Current mood: sick

I started writing a screenplay for a short film based on a feature that David and I are developing. You could say it’s a drama with a horror theme, laced with simple, realistic violence. It involves what you might consider vampire-zombie hybrids possessing a touch of magic. The easiest way to sum it up is “I am Legend” (the book) told in the style of “A History of Violence” (the movie).

I miss touring film festivals and want to make my best and longest short film yet (only toured with one 2-minute short and one 5-minute music video). This time around, I can afford more travel and promotion. I hope to use the short film festival tour to promote the feature.

The hardest thing for me right now is motivation. Because I shoot and edit all day for a living, it’s difficult to keep the creative juices going after hours for my own personal work. Nonetheless, I am excited about the idea.

We’ve also been brainstorming about an idea David had about a fictionalized account of the War in Heaven between the angels. That is pretty ambitious though. The furthest it could get at this point is a screenplay.

“It is noteworthy that the Old Testament itself does not at any point actually mention the rebellion and fall of Satan. This non-Scriptural belief assembled from interpretations of different passages, would fall under the heading Christian mythology, that is, Christian traditions that are derived from outside of church teachings and scripture.”

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Rocked! I haven’t had such a fun time at the movies in years. A laugh riot. Go see it with a big crowd.

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Current mood: accomplished

Just announcing my good news to the world. I’ll be attending their World Campus (online) so I get to stay at DivX too!

Life couldn’t get any better. My birthday is on Friday too. David’s buying me a fiddle.

Had to share. I just got word from my assigned counselor. I’ll be attending Penn State’s World Campus (online). Woohoo! Get to graduate on campus and everything. Classes taught only by on-campus professors too. I’m excited.

This is the best birthday present ever!

In other news, I created my own channel on Stage6, (a new content community created by my work, DivX). If you want to check out my latest films, I suggest you go there. Far better video quality than anything on MySpace or YouTube.

Watch Bosco’s Run!

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More videos are being uploaded by the hour at DivX.com [update: Now on Stage6.com] (where I work as Creative Producer). If you want to see all the costumed fans (babes included), comic artist interviews and more, take a look. We’ll also have a Veronica Mars studio tour up in a few days.

DivX Comic-Con Video Blog [update: Now on Stage6.com]

Seperately, I got to take most of the day off today (last day of Comic-Con) so I went to the Edgar Wright/Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead) panel on their new feature, Hot Fuzz. I also got an exclusive Comic-Con Hot Fuzz tee shirt. Also bought the first Trade of Red Star. All in all, a good Con, though too hot and crowded.

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Hey guys,

This is Michelle reporting to you from Comic Con 2006 in my hometown, San Diego, CA. I will be shooting all weekend for the DivX Community Site [update: Now on Stage6.com] with Publisher’s Weekly blogger extraordinaire, Heidi McDonald. Also hosting is Victor Van Scoit, of Lunar Comics fame.

I followed our great hosts around the Con interviewing artists like Bob Burden (Gumby), Scott Benefiel, Andy Lee, Tommy Lee Edwards, Trevor Goring, James Kocmalka and Kyle Baker to name a few . I also ran around with Mattzog recording some of his hijinks. Expect a video of him screwing around with the Ugly Dolls later today or tomorrow.

Till then, WATCH THE VIDEOS!

Only some are uploaded so far. Of those, I shot the videos of Heidi McDonald’s intro as well as her interviewing Geoff Darrow and the people at VIZ Media. I also shot the videos of Victor Van Scoit interviewing aspiring DC Comics artists showing off their artwork, and a group of cooky Anime fans. I also edited the video of the DC submission and am retiring from shooting early today so I can help out with more of the editing (we got a team of hardworking individuals back at HQ).

Also, here is Heidi’s blog. This is the page where the back of my head makes a guest star appearance.

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Today was a perfect day where I indulged in some of America’s most stereotypical pastimes: shooting guns and eating fatty foods.

We went to the American Shooting Center on a double date with Mattzog and Janine. Zog got a revolver and I got a Beretta. They didn’t have any M9s just a 92, but it didn’t matter because the damn thing didn’t work when we got to our lane. This Navy guy in the lane next to us told us it was missing a spring. Unfortunately, we had to exchange it for a Glock.

I am not a big fan of the Glocks because they don’t have a safety. Nonetheless, I enjoyed shooting it in this safer, controlled environment. Zog’s revolver was also fun because it was a particularly heavy one with a long barrel. It made for fairly accurate shots and I wish I had saved my first target sheet to put up at work.

There’s something frightening and exhilarating about shooting guns. So much power in your hands and yet I don’t believe we should be prohibited from using them. They are less scary when you learn how one works and how to wield one. It’s very empowering and good stuff to know, expecially as a woman. I also fired a .38, a .45 and Navy dude’s shotgun. He was very friendly and knowledgeable. He said he taught in the Navy for decades and loves it. I can see why. It’s cool to help ease people’s fears by educating them.

Afterwards we all went to Ruby’s and had shakes and fries. We were being quintisentially American. I half expected David to shout “Yeee hawww” since he does that often anyway whilst waving his arms back and forth in some Yosemite Sam-like dance.

I had so much fun. Dave and I might go to a different range tomorrow (4-day weekend, w00t) to try out an M9 if I can find one. There’s a Special Edition for sale at a gun place near our house and I might buy it. It comes with dark green holster, mag pouch and belt. It’s not approved in California for sale of new ones. This, however, is a mint condition, barely used piece brought in from a guy from Arizona. I hope it’s still there by the time I decide to get it. Maybe tomorrow, maybe Wednesday. It’s the official side-arm of the U.S. military and my nearly identical Beretta airsoft pistol fits great in my small hand. I’m looking forward to shooting again.

It was a good day!

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Current mood: sleepy

T’was nice to see all the Sea World gang again at the bonfire tonight (technically last night). Hadn’t seen anyone besides Halimat and Brenda since I left in March. I managed to diss Daniel’s mom within the first ten minutes of seeing him. It was like old times again, though I did apologize since I meant his alien birth-mother, not the human-form alibi “mom” he uses on this planet.

So I got promoted at DivX. I was told actually awhile ago, only 2 and 1/2 months after starting my internship. I just didn’t mention it to anyone because it wasn’t official yet. I was given an offer yesterday.

I’m so excited to do what I’m passionate about. I get to name the position too, so I may make it Creative Producer or something. Thinking about it. It’s weird to think that, as a couple, David and I are now upper-middle class (as a household) in terms of income, though not by net worth, mind you. I am having trouble labeling myself as a yuppie. Does it help that we both drive old, crappy cars?

I also went in for a Lasik evaluation today with Dr. Kawesch who did Jessica Simpson’s and several local news/radio celebtrities’ eyes. I was surprised how affordable it was. Since I entered 91x’s sweepstakes, I got $1k off, plus my mom will pay for half so I’m only paying $1k! Plus, the installment plan is NO INTEREST! Although, I think I’m just gonna pay up front. I’m thinking I may do it next month. I’m so excited!

David and I hope to get a house in a year or two. I’m thinking somewhere in east county where we are now. That way we can still have a yard and stay below $500k (anyone reading this outside of California and New York metro must think us insane, I’m sure). I want a yard and a place where we can rezone to build rental units behind the main house. This will be Dave’s first house and my second, though this time I plan to live in it for a long while until the property is self-sustaining.

Life is good. Only problem is now I’ll only have the time/schedule to go to business school online. That’s gonna be toouuuuggghhhh. My other big goal is to lose the weight I’ve gained since the car accident. My shoulders and neck still hurt alot even 1.5 years later so I still can’t do alot of stuff I used to do. I hope to take up Yoga once my Dr. approves it. Also, with my big pay hike, I can afford acupuncture. My hope is those two things combined will lead to a) pain reduction and b) healing…

In the film world: still working on Zog’s music video. After that I want to shoot a viral video about WoW.

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Current mood: chipper

I plan to write a little blog explaining my journey from Sea World to DivX, but not today. One thing I will mention is that I’m entering DivX’s employee 60-second video contest. I was trying to plan to shoot last weekend when I got a call last Wednesday from NBC asking me to come help with the casting call for Deal or No Deal, that show starring Howie Mandel. I had never heard of it, but it sounded like a good opportunity so I said yes.Then I find out it’s in L.A., not San Diego and the call time is Sunday at 6:15 am! Oy vay! That meant I’d have to miss Matt Warburton’s birthday bash the night before, reschedule my Sunday morning shoot, and get up at 3 am to drive up there from San Diego. Normally I stay with my aunt, but she just moved to San Fran and my mom was out all night with friends (meaning no Orange County shelter either) so I slept in SD and drove from 3:30am to 6. It only ended up being ten hours of work at Universal Studios though because the casting directors got through 4,000 people in record time.

It was really cool to see how excited people were who got invited to callbacks. I hope I end up seeing one of them win a million dollars. Although, I have a feeling the clips from the show I saw projected onscreen at the casting call were the only segments I will ever watch of that show. I must admit, it is very good television in terms of suspense and human drama.

As for the topic of KARMA… Man, it’s been exhausting lately. I worked two weeks straight with no day off during the transition from Sea World to DivX. On my first weekend off I had a 7am call time for my DivX contest video shoot on Saturday. Then there was the 6:15 am call time for Deal or No Deal on Sunday. Then on Monday, I set a 5:30 am call time to shoot on a rooftop for my video again (for sunrise effect). On my way out of my apartment that morning, I slipped on a wet stair step, slid down several steps and sprained my wrist and strained my neck. I hit the stairs with my thigh so hard, it actually split the wood on the edge of the step. It was so cold I just kept going and didn’t feel it until I was driving to work after the morning shoot. I had to go to urgent care and get a splint for the wrist. Then I went straight to work after that. Then after work, we shot one scene for the video at DivX so I didn’t finish till about 9:30 pm So it’s been crazy. I look forward to next Sunday. It will be my first real day off where all day long I don’t have to work or get up early.

Today I have time to write because Thursdays I teach that film class with Daria for the SD Women Film Foundation. Oh, so anyway, I digress!!! Monday night I was thoroughly exhausted, I was so out of it, I ended up leaving my wallet and camera on my car and drove off like that. David ended up finding the camera on the street outside work, but I couldn’t find my wallet. The next morning I cancelled my credit cards. Then I get a call from 24 hour fitness saying someone had found my wallet and called them because the person saw my member card inside. I ended up driving to UCSD to get it from this guy, Mr. Li who found my wallet on the sidewalk while jogging Monday night. I gave him 4 Sea World tickets and 2 tickets to the SD Museum of Art as thanks. He tried not to take it, but I insisted.

I was really upset at intially losing all my stuff. I knew it was a lesson that I need to stop pushing myself so hard. I was bummed though because life is usually pretty good for me, so I was upset that I fell down those stairs and worsened what had been diminishing pains from my accident last year. However, when I ran into the luck of my wallet being found by an honest person, I knew that the heavens are still on my side. I try to work hard and be a good person and I think that I am constantly rewarded for that.

Okay, enough sentimental B.S…. I can’t wait to show you all how the video turned out for the DivX thing though. We had to shoot on a tiny Pentax camera. It’s main function is as a 6 mega pixel still camera. It was a gift to all the DivX employees for Christmas. When you set it on the video feature, it uses the DivX codec. I was so impressed with how decent the video looks and how much you can store on the tiny little card that came with it. I can’t believe I made a whole short film with it, heh.

I was also very thankful that my crew and actors put up with my early call times and super super cold and wet conditions for the shoot. I am very blessed to have had a very capable group of individuals work on this.

Very cool, I will post a blog about it, when it’s completed.

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Current mood: bouncy
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

So, now that it’s all over I think I can discuss the past few weeks a bit. I was actually scheduled to work as casting assistant for San Diego’s open call for The Biggest Loser in January. One to two thousand people were expected and it was held at Dave and Buster’s. I showed up a little earlier than my call and there was absolutely no parking in the entire area. Finally, after driving around for 15 minutes, I returned and just squeezed into a double-parked area.When I walked in, the casting directors looked a little worried. I was told that overnight, people didn’t have anywhere to go to the restroom so some people defecated on the walls. Also, something provoked the Police to show up, but I don’t know if there was actual violence or if the very nervous Dave and Buster’s people just called them up. Finally, a call was sent down to cancel the audition, much to the dismay to hundreds of people who drove and even flew in from out of town, or even out of state.I was bummed I wasn’t going to get to work, but the next week I got a call that it was rescheduled to happen at Mission Valley Mall on a Saturday. It was announced the Thursday before on the show and while only 700 people showed up, that was work enough! Trying to organize that many people and splitting them up into groups, giving them applications and wristbands and receiving tons of anxious questions because the newest batch of people hadn’t gotten wristbands or whatever.It was tough keeping myself hydrated and my feet hurt after 10 hours on them, but I am glad everyone got to get interviewed. The people were very pleasant and upbeat. The show’s producers, some promo people and local news kept the crowds cheery. I also got along well with the crew and had a pretty good time.In other news, I am working on a spiffy new website. It will be glorious. ..See original post and comments.

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Current mood: chipper

On a roll lately. My partner and I won third place at the Debate Tournament at L.A.C.C. last weekend. w00t.

Also, the other day, I randomly decided to check Craigslist for gigs coming into town. Apparently a commercial company was seeking a production assistant for some promo stuff for a lawyer’s website. I decided to just email my resume real quick before I rushed to school.

Well, I got a call back and thanks to the wonderful Matt, who covered my Sea World shift today, I got the gig. It was this morning in Escondido. Paid more than Creepshow per diem (I bothered to ask for a higher day rate this time since I have more experience) and it wasn’t even 4 hours of work. Plus, the lawyer was pretty funny and we all had a good time at the local Irish pub for lunch.

Made more money today than 8 hours of Sea World woulda got me, plus it’s something to add to my resume. Let’s hope I made a good enough impression that I’ll get more work from this company. I told them I’m available both in L.A. and San Diego.

Also, my websites have been all messed up lately. I’m basically overhauling michelleosorio.com so that it can become my only website, for both personal and business info. Makes it easier for me. Basic stuff is available on my site now if you want to check it out.

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