"Is that the Sherman tree?"

On Monday night, one of Andres’ friends from Warner Brothers spoke to the class about how movies are marketed. I was not able to stay for very long, but the process was very interesting. A few people and I left the talk early to attend a “Escape Development Hell” panel at WGA. The panel was sponsored by Cornell University so all four panelists were Cornell graduates. This was probably the best WGA panel that I attended this summer. Originally I thought this was going to strictly be about how you climb the ranks to get a movie made, but this was not the case. The four people, who were all friends in college and still are, showed how valuable it is to stay in contact with your classmates when in the entertainment industry. One of the panelists, Dan Cohen, has new found success in his career as he was an executive producer for the new Netflix series Stranger Things and upcoming films such as Arrival, Table 19, and Fist Fight. I highly recommend Stranger Things! I'm not very far into it, but everything has been great so far!

Tuesday was probably one of my favorite in class lectures/guest speakers. Andres’ friend Maria Aceves spoke to the class. Maria came to America from Spain to pursue an acting career, but in turn became a producer. Maria is the founder of La Panda and Blue Hats Creative. Maria mainly works in short form with a bunch of different companies including Live Nation and Insomniac. As a fellow raver and festival attendee I have always been interested in shooting their events.

I was not super thrilled to attend West Side Story at the Hollywood Bowl since I am not the biggest fan of musicals nor had I seen the film. I do not think the Hollywood Bowl was the best venue for such a performance since it was so hard to see the actors/singers from so far away.

Thursday’s class was pretty neat since we learned about the history of music videos. Of course we focused a fair amount of that class time on Michael Jackson as we rightfully should have. It is crazy to think that there will most likely never be anyone in history to make such a huge impact on our culture again as The King of Pop did.

Thursday night was a whole whirlwind of oddity. Attending the play, The Day Shall Declare It, was no where near what I was expecting. Studying experimental art prepared me for something different, but I had never been a part of something so interactive. The fluidity of the actors was absolutely beautiful, almost as if they were doing a dance. The jillion different plots colliding confused me the most though. And don’t even get me started on how hot it was. I was not feeling well when I walked into the venue and lets just say I did everything that I could to not throw up from heat exhaustion. (And not being able to sit for such a long time didn’t help either since I have had two knee surgeries.)

Friday was pretty low key. I did not go to work so a friend and I went to breakfast at Bea Bea’s in Burbank. I highly recommend going! It was super good! Afterwards we went to Fry’s Electronics. Apparently all of the Fry’s in California are each themed differently. The one we went to was themed alien attack and tons of different props through the giant warehouse. Then I went to a store I've always wanted to go for about a year and half. Then I had a chill night with a couple friends while watching Dude Bro Party 3.

Saturday was absolutely awesome! A group of us traveled four hours each way to Sequoia National Park. If you know me pretty well, you know I live to go to National Parks. One of my top things on my bucket list is to travel to every National Park, Forest, Monument, etc. There are over 300 locations that fall under the National Park Service. Growing up my parents made my brother and I go on camping and hiking trips all the time. I am so thankful that they gave me those experiences growing up because it has given me such a huge appreciation for nature. I have been lucky enough to travel to some of the most gorgeous landscapes in the US such as Denali NP, Yellowstone NP, Grand Tetons NP, Mount Rushmore NM, Badlands NP, Devils Tower NM, Rocky Mountain NP, Dry Tortugas NP, Everglades NP, Muir Wood NM, and many many more. Each trip to a National Parks Service location I put a stamp and official cancellation in my National Park Service Passport. Traveling to these amazing places and learning about John Muir while growing up truly had a big impact on me so much so that I became a member of the Sierra Club. Founded by legendary conservationist John Muir in 1892, the Sierra Club is now the nation's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization. 

On Sunday I drove to Long Beach to meet up with a couple friends. From Long Beach we drove to Laguna Beach to have some fun in the sun and surf for the afternoon. Laguna is a super gorgeous and rich area. It would be a dream to be able to afford a house in such a beautiful location.