befriendthemoose's Xanga

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 21:09:23 GMT

I've moved to L.A. So I've moved to a new blog.

http://deadmoses.tumblr.com/

Just as I started "Befriend the Moose" when I moved to Malone, I'm using "Moses is Dead" to mark a new chapter in my life. Come along with me, won't you?

-Dan

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 04:41:43 GMT

I watched Being There a few weeks ago and have been wanting to draw the main character, Chance (played by Peter Sellers), since then. So here he is.

I found some custom Photoshop brushes online to achieve this messy effect. I like it.

Today I moved off campus, officially ending my final semester at Malone. In January I'll be moving to L.A. to attend a film school for a few months.

Over the next couple of weeks I plan on watching a bunch of movies and working on my own short film. These are things I've been meaning to do for some time now, but I was previously hindered by homework, etc. It's a relief to have all of that out of the way.

Movies I managed to watch over the last couple of weeks:

The Conversation - I watched this as part of a group project for a film class. Very good movie.
The Horse's Mouth - Though a comedy, it didn't make me laugh much. Nice to see Alec Guinness in a non-Obi-Wan role.
Chaos Theory - The trailer made it look better than it was. Some parts were good.
The Ruling Class - Again, I didn't laugh as much as I wanted too. Peter O'Toole is fun to watch, though.

A couple of my favorite videos at the moment:

Oh, and check out this site - it's a collection of movie title sequences. Neat!
http://www.artofthetitle.com/

-Dan

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 05:04:50 GMT

Is this a joke?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/14/second.life.divorce/index.html

-Dan

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 07:13:27 GMT

Drew this the other day (except for the background, which was taken directly from the film). While watching The 39 Steps, I felt a desire to draw something for the first time in months.

Last Thursday I took a trip to Chicago with my roommate to see a Coheed and Cambria concert. It was one of the most frustrating experiences of my life, but good things helped balance it out.

We left at 7:30 in the morning to drive to Cleveland, where we would catch a bus headed straight for Chicago. The bus left at 9:30, and we arrived at the bus stop at 9:31. They didn't wait for us. We called the Megabus phone number, but they weren't willing to stop the bus for us to catch up with it.

We'd planned on this trip for over a month, and I wasn't willing to just skip the whole thing, so I drove my own car to Chicago. It was a long trip, and I had counted on getting some sleep on the bus. So much for that.

We arrived in Chicago and met up with Angie, a friend who moved out there last year. She was an incredible help to us, as she provided us with all sorts of directions and tips on getting around the city. We would have been literally lost without her. It was great to see her again.

The concert was amazing. The band is in the middle of their "Neverender" tour, in which they play all four of their albums in full, one album each night, four nights in a row. We would have attended the whole event if it weren't for school. We saw them perform Good Apollo Volume 1, which was the first album of theirs I heard (and my personal favorite). It was a truly great experience.

Afterwards, we drove to a nearby apartment to see some other friends, Jake and Adam. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find the road sign we needed, and we ended up driving a total of about 80 miles more than we should have. At one point I decided to turn around at the next exit I saw, but there wasn't an exit for another 20 miles. So I was forced to drive 40 miles just to turn around from that point. Having spent the first half of my day driving, this was not a pleasant experience for me. Thank God for dropping gas prices.

Seeing Jake made all the misery from that wasted trip go away. I always enjoy seeing him, which doesn't happen much since he moved to Chi-town. Adam was asleep by the time we arrived, but I watched the end of Wild Hogs and half of State and Main with Jake. I laughed a lot.

My roommate and I eventually made it back to Canton the following afternoon. We missed two days of classes for the sake of this trip. It was worth it, though it was more expensive than it needed to be (I haven't added up our expenses because I'd rather not know).

-Dan

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:52:06 GMT

Watched the audio commentary on Hitchcock's The 39 Steps today. The woman who gave the commentary sounded pretty droll and monotone, and she wasn't always accurate, but she made some good insights.

I simultaneously half-watched The Darjeeling Limited, which my roommate and a friend were watching in the room. This time around I really appreciated Anderson's use of the camera and the staging of his shots.

I forgot that Debussy's "Clair de Lune" was used in that film, and I laughed out loud when I heard the same tune half an hour later while watching South Park. It's one of my favorite piano pieces, but I've noticed that it's overused in movies (prime example: Tony Scott's Man on Fire).

Making slow progress on my own short film, but I feel good about it.

Last night I watched Recount, which coincidentally arrived for me at the library the night of the election. I never knew there was so much back-and-forth during the recount. It's insane.

-Dan

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 03:26:49 GMT

Here's the final chapter in Joe Siebert's series of short films about him and his roommate, Mike. In this one, I got to drive a truck.

Over the past couple of weeks I watched all four seasons of Entourage. I wish I had HBO so I could start watching the new season in a few weeks.

I also watched the first three episodes of The Wire. I can't say I'm enthralled by it.

I saw Tropic Thunder in the theater. It was good, but not great. I was hoping to be blown away by Tom Cruise's cameo, but it was just okay.

I hate hype. It's ruining everything for me. TV shows, movies, music.... My expectations have reached a point where nothing quite measures up. I'm becoming numb to entertainment/art.

I watched Eyes Wide Shut last week. It wasn't bad.

Tonight I plan on watching Control. I hear good things.

On Saturday I'll move back to school. This semester will be busier than usual for me. Tough classes, a job, extra clubs and obligations... and in between all of that, I have to figure out a way to make a short film. Also, about half of my friends graduated last year. I don't know if that will help or hinder me.

Then in the spring, I'm moving to L.A. for a few months of film school. After that, I plan on moving to Chicago for an undefined period of time.

-Dan

Monday, August 04, 2008

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:11:57 GMT

I watched some Spartacus extra features last night and drew this in Artrage.

It's small because I was originally going to draw the whole body, but I ended up spending too much time on the face, and I got kinda worn out.

Bought a poster at Walmart the other day to match my future-roommate's Batman poster.

Yep, people will think we're obsessed. We'll try to balance the room out with other posters.

These three guys appeared on the front Sports page in the Akron Beacon Journal a few days ago.

And later the same day, they ate dinner at my restaurant. They weren't wearing the shirts anymore, but they were still in a line, sitting at the bar. And they're from Ireland, so they had accents.

People at work are saying that one of our co-workers died in his apartment last week. A heart attack or something. I didn't know Eric too well, but he was always a courteous guy, a diligent worker, and he had a sense of humor. I'll miss him.

-Dan

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 02:22:42 GMT

Randy Pausch died today.

Several months ago I watched this video, his "last lecture."

It was incredibly touching and motivational.

Today's news does not sit well with me. I never met the man, but I will miss him.

I encourage you to watch this.

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

-Dan

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:01:42 GMT

Dr. Horrible, I presume....

(Artrage, Photoshop)

Movies I've seen over the past few weeks:

Harvey
Gallipoli - Stunning ending.
Cool Hand Luke
Rounders
The Lion In Winter - Great acting, writing, and music.
Network
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Should have won the Oscar for Best Director.
Tron
The Deer Hunter - Emotional experience.
This Film Is Not Yet Rated - I still need to research the aftermath of this documentary.
The Day the Earth Stood Still
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters - Another emotional experience. Loved it.

They re-aired Christopher Walken's recent appearance on SNL this past week. This time around, I was able to appreciate this bit of dialogue from the Walken Reunion sketch:

Kristen Wiig: "By the way, we finally saw The Deer Hunter.... That movie was Hilarious!"
Darryl Hammond: "Hilarious! Hilarious!"
Christopher Walken: "Thank you. It was good for me, too."

-Dan

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:38:04 GMT

Last night I watched Bad Lieutenant. I enjoyed it, but I kinda got annoyed by Harvey Keitel's groan/whine thing. He might have used it a bit too much.

Just got back from seeing The Incredible Hulk. I went to a matinée for the sake of saving some money, but unfortunately there were only a few other people in the theater. I could have used some good audience reaction. Even so, the movie was good. Can't say I was blown away, though.

-Dan