Hope the hiatus wasn't too detrimental to your everyday lives.
I assume the majority of my readers have read about some of my updates via my Facebook profile or my moms Facebook profile. But in case you literally get all your information from my life from this blog, I've got an updated post for you.
I have left the armpit of America that is East Lansing and have enrolled in Columbia College in Chicago. Don't get me wrong, I loved Michigan State. I hated my classes though and couldn't figure out a way to be happy with them. I'm at college to learn the best possible skills in the field I want a career in. I was not getting that at MSU. So here I am! Living it up in the big city of Chicago.
I have some very interesting classes. I only have class Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. BUT, I have class from 8:30am-4:00pm. So they are VERY long days. I'm tired and stressed for three days and then can cool off, do some homework, and get some sleep for the other four. It's not a perfect system but it seems to be working alright so far. Anyway, I bet you're all dying to know about my television classes. Here is the low down:
I have an Aesthetics and Storytelling lecture where we learn about camera shots, the three act structure, pitches, treatments, yadda yadda yadda, TV stuff. My professors for that class are AMAZING and I love going to it.
Then I have a university writing class that I am killing. My professor made a copy of my essay for the entire class and then he read it out loud. He said he was going to do this and honestly I don't care. It didn't seem like it was bad...but I can never tell with him.
On Wednesday I have a four hour class and then a three hour class. It is hard to get through and kind of sucks because the classes are so interesting. The first one is Television Arts: Production. That's my studio class where we set up sets, work with the heavy-duty cameras, learn audio and lighting, and put on shows! We also learn terminology and apply it to the shows we make. Very funny.
After that is my Production and Editing class. The Aesthetics class is the written work for this class. In P AND E, we learn about the cameras we use and how to shoot good footage. We talk about shooting techniques and watch examples are well shot scenes. This is also where we edit the footage into our final projects.
Aesthetics and Storytelling. Television Arts: Production, and Production and Editing are all a part of my learning community. They're all connected and have the same people in them. New friends!! We're also all in the same learning community next semester.
The last class is the one I have every Thursday; The History of Television. My professor is literally a television historian. That's her job. We talk about trends throughout television and watch examples of what we talk about. It's actually very interesting. If you have any questions feel free to message me privately. I'd love to chat.
I go to Austin this weekend to visit my sweet sister Sydney. We're going to the music festival, Austin City Limits. Gonna be a sweet time. Good music, warm weather, four days with my big sis. What a weekend!
My roommates are great! We were all random so it could've gone incredibly bad. But, they're all wonderful people and I VERY fortunate to have these four lovely ladies for the next 7 months.
It was easy to be the outlier at Michigan State. Every one was studying business, or communications, and I wanted to study media and comedy. I was the one who didn't want to think practical and wanted to spend the rest of my life in entertainment. It's harder at Columbia because every one is an outlier. I go to improv club every week and one week we went around and said our names and majors and at least 90% of the people there said they were studying Comedy Writing and Performance. COMEDY WRITING AND PERFORMANCE IS AN ACTUAL MAJOR. That is so cool! A lot of parents would think it's a waste of time but these kids are THE OUTLIERS. All in the same room. I have considered switching my major to comedy but I keep coming back to the fact that I want to learn all about the work that goes into creating my favorite TV shows. I want to know what kind of lighting is used when Midge Maisel is standing on the stage of The Gaslight. I want to know all about the crew members and what type of microphone during each segment of The Ellen Show. That shit is so cool to me. I also want to make people laugh myself. That's why I'm in improv. I feel that in order to write comedy, I also have to be able to perform it...at least a little. And I enjoy it.
I had a meeting with a professor in the television writing department and he told me that while I'm in the city taking classes over the summer, I should also take a writing class at Second City. I mean if a professor is suggesting it then it must be done.
I get to go to Los Angeles! Maybe. Columbia has a semester in LA program that I am DYING to go on. I get to take classes AND have an internship in Hollywood! Like how cool is that! I'm working extra hard so I can get all my classes done and have a good chance to make it to the west coast in Spring 2020. Hopefully, after my semester there, I'll be able to stay out there. That's the goal!
Since I am a Television Writing and Producing major, I will end this post and future posts by telling you what I am currently watching and what I think about them.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Amazon Prime
OKAY. THIS SHOW IS SO GOOD. My roommates and I are watching it together and it is the most amazing show. It has great writing, well defined characters, and omigosh the Jewish references are just dead on. I laugh, I cry, I yearn for more.
Manifest, NBC
Not the greatest acting. The characters are way too dramatic. The storyline makes up for it though. Such an interesting concept and I'm excited to see how it continues.
UnREAL, Hulu
I just started watching this and I absolutely love it. Behind the scenes of a bachelor type show? Genius. The drama is so enticing. It's quick to get through too.
The Good Place, Netflix
Kristin Bell can do no wrong. The twist at the end of season 1 had be going forking insane. (Good Place reference) Definitely worth binge watching.
Fun Mom Dinner, Netflix
This is a movie not a TV show. I watched it because Adam Scott and Bridget Everett. It seemed a little stupid at first. But I was laughing the entire time. And Adam Levine was in it which made it so much better.
Well that's a wrap for me my dudes! See ya on the flip side.
