Syndication Station

Yawn... It's 11am here. I know that doesn't sound early, but Rich and I were out at the bar visiting mel last night, and then returned home to watch the film of DOOM, which, as a player of the recent edition of the game, I appreciated. Anyway, we didn't get to sleep until late, so 11 feels a bit early. I'm only up because I was supposed to have a conference call (oooh fancy) with Scot (the guy who produced my film As Real as Your Life and Max (a director/producer who has since partnered up with Scot). I can't go into too much detail because of confidentiality rules, but it's a good opportunity to share happy news so I'll tell you what I can.

A few weeks ago Scot and Max were pitching various ideas for TV shows (mostly video game related stuff) to a friend of Max's who used to be a president of television as one of the big studios. From what I've heard, it sounds like he wasn't biting - so just to see how he'd like it Scot showed him the teaser and then the trailer for As Real as Your Life. Somehow just from the clips this guy was excited enough to ask if I would be willing to work on developing a scripted TV show which would deal with some of the issues of the film, such as the effect of video games on the mind and how virtual experiences of individuals effect the collective consciousness. Pretty cool eh? I hadn't thought about TV as a medium for expressing much more than entertainment, but I'm hoping the show (if it happens) might actually make some sort of statement. For better or for worse, the guy also wants me to star in it - so I either need to break it to him gently that I'm not much of an actor, or quietly sneak into some acting classes in the meantime.

Anyway the conference call was moved to tomorrow, so I'm going back to bed. Just thought I'd share the good news. I'll keep you posted.

-Mish

D-Day and she's out till 6

hola!

We're coming up on 2am here in the Kong. Rich and I had a pretty fun day at work, being the dorks that we are we stayed late playing a World War II video game. To make things worse we wore headsets so we could talk to each other and yell things like "Give me some cover" and "Flank em to the right". All in all a good time, we killed many Nazis.

After work we picked up dinner in central and headed over the Buddha Lounge, mel's new home on Friday and Saturday nights. After a few false starts, she's finally bartending for real mixing up b-52s and Kamikazes quite rapidly (notice I'm keeping with a WWII theme). The bar was busy, packed with what appeared to be western exchange students downing tequila shots- the brief exposure was enough to cure me of my desire to head back to college life. The bar is really nice, good music, and a pretty casual lounge feel. I think it suits mel, or more mel suits the bar. Rich and I had a few drinks so and continued to discuss how best to make millions of dollars while also focusing on spiritual activism and the environment. A while later we moseyed on home, had some ice cream and watched another a tv show about a magician convincing middle management types to rob armored cars - very interesting...

The point I'm trying to get to, which I feel the free strawberry daiquiri might be slowing my approach to, is that it's not almost 2:00 am and mel still won't be home for another 4 hours.

here we are a few weeks ago with some friendly westerners, as well as Megan from Penn. check out that dude's 'I'm a sexy model' face. Not Rich, the guy on the left...

Our weekends have become a bit rough for this reason. Mel get's home around dawn on Saturday and Sunday, and then sleeps for most of the time I'm awake. We then see each other at the bar, but usually I have to competing with the exchange students and Asian business men for a chance to talk with her, given that they are paying customers and I am but a significant other. Alas, this is the downside to dating a bar tender. At least we get free drinks. And luckily the bars in Philly close at 2, so by this time she'd already be heading home. I guess I'm off to sleep...so: cheers, lechiam, salute, na zdravi (that's czech), bonzai, etc, etc...

-Mish

The Making of Fish-Beings

If you're just coming back to reading this post after the long hiatus, make sure to check the previous post - it's the real 'Welcome back Blogger' posting.

So this is a two part post. Firstly, over the past few months I've been working with a woman here on developing a film she'd had in the works for a while. Her name is Tanya, she's a Canadian yoga teacher, and the film she's making, entitled "The Making of Being" is about shifts in the global collective consciousness. She's better at explaining it than I am, so if you like check out the website The Making of Being (i made the site :) and for those of you in the film making trade or the investing trade get in touch with me or Tanya if you're interested in getting involved. I think the film has a lot of potential - that's why I've agreed to edit it (eeek! another film project).

We actually spent last weekend filming for the movie at the Evolution Yoga Conference, here in Hong Kong. Tanya used to work for the big (sometimes a little too corporate) Yoga studio that was running the event so we got all access press passes which was great (Rich came along for the experience). The conference was actually really cool, got to rub elbows with the royalty of the Yoga world filmed some good interviews one with Seane Corn (YouthAids) she does a lot of philanthropic work, in a very pragmatic way, I think she'll be an important part of the documentary. We got to go to some classes, did repeated sun salutations in unison, and even tried laughing yoga. That was particularly bizzare. Basically a large group of people forces themselves to laugh, goes through goofy exercises, all in the hopes of actually laughing. Laughing of course has lots of therapeutic benefits - unfortunately, as a camera man in a group of crazed yoga students all experiencing fits of self induced laughter the process was pretty frightening.

The conference concluded with a closing ceremony led by the 5 biggest of the big names that were there at the conference. As what I'm going to say next could be read as inflammatory, I'm not going to use their names. Instead I've photoshoped together images of whom I would cast if I were to film a re-enactment of the closeing ceremony.
If you're familiar with the Yoga world, feel free post guesses as to who this mystery panel was. I'll give some hints. From left to right: An aging rocker, tatooed and pierced, now indistinguishable between a state of veganism and heroin withdrawal, played by Iggy. Next, his life partner, the leader of the group, on the verge of outgrowing her youthfulness. In the middle, a certain wester Buddhist master played by Filch from Harry Potter, and his consort a Lamma, played by Lady Galadrial. Lastly, on the right, a chanting Sun Goddess.

We were all expecting the closing ceremony to focus on Yoga, as it was a Yoga conference. Surprisingly Angelica Huston began the session by playing a PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) video. One of the classic holocaust on your plate pieces where they show graphic images of farmers dropping cinder blocks on a pig's head. Pretty disturbing, and definitly a shock given the context.

She then invited her other 'enlightened beings' up on stage to comment. Iggy, Huston, Filch, Galadrial, and the Sun Goddess all had rather poignant stories about why to be vegitarian. About 3/4s through it started to feel like they were reaching. The spiritual argument for why not to eat meat isn't nearly as strong as the environmental one (Meat production is the number 1 cause of global warming, and with all the grain used to feed animals, the entire world could be well fed). The idea that when you drink milk you are drinking the pain of the animal the milk came from is a little harder for me to swallow (so to speak).

The highlight of the ceremony was when a local friend of ours asked the panel to clarify whether it was "OK" or "Less Bad" to eat fish. The panel quickly clarified that the 'nation of fish-beings' needs to be left alone. Moreover, science has shown that fish are especially sensitive. One of the panelists offered up evidence from a 'scientific' study which showed that theoretically 'if a fish -being had hands', and if with those theoretical hands the fish-being clutched a doorknob, it would be able to 'feel' all the other beings who had ever touched that doorknob. WHO KNEW?! I, personally, had no idea that fish beings (that is if they had hands) would have psycho-temporal powers actived though tactile stimulation. AMAZING.

The closing ceremony aside, the rest of the conference was actually very enlightening. I'm going to be dragging everyone on to the mat when i get back home.

peace from the Mish-Being

Return of the Ping...Pong

Wow. It's been too long hasn't it? I know it has. I don't really have an excuse for the lack of posts - with all the positive feedback I got from writing you think my bloguctivity would have increased, not vanished. It think my rate of bloggin' tells a sad but telling truth: even in the most novel and unknown place, we as humans (or maybe it's just me and mel) adapt quickly and after a month or two your in a routine, and the little things which felt like big triumphs and adventures a few weeks ago now are just cell phones, bills to pay, dishes to wash, etc...It certainly is all relative.

Remember when my XBOX blew up? Not the XBOX itself, but the big plastic brick which feeds it power. I'm sure some of you remember how upset I was, what a drama it was, when the first power supply committed electroshock suicide. Well, about a week ago, it did it again. It made the same horrible popping sound, and farted that same unmistakable smell of burnt circuitry. Did I panic? No. I shrugged with a pissed sort of disillusionment. I contemplated going back and buying another $50 (US) Chinese knock off which would likely bite the dust in another 4 months. With only 2 weeks left here I decided I could go without video games at home. Ironically enough, there was an extra XBOX power supply at work. Rich brought it home a few nights ago. Now things are back to normal. No drama, no good story, but back to slaying dragons and killing terrorists...

Life hasn't been totally flat though - so at least I'll have something to write about here for the next few weeks. The important thing is we're still in Hong Kong, and with two weeks left here I've decided to make the most of it. Last night, mel and I were discussing the funk I've gotten into in terms of getting work done. A lot of the projects (well all of the actually) I've worked on here have sort of fallen though. I do them, and then nothing, no reward, no feedback, no next step. Just a bunch of work, and then null. This repetition has really taken the zest out of doing anything other than table tennis (ping pong to you Yankees) and playing guitar. I've actually gotten better at both, I can play a little bit of a handful of songs including the super sad theme song from Brokeback Mountain (sooo sad); and while I STILL can't beat Rich at table tennis, I think I stand a good chance against some of my former opponents (namely my father, Mark Jasper, and Gabe).

Nonetheless I didn't come here to play video games, table tennis, and guitar. I came here to work, and the string of reward-less projects has left me a little drained. Sadly, even my own projects (like my screenplay, senior thesis, etc) aren't holding my attention these days. So it's time for some change. I've got one more design write up to do for MERECL, and then I'm done. I'm going to hunker down and finish a draft of my screenplay, and try to stop thinking about the reward of work, and just try to enjoy the work itself again. That's something I've almost forgotten how to do since getting here.

This reform of course includes writing this blog again - despite my perception that life is a little mundane here - a lot has happened!

Mel is now a real live bartender.

I took a trip home, and um...pretended to graduate.

I had a chance to help make a film.

We captured many brilliant pictures of Richard making a fool of himself...

I got to hang out with some of the world's leading yoga teachers, and hear all about the plight of the 'fish-beings'.

My future as a television star is looking brighter ...

Mel and I spent a day doing the most grueling physical labor we had ever experienced (all in the name of the environment).

Our plant (the one I got Mel for her birthday) finally officially kicked the bucket, I threw it out last night, we hummed taps. Well I hummed taps. Rich didn't know what taps was, and mel wasn't in a humming mood.

I will be writing about all of these things, and more, over the next 2 weeks. I hope some of you are still reading. My apologies again for the lack of posts - metaphysical shit happens.

-Mish