Gradutation.

Cheers to the class of 2008.

I graduated from Chapman University on Saturday morning. Through the blistering heat and scorching sun, all grads and families stuck it out to watch us turn the tassels.

But seriously. I was damn hot. Commencement was not as comfy as I had hoped.

Here goes my day:

I was awaken at 5:30 AM by my frazzled English roommate saying, "Let's graduate, mother f*cker". The anticipation gave me the energy to sprout out of bed in a second and shower. After grabbing our black (note black) cap and gowns, we walked towards the Old Town Orange Circle, just a few blocks away.

We line up out side of Paul's Cocktail's and show our IDs to the bouncer. I know I look young, but I've been at this bar at least once a week for the past 2 months. I was wearing my cap and gown at 6 AM. I just wished the bartender could have cut me a bit of slack and not made me wait and show my ID. Fuck. I hate that guy.

The bar was packed with students, the bartenders were pourin', and students were chatting. My roommate and I took some shots for a toast, and then I started over to breakfast with a bloody mary. A reporter from the OC Register came over and interviewed me about the Chapman 6AM Graduation bar tradition! Check out the article if you're interested!

We then waltzed on over to the Wilson Field at Chapman to figure out where to line up.
It was already hot, I was tipsy, and I needed to go pee. Graduation was already a mess.

After seeing friends in line and sitting down, it set in. Not that I was done with college. I was amazed that we would have to spend the next 3 hours facing the hottest sun of 2008 wearing black gowns. This wasn't going to be easy. I felt as if it was the last hurdle that Chapman wanted us to leap over to get our degrees. 4 years of expensive schooling, now slow physical torture. Dynamite.

It was worth sitting through the heat though. I like ceremonial events. It was nice shaking Doti's hand when I got my diploma. It was great turning the tassel to the left side with my peers. After the ceremony was done, the Film Students gathered by the new fountain on campus and mingled with families.

My family was thrilled. I was suffering from mild heat exhaustion, hang overs, and emotional disbelief, so I was overwhelmed when my family wanted to get picture after picture with me. I actually blacked out for a moment. It was too much. After hugging and kissing were done with the family, I walked around with friends and met other families.

We were done. I've built some good friendships and some good memories these past four years. We have all come a long way. I have the best friends and family on earth.

Thank you Arthur, Audrey, Mom, Dad, MK, Randy, pets, Prescott Family, Laura, Kathryn, Darren, Anthony, Sebastian, Charlie, Thomas (Long and Bailey), Faraaz, Justin, Crystal, Enrique, Natalie, Dilshan, Ben Ras, Chris (Walls and Richmond), Dennis, Joey, Ed and Joe (may God rest his young and vibrant soul), Alan, Alex Cox, Lucca friends, everyone on every filmset I've worked on, North Morlan friends, Starbucks friends, Thunderboating friends, French friends, Professors, study Groups, Paul's Cocktails, cocktails in general, music, movies, travel, mistakes, etc.

If I forgot you, I am sorry. We can chat about it later.

For the first time in my life, I am proud of myself. I am the luckiest man on earth.

Cheers God, I'm going to destroy the Earth.

-jc del barco ii, B.F.A.

Guns = Freedom (and FUN!)

First check this episode of Americana on http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=607689676 out. It's about a gun shop in Pearl River, New York:




Did you see it?

...

"I also like to carry a Glock 9mm, this is more of your everday gun..."
...

Seriously?

Everyday gun? Instructor Adam talks about gun convenience and utility like iPhones. Actually, Apple products are far less complicated. They don't have many options, so choosing is easy, like at the In-N-Out drive-thru. Guns, however, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Adam continues to describe the shotgun as "the most effective home weapon on the planet". He disclosed that he casually likes to leave one "lying around" his house. Other guns can take out 18-wheel trucks driving at you, large men, ethnic men, homosexuals, liberals, vegans, terrorists, or any other threat to W.A.S.P. American culture. As a matter of fact, shop owner, Ziggy (that's right, Ziggy), said that his 50 caliber hand gun can shoot down dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs.

First terrorists, then the neo-hippies, and now DINOSAURS!?! America is under serious threat people. Charlton Heston (may he rest in peace) has left us at our darkest hour. Who will unite the NRA? Who will defend us?

I certainly hope it's not that little chubby kid with a lisp in the video. Aside from already being a total nerd, the kid has the hots for the gunpowder. That's a big no in modern urban culture (I'm pretty savvy here, see Paris BFF blog).

Don't get me wrong, I like America a lot more than your average. I-just-got-back-from-a-semester-at-la-Sorbonne-in-Paris-college-student. I think it's a great country. Chances are someone from my country can kick someone from another country's ass. On this note, I just can't get my mind around the right to bear arms thing. I was on vacation in Sweden last year when the tragedy at V-Tech happened. When people found out I was American, they seemed a little taken back like I was going to hurt them or like I was some sort of beast. You would think that after WWII America would figure that we aren't going to be attacked. Our countrymen will not have to form a neo-minuteman militia.

Guns have always been a hot topic in the States.
Personally, I don't like them. I think they're silly. It's like smoking. It's bad for you, rude, smelly, and makes other people bitch a lot... but at least smoking makes you look cool.
Fact.

Guns don't make you look cool. That little fat lisp kid isn't gonna start chat with a hipster chick on the smoking patio of Club Bang using gun talk. That's negative game. You can't even bring guns into clubs. Stick with smoking, kids.

Adam and Ziggy did make guns seem like a lot of fun. I mean, they've been loadin on bin Laden. They're two nice guys that are really into what they're into. Ziggy buys his wife an Elvis gun, I buy my girlfriend avocados. I guess when I think about it, guns give me the freedom to buy my girlfriend avocados. I can't complain. Thanks guns. Thuns.

In summary, I conclude that smoking is cool, shotguns are handy, dinosaurs are dicks, and guns are saving my relationship.

Here is a list of gun-related links so you can study and come to your own conclusion about how guns affect your life:

National Rifle Association

Guns and Fun Forum

Wiki: 2nd Amendment

Idiots with Guns Blog

International Homicide Comparisons

-jc del barco ii

ex-smoker/ex-cool/afraid of dinosaurs and (or with) guns.

I'm a Real Group Show.

Firstly, I am sorry for not blogging for three weeks. Film shoots, travel, extreme fatigue, and blatant laziness kept me from myself.

Moving on.

On Tuesday, April 15th, I went over to the Guggenheim Gallery at Chapman University to review the opening of an art show named "I'M A REAL GROUP SHOW". Though there was a lacking theme, artists Natalie Kiwan, Christopher Richmond, and Hannah Rogers had shared their mixed-media artwork.

Kiwan had an interesting hanging canvas that looked like a more sophisticated mobile, even bearing artifical clouds. That's right. Clouds.

Rogers' work was pretty modern. I personally have a fascination with projection and always approve of projection as an art. She had a sort of video mosaic of people's faces projecting onto a wall. I wish the room had been a little darker for this installation.

For the real flesh, a good friend of mine, Christopher Richmond had presented his large collection of photos of corridors as well as candid shots of people sleeping in waiting rooms. With the money recieved from a recent grant, Richmond had hardbound 8 copies of the collection, titled "This is Institutionalized Space".

The photos had a nice rhythm when flipping though the pages. Every photo had the same form looking down a long cluttered hall of a hospital or something similar, with only furniture and colors changing. I wasn't looking at the furniture in the frame, rather, I found myself lost in the hallway after each subsequent photo. Some would find the shape and form monotonous after a few photos, but I find discipline and meditation in such presentations bold.
The latter half of the book focused on people sleeping in waiting rooms. I liked this for two reasons:

a) The pictures are calming. There is a sort of cathartic peace in looking at an image of something resting. The last photo of the book uses space so well to capture a woman sleeping in a chair with vast wall above her.
b) Imagine this guysneaking around in a hospital illegally snapping photos of people sleeping. Chris told me he had to run from a woman who witnessed his creepin' on some sleepin'... I was sad that I missed this.

Richmond's Obsessive Compulsive Disorder shone through with his flawless display of the books, each with it's own podium and chair to ensure premium comfort for patron viewing (or judging, if you're a dick).
He even had neatly laid out white cotton gloves for people to wear to prevent smudging the pages...




Seriously.



Richmond brought balance to the OCD quirks with his one-of-a-kind refreshment table. Soft drinks, water, pastries, fruit, cheese, and the non-offensive usual Guggenheim installation snacks were present of course, though were dwarfed by the plate of free Chesterfield 100's. This is a surefire way to win over the heart of 4/5 college art snobs (see left). Though I recently had quit smoking, I had to indulge in the novelty of free smokes with my buddy, who also doesn't smoke. The 100's were brutal. I wished I smoked with with the white cotton gloves from earlier.




Upstairs was awesome. A dark room with one screen projected and a set of headphones. Richmond had wired a security camera to cover the live exhibit from above for the voyeuristic viewing pleasure.

Richmond's fine gift for taking photographs of hallways, voyeuristic shots of people sleeping (or live patrons), and neatly presented work all came together for a nice enjoyable evening. Whether it be the fine art, the company of friends, or the free nicotine, the patrons were bearing smiles. Success.

Chris Richmond is a fine photographer and cinematographer pursuing a BFA in Film Production and a Minor in Art at Chapman University. He consumes store bought sushi, chewing gum, and cigarettes. Please look over his work at his website at http://www.chrisyrichmond.com.


-jc del barco ii

newfound art snob/former smoker/amateur

HACK3RZ 5AVE P0RN!!!

So I read this article on Yahoo! News today and was just stoked. Indonesian officials just placed a restriction on internet porn. You WILL be prosecuted for the transaction of porn over the www.

Not that I'm a porn fan or anything of the sort, but I think people have a right to handlin' business however they see fit, so long as it isn't hurting anybody else. Morals? We'll chat about that in a future blog (maybe).

In response to the porn restriction, some hackerz totally bypassed the server USB 2.0 Firewall and hacked into the mainframe of the Ministry's website @ http:/www.depkominfo.go.id and wrote up "Prove that the law has not been made to cover government stupidity" with a doctored picture of the government's tech nerd showing off his bare chest.

Now that's funny.

The gov't fixed the site already, but the Yahoo! article said you can find screenies at this site: http://detik.com/. Sadly, I can't read any of the funny language so I couldn't navigate. Let me know if you have any luck.

I thought that hackers were a dying breed in today's internet secure world. I mean, I remember being a kid and watching the movie Hackers and wanting to be some sort of 90's future playa on cyberspace. I gave up on that 2 hours after watching the movie, but it was still fun. I'm just stoked that some aggravated teenage boy in Indonesia needed to get back at The Man for cutting into his 'batin' time.

But really, we know that these were just WoW nerds in Indonesia that got pissed that they couldn't get off to their cyberloves and decided to take direct action. I'm a fan of direct action. I think it is the only way to actually make a difference. Now, I just wish that these nerdz can join forces and fight hunger instead of the prohibition of internet pornography.

Gross.

I still salute those that fight for human liberty and freedom of choice world wide.

Jerk on, boys, jerk on.

-jc del barco ii

human rights supporter/internet enthusiast/male

Save the Seas!

A few nights ago, I met up with two friends from Paris in San Diego. We decided it would be fun to go to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center to catch an IMAX film. The only thing they had playing was this dolphin movie, which was cute I guess.

Cute until the part where it showed dolphins dying in fishing nets like this!!!

Today I just read an article about a fishing boat that killed 22 dolphins of an extremely rare breed. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080319/ap_on_sc/new_zealand_dolphin_danger;_ylt=AjjNfU4Gq6BBX8jllBD0_fUPLBIF

22 was a a devastating blow to the breed, which is straddling the fence of extinction. Dinosaurs and dodo birds, I can deal with. They were stupid animals to begin with. I like to refer to them as Earth's hiccups, like Lindsay Lohan. Dolphins are smart. I think if they had opposable thumbs they would build an ocean empire and enslave mankind. We deserve it. In the IMAX movie I learned that dolphins feel emotions. I also saw a discovery channel special a few years ago that was talking about how they also have recreational sex and (as I like to call it,) "fond-flippering".

Would you kill something that could feel up someone it loved?

No.

A few days prior to stumbling across these, My mom, sister, and I went to the aquarium in San Fransisco. It was kind of a shitty one. There were kids crying and people crowding. The starfish were pretty neat though. It was nothing like the aquarium in Monaco (how pretentious, right?).

Anyhoo, Audrey and I got these little cards that I've seen a few times before:
The image is poor, but check out
http://seafoodwatch.org
for more extensive information on what fish to eat in order to support sustainable fishing that won't turn our oceans into a toilet.

I like dolphins guys. That's why you have to kill fishermen.
That's right. This is a call to arms against fishermen, sailors, immigrants, pirates, anyone that sails the seas. If you're not gutsy enough to take immediate action (MURDER), just chip in a few bucks to organizations, don't throw fishing line, bottles, plastics, etc into stormdrains, and make sure you buy good fish!

On a more important note, DON'T FORGET TO VOTE FOR ME EVERYDAY AT
http://parisbff.com/people/JSleazy
you can vote once every 24 hours! Spread the word. I'm doin' prreeeeeetttty well!

thanks guys.

-jc del barco ii

New Dolphin Lover/Ocean Terrorist/Fisherman/Lohan Sympathizer

Paris Hilton, here I come.

Ho-ly-shit.

I need to catch up with what's hot and what's not. I just stumbled across http://parisbff.com/
In summary, you make a profile and put up pictures and video blogs and written blogs and random stuff that makes you look hawt.

Over the next 8 weeks, they are going to choose candidates from the site (people vote for each other, comments, etc) to go on the Paris BFF MTV show that is going to start shooting in May (just in time for graduation!).

I just made a profile. Check it:

Within a few minutes of making this profile, I've already gotten two comments! My first was this:
"sup bro good luck too ya swing by my page and lets swap votes -devindadude"
If other people are as nice and important as devindadude, they'd best know what's hot (me/parizhilton) and get votin.

Seriously, this is awesome. I'm tired of everybody hatin' on the girl. If she wants to get paid a shit load of money for not doing anything, let her. I'm jealous. If she wants to drunk drive, let her. She doesn't judge anybody (save the contestants on this divine website [and uglies]). She is just a young lady who is trying to live her life as the Hollywood princess.

Hopefully, by the end of summer, I could be her prince.

My dream is to hang out with Kanye West and Paris Hilton and just look awesome and not apologize for anything I say, but then donate to Make-a-Wish or Katrina so people don't hate me too much.

Get on that site and vote.

http://parisbff.com/people/JSleazy

Yes. My profile name is JSleazy.

Hit it up guys. Spread the werd.

-jc del barco ii

Fashionista/Diva/Paris Hilton's future ex-husband

Polar Bear Attack

Earlier on in the week my gf sent me this link about a guy who wrestled with a polar bear in the Yukon and was severely injured and still managed to kill the beast.

http://www.ultimatesportsmen.com/weird/polarbear.htm

Check it out. There are graphic photos of a dead bear, the guy's brains, and more stuff on the site, stuff like that up there ^^^ (with even more gore!).

The bear tore through the tent and bit a part of his skull off. In the midst of the wrestle, the guy tries to shoot the bear, misses, and blows a hole through his ankle (check the site out, photo is too graphic for my family blog)!

Not to be a dick or anything, but that bear is at least twice his size. I'm not not a mathman, but I'd figure his odds for getting the bear instead of his own lil' ankle were in his favor.

This guy is pulling godawful luck all around. He wasn't buggin' the bear and he sure as hell didn't hope to blow his own leg off. I learned in boyscouts that people are supposed to stand up tall with their arms raised in the presence of a bear in order to scare them off. Our Yukonian victim must have just been around when this pissed off bear had the balls enough to pick a fight. My guess is that both were under the influence of methamphetamines or PCP. Imagine a bear on PCP!?! Hot damn... watch out cub scouts!

Animals are not passive.

Watch your backs guys, I think they're planning an uprising. Mark my words, I made a movie on this.

-jc del barco ii

Mathematician/Fisherman/Bear Enthusiast

un·cre·den·tialed

un·cre·den·tialed (ŭn'krĭ-děn'shəld) Pronunciation Key abbr. Not having proper credentials: "the ministrations of uncredentialed healers" (James S. Gordon).
(uncredentialed. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved March 07, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/uncredentialed)

Fig. 1

I am not an important person (Fig. 1). With that said, the blog community is fun, and I want to take my relationship with it up to the next level (second base).

Once a week, I am going to snag whatever catches my attention in modern media... actually, just whatever grabs my attention: a photo, website, comic strip, current event, new album, new clothes, weather reports, junior high gossip, polls, marketing campaigns, where brittney's kids are, artists, movies, ANYTHING in the public domain.

I will then give my complete biased and un·cre·den·tialed review and opinion of said weekly topic.

If all goes as planned, these reviews will be terrible.

I hope you stay for the ride.

-jc del barco ii

Server/Secretary/Storyteller/Superhero