Monday, March 26, 2007
Got Structure?
Apparently, colors provide insight into the deep complexities of my life, and the Internet knows it.
I did that thing Karen posted on her blog. At least 95% of what it told me is true. I am now officially scared. All I did was put some colors in order! And here's what I got:
"You appear to others around you as a person who is simply 'laid back'. From time to time you shelve your ambitions and forgo the desire for prestige and recognition and you are often considered as mentally lazy. You have the ability and you are the first to know this, but you prefer to take things easy and indulge your longing for comfort and security.
You are willing to try anything once. You 'need to be needed' and what is perhaps more important you 'need to need.' You can only feel close to a person or persons when you feel you can trust them, but this trust needs to be proven to you.
You feel that you should be appreciated far more than you are but no-one seems to care! You feel that you are receiving less than your share and the main problem is that there is no-one to whom you can turn to for sympathy and understanding. The inner stress that you are experiencing makes you quick to take offence but you realise that at this particular moment in time there is little that you can do to relieve the situation.
It is said that we are all influenced by our environment and indeed you are no exception. It would seem at this time that even though you may be surrounded by people, you are experiencing an inner loneliness. Fortunately you are sufficiently strong minded to realise that life has a great deal to offer you and that you may miss your share of experiences if you fail to make the best use of every opportunity. You therefore pursue your objectives with a fierce intensity and are prepared to commit yourself deeply and readily. You believe that whatever you would like to do or think 'you can do' - you do! It is because of this attitude that you may be considered by others as arrogant and even conceited, but its fair to say that whatever it is that you really want out of life you will put your heart and soul into it and will not take 'NO' for an answer.
The fear that you may not be able to fulfil or realise all of your ambitions makes you work and play hard. The thought of being prevented from achieving the things you want leads you to play your part with frantic fervour."
I'm not sure if this means technology is extremely advanced or I'm just extremely simple.
I am debating starting my own podcast on Talkshoe. Ponder this further I will.
I am currently working on a short film as part of a group project for one of my Honors seminars. I'm glad I'll be able to at least get a little more hands-on filmmaking experience before the summer. Hopefully the result won't be awful.
Also, I have been accepted into a program to study abroad in China. Woohoo! I am contemplating filming a documentary while I'm there. We will see what happens.
In movie news: I had a conference call with Jon Heder today. He seems like a nice guy. I asked him how his religious background (according to Billy Bob Thornton, he's a nice Mormon boy who doesn't swear) affects how he chooses his roles. He said the sort of thing I'd expect from a religious person in Hollywood: as an actor, he's got to be willing to break down certain barriers, but there are obviously some things he just won't do, and if you know the kind of roles you want, it isn't hard to find them.
The third season finale of Battlestar Galactica was on last night. If my thoughts on this season had to be summed up in one sentence, it would be this:
This season could have been the best yet if the writers had structured it better. As it stands, it's probably the worst.
Season 3 starts off with a bang. The first three to four episodes are fantastic. I think "Exodus Pt. 2" is probably the best episode of the show yet, and arguably even one of the best hours of television ever. It's amazing. However, after those first few episodes, the season really starts to get bumpy, structure-wise. Whereas Season 1 was entirely progressive, and Season 2 had only a few self-contained episodes, this season had a lot of them. I think if I went back and counted them, at least half of the episodes were filler. The show really has started to go the Star Trek route, where there would be weeks and weeks of episodes that really didn't follow the larger story arc. It works with a show like Star Trek, but when a show starts out entirely progressive, it needs to stay mainly progressive. It's okay to have some filler here and there to focus on smaller individual character arcs, but this season just went overboard. It's not that the self-contained episodes are bad, it's just that they don't contribute anything to the overall story, and when you go for four to five weeks without referencing what's happening with the big picture, it can get annoying.
This season had plenty of material in it. There are a lot of good plot and character threads that could have been more fully developed and stretched out over a longer period of time. Unfortunately, due to the poor structure, a lot of these threads don't get the time they deserve or need.
That said, the show is still good. The beginning of the show is fantastic, it picks up again in the middle, and also manages to end on a strong note that leaves me really curious to see what happens in the next season. However, even in the finale, there are some serious editing and structural issues. The main thing, for example, is the last scene. The big cliffhanger, oh-my-God-what-does-this-mean moment. What do they pick for that scene? THE ONE THING WE ALL KNEW WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. Really, nobody is stupid enough not to see it coming. The scene before the very end is much darker and more intriguing. Oof.
Hopefully Season 4 will have some better structure. Unfortunately, it won't air until 2008. Noooooooooooooooooooo! Apparently they're also going to release a 2-hour television movie in late 2007. But until then, what will I do without my Battlestar? Especially since Dexter isn't coming back soon either?
Speaking of poor structure, here's a short little video about how George Lucas screwed up the continuity of his own story with the prequels.
So true. So true.
Oh, and I should probably mention that you can listen to music on my blog now. That's what those little players are on the side. Yay.
Quote of Da Moment:
"Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."
--Kahlil Gibran
"The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration."
--Pearl S. Buck
I did that thing Karen posted on her blog. At least 95% of what it told me is true. I am now officially scared. All I did was put some colors in order! And here's what I got:
"You appear to others around you as a person who is simply 'laid back'. From time to time you shelve your ambitions and forgo the desire for prestige and recognition and you are often considered as mentally lazy. You have the ability and you are the first to know this, but you prefer to take things easy and indulge your longing for comfort and security.
You are willing to try anything once. You 'need to be needed' and what is perhaps more important you 'need to need.' You can only feel close to a person or persons when you feel you can trust them, but this trust needs to be proven to you.
You feel that you should be appreciated far more than you are but no-one seems to care! You feel that you are receiving less than your share and the main problem is that there is no-one to whom you can turn to for sympathy and understanding. The inner stress that you are experiencing makes you quick to take offence but you realise that at this particular moment in time there is little that you can do to relieve the situation.
It is said that we are all influenced by our environment and indeed you are no exception. It would seem at this time that even though you may be surrounded by people, you are experiencing an inner loneliness. Fortunately you are sufficiently strong minded to realise that life has a great deal to offer you and that you may miss your share of experiences if you fail to make the best use of every opportunity. You therefore pursue your objectives with a fierce intensity and are prepared to commit yourself deeply and readily. You believe that whatever you would like to do or think 'you can do' - you do! It is because of this attitude that you may be considered by others as arrogant and even conceited, but its fair to say that whatever it is that you really want out of life you will put your heart and soul into it and will not take 'NO' for an answer.
The fear that you may not be able to fulfil or realise all of your ambitions makes you work and play hard. The thought of being prevented from achieving the things you want leads you to play your part with frantic fervour."
I'm not sure if this means technology is extremely advanced or I'm just extremely simple.
I am debating starting my own podcast on Talkshoe. Ponder this further I will.
I am currently working on a short film as part of a group project for one of my Honors seminars. I'm glad I'll be able to at least get a little more hands-on filmmaking experience before the summer. Hopefully the result won't be awful.
Also, I have been accepted into a program to study abroad in China. Woohoo! I am contemplating filming a documentary while I'm there. We will see what happens.
In movie news: I had a conference call with Jon Heder today. He seems like a nice guy. I asked him how his religious background (according to Billy Bob Thornton, he's a nice Mormon boy who doesn't swear) affects how he chooses his roles. He said the sort of thing I'd expect from a religious person in Hollywood: as an actor, he's got to be willing to break down certain barriers, but there are obviously some things he just won't do, and if you know the kind of roles you want, it isn't hard to find them.
The third season finale of Battlestar Galactica was on last night. If my thoughts on this season had to be summed up in one sentence, it would be this:
This season could have been the best yet if the writers had structured it better. As it stands, it's probably the worst.
Season 3 starts off with a bang. The first three to four episodes are fantastic. I think "Exodus Pt. 2" is probably the best episode of the show yet, and arguably even one of the best hours of television ever. It's amazing. However, after those first few episodes, the season really starts to get bumpy, structure-wise. Whereas Season 1 was entirely progressive, and Season 2 had only a few self-contained episodes, this season had a lot of them. I think if I went back and counted them, at least half of the episodes were filler. The show really has started to go the Star Trek route, where there would be weeks and weeks of episodes that really didn't follow the larger story arc. It works with a show like Star Trek, but when a show starts out entirely progressive, it needs to stay mainly progressive. It's okay to have some filler here and there to focus on smaller individual character arcs, but this season just went overboard. It's not that the self-contained episodes are bad, it's just that they don't contribute anything to the overall story, and when you go for four to five weeks without referencing what's happening with the big picture, it can get annoying.
This season had plenty of material in it. There are a lot of good plot and character threads that could have been more fully developed and stretched out over a longer period of time. Unfortunately, due to the poor structure, a lot of these threads don't get the time they deserve or need.
That said, the show is still good. The beginning of the show is fantastic, it picks up again in the middle, and also manages to end on a strong note that leaves me really curious to see what happens in the next season. However, even in the finale, there are some serious editing and structural issues. The main thing, for example, is the last scene. The big cliffhanger, oh-my-God-what-does-this-mean moment. What do they pick for that scene? THE ONE THING WE ALL KNEW WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. Really, nobody is stupid enough not to see it coming. The scene before the very end is much darker and more intriguing. Oof.
Hopefully Season 4 will have some better structure. Unfortunately, it won't air until 2008. Noooooooooooooooooooo! Apparently they're also going to release a 2-hour television movie in late 2007. But until then, what will I do without my Battlestar? Especially since Dexter isn't coming back soon either?
Speaking of poor structure, here's a short little video about how George Lucas screwed up the continuity of his own story with the prequels.
So true. So true.
Oh, and I should probably mention that you can listen to music on my blog now. That's what those little players are on the side. Yay.
Quote of Da Moment:
"Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."
--Kahlil Gibran
"The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration."
--Pearl S. Buck
# posted by Andrew Johnson : 3/26/2007 01:00:00 AM 
