SmallFry

We were asked to add a couple blogs to our blogroll. I chose to add one of my favorite bloggers Michael Buckley, who started a youtube site “What the Buck” and now his own vlog @ buckhollywood.com. I’m obsessed with pop culture and What the Buck was the perfect, minute long, jam packed, and hysterical, news feed for me. I started following his vlog a few months ago which hosts mini webisodes that let him rant about celebrities and all the hot gossip. I find it interesting because he usually touches on up and coming movies, what TV shows are hot right now, and what to listen for on Itunes. If your into pop culture at all definitely check out this site.

Another blog I like to follow is my friend’s @ lilmissvegan.wordress.com.  Although I may not be as active as her in the PETA world, I fully support her efforts. Her blogs are witty and insightful and usually open your eyes up to some horrible mistreatment of animals which I think more people need to be aware of.

The blog that I follow most however, is the movie blog at themovieblog.com. It has trailers, news feeds, updates and pretty much anything you need to know about up and coming movies, dvd releases, whose being caste in what, and reviews.

Check em out!

You may be wondering, why the name “small fry”. Well, as a kid I never was the tallest girl in class, or anywhere for that matter. Now, at age twenty-three, I still find myself looking up to almost everyone around me, however, this vertical limitation never really bothered me. What I lacked in height I made up for in personality. When your larger than life, who cares about your height? Well apparently every 12-14 year old child circa 1998-2000.

Most of the kids in elementary school did not bring up my height because they were too busy loosing to me in kickball. As soon as I started middle school and met all the new kids from the elementary schools in the area, I really noticed just how short I was. Kids would call me all sorts of names and measure me against lockers, walls, and their favorite: other kids that were clearly taller than me. When people called me shorty, tiny, midget, I ignored it. Sure, it hurt my feelings sometimes, but I was tough enough to brush it off, and when I was not, my mom or dad was always there to help me. Eventually I was being known as the shortest girl in school. So what did I do? I went out for the basketball team, I auditioned for school plays, and ran for class offices. I became known for everything other than my height.

I managed to get through high school and most of college unscathed, and it was not until recently that my short stature was brought up.

I went out for drinks with a few girlfriends and this extremely rude gentleman continuously made short jokes throughout the night. He would ask me if I was old enough to be in a bar, “or drive a car for that matter”. Whether he was bending down to “my level” to talk to me, or comparing me to his seven-year-old nephew, I was mortified that a twenty-something-year-old man would even toy with the thought of making negative comments about a person’s height! Eventually, he moved on to nick names,  teensy, Polly Pocket, and Thumbelina to name a few. I usually do not let people like him get to me, despite my height, I am a much bigger person. I was not getting noticeably upset, but he could tell I was annoyed. Whether this was his pathetic attempt at flirting, or just his way of getting attention, I was not happy. I could have yelled and screamed at him, but I have learned that yelling at ignorant people really does not do anything but start a screaming match. Frustrated and annoyed, I decided to leave.

Just as I got to the door I hear, “hey small-fry where ya going?!” I turned to see the man with a crooked smile and a look of concern on his face. He finally realized I was not enjoying his comments and in that moment I decided to just go with it. I’ve never let my height get to me, and I was sure as heck not about to start. I embraced it, “Small-fry huh? I like that one!”

Once he realized his comments were no longer bothering me, he stopped, and just like that Small-Fry was born.

Now when I think of the nick-name I think of  how to be a bigger person and not sink to people’s levels. How to own what you have and “play the hand you were dealt”. It makes me remember that there are ignorant people in the world and rather than putting them down, you just have to rise above. Although being teased is never easy to deal with, especially for children, as an adult you really have to look at the big picture. In the grand scheme of things one drunken idiot is not going to ruin my life.

So do not sweat the small stuff, even if it seems big at the time, and when life hands you lemons… turn them into a nickname!

Hey everyone,

My name is Dana and I have always been a fan of movies. I love getting lost for an hour and a half in some other world. Whether its comedy or drama, action or horror, if it has a good story and some good characters, I’ll watch it.

I’ve known for quiet some time that I want to be involved in making them in one way or another. In high school my friends and I would make short movies, usually some sort of satire or mocumentary (a spoofed documentary). In college I majored in media production. I learned the skills of production from camera work to lighting, then followed that up with editing classes where I learned how to cut a movie. As a senior I focused a lot on pre production, mainly screenwriting. I became a huge fan of writing my own movies. There is just something about making characters come alive. You can relate to these characters in a whole other way because they are small pieces of you, or in many cases, a very large piece of you.

It has been said that writing is therapeutic, and I couldn’t agree more. I’ve made myself laugh, cry, get angry, hate love, love love, and absolutely want to destroy love, through these screenplays. It is an amazing feeling when you put a scene together that makes somebody else feel those things. This is definitely something I want to do professionally, but I am realistic. I know there are hundreds and thousands of screenwriters all with the same dream as me, so I know I have to work my way up.

Typically, in the movie industry, this means starting at the bottom by being a production assistant. Before I embarked on my journey to Hollywood I wanted to brush up on all production skills so I stuck around after graduation and took on a few random editing jobs for different universities in the area. Eventually I was offered a job at Quinnipiac to work in the School of Communications as a media production specialist. The job is great, I get to work on editing packages for the school, helping students with their project, teach editing work shops, and even do some random editing jobs for faculty. After working here for a year I’ve gotten some great experience and have definitely brushed up on my editing skills, but I knew there was something more I could be doing with my time. I was determined to find some sort of medium for me to keep working, keep learning.

When I was introduced to the ICM graduate program, I thought, “perfect! a program that I can continue my education in, and perhaps incorporate my production and editing skills”. Little did I know how relative this program is to my field.

Interactive communications allows for a whole other side of movies. Through blogs you can communicate with thousands of people who share your same ideas, or in many cases, who do not. You can gain access and tips to amazing websites that support your ideas. You can learn to build your own websites to get those ideas out there.

I believe the web is a great medium for the film industry, and being able to master it will definitely put me ahead of the curve. There is a demand for new and up and coming film students who can handle all aspects of media, and hopefully by the of this program I will be one of them.

I am very much looking forward to working with all of you, and hopefully we can all learn a thing or two from each other.

Cheers!