Super CPR

Today was a very tiring day. I was at the El Segundo High School ALLLLLL day for a "Super CPR" class - where I was a head instructor that helped certify hundreds (yes, hundreds literally) of people on CPR and other life saving skills. All the students were brought to the school gymnasium where they learned all the skills via the guidance of myself and the local fire department authorities. Needless to say, it was a long and interesting (but still fun) day.

Last night I went to see a stand up comedy act with Breanna and Jared. Columbia College was hosting the event for free - which featured 6 stand up comedians who were all VERY VERY funny. The event was free and there were maybe 30 people there, which is a shame, because all of the comedians were phenomial.

More to come soon! On Sunday, I'll be picking up Elliot as my new summer roommate.

Hey - Guess What?

Happy Memorial Day, everyone.

Guess what!??!

CBS contacted me today. I KNOW!! Isn't that exciting?? I have a chance to be a 'mock houseguest' on their upcoming season of Big Brother.

What is a 'mock houseguest'? Someone who pretends to be a contestant - that lives in the Big Brother house for one week and does everything the contestants do. It gives the producers, camera operators, game creators, and everyone else a chance to try out the new stuff for the new season. Best of all....its paid!

I have a shot at getting PAID to live in the Big Brother house for a week!!! GAHHH!!

That's exciting. But I'm not holding any breath yet. We'll see what happens...

MTV Spoof Entry

Hello All! Long time, no talk.

Recently, as many of you may remember, I wrote and co-directed a spoof that was submitted for the MTV 2008 Movie Awards. Sadly, the movie was not selected as a finalist. However, it still turned out to be a really fun movie, and I hope all of you take a few minutes to check it out:



Things have been going pretty crazy latley. I've been teaching alot at the Middle School, teaching even MORE at the Red Cross, and preparing for my trip home -- in specific, setting up and getting things ready for Graduation. I'm SO excited to come back home...I can't wait!

The next few days should be pretty enjoyable since I have the days off for the Memorial Day weekend holiday and such. It'll be a nice chance to relax and catch up on things that I haven't had time to do since I've been so busy.

More to come soon!

Middle School Gladiators

Here's the poster I just created for "Middle School Gladiators" - the new show that my students are creating as the end of the year comes to a close.



Whatchya think?

The Mole is back!

I am so excited to report that after a LONG LONG LONG 4-year hiatus, ABC has renewed one of my favorite shows, "The Mole". Not much more to say...but boy it's exciting!

Does America have talent?

Well, I'm not sure if AMERICA has talent...but Myspace sure does. Yep, that's right...our trip to Vegas was to highlight the special last round of auditions for "America's Got Talent" - which was the MYSPACE round. In this round, contestants applied for the show using the popular internet page, MySpace, and many were invited to come and share their talents in front of the judges.

It was a pretty neat (and long...in a good way) recording session. Jared, Marcus, and I had the chance to see some good...and not-so-good talents. Overall, the shoot was a plast.



After the shoot, we were asked to stay after by some of the PA's. We were waiting around, and to our surprise, Piers Morgan, one of the judges of the show, came out in his casual clothing and starting talking with us. After a small chat with him, we were taken backstage and shown all the excitement of a big production. Before we left, we were invited to a "meet and greet" session with Jerry Springer, the host of the show. THAT was pretty cool!!!

Once our experience on "America's Got Talent" was over, we had the chance to explore the Vegas strip and hit every hotel that was around. It was a fast-paced, but very fun afternoon...and Marcus and Jared (who have never been to Vegas before) loved it!

Tomorrow is going to be another busy day. More updates to come soon!

Vegas, Here I Come!

Hello All,

Exciting News! I'm goin' to VEGAS on Sunday!! I was lucky enough to win 3 VIP tickets to be a part of "America's Got Talent" via our local radio station. I'm pretty psyched. Marcus and Jared will be going with me, and we'll be leaving EARLLLLLLY in the morning to get to the Planet Hollywood Hotel in time for the day to begin. It should be cool!

In other news, I got the "Red Cross Newsletter" today - and in it, was a picture of all the Red Cross Instructors. I thought you all might get a kick out of it:

MTV Awards, Here We Come!

Hello, all! Boy, things have been busy latley.

This weekend I worked on a movie shoot that went allllllllllllll night long. I, along with a girl named Raquel, are Co-Directing a video in hopes for it being selected as one of the Top 5 videos for MTV's yearly award show. The objective is to try and spoof movies that have been released over the past year. We decided to spoof some great films, including: Sweeney Todd, Harry Potter, Evan Almighty, and Juno.

Raquel was an extremley good Co-Director. She is the first person I've directed with that actually held her end of the work...and thus, the shoot went well and everyone was happy. The characters in the spoof looked extremley true to what they did in the original movies. Check out the pictures:







I'm helping Raquel edit it, but there really isn't much TO edit. The time limit on the film is 3 minutes, and when it was put together with EVERYTHING in place, it was 3:30...which is really good. It took us like an hour to get all the footage in place and edited...and now, we are currently getting it scored.

Hopefully THIS video contest will go better than the last one with Cloverfield. Perhaps this was a 'meant to be' thing....or perhaps we won't get close! Either way, we had fun doing the project, and it's another cool video to add to the reel.

Here It Is!!

HERE IT IS! My Middle School film students have FINALLY completed their first film!

It practically took a miracle, but nonetheless, HERE IT IS!

Two Exciting Things

Two exciting (kinda) things happened this afternoon:

1) I'm 99.9% sure I saw Shiela - a contestant from Big Brother (who lives in Reseda) - next to me at a stop light. I waved hello like crazy and probably looked like a dork - but she just smiled and waved back. So either it WAS her, or it was some friendly, nice lady.

2) I found a wallet today while I was quick picking up some pictures at Walgreens. It had $120some bucks cash inside. Dam. But don't worry, I did the right thing and took it to the Police Station that was a block away. Yay for doing the right thing. Even though its so tempting NOT to sometimes :) haha

It's hot.

It was 108 degrees today.

Wow. It's hot.

Cloverfield: Chaos in California

Ladies and Gentlemen....Kyle Olson (and his outstanding crew) proudly presents the Cloverfield movie created for the Cloverfield Contest that didn't make it and will not win $4,500.

Enjoy!

"Reporting LIVE from the courthouse..."

Greetings, Everyone.

Happy freckin' Wednesday.

Boy, life dosen't get much better than this. I'm currently on the 'Jury Computer' in the 'Jury Hold Room' after being released from the first trial I was assinged to today. The trial was an interesting one, without question, but it was scheduled to last a long time, and that would have sucked. I got 'let go' by the Defendant because I think they were afraid I had a biased against something that related to their case.

It's such a great feeling to be in this small, crowded room; sitting around with a whole bunch of other angry people that don't want to be here. It's a little after 3:00 now, and if I can make it until 5:00, I am DONE with Jury Duty for a year! Knowing my luck, I have a long few hours still ahead of me....

Anyways, that's about all the excitement right now. I've been enjoying bags of free popcorn (hey, at least there is ONE good thing about Jury Duty) all day, but even THAT is getting old really fast.

More to come soon from the grouch who can't stand Jury Duty.

Bad Day

Last night, I recieved an e-mail from the people that are running the Cloverfield Contest. My video was rejected because at one point during the movie, we blew up the Scientology building. I got the e-mail FOUR HOURS before the deadline, so I quickly replied and asked if I could edit the shot out and re-submit. They said I could re-edit, re-submit, as long as it was by midnight CA time.

I re-edited and re-submitted (without the 'inappropriate shot') by 11 PM CA Time. Today, I got a NEW e-mail, saying that my video has AGAIN been rejected. This time, after numerous requests, they will NOT tell me why. I'm angry because A) they won't tell me why, and B) they said that if I changed the one shot, all the problems would be fixed. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

In other BAD news, I have Jury Duty tomorrow at 7:30 AM. Oh joy.

BIG pat on the back

Today I had the opportunity to meet with my TV class instructor, Sean Mulcahy. (He's that director of shows like Rodney and stuff, remember?) Jared and I went to Starbucks to chat for a few hours and gossip about all kinds of fun stuff.

During our time at Starbucks, Sean said something that was pretty amazing and took me back:

"You are a triple threat in this industry. You can write, act, and direct. This industry needs you and you will soar once you make it in."

Wow. That's cool.

The Happiest Studio on Earth

Today I had a very unique opportunity to visit the Disney Studios in Burbank. I met with a great guy named Dave Smith, who founded the Disney Archieves. Basically, it is Mr. Smith's job to organize and collect EVERYTHING that the Disney Corporation owns. He's done such a great job, he's won an award titled "Disney Legend" - which is the highest honor you can recieve in the Disney Corporation, and in my eyes, one of the highest in the entertainment industry.

I spent about an hour with this Disney genius - asking him questions, talking about the parks, and having a great time. After our time was up, he inivted me to check out the rest of the studio and take picutres of the amazing things that were displayed all around the studio. I spent about 2 hours taking pictures of all the neat things and grabbing lunch at the 'official' studio lunchroom. I even stopped in the gift shop to get some exclusive merchendise that is only availible at the Disney Studios.

Overall, it was an amazing day! I am so thankful to Mr. Smith for being such a great, kind person and making me feel at home when I visited.

To see all the pictures from my visit, click here:
http://ppshollywood.com/Disney%20Studios/

Lots of excitement!

Hello, everyone! LOTS of big news to talk about today, so this entry is going to be a long one. Take time to read the whole thing...because this week, there's alot of exciting news.

First, and foremost, I got my grades for this quarter at school - and I got a 4.0!! All A's! Whoohoo!

Alright, now that all of my bragging is out of the way...yesterday was a very, very busy day for me. I started at 5 AM waking up and heading off to location to teach a Red Cross class. After that, I booked it (in 30 minutes time) to Sutter Middle School, where I teach film class each day. After THAT, I booked it to the school to eat some dinner and releax for less than an hour before my night class began....WOW, it was a busy day. I came home and slept like a rock.

Actually, I didn't come home and sleep right away. I edited for a while. What? you ask? Well, as some of you may have heard - I am shooting a movie for a CLOVERFIELD contest (in celebration of the new movie's release) with my two friends, Jared and Marcus. The three of us recently shot the movie on Monday afternoon, and now, I am currently editing it with the help of an AMAZING special effect artist in Flordia.

Here's a screenshot from the short film. I'm not going to release the story...you'll have to wait and see for yourself.



When the movie IS released (by no later than next Monday), the videos that were submitted to the contest will be put online and America will decide a winner. That means I'll need EVERYONE's help in ensuring our team wins! More details on this soon to come...

One last bit of exciting news: I got a call from Ramon (my boss) today offering me a summer position to teach at a Film Camp. The good news: This is an all day, every day job - and it should be pretty fun (long day + good pay + film + camp = fun). The even better news: We get to pick a few weeks that we'd like to have off (so I can come home and stuff!) I'm looking forward to this, and it should be a really good time since I will still have time to come visit back home :-)

That's about it for now, folks. Tomorrow I am heading over to the DISNEY Corporation for a few hours to meet with their Head of Archieves. I am VERY excited. Following that, Saturday I will be meeting with Sean (with Jared) at Starbucks for a few hours to catch up and gossip....should be pretty fun!

Wednesday Night Update

Hello Again, Everyone! Happy Wednesday.

Things have been changing like crazy this past week - so let's see what I can do to catch you up to speed.

1) New classes at Columbia started Monday. I have "Writer's Workshop" on Monday night, and "Visual Design" later tonight. My writing class is interesting....the instructor knows his stuff and he has had quite the experience in the industry, but he's a little...okay, he's VERY....political. He likes to share all his thoughts and opinions :-) Which is fine, it just makes class interesting.

2) I've been at the Middle School since Monday. Wow...what a change of past and atmosphere. The good news, is that the staff is super friendly and welcomed me to their school with open arms. The other good news, is that the kids I have are bright, intelligent young middle schoolers. The interesting news is that these kids don't stop - HYPER ENERGY all the time! I have them under control, it's just getting them to all work together on the SAME thing at the SAME time that is interesting at times. That being said, they do have a script that they created (over the past 3 days) for the movie they want to do called "SCHOOL WARS" - a parody of Star Wars. We'll see how that goes...

3) I was offered a priority seat to the Country Music Awards. I passed on the offer, because I really can't get to Vegas that fast and cheap. Ah well...maybe next time.


That's about all for now....more to come soon!

TGIF!

Hello Again, Everyone! Lots of fun stuff has been happening this week. Here's some updates....

1. I got re-located for my teaching job! While it sucks that I lost out on Reseda, I have been re-located, and starting Monday, I'll be teaching and doing the same stuff as before - only this time, at a Middle School.

2. As many of you know, my parents have been visiting this week - and the other day, we had the chance to see AMERICA HAS TALENT and the Craig Furgeson show. Both were fantasic. It was REALLY interesting to see how they shot the talent show. (Once the show goes on air, I'll go into more detail that I can explain next to the visuals).

3. Yesterday, the family went on a 2-hour tour around Hollywood to see all the famous houses of celebrities and such. It was pretty neat and I learned some good tips for the area...which made me happy!

4. Today, my parents and I had the opportunity to check out the Reagan Museum today, which was neat. I had been there once before, but it's always fun to go up to Simi Valley, where the museum is located - its so nice up there.

Tomorrow should be a nice, relaxing day for me.

Oh, and a quick FYI: My e-mail has been down the last 2 days. If anybody needs to get in contact with me, please call me (and if I don't answer, leave a message). Otherwise, I will get to your e-mail as soon as I possibly can.

More to come soon!

Sad News :-(

Greetings Everyone and Happy April Fool's (a day late)!

Things have been crazy busy, as usual, but sadly, some of the 'busy-ness' didn't pay off.

As many of you know, over the past two weeks or so I have been fighting to keep Reseda High School's film program (and after school club) alive. The district has ran into some financial issues, and it seems as if my department - Film - was one of the Top 10 on 'the list' to be cut. Ever since I was made aware of the situation at hand, I have been doing everything in my power to keep the class/club alive. I pushed Open House really hard, and tried my best to get as many students involved as humanly possible.

Unfortunatley, my efforts did not pay off. I recieved word today that they have officially cut the Film Club at Reseda High School, and thus, I am no longer working at Reseda. With some luck, I'll be able to be re-positioned at a different school for the remainder of the school year -- but the concern is that other schools within the same district will soon be cutting THEIR Film Clubs, etc, too.

Words cannot describe how much that sucks. I am so upset - I feel a VERY wide range of emotions right now...I don't know where to begin. I knew how much this club meant to the kids....and I really think alot of good was done in the time that I was there. Sadly, the time was too short.

Fingers crossed, a new opportunity will knock in the next week or so.


In other news, Kyle has been summoned for Jury Duty (just to add to the excitement of today).

Thanks to everyone who has listened to me rant and rave about my emotions and feelings about the school job - Adrianne and Brandon, in specific.

I'll be updating again by the end of this week....I'm going to a TV taping tomorrow (with my parents who are currently out here visiting) of "AMERICA HAS TALENT", so that should be fun.