RobMakesMovies.com

I took a political quiz that was on my brother’s blog: n00tz.net
and came up with some interesting results on who, of the candidates that ran in the primary season, I am in the most support of:

- I match up well with… -

Barack Obama

65% Match – You must be ambitious and idealistic, like Barack Obama. Obama is a liberal democrat who, unlike his rivals, opposed the Iraq war from the start. With only 3 years in the Senate, his inexperience worries some and sometimes reveals itself in the debates, but he also has the charisma and popular support that the others lack.

Chris Dodd

52% Match – Dodd is a liberal democrat who is a well-seasoned policy-maker. He has been in Washington since 1975 as a U.S. Representative and Senator and consistently receives thing between a 95-100% approval rating from Americans for Democratic Action and the National Committee for an Effective Congress. Unlike his Democrat counterparts, he believes that same-sex marriage and civil unions should be an issue left to states and supports free trade agreements. As a legislator, he is known for his work on expanding health care coverage to the uninsured, particularly children.

John Edwards

44% Match – John Edwards is a progressive democrat with little legislative experience (6 years). He has noble goals accompanied with detailed plans of how to accomplish them. He believes that resources are best spent on poverty alleviation (in the U.S.), universal health coverage, and addressing global warming than on reducing the budget deficit or continue funding an unpopular war. He is the most populist and protectionist of the candidates and is the only one willing to admit that his plans will require more- not fewer taxes, but the bill will still be less than what the Iraq War is currently costing.

Here’s the test.

- I don’t match up well with… -

John McCain

31% Match – As a fiscally conservative, socially moderate Republican, McCain is not afraid to align himself with either party on important issues. Republican support dropped due to his progressive stance on immigration and environmental issues and his unwaivering support for the prolonged military presence in Iraq has killed any chance of winning over Democrats. He is a active in exposing corruption and will attack both Republican and Democrat politicians for pork-barrel projects, pitting him against both parties.

Duncan Hunter

35% Match – Congratulations! You and Duncan Hunter are socially conservative nativists! Hunter is a conservative Republican Congressman from California who is big on unborn babies but not immigrants. He best known in congress for his prominent role in constructing a 14-mile double fence along the US-Mex border and introducing the Right to Life Act, which would give constitutional rights to anything that develops after the moment of conception. Unlike many Republicans, he opposes free trade because he says it poses a threat to American manufacturing and creates a huge trade deficit. To discourage trade, he has proposed a law that allows American companies to use “exchange-rate manipulation” as an excuse to receive protection under America’s trade laws.

Sam Brownback

36% Match – As an “economically, fiscally, and socially compassionate conservative,” Sam Brownback is the candidate for you! You should consider our second choice, though, because Brownback dropped out in November 2007.

The fiercely right-wing Senator from Kansas lets his religion guide his policy agenda- especially towards foreigners. He is best known for his unrelenting crusade against the genocide in Darfur and world-wide sex-trafficking. In a moment of particular compassionate, he co-sponsored a 2006 bipartisan immigration bill that branded him “Amnesty Sam” by critical conservatives and he later abandoned the cause. But there’s no compassion for homosexuals, the porn industry, or women seeking abortions. Brownback’s high-profile war against these groups has also put him in the spotlight.

- Robert

All I can say is “Wow, that looks fantastic!” For a sci-fi indie flick, that seems to be an imaginative, moving story that I could get sucked right into. It’s a semi-peaceful look at our future, where the U.S.-Mexico border is sealed shut, and the U.S. has developed a way to continue to let the Mexican workers work, without having them cross the border… it’s very Matrix’-like.

This film won two awards at Sundance this year: The Alfred P. Sloan Award(I have no idea if he is any relation to me) and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award.

- Robert

Twenty years ago, to this day, the greatest thing since sliced bread came into this world. The most gifted human being since Jesus was born. A person that all of you underlings should worship for being the most awesome person ever: Me.

What? Did you really think I wouldn’t say something unbelievably arrogant? It’s my birthday. I can do whatever the fuck I want to. I could punch a baby in the face after lighting a cat on fire and decapitating a monkey, and it would be okay.

Birthdays are magical days. Days that we get to turn one year older, and yet don’t really feel that much different. More responsibilities are given to us, and we shun them for 24 hours as we gleefully soak up everyone congratulating us on being one step closer to death. Slightly morbid, I know.

Next year I turn 21. The infamous 2-1. The age of legalized alcohol purchasing, ending club restrictions, and purchasing of handguns. That is the day I will be thrilled to reach. Today, I’m no longer a teenager. That era is over, and my parents can rejoice.

Happy Birthday to ME!

- Robert

Spore.. that new game that we should all be enjoying, but turned into something only a few people will like, and others will loathe. Yahtzee, of The Escapist, reviews different video games in his series called “Zero Punctuation.” After you watch it, you’ll understand the reason behind the title and laugh, a lot.

More Spore stuff after the video.

The biggest issue behind Spore’s release was EA(Electronic Arts)’s decision to put DRM on this game. The DRM is an issue because it limits the installation number to 3, for paying customers of this product. This, to the gaming community, is like EA taking a giant gorilla dildo and shoving it up the asses of those that have paid to play this product. It’s insulting, and they wouldn’t stand for it.

Therefore, they took public issue with it, and clobbered Amazon’s review rating:
Spore: Amazon Product Review Page
Fred Benenson’s blog explaining the issue.
Spore comic

… but I have some classmates that are completely retarded. They are morons. I find it to be unsettling. I don’t know how much longer I can sit, shaking my head at their stupidity, before I stand up and scream, “Why are you so stupid?!” It’s coming. One day it will happen.

I can’t be certain if the reason it aggravates me is due to the fact that I am better than them and they feel they are equal in some way, the fact that these are the people I will need to rely on in order to get out of school, of if I’m just some asshole that hates anyone stupid.

Just to clarify, this isn’t just “ignorance” stupid, this is full blown “I don’t understand why I need to breathe” stupid. Every time one of these people ask a stupid question, which is numerous times per day, I come closer to snapping.

Sorry, I just needed to vent.

- Robert

“…worth three points each, so you can get as much as 108 on the test.” – My College Math Professor.

The test was given out at 9:30 a.m. We were given until 11:00 a.m. to take the test. I finished the two-page front/back test in 15 minutes. I’m going to get a 108. Haha. The lab quizzes are harder than that damn thing, and that’s pretty sad. I’m going to get a 100 in this course, a nice birthday present to myself, I think.

- Robert

Today I started College Math. Ughh… That is not a rsponse in disgust of mathematics, that is a response in disgust of the class. To make this a simple explanation: Math comes easy to me. Algebra, easy. Geometry, easy. Trigonometry, easy. Statistics, easy. It isn’t until I get to Calculus that I actually have a challenge.

I’m not trying to be arrogant about this, it’s just true. I’m smart. This class, not so much. I am too smart to be taking this class, and I have an entire month of it. It isn’t even Algebra II, where I might at least enjoy myself with slight complexities in equations. This class is Algebra I, a class I finished in 7th Grade. I asked to clarify, just to understand my impending suffering. So far today we have discussed the Real Number System and Fractions. Golly (I can’t wait to shoot myself)! I even called out the teacher when he was explaining sets and inclusiveness. The most “difficult” part of this class’, aside from me tearing my eyes out, will be “…probably rational expressions.” That was a direct quote.

Tomorrow I will discover how easy my other class will be. It’s subject: Computers, Science, and the Internet. If math is easy for me to figure out, this subject does my work for me. One of the projects… strike that, the Final Project in my “CSI” course: A simulated computer build. If you know me, then you know my reaction to this and are probably laughing as well. $1,500 budget and a requirement of using 5 different sources to purchase parts. <– Fuck that. I’m going to argue that down to two since the Course Director must be a moron: NewEgg & TigerDirect.

This entire month is a buffer to me. The simplest GPA booster since Broadcasting in High School. I’ll update my frustrations after class tomorrow. Boredom has set in.

- Robert

I’ve taken it upon myself to reduce the level of my own boredom over the past few days while school was out. So I went wardriving.

Definition:
Wardriving is the act of searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks by a person in a moving vehicle, using a portable computer or PDA.

I used my MacBook Pro and my Xterra and browsed the various WiFi nets around here. I’m actually using one of them to type this right now. I’ve done this on foot for just a few of the houses right around mine and picked up quite a few. Upon driving the entire neighborhood, I found 99 different networks, and I think I may have missed a few. They are about 50/50, open/secure, but the majority of them were named “linksys” and were open. A few “NETGEAR” networks, and only one “dlink” network was found. A good group of home-network-admins were smart and renamed and secured their network, but so many people are not so tech savvy.

Now I just need to build my own Cantenna…

I plan to incorporate “Wardriving” into one of the stories I am working on. But that’s all you get to hear about that, for now.

- Robert

Tomorrow after I turn in my Creative Writing portfolio, I will have completed my second month at Full Sail. Only 19 to go and I will be a college graduate. Exciting, yeah… sure. I haven’t started pulling together all of my papers for this portfolio yet, though. I’ve been too busy perusing the great interwebs for other good stuff. They are good stories, if I do say so myself. I’ll post them at a later date(probably when I find out how my professor and lab techs thought about them).

In the mean time I have a few other things to post for you to read. In my first month I had a few papers I had to write, two film-based, and the other a memoir. Before delving into those, the film related ones are not reviews, persay. The one on The Dark Knight was an analysis for English Comp. The one on Crash was more like a review, but had some certain questions I had to answer within it, so it wasn’t entirely a review. The third will be a memoir about the realization of being good in this particular career. Let me know what you think:

The film Crash is a dark, demeaning look at race relations in the United States, specifically the city of Los Angeles. It portrays nearly every character as a hate-filled time bomb that is awaiting its first available victim. The main character, Detective Graham Waters, shares his dismal view of people in his first line of dialog: “ I think we miss that touch so much, we crash into each other just so we can feel something.” Each intertwined story has as much racial tension and profiling as a Ku Klux Klan rally. The film was clearly written this way to provoke thought over the theme that continually slams the audience in the face. I saw it as an over-the-top propaganda film.

I have never received the level of stereotyping that was shown in this film, however I can say I have been profiled against. I have only been labeled a “cracker” or “white boy” in sarcastic comments by friends. My profiling is related to the financial status of my parents, and the expectation for me to exceed the income my parents have achieved.

I could not imagine taking the amount of racial hate that was placed on each fiber of the storyline. I was raised and taught in school to ignore the racial stereotypes and treat others equally. I have gathered friends of many races, and therefore attempting to understand the level of ignorance involved in being a racist infuriates me, as with many of my generation.

I was not really surprised, but more shocked by the character Farhad, portrayed by Shaun Toub. As the Persian shop owner who was so angry at the gun shop owner for being stereotyped, murder was not something I expected him to consider. The only glimpse of hope in this world of exaggerated discrimination is shown through the character Daniel, a locksmith played by Michael Pena, and Farhad was going to kill him because of his inability to understand the things Daniel said. The silent scream after the gunshot and sheer horror of Daniel’s loss of his daughter are the most vivid images this film imprinted on me.

It was Peter Waters, Graham’s brother, whom I felt closest with. He simply cannot understand how Anthony can spew out how the stereotypes of African-Americans are so flawed, yet ironically proves each one to be true. I cannot understand people who lower themselves to such disregard for others that the do not know. It astounds me.

Empathy is the ability to identify with and understand the situation, feelings, and motives of others. Of the roster of characters, I empathize with Daniel. I have not been directly in his situation, but I understand his actions. He works a job he in unsatisfied with, the frustration he shows when paged after tucking his daughter in, where he is belittled just so he can put food on the table and pay the bills. I empathize with him because I would do the same, if I were in his situation. Sacrifice for the good of the family.

The look of the film, in general, is very dark. This technical tone complements the theme of the film, and enhances it. Street lights are dim, the “bright” lights that do flicker, do not illuminate very far, and a dark palette of colors are used in paints and clothing. The silent scream that Daniel has increases the emotion by numbing the sound and making his pain be felt by the audience.

The ordeals that the characters go through in this film enrage the audience. It is a very thought-provoking piece and makes people want to change their habits. I found it to be too over-the-top and outlandish at times. That is not to say I was not moved in parts, but as a whole this film was more political in nature than entertaining.

The film The Dark Knight shows the audience a representation of the darkness present in every human being. It pushes the boundaries set by standard “comic book” films to make a new format that emits emotion instead of the usual supernatural awe. Through carefully written dialog and the intensity of the actors, Christopher Nolan has created a movie where the tone and characters convey a thematic darkness that is contextually based on the world today.

The Dark Knight takes place shortly after its predecessor, Batman Begins, as Batman continues to clean up the streets of Gotham. He has scared the criminal underground, and works to vanquish them once and for all. Harvey Dent, Gotham’s recently elected District Attorney, shares Batman’s vision of a clean and prospering city, and cleans up the streets through the tough legal system. Preventing the restoration of order is the antagonist, known only as The Joker. He embellishes in creating chaos throughout the city by committing murder, robbery, and any other form of destruction he desires. Batman and The Joker clash on a constant basis as polar opposites of each other. It effectively shows what happens, “when an unstoppable force meets and immovable object.”

The tone of The Dark Knight is told clearly in the film’s title: dark. Every scene feels empty of light, including the day scenes. The colors used in costume fabrics are the dark shades of blues, purples, and greens. The dark element that exists throughout the film lights up in the final scene of dialog, where Batman and Commissioner Gordon discuss what to do about Harvey Dent. The shot is of Dent’s horrifically burned face and is dimly lit, as Batman and Gordon talk about the atrocities he committed in his Two-Face form. Batman kneels, turning Harvey’s face over to his “good” side, remarking that Harvey is, “the hero Gotham needs.” The lighting darkens on the burns and shines brighter on the untouched side of Harvey’s face.

The protagonist in the film, Batman, is thoroughly put to the test in this two and a half hour piece. Bruce Wayne, arguably the alter ego of Batman rather than vice versa, is desperately seeking to end his needed reign as Gotham’s protector in order to be with the love of his life. He feels that Harvey Dent, Gotham’s recently elected District Attorney, is the hero that can replace him. Unfortunately, the maniacal menace of The Joker is preventing his retirement and causes the white knight of Gotham, Harvey Dent, to become a criminal as well. Psychologically, Batman struggles with the darkness inside him by refusing to kill The Joker because of, “some misplaced sense of honor.”

The film contextually “hits home” with audience members because of the need to have a hero, and the fear of chaos. Harvey Dent represents the hero that the world feels it needs in order to pull out of the dark times being faced. The manifested hero connects the audience to the character, and its underlying theme. In the current time, an election is about to take place that can turn the tide in the world. The election for President of the United States is the opportunity the American public has to choose its own hero. This film gives the inspiration to choose, “not the hero we need right now, but the hero we deserve.” The fear of chaos and raging anarchy is directly linked to the unstoppable Joker. The context represented by him is that of the threats and acts of terrorism that paralyze some on a daily basis. This piece shows that there is hope at the end of the day, and it is worth fighting for.

Christopher Nolan, director of The Dark Knight, has created a visual story that connects and inspires the viewers through its real-life metaphors, believable characters, and visual texture. This true-crime drama tale has inter-twined storylines that arc to draw in each potential audience and make them believe in brighter days ahead. By creating this film with such a dark overall theme, the audience goes searching for the light, and feels relieved upon finding it.

My childhood consisted of two things: school and Boy Scouts. My parents immersed my entire family in it. The conflicting schedules left sports out of the question. Education was vitally important, as was building character. My two brothers and I were all too young to understand what “character” even was, we just knew that we would be able to make small racecars, earn badges and pins, and take trips to interesting places, all of which would be rewarded. It was nirvana for children with egos.

Every month all of the scouts would gather and we would stand up in front of other scouts and their families and be applauded for visiting a museum, coming in third place in the Pinewood Derby, or learning to play marbles. Numerous things that to any adult would seem trivial, we were congratulated and told, “Well done!”

Upon reaching my sophomore year in high school, I was able to add another element to my roster. Broadcasting class, an elective course and therefore classified as a “filler class,” was where I learned the basics of video production. I was learning everything I could because I enjoyed video production just as I enjoyed scouting. It was finally something where my creativity could lead me to create something completely unique, a visual representation of the images in my head.

An opportunity that was available by taking this course was to videotape the school’s football team each Friday night. I leaped at the opportunity to participate in sports in any fashion as my overprotective parents objected to anything where physical contact was involved. The assumption my brothers and I shared was that our parents feared dismemberment or some other horrible accident would happen if we were to be on the team. Standing on the side of the field proved that although being quartered was not likely, bruises were.

As the most attentive in class, and the only one brave enough to stand on the field to videotape the games, I was put in charge of editing the promotional videos with the footage I shot each week. The video clips, dubbed “promos” were shown each Friday during the morning announcements.

Since I was essentially the only one to be working on the project, I was given free creative reign on how to cut the video that I had recorded. As I captured the footage onto an available drive, I would piece together a vision of what I wanted that week’s promo to be. I would immediately delete the unnecessary footage, add an adrenaline-pumping audio track, and cut the footage to the audio. I didn’t think about what I was doing. I saw my goal and made the alterations needed to fit my tangible work to the abstract idea that formed in my imagination.

The promos had never been done before. It was a new addition to the course as well as the new teacher. After a month of rolling out new beat-driven all-action promos for each Friday morning, the Head Football Coach decided to visit the class. He briefly spoke to the teacher and left the classroom. My teacher later asked to speak with me out in the hall, a sign that normally means that I had done something wrong. He informed me that the student attendance at our school’s football games had increased fifteen percent since the beginning of the season. Slightly anxious to learn what I had done wrong, I asked, “That’s nice and all, but what does it have to do with me? I thought I was in trouble or something.” “No, you’re not in trouble,” he said, “I just thought you would want to know that your videos are the reason for the increase in student attendance. It’s because they catch the attention of the students and make them want to go to the game. They’re awesome.” I had been told, “good job” and “that’s neat” before. In hindsight, I wish I could have remarked with something other than, “Oh, cool.”

It was the summer of 2005 when video production and scouting collided. At the age of sixteen I was allowed to participate as a staff member in the National Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia. The job I chose was in the video production department of the area designated “Arena Shows.” Staff members arrived ten days prior to the 44,000 other scouts that participate in the event that occurs every four years.

As I walked into the production trailer, four sets of eyes immediately turned to me. The man sitting behind the desk asked, “Are you the guy that knows Final Cut?” My answer, “I know how to use Final Cut, but I don’t think I am the guy that knows.” They had been in touch with another scout that had “significant experience” with the software, automatically designating me inferior in every way.

For the next few days, as we prepared for the first show, I was commissioned to shoot the assembly of the Jamboree. A twelve pound black camera in the hot Virginia sun was not something I was comfortable with. At least the football games I shot in high school were at night on a small hand-held camera. I had to find something else to do.

By the end of the first week, I decided to apply the selective knowledge I had with the Final Cut program into creating a video of my own. I was given permission since there was more footage coming in than David, the guy, had use for. David had somehow given the impression that he was a wizard with a Macintosh, without intention of doing so, and only knew as much about the program as I did. He was in a rut, and I was going to kill two birds with one stone. I began editing my own video to be shown and remained out of the hot sun and inside the air-conditioned production trailer.

I completed the first draft of my video within a day. By the end of the next, it was fine-tuned and completely rendered. At this point, David was still struggling to pull his first draft together. With the first show a matter of days away, a third video still needed to be made. The Arena Shows Director watched my completed project with a smile on his face and asked if I wanted to make the final video. Being the underdog, I was more than willing to provide them with another visual masterpiece.

I selected a music track to use as the foundation of the piece and sorted through used and useless footage, only to find that what I needed in order to complete the video was not among the captured footage. Given the encroaching deadline, I informed the Director of the situation. He called every single camera crew back to the Arena and into the trailer. He briefly spoke about the lack of needed footage to complete my work, and handed it over to me to explain what I needed. A sixteen-year-old Boy Scout was telling professional cameramen and women what to do. It was the first time I was able to take a step back and think about why this had happened.

First, my teacher told me that my work was “awesome.” Next, I had given my employer a smile after seeing what I was capable of. Now I had men and women twice my age taking direction in order for me to make my Director smile again. “I am good at this,” I thought, “really good.” I had been told, “good job” and “that’s neat” before. Now, I actually believe it.

*Names were changed since I couldn’t remember the guy‘s real name.

- Robert

Recently I have seen a large surge in the “stand on the road with a sign” job market. Today I saw someone dressed in a giant Elvis costume holding a sign that said “KING SIZE DEALS!” I laughed. In laughing I decided that the only purpose for jobs such as these are to humiliate people. I don’t think that any reasonable advertising works with these tactics, and I have a hunch that they are less effective than side-of-bus advertising (In case you don’t know, the side of the bus has been touted for a long time as the least effective advertising tactic).

I know the economy is bad, and that some people need to get more income to pay all the bills, but damn. Don’t lower yourself to holding a sign in the hot Florida sun for a measly $5.85 an hour, or whatever min. wage is now. Working at the BK Lounge is less humiliating.

But that’s me.

- Robert