Warming Up

This week has been another fast-paced, exciting week.  On Monday, it was time for classes once again.  In my Development class, we talked about what it takes to make a good script adapted from literature, real life, or anything else you might adapt into a movie.  We discussed the movies "Adaptation" (appropriate, huh?) and "Walk the Line".  We also talked about what makes good script coverage, and we have to submit a coverage assignment next Monday.  We're going to have to visualize a movie adapted from something that's already been published (but not made into a movie).  I've chosen Jim Gaffigan's book "Dad is Fat".  It might be more of a challenge than what other people are doing, but it's such a funny book!  It could potentially be a hilarious movie!  In How Hollywood Works, we started out with a guest speaker.  Usually they come about an hour into the class, but she was there right at the beginning!  She was really great, too!  After she left, we did our usual weekly discussions.  We ended the class by reviewing techniques and principles for a good pitch.  Then a guy from one of the groups did his group's pitch.  It was interesting because the other guy playing the Hollywood executive was really harsh on him!  The other 3 groups (mine included) will do their pitches next week.  After classes were out, I headed back to the apartment to eat dinner and relax.  I have 2 papers due next Monday (the coverage assignment and a midterm paper for How Hollywood Works), but I wanted to take it easy.  I was disappointed because I thought I was going to get to attend a Wheel of Fortune audition session.  A girl from the UTLA program sent me some information and invited me, but we all decided later that it just wasn't practical.  If it weren't in a casino that was over an hour and a half away, it would have been possible!  I was also sad to find out that they were in San Diego on Saturday!  If we would have known about that one, we definitely could have gone!  I was feeling down for that reason and because Brent Getz's death began to sink in, so I cheered myself up by watching "The Naked Gun 2 1/2:  The Smell of Fear".  You can't watch a movie by the directors of "Airplane!" without laughing!  I had never seen that one before, and I saw that Netflix recently got "The Naked Gun 33 1/3:  The Final Insult".  One of the UTLA guys said it was actually his favorite one, so I'm looking forward to watching it!  The girls who I was going to attend the audition with came over to the apartment, and we chatted for a while.  One of them loves Wheel of Fortune, and she's obsessed with Pat Sajak!  She thought he was going to be at the auditions, and that was actually one of the biggest reasons she wanted to go!  Once they had left, it was pretty late.  I got ready for bed after that and retired for the night.  On Tuesday, I got myself over to Karga Seven.  I think I spent the whole day doing character bios, but I worked in postproduction the whole time in any case.  On the way home, I nearly missed my bus because it was about 2 minutes early!  I got there just in time!  You really are rolling the dice whenever you take L.A. public transportation!  After I got home, I made some dinner and then eventually got around to homework.  After a little homework, I just hung out with my roommates.  Wednesday was another lovely day at Glassman Media!  I got myself there in the morning and then spent all day doing fun stuff!  I still don't know if I should share anything online, so I'll keep my lips sealed for now.  I might consider asking if there's anything I can tell because I really want to share it!  When my day there was over, I came back to the apartment and relaxed for a bit.  Normally I would have eaten a quick dinner and run off to my New Media & Emerging Entertainment class, but this week was special!  Instead of our regular class, we had a tour at Starburns Industries!  I carpooled with a roommate and a friend and went over there.  It was a neat tour!  Starburns Industries works in postproduction for traditional and stop-motion animation projects.  I think my professor for that class founded it or something like that!  They're working on a feature-length stop-motion movie right now, so we got to watch some of it and see where/how they made it!  We also got to see a quick promo they made for a TV channel!  Our tour was focused on stop-motion, but they do about half of that and half traditional animation.  Their biggest well-known project is the Adult Swim series "Rick and Morty".  They also made the "Community" Christmas Special, which was stop-motion.  One of the best parts about it was the Texas-sized pizza they ordered for us!  The professor said he always likes to treat the UT students with a Texas-sized pizza, but the Bradley kids joined in!  It was 36 inches!  I wish I could have taken a picture of it, but I left my cell phone at the apartment (not that it really mattered - they confiscated our cell phones anyway).  After that tour was over, I did some homework and then went to the hot tub with my roommates.  We hung out there for a while and then swam in the pool to cool off.  It was pretty much time to get ready for bed after that.  Thursday was kind of an interesting day.  The girl who gives me rides to Karga Seven on Thursdays had to get her car door handle fixed.  We left at our normal time in the morning and went to a car repair place.  When she called them beforehand, they said the repair wouldn't take long.  When they took a look at it, however, they said it would take 1 1/2 to 2 hours to fix!  She wanted to stay there until it was done, but I wanted to find a way to get to work.  I looked up a public transportation route, and she lent me her TAP card (what you use on the buses and subways) because I didn't have either of mine (yes, I have two of them)!  I had no idea where I was, so I took off in one direction to try to find the bus stop.  It said the total walk (including the walk from the subway station to the Karga Seven building) was 0.83 miles, so I figured the bus stop must have been fairly close.  After I walked a long way in that direction, I looked it up on Mapquest and turned around.  As I was passing by the car repair place again, I saw that they were pretty much done fixing her car!  Thankfully, their second time estimate was off!  They charged her $90, but it doesn't really matter to her - it's on Paramount's dime!  Some guy at Paramount was the one who accidentally messed it up!  We got to work a little late, but she informed our supervisor in advance.  I spent the day making more character bios and doing other postproduction stuff.  Then I ate dinner, chilled, and did some more homework.  I named this post "Warming Up" because it's finally starting to feel like southern California again!  Monday was cold and rainy (the same as the weekend), but it's been sunny and progressively warmer the past couple days!  Friday will be even better, and I can't wait to enjoy some of the beautiful weather!