USC Upstate Midnight Madness

Well it appears that I am on a YouTube video that I had nothing to do with (directing, producing, writing, creating-wise). You can find my commercial debut in the clip at 1:44 to 1:47.

Writing & Computers: Trust ANY Internet Source?

In Writing & Computers we had no Monday class. In place of the class was an important Web research assignment where we had to learn to become more critical of Internet sites we use. I learned that we have to check any URL we use, look at the search engine (Google, Yahoo!, etc.) listings of sites, and we have to watch for scams, urban legends, and parody sites. Below are the Web sites we had to visit to complete the assignments (and these sites include a few quizzes). You also may want to take a look at the example sites linked on these pages.


http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/detective/

http://www.ithaca.edu/library/training/think.html

http://library.albany.edu/usered/eval/evalweb/

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill26.htm

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/webeval.html

On Wednesday we turned in that assignment and had further discussion of it.

On Friday we watched a funny three-minute zombie YouTube clip (funny for two reasons: 1. It is close to Halloween, and 2. I was feeling like a zombie for only having had four hours of sleep Thursday night/Friday morning).



Then we watched a more serious YouTube video on Wikipedia.



This group of collaborators (who apparently, humorously, don't get along) discussed the positives and negatives of using it in research and editing.

My first "serious" short film

This is my (and a friend's) first serious effort at a short "independent" film. We had to do quite a few takes for each scene (and graphic) that is on this video. Many of us had to do retakes due to cracking up at each other. My thumb and reflection accidentally appear in the second scene, but they are not that noticeable (and in fact, may add quirky charm to this film). At the end of our lake scene, I shot a toy cap gun. There was a little girl with a young woman near us when I shot the gun. I had to explain to them that the gun was a toy and that we were doing a dark comedy. It was hard to shoot that particular scene because the sunset had nearly passed. There were also other fishermen at the lake who served as our extras. At the picnic area, there was a church service happening as we were shooting. My friend executed his part perfectly in this film.

By the way, neither Gary nor I endorse suicide. This is meant to be a "dark comedy."

To see our not-so-serious efforts, go to my YouTube page at www.youtube.com/ectizzle.