The College Student: Optimism

This was a pet project of mine, filmed simultaneously with another project which I'll talk about another time. The idea stemmed from an actual thought I once had while I was waiting at the line of Einstein's Bagels. It was a difficult day and I wanted to forget about my troubles via flaky bread and moist eggs mixed with melted cheese. I didn't want to make a fuss for anybody unfortunate enough to have wait in line with me so I told myself, "Just think positively right now. Think about anything, really." I tried to change my visible facial expression as I thought about things. The first thought I had is exactly what you see in the short: "Positive, positive charges, electrons, neutrons, atoms, the atomic bomb, Hiroshima." At first, I was mortified by the thought, but I couldn't help but chuckle at how quickly my thoughts delineated into madness. I tried again and that thought also quickly went to hell. I quickly hammered out a screenplay about a college student struggling to focus his thoughts as his paper due date edged closer and closer. I kept the project to myself until I shared it with fellow writer/director Zach Lerner who convinced me to go through with it. I fell in love with the project from that point on, and I wanted to make sure every comic detail was just right before I started filming it. To this day, it's the project that I'm most proud of because of how honest it is compared to other short films I've made. As with any project, there are many things I can't help but nit-pick about, but we'll get to that shortly.

I knew, from the first draft, how risky the material was compared to other projects I've made and I knew that I was dealing with a very volatile concept and anything that crossed the line would've made it tragic instead of comical. It was specifically when I started looking for the public domain clips that I became increasingly guilty with the subject matter. The following four words, in particular, "Hiroshima; The Great Depression; Poverty; Suicide" were really difficult to find appropriate clips of.
Hiroshima: the footage in the short film is original color footage of a US army crew surveying the damage at Hiroshima 9 months later. In this context, the footage is very voyeuristic at how it depicts the tragedy.
The Great Depression: I tried to find very brief clips of people waiting in a soup kitchen but most of it was not in the public domain. What you guys see is footage of tractors in the middle of the 1931 Dust Bowl.
Poverty: the clips I found were really depressing, most of it being starving children in Africa. It and Hiroshima was the first time I hesitated completely and had a moral dilemma before going through with something for comedic purposes. What's in the film is just street performers performing under the bridge in Las Vegas.
Suicide: From the moment I wrote the screenplay, I knew this word would be very problematic. I originally intended showing a noose swinging left and right but I thought that it would be too morbid although the footage I used is also very morbid. What you see a Parisian inventor testing out his parachute system at the very top of the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, the parachute did not deploy so you see this person fall to his death. It's cut short in the film(we see the person fall) but the implications are there.
Bunnies Humping: Hmm...oh boy, this phrase. When I wrote the screenplay, I tried to figure out what kind of thought would work as a punchline. Then I thought about the most positive and tasteful thing a positive person could think of: BUNNIES, running along a flowery field! How could bunnies go wrong? Why, with the Kama Sutra, of course! The film takes on a completely different meaning once we consider that the college student does think more positively now but with bunny humping as his catalyst. It also comments on how ridiculous the idea of positive thinking is considering how fluid and free flowing a person's thoughts can be. This is also my swipe at meditation as it's something that I've always had difficulty with. Considering how pessimistic my thinking can be from time to time, consider this as a condensed yet filtered look at my process of thought. The really cute piano music that plays was originally from the video of bunnies.

Here are several technical/narrative problems I had with the film. I thought the opening with me running around in circles went on for way too long, and could've been cut short to at least 10-15 seconds. I didn't notice this until after I had uploaded it but when my character says "Bunnies humping", the audio cuts out so you only hear "Hu-". It didn't seem like anyone caught that, though. I'm also very conflicted about the ending and wasn't sure if my last line was good enough or if it should've ended with Sergiy closing the door on my face.

In short, I really enjoyed making this and am very pleased with the feedback I've gotten on it. I look forward to the next project I work on, whatever it may be. Oh, all right.
It's the College Student: Nutrition. Coming to your computer screens in the near future.

Please check out Sergiy Turchyn's channel. He is a fantastic composer and a hilarious person to be around.

"Mental Notes": More Unrelated Sentences.

More irrelevant words. Enjoy. 

A Bolshevik revolution that only resolved the issue of whether or not everyone involved wanted a free tea cozy in their sex dungeon.

Four men walking in the desert searching for the meaning life via some stone tablets only to realize that one of them will die from stomach cancer to which God laughs and runs away at the plight of the humans being distracted by reality once again.

Sweat pouring down his face fills up the bucket the miners use to put out the fire only to forget its a gas fire and the sodium makes the fire become a basketball hoop that collapses into the nearest day-care center.

The first film ever invented was about to people playing ping pong while the camera person screamed in pain the entire time and begged them to stop.

Edison company is driven to bankruptcy due to the amount of people pirating electric currents from the Navy Bay.

The nicest Neo-Nazi in the world gets his own talk show and convinces all of America that Nazism is at least an option to consider only to die from choking on a blunt toothpick.

A notebook filled with many references to throwing up on command which is being used by the military as a more humane form of chemical warfare.

The power plug stays plugged into the wrong socket which sucks out all of the muscles from the bodybuilder's thighs.

Arley walked down the street while everyone spat at him every second which was the happiest day of his life...until he gets married to a bear.

A dog blasting out fire from his eyeballs as all of the other dogs in heat spontaneously combust from the impracticality of the scenario.

The malfunctioning laptop jumps into the air, spins around, throws itself out of the window, twirls around into the air until it smashes and blows up a school bus full of incestuous children.

An acrid smell wafted into the air, entering into the pipes and doing something predictable.

The punished writer whips himself in the back with an infected electric coil that grabs his ribs and pulls them out, playing them like faulty bagpipes.

The talking doll with its bright and colorful teeth blind every woman that entered the bachelor's room who was being led into his room so that he could have an intense political discussion with them.

A figgy banana pudding was snuck into every fried chicken in the tri-state area, causing an abnormal amount of flow.

People wearing glasses have a certain amount of self-respect that people wearing contacts does not but they just have not figured it out yet.

A yellow jacket with red stripes and blue zippers and green slacks and purple underwear and yellow socks and a red tie and a brown shoe and a sky blue imagination.

Lights illuminated the runway, leading the plane into the magic pool full of howler monkeys that hurls oranges at the tinted windows.

Bubbles sank into the ground, dripped into the ground, dried up on the stripper's back, warmed up on the interpreter's lips, burnt up in the lawyer's briefcase, and exploded in the center of the universe.

People picked up the cross and threw it to the dumpster which became a gleaming gold dumpster that spit all of its garbage back at the people directly into the face.

The dominatrix whose night job was a teacher for the blind who instructed them on the proper ways to wail in pain while being typed up into the college student's dissertation.

The cat who wagged its tail every time a child died of terminal cancer.

The cute couple who had their tongues in their mouths at every hour in the day even when they had to take a break in the public common room with all of the virgins and homeless people and such others.

Facebook, the maitre'ds escape from reality, the plumber's descent into the plum tree, the lawyer's regression into a natal state, the entire planet's favorite form of fornication.

A couple of guys went to a bar where they saw a rabbi, a priest, and a racist. Afraid of becoming a punchline, the four guys left the bar and went home and killed themselves.

The fan floated into the air, its individual blades slicing through the floors of the basement, white gleaming sheaths of brightness cutting through the random black hole that wandered inside, emitting a golden shower of lollipops that stuck themselves onto the walls and were nearly impossible to remove when it was cleaning day.

A computer made to cater to the needs of the entire public imploded into itself due to it being a time paradox and led to the end of the universe.

A table at midnight, the glow from the outdoor lampshade lighting up the immigration papers strewn about, its individual screws loosen up and hitting the floor, the weight of the table scrounging down from the immense weight placed against it.

The romantic weights danced together in the sweaty weight builders room, rolling along the pavement the weight builder spat on after his 20 years of cardio workouts.

The trumpets blew, the waiters waited, the Davids sat at their chairs, the prostitutes hid the cash, the Jews did Jewy things, and the politically correct people decided to leave the sentence.

A bright sunny day appeared out of nowhere for the holocaust survivor, chewing on the latest supply of sympathy bread from the Russians, who cried out when the rain poured down and metaphorically melted the bread.

A cup of Raisin bran cereal is all you need to get ahead in the morning, just a couple of cupfuls poured straight down your gullet then forced in further with your trusty rusted plunger, and you are ready to conquer the day and be rejected by every woman you know who do not know how respond when they see the plunger sticking out from the back of your neck.

We're not using that one stick of butter.

A woman walks outside of her door for the first time in eight years and dies when a single dog chew of her leg and all of her hot air fly out.

A wrist popped out of the ground to the horrified sight of no one, and walked over to the next tomb and asked for my peanuts to which the shotgun-wielding monkey replied, "No," and fired, blasting away the pregnant woman's left index toe finger.

In the darkness, the windows only revealed the remnants of the few light sources still lurking about in the rat's cave.

Words landed on the page one by one, smacking the plain white paper like the most effectual gears on a bicycle, continuing the pattern without haste as the groundbreaking novel was on the verge to be made.  

The problematic issue of the company's currency confused the coffee breaker's conversation about their compensation in the controllable company picnic that coalesced many captivating complaints that all the cun...oh dear...I seem to have run out of words.

Consider this post as a mental exercise. The blog will return fairly shortly with more insightful posts. Thanks for your patience and be sure to follow the diddly-dos. 

"Mental" Notes: Unrelated Sentences.

No explanation necessary. Enjoy.

A giant turkey sandwich balanced between two prostitutes on a giant building that's been evicted by the city.

The most beautiful man in the world strolled into the dry cafe, wafting his long hair around in elliptical, bringing out the boners in every straight male around the block.

A tree scorched by injustice, caving in to the squalor of ineptitude, tasting the nastiest portions of a chicken sandwich that's vomited out by a rabid squirrel.

Wheels spinning out of control, driving away the skin of several pedestrians and only one leper.

A bear with tiny claws ripping apart the package that landed nearby.

The rape to end all rapes.

A bulging pulse that broke into the book depository, breaking every window, floor, and law of physics in one clean swipe.

Mega Man blasted away at the all the robot, tearing them apart bolt by nut, dismantling them each without every lifting a finger.

A tongue infected with disease, bulging out from the lips like someone with their pants around their legs, skipping along with their briefs sticking onto the legs, dignity sapping away from a villain's evil exercise machine.

Big old flopping penis, smacking around the legs in rhythm like the most coordinated ballet dancers, ticking along in a hypnotizing pendulum swing meant to intimidate any suitors like the horniest chrysanthemum that would pollinate it to death.

Earmuffs that powdered your nose at the same time, the gray cloud emitting its own weather patterns like the Coriolis effect, managing the movement of the hemispheres like Galileo on his day off.

A laminated license plate that would trick all but the most incompetent police people, gleaming in the suns with more irritating reflections than a bully's watch directed at the chalkboard of hell, where every teacher who molested their students would go to.

Words of pleasure that had to be defined since Caleb would get the wrong message regarding the word pleasure, always assuming that it was referring to something kinky and hot like a volcano's fishnet legs.

The wimpiest baseball glove, rotting in the dugout scene, the autographed gloves laughing at it with their rough and salty hacks with eyeballs emitting from every cough.

A smashed hood dancing like a newlywed couple at the beach, bodies vibrating at dangerous frequencies, like the most potent nitroglycerin.

Pills sitting on the shelf for days, waiting for the suicidal newspaper writer to chug down at an instant, forgetting the appropriate dosage amount, collapsing to the floor, tongue sticking out, body writhing on the floor.
A gorgeous straw hat placed gently on top of her head, each strand of her hair tying knots into every opening, a red and green ensemble that appealed to the color blind people, whistling obscenities to her at every direction she went.

"Shut up!" said Louis CK, his wonderful bald head exuberating brilliance at every turn, direction, and inconsequential stripper mall, the newest implementation by Larry Flynt to expand his horny enterprise that was surprisingly run by nothing by women since they knew what superficially appealed to men more quickly, leading very prominently to the collapse of the economy due to the amount of surplus being delivered to the stripper malls.

A video game designed by conservatives who aren't against gay marriage where players will have to sit in at every congressional meeting held at the senate so that the young people could understand how difficult it is to maintain your sanity for that many years doing the same mundane tasks and being blamed for holding America back from progress.

A barrel roll to impress other barrel rolls for centuries, the stunt others would have to look up to aspire to if they wanted to aspire to greatness.

A distracting amount of beeps and boops simulating the legendary brown note, paralyzing every driver in the tri-state area who crashes into the nearby gay bars.

A match to determine who would the intercontinental heavyweight undisputed champion, a battle of wits between a table and an plastic chair, the crowd waiting to see who would rust first since they weren't educated enough to know that plastic doesn't rust.

A man complaining about how pathetic his life was to the optimistic woman who just got a promotion in her job, the man's sweat beating from every orifice and landing into her own pores, bewildering her but at the same time calming the man down, allowing him to make the proposal, causing her to weep uncontrollably and die from a stroke.

Oh. That's a bummer, man.

This is an unofficial endorsement of 750 Words. 750words.com is a place where you can write whatever you wish like a perverted fantasy you have always wanted to fulfill in word form. The site's very simplistic yet inviting format allows you to focus on your writing without distractions until you reach 750 words. It's been a very useful tool for me, especially when I get into debilitating writer's block that prevents me from updating the site (sorry about that). If you are an aspiring writer/screenwriter/...poet, please try out 750 Words. You can start out with a free trial for 30 days, after which you only have to pay $5 a month to continue. If you do try it out, don't tell them I sent you. They'd be embarrassed. 

Random Chatterings [Ep. 5] - Brotherly Moments

A recording made three years ago is resurrected in the troubled year of 2013 to remind the hosts when life was simpler and easier. In the first segment, the brothers fool around talking about an embarrassing CD made by Arlill's 5th grade choir. In the second segment, things take a sentimental turn when the brothers remember their second rabbit they had, who, shortly before the recording, had ran away (Spoiler alert: the bunny was found...then ran away again).

We are constantly tweaking the podcast format so if you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to post them in the comments.

DOWNLOAD [33:10]

Technical info:
Recorded and edited with Garageband '11 by Arlill and Gary Rodriguez

Random Chatterings Theme Song (piano and orchestrated versions) by Sergiy Turchyn

"2 Player VS" from Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine composed by Tate Norio

"Mystic Cave Zone (2P)" from Sonic 2 composed by Masato Nakamura

2010, 2013

EPISODE 4                                        EPISODE 6

Security in The Exorcist: A Disruption of the Domestic Ideal

Video from user ryy79

 Originally written on March 7, 2013.

Before we begin, I should mention that the previous essay on Early Summer was a similar assignment in format and content. Basically, we had to examine a continuous 3-5 minute scene and, using the film as evidence, formulate an argument about the entire film that the scene represents. I took a class on the Horror Film, hence why the trailer above is for The Exorcist, the "scariest film of all time." Before watching this movie, I did hesitate in watching it (again and again) for the purposes of a paper, mostly because of the infamous maze game (not the actual video) that rewarded its players with an extreme closeup of the possessed child. To me, The Exorcist was basically this image for 75 minutes. After finally watching the film, I found it to be one of the more forgiving horror films I've seen. Let me explain. Unlike the original 1974 release of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which from beginning to end, induced a relentless mood of dread and grotesqueness, The Exorcist frightened you for one minute then had 5 minutes of exposition, allowing the viewer to process the previous scenes more easily. During the brainstorming process for this essay, I thought about interpreting the film as a metaphor for puberty, but upon realizing how little I know about pre-teen girls in that age, I thought about how the film relegates the "monster"(Linda Blair), if we wish to call her that, into a single location that the other characters, specifically the mother (Ellen Bursytn), has to constantly return to throughout the film, making me consider the film's subtle critique about the security of the household. Without a doubt, however, The Exorcist is one of the most disturbing films ever made and if you can look beyond that creepy face, you might enjoy this horror classic.  

       The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973) in the guise of being a typical horror film, is also a reinterpretation of the creature, established in early horror cinema, as a contained beast. In the film, a young 12-year old girl suddenly becomes more aggressive, violent and profane much to the concern of her distressed mother. The film introduces a conflicting dynamic with the mother locking her daughter in her room, always coming to her daughter's aid when she desperately needs it but becoming more and more horrified at what her daughter is becoming. The issue of security in the household is demonstrated in The Exorcist via from the film's display of the safe home.
       The scene [10:27-12:25] opens with an extreme long shot of the city of Georgetown and the sound of a plane flying overhead. The camera zooms in to one of the many buildings in Georgetown as we hear car honks and kids playing nearby. We then cut to Chris's room where she has turned on her lamp and hears a noise. Chris puts on her orange robe over her white nightgown and walks to the banister. She hears the noise again, and a low angle shot shows Chris assuming the noise is from the attic. She opens the door to her daughter Regan's room and from a POV shot, we see Regan sleeping and the window open. The camera then slowly tracks Chris as she closes the window, approaches Regan's bed, and kisses her daughter on the forehead, telling Regan that she loves her.
       The film presents the ideal of a secure community and establishes the risks present in giving too much confidence in it. In the establishing shot of Georgetown [10:27-10:50] we are introduced to a more pleasant and familiar setting of houses rounding out the block. With this brief glimpse, we get the feeling of how diverse and historical the city is with large mansions peeking out in the background and a tall clock tower that is barely visible from the hazy sky. We also see the cars are traveling at just the right speed, almost as though the drivers were coordinated and in less of a hurry, a casual drive across the way. As the camera zooms in and tracks Chris' apartment, we hear many of the noises associated with urban life: an airplane zooming, cars honking, buses hissing, and children playing nearby. With the camera zooming in as slowly as possible, it lures the viewer into the peaceful nature of the city and assures us that there is nothing wrong. When Chris goes to her daughter's room, [11:40-11:50], she notices that Regan, wearing a bright yellow pajama, sleeps without the covers on her and tightly holds the pillow close to her, unaware that her room is getting colder. With the window open, we get reminded of the noises of the city, but also notice that they are much louder than before. The city noises are a brief reminder of the numerous threats that exists from outside of the window and outside of the home. Regan is left vulnerable to any potential threat and in turn, reminds us of the possibility of intrusion into our own homes. To further validate the idea of false security, Chris, after brushing Regan's hair, appreciatively says, "I sure do love you" and kisses her on the forehead. It is a parental instinct to kiss our loved ones when they get injured or scratched and is an effective placebo although nothing actually changes; the child still has the scratches and the brief trauma of their injury.
        The film utilizes the screen space to begin stirring up dubious feelings about the security of the household. The film constantly pairs up scenes that have noticeable size differences to create a startling effect that keeps the viewer alert. One example is how immediately after zooming in to the house, the film cuts to an extreme close up of the lamp pointing away from us. The film also plays around with space, using very stark shapes to orientate the perspective and direction we intend to look at but the following shot contradicts it. This conflict creates a type of unfamiliarity with the space that unbalances the action-taking place. The film, cutting from a less distant shot to a further one [11:17], also emphasizes the distance between Chris and Regan's room. In this case, it makes it appear longer than it really is, increasing the suspense Chris has as she walks toward the noise, and making it clear that there can be doubt and tension from walking a short distance, even from within a familiar place. In the same shot [11:17], the camera is placed right where two bars of the banister, out of focus, enclose Chris within a space until the camera moves up and tracks Chris' movement, giving the impression that Chris is being watched. After hearing the noise again, Chris becomes much more reserved and ties up her robe, anxiously looking in all directions for the source of the noise. Shortly after [12:01-12:04], Chris walks more hastily to her daughter's room where she has a bit of trouble opening the door.
       Doors, as a form of security, are shown to be a frightening aspect in the movie when it accomplishes the opposite of its intended purpose. After hearing the noise, we cut to an extreme close up of the doorknob [11:03] then cuts right back to Chris. For a brief moment, the film makes it unclear as to which door the doorknob opens and even creates anxiety when it appears that the doorknob jiggles for a split second before the camera goes back to Chris. This accentuates the uncertainty created from a doorknob delaying the viable danger, as it is made very unclear as to when the doorknob shot was intended for and, in this case, being a literal delay from the film allowing Chris to get up and open the door. The door is the only thing dividing Chris and her daughter after Regan becomes possessed later in the film [44:35]. For Chris, her daughter becoming possessed is no different from discovering a burglar has broken into the room as it is an unexpected breach of her indemnity. The door and the window are both meant to keep the characters safe but the film conditions them as potential hazards.
       The window is another example of when security is put into question as to how effective a window can be as a form of protection. The window is meant to protect whoever is inside, but unlike the wooden door, it mostly made of very fragile glass. To the homeowner, the window becomes an illusion of security that is only intended as an aesthetic inclusion that cannot protect the home without reinforcement. In the film, the window is at the opposite side of the door, increasing the tension created from Chris walking across the room to close the window and inspect the room. The moving curtains [12:05] also emphasis another fraudulent form of security as a transparency that appears to make the room more private and disregarding that any stray rock thrown instantly shatters the illusion of a protected house. At the end of the film, Damian, the priest, deliberately dives through the window to stop the devil from possessing him, killing himself in the process [2:01:30-2:02:40].
        A horror film is designed to make the viewer dread the unknown or the misunderstood, whether it is a monster or an abandoned cemetery. The Exorcist, however, considers another potential source for fear, the room where your loved one resides, transformed against their own will. As previously mentioned, the door gradually becomes conditioned as a tense hesitation. However, the film also recognizes how an unstable bond or a lack of understanding within the family can also be a horrific element. For any parent in a caring relationship with their child, nothing could be more terrifying than coping with your loved one's sudden transformation without understanding it. Despite Regan's conversion via the devil's possession, a concerned parent would never regard her or their loved one as a "monster", believing wholeheartedly that their child's innocence is still preserved within. The other question is whether it would be better to strictly enforce the house's security by reducing the connection to the outside world to only the front door or believing the illusion of a protected house if only to get a glimpse of something pleasant outside every now and then.

Works cited:
The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen. Dir. William Friedken. Perf. Ellen Burstyn, Max Von Sydow, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb. Warner Home Video, 1973. DVD.

Random Chatterings [Ep. 4] - Co-Op Mode

In this episode, we are introduced to Arlill's brother and permanent co-host, Gary Rodriguez as they go from the ends of the universe and back in the first segment. In the second segment, they talk about video games, including a very notorious one from their childhood. We are constantly tweaking the podcast format so if you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to post them in the comments.

DOWNLOAD [42:35]

Technical info:
Recorded and edited with Garageband '11 by Arlill and Gary Rodriguez

Random Chatterings Theme Song (piano and orchestrated versions) by Sergiy Turchyn

"Baby Luigi is Saved" from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island composed by Koji Kondo

"Bubsy 1 main theme (Genesis version)" music by Matt Berardo

Douglas Adams article: independent.co.uk/life-style/history/42-the answer-to-life-the-universe-and-everything-2205734.html

2013, 2014

EPISODE 3                                        EPISODE 5

Random Chatterings [Ep. 3] - A Songwriter's Pen Name

In this episode, I discuss what a terrible singer I am, try to recommend an Indie group, and inject Neo Nazis in a conversation yet again.

This is a bit experimental as I have posted the previous episodes on Tumblr and I will start researching other methods for posting audio.

DOWNLOAD [12:01]

Technical info:
Recorded with a Sansa Fuze, edited with Garageband '11 by Arlill Rodriguez

Random Chatterings Theme Song (piano and orchestrated versions) by Sergiy Turchyn

Baby Don't Go from the album, I Will Be by The Dum Dum Girls: wearedumdumgirls.com

2010-2013

EPISODE 2                                        EPISODE 4

Isolation in Early Summer: A Vague Exploration Into Something Dense

Video from YouTube user Alex Post

Originally written on October 25, 2012.  

Part three of a three-part "weekly" series. This was the paper that convinced me to begin this series as it was the first time I remembered that I was enthusiastic throughout the entire process about writing a paper on a movie I didn't expect to love. We were told in our Intro to Film class not to evaluate the movie directly and only make an argumentative assessment as to what the film ultimately means. I can already mention that this will be a difficult film to watch simply because it is not like many of the contemporary films we see nowadays. I can't explain why that is and even after watching the film twice for the paper, I don't think I explained my reaction understandably and why the film had a profound effect on me on how I will approach my projects in the future, much like my masterpiece, Awkward Arley. I will admit that the other reason I'm posting this is because it was the first essay I wrote and turned on time that received an A-. For that achievement alone, I think it is appropriate to post this although it won't make sense to those who have not seen the film, Early Summer. If you have two hours to spare, please watch the movie and give it a chance. It might just surprise you.  

            Early Summer (Yasujiro Ozu, 1951) introduces a different interpretation of the household, distancing it from the saccharine fantasy depicted in many US films and instead presenting something that demands interpretation. The film explores the dynamics of the Mamiya family, all living together in the same house for many years. Although it introduces the family as though they are emotionally close, we begin to understand how there is a disconnect in their understanding of the world and in each other. Not only is there emotional distancing between the different family members but also in the film itself within the visible screen space.
            In the opening sequence [2:31-5:31], a dog runs along the beach just as the waves are rolling in. The waves continue to roll by for a few moments until the film cuts to a bird chirping in a cage. Not long after, the film cuts to birds in two cages, each noticeably distant from the other. Here, we are first introduced to a room of the Mamiya house is devoid of anything except the birdcages and the interior walls. We jump cut to Grandpa making tea in another room and later on to the table where the family is eating breakfast. The film jump cuts to an extreme long shot of the breakfast table, right when Grandpa takes his seat.
            The beach is a constant theme in Early Summer that refers back to isolation. We refer back to the opening scene "[2:31-2:41] where we see the waves approaching the shore where there is a little dog that wanders back and forth along the shoreline until it walks off-screen."  Without any kind of prior knowledge, we are immediately presented with a lone puppy that does not seem to know where it is going. With only the waves rolling by as the only sound we hear, it is an unsettling opening that establishes the tone the rest of the film has with regards to emptying the space and thinking about what is missing. The ocean can also be seen as a meditative device that anchors the viewer into trying to piece together all of the relationships that we are introduced to later on. We get this impression later on when the film shows us "the waves approaching the shore until the film cuts abruptly to a bird in a cage [2:41-2:51]". The ocean becomes an emotional release that simplifies the confusing nature of the film yet also acknowledging how it remains an important element throughout the film. In both ways, the ocean has both observations of isolation: as a potentially dangerous choice or as an occasional necessity. The ocean is represented again "at [1:11:42-1:12:09] when the kids walk along the road, frustrated at their father for not buying their train tracks."  The scene makes us focus on how their thought process isolates them from the adults' and how the kids have knowingly endangered themselves by leaving their home.
            The use of framing in Early Summer is its own unconventional device that further establishes the isolation within the screen space. After the waves, "[3:00-3:08] the film jumps right to the bird cage and has on a match on action shot related to sound as the bird chirping leads to the next shot of the other two bird cages." A striking detail is how one of the cages is shone in the bright light and the other cage is out of focus and covered in darkness. In this brief shot, we notice how the film chooses to keep certain things in and out of focus that at once balances the shot within the frame but also leaves with the impression of a seemingly empty house. The moment is brief but it forces the viewer to look very closely and understand exactly where in the house we currently are. The film repeats this shot only a few moments later when Isamu's brother goes to the hallway to get pickles for Noriko. If it was not for the innocent traditional music that begins playing and establishes the house as a friendly place, this scene would be much more unsettling. As the perspective is shifted at a diagonal perspective and the focus of the frame is on the characters, leaving the defined lines of the entrances and hallways as unusual elements that further distance ourselves from the characters. In the "breakfast scene [4:17-4:30], the camera completely changes direction and opts to have Noriko facing away from the camera", which is a startling moment for a viewer expecting to see both faces. By doing this, we can only imagine what facial expressions Noriko is making even if Noriko's character seems to be a predictably optimistic one from the first sight. What's more unusual is how we do not really know who any of the characters are in the beginning and how we can easily confuse their roles with other characters.
            Unlike contemporary films of this day and age that overuse closeups and extreme closeups to emphasize character interactions, Early Summer challenges the viewer to make our interpretations as to what the family is thinking and doing. Much like the film's opening, we are instantly dropped into the household with few details other than the ones we can assume at first sight.  There's very little camera movement in Early Summer, or at least, very dramatic camera movement such as a tracking shot that follows the characters around. Instead, the film opts for having many cuts of a character entering and leaving rooms but leaving the camera fixed at one point, at a low height and at a straight-on angle. In fact, the camera seems to jump around from room to room and remains fixed in one place although it occasionally moves closer to the characters but only when it seems necessary and does not abuse it as often as contemporary films do nowadays. Likewise, the idea of having separate rooms can be interpreted as individual spaces that further establish the seclusion that is represented in the film. Later on, the camera sits at a low height and begins moving into the room, emphasizing how the film tends to jump around scene to scene once a certain shot has fulfilled its purpose. In each individual shot, we are only given a small glimpse of each room. This further distances us from the characters and we are left only to observe their actions which could be as inconsequential as going from one room to the next to later in the film when Noriko runs up to her room and cries at the thought of leaving her family behind. In a way, the individual shots are secluded thoughts or concepts that the characters seems to jump in and out of them, seeming to casual interact with the space that we pay very close attention to.
            It’s also interesting to acknowledge how many other moments of story space the film decides to not show us. One such example is after we have learned about the family's desires for Noriko to get married; she casually mentions how she will be going to her friend's wedding. In another film, we would've seen Noriko at the wedding and her emotional response to being at the ceremony and comparing to her situation but in Early Summer, the only reference we get of that wedding is the cake Noriko brings back home. Another supposedly important moment is when the kids run away from home after Koichi hits them for misbehaving. Instead of focusing on searching for the kids, instead we see Koichi and Kenkichi playing poker and talking about their lives and later receiving a phone call, keeping the focus only on the characters rather than a potentially unfulfilling moment that distracts the viewer from the overall focus of the plot. The film makes us focus on the many perspectives of all of the characters but never forces us a message on us and never designates which character is right or wrong. The movie is about life. Later on, we see the kids complaining to their father Koishi about bringing home bread when they thought Koichi would get tracks for their train set. The children are focused on having the attention solely on themselves and getting whatever they want. It's understood that the kids could also be a form of comic relief when the film becomes dramatic. As the film goes on, we're presented with the lifestyle and differences in ideology from what we're used to seeing. The emotions of the characters aren't clearly defined or spoken out loud. It might bother us to see the other characters hoping for 28-year old Noriko to suddenly find a person to marry and being aware of the pressure given to her by her family until we remember when the film was created: 1951, 6 years after the end of World War II and the catastrophic damage done to Japan and we can begin to understand where the pressure is coming from. Throughout the film, we get many references to the hardships the family has gone through such as when Noriko and her sister are eating cake and they recognize what the value of cake is compared to something they would actually need.  Another example of the film's unusual way to portray life shortly after the breakfast scene when Noriko waits at the train station and talks with her childhood friend, Kenkichi, who she will end up getting engaged to later on. There is an extreme long shot of the train moving from the right side of the frame to the left with the music from the title sequence playing again.
            Unlike many other films that focus on having an overall conflict that pushes forth the direction of the film, Early Summer isn't as forceful with its own narrative. Early Summer becomes a more complicated film than we give it credit for. In its portrayal of the family dynamic as an isolated space rather than something picturesque, the film includes another depth of meaning to its already complicated ideal. The characters wear different kinds of clothing that confuse us into understanding what time period we are currently in the film but after a while we begin to realize how unimportant that kind of thinking is. If we wanted to explain the plot of the film very succinctly, we would be doing a disservice to the meaning of the film. Early Summer is a mysterious film that forces us to closely examine the characters in a way that is not encouraged in other contemporary films.

Works cited:
Early Summer. Dir. Yasujiro Ozu. Perf. Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu, Chikage Awashima, Kuniko Miyake. Shochiku, 1951. DVD. 

Looking for a Random Scribblings "blog" fix? The Tumblr blog is still avaliable for those services. And while you're at it, join the Facebook group or follow me on Twitter. 

Anger Management

Originally written on August 2012. Unlike previous posts, I will post my thoughts about this story in the comments on a later date.

"Hi, everyone. I'm…Arley Rodriguez.""Hi, Arlee." says everyone.
"No, it's Ar-ley, not Arlee. Actually, it, it doesn't really matter."
This is his first meeting.
"I, um, have an anger problem, but, you, uh," says Arley while scratching his nose, "probably already knew that. I'm sorry, I tend to say really stupid things when I'm…"
Group 5 is made up of 12 heads, each of them as insecure as the next. 4 brown eyes, 7 blues, 1 with an eye tattoo. The 13th head is the leader of the group, Earl Morris, who liked to call himself "the leader". Earl places his comfortable "leader's" chair near the exit in case a session ended prematurely. The quaint classroom setting couldn't disguise the ravaging fury buried in the bellies of Group 5.
"…nervous. Um, I'm fairly young, 23 or so, and I'm still not completely satisfied with life. I…usually take it out on others when a day doesn't go as planned. No one really understands the day system and…shit, let me start over."
Group 5 has many eccentric people. One of them is a pyromaniac, targets objects that remind him of his long, dead puppy. One of them purposefully gets into bar fights to get a larger wound than the night before. One of them decided to exile themselves from society for two weeks after destroying a Girl Scout cookies booth.
"Okay, the day thing is one of the problems but there's many, many others."
"Um, Arley," says the leader, "I don't mean to interrupt but we haven't gotten all the way across the room yet and a few people still need their turn."
"Oh, right, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Tha, that's it." said Arley, slumping back into the rental chair.
The remainder of Group 5 got to share the rest of their stories, each of them ranging from immature to borderline nuts. Of course, Arley usually believes he's immature and insane, so to him, the stories weren't very thrilling. Focused on how much his life currently is, he can only feel condescendingly sorry for the others.
"Thanks to everyone who shared their stories-"
"Especially that fuckface, Arley," Arley whispers to himself.
"-I can only imagine how many unresolved issues you all seem to have and I can only hope that we will be able to resolve each of them in the next few months. Acknowledging that you have an anger problem and are willing to come here is the first step to recovery. Each of you have the capabilities to empower yourself to a happier life." says the leader, the man hired by the government to prevent these people from killing each other.
"Oh, god," mutters Arley as he covers his face with his right hand.
"First, we'll start with an exercise. Everybody, please join hands."
The group disjointedly straightens up, spines curving around on the seat backs. They look to the left and right and grab each other's hands.
"Good, good, that can be very difficult for some people."
Arley sits up, holding his own hands together.
"Now close your eyes. That's it. Relax your shoulders. Let your body ease into submission. That's it. If your fingers are tingling, that's normal because it's touching someone else other than yourself."
Arley starts shutting his eyes, although he couldn't stop blinking them.
"Whatever thoughts you have in your mind right now, acknowledge them and then let them go. Clear your mind of all thoughts. Think of only a blank, empty void of nothingness that's absolutely worthless. Don't forget to breathe. Breathe. Inhale."
Every minute that passes by, Arley's head bobs like apples in a rusted bucket. He knew he wasn't capable of many things, but thinking, that's something he mastered a long time ago. Thinking about nothing makes Arley wonder what an appropriate depiction of nothing could be.
"Ralei, relax. Don't think about it too much. Relax your shoulders. Just let whatever happens to happen. Acknowledge it and then let it go."
Buzz Lightyear closes his eyes, says his famous catchphrase and rolls on the tiny car onto the loop-de-loop racetrack. Two women, terrible actresses, pretend to hurt each other in skimpy outfits; Arley makes sure to include wrestling boots because he doesn't want to see their painted toenails digging into their thighs. An airplane smashes into another airplane, twirling around in the air for a few seconds until dropping onto a commercial airliner that explodes spectacularly. An anorexic 40 year old man stares at a television set advertising a useless product, a new spray specifically designed to get rid of that pesky ozone layer.
"If this is troubling you guys, please don't make an effort out of it. The first time is always the hardest."
Seinfeld making a joke about waves acting like burly club bouncers. Ellen Page sleeping in her comfortable bed as Arley smokes on the hotel balcony at dawn. Peggy Hill using happiness to say a dirty word. Arley,18, and his little brother,13, looking at the alarm clock beeping at midnight, holding their greasy, sweaty video game controllers. A 5 year old Arley bouncing on the couch announcing that he was 5 years old.
"Okay, now let go of your partner's hands, raise your head up and open your eyes."
The group follows his orders except Arley who already has his eyes open.
"How long was that?"
"About 30 minutes, the appropriate amount of time, I think. Now does anybody want to talk about their experience?"
Most people downgrade their "experience" as a moment of peace. Some people talk about how it was the first nap they had in weeks. Others talk about how it was a brutally difficult challenge trying not to think about all of their problems. One person feels rejuvenated. Someone else thinks it was a complete waste of time. Arley isn't sure.
"This exercise was meant to be a primary evaluation of your current state of mind. For some of us, the next few weeks will be a blessing. For others, it will be a continuous hell."
The leader's mandatory speech prompts others to speak more truthfully about their moments, admitting that it wasn't as much of a waste of time as they had believed. They even look more relaxed with less wrinkles on their faces, less visible veins.
"Okay, that's all the time we have for today. We'll meet back here next week in the same room, hopefully."
Everybody stands up from their rusted chairs and walk out of the room, leaving only the leader and Arley, his legs curled up on the chair.
"Arley, I was a little disappointed that you didn't share your experience to the group. You looked very eager to talk in the beginning."
"Um, well, it wouldn't have mattered anyway since I don't really have anything important to say. Ever."
"Now that's ridiculous. Everyone has something important to say. I was wondering if you had some difficulty with our exercise."
"Yeah, I had a lot of trouble. I don't think I've ever had a peaceful moment in my life."
"Well," says the leader while touching Arley's shoulder, "there's always a chance to let a little bit of peace into your life. Listen, you have plenty of time now. Take a few minutes to think about what happened today and think about what the next step could be. It could take a long time but I'm sure you'll find it."
"Thanks. Have a good night."
Arley did spend the next few minutes usefully, walking to his apartment without a single gunshot wound, opening his apartment door without pulling his muscles, walking to his desk without tripping on his dirty clothes, searching for other anger management classes.

And with that, my 4-month break begins. But don't worry if you still want to get some kind of "blog" fix, the Tumblr blog is still avaliable for those services. And while you're at it, join the Facebook group or follow me on Twitter. My little brother Gary will take over the blog for now and he might post something zany so keep an eye out for that.

The Fiftisixth One

Happy New Year everybo-...wait a minute. Oh. Uh...

It is now 2013 and many people have been wondering what intriguing developments this year will bring to all of the little children. Problem is that the little children probably won't be thinking about it that much. I always remember having a lot of difficulty remembering it was a new year when I wrote in my abnormally-sized kindergarten journal.
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I'd like to thank everybody who watched the first two episodes of Awkward Arley and didn't want to burn me at the stake shortly after. We will be working on more episodes in the next few months but it will be a challenge for the Awkward Arley crew to surpass the quality of those two episodes and a lot of pressure is on me to deliver something worth watching. At the same time, I've been working on two screenplays, two short stories, and the newly established Random Chatterings podcast. At the same time, same time, I've had to focus on my schoolwork more seriously than in previous years which explains why the past few months have been very lacking in terms of content. An unexpected development has been the amount of incredibly self-defacing jokes I've written that I've become very desperate in wanting to tell in the form of another standup routine. I've been researching/brainstorming various formats so that I could potentially share these jokes publicly whether it be an audio recording or a video to post on my channel.
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My winter vacation has been nothing much but video games, resting, and writing jokes that I can't tell a single soul without them burning me like they would have burned a witch in the Renaissance. All in all, it's been a pretty good vacation: I got to hang out with my family constantly (mostly my brother) and Santa bought me a bunch of amazing movies and video games for Christmas. The unfortunate thing about my living dominion or fortress of solitude is that i live with mein fuhrer (German for the leader). now dont get me wrong, I love my family but there is always that one person that you jsut dont want in your family but they still have to be there and you just have to put up with it. That my friends, companions, and strange people who are reading this because of pity, is my aunt. Now the thing that just annoys me is that she...is the MEANING of perfectionist; So, you can see how we dont really get along. My aunt is not one of those normal clean freaks, ohh no, clean freaks themselves would call her insane; she also has super hearing so if i open a bag of chips too loud, open, not close, OPEN a door too loudly or even breath too loudly, she will rain on you like god rained on the Egyptians, no wait..at least god apologized. She usually warns you that if you do "something wrong" again, she'll rip your head off. She talks to me and my brother when ever we do something wrong as if were retarded, like one time we finished eating and one of us forgot to put our chair back inside, we went to our room to go get away from it all in our paradox of wonders called "videogames".  She called BOTH of us and talked to us exactly like this: "hey, did you know that when your finished eating, most people push in their chairs" now, you can just imagin the thoughts going on in me and my brother's heads, like telling her to shut the fuck up or just hitting her with a chair (my brother is insane) . She talked to us like if we dont know what manners or politeness is; the only reason we cant argue with the creature of perfection, is because SHE IS GODLIKE! Everything she says is right, and the way she does it is right EVERYTHING ELSE IS WRONG! Anywho...mein fuher just runs the whole damn house. Now here is where i just want to slap her and my brother is thinking of more medieval objects to damage her head with (he told me a mace). when she leaves for work, I can clearly hear her in spanish "oh my poor dogs, I really dont want to leave you with them i'm so sorry my baby's hopefully you will still be alive when I come back". Yes aunt...yes we cant take care of two dogs, in fact, for breakfast i was going to feed them rat poison! a nutritious breakfast! The thing that most annoys me is that every once and while, her back hurts and she cant do a damn thing, so she bothers everyone less (my brother calls this the best days ever)  but, even when she is practically on crutches...SHE STILL CLEANS! It just pains me to see an aging woman in pain and just causing herself more pain, and not being able to help because she thinks im so destructive that i can burn down the house with a water gun. Still, Im glad i came to expirence new expirence, new ideas, and definintly, new video games, this has been a great time and im so sad to go and leave it all...but hey...there' still summer break right?
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Hey, get off the computer!!

Sorry about that. My little brother, Gary, took over for a bit while I was feeding the dogs rat poison. Which reminds me...I'd like to formally announce my brother's promotion as an admin to the blog! What this means is that he will also be posting things here from time to time. You can find him on Google+ with the name Shadow or under the blog section "The Information Survey".
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Every year, I wonder why I continue to maintain this blog with the frequency that I have been. I'll admit my only audience is the faithful Facebook group that checks up on my blog from time to time and even then, only half of the group ever goes to it; the other half, I feel like I'm just pestering them for my attention. If any of you do feel that way, please feel free to leave the group whenever you'd like. I won't be upset if you do. The only people who know what's been going on personally in my life are my closest friends, my fraternity brothers, and my family simply because I'm not and never have been very comfortable with sharing my life with the outside world, which would explain why the input on the blog has always strictly been previously written projects. Someone once told me that it is a challenge to write things since they become more and more personal the more time you devote to the project, so by that criteria, I have been very personal with the material I've posted thus far. As much as I've enjoyed working on this blog, I realize that at this point, the blog has become a major distraction from the more important things in life. My grades have suffered heavily from pointlessly building up "fantasy" projects that never have a solid foundation and I'm at the risk of getting academic probation. I can technically attribute this risk to laziness but I will admit this blog has also been a part of it. What this means is that I will be taking an indefinite break from the blog as I reassess what my reasons for being in college are. My lifelong dream is to tell stories that change/challenge people's lives but I haven't taken this goal seriously recently. This break will be a necessary refresher not only for the blog followers but also for me. I will post something else this weekend but it will be the last thing I post until I return from the break in May, when I return to the City of Smog once again. To the approximately 300 friends I have on Facebook, I'm sorry I haven't checked up on all of you. That doesn't mean I will be trying to, it just means I'm sorry that I haven't but as I've told my really good friend, saying sorry is my moral obligation for committing unspeakable atrocities (like telling someone how I feel about them). That kind of thinking can emotionally drain me. With all that's been said, I always keep asking what is the point of this blog? What is the point of investing months on a post that I'm never completely satisfied with? Have I been completely honest with my commitment to being a writer? I honestly don't think so. What will four months without the blog do for me? I have no idea. Maybe nothing. Nothing at all. What will it do for you all? Either way, I'd like to thank everyone for sticking around for as long as they have reading the inane ramblings of a complete lunatic on a weekly/monthly basis. Other than my own selfish pursuits, you guys have always been a reason to try to be as entertaining a writer as I've tried to be these past couple of years. I know my humor is really difficult to understand, fuck, at times, I have to remind myself why I thought a certain idea was so goddamn funny in the first place. I will occasionally update the Facebook group itself with pictures/videos and the Tumblr blog will always be there if you want to see images I feel are worthy of being reposted based on my (non-existent) criteria. I leave you all with a joke I wrote recently: I think it's really depressing to talk to other people because it reminds me of how much of a fucking liar I am. 

Thank you all for your time, attention, patience, and respect. I'll see you in May.

Your misguided moron,
Arley Rodriguez