Barack Obama.

I can't remember ever being so inspired.

I (Noah Berman, Class of 2009) recently participated in a program called Samsung Mobile Fresh Films. Over the course of a week, me and some other local teenagers produced a short film, called Aftershock. As of right now, it's online for voting - if we win we go on to the second round, and if we win that we get sent to LA for AFI Youthfest, where our film premiers. This, understandibly, is a BIG. DEAL.

Unfortunately, we're currently in second place, behind Portland. So I come to you with a plea:

VOTE TODAY! This is the very last day of voting, and so the very last day to help keep some teen film-makers' dreams alive. We're way behind, but we CAN still win!

To just go straight to the vote page, go to http://www.fresh-films.com/VOTING_windows/Action_1.htm. To view the film and THEN vote, go to http://www.fresh-films.com/action.htm

You can also text STLOUIS to 95615 - it's free, other than whatever your carrier charges. You can vote or text as many times as you want, and believe me, we need as many as we can get.

We have until THREE PM today to win this, so let's get cracking!

-Noah Berman

Alfred Hitchcock = Mr. Trapp

"I have the perfect cure for a sore throat: cut it"

Hitchcock's WikiQuote page provides further evidence.

This is an amazing house. If I'm ever fantastically rich, and the family that lives there sells the place...

I'm reading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand at the moment and it's clearly making me want to look at amazing architecture. Although I'm becoming slightly disappointed with Rand - for someone with her particular philosophy, she's shockingly inconsistent.

George Carlin's classic routine. Not for you if you or anyone within hearing distance is not a fan of any variety of, well, "words you can't say on TV."

Haha, The Onion kills me.


High School Tony Awards Honor Nation's Biggest Drama Club Nerds

Woops, that was posted in the wrong place.

Nevermind.

I have just one thing to say: The Raconteurs put on an absolutely amazing concert. I mean, as amazing as amazing gets.


(PS: The Fiery Furnaces do not)

It's still defunct but it's an occasionally...funct...sort of defunct.

---

Working in a coffee shop is a pretty unique experience.

I've met: a priest with a penchant for mochas...a regular who goes through 10 iced teas a day...a jewish/italian family that uses a hilarious combination of italian and yiddish curses...a man who looks exactly like a character on LOST...a rabid Radiohead fan*...an inordinate number of MICDS students...an author/filmwriter...a regular who apparently is a good friend of Tom Morgan**...a coffee roaster who resembles a much, much younger Economon...two guys going on a tour of STL coffeeshops...the list goes on and on.

Which is, I think, one of the reasons I really like this job. The people. Isn't that weird? I hear a lot of friends say that the foodservice industry sucks, especially because of the customers. I disagree - it's not the customers that suck, not really. The suckiest thing about the foodservice industry is the fact that most people are, on the bell-shaped-curve of interesting, smack dab in the boring middle. Sorry. Truth is truth. People are, in general, boring.

I, however, enjoy the sport known as "people watching." I find the human species almost absurdly fascinating, yes, even the middle of the curve boring ones. Think about it. People, even the boringest person imaginable, are so fascinatingly bizarre that I'm actually amazed we've made it as far as we have. And where better to observe human behavior than in the position of the man who places the bowl of feed on the bottom of the cage, the water in the dispenser, the man who cleans up after a long day's observation?

More on this later...in the mean time, if you're interested in a damn good cup 'o Joe, I suggest going to Shaw's coffee. Preferably between 8AM-1PM Thursday, as that's the next time I work this week. Stop in, say hello, order a cuppa.



*Nothing wrong with that.
**Un-confirmed. I ran into Mr. Tom in a bread co, mentioned I worked at Shaw's, he said he was friends with a regular who fits this guy's description.

This journal is now defunct. I don't think I'll be using it for a while, at least other than to post comments on other people's ljs/communities.

Tried deleting all my entries but whatever.

I get the feeling Oscar Wilde was enrolled in a public school with an IB based curriculum.

'nuff said.

Hi all.

I'm currently working on my entry into MoveOn.org's "Obama in 30 Seconds" contest. Basically, the contest is to write/shoot a 30 second (in reality 26 seconds - they add a "sponsored by.." tag at the end) TV ad that will be judged by pretty much everyone. If it wins, it not only goes on the air, but the winner (hopefully me) gets a rather nice sum of money towards film-making supplies. More information on the official website just click that link.

Now, I've got a concept and a script. The only problem is that I need people to help me make this happen - both with a few actors as well as some "idea polishing." I'd very much like to help Barack Obama become the next president of the US of A, and this is a way I can put my film-making skills to work.

So if you'd like to help just comment on here. Even if not...can you think of an Obama idea/policy that is not only appealing to everybody (gender age race whatever) and is also very much to do with our country? PLEASE comment on this below the post. Please please please. Right now I'm going with the "have all combat troops out of Iraq within sixteen months" idea, but if you can think of something else, PLEASE let me know. This is also going up on facebook so if you see it in more than one place, don't be surprised.

THANKS!

Today I went into a Borders to purchase a new Latin dictionary, because Oxford's seriously does not live up to the hype.

I go up to the "Information Desk" and ask the stereotypical hipster Borders employee where I might find a Latin dictionary.

He responds: "Ah, I'll show you."

Excellent, think I. I follow this guy over to a section of the bookstore littered with books containing translations of every language you could ever think of. (And even some you probably wouldn't.)

He walks up to a bookshelf, removes a few Spanish dictionaries and hands them to me.

"Here you go." he says.

Fortunately, just three shelves to the left I found every Latin dictionary ever printed, so all was good.

No more tests.

Just papers and art. damn research notebook.

This is going to be a terrible week.

-N

Wow, what a confusing weekend.

Garfield without Garfield

"Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness in a quiet American suburb."

Garfield's gotten worse over the years, but this is pretty damn amusing.

I've been reading Atlas Shrugged recently, and about an hour or so ago I finished it. It's an excellent book, and I have to say I fall firmly in the category of people who really do like the book, vs. the people who hate it with a passion.

But I've got a few problems with the whole thing, which I'll put under a cut to save your friend's page. Read on if you dare!

( Within the cut, watch me live up to the stereotype of Ayn Rand fans who never, ever shut up. )

Serious business.

If you get an IM from someone named "SanctifiedSalmon," it's a bot of some sort that trolls LJ looking for AIM screen-names. It "signs off" and then it connects you to someone else it has done the same thing to. I'm not entirely sure how or why it does this, but it is a bit odd.

More information when it becomes available.

"Boredom is the feeling one gets when there is a lack of things to do and/or one wants to do something interesting but cannot..."
-Wikipedia


There's no way to talk about being bored without seeing self centered. That's not really all that surprising.

My camera is broken, and Canon isn't repairing the model until they come out with the "Vixia" or "Vidia" or whatever version. "Manufacturer Warranty Guaranteed!"

Hah, hah.