100th Blog {Post - The Tank}

Well yesterday was so-so for me. I was really counting on some people whom I consider "my friends" to show up to the event. But long behold they all flopped miserably so I apologize if I wasn't in the greatest of moods.

The train ride into NYC went well. I met up with two girls from my THR 216 class and we walked from Penn to The Tank together. The event itself was intriguing and I thoroughly enjoyed watching everyones films. I think the best part of the day was talking to the soldier and getting his perspective on the situation in Afghanistan/Iraq as well as his first hand experiences overseas.

After the event was over I walked back to Penn and hung around for an hour or so waiting for one of "my friends (cough, cough)" to call me to meet, but she never did. Apparently her excuse was that she was working late, but she probably just forgot. Blah. Afterwards I boarded my train set for Huntington and crossed over to the Port Jefferson line. I arrived home around 9-ish. Boy was I tired after arriving home.

This whole experience has been humbling. Taking a trip to the city and performing at a media venue close to Times Square was great and I am sure to add that on my resume. I really enjoyed attending Prof. Baldwin's THR 403 class and met a lot of great people. I wish all of you guys the best of luck in the future; especially those of you who are graduating this year. I really feel like we connected as a group and don't think it will happen again in any of the classes I still have to take. So this is my farewell blog. Take care everyone!

~Matt~

P.S. Prof. Baldwin please watch my other documentary film on Youtube. Its titled Culture Degree. Also, I sent you my portfolio that you requested for the THR 216 class. I would really appeciate it if you could take a look at both pieces. Thank you.

Pre - The Tank

I am really excited about this Saturday. I have already called a lot of my friends, but they all flopped and said they couldn't come for some BS reason. I guess that's why I call them my friends, right? However, I did manage to get a buddy of mine from my advertising and promotions class to come, my 2 cousins, and a friend of mine from SBU who graduated last December. So I hope all goes well and I don't get lost along the way. I am fortunate enough to have my cousins coming along with me who are a lot more familiar with the city than I am.

Here are the pieces that I have decided to showcase at the event:

#1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0rjZojG7_U

#2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81b7ZJgj8S0

The first one is a documentary film on international students, while the second one is a documentary/fictional film I did with my grandfather who is a Korean War Vet.

I have also been working on some stage decorations for The Tank. Here are a few of the pics from a scene in Arthur Miller's All My Sons using SketchUp.






So........ if anyone is interested I will be leaving from Stony Brook Station near 10:00 am. The line then transfers at Huntington and then straight into Penn Station. Maybe I'll see some of you there!

All My Sons

Here are some good quotes I found in Arthur Miller's play:

Keller - Well that's what war does. I had two sons, now I got one. It changed all the tallies. In my day when you had sons it was an honor. Today a doofer could make a million dollars if he could figure out a way to bring a boy into the world without a trigger finger.

Mother - Honest to God, it breaks my heart to see what happened to all the children. How we wroked and planned for you, and you end up no better than us.

Keller (pleading) - Chris, a man can't be a Jesus in this world.

Terrorism

Link to the article: http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/king-south-park-may-have-triggered-foiled-bombing-1.1891567

I think everyone should read this since it indirectly involves out project next week at The Tank. Apparently a suspicious van was parked outside a building near Times Square (very close to where we will be presenting). The van itself had explosives inside and was set to detonate. Fortunately, it malfunctioned and the police were able to restore the peace. As for the visitors in NYC this event could only be classified as hell. Many of them were stranded and traffic was horrendous. We should be happy that nothing bad happened and that we were not scheduled to go into the city this weekend. Let’s hope that this situation gets taken care of and that our show goes smoothly. We have been preparing for this event for some time and it would be terrible if it got cancelled.

Lotto

It would be really cool to win the lotto. I know there have been a countless number of times that I have played Mega Millions when the jackpot was well over 100 million, but had no luck. There was even this one time that I had all five numbers just in different boxes. The part that would intrigue me the most about winning would be to see how many people come out of the woodworks. If I won I would probably have friends calling me that I haven’t spoken to since elementary school and people claiming to be related to me in ways that are too confusing to process. I would like to see how I could handle that type of pressure. I would probably have so many people trying to communicate with me that I would need to hire armed guards. With so much money I could even realize my dream of becoming a famous Hollywood director. Until then I can only dream of stuff like this happening.

Life Exists Elsewhere

Here is a link to the article: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-04/hawking-aliens-are-out-there-and-want-our-resources

So apparently life forms do exist on other planets according to Stephen Hawking. He also said that it is plausible for these life forms to be very hostile. Their intention may be similar to that of the aliens in the movie Independence Day starring Will Smith. If that is the case then we are definitely doomed. More advanced life forms will have technology that surpasses our own and it will be easy for them to conquer our world. Of course this may all be speculation, and it may never happen. After all the universe is still expanding and there is a lot of space to cover out there, so how likely would it be for aliens to find our home planet? If life does exist out there then I hope it is benevolent. We could probably learn so much from other life forms and it would help to advance our civilization. It would also make our existence seem less minuscule.

Clubbing

So I went to this club in Smithtown and had a really good time with my friends. I am always nervous about gaining entrance into a club because I am only 20 (I will be 21 in 3 months) and I don’t look my age. Fortunately, I just had to show the bouncer my SBU ID in order to gain entrance into this particular club (I knew SBU was good for something). However, I was too slow to move around him and a few kids cut in front me. During that time the bouncer asked for my ID again. At first I was taken back and couldn’t believe that this guy didn’t remember me, but he was too big to mess with so I just gave him my ID. At first he thought it wasn’t real, since he let someone else in with the same one. That was when I told the “genius” that I was the same guy from before. Once we got inside we did some dancing and the girl I was with told me to move my hips more. I realized at that moment just how bad I was at dancing. I really have to step up my game next time.

Buyer's Remorse

I am sure we have all felt buyer’s remorse at some point in our lives. You buy a product at a store that you think you like. When you return home you start thinking to yourself about whether or not you made the right decision. Then you have to convince yourself that the product is perfect and is just what you needed. I know it has happened to me before. I bought a new phone nearly a year ago and I didn’t really care what type it was as long as it was a touch screen. So while I was at the Verizon store the first touch screen that the salesman showed me I said yes to. It was kind of foolish on my part now that Verizon has enforced a data plan for all phones, but I really didn’t care at the time. After getting home I started to think if this phone was even good enough for me and I had to convince myself a hundred times that it was just as good as the other phones in the store.

It's Really Me

Trust me I really do look like that minus the green flames. A buddy of mine did the pic for a project in my Bus. 334 class. Apparently I was involved in a lab accident while developing new technology for the government and now I can shoot fire from my hands. Hope you all enjoy this pic.

Here is also a link of the video we did that includes this wonderful pic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taFu_gnnagk

Career Center Intern

Bam! So I got the call from the Career Center here at Stony Brook U. and they told me that I got the internship position that I applied for. I am kind of excited about this because it might be a good experience for me since I am entering my senior year and they could help me land a job right after I graduate. I am also skeptical because it might not be the type of internship that employers are looking for once I make it to the “real world.” However, I cannot be picky since the current state of the economy is so bad. I know that some companies are turning to experienced individuals in their 30’s or older, who have been recently laid off, for internship positions. I can always pick up another internship down the road, but for now this is the one. I start in the Fall 2010 semester and end in the Spring 2011 semester. It involves 12 hours a week and other various duties. Hope it all goes well.

I Want It

I feel as if there are a lot of things in life that you are going to want. It’s human nature to always want something else, whether it’s a new car or a new phone. For me it’s a lot different. I have noticed that over the past few years the amount of things that I want is dwindling. Nothing really excites me the way it used back when I was a child. I know many people would question my motives, but there is nothing to lie about here. Currently, there is only one thing that I really want and I’ve felt this way for a few months now. I cannot say what it is, but I can tell you that I will never get it. To come so close to actually having a desire for something different and then watching it slowly blow up in your face is an experience no one should have to go through. All I know is that it will take me a while to get over my set back.

Impostor

So as we all know MajorSupporter123 was the fake name that I created for the site anysoldier.com. This site is the only one that I know of that includes a chat area. This could help us to obtain soldiers for our final if other members (aside from Connorsmom) joined in. I do feel bad for posing as a soldier overseas, but I figured it would help to make the soldiers on the chat site feel more comfortable. Obviously it didn’t go as planned because no one really showed up, but I intend to give it another try. Hopefully more soldiers will show up next time and I promise that I will be more careful about what I say. We don’t want another repeat of Thursday where I kept getting private messages from Connorsmom (wink, wink).

Final Piece for Film

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayMWQ-DIM4U

^ link to the documentary/fictional film I did for the THR 216 class. I plan on showing this in addition to the documentary film I made earlier this year at The Tank. Hope you all enjoy it!

Set Design

War Footage 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojd272r5XPE

^ Another link. Same goes for this one too.

War Footage 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buDxywd0lWU

^ Link to a short vid that I made with some people from the THR 216 class. I hope to add it in to the documentary/fictional film that I am working on for that class.

SBU B-Ball

Student Death

About a week ago a Stony Brook student was crossing the road near the south entrance of campus at 9:00 P.M. when he was suddenly struck and killed by three cars. The student was a male, 20 years of age, and was just beginning his college education after arriving in the United States from China. I could not believe that something like this could happen and feel sorry for the boy’s parents who have to fly in from China to bury their son. It always saddens me to read stories like these when an individual is killed at such an early age. I realize that the road is somewhat to blame for this student’s death. As we all know there are no streetlights on Nichols Road when there should be since it is a heavily trafficked road. I think the university kept this hush-hush in order to not cause any more controversy after having to shut down their other campuses. Shame on them.

Watchmen

So I just finished watching this movie, Watchmen, and thought that it was great. I enjoyed the whole aspect of having real life superheroes with ordinary abilities. It was really interesting to see how history was altered because of their presence. It also makes you think if we really need superheroes to watch over us and protect us. The film also alluded to just how messed up society has become over the years. I also thought the ending was rather unexpected. The decision by a former superhero to kill millions in order to save billions is a decision that no one should ever have to face. I suppose it was the right decision in the end in order to prevent nuclear war. Overall, I would definitely recommend this movie.

Earthstock

So as many SBU students already know this entire week was Earthstock – a celebration of Earth Day. Today (4/23/10) was the final big event where a number of exhibitors come to SBU to educate the public about environment friendly methods. I was taking part in the event as a volunteer with a few of my friends. I took part in this same event last year, and was so impressed that I signed up for a 2nd year. Our duties today consisted of helping the exhibitors set up their stands, distributing balloons throughout the Academic Mall, and helping anyone who was lost or confused. I really had a lot of fun and I cannot wait to sign up again next year.