One down, three more…

Ok so this marks the end of my first semester here at BCIT. And I must say, it’s going by pretty fast. Everything kind of ended abruptly, but it’s a good thing.

Returning to school for me was a huge decision, and I don’t regret it at all. I missed the deadlines, the studying, and all the pressure. I started off rather lazy, but now I think that i’m back in my groove, like back in my high school days.

I’m looking forward to the next semester. I’m taking video shooting and editing and audio; the two courses I believe I will enjoy the most. I just really want to get my hands on a camera and start shooting right away. I find working with photography and going to shoots and stuff really fun, so hopefully this will have the same general feel.

I know a picture can say a thousand words, but a movie portrays a single message or emotion, and I want to be able to share that with people. Plus it’s a good thing to have on my resume.

Another thing about the new semester that I like is that we get to move to different classrooms! I guess to me, our wireless lab, although it is good to have our own little area, seems a bit plain and boring. I want to be able to explore the campus and stuff. Oh well.

Next Stop: Semester Two.

teasers

I’ve become one of those people that have to watch a highly anticipated movie before anyone else has. I like to be one of the first people that have seen it and have a rather opinionated view about it.

Lately, I find myself, for lack of a better word, “obsessing” over getting people together to see a movie the night of release or earlier. Purchasing movie tickets during class, mass texting, phone calls to no end, instant messaging everyone to get it all together. It probably doesn’t help that I’m kind of a perfectionist.

All this focus and effort, just to be able to experience something maybe only two hours long. Why, you ask? The reason is simple, and it says a lot about the people who market the movie. The reason, of course, is the teaser.

Teasers are exactly what they are: they tease us. They drag me into the story and plot of the movie, get me accustomed to the protagonist and the antagonist, deliver me with a measly few minutes of film and leave me hanging. It’s more of a love/hate experience that I could not live without.

The next movie on the list is Transformers. I have been waiting for this movie for about two years, ever since the first movie ended with a hint of a continuation. My friends and I have already purchased tickets for the midnight showing of the movie.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

WoW… really?

Lately, my friends have been trying to persuade me into getting the MMORPG World of Warcraft. Now if you haven’t heard of WoW, then you have been living under a rock. There have been many commercials and advertisements over all new media.

I have refused every attempt they have tried, with good reason.

I’ve seen what this game has done to people. It takes over their lives. They eat, sleep and breathe WoW. Their language becomes slurred with words like “blood elf paladin” and “Death Knight of Mordor.”

I can see why the game is appealing. You can go on adventures with your friends and escape to a separate reality inside your computer. Even I can’t believe that I haven’t succumb to the grasp of the World of Warcraft. But there is a dark side that I am not willing to accept if I am to join.

I have a rather addictive personality. When I start with something, I almost always have to finish it. No matter how long it takes.

I can just picture myself sitting at my computer all day trying to complete quest after quest, leveling up my characters one by one. I just don’t think I would have much of a social life after I press that install button.

I do not judge those who have entered that world. Perhaps they have more self-control than me. But it will be a cold day in Hell when I start playing WoW.

Or when I finish school.

tweet?

With technology improving more and more everyday, keeping in touch with people seems to be easier these days. With tools like smartphones and wi-fi, it seems almost impossible to NOT get in touch with someone if you really needed to.

I recently signed up for twitter, due to much peer pressure to stay “in the know” and “with it”. I still don’t seem to see the point of it. I can let people know when i’m doing stuff and keep people posted on what is going on at the moment, but I just don’t seem to know the convenience of it.

I guess I can see that some people want to keep updated with the latest news or gossip, but people seem to post the most trivial things. I really don’t need to know that you’re tying you shoes or eating a sandwich. And I really don’t like getting an update on my phone, thinking it’s something important or interesting, then seeing “driving home”.

I admit that I have made a couple postings along those lines, as kind of a filler post, but again, unnecessary.

At least a lot of my posts aren’t along these lines. Not yet anyway.

gyaaa~

i wish commercials still had catchy jingles. remember the big red commercials? that song would stay with me for hours. i’m pretty sure you all know it. its not like i hated it or anything. quite the opposite really. but now commercials seem to pass by so fast, they kind of gave up on the jingles. please bring back awesome commercial jingles. it will help sell products, or at least i’ll probably buy it.

lately i seem to always find myself rushing/pushing things to save myself time: trying to catch the bus, fast food, phone calls, doing work, etc. some are necessary, i know, but i never really realized how much effort i put into saving myself time. and for what? its not like i do anything productive during that down time. its just me, doing nothing, lounging about in my room, killing the time i worked so hard to save. my only real end result is that i get a few minutes to myself without having to worry about all the little things buzzing around in my head 24/7. i wish i could just slam the brakes and slow down. but when i do that, everyone else is still moving at that fast paced speed, i find myself having to catch up. everyone just needs to take it easy and slow down. especially on a friday afternoon.

thats all i really had on my mind today. thanks for dropping by.

work work work

Recently, I have gained an interest in photography. I have been playing with my camera and looking at lenses, going to photoshoots and talking to photographers. Over the weekend, my friend Agnon had a photoshoot for his portfolio. I tagged along as an assistant to kind of see the ins and outs of set up and equipment, lighting, and concepts. I learned a lot just by helping out, and I hope to be able to use some of it in some of my own shoots. Probably one of the most important things I learned was the importance of time management.

A majority of our time was spent setting up the set and equipment. I would say maybe about 50% of the entire shoot was set up. It was surprising because after the shoot was in progress and I saw some of the shots, our efforts during set up seemed to come to fruition. The little differences between shots where we used the lighting equipment were quite noticable compared to natural light. All of the lighting, reflectors, and filters really gave the pictures an edge that made me admire the work.

Here’s a time lapse video we took while we were setting up.

busy body… or not.

So, as of late, I have been quite to procrastinator. I’ve avoided doing certain things because I don’t feel the pressure to actually get things done. I would subconsciously keep myself preoccupied with “more important” things to keep my mind off the task at hand. Things like going around downtown to take pictures or starting to watch LOST (which by the way I am addicted to now. Thank you surfthechannel.com). Unfortunately, doing these things have taken prioity in my daily pattern, kind of annoying actually. I have reverted back to my carefree high school days where I would put everything off until the night before. NOT GOOD.

In this day and age, I should be harnessing all the organizational tools available to me (partially the reason for getting my blackberry), but I suppose I’m just so used to surfing the net with it. I think that’s what’s making me so easily distracted: everything and anything is accessable with almost anything. All my emails, messages, calls, facebook, twitter, etc. is sent directly to my mobile, which, though as convienient as it is, makes me divert my attention away from what I should be doing. My mood can do a complete 180 after seeing an update or a new wall post, which can be either a good or bad thing, depending on the situation. Nevertheless, focus is key.

I have a rather big assignment due in 2 weeks for my Color Theory class. An assignment which I have poured much thought into (and which I am rather proud of), but I have yet to produce any physical evidence of my work. It’s time to buckle down and pull through the grind.

The funny thing is I just spent a good 20-30 minutes using this blog as a procrastination tool.

The first of many…

Hello readers!

My name is Christian. I am a student attending BCIT in Vancouver, BC and am an aspiring new media designer and web developer. I just started my program and I have nothing but high hopes for it. Before enrolling, I used to be a video game tester at Electronic Arts. I’ve been attached to various titles like Need For Speed and EA Active. I returned to school because I thought it was going to be difficult to move up with EA without any education under my belt. But now, I am not quite sure if the video game industry is right for me. Hopefully, I will know by the end of this course!

As a part of my Communications for New Media class, this blog is going to be an outlet of my ideas and various things that interest me, but will mainly be focusing on pop culture and digital media. I have recently persued my interest in photography, and I have finally invested in my first Digital SLR. I hope to learn skills and tricks to create my own memorable shots which, hopefully, I will post on here, so look out!

This is just a sample of the kind of stuff I would love to be able to create.

http://www.zeduce.org – Wendell Levi Teodoro

He is a very talented photographer and has really shown me that there is no limit to imagination. He truly raises the bar, and I hope to be half as good as he is.