Feb 07 2012
The following is an article I wrote for an Electronic Media, Technology, and Society class I’m in this semester:
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Jan 07 2012
Can you believe it’s already 2012? Finally, I don’t have to deal with the world anymore! (At least, in 12 months, according to the Mayans.)
Until then, though, there’s a lot going in this New Year as well as a lot that just finished in December as 2011 came to a close:
- The documentary film I co-produced during the fall semester saw its first public screening and everyone loved it! I’m glad it came out so well and am excited to continue working with it this spring to see it around some festivals and award competitions in order to get more of the community to see this important film.
- The holidays came and went! It was great to head back to South Florida and see all of my old high school friends (as well as a few still-college friends) as well as my family during traditional dinners and whatnot. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve were all lots of fun and for New Year’s Day we traveled down further to Miami to spend some time on South Beach and my parents and brother go to go to a Heat game.
- DJ Earworm released his 2011 “United States of Pop“, the first that doesn’t contain “pop” in the subtitle (“World Go Boom”). It’s terribly addictive, though not as good as his seminal 2009 version (“Blame it on the Pop”).
- I’m taking exactly 3 classes this semester, including the fact that one of them has a lab component. They sum up to 9 credits hours. This is going to be a very fun, relaxing semester after four years of work.
- As that last point alluded to, this is my graduating semester. Scary, right? In less than five months I’m going to hold a degree. Yikes.
- Pretty much all of my grad school applications are finished at this point. February and March will be terrifying months as I hear back from all of the programs deciding my future fate.
- I got some awesome fitness equipment for the holidays, including a stopwatch to track cardio intervals and splits for speed-play runs (“Fartlek“, in Swedish); a scale that calculates BMI, body fat %, bone density, and of course weight; a new set of resistance bands (that hopefully won’t snap like my first set: apparently I don’t know my own strength); and a fitness mat for core/abs exercises (so I don’t hurt my back on the hard floor). I’m really excited about kicking up my workouts this semester!
- Friends are awesome. Social-wise, I’m pretty happy!
So, in the words of Rent, “it’s gonna be a happy New Year”!
Dec 04 2011
After giving myself around 24 hours to rest and recuperate (both mentally and physically), I can now blog about yesterday’s OUC Half-Marathon, the second I’ve ever raced. First, my overall time was very good: 1:43:42, which was almost a full 5 minutes faster than last year’s time (1:48:31). On the average, that was a per-mile pace of just about 7:55, which is still faster than the 8-minute mile pace I tried to keep myself at. It’s still more than 100 minutes, though, so I think next year (or next time I compete in a half-marathon, whichever comes first) I’m going to try for a PR of sub-100.
Race breakdown: the first 6 or 7 miles were pretty easy overall. The first 3 I kinda pushed myself fairly hard in terms of pacing (including some intervals of slight sprinting), so I don’t know if that hurt or helped me in the long run. By mile 7 I grabbed an energy gel but during the mile between 8 and 9 my right leg developed this really odd muscle cramp/strain, which I definitely had to push through. Around mile 10/11 I got the normal throbbing numbness that “hey, you’re really close, just slow down and take it easy” so I took another energy gel and powered onward. I easily sprinted the last 1/10th of a mile after passing the 13-mile marker and enjoyed the most delicious banana in my life.
After last week’s 12-mile training run dehydration, I made sure to really keep on top of myself during this race with regards to hydration and I’m proud to say it definitely worked. Taking in lots of Gatorade before, during, and after the race really helped in me barely feeling any post-race nausea or sickness (aside from my muscles, that is): this year I took full advantage of each and every water stop along the route (spaced out around every 1.5 miles or so). One thing I found interesting was that the Gatorade by itself was WAY too sweet for me to gulp down during the run so I started grabbing a cup each of Gatorade and water, dumping them into each other, and downing that mixture. I’m sure there’s a better ratio I can learn in the future! After the race I also enjoyed the race-provided bananas, oranges, drinks, and granola bars as I cooled down and stretched (LOTS of stretching) before checking my official time and heading home.
Even later on in the day yesterday I did more stretching as well as some today. Stretching is good, especially for muscles after running 13.1 miles. I woke up this morning and all the muscles in my body ached, but in a good way.
And now, to savor the pain of my DOMS…
Oct 14 2011
I was on the set of one of the productions we’ve got shooting at UO and for some reason my schooling came up in conversation between myself and another PA. He seemed a bit surprised that I’m in a “simple” R/TV major and (roughly paraphrased) said something along the lines of the following:
You’re, like, really smart. Why don’t you become a doctor or study science or something? You could cure a disease or research something important!
I brushed it off at that time, explaining that (film & TV) production is what I enjoy doing, but later his words came back to me and really resonated. I am intelligent: I won’t be humble about that. But what does that entail? It seems to him that those who are intelligent should “do something” (useful) with that intelligence: cure cancer, become doctors, make lots of money calculating something, etc. I can see where that thinking could come from: if one has high intelligence yet sits around all day playing Farmville, is one wasting that brainpower? I don’t disagree that, in an extreme case like that, obviously some potential is squandered by not being exercised. (Alternatively, one could argue that my example person is in fact not intelligent–or at least not mature–by actively deciding to not engage his smarts and instead do something that requires no modicum of brainpower.) But I’m not concerned with specific cases: I’m interested in the general.
Do the intelligent have a moral obligation to put their intelligence to good use? Given my own worldviews and philosophies on life, I’m studying for and doing what I love–production–because I enjoy it. Could I study for another twelve years and become a doctor and cure people? Sure. Could I have continued down my original computer science route and developed new algorithms for the industry? Of course. Purpose of life debates aside, am I being selfish by not? Already I’m generally thinking too many steps ahead of a situation and over-analyzing aspects of life but I claim those as skills that can be applied to producing and organizing/managing logistics of shoots, not calculating why a particular compound affects a certain gene expression. Is that not what I “should” do?
Going even further with the idea of intelligence and its results, is it wrong for me to be “intelligencist”? I have a fairly low tolerance for bullshit and circuitous, irrelevant inanity exhibited by many and will often call people out on it only to discover they don’t realize (and sometimes still don’t see, even after explaining) the absurdity of a particular situation. Is it wrong for me to be greatly annoyed and frustrated by these people? To want to hang out with those more like me and less unlike? If all of my positive social interactions come from witty banter and repartee exchanged by those who understand intelligent conversation and references, how am I to socialize with those who cannot? This is not to say that I don’t or wish to stop being around those like that; I’m just musing for the sake of catharsis.
Finally, to get really meta, is this post in itself a symptom of over-intelligence? Am I being arrogant in presuming some of what I wrote? Does that make me a bad person? Overall my own existentialist views let me ascribe whatever meaning I want to anything, so I’ll wrap by saying I don’t think I’m morally obligated to pursue traditional high-intelligence avocations and I’m not evil by being “intelligencist” (although I will freely admit that I do act this way–and often judge others because of it–and do feel guilty for it). Now I’m interested in what YOU think. Give me your thoughts in the comments!
In case the above wasn’t clear: this post isn’t meant to be offensive even though it probably does come across as pretentious. If intelligence is biologically nothing more than genes we’re dealt, I can’t necessarily fault those who received a different arrangement. (This should also be obvious but this post is implicitly NOT focusing on the social means different classes have of obtaining education; that’s another topic entirely.)
Sep 03 2011
Space: the final frontier.
At least, that’s how Kirk continually describes it in Star Trek. Today I went with two of my friends (Lauren Ellison and David Pate) over to the Space Coast for a day trip to Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor Complex, some place I haven’t been in a long, long time, if not ever. During this summer in 2011 they were running this event called “Sci-fi Summer” with a bunch of Star Trek-related exhibits but the entire thing ended on September 5th, so I knew I had to get over there before then. I’m glad to report that we did because the experience was absolutely amazing and unforgettable!
First, a quick note: KSC is surprisingly close to where I live. I’m actually closer to it (both distance- and time-wise) than Disney and Disney is on a highway versus KSC, which is just street roads. We clocked the time at a little under 40 minutes on the way over this morning, which is pretty excellent, and basically the same amount of time it takes me to get to Universal some days, so it’s really not a bad drive at all.
Lauren welcomes us to KSC!
When we first got to the complex, we didn’t quite know where to proceed so we started in a roughly anti-clockwise direction, entering first the
The LEGO Mars Rover outside of "Robot Scouts"
Robot Scouts (a “robots in space”)
He was our robot guide!
exhibit detailing how robots function in space and what their uses are. We came out on the heels of some Star Trek exhibit featuring walk-around Starfleet crew members (actors), including a female vulcan! 
When we popped out of there a while later (it had an entire timeline of Star Trek, including real and fictional history of the space race) we were hungry so we ran through the Constellation Sphere Plaza and hit up the Orbit Cafe fairly early in the morning (around 11ish) to grab something to eat (I got a healthy turkey wrap. No space-food for me yet!).
Constellation Sphere Plaza was a big marble globe with all the constellations that rotated atop water.
From there we proceeded to the Space Center Tours,
Our bus driver, Joe, was awesome!
The fence at KSC was a rocket!
driven bus tours given around the entire KSC complex with two stops at the LC39 Observation Gantry (where we climbed four flights and ate Space Dots: the ice cream of the future!) and the Apollo / Saturn V Center that housed an AMAZING Lunar Theatre detailing the story of the first missions to the moon. This story in particular was an amazingly humbling experience that really led me to reflect on and appreciate humanity and our future: this is why I consistently push innovation and enlightenment. Humanity has achieved groundbreaking dreams in our ascent to the stars, from medicine breakthroughs to technology advancements, and we should not–we cannot–be a species that simply sits idly by, content with the way things are, reflecting on the past. We need to keep dreaming the impossible. (Also, there was a full-scale model of one of the original Saturn rockets here. It was huge. I also bought my first space-food here: a peanut butter protein “Space Stick”. It tasted like plain vanilla whey protein.)
After the tour, we returned to the main campus of KSC and David and I rode the Shuttle Launch Experience
Lauren and David as we walk to the Shuttle Launch Experience
(a simulator very much like Mission: SPACE at EPCOT but without the g-forces; David described it as “a very badly-constructed massage chair” with LCD monitors) before climbing aboard a full-size model of a Space Shuttle orbiter at Shuttle Explorer.
The full-size orbiter mockup.
We quickly ran by the Launch Status Center and Astronaut Memorial Garden before swinging by a replica T-38 talon jet shuttle pilots train on and taking a picture inside astronaut cut-outs.
At this time it was around 4pm so we wandered into the IMAX Theatre hoping to watch a show but the showtime was a little far off so we went through Star Trek: The Exhibition while waiting (and then the Eye on the Universe: The Hubble Space Telescope exhibit). When we returned to the IMAX show we realized if we saw this showing we wouldn’t be able to see another live Star Trek show so we decided to see the live show first and then return for IMAX.
Me sitting inside the captain's chair at Star Trek: the Exhibition!Part of the rocket garden
On our way out we passed through the Rocket Garden and tested sitting down in some of the very uncomfortable, cramped positions the original astronauts were forced to use and tried getting into the Center for Space Education but, alas, it was closed today. Lauren got briefly sidetracked at the Children’s Play Dome while David and I commented on her childish wonder. We toured through the Early Space Exploration building (showcasing the early inventors and innovators of rockets and early spacemen, including Goddard
A quote from Goddard
and von Braun) as we continued our anti-clockwise rotation around the entire Visitor Complex. We (very) briefly peeked into the Nature & Technology exhibit as we tried to find a shortcut but it didn’t go anywhere.
We still had time to kill before the show so we grabbed “dinner” at the G-Force Grill before shuffling into Star Trek Live,
Star Trek Live!
a live theatrical show that involved a Starfleet commander teaching us “trainees” in the audience before an emergency happens: a Romulan travels through time to blow up the ISS and it’s up to a very convenient appearing Vulcan and a series of hackneyed demonstrations to save the planet (or the space station. I forget which). It was entertaining but somewhat confusing because approximately every five minutes disco rotating lights would pop on with disconcerting music and I felt like I was in an alien strip club and Miss Vulcan would begin to strip.
When it let out we had just enough time to rush across the courtyard and back into the IMAX building for Hubble 3D, a movie narrated by Leonard DiCaprio about the launch, repair, and discoveries of the Hubble telescope. This was also a very awe-inspiring film that really grabbed you and pushed you into a Total Perspective Vortex.
By the time it was over, though, KSC seemed to be shutting down for the day. No more restaurants or snack carts were open and we were barely about to get into Exploration Space: Explorers Wanted
She was a very short Mars scientist...
before it closed. It featured a lot of interactive simulations and games (I crashed both a docking station into the ISS and a lunar capsule onto the Moon. Whoops.) but Lauren was cold and waited outside, hustling David and I out fairly quickly. We had just enough time to step into the two-story, “world’s largest” Space Shop and grab some final snacks (a chocolate version of the protein “Space Stick” from earlier. It tasted like chocolate whey protein.) and souvenirs (got a new pack of playing cards to add to my collection!) before leaving KSC for the day.
All told, there was very little we didn’t get to: the Astronaut Encounter, Milky Way (soft-serve ice cream bar), Countdown Cafe, and Spacewalk of Honor. Given that two of those were restaurants and one (the Astronaut Encounter) was just a picture-taking session with a former astronaut, I really don’t feel too bad that we missed out on them. I made out with two bags of Space Shuttle Orbiter gummies (one regular and one sour) and din’t buy any freeze-dried ice cream (c’mon, that’s SO overdone by now) and I was very happy with how the entire day went! I absolutely loved the experience and am glad to I got to go with two awesome friends! Given the amount of time we were at KSC, I’m fairly impressed that we were able to hit up essentially every single attraction and exhibit they had to offer, including the special Sci-fi summer-only events.
Later that night (once returned to Orlando), all three of us watched the latest episode of Doctor Who. It really was a fitting end for a day all about space.
Pictures of the day were added Monday 9/5 to this post (you know, for the few of you that actually read my blog instead of the synced note with Facebook) and now are on my Facebook album.
Aug 06 2011
So any of you who are friends with me on Facebook (and that’s probably all of you who are reading this because no one reads my actual blog but just the notes that get synced over to my wall) have probably seen some of the albums I’ve uploaded recently. Why has Logan taken to uploading new pictures lately? Because I got a new DSLR camera! About a month ago I finally broke down after saving up enough cash and gift cards to buy a brand-new Canon EOS 60D from Best Buy (body only, no lens because I already own a Canon 50mm f/1.8):
Me and my new camera
Since then I’ve been shooting stills of everything and it’s really helped me get a much better understanding on shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and more as it relates to the film world and, more importantly, my video world. I bought the camera primarily to shoot video for any short films I produce–it can shoot 1080HD in 24p–but the stills have been an added bonus. I have yet to actually shoot any video on it for a film but I’m desperately itching for an excuse to shoot something–anything–even a simple dialogue scene with no over-arcing plot–just so I can get some more experience with the workflow in capturing and editing video with a DSLR. One thing I already know is going to be fun is running sync sound for pretty much any film I make: the on-board mic is terrible, which is why I bought a shotgun and boom, but the AGC on the camera body would totally destroy any audio I try to capture externally and run in-line with the video. So I’ll record audio onto my Zoom H4n, use a classic clapper, and sync it all in post: I can’t wait!
Apr 17 2011
Yesterday I went to a somewhat-new club with some of my friends; I had wanted to check out this particular club (Mr. Sisters) for a while because of its combination restaurant/club atmosphere and because I had fun last week dancing and remembered how enjoyable it was. Overall it was pretty fun (albeit the clientele was somewhat older than the average at, say, Pulse) although one thing that irked me was having to pay a $10 cover because I’m under 21 right before I go to their restaurant portion and spend money again. I mean, the main point of a cover for under-21s is to make back the money you would have made had they been able to buy alcohol–that’s why covers are so often waived for people 21 and up–so you’d think since we were already going to spend money at the restaurant it would’ve rendered the cover moot. Oh well.
Anyway, onto the main point of this post: when leaving the club at the end of the night (around 1:30am), I kept my cup of ice (water) with me as I was exiting. (Yeah, we danced a lot, I got thirsty, water is good for hydration, plus I love ice.) One of the valet attendants at the entrance told me as I was leaving that I’d have to throw the cup away otherwise the police would stop me; I didn’t really argue with him so I tossed my ice in the trash (so sad; I was looking forward to it on the drive home!) and went on my merry way back to my car.
So why the restriction on leaving clubs with water or even just ice for that matter? I can understand the biggest issue people are trying to prevent: walking around with open containers of alcohol outside of the club and in public. But for someone like me who has an under-21 wristband, two prominent black X’s on my hands, and even an empty container (aside from the ice), what’s the purpose? Obviously the club has no ability to restrain me from leaving with my cup; that’s false imprisonment. What right do the police have, aside from them simply being police? Is there a law on the books that specifically makes it illegal to exit a nightclub with a container purchased inside? If not, aside from probable cause or reasonable suspicion the police have no ability to detain me either. (Again, I’m clearly under 21 with a cup of what was once ice water and now held nothing but ice–not even a liquid!) Would this same process apply if I had an empty container when leaving the club–say, having drank all the water AND consumed all the ice, with literally nothing inside of the cup? What if I cut the cup in half and tried to bring the broken pieces across the threshold–is that an issue? I realize I’m probably getting into really minced and extreme circumstances here, but I’m curious.
So now I open the discussion up to the masses out there who read my blog. What do you guys think?
Mar 29 2011
Here’s a short tale from the annals of my experiences one Tuesday evening during SGA election season at UCF.
I was at Applebee’s near campus with a bunch of friends from my major classes to spend some time together outside of the academic environment and have fun. Tuesday nights are karaoke nights (for which we did sing!) and half-off appetizers past 10pm, so we knew we’d be out late but we could socialize and have a good time doing so. We had just finished our food, singing, and revelry around 11:15pm and stepped outside the restaurant to take a picture and say our goodbyes before departing. As we were milling about right on the corner, some girls came up to us and asked “Have you voted yet?”, referring to the ongoing SGA election on campus. Right before they did so, we were chatting about a missing friend of ours–Brittany–and how no one could find her, so I worked the reference into my answer to the girls as a joke: “Are you Brittany?” Obviously denying being Brittany, she repeated her question, to which I said “no-no-no, Brittany, we’re looking for Brittany”. My friends laughed but she deadpanned and intoned “No, not funny, I’m asking a question”. She tried futilely to get us to vote for another few seconds before moving on; once she left, I asked my friends if I was too harsh, and they said I probably was but she was also too sensitive.
So here’s the point of this post: do you think I was too harsh in my joking? It’s near 11:30pm at Applebee’s, a restaurant that does not cater exclusively to UCF students. We’re not on campus and they’re soliciting from patrons who might not even be attending UCF. I see the campaigns constantly inundating me while on campus and at school, in class, and at my job, and before midnight off campus when I’m trying to have fun with my friends, I am once again confronted with this SGA issue. Do you really think I want that, then and there? Were they wrong to solicit in this manner, at this place and at this time? Was I wrong in brushing them off too coldly? I certainly got my point across, but of course on the drive home l’esprit d’escalier reared its head and I only then thought of a more gentle way of dismissing them. Thoughts?
Mar 10 2011
Mom and I woke up this morning to a state of emergency in New Jersey when the Pasaic River started overflowing. Um…
We battled our way across the state, crossing the George Washington Bridge and getting into NYC around 10am. We circled around Columbia for a bit trying to find someplace cheap to park; we finally did and found our way into Dodge Hall, the building that houses Columbia’s School of the Arts and its film program. We chatted for a bit with someone from admissions about their application process (yet another school that doesn’t require the GRE!) before he sent us up to talk with someone specifically from the program itself. The woman we were sent to directed us to a current student who sat down with us and talked about her experience in the program (she’s going for screenwriting, though, and I’d be looking at “Creative Producing”), her application process, job/internship career, and living arrangements. It’s always great to get a current student’s perspective because, as a prospective student, that’s who I’d be if I were to go that school, so it’s useful to know what they think of their situation.
Afterward we walked down Broadway for a few blocks (~40 or so), trying to get to midtown before our lunchtime but we didn’t exactly make it so we just sat down and ate at a soup joint before taking the subway back uptown to Duane Reade. Mom bought some makeup products (ಠ_ಠ) and we picked up our car and drove across the Lincoln Tunnel to Newark Airport.
Of course, by the time we arrived here the rain for NJ made its way over here (and seemed to pick up some fog along the way), so now our flight is delayed two hours. Instead of boarding at 5pm, now we have to wait until 7pm just to board, which is another 4 hours from now. Thankfully I’ve got power outlets to charge my phone and laptop, but there’s no free wifi at this airport, so I’m back to my Android’s mobile hotspot (god I love this thing). Update at the end of the night when I’m finally back home in Boca!
Edit: flight delayed four hours and didn’t launch out of Newark until 9:24pm. We landed a bit past midnight and I didn’t actually get home until 1am. Blargh!
Edit 2: Kelsey didn’t actually check this to see if I updated. Her fault!
Mar 10 2011
Today was (on average) an uneventful day, although the stopover in Syracuse for a couple of hours in the middle of the day proved amazing. The day was bookended by driving, two and a half hours from Albany to Syracuse and then another three and a half afterward through PA to Jersey where we ‘re staying before heading into NYC tomorrow. The drives were pretty uneventful: lots of snow, mountains, some rain, and Mom and I chatting and reading grad school program brochures and magazines. Our little rental Ford Focus got us through!
Syracuse is the meat of today’s post: we spent a few hours at the university in between our two long drives. It was a bit confusing to find our way around the campus at first but I think that was only because we were intimidated at its snow: EVERYTHING was covered in snow. From the pictures on the brochures it seems a lot nicer when it’s not wintertime, not to mention easier to navigate. Still, we parked and found admissions, which pointed us to graduate admissions, who redirected us back to the Newhouse School’s building. Traipsing all the way around the quad of Syracuse in the cold wasn’t the best but certainly gave us some quality map skills! We also got to eat at their union while waiting, which gave me a small taste of their student life.
The Newhouse School is the college under which the grad program I’m interested in (Television-Radio-Film) is located. It seems to be three different buildings, all built at different times but now connected within tunnels and hallways. I met briefly with Michael Schoonmaker, one of the professors and director of the program, to discuss its curriculum and extra affairs; afterward, he invited me to sit in on a class he was teaching, which was awesome for me (being able to get that first-hand experience of how this program runs and is taught is great!). Something very unique about it that I discovered was that it combines some classes with both undergrads and grads, so, for instance, in the class I was observing, it seemed undergrads were doing the tech work of shooting, audio acquisition, editing, etc. while grads took care of producing, directing, and managing. The very hands-on, real-world nature of this program impressed both me and my mom greatly, so Syracuse is still very much in the running for me when considering potential programs.
Then we went back to driving, this time for many, many hours into Jersey. Our hotel was a Comfort Suites; it wasn’t too exceptional but definitely wasn’t bad, either. Last day is Columbia before returning home!
