hunting - Ben Affleck's only good role ever, besides Mallrats.

Anyways, you can think about it for a while, let it simmer and what not and as always, get your feet off the ground and keep reaching for the stars. Pain heals, chicks dig scars and glory lasts forever. Go big or go home. Carpe diem bitches.

I'm out

-M, p & z

oh ps - the everclear cd is growing on me, but not as much as the JT cd keeps getting better. I find myself dancing to it in the streets like some i-pod commercial come to life only I don't glow and Bono is in the background. Also, if you like oreo's and you like pudding, try putting those two things together. Kapow! It's that good...

New York City, You Are Now Rappin with Michigan's Finest...














So here I am, a New Yorker. It is truly a different world. Nothing in my past cities of residence can equate to what will be my life here. I miss Michigan like you wouldn't believe, but living here is ntoxicating and adventurous and new and all of it keeps me from being sad about missing home. So far I have noticed some pros and cons but as I've only been living here for a week I am going to reserve judgement on which is a better place to live. The following are a few stories or observances that have happened to me in the last week.

Going grocery shopping is tough. I don't mean that it is hard to get to the store, Whole Foods is only 5 block away and surprisingly less expensive than the Whole Foods in Ann Arbor. Anyways, the tough part is deciding what you really need and what you don't need. Unlike back home where I could fill up a cart with the 15 of the heaviest bags you could imagine, out here you have to carry your bags home. I am a pretty terrible shopper at the grocery store. I will throw in the most random things in the world that I might possibly want to eat one day if I had a weird craving. Here I have to decide what I am going to eat for the next few days. Also, try finding everything you need at one store. There is no Meijers here so, unfortunately, I now need to go to three different stores to get what I need. Life was mich easier when I could get my produce, my underwear and my dvds in one store. It was also easier when I didn't have to carry things 5 blocks.

New York City has a reputation of having very unfriendly people who will mug you at the first chance they get. I have yet to meet anyone here that isn't insanely nice. Everyone goes out of their way to say, 'sorry' or 'excuse me' is they bump into you in the street. People are friendly and courteous and that is definitely a good thing.

On Sunday my roommate texts me and say "Dinner tonight at 8. Me, Melissa (this girl he is dating), Graham (another boy who went to our highschool), and some other dude." It sounds like fun so I agree. We get to dinner and are talking to this guy Bill Plympton, and as it turns out he was up for an Oscar last year for "Best Animated Short." So on my second night in NYC, I had dinner with, not just some "other dude" or even some guy in the industry, but an Academy Award Nominee. Anyways that was pretty cool. Then yesterday as I was coming home from Bryant Park (actually a very good place to sit and read and get some piece and quiet right near Times Sqaure,) and I was chanigng songs on my i-pod and I almost took out the E! Channel's Guiliana DePandi. If you ever watch entertainment tonight or E! News Daily she hosts it with Ryan Seacrest. Anyways I looked up before I walked into her so it's all good.









Anyways I start school tomorrow so there won't be as much time to fraternize with celebs but I will keep you all posted on how school is and how weird people are and all the cool famous people I am hanging out with. As always, get your feet off the ground and reach for the stars. Pain heals, chicks dig scars and glory lasts forever. Carpe Diem bitches. Go big or go home.

M, p & z

oh ps -
I got JT's new cd and its sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. Get it. Earlier this summer I said I would go to the Virgin Megastore to get it because I thought he would be there doing a show or something but then eysterday I figured he wouldnt really be there so I didn't go and I guess he had an autograph signing..oh well, I'll just have to get him to sign it when we hang out on my birthday this weekend. Also, Everclear's new album is much better than the last one but still, if they didn't have the name everclear I wouldn't have bought it.... Grey's Anatomy season 2 also rules...

Whatsoever A Man Soweth
Part II: Farewell Michigan


















MSU Shadows:

"MSU, We love thy shadows
When twilght silence falls,
Flushing deep and softly paling
O'er ivy covered halls;
Beneath the pines we'll gather
To give our faith so true,
Sing our love for Alma Mater
And thy praises, MSU.
















When from these scenes we wander
And twilight shadows fade;
Our mem'ry still will linger
Where light and shadow played;
In the evening oft we'll gather
And pledge our faith anew,
Sing our love for Alma Mater
And thy praises, MSU."


Michigan, I'll catch you on the flip side. See you all in NYC. I'm out.

-M, p & z.

Whatsoever A Man Soweth:
Part I: Sparty On!















It's hard to sum up 6 years at MSU. I started out as a punk kid from Ann Arbor who thought State was the worst school one could possibly attend. For years I rooted against my own school whenever we were playing U of M. Michigan football is a religion. I had posters and newspaper clippings of Michigan football covering my walls since I was in elementary school. I bled gold and blue and one day I was at a Michigan Michigan State game when I had an epiphanic moment: I was sitting in the stands rooting for U of M when everyone in the Big House gave me the impression that they were better than people who went to State. And I don't just mean the football team, but the students made me feel as though they thought they were better people than I. They thought that they were smarter, faster, stronger and better citizens than those at MSU. And it hit me, students at U of M have a sense of entitlement about them that is so obvious it's sickening. People at U of M (I don't mean 100% of people, just the majority) are snooty assholes who look down their noses at anyone who doesn't go to their school. To draw an analogy, there are two main golf clubs in Port Huron: The Port Huron Golf Club and The Elks Club. PHGC is to U of M as The Elks Club is to MSU. My brother and I have always hated PHGC because of the way we are treated there. We are looked down at, chastized for not tucking in our shirts, assumed to be hooligans because we are not white and the kicker is that the course isn't even very good but for some reason costs thousands more to be a member. The Elks on the other hand is a nationwide organization that raises money for charities and contributes back to the community, everyone is very nice and friendly, people can wear jean shorts (if that terrible fashion faux pas strikes their fancy) and it is the nicest course in the area. My point is, the moment I realized how terrible U of M was, I embraced State wholeheartedly and State embraced me.

I have had some people visit me over the years at State and the one thing everyone comments on is how nice everyone is. People at State are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. Unlike our rivals to the east, we are like a VW Jetta: Ego-Free. We don't care who is the best in the class, just as long as everyone is happy with themselves. We don't hate people just because they go to a different school (don't get me wrong we will boo our hearts out against U of M, but we won't degrade them) and best of all, we make everyone who doesn't go to State feel like they're a Spartan. A perennial party school, MSU is the best place you can go to in the Big Ten and enjoy every minute of it (thought I also hear good things about Wisconson).














When I first got to MSU, I heard all these stories about how pretty campus was and I was schocked to find what seemed like a concrete jungle. Of course, it wasn't until I had classes that weren't in the heart of campus to realize the real beauty of it. Though I'm still not a fan of the central and southern areas of campus, it is most definitely a beautiful campus. I have spent the last few days walking around and found some beautiful areas that I never even knew existed. I never thought you could find a quiet hidden nook in a garden next to a pond in the middle of a campus of 46,000 students. Spots like that are all over. The more I see the campus the more I appreciate it. I mean we have a huge river that runs right through campus. The key is to walk around when you don't have class tainting the direction you walk in or the mood you are in. I guess it also helps to do it after you graduate so you have a good perspective of the school but on the other hand you hsouldn't wait. I finally got a chance to go up to the top of Beaumont Tower (our big clock tower that you can hear from everywhere on campus pretty much) and I was shocked to see that it's not automated. There is a guy up there on top with an organ type contraption that is connected to all 46 bells and he plays everyday at 12. My point is that if you are still in school, I reccommend that you go around your campus and discover the little things. It has made my goodbye to campus much easier now that I feel I have seen a few things (also after 6 years I have also had class in almost every single building and can relate to at least one class of 90 percent of students when they ratlle off their schedule.) Anyways this follows in the same vein of my whole Carpe Diem philosophy. It really doesn't last forever, unfortunately, so I implore you to do something new that your campus (or city of residence) offers that you have never done before.
















Anyways, I now bleed Green and White and am proud to be a spartan. I will miss the school and the campus and (sometimes) even East Lansing. People are what make these experiences worthwhile and the more things you do the more people you meet. As always, get your feet off the ground and reach for the stars. Go big or go home. Pain heals, chicks dig scars and glory lasts forever. Carpe Diem bitches.

I'm out

-M, p & z

oh ps - part II will come tomorrow with more pics. Thanks to Jordon for coming with me to the bell tower and taking pictures of me with Sparty. "Whatsoever A Man Soweth," is inscribed on the front of Beaumont Tower, that's where I got the title for this farewell blog.

I know I said I would only post once more but two events have transpired that I need to talk about.















First is the sad passing of my favorite animal enthusiast: Steve Irwin. It seems ironic that a sting ray is what killed him after spending his last 20 years tackling fifty foot crocodiles. I have been watching him for almost 10 years now and I never got tired of his willigness to confront animals that I wouldn't touch with a 50 foot pole. In fact I would most likely run from everything he looks for. Apparently he was filming something for his 8 year old daughters new tv show which makes the situation all the more tragic. He will surely be missed...






Second, and not while not nearly as tragic as dying, was still sad nonetheless. Andre Agassi has been a fixture in the tennis world for my entire life since I could remember. Watching his three matches this last week was the most excited I have been about tennis since he and Sampras played in the Open FInals a few years ago. If you ever watched tennis or played tennis then you understand what I am talking about when I say that I cried when he lost. I cannot recall a loss ever being so sad. Last year when the Pistons lost, it hurt but in a different way. That hurt because the Pistons came out with the audacity to believe that the championship was theirs and they didn't have to play, of course when it came time to beat Miami, they didn't show up and didn't put up the heart needed to win another ring. Agassi is a completely different story. Never have I seen someone want it so bad despite so many obstacles. His first two matches could have very easily been losses and somehow, despite being over a decade older and slower than his competitors, he still pulled out a win. Watching him cry after losing to Becker was the saddest thing I have seen on tv period. I can't recall the last time so much was one the line. In teams sports when you know someone on the team will retire after the season, for example Reggie Miller in the playoffs in 2004, there are still 4 other starters that will be there to remind you of him and other players you are familiar with who will replace him in the lineup. When Agassi lost though, that was it. That was the end of his career. There is no one else, he has no contemporaries left. Him losing was almost the end of my childhood and it was extremely sad. He will most definitely be missed...














Anyways thats all for the moment, more to come later today as I'm not sure if I will have time to blog tomorrow (my last day in Mi.)

-M, p & z