Some Thoughts On The Matter

    Hello! I'm a little tired while I'm writing this, but I did want to make a quick post about my recent interest in Smiling Friends. Or rather, my interest in Zach Hadel and the content he's put out (i.e. OneyPlays compilations). I half-stumbled across his corner of the Internet a week or two ago, and I found myself to share a sense of humor with him, so I've been on a streak consuming a lot of what he's put out there.     I was listening to The Create Unknown Podcast episode he was on recently and really appreciated his commentary and insight on the production of Smiling Friends, since it gave me a better understanding of the sort of background processes that go behind getting a show pitched, written, and produced. A lot of his advice resonated with me, especially his words on failure and writing with a partner.     It's a little daunting for me to believe that one day, I would ideally be in a similar position where I'm working on a show with friends (I...

      Hello, super short post because I admittedly don't have a whole lot to say about this and I lowkey need to fill my post quota for the week. A few days ago, the new Fortnite season "Wrecked" came out, with an emphasis on modded cars and nitro fists, giving the entire game a very Mad Max feel.     On Twitter, I have been seeing nonstop seething from pro players on Fortnite that have been struggling to adapt and cope with the new gameplay. Clip after clip has popped up on my timeline showing "unfair" kills or players just driving through the elaborate builds that they have placed. And I can understand the frustration. However, I have a counterpoint: it's hilarious.     In these few days since the season's release, I can confidently say it's the most fun I've had in-game in probably over a year. The sheer chaos and hilarity that sparks from the car fights, the fists, etc. has been so fun! I have spent HOURS on the game laughing my ass off at ho...

 Hi again!     As mentioned in the title (and the end of last blog post), this is the counterpart to my blog post about the writing process behind NOW SPELL, my latest short film script that I wrote last week. I wanted to separate this into two posts because frankly, it would've been exhausting to write everything I wanted to talk about into one blog post, and it certainly would've been exhausting to read. Regardless, let's start by talking about how I came up with the idea.     A few months ago I had this vivid nightmare (?) where I was in my old bedroom (from when my family first got a house in the US). In the nightmare, there was an old Speak N' Spell toy that spoke to me, using words from the sound library and communicating through the word prompts and correcting me by spelling out its reply to whatever I would type into it. It was a little weird, a little eerie, but overall enough of a memorable dream that I jot down some notes on it later in the day when I...

      Hello! Though it won't be noticeable through my activity on this blog, I was actually very busy this week working on another very important writing project: my first serious short film script! Though I have technically written a script for my AICE Media A class, it was littered with mistakes and overall does not represent the actual potential of my screenwriting capabilities, in my opinion. This isn't to say it's a horrible script, I actually watched it earlier today with Wade (since he's staying over at the moment) and thought that the jokes were tight, the characters were distinct and well-developed, and the overall themes/message of the short film were pretty clear!     Regardless, I still didn't feel like it should be considered my first screenplay. There were too many creative restraints on COMPUTER FUNERAL (for example, the fact I had to actually film the thing for my class), as well as not fully delivering on my ideas for the short film due to time ...

      Hello!! While I have more interesting projects cooking in the background, I wanted to quickly make a post about something that happened yesterday. Even though it sounds pretty silly, it ended up having a somewhat profound impact on me and got me thinking about some deeper stuff, so I wanted to share my thoughts on it.     Yesterday I got a bad haircut. It happens to everyone, it's not the first nor the last time it'll happen to me, and overall, I know it'll only last a few weeks at most, since my hair grows really quickly. But besides being a blight on my head, I remember feeling a profound dread when thinking about the haircut, even before I saw how it'd turn out. And that's because this whole haircut business had me thinking about identity and self-expression.     I didn't really want  a haircut. And I'll be the first one to admit, my hair was already pretty shaggy and messy, so I understood why my parents were nagging me to get it cut. Af...

If you had told me a few years ago that I would be nonstop raving about a Ted TV show in 2024, I would've looked at you and said, "Who gives a fuck about Ted??" Yet here I am, still reeling from the shockingly great series that I stumbled across by sheer boredom. Over winter break earlier this year, I had a lot  of free time that I didn't have anything to do with. This led me to rot on the living room couch and mindlessly scroll through Peacock Plus since I had already watched everything good on Netflix. That's when I came across the Ted show, and despite having not seen either of the Ted movies beforehand, I was compelled to give the show a try because of a viral Twitter clip I had seen from the show that made me chuckle. But even halfway through the first episode, I could tell that I was locked into this experience. The comedy, characters, and storytelling was incredible for my low expectations from the show, and it compelled me to binge the entire 8 episode run...

 Hey! I just moved back home a few days ago after my first year at college, and like all students who come home for the summer, I feel as if I can finally breathe a sigh of relief... No more homework, no more papers due, and no more exams! Well, that last bit probably doesn't apply to me... but regardless, I am very happy to be home after so much time apart from my family and friends from home. Now of course, I'm enjoying all of the benefits of being home like oversleeping, seeing friends from different colleges, and no worries of some asshole roommates, but I've realized that above anything else, the thing I've missed most is the food! Brushing aside all of the fat jokes I can make about myself, I have been so happy to have consistent homemade meals instead of the everyday Pollo Tropical or Panera sandwiches. I've been eating much more healthy (and overall tastier) food than ever before, and that led me to do some thinking the other night about why I'm so happy...

Anyone who knows me personally knows that music-wise, I am not in tune with any  modern rap or hip hop or whatever. Not in a corny way, but I just don't really enjoy most of modern rap and I tend to prefer more niche silly stuff. However, it was impossible to ignore the current rap beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. And I mean that literally- on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, EVERYTHING is about the rap beef. With such an inescapable cultural presence (and the insistence of a few friends) I finally decided it was time for me to tap into rap and check out the Kdot and Drake beef. I'm going to start off with some background info on the beef because if you're like me, you have absolutely NO idea what the hell is going on, and why these two artists hate each other. My understanding of the situation is informed by old men, Twitter, and Reddit. Essentially, they were subtly dissing each other on rap songs for years before this, but the story really starts on J Cole and Drake...

I considered not writing this blog post out of fear of political repercussion. That's a crazy thing to say right? But still, it's something I felt like I needed to address before writing anything else. The modern political climate right now is extremely tense, accusatory, and volatile, and that goes for both sides of the political spectrum. Usually I'd stay out of these sorts of political debates and situations because I really loathe attaching my name to movements or groups that I don't have control over, I don't want to associate my name and reputation with any group of people that may eventually betray my trust/interests. I had thought about writing a blog post on my thoughts about performative politics/activism, but didn't really want to insert myself in the current Palestine/Israel conversation. But just for the books, I consider myself pro-Palestine. So what did compel me to make a post? Well, this morning I was scrolling through my Twitter timeline, as I ...