Last night dad and Lynn took me out to RL's to eat dinner. I LOVE RL's with a passion. The title stands for Real Louisiana. The cook, also named R.L., studied under Paul Perdone, the famous New Orleans chef, who is actually famous as Emril. Well, RL used to cook at Perdon's restaurant before he went off and created his own, which he located in Covington, out of all the places in the world. Dad and Lynn went to New Orleans last week and told the waitress at Perone's that RL now cooks in Covington. They appeared shocked and said the last time they heard from RL, he was in New York, and "to bring his black ass back to New Orleans." Dad and Lynn went to RL's after they got back and asked the waitress at RL's to deliver the message to the back. I forgot to mention that RL never comes out to greet. He's always in the back cooking. I think he's the only cook also. Dad and Lynn are quite known now at RL's by the waiting staff. Well, last night RL came out and greeted us. Dad was shocked. RL was a tall, lanky black man who had a strong New Orleans accent. The best part was he stood wearing his pajamas. How cool is that? The came out, thanked us for coming, shook all of our hands, talked for a few minutes and resided to the back. It was really cool! Dad says RL's is literally some of the best eating he's ever done. RL makes all of his food by scratch, and with love. His sauces are amazing, because its like nothing that I have ever tasted in my life. And it's pretty fancy. Minimum lighting, creating a moody atmosphere and deep-tone jazz music playing over the speakers. I heard Louis Armstrong's rendition of "Mack the Knife" and it got me all excited.

And my laptop is working again. I swear it chooses when it wants and doesn't want to work.

Okay, so I just procrastinated a little while since writing this entry. I trotted off to see what plays were being performed in New York this Spring and Summer. I'm dying to have another trip with Amy, and I want to take Drew for his graduation present. There are three really great plays I want to see. The Homecoming by Harold Pinter, November by David Mamet, and Rock & Roll by Tom Stoppard. All three are being performed in small theatres and have some really cool people in them. Also, I just found out that the IFC theatre is doing a French Cinema week, where they show off new French films AND have the filmmakers come and be there live. They are showing Cedric Klapisch's "Paris" and Christophe Honore's "Love Songs." Not to mention BOTH filmmakers will present their films!!! God, I want to be in New York. Something always good happens their. Those filmmakers will never come to McDonough or Barnesville. Maybe I should carpe diem and go. It would be really cool to hear what these director's have to say. It's really interesting because Klapisch's Russian Dolls was first showing when Amy and I first went to New York. Maybe this will be like a reunion to both the city and the filmmaker.

Well, it's off to class. Tonight, Amy, myself and her friend Missy are going to see Peeping Tom tonight at Emory. I'm really excited about seeing it. I have the film on DVD, I just haven't gotten around to watching it. Maybe subconsciously I'm scared to see it and tonight will be some Freudian awakening for me. Not in the sense that I'll start killing people, but in the sense of thinking. I always love seeing mind boggling films that challenge anything. I'm excited.

Yeahhhh, so I've been a bad boy staying away for such a large amount of time. Let's see if I can manage to catch a reader up in one short paragraph. The play went very well, despite various actors who were not properly giving their all. I include myself. In all the performances I have given, every time I leave a stage thinking that I could have done better. I think that's good, because it shows that I can take that and apply it as motivation to continue what it is that I enjoy doing. Daniel Day Lewis seems like the actor who truly doesn't feel like he gives it his all. I don't know this for sure, but I can call him later and confirm it as a source if necessary. It just seems to me that he's been given this talent and cannot help but do a great job every time. Although on the other hand, he works hard. Hard work truly shows. Because, you see this with a lot of actors, where they show off talent and basically live off of that one performance for the rest of their life. Richard Dryfuss for example is a brilliant actor (also is not afraid to arrogantly admit it), but lately he has not given his all. Or at least for me, his role is Poseidon wasn't critically accepted as remarkable. I could go on talking about acting for a while. The Oscars were last night, so that's probably why I feel the need to blog.

I have not written about There Will Be Blood yet. I don't know why. Maybe because it literally is something you cannot describe, but experience. Amy and I have seen it multiple times, and it just seems to get better and better each time, and yet never loses anything. It's truly cinema at some of its finest, and in my opinion, passes No Country For Old Men by a long shot. As much as I liked NCFOM, there just seems to be an over hype about it. Yes, it's a good film, but I didn't leave the theater in amazement like "everyone else." I thought the story was quite interesting, but not worth of winning everything. I really love the Coen brothers and am happy they received an award, but I really felt that P.T. Anderson truly deserved it more. There Will Be Blood was a vision in the mind of Anderson's mind, and he brought it to the screen like nothing he'd ever done before. The Coen brothers, although brought something unique, didn't blow my mind. I found myself stunned and glued to the screen with a gigantic smile on myself several times during There Will Be Blood. And I honestly found myself a little bored during NCFOM. I've really been puzzled on how much a director contributes to a project. Of course it is obvious that the situation depends on the director, but in general it's an interesting question to contemplate over. I remember in Theatre Appreciation, Dan talked about film and said, "The director really doesn't do anything. The actors act, the cameraman shoots it, the director calls action, and that's about it." I thought about this for a while and came up with the sheer fact, that not only is it highly false, but if he wants to go on those speculations, isn't theatre the same thing? "The actors act, the audience watches, and the director says scene, and that's about it." I hate when theatre people talk down about film, and I hate when film people talk down about theatre.

I was happy that Diablo Cody won best original screenplay, but I kept hearing the phrasing "shockingly cavalier" ringing in my mind. It's great that she won, and doesn't fall in with the Hollywood crowd, although how alternative do you have to look in order to not make a statement about making a statement regarding not being labeled as making a statement about the way you look. Haha, I just jumbled that up to make fun of the people who are criticizing her about the way she looks. I think it's cool that she has a tattoo and won an Oscar. She also said, "Thanks to my family for loving me the way I am." And cried, which really was nice to hear. I've read a lot of "intellectual" writers bash Juno for trying to be too clever. I perceived a little of this, but not enough to bash the film. Jesus, some people just look for things to bitch about. I loved the movie, I thought it was cute, and although it won every award given at the IFC Spirit Awards, I still love it. And I watched an interview with Ellen Page before the Oscars, and I really have more admiration for her as an actress and as a person.

Let's see, what else can I talk about before going to class... I have a little over fifteen minutes before my Brit Lit class. I don't have to go to the class on Wednesday, because the individuals not presenting the lecture are taking the regular midterm. I'm really excited about going to class and being able to go home right after. We don't work on Mondays, which makes me excited to go home and do whatever I want.

I finished helping Justin shoot a short in Barnesville yesterday. It was a lot of fun acting in a short and helping out. I was blown away by the quality of the camera and image that presented from only using two lights and about ten minutes of set up time. It seems to me with this mentality, that Kaleidoscope can be shot easily, but like Bret Wood says, I'm not discussing it until plans are set, because I don't was to jinx us. I do have major hopes that this Summer it can be done. Oh, there it goes.

Here are some pictures that I took around Atlanta and other things:

Looking at these pictures reminds me of New York. Speaking of New York, my excellent girlfriend painted me a collage of our tript to New York, and it's like the greatest thing anyone has ever given me. I really want to take her back to New York sometime. It was great. That's another post though.

I'm actually proud of something I made with my own two hands. Ever since I put my 60% in building the Brecht set, I have been all over this making shit. It's so much fun to build things. I never thought I'd be this (fe)masculine. It was really hard. A lot of cutting, measuring, and screwing. Sounds like every other day at work. I just realized that my normal routine is similar to a hooker's. I'm proud that these stairs will be in front of the set for people to walk up and down on and people can stare at. Enough about my minor accomplishment.

I talked to my mom and she said that Jan has been out of town on business again, this time it's in Maryland, and for three weeks. But in a month, she'll be gone for about three months. Mom really sounded sad about this, but I think it will give her and Drew some time to get close. She made a really funny joke earlier last week about being with a woman whose stronger than her. After I commented on the fact Jan will be gone and Mom will have to do everything around the house now, she said, "Oh, we equally do everything around the house, thank you very much. We're equally tough. If I wanted a woman who was tougher than me, I'd be with a man." I laughed really hard after she said this. I love my mom. Sure there are certain strains, but I love her.

I took this picture last week. It's difficult to make out, but if you look closely you can see the trees. The sky was such a beautiful shade of blue that I felt it was necessary to take a picture. Ever since I saw There Will Be Blood, I have been thinking about great cinema and what makes it that. Photography has a lot to do with that. The whole point of film is to tell a story with many juxtaposed images, rapidly transitioning. Every frame should tell a story. At least that is what I always say. It's hard to study each frame. Each frame can be compared to lines of a poem. Some study frame-by-frame, others study line-by-line. I really hope There Will Be Blood wins big this year. The Departed was actually a shocker last year. I was happily shocked that great films were being noticed by the Academy. Paul Thomas Anderson deserves that directing award than anyone. He's really worked his ass off. Only five films credited to his name, and yet the total running time of all combine equals fifteen hours. That's pretty awesome. How about that for a resume. He is such a Hollywood rogue that's an auteur. I've been using that term the more I read about it in Andrew Sarris critique's. P.T. Anderson has a unique vision when it comes to filmmaking. The entire film exists in his head and he brings it out in pieces to keep the story gradually progressing to even his tech people.


I found a great song to put in the Josh and Will Show season finale. It's perfect for right at the end when everything falls apart and a ray of emotions are shown. This song is perfect.

Well, I have run out of things to write about. I'll probably remember them later on today and then forget about it. Oh well, at least my health is progressing. Yay health!

Flem.