The Pregame

I bring you into my life as the first week of my Prague adventure comes to an end. For those of you who don’t know, I’m studying in the Czech Republic during this fall semester.

The details of the program are as follows: it’s an intensive semester where we study all aspects of production and make a 7 minute 16mm film. (We actually get a budget and everything!) We will also be taking some elective courses, but which ones exactly are still up in the air. What makes this more exciting is the program is shiny and new. I am one of the first 11, well I guess now 10, (bye Robert *sniffle) students participating in the program.

While here, I will also be compiling footage to create a small documentary. The generous people of the Gilman Foundation have provided me with some extra money, so I’ve purchased a sexy little camera and with my new baby I’ll show them what this school has to offer the average film student… or maybe slightly above average. Oh hell, who am I kidding; greatly above average… at least, that’s what Mom keeps telling me.

To catch everyone up, and I suppose a review for some of you, I’ll briefly tell you what I’ve been up to this glorious summer. To start off with, less than twenty four hours after my last final (which I aced and with it completed my third grueling year of higher education) I started working on an independent feature called April Showers. We worked more than twelve hours a day, six days a week, and it was splendid! My official title was Key Set Production Assistant; it sounds more important than it actually was.

After the movie wrapped, I started working for Mr. Steve Joy, abstract painter extraordinaire. Better than any retail job if I do say so myself. It was a job full of coffee and great meals out as well as a couple glamorous openings, and the array of people that I met through Steve was extraordinarily entertaining!

I said hello to Denver, CO with my sister and Ms. Josie Azzam. To understand Josie and my relationship, you need only to know one thing, we are avid Eddie Izzard fans. We purchased tickets for his stand-up show almost as soon as they went on sale. At one point, Eddie Izzard was a mere ten feet away from us! (He actually spoke to Josie which I’m still a little sour over.) A wonderful trip!

L.A. came next. What summer is complete without the beach? Some wonderful people I got to know during the film shoot just months earlier showed Nick, my roommate, and I around the city for a few days. During our short stay, Nick and I enjoyed DisneyLand, not DisneyWorld (apparently they are very different which Nick felt he needed to continually tell me) and Medieval Times, which might have been the most amazing dinner I have ever had. We also spent an afternoon at the beach, and I got a personal tour of the entirety of LA from a local.

I was home for about a week, and to be honest I wasn’t quite ready to go. Such an action-packed summer demands more than a week of relaxation at home, right?

But Prague came anyway and it’s been wonderful thus far. Details of my adventures here will soon follow, as well as my address for all you folks who want to send me stuff!