Four highs and a Low

This year I made an effort to participate in the Trash Film Orgy Zombie Walk.
This year also happens to be the 10th anniversary of TFO and all their loyal fans/Sacramento
weirdos will try to break the current record for number of participants in a zombie walk.
As some know, the Trash Film Orgy is credited for starting the first ever zombie march in
attempt to gain publicity for their B-movie festival. The record is currently set at 4,016
(set by a college campus, no fair!) while us, the humble trend-setters, were only able
to gather 700+ people. Later that evening there was a bungled attempt at forming the
world’s largest zombie conga line.

You can watch the full parade of zombies here (try to find me):




The Trash Film Orgy will have midnight showings every Saturday (July 10th - August 14th) at the historic Crest Theater.


On a more academic note:

About a month ago (but realized today) CRC has finally granted me an Associates of
Arts degree in Film and Media Studies. I understand that in the eyes of employers an
AA is about as valuable as a high school diploma, but I finished it with a 4.0 GPA giving me and Honors award. Too bad I didn't pay to attend the graduation, I would have gotten to wear a gold sash or something to that effect. It does feels good to finally have a
collegiate degree to wave in people’s faces. Either that or tastefully hang it on the wall.
This Fall semester is going to be the kickoff for a long year ahead of me. After only
spending two semesters at CSUS, I’ll be able to submit my petition to graduate Fall
2011. It’s incredibly exciting to think that I’m almost near the finish line. Done with one
degree and onto another!

While we’re on the topic of earning degrees, I’ve made it a goal for myself to finally get
my lazy butt certified in Final Cut Pro (Level 1) and Apple Motion (Level 1). For quite
some time, I’ve understood that you can’t move very far or get noticed in the field unless
you have degrees/certificates attached to your name. There are no certified testing areas
in Sacramento that I know of, so traveling to either Irvin or San Diego to spend another
$150 for the testing will be a bit of a pain (but worth it in the long run). Spend money to make money, or so I’ve heard.

I'm lucky to have all this motivation and optimism to outweigh the fact that I learned recently that I will be getting laid off (along with 29 other people in my department) sometime in October. So much for that special video project, I won't be around long enough to finish it!


Things will look up.

Second-Hand Cinema Does it Again!

Much thanks to a fellow cult film aficionado, earlier today I had been introduced to this gem from India known to the U.S. as Banglar King Kong.



It's being called "the new Turkish Star Wars" which has immediately captured my attention. For those that do not know, Turkish Star Wa,rs was part of a slew of mock-up American blockbusters (i.e. Turkish Exorcist, Turkish E.T.) re-written and produced in Turkey. These films were extremely low budget, but a cult following had formed from the uniform campiness of these pictures.

With that as background, I hope the lot of you are prepared for this nonsense.
There is a current standstill with the popularity of Bollywood pictures in the U.S.. I blame the incline and dip of many of those viral videos (breakdancing midget, Indian "Thriller"). Personally, I went through my phase in high school (it's great for battling depression!). There's nothing really more uplifting and absurd as a brightly contrasted musical with poor production quality.

The story is still the same: some went in the name of science and others for fame and fortune. Singing merrily on their cruise ship, a ragtag team of an anthropologist, his daughter, some yellow-bellied goofballs, and a pink-shirted Cowboy-Zorro go to an "uninhabited" island where they are greeted by.....Indian men in a Sambo gettup. The chief may be wearing a viking helmet. Our star is a man in an ape suit with a performance that might make Andy Serkis jealous. The giant ape is superimposed with the least subtlety, but at least he and the leading lady are still able to share a tender moment through song and dance. The climax of the film pays homage to Japanese monster pictures, as I can recognize most of the sets and sound effects used for this.

All this points to YES. I honestly can't wait until I download....purchase....a copy.