The Departed!
Last night, during some serious online research, I found out that when you purchese The Departed at a Best Buy store it comes with a special case. For this movie I will geek out enough to hunt this down. I researched the store locations and picked the one that would provide the shortest round trip and then anxiously awaited sleep. So this morning I awoke with only really one task to complete, and that was to pick up my metalic encased Departed DVD. The movie turned out to be quite popular this morning and was sold out in the first store I went to. No big deal I knew exactly where the next closest location was. Except they were out as well. And so was third location, so I treked up to 86th and Lexington and found a stash of them 88 blocks from the first store I went to. It took two hours to get my DVD, but once I held that shiny case in my hand, well, it was worth it.

Finally!!!!



We got enough snow to go play in last night. Too bad we had to go out at midnight to enjoy it, but that is when it came.

I missed blogging for around a month and so I am dropping some pictures to let you know what I was up to. We started our final thesis productions, so I have been very busy working on my classmate's films. We have been to Putnam Conn, where Ben is from and then back to NYC where we have been freezing our tails off.

Hey Everybody,
A quick letter to concert goers accross the world. As you will read I have been to a couple of concerts recently and I have noticed a disturbing trend in camera use ignorance. Now when one gets the urge to capture a moment in time a digital picture is usually the medium of choice due to the ease of the technology and the handy portability of the modern device. So let us say we are in a dark concert hall and this person gets the urge to capture the moment their rock heros are blasting eardrums and cleverly twisting the english language to music. Now I have noticed the intuition of this goer is to grab that digital camera and start flashing pictures left right up and down, which is not only blinding everyone with multiple red-eye reducing flashes, but also not capturing the moment to their dismay. School Time: a typical camera flash is meant to illuminate the photographed subject from between five and fifteen feet (various models will yeild varied results), but the point is that around fifteen feet or so is as far as that flash will be effective in brightening your image. Even if it does show up on the subject at various distances beyond that maximum mark. So as I watched many a young rocker shaking their head in distress and then quickly throwing their hand back in the air to try agian, and again, and yet again to capture rock hero swooning a hundred feet away. School Time part-2: A camera captures an image by allowing light in through the lense to expose a celluloid strip (film) or a processor that digitally captures the image in zeros and ones. The lense controls the amount of light let in by opening in diameter more or less, which is called aperture. The point for fan boy rock star is that if the camera is set on flash it's aperture is set lower because the image, if within the correct distance, should be quite illuminated. Sooo... if the subject of your photograph is beyond the capabilities of the flash your picture will actually be darker than if you would have left the flash off to begin with. Which when used properly would save my eyes, as a fellow concert goer, the bands who I am sure would appreciate a lack of popping bulbs, and your photos, which will be dark, will be brighter and better in no time flat.
Your Friend
Eric the concert goer Strahl

Camera Obscura

Concerts seem to happen in pairs for Amber and I. Two days after a fantastic Shins concert we had the pleasure, along with Lucas, of seeing Camera Obscura play in Brooklyn. They are a Scottish pop band that I have been trying to get everyone I know to listen to, It's even working in a few cases. Anywho the band was a lot of fun and put on a very good show. So check them out they are a blast.

Holy Shins

Amber and I stood in the cold for an hour and a half to buy the new Shins album @ 11pm the day before it was officially released. In doing this we were awarded the opportunity to stay until midnight and see the band perform in the Virgin Mega Record Store Cafe. After standing outside for about an hour Amber questioned whether or not this would all be worth it. That was until the band came out and began the first song of the forty-minute set, Sleeping Lessons, the first track from the new album Wincing the Night Away. It was one of the coolest concert moments I've experienced. It has the most rockn' guitar The Shins play and the song sets it up very well. All I can say is buy the CD listen to the first track and then think about that song ten times better because it's live. Anyway the band played a great set and even played most of the theme song to the Golden Girls TV show becuase the third season was being released on DVD the same day as there CD.

BEST OF 2006

Albums:
Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins-Rabbit Fur Coat
Camera Obscura-Let's Get Out Of This Country
Cat Power-The Greatest
Pearl Jam-Pearl Jam
The Killer's-Sam's Town
The Raconteurs-Broken Boy Soldiers
The Decemberist's-Crane Wife
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs-Show Your Bones

Looking Foward to in '07...
The Shins
Arcade Fire
Block Party
(fingers crossed) Interpol

Movies:
The Departed
Little Miss Sunshine
Marie Antoinette
The Fountain
United 93
Thank You For Smoking
Brick
The Proposition

On My Way To The Theatre To See...
Children of Men
The Good German

Worst Movie Of The Year (Maybe of all time?)
X-Men III

Dark Horse for Best Movie of the Year come Oscar Time...
She's The Man (Amanda Bynes is sooooooo funny)(No seriously you guys get it on video and tell me you don't love it)

Favorite New Hobby of '06:
Listening to Podcasts on the subway-Creative Screen Writing & Filmspotting- Two Faves

LORDS OF THE MOVIE MARATHON!










Amber and I did today what we have spent many a conversation contemplating. We watched the Lord of the Rings Trilogy (extended versions) back to back to back. We are in New York alone for the holidays and it seemed like a perfect way to spend an entire day with nothing to do. So here is the strategy we used to acomplish what some might say is the impossible... To watch a straight eleven hours of LOTR..
First- Exersize early- we walked the dogs to the park and then to the store for junk food (We are athletes, mind you).
Second- Well planned eating schedule-
1-Captain Crunch for breakfast
2-McDonalds for lunch (zaps all energy that would keep you from wanting to move during daytime)
3-Chips and dip + cheese puffs (for end of first movie, stamina is what I'm talking about here)
4-Energy drinks around Two Towers (prevents slipping into coma after McDs and other junk)
5-Chinese for dinner at half hour mark of Return...
6-Keep Sour Jacks in close proxemity at all times.
7-Green iced tea all day long (antioxidents help body fight all that immune system crushing sugar)
We Started at 11:50 am EST Sunday and finished at 12:41 am EST the next day (Oh Merry Cristmas all). Eleven hours of LOTR stretched into 12 hours 51 minutes with bathroom breaks and taken phone calls.
In conclusion it has been quite a journey we have been on today. A journey I would recomend to anyone who thinks they are as hard core as Amber and I are. Not many are though I imagine. The movies move very quickly and here at the end it doesn't feel like we just sat through all three. Peace Out and Merry Christmas!

You Probably did not hear it here first.
The new Shins album is due in January, and they have a video for the single Phantom Limb on youtube. Check it out if this link works, if not cut and paste. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkITsv3Nk6M

Happy Birthday Mr. Burt!

Welcome to the old man club. Trimming nose hair is soo fun.

Running with the bulls.
Christmas shopping is more fun when you are at a loss for oxygen because the sidewalks are packed from buildings to street with angry people. Merry New York Christmas.

It's the, the, the, THE GRINCH!

We saw The Grinch on Broadway this last Thursday. The theatre was beautiful and full of wide eyed little kids. It was a very fun show, although the magic of the film is probably unattainable on stage. Patrick Page (who previously played Scar in the stage version of The Lion King) was menacing and charming and really made the show. I would recomend the show for families with small children.

NYFA Has A Blog!
My class has started a blog at nyfaclass.blogspot.com so check it out and you can see all my nerdy friends talking about nothing but movies (not that anything else matters). KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!

Movies To Check Out:
Some recent favorites of mine (I've had a little free time)
Theatre
Casino Royale
The Fountain
Marie Antoinette
Video
Deer Hunter
Curious George
Millions
Ed Wood
Thank You For Smoking
She's the Man
The Proposition
Postman Always Rings Twice

One Man's Treasure...

There is a very intersting phenomena that happens in an apartment riddled city like New York. People leave apartments all the time and moving furniture is a giant pain. So much so, that an alternative to moving all your stuff is just leaving your furniture behind when you relocate. It is a big factor in this phenomena that movers and vans and packing supplies actually cost more than just replacing the furniture from Ikea. Having said all this my very good friend Lucas has introduced me to the art of furniture scavaging. All this furiture that people leave behind usually just gets put to the curb on trash night by the landlords. So when one finds a piece that might just fit in their apartment they are not only getting free furniture they are saving the landfill space. Lucas has found a couple of nice pieces in the last year and called me tonight to let me know of an armoire that he spotted on the curb in front of his building (Amber has been looking for just such a piece). So we wandered over and snagged that beauty before anyone could beat us to the punch. Getting it up the stairs was a reminder that I really want to leave all of my furniture here when I move (we don't have an elevator and we live on the fifth floor). A big thank you to the very nice young man who lives in our building and helped me get it up the stairs out of the kindness of his heart.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!



Hey everyone, we braved the elements to see the Macy's Day Parade. We saw Gloria Esteban, Hall and Oates, Emmit Smith, Julie Andrews and some nice young rap star named Chris Brown (He seemed very nice). The marching bands rocked! Well we froze and got soaked but it was a blast and got home in time to see the end of the parade on TV because we were watching from where it started uptown.

I endured as long as I could. After four years of being married and more importantly, four long years of denying Amber the opportunity to color my hair... I finally gave in. This is before and after the haircut and a bit of fadding.

Bond, James Bond
Go see the new bond. Eva Green is the perfect reason if you are out of them. She is a new force in Hollywood, at least I am a huge fan. The action is non-stop and if you can keep breathing the whole time you will have a blast.

Late October Review

Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins and The Killers, How much can one person handle. First Jenny Lewis, she along with the twins and her great band put on a fantastic show. The music and dancing was very fun, but her voice carried the whole show and left everyone wanting more. She is a loved performer and even had reasonably priced t-shirts ($15). The Killers, expensive T's ($30) and a mediocre venue, The Theatre at Madison Square Garden (don't got to a show in the 300 section not cool) not the stadium but an underground theatre with very low ceilings. BUT, The Killers rocked and although we were too far away from the sound system and the band frankly the energy was still getting us going all the way back. The show was great fun and the band was terrific.

Marie Antoinette

This may very well not be one of the best movies of the year, but it is one of my favorites by far. I loved every minute of this film. Sofia Coppola says so much about her characters and story with out an overload of heavy diologue, she lets her camera film and we as an audience get a chance to feel.