Reflection

Good morning friends!

Over the past week I haven't been around to post a blog because as of late my friends and I have been working a short film which we are very proud to present to you.


The video is a result of wanting to learn how the editing program works, playing with the camera equipment, experimenting with different camera angles and shots, and bottles after bottles of wine.

Before I show it to you, I would just like to say PLEASE leave your comments, CONSTRUCTIVE criticisms, or anything you would like to say about it. We have a long way to go especially since this our first and we can only go up hill from here. The only way we can get better is by letting us know what you think.

And if you have any ideas for any type of material or story that you would like to see, please let us know. We would love to have new ideas.

And trust, there will definitely be more to come.

Thanks...and enjoy.

Chris A. Chris B. Kelsey J. Clancy M
(Collective Agreement)

Reflections from A Collective Agreement on Vimeo.

...so, you qualified, how?!

You've either heard about them or you're one of them. The unemployed. Right now, droves upon droves of people are losing their jobs faster than teenage girls can lose their v-cards.

The unemployed are almost like zombies; dragging their feet, doubling in numbers each day and when a job-post pops up on craigslist, it's a dog pile on whatever poor restaurant is looking for a single bus boy.

It's the quiet battle on American soil that we seem to be losing, and no one can see it for what it is than someone like me.

Currently, I work as a recruiter for Company X who hires entry level positions for various Fortune 500 companies. When Client X wishes to hire someone to sell stuff at their store, I screen candidates for the position.

And to be honest, it's almost maddening. These positions are not the highest paid positions out there and the people applying for them aren't the brightest stars in the sky. But I have to admire them for their persistence.

Without further ADO...I've decided to transcribe some of my favorite conversations...hope you enjoy...


1/12/11

ME: ...Thank you so much for holding...I have all the info-

CANDIDATE: (Suckling noises as if on a bottle)

ME: Ma'am? Are you there?

CANDIDATE: Uh-huh. I'm sorry. I was just feeding.

Me: Oh.



TIP: Please don't breast feed or drink from a bottle while doing an interview. It makes the Employer think you are distracted and not giving the full attention.
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1/23/11


ME: Can you please tell me about a time when you helped a customer through a difficult situation? What was the problem and how did you do it?

CANDIDATE: Um, there was this one time this woman had said "scuse me, I can't do this" and so I was like "well how can I help you with that?" And so I helped her and she remained one of my best customers ever since. (giggle)

ME: (Silence and then sarcastically) Can you please tell me about a time when you helped a customer through a difficult situation? What was the problem and how did you do it?

CANDIDATE: (attitude) Didn't you just ask that question?

ME: Could you elaborate on the situation, please?

CANDIDATE: (sucks her teeth)




TIP: This candidate did what I call word origami. where I hand her a piece of paper and she just folds into a crane. Some crafty candidates can get away with it, but this candidate isn't crafty or smart for that matter. DON'T DO WORD ORIGAMI!
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2/10/2011


ME: May I have your zipcode please?

CANDIDATE: Um, I just moved into the area, hold on a sec. (to someone) hey. What's the area code?

Afar VOICE: Meh.

CANDIDATE: What?

ME: Sir, is there a piece of mail somewhere? A Bill?

CANDIDATE: Nah, we don't get mail.

ME: Lucky...


TIP: Know where you are. You can't get a job somewhere if you don't know where the somewhere is. Even if you are on the Lamb, please, just know where you are.
-----------------------------------------------


3/3/11


ME: Great. We'd like to tell you that you we would like to consider you further for the position. I have sent you an email with directions to your [Job Interview].

CANDIDATE: Is there any other way you can send it to me? My internet isn't hooked up.

ME: What other way is there to send an email other than through the internet?

CANDIDATE: Oh YEAH!


TIP: I have no tip for this. There are no tips for pure stupidity.
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Hit me up. Let me hear your work stupid people moments. If you care to comment, heckle, WHATEVER, please do.

BRICK

Oscar TIME!

All right, people. Let me know what your thoughts are. Below are all the Best Picture nominees at present. Let me know your thoughts!!!

The Social Network

“And Best Picture goes to…”

The Facebook Movie. That’s right. This one is my pick for Best Picture. And some of you will be booing and you have every right mainly because you think I’m picking this movie because of all the hype surrounding the fact that Facebook is now an integral part of our daily lives. But, alas, no I’m not. The Social Network, rather loosely based on fact, is the story of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s infamous rise to billionaire status and the friends he had to lose to get there.

When taken out of context, the movie is a parable about a dorky college student, Mark, who sells his soul to the devil for the opportunity to no longer be invisible. At the start of the movie, Mark is having drinks with possibly the only girlfriend he’s ever had. When the conversation goes sour and she dumps him, Mark creatively lashes out through his uncanny ability to mash random codes from cyberspace into destructive yet enjoyable sites and using his fellow students as his experiments. When he is given an idea from the notoriously athletic Winklevoss twins, Mark uses his talents to create the ultimate Social Network.
The reason why this movie will win Best Picture is because it has all of the elements. First and foremost is the script. Aaron Sorkin, the creator of A Few Good Men and TV’s The West Wing give this story a razor sharp tongue that younger generations love and the right kind of class that older generations can appreciate. At the helm of this ship is director David Fincher; his fearless use of drab lighting and colors wash away the real world autumnal look of Harvard which gives the film a more gothic look and his unconventional use of camera shots give this movie what the other movies seem to lack…originality. And let’s not mention that he made the Winklevoss twins look like two people in the same frame when it’s really only one Actor! (Thanks Chris and Lauren for noting that which I did not pick up.) Nominated for his music score, there’s NineInchNails front man, Trent Reznor, setting the pace of the film with a hyperkinetic score to match the forward leaps into the digital age. As for the acting talent, my roomie Jason and I always thought Jessie Eisenberg was the poor man’s Michael Cera but we now know it’s the other way around. But is he Best Actor? You know where my thoughts go on that one.

The King's Speech

“I love the fact that the movie is considered laughable when these
are the same techniques I’m learning in school”



Another movie from the United Kingdom about Royalty, which means instantly that it’s good. Blah blah. English people know how to act. And as much as I hate to give reverence to their automatic ability to get Best Picture and Best Actor and Actress nods every time a movie is made about the Royal Family.
King George VI (Colin Firth) has a slight problem…he st-tu-stutters and the problem is so horrifying that it creates in him major confidence issues especially since his country is on the brink of World War II. How he can he bring a nation together when he can’t even confidently mutter the name of his country much less give an inspiring speech? So he seeks out the services of an unlikely poor actor, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), and together the two men form a friendship from madcap speech therapy sessions.
What’s great about this movie is that it’s a dramedy instead of the usual heavy British material that we have seen in the past. It has an excellent mix of comedy and drama, delightfully horrible stuttering English accents, and, my personal favorite, Helena Bonham Carter decided to hop off her husband (Tim Burton) and do something different for a change.
I believe that Colin Firth is the man that will win Best Actor and, of course, Geoffrey Rush had better win for Best Supporting Actor. Helena Bonham Carter should not win Best Supporting Actress even though she did a good job, she deserves some punishment for doing ridiculous Cameos in Harry Potter and Alice in Wonderland. Now, does Tom Hooper deserve Best Director? Hell no. Just because you put a bunch of excellent English actors in some pretty locations does not constitute an Oscar win. I think there needs to be more to it than that.

Winter's Bone.

“…adult film stars clad in Columbia Sportswear.”


If there’s one of these ten movies that really surprised me it would have to be Winter’s Bone. Judging from the poster, this movie seems like another indie flick that you will scroll by on your Netflix and not give another look. But I urge you to put it in your queue.
Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence of TBS’s Bill Engvall Show) is a 17-year-old girl who is desperately trying to keep her family together in a poor, rural area of the Ozarks. She has an invalid mother, her father’s missing and she has two younger siblings who are counting on her for survival. But when Ree finds out that her father put their house on bail, she has one week to either find him or lose their home. What follows is a descent into one girl’s own heart of darkness as Ree stops at nothing to uncover the truth of her father’s disappearance…or pieces of it.
Winter’s Bone is no doubt an amazing and visceral story but I remain dubious to the fact that it will win Best Picture. But I am slightly hopeful for the acting nods to Jennifer Lawrence for Best Actress and John Hawkes for Best Supporting Actor. Does newcomer Jennifer Lawrence have what it takes to hold out against Nicole Kidman or Annette Bening? Probably not, but in regards to the material at which the Best Actresses are nominated for, I think she has an excellent shot. As for John Hawkes, he’s been in the acting business for a long time and this performance will lead him to other great roles “yeah, the guy can really act” but he’s up against Geoffrey Rush! I think you may know where my loyalties lie with that one.

127 Hours.

“1 dull knife + 1 boulder – 1 arm = Oscar”

They are selling t-shirts online that say, “I didn’t vomit in 127 Hours”.
A dull-Swiss army knife, no pain pills; it feels like the scene won’t ever end. I’m not the type of person who has to look away in a horror movie but this scene makes the toughest stomachs churn. But this movie has so much more than just the reputation of being the “amputation flick”. It reminds us of everything and everyone in our lives whom we’d “give our right arms for”. James Franco plays Aron Ralston, the independent thrill-seeker who makes a small misstep trying to cross a crevasse and lands himself literally between a rock and a hard place.
Danny Boyle is one of the more exciting directors out there and feel that he was robbed for a nod at Best Director. Even though Franco and Boyle are on opposite sides of the camera, Franco’s charm as Aron Ralston and Boyle’s signature hyper-kinetic pacing show us a strong amount of play between actor and director. Will Franco take home Best Actor? I hope so, but it’s hard when you have some heavy hitters like Colin Firth or Javier Bardem to compete with.

True Grit.

“God’s gonna cut you down” –Johnny Cash

True Grit’s trailer alone is enough to send chills up your spine. A young girl looking to avenge her father’s death; a young Texas Ranger who needs to bring a man to justice; a drunk-as-a-skunk one-eyed Marshal who is commissioned to help them both. Setting the pace of the story is the late great Johnny Cash making us stomp our feet to the sweet sounds of up-and-coming revenge.
Mattie Ross is a young girl whose father was killed by Chaney (Josh Brolin), one of her father’s hired hands who took his horses and two pieces of gold. TWO! Talk about being in a recession! Mattie comes across Texas Ranger LeBoef (Matt Damon) and hires the washed-up boozehound Marshal “Rooster” Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to be her guide into the only lands where Chaney is known to be hiding. What starts out as a simple tale of selfish revenge turns into a beautiful story of selfless acts of humanity as Mattie and Cogburn learn the weight and consequence of their actions.
The Coen Brothers are masters at the craft of filmmaking by turning the silverscreen into a moving canvas of classic paintings. When the Coen Brothers’ names pop up on trailers, there’s an instant feeling of “Bro, gotta see that sh*t!” But this go round, even though the movie itself is an amazing piece of cinema, I don’t believe that it will pull the weight against the other Best Picture nominees. Sorry Coen Brothers, but No Country for Old Men is still a better picture than True Grit but I won’t be un-happy if they took the Oscar again. As for Hailee Steinfeld who plays the unstinkable Mattie Ross, my hat tips to you for a Best Supporting Actress nod.

The FIghter.

“Chill out, Christian Bale, it’s not your movie.” – Don Ilko

Okay, if there is one movie on the Best Picture list that shouldn’t be there it’s The Fighter. This happens to be a personal project for Mark Wahlberg who happened to train with the real life fighter, Mickey Ward, whom Wahlberg portrays…and sadly, Mark Wahlberg is outshined by….well, everyone else in the movie.
Mickey and his drug-induced brother Dick (played obnoxiously by Christian Bale) are two brothers who are trying to survive the frightening, streets of Lowell, Mass. But Mickey wants more than survival. He wants to relive his glory days as a Prize-fighter! The only things standing in his way is his own pride…as well as his brother’s drug habit, his seven dastardly sisters and one tackily clad mother with the most rancid Northeastern accent that could make Jersey Shore tolerable.
Let me just say, that of all the movies that are possibly going to be in that envelope for Best Picture you can definitely put this one at the top of the list as “not gonna happen.” First of all, we’ve seen this story too many times and all of us are over it. We’ve seen Rocky, we’ve seen Million Dollar Baby, we’ve seen Girlfight. HUH? You’ve never seen Girlfight? Anyway, the point is, boxing movies are fun, blah blah. If this movie gets any Oscars I hope it will be for Melissa Leo’s performance as Mickey’s tacky stage-mom mother. As for David O. Russell as Best Director? He wasn’t able to highlight his actor’s in the moments that counted the most and his “mean streets” of Lowell look as tame as a Millie Vanillie video. Worth seeing? Sure. Oscar worthy. Hell no.

The Kids Are All Right.

“Julianne Moore and Annette Bening do it. OSCAR!!”

If there is a movie that I’m proud to be a homosexual about, it’s a movie
where the main theme isn’t about being Gay and Proud, but about a contemporary family who just happened to have two moms. Simple. But oh, not so simple. Mark Ruffalo is thrown into this modern family Margarita giving this tall drink of movie an awkward taste yet leaving you wanting to sip the straw. (What the hell did I just say?)
Julianne Moore and Annette Bening play a lesbian couple that used Mark Ruffalo’s sperm to father their children. But when their youngest, Lazer (played by Josh what’s his name) decides to go daddy-hunting he becomes enamored with Mark Ruffalo, who in turn decides that he wants to play the part and possibly take the father figure role from Annette Benning. AWKWARD!
I’m writing this one quick because this movie is obviously not getting Best Picture and poor Annette Bening, I honestly hope she DOESN’T get the award for Best Actress because she should’ve gotten it for something like American Beauty or Being Julia at LEAST!!! I have strong feelings about this and if you’ve seen it, I would love to go nine rounds about what the outcome at the Oscar’s would be.

Inception.

“That van is falling…like…forever”

Can we just all agree that the true star of Inception is Christopher Nolan. I remember back in the day when he tingled our brains with his Indie hit Memento, and we all wondered what could do with a budget.
Nolan is showing us, especially with the Batman Franchise reboot, that big budget movies can actually entertain and be very thought provoking. What’s more amazing is that Nolan doesn’t blow his wad on every moment of the screen like any other big budget movie director (Michael Bay, are you paying attention here?) Nolan allows the story to be supported by a mind-blowing scene without having to rely on making them noisy, huge or long-winded. He crafts his story with the care of a toy-maker creating a magnificent puzzle-box that’s easy enough for the audience to follow and leave room to watch it again to see something new.
Does Inception have a shot at Best Picture? I still think there are some elements missing. I think that the Cinematography was okay, but not Oscar Worthy and Nolan wasn’t even considered for Best Director, which, sadly, I must agree with the no Nod. Nolan’s story-telling seems to be a little too-faced paced at times leaving the audience feeling like they have to catch their breath, which has your more adept neighbor asking (are you following what just happened at that moment?) which can either make you want to watch it again, or just be glad you made it through the first time.

Black Swan.

“...is that a feather coming out of her shoulder?”

If you haven’t had a chance to see it, DO IT! Black Swan is that one movie that will have you wondering what in the world will happen next. Is Natalie Portman going to sprout wings in the final Act and flop around on stage as a broken Swan or what?
The story centers on a young Ballerina (Natalie Portman) who is as innocent as Christmas and wants so badly to be Prima Ballerina for her school’s production of Swan Lake. When her sleazeball director (in an uncomfortable performance by Vincent Cassel) decides to make her the Swan Princess, she must find a way to break into her dark side to play the role.
The movie is highly entertaining and leaves you guessing what is reality and what is not, and relies heavily on the symbology of the Swan. Will it win Oscars? I love you Darren Aronofsky, but I think you slipped through the cracks this year, although I do believe that Natalie Portman has a strong Shot at the Oscar for Best Actress even though I think she looks a tad old to play the role.

Toy Story 3

“Nice As-cot!” -Barbie

Pixar. When you see the little Luxo Lamp thingy bouncing across the screen to smush the “I” you can only imagine what they are coming out with next. Pixar has taken 5 Oscars for Best Animated Feature and last year marks their official jump into the big boy’s table of Best Picture with their Animated Feature Up. This year Toy Story 3 has taken a nod for Best Picture and I would like to believe they have a good shot.
But, even though I can sing the praises of Pixar and about how many times I’ve watched Toy Story 3 over the past 2 months since it hit DVD, I have to say that it will probably not gain the award of Best Picture. If Pixar has the biggest shot at any of the awards other than Best Animated Feature, it will be for Best Adapted Screenplay by Michael Arndt, the genius pen behind Little Miss Sunshine. The secret ingredient is Arndt’s use of situational irony and tongue-in cheek humor without having to make references to pop-culture, which can harmfully date a movie.