I honestly don't have a point for this post. I just need to blog for the sake of blogging...and because a certain follower reminded me that I haven't blogged for ten freakin' days. Shame on me. I did promise to update more often. So instead of trying to give my usual pep talk/advisory post, I'll simply tell you what's been going down the past 10 days.
Starting off with the FUTURE OF CINEMA FILM FESTIVAL...dude, that was just made of epic win...I can't even begin to describe all the awesomeness that happened there. All I have to say is...
1. Cory McAbee!
2. STINGRAY SAM (in accordance with #1)
3. BEN BUSCH!!!!!!!!!!!
4. Daniel Pearl
5. Student films!
6. Student documentaries!
7. Sceenplay readings!
8. Autographs!
9. Free popcorn!
10. Excuse to skip world history class!
And there's more...
My friend from my old high school came up to show her film and I got to catch up with her...THAT was epic...and I got to see my friend Ned's film and he dedicated it to the "2009 MPAs"...three of which were at said screening to witness this...also, we got to hear "Stingray Sam" playing his uklele...it was awesome with added awesomeness...all around, this weekend was amazing.
The great thing about FoC is that you can see just how many other amazing teen filmmakers there are in this world. I saw an animated short from Germany. I saw two French narrative shorts. I saw documentaries made by kids around my age that, in my opinion, were better than anything on the Discovery Channel. These kids aren't IAA students. Most of them hadn't had much formal training in film. But they were good enough to submit to this festival, they were good enough to get in, and a few lucky ones were good enough to win.
The FoC festival was only the tip of the iceberg. For anyone who has never been to Interlochen in May, I will tell you, straight out: It. Is. INSANE!
MORP! Dude, if there's an example of insanity, MORP is most definitely it. Normal proms involve corsages and contraband spiked punch. Our prom, or MORP, involved cross dressing, balloon arches, 80s music, bowling, blacklight, and the Cheshire Cat.
MORP is not just a prom. It is a full-out party. Ordinary proms are couples-only dances, and if you don't go with a date--watch out! With an ordinary prom, the poor freshmen and sophomores plan it, raise the money for it, execute it--and then aren't allowed to attend. But Interlochen says, "Screw that!" and pulls together a MORP committee made up of ALL grades, gets the entire student body in on voting for a theme, and allows freshmen and sophomores to come to the dinner, the dance, and the afterparty.
Here's the MORP schedule:
5:00 - Reception on campus.
6:00 - Leave for fancy ballroom in Traverse City.
6:30 - Dinner, complete with vegetarian or vegan options...and for dessert, cookies that say, "Eat me!"
7:30 - Start dancin', fools! :)
Anytime after 9:30-10 - Leave for the afterparty.
10-2 - Bowling party in Traverse City, complete with blacklight, all you can eat pizza, music, friends, and of course the immense excitement of watching chaperones (aka teachers) bowling! :)
And of course in there, we had soooo many photo ops. I even brought my video camera. Now, as we all know, MORP is a senior sappiness hotbed. All of this, "Oh, my God, you're leaving next year!" from the juniors, and "Oh, my God, this is my last big high school party!" from the seniors. So I took advantage of the emotions running high on this particular night and got pictures of almost EVERY SINGLE ONE of my senior/postgrad friends. I took pictures of just about every friend who attended, actually. Juniors, seniors, freshmen, sophomores, postgrads...EVERYONE.
And then, the next day, I posted every single picture, tagged every friend, wrote silly things under each picture. (In fact I honestly skipped out on some homework doing this...oops.) And then I compared notes with all of my friends from other schools about proms, and who had the best time, and who wore what, and what drama went down and what kind of epic funnies went down.
And then I went to sleep for the first time in a week.
Speaking of sleep, or lack thereof, has anyone else noticed this who-can-come-off-worst competition among art school students? I'm just curious. Remember that blog post I wrote earlier about complaining? It seems there's a method to that madness. The stuff we all complain about (yes, I'm guilty of this too) seems pretty minor when you think of how incredible this school is. I've said that before and I will most definitely say it again.
And at first I didn't understand this. But now, after a summer and a school year at an arts school, I understand the insanity.
You see, we aren't complaining because we actually have things to complain about. We are complaining because we are tortured artists and, at all costs, we absolutely have to fit that profile.
We are art students! We MUST suffer for our art! We must endure such horrors as walking to class in the rain, skipping showers because our suitemates refuse to let us into the bathroom, eating food that tastes like chalk mixed with arsenic, smelling awful because we have no time to do laundry, wasting time on reports about Emily Dickinson when we SHOULD be practicing our craft. We can't have things TOO easy. I mean, come on...this school is so amazing; how can we possibly fit into the "suffering artists" stereotypes unless we make that happen?
Yes, I'm totally poking fun here, and yes, I TOTALLY do this too. To my friends: Does this sound familiar?
"I swear, I must've gotten three hours of sleep last night."
"I'm starving! I skipped lunch to work on McCall's essay and--oh damn it, it's meat loaf night!"
"Yes, I know my socks are mismatched. I overslept and in the confusion I put on mismatching socks. Why'd I oversleep? Oh, that's just because I was up so late writing that script."
"My feet are soaked. I can't afford rain boots. I drained my account on props for my thesis."
"I haven't showered for two days! I keep getting locked out of the bathroom!"
Ah, the life of a teenage filmmaker. Isn't it glamorous? ;) I know, I know. "Shut up and move on." Okay, I will. To something I'm sure we can all relate to...
FIRE DRILLS!
Seriously, what in this school is more annoying than a late-night fire drill? You all know what I mean. You change into your pajamas after a long day. Snuggle up in bed with your laptop or maybe a good book. Or maybe you call your friends from home, or your parents. You're all nestled into bed, cozy and sleepy and happy and so ready to just chill out. And then...
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Now this is bad enough to begin with. But if you make the mistakes that I made last night, fire drills are just so much worse
Mistake #1: Wearing fleece shorts that just BARELY reached my thighs to bed. God forbid we ever have a fire drill when I'm wearing PANTS!
Seriously, this ALWAYS happens. Either I'm in shorts, I'm in a dress, or--one God-awful occasion that I hope to never repeat--I'm in a nightgown. That was just so horrifically FAIL that I can't even begin to describe it. Not only was I freezing, but I spent most of the drill desperately attempting to cover up some--ahem--distinctly female body parts that this low-cut garmet did NOT do its theoretical job of hiding. While I'm guessing that all three (or four; I can't tell about one of you yet) of the straight guys in my dorm enjoyed this, I can tell you that I certainly did not.
You may be scratching your head right now, and giving me that what are you, insane? look, or asking, "Why the hell don't you wear more clothes to bed, then?" Well, I'll tell you why. For those of you who don't live in DeRoy, I am here to say that it is not as glamorous as you think, and here is why: It is ONE MILLION DEGREES in our rooms. And we open windows. And we have fans. And we try (and usually fail) to work the climate control. But it's still very hard to sleep in million-degree rooms, unless you are cold-blooded and depend on outer sources for heat. And so I sleep with one blanket and, even in the dead of February, I sleep in shorts and t-shirts. Because I'd rather not die of heatstroke in the middle of the night, thankyouverymuch.
Mistake #2: Not wearing proper shoes. I was already freezing, thanks to my shorts (or lack thereof) because it's just not as warm outside at night as it is in the DeRoy rooms. And so thanks to my bare legs, I was cold. And as if that wasn't bad enough, I had to wear flipflops because I didn't have time to find and put on proper shoes.
When one of my friends realized that I was shivering, he did what I'm sure any of you would have done: He gave me a very encouraging smile, tore off a shred of a paper napkin, and said, "Here's a strip of napkin to keep you warm!" Now, this may sound mean to some of you, but trust me, it was the best possible thing he could've done. I cracked up and totally forgot that I was freezing because I was so busy laughing at him.
Okay, so after the fire drill we all go back to our rooms and chill, right? Oh, hell no. That would be too easy.
Instead, Otha brings us all into the boys' lobby and proceeds to inform us that should some selfish person prop the side door again, we will have no visitors or lobby privileges in DeRoy for the rest of the year.
I just love this. Okay, I will say here and now, I have never propped the side door. And I will tell you why: It's simply not worth it to me. I'll admit that there are times when I've wished that door was open, so I wouldn't have to walk an extra minute in the rain or snow to get into the nice warm (too warm) building. But to me, it's just not worth it to get dormed or get your whole building in trouble. An extra 45 seconds outdoors vs. having everyone in your dorm pissed at you? Hmm. Do the math.
However, I think the reaction to the door-propping is utterly ridiculous.
Let me reiterate here that I don't bother with that door except to occasionally exit from it. But to make such a stink about propping that door? Come on, hall people. Is it really such a big deal that you have to threaten to close DeRoy because someone props it?
I understand that people can and probably have used that door for not-so-great purposes. But really, think about it: The door is clearly visible from MB. It exits onto a public street. It's not easy to sneak people up through that staircase because just about any fool can walk by and see exactly what you're doing. Now, what I really don't understand, especially with that in mind, is this: Why don't they just unlock that door and let us swipe in and out of it and put an end to all this door-propping drama?
Seriously. Whether you approve or not, people are GOING to enter through that door. And I'm going to hedge a bet here and say that even if visitors are banned from DeRoy, people will just sneak visitors to their rooms...probably using that door. Seriously, we're creative, we will find a way. Impossible as it seems, people probably HAVE used that door to sneak visitors inside. This would happen whether the door was functioning or not.
Pick your battles, hall counselors. And when you get annoyed, please don't hold fire drills to punish us.
STOLEN DIALOGUE:
"I have to write an essay on Crime and Punishment...which is in itself a crime and a punishment."
"The only reason I signed up for Welcome Wagon was to get the orange t-shirt."
[talking about roommaate applications]
Person one: I should put "fan fiction" as one of my interests.
Person two: I would disown you.
[as a scooter is falling off a table]
"Timber!"
"You see, this is why I love the bastard..."
Person one: Please stop overthinking.
Person two: I can't help it, it's in my DNA!
Person one: Well, get rid of that DNA!
"Oh, hell. I forgot about the ducklings."
Person one: Ugh, three papers by Saturday and two quizzes this week? You know, I think I'm just going to go kill myself.
Person two: Have fun and be careful.
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