RAINDROPS

Its been raining here a lot lately, and I have realized how much I like rain. I suppose I have always known that I liked rain but I have actually been thinking about it I guess. I first came to these thoughts while driving up the rocky road just past End of the Road Ranch in New Castle. I was with my mom, dad and dog and we were going to go on a hike. It started to rain as we drove up the bumpy road and everything looked much more vibrant and lively. It should be said that this area was a very nice bit of forest, it was one of those places that is almost mystical looking, my dad brought up hobbits. It had the feeling of a deep forest because of the silence (broken up by a river that was overflowing due to snow melt) but there was still the flat, overall light that you get from a rainy sky coming through the trees. Everything looks looks alive when it rains, the greens, browns and other colors look more vibrant, it can make you look at things differently. The other wonderful thing about rain is the smell, the smell of rain itself and the smells of earth and trees that it brings out. I put on my dad's raincoat, which went to my knees, and opened my umbrella while I looked around at the lovely place. We walked up the trail as it started to rain harder. There was something about the rain pouring down around me as I peered out from under my umbrella that was so lovely and fantastic that I felt no need to turn around. I liked walking through all that nature in the rain. I think it made me more aware of my senses. Then it began to thunder and I realized how much I enjoy the rippling booming as well. The rain continued for the next few days, and as I was on my way to Keighley's house one night, the clouds began to roll in once more. I saw the lightning before I hit the rain, it was lighting up the sky, exposing the mountain ranges hidden in the darkness. The sky flashed purple and I wanted nothing more than to sit and watch the show. Just before I reached Keighley's place, thick, fat raindrops started to fall and I concluded once more that I really like rain. I can think of other instances that were fantastic, and I attribute some of it to rain. My eighteenth birthday hike with Sophia is one, and my last walk through the gardens with Riley was another. Sometimes it is just wonderful to get caught in the rain, and though I can't really explain why, I find something fantastic in all that water falling.

BRICK

I was looking around the heaps of things on my floor today... the nine boxes, overflowing suitcases, and various spilling piles when I spotted a brown bag that I received from Ian for Christmas. Inside was one of my favorite cameras and a roll of film.
Ian somehow managed to find me my own brick... an SX70 Polaroid camera, and a actual case for it, in the form of the cute brown bag that I spotted in my room, as well as original directions. And he threw in one of his last rolls of SX70 film, which was discontinued a few years ago.
Lorraine bought a bunch of boxes of the film when it was discontinued and Ian and I used to shoot them on his brick. I have been really nervous and hesitant to shoot my "roll" because I know that once I do my camera won't be used very much again, I just have my ten photos left.
That said, though it can be heartbreaking to use my very last Polaroids, I will use them when the time comes, and despite the fact that once they will be gone my brick won't get a ton of action, I love it and its one of my most favorite gifts. I've included photos of how it pops up... it starts flat: thus why we call it a brick.

Also... I found this great website showcasing what can be found in people's refrigerators. I may find it amusing because I often doodle the inside of refrigerators, but none the less, I like it. So check it here.

VIDEOS OF MUSIC

So I have been meaning to add some things for a bit, but have been caught up in end of the year flurries. A very interesting concept in film is the "one take" such as in Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope" where he masks his cuts to give the appearance that the whole thing is shot more or less in one take. There have been a lot of other films that do this as well... such as "Elephant" (the walks through the halls and around the school). Anyway, this concept has also been applied to music videos. Such as Feist. Her video for 1234 is probably more well known... shot in one take... due to the i pod commercial, but I couldn't embed the video, however I did stumble across this while looking: Which is kinda bizarre. Patrick Daughters has directed a bunch of her videos and has a bunch of other goodies. I spent an evening watching them on YouTube the other night, I would recommend looking at some of his stuff. He has this bit in Department of Eagles "No One Does It Like You" where all the female soldiers do ballet that I am fond of. Also, on the subject of interesting music videos, I have to put a Spike Jonze video in here, namely the The Pharcyde's "Drop" video. It was shot backwards, they even learned some of the lyrics backwards, I first saw it in one of Koster's classes, he had the DVD (a compilation of Spike Jonze videos) and was rather fond of showing it. And finally... The Avalanches "Frontier Psychiatrist" because its kinda weird and came up in my last Film One class. Which speaking of which, just made me love Pam even more. I went up to her after it was over and she reacted with "Oh Hanna" and pulled me into a hug and made me promise that we would stay in touch next year. Which of course I would like to do. I wish I was a wee bit older because I could see her going out to a bar with me or something. But alas, I am a youngin. It's weird... I remember the first time I heard this song, it was just after Ian and I started dating, he was in my car and we were driving to Carbondale. We were just about to Catherine's Store when he pulled the C.D. out of his backpack and told me "I have something I think you might like" and put it on. We may have been on our way to radio. Its so interesting and crazy to think of those times... radio and filmfest days. Anyway.

P.S.

So... because Spring Awakening was so great, I was searching for videos. I found this very censored medley (they don't say totally fucked... which is the last song... they cover their mouths) But the show is so much better. So go see it.

GIMME SOME LOVIN EARLY IN THE MORNING

The title of this blog is referring to the song "Gimme Some Lovin" by G. Love and Special Sauce... I really love that song, it has such great lyrics. I'm pretty sure he does a cover of it, but he has a great version. I'm not savy enough to provide a download of the song... there is also the fact that my version of the song is ten minutes long... and seven minutes are silent. I have no idea how it happened since I got it from the C.D... but anyway, check it out if you haven't heard it. So I have a few things to share as usual. I am not doing any of the work I should be doing for finals... but whatevs, at least I got some boxes packed. Today I went to Emerson's last quidditch game, had coffee with Ann and went to Spring Awakening.... which was amazing. It was such a great show, I'm downloading the music right now. I highly recommend it, if the option to see it arrives. I am going to post Kelly's film one final film... I think it came out really well and it gives a nice sense of the beautiful aesthetic of film.

Also, here is a website that has some really amazing photos of a ship graveyard... its really depressing in a way because the sea is like gone now... but give it a look because the photographs are fantastic. And finally... this is a extremely ridiculous video that Riley showed me... he got a comic book called Dino Riders (he is just as into dinos as I am it turns out...) and then discovered that it was also a show. The show is well... I mean even if you just watch the very beginning you'll get it. So here: