Grades
The 508 semester at
USC Film school
#16 in a series of 16 (final update of the 508 semester)
04jan2001
Fade up & zoom in.
Happy New Year!
After the semester, I took Wendy to
Two Bunch Palms,
located in Desert Hot Springs,
for a few days of R&R, to soak in the natural hot springs there.
It's her favorite local
getaway. I made rezers at the beginning of the semester. Kinda like a
carrot to keep
her going thru the semester. Something to look forward to.
Parts of The Player were filmed there.
Once we checked in & baptized ourselves in the
steamy waters, Wendy crawled up
on my lap, in a secluded corner of the pool, and started bawling
surprisingly hard,
saying, "It was sooo hard .."
She cried
for ~10
mins, which seemed to get everything out of her
system. Cuz
then she began laughing equally hard for much of the next couple hours, finding
humor in the most mundane things. Everything I said to her seemed to provoke
uncontrollable laughter.
We arrived at night, so the moon & stars came out soon after as we
entered the
hot springs. Steamy vapors rose slowly into the cool, dry desert
air. Legendary
desert white owls, which Native Americans consider
sacred,
flew into, and perched
in tall palm trees surrounding the pools. Surrealistic.
The next morning she got a deep-tissue massage with Ellia, whose
father was a Native
American medicine man. Ellia has the healing mojo going on in a big way.
Wendy says
she's the best at Two Bunch.
We talked to a big, muscular
guy there, who got a massage with Ellia (recommended
by Wendy). He said,
"I get deep-tissue work every week, but I've never had anything
like this. It hurts so good." Ellia is not a big girl.
Over the holidays, many people commented how much
better
she looked.
Wendy asked,
"Did I really look that bad?" I said, "You looked scary."
She quit drinking coffee
when we arrived Two Bunch, and had a coffee headache for
nearly a week. Most
family
& friends
who
saw her at the end of the semester were
concerned. She looked like a refugee, thin, pale.
***
The next semester (546) starts this Monday (the 8th). In
the meantime, We've been
catching up on some recently released movies. Wendy loves the Lido theater,
in Newport
Beach. It's an old-fashioned, stand-alone theater, with a balcony. No multiplex, like new
new ones. Very retro, which is now in vogue.
Lani
was down
from UC Santa Cruz for the holidays. We all
took a walk on
the beach at
sunset, New Years eve, at Crystal Cove state park, a few miles up the
road, at low tide.
The last evening of the (real) last millennium. We strolled past the house where
Beaches
was filmed (starring Bette Midler). Wendy likes having her babies
near. She
didn't stop
smiling the whole time.
***
Lisa film, The Love Manifesto, screened. There was something
wrong with the projector,
cuz everyone's film kept breaking. Lisa's broke 3
or 4 times. It's hard to get into the flow
of a 5-min film when you
can't see more than a couple minutes without interruption.
Nevertheless, I
enjoyed it.
It was different from other films. Visually engaging. You could tell it was a very personal
piece, which made
her seem brave & courageous. I'm looking forward to seeing it
screen
next year, when the high-quality
answer-print screens (without breaks or interruptions).
Lisa's
cast
was
there.
Afterwards, we went with
Jan
& Frank
to a
place in Japantown for sushi, which is becoming
a post-screening tradition. The very next day (Sunday), we went to see the screening from
a
different group of students, to see what the competition had to offer (same 508 class,
different section). Their films were breaking, too. Of
course, we thought the films from
Wendy's class were better. =)
Wendy feels fortunate that she had Helaine as a prof this semester.
Wendy & Lisa are getting along well. They love each other. They'll have one class together
next semester (546 editing). They are the only two female 546 editors
(of 8).
***
This is the final update for the 508
semester. Hope you enjoyed the journey. This is an
exciting time to be involved in Cinema.
The next semester will
be 546. It should be very different from 508. Wendy is excited
about editing a film on an Avid. She says Echo is not your typical,
linear film, which will
give her much creative freedom.
Fade to black.
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up the semester
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