LIGHTSTRUCK!

I think I'm paying a bit of a price for having many drinks after the great LIGHTSTRUCK UMBC student film festival screening last night. My friend, filmmaker Shane Logue, his lovely friends, and me ended up closing up the Ottobar, then the party carried over all over locations in Charles Village.

LIGHTSTRUCK this year was really a great event and I was impressed with the work of fellow UMBC film students. In fact, I dare say this was the strongest showing of student films I've seen from any film school here in MD. Shane Logue, who's still completing his feature length debut 'Hachigame', screened his very well-made short, 'Cain And Able', a b+w silent-film-styled tale of an illusionist trying to win the love of his assistant. He won an award for the piece which he actually shot on film! Other filmmakers made equally striking efforts, such as Daphne Gardner, whose short 'Hunting Boy' had one of the greatest, freshes voices I've seen from a young filmmaker. Many filmmakers don't have a 'voice', a palpable signature and feeling that emanates from the screen, but this girl has it. Jordan Eberlein and his partner Dominic Garcia also made their marks with films such as 'Negocium', a gorgeously-shot b+w short about a lawyer feeling drawn to his assistant, and 'Over Black', an elliptical, metaphysical tale of two men whose lives collide in the realm of dreams. James Smyth also made tracks with a lyrical, experimental time-lapse piece called 'Blue Rocket'.

And to start it off, the event kicked off with a fascinating live-animation presentation from Eric Dyer and his class of animation students. Dyer has gotten wide acclaim from festivals such as Sundance, which featured his experimental animation a couple of years ago. He and his team had a setup with large turntables which spun different zoetropes, as other team members filmed closeups of those spinning zoetropes. Then, another member edited the shots on the fly, while yet another participant performed a live musical score. I've not seen anything this adventurous done with film in a long time! They did the same presentation at a Brooklyn art museum very recently, and if they do it again elsewhere I reccommend you go.

The packed screening made me proud of being again a part of UMBC, and I can't wait to make my short and get that degree in the fall.

*****

Done! I can say I'm done with my spring Biology Class. I suspected I wasn't going to ace that class without making a considerable effort and overcoming some last minute obstacle. And sure enough, I got thrown an Indiana-Jones-sized boulder my way (Doesn't the new movie look fantastic? I can't wait!), when my car got towed with just three to spare before my final exam on Monday. I would say 'Unbelievable', but in this city I pretty much expect shit like that to happen regularly. I managed to scramble, run across town, track down where my car was, take a taxi, and--thanks to the angel who was behind the taxi wheel--was able to get my car out of the impound lot in time to turn my final notebook and take the final exam. I think I'm going to do very well on the class to.

This confirms my belief that you must have confidence in Life. If you don't let it break you down, if you cultivate your spirit and optimism, it brings great things your way.