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All weekend I have been working on scripts and ideas for four projects. The first two are for my cinematography class – our final projects. One of them is a team effort and I haven’t actually written anything for it, just been trying to come up with some ideas for our short film we have to make. The other project in that class is a commercial for the Moxie, which is also a team effort but we have to each come up with a unique perspective and script for the project. Mostly I have been working on the latter two scripts – one for television production and the other for my drama teleplay course. The TV production script is more of a show outline right now, since I’m not sure of the exact stories I’m going after yet. Since I’m producing I have to come up with the basic layout of the show and tell fourteen people what they need to be doing starting Wednesday morning. Yeah…stressful. We have until November 15 to finish the show, and my life is going to be chaotic until then. On top of all these projects going on, I have a new act of my Studio 60 script due every Monday until December. I just finished the teaser for my episode (after working on it all weekend long) and I’m very happy with it and ready to have it torn apart by my classmates tomorrow during critiques. Glad to be done with it, but I can’t take too much of a breather because I have roughly 10 more pages due next Monday. If anyone is interested in reading my script progress, shoot me an e-mail and if I trust you, I will send it to you. I’m hoping to make it as strong and interesting as possible because I want to submit it to writing contests and maybe even an agent if Studio 60 doesn’t get cancelled anytime soon…

Anyway, I have pretty much decided that the so-called “creative process” is nothing more than high doses of caffeine mixed with snack breaks and inspirational music. I have tried my best to ban myself from the internet this weekend to focus completely on schoolwork, and I have actually done pretty well. I only left my apartment twice this weekend (both times for parties, but they weren’t time-consuming and neither left me with a hangover). Next weekend I will have twice the workload I had this weekend, so if you were hoping to hang out with me, you can kiss your wishes goodbye. I’ll see you all in December.

This week’s Song of the Week comes from a rather mainstream band (compared to most of what I upload on here), but it’s a band that stands out among the rest, a band I respect and actually love to listen to: My Chemical Romance. While they sound like a hardcore emo band, their songs have a strong originality to them. And their songs are about much more than your typical emo music. That means they sing about stuff other than unrequited love and whining about how much their lives suck. Sure they have those kinds of songs too, but they have others, and judging by their latest album, The Black Parade, they have matured a lot when it comes to the writing. Their last album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, was released in 2004 to mainstream success as well as decent reviews from critics. The Black Parade was released this past week to lots of critical praise, and time will tell if the album rockets to financial success as well. This album is SO much better than their last, and that’s saying a lot. It was so hard for me to pick ONE song to share with you all, so I went with the most quirky-sounding one on the album. It’s called “Mama” and it has a “damned if I do, damned if I don’t” message about a rebellious son, but it’s underlying theme is about war and capitalism. It seems as though My Chemical Romance has taken a hint from Green Day and gone political, but it suits them just fine. You might not like this kind of music, but I urge you to look past the genre and focus on the lyrics and true talent that this band has. Even though they are EMO!

Mama by My Chemical Romance

Note: the following is a reference for myself so I don’t lose my mind. Ignore this post unless you’re just that interested in my schedule for the next month and a half.

• November 6: MED 383 – Producing!
• November 6: MED 597 Script Act I Due
• November 7: MED 465 Commercial Script Due
• November 8: MED 383 – Producing!
• November 10-12: MED 465 Filming (Short Film)
• November 13: MED 383 TV Show Filming
• November 13: MED 374 Annotated Bibliography Due
• November 13: MED 597 Script Act II Due
• November 15: MED 383 TV Show Filming (LAST DAY!)
• November 17-19: MED 465 Editing (Short Film)
• November 17-19: MED 465 Filming (Commercial)
• November 20: MED 597 Script Act III Due
• November 21: MED 465 Short Film Edit Due
• November 23: THANKSGIVING!
• November 24-26: MED 465 Filming (Commercial)
• November 27: MY BIRTHDAY!
• November 27: MED 597 Script Act IV Due
• December 1-3: MED 465 Editing (Commercial)
• December 4: MED 597 Script Rewrite Due
• December 4: MED 597 Query Letter Due
• December 7: MED 465 Commercial Due

Per Erin’s request, here’s a Song of the Mid-Week for y’all. Wasn’t quite sure what to upload, so I thought you all could use a little Elevator Music to get you through the rest of the week. Don’t even ask me what this song is about. All you need to know is that it’s from Beck’s new CD (The Information) and it’s kickass cool. Check out the whole album, it’s definitely worth every penny. But for now you can chill out to this great song…

Elevator Music by Beck