Cool Teacher alert!!

Diane and I were surfing the web and found a very cool website, and a very cool highschool english teacher from Idaho.  Ms. Erin Daniels teaches a journalism classand has built a very impressive site.  I just wish all teachers were this cool. Oh well.Take a look at the website byclicking here.[I’m going to get a C- for this entry because I used “very cool” twice in the samesentence and didn’t capitalize “english”.  I’m such a failure!]

Posted by admin Posted in: Education, History, News, Photography No Comments » January 2004

Academy Award Nominations

As I predicted inOctober “Lost In Translation” has been nominated for severalAcademy Awards.  This amazing film has been nominated for Best Picture, BestActor (Bill Murray), Best Director (Sofia Coppola),  and (as I predicted)Best Original Screenplay (Sofia Coppola).Other notable nomination:”City of God” - Cinematography, Directing, Film Editing, Adapted Screenplay. This is one of the most compelling movies that I’ve seen in years.  It shouldalso have been nominated for Best Picture.As we all know these great films will not win much.  Sofia Coppola will win BestDirector because she’s the first American female to ever be nominated in that category. She should win because her film was simply the best.  I predict that City ofGod might win Best Film Editing, but otherwise be overlooked entirely.The big budget films will take everything.  Expect “Lord of the Rings” (snore)to win in Titanic fashion.  “Finding Nemo” will take a statue or two, and SeanPenn or Ben Kingsley (probably Sean because Ben already has a little guy) will winBest Actor, comedians just don’t win.Murray has a little hope because he was entirely overlooked for his role in “Rushmore”and the Academy has a bad habit of giving out awards for past performances. How else do you justify Russell Crowe winning Best Actor for “Gladiator”?  Hegot the award for his unrecognized work in The Insider.  Denzel Washington wonBest Actor for “Training Day”, right?  No way, he was getting pay back for hispast roles.  What a shame.Murray should win because he was brilliant.  He’s been brilliant in the pasttoo.  “The Razor’s Edge” and “Rushmore” were both incredible perfomances. But, as I said, comedians just don’t win.We’ll see what happens on Oscar night (Feb 29).  Let’s hope the real winnersactually win.Click here for complete list ofnominations.

Posted by admin Posted in: Movies, News No Comments » January 2004

Phoenix Library

Diane and I took a trip downtown and spent some time photographing the Phoenix PublicLibrary.  Diane took this picture of the desks and I thought it was just awesome. You can see more of the abstract photos in my abstract library by clickinghere.

Posted by admin Posted in: Photography No Comments » January 2004

Screenplay tempate for Word 2003

I looked all around and couldn’t find any screenwriting templates for Word 2003. So created a very simple one.  Nothing fancy, just slugline, descriptive text,character name, etc formatting.  Margins, page numbers, and fonts are also included. You can download it here, let me know if you make any improvements.  I’ll repostthe file when I make any changes.Screenplay.dot(21.5 KB)[Updated]So I decided to go ahead and create the scene that’s in the screenplay template. Here it is:screenplay-movie.wmv(1014.71 KB)And for those of you who don’t care about downloading the template, here’s the scene:

INT. DAY - OFFICE

MARK looks at his COMPUTER and scratches his head.  Hetypes a few words on his KEYBOARD.  Heclicks his mouse very fast, repeatedly, furiously.

MARK

(shouting)

Stupid computer!  Whatthe…?  Didn’t anyone create a help filefor this stupid screenplay template?

Mark rubs his head in frustration.

FADE TO BLACK

The end.

Posted by admin Posted in: Film Project No Comments » January 2004

Red Tie is born

• AmuletFilms
• LivingSpirit Pictures

Posted by admin Posted in: Film Project No Comments » January 2004

New XL1S

Well I got my new Canon XL1S today. It’s pretty cool.  So far I’ve only had enough time to put everything togetherand charge the battery.  I played with it a little bit tonight.  It’s agreat camera for professional production quality work.  I’m not crazy aboutthe shoulder rest, and the zoom on the lens is a bit jumpy and uncontrollable. But that’s not a big deal because there are several manual lenses that I can easilyrent or purchase if I need that kind of control.I’m working with my friend Travis in Hollywood to create a short film by this fall. Currently I’m working on a couple of script ideas, once I have something solid Travisis going to help with the rewrite(s) and help with plot structure.  If I’m luckymaybe he’ll do some acting as well.I plan on submitting the short next year for the PhoenixFilm Festival.  There are a bunchof festivals around the area, especially in LA, and I’m planning on entering asmany as I can afford.  But first I need to finish the film, that will be an accomplishmentin and of itself.

Posted by admin Posted in: Movies, Photography No Comments » January 2004

Coffee Plantation, XL1S

  This weekend Diane and I met up with our friends Cecil andDonna at the Coffee Plantation in Scottsdale.  That place is always filled withinteresting characters.  I asked Cecil to bring some of his cameraequipment along so he could teach me a few things, I was really interested intrying out his spiffy Canon550EX flash.There was a really cool band playing (with a wild violin player) and they had a bunchof girls dancing in the crowd.  I got a few decentpictures, none stellar, I have a lot to learn about flash photography. We hung out and took pictures and Cecil taught me some neat stuff about the flashunit.  Now I’m going to have to get one for myself. :)In other news, I bought a new CanonXL1S digital video camera.  I’m hoping to use it to film a short film thisyear.  I’d like to have something in a film festival this fall.  I havea few ideas that I’m working on, but nothing solid yet.  I’ll keep the blog updatedas I put things together.Well I think that’s all the news from sunny Arizona.  Keep coming back, thingsare updated very frequently.

Posted by admin Posted in: Movies, News, Photography No Comments » January 2004

Intel Fourth-Quarter Revenue Of $8.74 Billion At Record Level

Intel set a record in Q4 2003 with a revenue of $8.74 billion.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 14, 2004 - Intel Corporation today announced fourth-quarterrevenue of $8.74 billion, up 12 percent sequentially and up 22 percent year-over-year.Fourth-quarter revenue was slightly higher than the previous record of $8.73 billionset in the third quarter of 2000.

Fourth-quarter net income was $2.2 billion, up 31 percent sequentially and up107 percent year-over-year. Earnings per share were $0.33, up 32 percent sequentiallyand up 106 percent from $0.16 in the fourth quarter of 2002.

We rock.  AMD is good, Apple is fantastic, Intel is the best.

Clickhere to see the official press release.

Posted by admin Posted in: News No Comments » January 2004

Death for Dessert website…

My sister’s website is up and running.  Now you can get all kinds of info aboutmy sister’s book, Death for Dessert, at my sister’s website: www.tdawnrichard.com. Check it out, it’s cool!

Posted by admin Posted in: Books No Comments » January 2004

More great music from The Innocence Mission

Once again I’m addicted to an Innocence Mission CD. This time it’s the Glow CD.The song “That was another country” is mesmerizing. If you’ve never heard of The InnocenceMission I highly suggest you check them out. They have a very simple sound, it’s relaxingwith meaningful lyrics. Click here to go to their website. They have a new CD, Befriended,that I haven’t heard yet. It’s said to be amazing. “Any recording that can take its listeners out from where they are and directlyinto where they’ve always wanted to be is nothing short of a grand achievement. TheInnocence Mission’s Befriended is one of those albums.” - Venus>

Posted by admin Posted in: Music No Comments » January 2004

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