texas · is · to · california · as...

Anyways, I just thought I would post because I'm really excited about this semester coming to an end. Not because it was a bad semester; it was a great one! I'm just excited because now its almost Christmas break during which I will get to play lots and hear lots of awesome music and be with all my best friends.

Secondly, I'm excited because next semester I really get to start doing all of my film stuff! I'm taking motion picture sound, cinematography, film production, history of international cinema, and screenwriting. It's going to be so much work, but I can't wait! I have never felt so passionate about filmmaking as I do now, so it's perfect timing. It's going to be great finding my "voice" as a filmmaker over the next few years... although I think my writing already has its own voice, so hopefully that will translate. I have to make five short films next semester! That's a film every three weeks - writing, shooting, and editing (and for me that also means making music or hassling will to make me music)... its going to be insane. But I can't wait!

Oh, and I'm also excited because now I can finally start reading all the books I've been meaning to read! I have Moby Dick, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Dracula - Prince of Many Faces, Slaughterhouse-Five, Walden, Middlesex, and America and Americans, by John Steinbeck. I think I'm going to start with Moby Dick. It's winter, and Moby Dick seems like a winter-y novel.

If any of you who read this has an interest in picking up a great graphic novel series, check out Scott Pilgrim (www.scottpilgrim.com). It's amazing, in the Harry Potter-esque I-wish-my-life-were-that-way way. At least for me, being a video game/veteran anime lover nerd person. But girls, there's romance and that's always enjoyable! Anyways, I'll stop my promotion 'cause it's getting ridiculous.

I've been drawing a LOT lately, maybe I'll scan one of my drawings and upload it? Hmmmm? Alright, I'm going. I want to say I'll write in this again soon, but we'll have to wait and see.

not that i expect anyone to remember this (because i wouldn't if i were you), but awhile ago i posted on here something i had written in that journal about gift-giving and the shitty nature of gift-cards (hypocritical, but i feel like i had some valid points). anyways, this is the end of that rant. imagine me being really pissy and whiny while reading this. if you know me at all, it shouldn't be hard:

"Buying a gift card is giving up on your friends. It either means I don't know my friends, or I don't have any friends. And I'm such a dick because I don't buy my parents giftts. Such a spoiled little dick. I get everything I want and I give nothing. Breathing noises. Huffing and puffing. Fuckin' pleas for attention. Look at me, I'm mad. Inquire. Please. Now, dammit."

that made me laugh out loud when i read it, earning me awkward stares from my roommate andrew and the small, blond russian girl, olga (who NEVER leaves our room, and whom i'm not very fond of).

things are going fairly well here in southern cal. i'm taking TWO film classes this semester and we actually get to use 16 mm cameras and learn how to light properly in one of them - in other words, FUCK YES. this is the usc film school i've been waiting for, and (knock on wood) it will only get better from here. although most of the film kids are way too serious for their own good. i've realized that i really want to make movies that make people laugh. not stupid slapstick jim carrey movies, but movies that are both intelligent and funny. don't know if i've said that before, but i feel like last year i was way too focused on trying to write things with deep, philosophical meaning to them. i'm not that kind of person, i've realized, so why force myself to do that? again, posi. thanx ulsh, you're a tru bud.

hopefully things socially around campus will improve this semester. who knows? andrew brought a record player when he came back this semester and i've since bought american football and american analog set on vinyl. yeah indie points! AND, if anyone likes whales, caelin and i definitely reccomend checking out "whales: an unforgettable journey" narrated by the one and only jean-luc piccard (or patrick stewart, if you ain't star trek-savvy). its like march of the penguins, but with whales, which makes it 100x better. i know you love penguins (so do i), but i will debate you on that one. i am that passionate.

until next time, gang of few but faithful buds,
samwell rush g.

ps - caelin and i were definitely inebriated that last post. as for drugs? mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......
pps - check out an author/poet named richard brautigan - he's bitchin'

happy christmas!
sam

but birthdays are awesome, especially when they fall under a holiday, because at least for the rest of college i'll always be home on ma birthday!!! fuh-uh-UH-ck YEAH!

lolz, lyke, call me!

1) i am going to usc to study film production
2) i am nominated for the usc president's scholarship, which could get me half tuition off
3) i have to fly to l.a. on march 1st and have an interview for said scholarship, 150 freshmen are given this scholarship each year
4) i just saw the new world with caelin, and i strongly encourage everyone to see it. it is NOT a normal movie. peter travers (rolling stone) summed it up best with the phrase "visual poetry." really, really good movie.
5) i LOVE caelin l. white. i love her. i love her. it is so much more than anything else i have felt or will feel or have cared about or will care about.

these are good days.

as i'm sure you all are (or you ought to be to make me feel better about my situation), i'm swamped with work right now. midterms looming just beyond the weekend, it's enough to make me wet myself and suck my thumb. or to just procrastinate and write in this journal.

another outlet of that procrastination will be the viewing of "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe," which will take place tomorrow night at Edwards Cinemas (Regal Entertainment Group). I'm going with the lovely Miss Caelin White and her lovely mother Miss Denise Holland. And maybe the Hurcueles-esque Zachary Duran, but i think that's still in the works. my grammar almost got good just then; can't let that happen!

but about Chronicles: caelin and i read it aloud to each other yesterday. i took the guy voices and caelin took the girls. i must say the girl has a knack for doing a british accent, i was impressed.

i think i'm obsessed with how we all percieve each others' lives. either that or i'm weird. does anyone else constantly ponder how much strangers enjoy their lives? i always assume that everyone i see loves their life.

today john sallans and i had a good discussion at lunch about separating the molecules in your body just enough to be able to slip through the space between the molecules that make up everything, so one could deliberately just fall. fall in every sense of the word. true falling, because there would never be anything to land on. completely impossible, and our logic behind it is probably wrong. regardless, it was a good conversation. we also made a couple of comments on how cool it would be if outer beauty was a reflection of inner beauty. in retrospect, i think i take that back. there would be more ugly people, which is counter-productive to the world that i want to see: a world of fuckin' self-involved, materialistic hotties.

we've got to find something to eat and to drink here, and find a place to stay that's not far off the main way - we've got to plan our day: Rodin and the Orsay; find a way to cram it all in before we drink hard again.

done and done (for today)

you've got my heart.

w-t-fuckin'-f, guys? how are you all? i've spent probably 3 hours today reading over old live journal entries. and i realized several things (this may in fact turn out to be just one thing, because i only have one thing in mind right now, but i'd like to mention more than one; if i don't, i still won't go back and erase this. so warned ye shall be that the aforementioned "several things" may in fact be solely a singular thing.):

2. most of my journal entries lack substance and a point. they end up being 250-500 words of meandering, mumbling bullshit.
3. i really love the word bullshit. it just sounds so strong. say it to yourself. BULLSHIT. really emphasize the "uhl" sound, you'll feel empowered (money back garuntee).

as far as today goes:
i really enjoy the feeling of being at a nice, snug little cafe. for some reason one's thoughts just seem more profound, one's art more... well, good, and one's life and business more important. at least that's the feeling i get in cafes. i'm THIS close to being done with college applications, which is a real source of excitement. i'm THIS close to being done with the first semester of my senior year, which loosely means i'm THIS close to being doen with my senior year. i keep going back and forth between which college i'd like to go to (assuming i am a god and i get in everywhere i apply). usc seems too homogenized for me. calarts seems to cater more to the individual. plus, it's in valencia, which is shitty in itself but good in that it isn't in the heart of LA. ok, no one cares about reading my college inner monologue.

i want an ipod with video and a typewriter, but i plan on saving my money. what do people want for christmas? let me know.

ok i'm going to end this now. it started well but sort of fell flat towards the middle. g'night. maybe i'll write tomorrow. that'll be the day, when you make me cry yeah say you're gonna leave, you know it's a lie yeah. i found my thrill/drill on blueberry hill. i'll be there to love and comfort you. reach out, reach out, reach out for me. goodness gracious great balls of fire.

EDIT: yeah...

"Boomer shit all over the Quarters. It's on the furniture - everywhere."

that made me so happy to read when i got home this afternoon.