So I just found out tonight that AOL will discontinue its dial-up internet service next month...on September 30.
Hmm. I had no idea that AOL's dial-up service for 56k modems (or even AOL itself) was even still around!
Back during my first year at Cal State Long Beach, I used EarthLink to go online when I was at home during the weekend. I only used AOL (via the free CDs that constantly showed up in my mailbox) when that company's Web service was temporarily down. I dormed in college during the 1998-'99 school year.
AOL's latest decision comes almost 8 years after the company discontinued its AOL Instant Messenger service—which I also used throughout my college years.
NASA / JPL - Caltech / Space Science Institute / G. Ugarkovic
20 years ago today, it was at 9:12 PM, Pacific Daylight Time, that NASA's Cassini spacecraft entered orbit around the planet Saturn...after a 2.1 billion-mile (3.4 billion-kilometer) journey than began on October 15, 1997.
This was actually a significant event for me on a personal level, as not only was my name on a DVD(which carried a total of 616,420 signatures from people around the world) attached to the side of Cassini, but it also showed that my passion for space exploration didn't wane since I first got excited about NASA missions back in 1989—courtesy of Magellan's launch to Venus and Voyager 2's flyby of Neptune that year.
I was at a hamburger joint hanging out with teammates from my yearbook class (I was a high school senior) the day Cassini and the European Space Agency-built Huygens Titan probe launched aboard a Titan IVB-Centaur rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Station back in 1997.
I was at home on this day in 2004...watching a live webcast of Cassini's Saturn Orbit Insertion maneuver, courtesy of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Pasadena, California. I had just graduated from my college, Long Beach State, over a month earlier!
Back when I first heard about Cassini in 1992 (I was in 6th grade at the time), I didn't think that I could sustain my passion for space travel till 1997, let alone 2004—what with me being preoccupied with life in high school and afterwards. I'm glad that I was wrong!
It was 20 years ago today that a couple of classmates from the Film & Electronic Arts (FEA) Department and I attended our commencement ceremony at Cal State Long Beach!
A few of my other FEA classmates graduated in the Fall 2003 semester, but it was great to share this accomplishment with the rest of my film school buddies on that cloudy morning in 2004.
The 20 years since my graduation was eventful (I'm too lazy to even delve into the first five years since I walked during my ceremony... Just type my name on Google or click on the links above to browse my website, heh), but let's just say that I'm still prouder than ever to be a 49er. Or whatever the mascot is at CSULB now!
And yes, the campus has changed quite a bit over the past two decades. Go Beach!
It was 30 years ago today that The X-Files made its debut on television! I was just starting 8th grade when the sci-fi mystery drama by Chris Carter (a fellow alumnus at my college, Cal State Long Beach) began airing on FOX TV, and was about to complete my fourth year in college when the original 9-season run of The X-Files ended on May 19, 2002.
I watched the first X-Files movie that was shown in theaters back in 1998, but never saw the sequel, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, in 2008. (Based on the Rotten Tomatoes reviews for this film, I didn't miss out on anything!)
And of course, I watched FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny, who I saw on set when I worked as a background actor on an episode of his SHOWTIME series Californication in Culver City 10 years ago) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) make their return to television for Seasons 10 and 11 of The X-Files between January 2016 and March 2018, respectively.
The X-Files inspired other sci-fi and paranormal TV shows like Fringe and Supernatural over the last two decades—with Supernatural itself employing the monster-of-the-week and mythology episode format during its 15-season run, just like what the Chris Carter series did.
The 1996 hit alien invasion flick Independence Day also paid its respects to The X-Files...though Chris Carter's homage to that summer blockbuster with the '98 X-Files movie (where in one scene, Mulder is seen outside a bar urinating on the poster for Independence Day that's hanging to the side of the building) isn't exactly something that ID4 filmmakers Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin would find flattering!
The X-Files will always be one of my favorite television programs...along with shows like 24, Prison Break, Supernatural and The Big Bang Theory(which of course, isn't a serialized drama).
Would I watch Season 12 of The X-Files if FOX ever decided to give this trailblazing series one more year? You betcha!
And as a reminder: The truth is out there. Happy Sunday!
It was 25 years ago today that the Chicago Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz, 87-86, in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
Michael Jordan was tightly guarded by the Jazz's Bryon Russell (who's an alumnus at Cal State Long Beach, just like me) in the final seconds of the 4th quarter...but still managed to make the shot that would give him and the Bulls a sixth NBA championship. And in Jordan's case, the last one of his pro-basketball career.
I wanted the Bulls to win this title, seeing as how the Utah Jazz—much like what the Denver Nuggets did to LeBron James, Anthony Davis and their squad last month—swept the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals that year. MJ avenged Shaq, Kobe, Derek Fisher, Rick Fox and company without realizing it...or definitely not caring about this, heh.
Michael Jordan ending his NBA career in a blaze of glory was one of the many highlights from my first week or so of being a high school alumnus.(Ignore MJ's stint with the Washington Wizards a few years later.) And there would be many more to come during the summer of 1998—before I began my college career at CSULB.
It was 20 years ago this month that I began training at the very first company that I worked for...Disneyland!
The photo above was taken by my high school friend Sarina (who convinced me to apply for a job at the Happiest Place on Earth) while two of my instructors were addressing me and other trainees on the various aspects of our job position—which was as Cast Members working for the Resort Transportation and Parking (RTP) Department.
When you go to Disneyland and hop on one of its trams, the person standing at the very back of the vehicle saying "Please remain seated. Sit well back in your seat. Driver, all clear" on the loudspeaker before the tram begins rolling is an RTP officer. That's what I did!
Anyways, I actually worked at Disneyland for only six months...and that's because I wanted to focus on completing my senior thesis film Envious at my college, Cal State Long Beach. The reason why I applied for a job at the Magic Kingdom in the first place was to earn money for my senior thesis film before the Fall 2003 semester at CSULB started.
To read the dramatic story about the making of Envious and why it prompted me to depart from my first-ever job, click here.
And yes, I still have my RTP uniform. Happy Sunday!
So today marks 25 years since I graduated from Bishop Amat Memorial High School!
The Class of '98 panorama above was actually taken two days before, followed by such exciting events as the Senior Paper Toss and Senior Luau on campus, and then Grad Nite at Disneyland before the big day.
I took a nap at home the morning after Grad Nite...before I suited up and headed back to Amat for my commencement ceremony. The summer that ensued before I began my college career at Cal State Long Beach was a memorable one...with me watching such memorable flicks as The Truman Show, Can't Hardly Wait, Armageddon(yes, Armageddon) and Saving Private Ryan at the theater, and hanging out with my high school friends before we began parting ways later that year.
One of my high school classmates pondered on Facebook a few years back about having a 25-year reunion this year, but I don't think it's gonna happen. But the 30-year reunion is only five years away, and I definitely can't wait for that one!
Just thought I'd share these pictures that I took when I worked at the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank yesterday!
I can't tell you what show I appeared on as a background actor last night, but I will tell you that it was great to be at this historic North Hollywood locale for the first time since 2018.
Along with Paramount Pictures in Hollywood, this is one of my favorite movie studios to set foot in ever since I began working in the entertainment industry 18 years ago.
I would also include Fox Studios in Century City among my list of favorite showbiz worksites, but it's not as historic as the two lots mentioned above.
However, Fox Studios was the very first lot I visited when I was a film school student at Cal State Long Beach back in 2003! My classmates shot a short film called Fellini's Donut(posted below) inside one of the soundstages there. I was the caterer on this shoot, heh.
Earlier today, I went to the local AMC theaters to watch Top Gun: Maverick for the umpteenth time. While walking towards the auditorium where this year's highest-grossing film was showing, I noticed that the music video for Vanessa Williams' Save the Best for Last was playing on the TV screen at the theater's MacGuffins Bar.
As stated in this entry's headline, Save the Best for Last is my all-time favorite Vanessa Williams song! Why? Well for starters, it's because it has great lyrics and wonderful instrumentals. And two, this makes me nostalgic for late 1991...when I was still in elementary school.
It was in late 1991 that I had a big crush on Jacquelyn B. (and a few of her friends) while I was in 6th grade. She was in 8th grade at the time, and would graduate the following spring with one of my brothers. I had such huge feelings for Jackie that I posted a long entry about her almost 15 years ago.
And enhancing my crush on Jackie during that school year was Vanessa Williams' song. Whenever one of my parents picked me up after school, I would keep changing stations on the car's radio to see if Save the Best for Last was playing on any of them. The ecstatic feeling I got when I finally stumbled upon a station (usually KIIS FM here in Los Angeles County) that broadcast this great song!
Of course, the downside of listening to Save the Best for Last was that it was one of the things that turned me into a hopeless romantic that I've been through this day. Fortunately, I've reduced this effect by listening to alternative and classic rock for the past 15 years or so. You can't become sappy by listening to AC/DC's Back in Black, Metallica's Enter Sandman or Foo Fighters' Best of You on the radio!
Well okay, that Foo Fighters song reminds me of Yenny—a girl I had a mad crush on back in college.
Anyways, here's the amazing music video for Save the Best for Last. And for my fellow Yanks, hope you're having a great Labor Day weekend!
So today marks two decades since I created my Import_Jedi account for the Jedi Council Forums on the Star Wars fan site, TheForce.net.
I've actually been browsing the JC Forums since early 1999 (before The Phantom Menace was released in theaters...which was near the end of my first year of college at Cal State Long Beach), but Import_Jedi was born 13 days after Lucasfilm revealed that the official title for Star Wars: Episode II would be Attack of the Clones.
I've been going on the JC Forums regularly till after Revenge of the Sith came out in 2005—and then it was only sporadically that I would frequent threads, most of which had nothing to do with Star Wars.
I started logging on a bit more around the time The Force Awakens and Rogue One were theatrically released almost six and five years ago, respectively (but not as much for 2017's The Last Jedi, and not at all for 2018's Solo and 2019's The Rise of Skywalker), but other than that, I only visit the JC Forums if I'm feeling extremely nostalgic about my good ol' college days.
Click here to view the list of friends that I made on the JC Forums during my 20-year tenure—though I don't know how many of them still go to this message board. I miss the 3SA Sarcasm Knights! Happy Friday.
Just felt like posting this drawing that I made of a Gundam back in college 20 years ago! Inspired by the Epyon from the anime TV series Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, I believe that this is the only artwork that I've ever digitally colored (using Microsoft Paint, heh). I usually use good old-fashioned Crayola markers for my illustrations...and yet with digital coloring, this Gundam illustration is still in black and white. Happy Hump Day!
Just thought I'd share this cool crowdfunding campaign where you can send your name to the Moon by donating a generous contribution to the Iris lunar mission! This miniature, student-built rover is set to fly later this year aboard Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander...which is hitching a NASA-sponsored ride on the United Launch Alliance's newest rocket, the Vulcan Centaur. The students at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)—which constructed Iris—are looking to gain extra funding to cover the final cost of this mission (which includes paying for vital pre-launch tests of flight components, as well as funding the operational cost of the project's Mission Control itself)...and they're looking to the general public for help in doing so. Their campaign goal is to reach at least $50,000 (they're currently at $23,332), and they have until SATURDAY, MAY 1 to achieve it. It will be up to CMU to decide whether or not the Iris Team can keep the money already donated if they fail to reach their goal.
So here is the link where you can make the dreams of many aspiring college students, who are clearly passionate about space exploration, a reality:
Just thought I'd share these two pics that I took when I visited my college alma mater, Cal State Long Beach, earlier today. As you can see above, my alumni brick—which I had engraved back in early 2005—has deteriorated pretty badly! But it's all good... I got a second brick engraved years after that (it's still in great condition). And I never get tired of looking at the sign below that shows just how distant these foreign cities are from this location on the CSULB campus. So dope!
Just thought I'd commemorate the fact that today marks 20 years since I took my Geology 104 lab exam at Cal State Long Beach. Today was a turning point in how I would view my remaining years in college after I spent one last class with Yenny (who I called 'Denise' in my Blog for how many years after that); giving her a Christmas card and us exchanging e-mail addresses that would lead to 2001 being one of the most painful years of my life.
Anyways, click on this Blog Entry to read what I originally posted about this day two decades ago. The next few weeks will actually be pretty emotional for me—as recalling the events of December 2010 will be just as somber as remembering the events of December in Y2K. Though I probably won't blog about those memories... We'll see.
Happy Thursday, everyone! Just thought I'd post my newest project that I worked on after completing Enviouslast month, which is my other short film The Card! I shot this project back in 2002 (during my spring semester at Cal State Long Beach)—using a Super 8mm camera provided by my school's film department. Unlike Envious, I didn't have a sound mixer and boom operator to work with me on set...meaning that I had to create the audio track (and record dialogue) entirely in postproduction. That was pretty interesting!
I used Final Cut Pro to edit The Card 18 years ago, but utilized Lightworks on the Apple MacBook that my brother got me for my birthday last month to update it. Unlike Envious, I didn't have a version of The Card without its music track—so it was tricky retaining sound effects and the dialogue while also removing the songs that were featured in the original film (these songs being hip-hop jams by Dr. Dre, Warren G., Ashanti, K-Ci & JoJo and Usher). I would have kept the songs if YouTube didn't slap a copyright claim on videos that use trademarked music...but it's all good.
Anyways, here's The Card as presented on YouTube. (You can also view it on Vimeo.) Why did I choose today as the film's release date, you ask? Because tonight is the 2-hour series finale for the hit TV show Supernatural, which I've been watching since it premiered on the CW Network back in 2005! Carry on. (FYI, that's the episode title for tonight's finale.)
Happy Halloween, everyone!! Just thought I'd end this month by sharing my short film Envious...which I shot over 16 years ago and finally got around to completing thanks to this pandemic. Me being able to finish postproduction on this project is thanks to the Apple MacBook that one of my brothers bought me for my birthday three weeks ago. All of the media files for Envious were saved on an external hard drive that's formatted for a Mac (since I initially edited this film on a Mac G5 computer back during college in 2004), which I couldn't access because every computer I owned after that was a PC. Thanks to the MacBook, I was able to put finishing touches on Envious that took about three weeks to accomplish. It was only the sound design that wasn't completed yet.
Anyways, that's enough backstory for my senior thesis film from Cal State Long Beach! Here is Envious on Vimeo for your viewing pleasure—while it can be watched on YouTube as well. Depending on how I feel next week (due to this Tuesday being...Election Day), I might be in the mood to begin working on another project that I initally shot in film school too. I'll provide details about this in the near future. With that being said, enjoy Envious! And have a great and spooky weekend. Though in terms of politics, next week will definitely be scary as hell! Carry on.
Well technically, my main website itself was created in January of 2000, but today marks 20 years since I began this Earth-shattering Blog (while I was just chillin' in the computer lab at my college alma mater, Cal State Long Beach, on one random school day)! Click here to read my groundbreaking one-liner that started it all...
Who would've thought that the next two decades would be marked by me talking about the Los Angeles Lakers, unrequited crushes on girls I knew in college (and at work. It's a little bit of both), obvious personal achievements like me paying off my current car, and then incessantly copying and pasting press releases from NASA and other space agencies here? Carry on.
Just thought I'd share these pics that I took of the 13-inch Apple MacBook I ordered on eBay last week...courtesy of one of my brothers, who bought it for me as a birthday gift! The MacBook arrived at my house yesterday morning. Despite the fact that it's used, the laptop is working great! I installed the Final Draft 9 scriptwriting program and the Lightworks video editing software (which I used for my short film The Broken Table) last night. I totally can't wait to do filmmaking things with this computer!
Of course, the main reason why I wanted to get a Mac was to have access to the external hard drive that I used for my projects back in film school (at Cal State Long Beach) 16 years ago. The hard drive was formatted for the Mac G5 that I edited my film Envious on back in 2004...and unfortunately, I haven't had access to this project's media files since then because I mainly use PC computers. Next week, I'm getting an adapter (which I ordered on Amazon) that will hopefully allow me to connect the Firewire cable of this old hard drive to my MacBook. If it works, then woohoo! Sound-wise, Envious has been incomplete for the past 16 years, and I've been yearning to complete it since then. Once Envious is done, the sky's the limit! Can't wait to see what other video projects I'll create with my Apple computer. Happy Friday!
Happy Tuesday, everyone! Just thought I'd share this drawing that I completed today of Cell ("Perfect Cell" to be exact, as he had three variations during the show)...one of the coolest-looking villains in Dragon Ball Z(DBZ)! Much like how I finished that gladiator drawing a week ago to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Gladiator's theatrical release, I completed this latest artwork to recall that later this year will mark 20 years since Super Saiyan Gohan defeated Cell (the YouTube video clip of this is featured below) in the season finale of DBZ when it aired on the Cartoon Network. I was in the Fall Semester of my third year at Cal State Long Beach at the time.
Yup— There are so many other things about the year 2000 to be nostalgic about for me...most of them good, one of them eventually bad. I'll blog about these too if I'm in the mood, or if I have time. Hah! The 'Stay-At-Home' orders for Los Angeles County due to the coronavirus pandemic will be extended through July, so of course I'll have time! Um, knock on wood. Carry on.
Just read the sad news that after 20 years, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) will be shut down permanently on December 15.
Despite the fact that I haven't used this program in years, I'm bummed to see it go. As stated in this article, one of my fondest memories after obtaining access to the Internet for the first time was using AIM to talk to my high school friends while living at a dorm during my first year in college (Go Beach! That would be Cal State Long Beach).
Not just my high school friends, but a couple of girls that I met on the Web as well! Yup, this was back when I was still social—Internet-wise, that is—and cared about having online conversations with my buddies instead of spending time nowadays reading a bunch of news pertaining to NASA, Star Wars and other movies, and how Donald Trump continues to prove that he's a moronic dotard day after day. But that's beside the point.
Farewell AIM... Thanks for the online memories from over a decade ago. 1998 to 2005, to be exact.
My screenname on AIM was CoRollaPnOy and thugman77. Or was it thugman_77? Naw, it was thugman77. TGIF!
