More shots from the set

More shots from the Set of All My Sons

Abby - If you see this before we see you put up some of the quotes we were going to use. Thanks :D

Documentary Film

Here's our film

:D

YouTube - Korea Extended

100th Blog Post & All My Sons Set Design

Woot I finally made it. I would just like to thank myself, myself, & myself for never letting me lose sight of my goals. Thank you!

Palmistry

Over the summer I met these two girls at work from Mumbai, India who were fascinated by palmistry. They told me a story about their grandfather who was an expert in reading palms. They said that their grandfather was on a train ride in India and decided to read the palm of a friend and noticed that his life line was divided in two. Their grandfather found this to be strange and proceeded to read the other passengers palms and noticed this same occurrence. He was so freaked out by this that he got off the train prematurely. A few minutes later the train crashed. Now I don’t know if their story is accurate, but I was interested in learning more about palmistry from them and some books. Whether or not palmistry is believable is up for the individual to decide, but I can tell you that it is interesting to read your own palm to help predict the future.

Hofstra University

I transferred about 2.5 years ago from Hofstra University to Stony Brook University. The reason for the change was due to commuting time and overall cost. Since Hofstra was a private college the cost was near $30,000 a year. I would also commute from my home in Setauket to Hempstead. This would take me about two hours a day and naturally more than I could handle. That was when I decided to transfer to Stony Brook University, which happens to be five minutes from house. I cannot believe how convenient it is and how much I am saving; reducing my debt considerably. Stony Brook is a decent college and I am a lot happier here than I was at Hofstra.

Career Path

My favorite part of college is picking out a major (insert sarcastic voice). I cannot understand how in the world colleges expect their students to decide what they want to do for the rest of their lives at such an early age. I know I had trouble when I entered Hofstra University during my freshmen year. I was originally a forensic science major and it just hit me one day that I couldn’t see myself working in a laboratory all the time. When I made the switch to my current major, business, I was a transferring to Stony Brook University. I am still not 100% sure if this is a field I want to pursue after college, but it is a little better than what I was doing before. So all in all, it is unfair to assume that students know what they want to become while they are still trying to understand who they are as individuals. However, I will admit one thing; I would love to do something involving film.

Interview

So I just finished up an interview for an internship with the Career Center for the Fall 2010 semester & Spring 2011 semester. This was the 3rd and final round of interviews. It just so happened that it was a group interview with all 30 candidates who made it to the last round. During the interview the staff at the Career Center asked us a few questions and then paired us into groups for a few additional activities. I am not sure how well I did since I tend to get nervous when answering questions in front of an audience, but I it all counts as good experience. I will know by Monday whether or not I got the internship. I hope I do because it would look pretty good on my resume, plus it would give me a few credits towards my business major.

Wang Center Pics

Random Pics

Fictional War Film

My group has decided to expand our fictional film that we showed yesterday in class. We wanted to add additional pictures of the horrors of war. Our footage will include images from Afghanistan to Korea to World War II. We want to also add images of our relatives who fought in these wars. Then to finish our film we want to add an additional sequence at the end to show what the war of the future will look like. One thing that I am aiming for with this film is how time changes, but war does not. We also want to deal with the theme of the here and there. I think if everything goes according to plan, this film will be very good.

Data Plan

I could not believe that the latest requirement for a new phone is the mandatory data plan. I heard that the various carriers made it mandatory to take out a data plan for any phone in November 2009. They did this because a lot of people who purchased phones with internet access, and did not have a data plan, were found to be using the internet and racking up high fees. I suppose the carriers got tired of hearing these people complain so they just made the data plan mandatory. I do think it’s unfortunate and people should still have the option to take out a plan if they want. I think all of this could have been avoided if the carriers taught their salesmen to provide customers with all of the information upfront instead of trying to push the latest phone on you.

Fire Alarm

Grad School

So I am currently a junior at good old SBU, and I have yet to decide whether or not I should attend graduate school. I know that if I do decide to attend then I should start getting all of the necessary items so I can send away my applications in the fall. However, I might skip it entirely and work for a few years and go back to school for my MBA, since I am a business major. It is so hard to decide what to do now. Sometimes I wish I could see glimpses of my future so I could make the best decision possible.

In addition, I will have to see how bad the state of the economy is next year and whether or not I can get a job after graduation. What also worries me is how much I will be in debt if I do decide to go for a higher degree. All these factors really do add up and it only makes it that much harder for me to decide. I do know for sure that I will start researching this information as soon as the semester is over and I will probably prep for the GRE/GMAT during the summer months.

Playoffs!?!

So I am pretty excited about last night’s Phoenix Coyotes win over the Detroit Red Wings. I have been a huge Coyotes fan since the 4th grade. Being able to see them in the playoffs for the first time since 2002 is a great feeling. It was hard to watch the team struggle for so many years, then near the beginning of this season Wayne Gretzky stepped down as head coach. The team was in total disarray and had to declare bankruptcy. I hope the fans of Phoenix now respect the Coyotes for what they have accomplished and I hope the rest of the NHL realize that the Coyotes are not a push-over team anymore. I really think the Coyotes have a shot at moving on to the second round with their great defense and cannot wait for Friday’s game.

Phone

Is it me or does anyone else really hate to use the phone to communicate with? I always have difficulty hearing the person on the other end and fear that our conversation will start to get choppy because of it. I realize how important the phone is, but I have gotten so used to other forms of communication that don’t require me to speak directly. I do enjoy using the computer or text messages, but will also talk with someone face to face. I purposely look for ways to avoid using the phone. I realize that it is important to feel comfortable while using the phone, but with all of the new technology that keeps killing non-verbal communication it gets harder. It is now my goal to one day change the way I feel.

Volunteer

So I am really excited about next week because Earthstock will be in town. Last year I was able to volunteer for two hours and it was a new experience for me. This year I will be doing the same and I’ve already set time aside with my friends to do some volunteer work together. I remember last year I signed up for the later time slot and had to take the clips off of the tables. I also had to help “Teepee Ted” take down his giant teepee. While doing so he taught us about the Native Americans and their way of life. However, this year I am doing it early so I can leave for work later on and I have no idea what tasks I will be assigned. Hopefully I’ll have as much fun, if not more. I hope to see some of you guys there as well.

Online Movies

So my friend has been pestering me to watch Religulous and introduced me to this site where you can stream movies online for free. So after watching Religulous, which made me question faith as a whole, I decided to search for a few movies I wanted to see in theaters but never got the chance to see. I went on to watch Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay and then I watched The Book of Eli. I really enjoyed the latter of the two movies because I love apocalyptic, sci-fi thrillers and Denzel Washington movies rock (i.e. Déjà Vu). It was sort of weird watching The Book of Eli after watching a documentary film that downplayed religion as a whole. So without giving much away The Book of Eli was a movie based on faith and restoring it back into humanity. All in all, I enjoyed my free movie viewing experience and cannot wait to watch the next movie. Anybody have some good suggestions?

Fantasy Baseball

So I finally got around to signing up for fantasy baseball this year. I usually have 1-2 teams on ESPN, MLB, or yahoo. I actually prefer yahoo for baseball because I feel like I am more in control over my players. This year’s draft went extremely well for my on the offensive side. I was able to draft some heavy hitters who will provide me with enough home runs and RBI’s. I am really happy that I got Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez, and Jason Bay; however, I am extremely disappointed in my bullpen. I was able to pick up Chris Carpenter (who has been subpar this year) and Matt Cain, but the rest of the guys I am taking a chance on. It’s a good thing that there are so many pitchers in gobble up via free agency. I really think I’ll be needing to do that a lot this year.

Hierarchy

After our class discussion on Monday about bullies and the internet, I thought about Prof. Baldwin’s question regarding hierarchy on the internet. I for one believe that the internet is a giant circus. It’s a place for creepers from all over the world to post idiotic comments on random sites. They do not fear retaliation because they figure that they are safe behind their computer screens. If you take www.youtube.com for example, 99% of the posts are complete rubbish. People on the site are making fun of other people for no apparent reason. There is no hierarchy on the internet because the internet is so liberal. Therefore, everyone is going to partake in the act of belittling others because they can feel good about themselves and get away with it.

Bullying

So it should come as no surprise that bullying exists within school. Regardless of how hard the community and faculty try to fight it, bullying will always be around. When Prof. Baldwin asked us if kids our naturally cruel, I quietly responded “no.” I believe that bullying is something that can be learned. Most of the bullies that do exist either have a rough childhood or they are exposed early in life to some form of violence. Again this violence could stem from the home. If it cannot be stopped in the home then there is really nothing that can be done by the school to limit what goes on in the hallways.

In addition to this whole bullying thing, I find it interesting that we always hear about school shootings in the United States. Granted there may be some overseas and it just so happens that they are too small to even make their way onto the news, but this makes me think about American behavior. Are Americans teaching their children wrong? Or maybe our lifestyle makes it easier to produce would be bullies? Who knows, but I for one would be interested in finding out more.