New Blog

As if i don't have enough to maintain.. it suddenly occurred to me that I should have a blog entirely devoted to what I do at school and with the specific topic of web studentry. Actually this occurred to me a while back and I created a MySpace page entirely devoted to that but it's not versatile... thus I created a new BLOGGER blog. I don't have anything expert to say but the goal is to slip it into my resume/portfolio site and at least APPEAR to enjoy my studies. (Which I do.)

So new blog lives here: http://ravenwolfprods.blogspot.com

Gas Huffin' Bad Gals

In film school one is exposed to a variety of films. Films with historical content. Innovative films. Short films. Student films. Bad films (lots of bad films). But the two films that I remember the most are The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (still amazing) and a short film that toured with a student film festival.

Back at Emerson I was the president of a group called "Films From The Margin" and I managed all the film screening events ... which meant that I also had to attend them all and watch more and more of these random strange, independent and often boring films. This one was SUCH a joy. SO good in and amongst the other ... crap... that I just fell in love with it. From time to time I would do an internet search for it. Once I found it on a film site... but then it went away. Once I swear I found it purchasable but when I went back it was gone. I thought all was lost until I told my tale of woe to a friend the other day. One day later he e-mailed me back with a link. A YOUTUBE link! Why the hell did I never think to search YouTube??

But without further praise... I present GAS HUFFIN' BAD GALS!!

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:


Part 4:

Repo! The Genetic Opera

I saw Repo! The Genetic Opera last week. I still can't decide whether or not I liked it. I *think* I did. But some of the lyrics were just sooo horrible. But then... were they so horrible that they reverted to good? Like how pugs and bulldogs are cute because they're so ugly? Someone I know once described Clea Duvall as "that ugly kind of cute." Repo is the same. It's not GENIUS like Clue. But it's not so bad it's good like Rocky Horror or Shock Treatment. Hmm... I still can't decide. Meanwhilessss.... there are 22 songs on the soundtrack so that makes the $9.99 iTunes price a deal. But then there are only a couple I like... but then maybe the others will grow on me. Like any time Paris Hilton sings... that might be catchy.

But here's the best part of the whole movie - Sarah Brightman as "Blind Mag" ... she's just the coolest character! And she's Sarah Brightman... so .. she innately rules.


CHASE THE MORNING

Twittering & Protesting

I'm gonna do a little experiment here... I finally found someone to take me to a protest and I figured I might try to do a little play by play Twittering while I'm there. (If I get there at all.) So follow this blog entry for possible interesting things.

That dang marriage thing!

Being un-politically aware and blissfully ignorant of most things - I did not actually know the following. I just knew that denying me the right of marriage was wrong. Interesting point, below, regarding Massachusetts and the rights they still do not have. My surrogate older sisters were married in Massachusetts several years ago when it first became legal. Then together they had a child. It was a joint pregnancy - one woman carried the other's egg. Both of their names appeared on the birth certificate. But then one day they decided to go on a vacation outside of the country and since their rights didn't extend outside of the state the mother that did not physically bear the child had to ADOPT her own flesh and blood son. Just IN CASE something happened on their trip. I was appalled when I heard that. It hadn't even crossed my mind that something like that would need to happen.

So please read below (which I quote from a forwarded e-mail which was cut and pasted from a blog... I don't know where the original source material is or I would cite it):

Civil unions/domestic partnership DO NOT give gay/lesbian couples the same rights as straight couples. Here are examples of some rights that are denied.

Question: What are the legal benefits of marriage?

With the denial of gay marriage, gay and lesbian couples are kept from more than just a ceremony and marriage certificate. There are many real legal and economic benefits of marriage that gays and lesbians are denied because they are not allowed to marry. What are the legal rights and benefits of marriage?

Answer: According to Lambda Legal Defense, more than 1,400 legal rights are conferred upon heterosexual married couples in the United States. By not being allowed to marry, gays and lesbians are denied these rights. Even in the state of Massachusetts, the only US state with legalized gay marriage, most of the benefits of marriage do not apply, because the Defense of Marriage Act states that the federal government only recognizes marriage as "a legal union of one man and one woman as husband and wife".

Here are some of the legal rights that married couples have and gays and lesbians are denied:

1. Joint parental rights of children
2. Joint adoption
3. Status as "next-of-kin" for hospital visits and medical decisions
4. Right to make a decision about the disposal of loved ones remains
5. Immigration and residency for partners from other countries
6. Crime victims recovery benefits
7. Domestic violence protection orders
8. Judicial protections and immunity
9. Automatic inheritance in the absence of a will
10. Public safety officers death benefits
11. Spousal veterans benefits
12. Social Security
13. Medicare
14. Joint filing of tax returns
15. Wrongful death benefits for surviving partner and children
16. Bereavement or sick leave to care for partner or children
17. Child support
18. Joint Insurance Plans
19. Tax credits including: Child tax credit, Hope and lifetime learning credits
20. Deferred Compensation for pension and IRAs
21. Estate and gift tax benefits
22. Welfare and public assistance
23. Joint housing for elderly
24. Credit protection
25. Medical care for survivors and dependents of certain veterans

These are just a few of the 1400 state and federal benefits that gays and lesbians are denied by not being able to marry. Most of these benefits cannot be privately arranged or contracted for within the legal system.

Now go on over to my blogroll at the right ----------> and click on "The Gay Marriage Thing" blog. And visit The Gay Marriage Thing movie site: http://www.thegaymarriagething.com/ I bid you to do this if you wish to know more about my surrogate sisters that I reference above.

Shout Out

As if I didn't do enough blog shout outs in the last post here are a couple more (this tides me over until Blogrolling.com gets back in business and I can add them to my list on the right --->).

1) Benjamin Hall posted a link to No Smoking in the Skull Cave for Halloween and I promptly added myself as a follower. Today I discovered that Becca (blog writer) had nicely filed my blog under her list called "These Blogs Rule!" Suhweet! Even if she never visits again (I know she did the one time) - what an honor! So here's her shout out:



2) My friend from college got herself a new blog just recently. It seems that, while I thought social networking was going to trump blogs, blogging is more popular than ever! I find myself blogging more and more back here than usual simply because it's more adaptable for the future. I'm also considering making another subblog just about my webdesign stuff (suddenly realizing that I should have been reading webdesign blogs all along). BUT THAT'S NEITHER HERE NOR THERE! The point is - read TheMACdoodle's blog here.

The Faces Are Real!

Turns out that the broccoli faces are real! Before Halloween my friend Jenni sent me an email with a link to the Bread and Honey blog where they posted about the terrifying little faces in the Cascadian Farm broccoli. HA! It was wonderful! But how could I know if it was true when Cascadian Farm is not a brand I knew of. Something I've never seen in my local stores! (Not that I often shop in the frozen broccoli aisle so it might totally be there and I wouldn't know.)

In comes my good friend A who was inspired to investigate! And this weekend she found the culprit broccoli and, together with her entertained new friends at the checkout counter, she was able to locate nine faces. Read more here: It's A Craptastic Life!

Meanwhile - Bread and Honey did a follow up about the broccoli (read here) in which General Mills (broccoli company parent) suggested that the faces would NOT be on the redesign of the package. NOOOOOOO!!!! The faces are most most excellent and I would hate to see them go. (Not that I ever saw them in the first place.) Unspoken tributes are the highlight of a geek's days. And tricky when you can sneak them past your superiors. Back when I was editing sound on a film short my sound designer friend and I upped the level of some roaring white noise when our names appeared on the credit crawl. We're the only two people that know it's there but WE know it's there! And it entertained us to no end.

Plus this has inspired me to put mini faces of myself in all of my design work from here on out.





In other frozen food news I am SOOOO happy to report after nearly two years of constant searching that I have now located a vendor willing and able to sell me STOUFFER'S WELSH RAREBIT. I mean this has been a harrowing journey. I ventured to stores outside of my neighborhood. Grocers with unfamiliar coupons and point systems. Places outside of my zip code! I tracked down corporate headquarters and discussed the food item with store managers. I put ads on Craigslist asking for people to search their neighborhood stores for the Welsh Rarebit that I so covet. I even tracked the item from company (Nestle) to factory (Stouffer's) to distributor to delivery company to store... TO NO AVAIL. Finally, after passing a new store one day I decided, on a whim, to look them up online. YUMMY.COM!!!!!! (Angels sing.) YUMMY.COM (which seems to be a new neighborhood business - a competitor to Pink Dot - filling in where Home Grocer and others like it failed) carries the Rarebit!! At first they only carried it in their Beverly Hills location but they shuffled some stock around (for me) and now also carry it in their Santa Monica store (at Pico and Euclid in Santa Monica). So THANK YOU Yummy.com! I can now feed my frozen cheeze habit once again!! (And it'd go great on that broccoli, come to think of it.)

Found on Current!

This is too funny and so similar to a project I did in school - thus I post.

Feedback and Stickers

Have you ever seen the channel "Current"? Frankly, I think it is awesome. I hate watching the news. I feel that much of it is over my head when it's talking about the world. When it's talking about local things it's merely depressing. Current (the tv channel, not the catalog that sells Christmas cards and wrapping paper) is a news channel for people like me. I want to say it's for "younger" people but I guess I can't claim to be "younger" anymore so I'm gonna make a guess and say that it's targeted to 25-35 year olds. That way I fit in there. :)

The channel itself is designed to be fully interactive - it's like YouTube on TV. But with news. But with USER-GENERATED news. And also user-generated ads. It's a great place to check out if you're a video or filmmaker because you can totally get your stuff on the air if you generate it for the channel. Like MTV it has people that act like VJ's. News Jockeys? NJs? Like YouTube it has a little run time at the bottom of each piece letting you know how much longer the piece is. Most pieces range from 2 minutes to 10 minutes. (Our messed up attention span thanks to MTV and Sesame Street!) It's digestable news by my peers - I can understand it. And I can watch it in small batches when I have only 10 minutes to watch TV.

Current.com is the channel's social site. You can add articles for comments, sign up to be a video maker (by listing your experience with equipment and crew positions), and interact with what goes on the air. If you make it on the air they display your little avatar, screenname and your quote. (Also I love the motion graphics on this channel!)

CURRENTly, the channel is asking for feedback about Proposition 8. I sent my long winded comment in yesterday but you can send your thoughts in at any time. Just send a note to "feedback@current.com" and maybe your comment will make it on the air. You never know who'll see it. Who's mind you might change!

Go to Current.com and look at the bottom right on the footer to see if you get the channel and what number it is.

Also - this website is giving away free Shepard Fairey designed Obama stickers. If you're one of those collectors collecting historic things - you might want one: http://pol.moveon.org/shepstickers/?id=-11840743-FShHT2x&rc=

Nov. 15 - National Protest

On November 15th there will be a national protest against Proposition 8. Check here for the location/event details: http://www.jointheimpact.com/

Petitioning

Because I can't say it better - I quote below:

No matter your opinion on gay marriage, Proposition 8 is about discrimination and elimination of fundamental rights and is therefore unfair and wrong. Never before in California's history has a group, who currently enjoys a basic right, been singled out and then had those rights ripped from them by a vote of their fellow citizens. This decision is so radical and so egregious that every voice must first be heard, no matter how unlikely a changed outcome might be.

Please sign and pass it along.

But please - only sign this petition if you are a California resident.

http://www.petitiononline.com/seg5130/

MEANWHILE - while I was at the hospital and not participating in any important protests... they suggested on the news that it was the large amount of black voters in the state that came out to vote for Obama that ALSO voted Yes on Prop 8. Umm..... hello? Hypocrisy much?

And another MEANWHILE... people keep comparing Obama to Kennedy. Umm ... hello! Kennedy was assassinated... you might want to hush your mouths and knock on some wood.

And once again... MEANWHILE ... the NOonProp8 site has now become the InvalidateProp8.com website. They're now suggesting we donate money and that every time we donate money they'll send a postcard to the leader of the Mormon church since apparently they donated all the money to pay for the ads that convinced people to vote Yes. First of all - their ads were hurtful and dumb and if you had a lick of sense you didn't fall for 'em. So the people that were convinced by those ads were gonna vote Yes anyway IMHO. Secondly, harassing people with an onslaught of mail is just getting into eye for an eye stuff. I think we can be bigger than that. (But then again there was some representative of the church on TV tonight who said something to the effect of, "California voted Yes. The gays need to suck it up." And that makes me want to send a lot of angry postcards to THAT ratbastard.)

Don't get confused!

If you're a California voter I'd just like to take this moment to let you know that a vote in favor of Prop 8 is a vote AGAINST people that you know, that you're friends with, that are members of your family, that you look up to or who look up to you.

It's a vote AGAINST me - as well. I was surprised to learn that some of my friends were confused and thought that to show support for me they had to vote Yes. Don't get confuzzled! Vote No.

(I'm Erin and I approve this message.)