Friday, August 14, 2009

I'm a sensitive guy...

according to my top 25 played songs in iTunes. I'm going to post them even though they don't paint a very accurate picture of my musical taste or what I really listen to the most. And they kind of make me sound wimpy.

1. Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol
Play Count: 199

2. You Could Be Happy by Snow Patrol
Play Count: 191

3. Set the Fire to the Third Bar by Snow Patrol
Play Count: 167

4. Hands Open by Snow Patrol (there's a trend here somewhere)
Play Count: 165

5. The Finish Line by Snow Patrol (should be higher. I love this song more than the top four.)
Play Count: 162

6. It's Beginning to Get to Me by Snow Patrol
Play Count: 160

7. Make This Go on Forever by Snow Patrol
Play Count: 158

8. Shut Your Eyes by Snow Patrol
Play Count: 157

9. From Where You Are by Lifehouse (FINALLY!)
Play Count: 157

10. Headlights on Dark Roads by Snow Patrol (that didn't last long)
Play Count: 156

11. Open Your Eyes by Snow Patrol
Play Count: 150

12: How Six Songs Collide by Norwegian Recycling (a VERY cool/awesome mashup artist. Check 'im out. Peter Bull. http://norwegianrecycling.multiply.com/
Play Count: 146

13. Don't Stop (2006 club mix) by DJ Slow (most beautiful techno song you will ever hear. Guaranteed. http://www.imeem.com/ska8boi/music/scNX73h4/dj-slow-dont-stop/
Play Count: 135

14. You're All I Have by Snow Patrol
Play Count: 132

15. In MMMY Bop Life by Unknown (an unknown mashup artist)
This song combines Mmm Bop by Hanson and In My Life by The Beatles
Play Count: 122

16. Let It Happen by Jimmy Eat World
Play Count: 119

17. Lullabye (Rockabye) by Shawn Mullins
Play Count: 119

18. Such Great Heights by The Postal Service (should be MUCH higher. I'll work on it.)
Play Count: 117

19. Boston by Augustana (don't judge me)
Play Count: 116

20. Electable (Give It Up) by Jimmy Eat World (one word: YES!)
Play Count: 115

21. Left You a Closing Lullaby by Unknown (another unknown mashup artist)
This song combines Closing Time by Semisonic and Lullabye (Rockabye) by Shawn Mullins
Play Count: 111

22. Everything by Lifehouse (beautiful song)
Play Count: 106

23. Glass of Water by Coldplay (this song is quickly climbing the ranks)
Play Count: 103

24. Always You by Amber Pacific (the odd on of the bunch)
Play Count: 100

25. Your Guardian Angel by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Play Count: 99

Now, looking at these songs, you can see that some of them have very similar characteristics. A lot of them seem to be rather depressing. Yet, they are also very peaceful, which is why they are so high on the list. Do I listen to Snow Patrol the most? No, in fact the band I listen to the most isn't even in the top 25. House of Heroes takes up most of my musical attention. Their CD hasn't left my car since it came out back in September of last year. But these songs are all rather sleep worth. That's right. I listen to these songs when I'm trying to sleep. Quite often. There are a few outliers in the group. There are a few in the group that are also there because they matched my mood a lot. Which I hate to admit but I went through a fairly depressed state not too long ago.

Overall, I wish I could change these top 25. But they will likely stay in this or close to this order for a while. But I'll live with it because they are still pretty good songs. (mostly). I just wish HoH was up there. (first House of Heroes song is number 46 *sad face*) I think a person's top 25 can tell you a lot about them. But mine isn't very accurate. Maybe I'm in denial.

In closing, here are a few quick things also involving my iTunes Library:
Items: 6201
Size: 25.20 GB
Time: 15:23:21:11 (that's how long it could play on random before I hear the same song twice)
First Artist: a-ha
Last Artist: ZZ Top
Shortest Song: 0:10
Longest Song: 1:10:08
First Song Added: 7/12/07 12:51 PM
Oldest Last Played: 8/28/07 8:43 PM (Club Foot by Kasabian)

Monday, August 10, 2009

Eventful Day

An eventful day today

11:00 a.m.
Awake. I don't feel like such a piece of crap. I'm laying on the couch in Ryan Smith's cottage. It's a little small. Ryan Smith and Justina invited me up to the cottage for the night and I gladily accepted. It helped me get out of my video game all day rut I've been going through.

Noon
We go with Ryan Smith's parents to Goodwill. I'm fairly proud of myself because I was in there for a while and only bought one thing. That one thing happens to be the greatest thing in human history. That's right, Rugrats bed sheets. They will fit into the dorm room quite nicely.

1:30 p.m.
We eat at American Table Restaurant. The weirdest name for a restaurant I've ever heard. But they serve breakfast all day so they are okay in my book. I couldn't finish my pancakes or scrambled eggs.

3:00 p.m.
After gassing up the jet ski, we take it out for a little joy riding. We also take out the pontoon boat. I took a little nap. I also did a lot of brainstorming about the comic strip and the screenplay and the college life......a lot of brainstorming. Note to self: Vibram Five Fingers are awesome for boating. But not so much for swimming.

9:00 p.m.
Go get the supply store and buy supplies.

10:00 p.m.
Eat said supplies.

11:00 p.m.
Drive home with HoH cranked up to 25 (my usual limit is 20) and the windows down.

1:00 a.m.
Surf the web, laughing my face off at the stupidest internet memes ever. My current favorite is keyboard cat.

Today's grade: B

Friday, July 24, 2009

The Thing...

...that is what I feel like.
And no. Not because I repulse women but because I was literally covered with cement today and felt like my skin was hardening.

1:00 p.m.
I awake. Good golly, this is getting ridiculous.

2:30 p.m.
I go over to Clarkridge and help my dad pour some cement. There is nothing manlier. I award us both 2,000 man points. I actually walked around in public with cement mix all over me. I probably shocked and terrified the local denizens at the Fairmount Pro Hardware Store. 300 bonus points.

5:00 p.m.
I play my first round of backyard golf in like a month. I beat Brock by a stroke. 200 more points.

6:00 p.m.
I go supply shopping. I buy popsicles, Gatorade, and Kool-Aid. + 200 man points. - 30 dollars.

7:00 p.m.
Tinkering with DVD Studio Pro. It is a pretty freaking sweet program. I'm currently making DVDs of Michael Card but I'll soon be moving on to making Ninja It Up DVDs. I also begin watching There Will Be Blood. It was amazing, I'll probably watch it again. Read about it. Sleep on it several times and them write another review on it.

1:00 p.m.
Still working on the DVD.

Today's grade: B

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

What did I do today?

What did I do today?
I've been asking myself that question quite often lately. And it seems that I'm always disappointed with the answer. Today, I literally sat around all day and did nothing. So as I sit here writing this, I can't help but feel like I could have done so much more with my time. I could have experienced something new, increased my knowledge, or I don't know, let's talk crazy for a second, CREATE something. I love doing all three of those things, yet lately I just fail to do them. I'm lazy. Pure and simple. God has placed me on this beautiful earth for only a short amount of time. What am I doing with that time? Let's do a quick run-through of what my day consisted of. Then talk about how I can improve my productivity, mindset, and lifestyle.

11:00 a.m.
I'm awoken by my mother who came home with a new Macbook. Of course she needed my help setting it up. So I dragged myself out of bed and began installing Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop for her.

11:45 a.m.
My dad asks me how long I'll be working on mom's new “computer thing.” He needs me to drive behind him to the auto shop so I can drive him home. You see, my car recently broke down so he was driving it to get repaired. This took about fifteen minutes. So when we got back home I began cooking some lunch and started fiddling with mom's computer again.

2:00 p.m.
The couch. My current place of residence. My home inside my home. I'm always on the couch. In fact, I'm lounging in it right now as I type this. Well, now I'm going to move to the chair because that thought bugs me. It was about this time of the day that I began to feel sluggish. I had just eaten...a lot. I was reading (an activity that always makes me droopy eyed) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I had just seen Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in theaters and could not remember for the life of me how the series ended. So I decided to re-read. After less than a chapter. I decided to call it quits and I fell asleep. P.S. Not a huge fan of the movie. Production values were top-notch and I really like the director David Yates but was a little upset of some of the things they left out.

4:40 p.m.
I awake! Not because I was feeling energized but because I over-heated and was sweating profusely. Waking up like that always puts me in a bad mood. So, I got up and ate a little something. Then? Back to the couch for some more reading and random internet browsing.

5:30 p.m.
I begin to panic as I randomly remember that I have a church league softball game to play at 6 0'clock. I scramble to change into my socks and shirt and head out the door, in a very slow and sluggish manner and in a terrible mood.

6:00 p.m.
We play. (not Wii) We win. We go home. Victory by 10 run rule. 22-12. Personally, it was one of my better games. No errors, 2 put outs, first at-bat: hit a nice line drive single to opposite field. second at-bat: popped one up to shallow left field. Fortunately, the guy dropped it so I got on base, but I wasn't satisfied. Third at-bat: I took an outside pitch to right field again, this time netting my self 2 RBIs and a triple. And my fourth and final at-bat I hit into a fielder's choice, tried going opposite field again, but hit it to second base.

7:30 p.m.
I was back home and off to see my 90 year old great grandma. She loves my name, “Russell Cade,” she goes on and on about it. Which I find hilarious. The whole family was gathered this weekend to celebrate her birthday. So she brought us altogether for some good times. I said my goodbyes and headed back home so I could hang out with Ryan Smith and Justina. P.S. Holy crap. My dad's air compressor just went off and scared the crap out of me.

8:30 p.m.
Justina and Ryan Smith come over and I show them my House of Heroes videos. And what I've been teaching myself about playing the piano. Of course, Ryan Smith showed some cool stuff about reading music that really helped a lot. Then we watched The Prestige, one of my favorite movies, which neither of them had seen before. I can't help but get a little made when I watch this movie because I am overcome with jealousy. I want to create movies such as The Prestige. I wish I could come up with such great, mesmerizing, and complete stories. I want to be in film.

12:01 a.m.
I start watching footage of The Dog Killer that was shot a few days ago. Its looking pretty good. Then I sulk and get mad about how little I've accomplished today, how fat I'm getting, and why I'm tired all of the time.

Now here I am, writing my thoughts into this novel of an entry. Which is a pretty epic first entry if I do say so myself. I just felt overwhelmed and had a lot of thoughts, selfish thoughts, but thoughts none the less. And I had to get them out. I figured I could start grading myself on a day-to-day basis. To see if I'm satisfied with what I accomplished. Today's grade could be a lot better. In fact, it really sucks but tomorrow will be better. I know I have a lot to do tomorrow so I'm going to see that it gets done. I just need to start actively asking myself, “What am I doing?”, “What else could I be doing?”, and “What are the results of doing this?”

Today's grade: D-

Random Story: So I was over at the church, listening to some music. And I stepped outside and noticed it was sprinkling. I look up into the sky to look at the clouds and that's when I say it. A huge funnel cloud. It was like a scene from twister. It looked like a white tube descending upon the earth in front of a dark blue backdrop. Of course, I freak out and think me and my family are about to get swept back to Kansas, so I take off running as fast as I can. I picture my Mom greeting me at the door with a flashlight and a blanket and screaming, “Get in the basement!” But instead I run inside to find the house eerily calm. I run to my mom's room to find her sleeping. I yell, “Mom, there's a funnel cloud.” She jumps up and runs to the window. I point it out to her and ask were dad is. He's asleep in the garage (don't ask). I run outside and wake I'm up yelling for him to look at this young, baby tornado that just popped out of a womb of cumulonimbus. But with my luck, I run outside and what happened? in the time it took me to run from my mom's room to the garage, the cloud disappear and I'm left standing there like some crazy person pointing up at the sky. But I saw a baby tornado, and my mom is my witness! I'm not crazy! NOT CRAZY!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

If it has to be explained...







I'm currently working on the second draft script of Liberty Films next production: The Dog Killer, starring Andrew Morrical and myself as two detectives trying to solve a string of merciless dog killings. I've also been working on the script for the first episode of a little show I want to produce with my 3 roommates next year. All of this writing has gotten me thinking about the old saying, "If it has to be explained, it's not a good joke." I couldn't disagree more with that statement. I love jokes that go over my head. They challenge me to think from different angles and expand my sense of humor. This is probably why I'm just a huge fan of the show Arrested Development. A lot of the jokes have the potential to go over your head. And I admit, most of them did when I first started watching the show. But then my sense of humor expanded, I started think about the more subtle things and wordplay-type jokes. Several of the jokes still had to be explained to me but that made the show that much better. So AD has had a huge influence in my joke telling. This causes me to write a lot of stuff that some people don't get. I recently saw an interview with Rob McElenney, the creator/writer/executive producer/star of FX's Seinfeld on crack, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." In the interview he was asked about his writing style. He said that basically he wrote to make himself and his friends laugh. Which is exactly what I like to do. Rob said you can't please everyone so you might as well just write what you want. So I've tried to keep this in mind when working on scripts lately. It's a challenge for sure but I absolutely love it.

I've also been working on some posters for The Dog Killer. I posted most of them on facebook but some of them crossed the line I think. I would like to take this time to post all of them and also to remind you that no dogs will be hurt in the production of this video.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Maturity?

Its been two years since I graduated from high school. Which means its been two years since someone has called me immature. This concept of maturity has always confused me a little bit. So I did some research. Dictionary.com defines maturity as follows: full development; perfected condition.

Recently, I was told that I acted more mature ever since I started college and to be honest, I was kind of offended. To me, "maturity" isn't about the jokes you laugh at or what you spend your time doing. It is about how you treat people and how you handle certain situations. I try my best not to judge people and just accept them for who they are. Am I less mature than Guy A because I look at video game magazines while he's looking at car magazines? No. I just have different interests. What about if I wear headbands and toe shoes while Guy A is wearing American Eagle or Hollister? No. He is just more comfortable in those clothes. And I'm mature enough to accept that.

Random story: Today is Father's Day, so my family woke up early so we could all go out and eat a nice breakfast before church. Of course we let dad choose where we would go. His choice: Meijer. We bought half a dozen donuts and some milk then we just popped a squat in a sitting area near the entrance of the store. Classy.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

New Purpose Blog

Since I'm no longer using this blog for Media Scriptwriting, I've decided to use it to help organize my thoughts and visualize my ideas. So this blog will be here for my benefit. Not for entertainment. In fact, I expect to be the sole reader of the Blah Blah Blog.

Random story: I decided eat lunch at home in order to save money instead of going to Burger King with a friend. Upon arriving at him I sat in front of my computer, proud of myself for conserving my money (I've been spending a lot of money lately. On things that I don't really need, like a 21 inch HD computer monitor.) I know I can be using my money for something more worthwhile and I'm reminded of this everytime the offering plate comes around at church. Back to the story, I opened my email and was almost blinded by the shiny new message from Amazon nestled within my inbox. It read: Amazon.com HUGE DVD SALE. Needless to say I clicked the link.
So instead of spending about 6 bucks at BK, I ended up spending $30 on DVDs and an old House of Heroes CD....The End. (I also bought the Iron Giant, directed by the great Brad Bird!)

On the topic of spending money and House of Heroes, I bought their House of Heroes Meets the Beatles EP. I've listened to it nonstop since I got it. It's only 3 songs which is disappointing. But I recommend any fan of HoH, the Beatles, or...music in general to check it out. The songs they cover are "Can't Buy Me Love", "It Won't Be Long", and "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da."