HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!

On this occasion, I present Tim Burton's 1982 stop-motion animated short classic Vincent. A story about a boy who wanted to be like Vincent Price and narrated by Vincent Price no less.

Enjoy!

A music video directed by Mike Ott, one of my film class instructors last spring. The song is "Dancing in Our Graves" performed by The Cave Singers.

From Pitchfork Media:

The Mike Ott-directed video for "Dancing on Our Graves", a song by Seattle's the Cave Singers, reflects the track's sense of abandon. The stomping bass drum shoves forward the rest of the clattering percussion, and the insistent guitar picking worries less about changes (for the most part, one chord'll do ya) and more about relentless motion. It also sounds a hair like something from the Waterboys' Fisherman's Blues, a plus in my book. The video, with its scuffed black-and-white shots of tent revival rituals (we see people clogging and testifying, being healed by a hand and baptized in a river), finds its participants moved less by the holy spirit and more by the undeniable propulsion of the song's groove.

I was at work at Six Flags Magic Mountain when I noticed that the sky had this unusual tint of red. When I saw the sun, I thought there was an eclipse at first. Then I felt a lot of dust being blown by the heavy winds followed by this smell that I would easily associate with wood. That's when I realize there was a wildfire going on. As I was walking to the bus stop headed home, it brought back memories of Mayon's eruption what with the sense of apocalyptic desolation that I have observed from my surroundings.

For the next three days, Santa Clarita (as well as San Diego and Malibu) was swamped by fires from almost all sides. A fire occurred near Magic Mountain but thankfully it was quickly contained. Classes at College of the Canyons were cancelled for 2 days, and me and my sister had to spend a night at my future brother-in-law's house, which was itself near a major wildfire area in Stevenson Ranch.

However, there were good things that came about from these events. I managed to capture the first footage of my camcorder of views of the huge smoke taken from different locations, whoch I plan to upload to YouTube soon. Plus, I was able to do two things I haven't done in a while: go to Pasadena and watch a movie in a arthouse theater/cineplex. The movie was The Darjeeling Limited, which never disappointed though it sucks that it didn't have the short Hotel Chevalier attached to it or the fact that the projector experienced technical difficulties where at times the ads would suddenly pop up and were simulatenously projected on the screen with the movie as it was already playing!

What better way to start the month with the purchase of my very first camcorder. It's a Sony DCR-HC28 Mini DV Handycam Camcorder which was worth around $250 over at Best Buy, which is where me and my sister bought it (we split the bill).

Today also marks the 100th birth anniversary of my paternal grandfather Remigio Jacob Llaguno. Known to the people he admired as "Lolo Mio" and "Daddy Mio", he died 3 days after I was born, hence I was named Patrick Mio Llaguno in his honor (Patrick was after a brand of cologne). So yesterday was also the 20th anniversary of his death, 3 days after I turned 20.