Lights, Camels, Action! (Or, Solo Burrito)
I'm finally back in my regular work groove after a dizzying couple of weeks (I mean that literally; I've been moonlighting as a merry-go-round quality tester for a few local amusement parks who are making sure their rides are up to code before they open for the season). The 5th Annual Connecticut College Film Festival took place all last week, which occupied a significant portion of my time. It was worth it, however, because there were some really great films that alumni had worked on, the most notable of which was, in my opinion, No End in Sight, produced by Jessie Vogelson '96. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary at this year's awards, and I can definitely see why: it was an informative, well-made, and moving account of the first few years of the war in Iraq. I highly recommend it regardless of how you feel about the war. The best part was that Jessie came to campus to share her experience working on the film and to take questions from the audience; some people even stayed for more than an hour after the film was over! Also on hand was my good buddy and classmate Keith "SteadyCam" Anthony-Brown '07, who was there to talk about the various film projects that he's been working on since graduation (he also filled in to host the CC Film Trivia Challenge for original emcee and Conn grad Forest Whitaker '83, who became unavailable at the last minute because he had to fly out to LA to promote his new movie Street Kings). All in all, it was a great week of films!
Last Tuesday I attended a talk by Matt Simmons, whose wife and daughter both attended Conn. The topic was peak oil, a theory that the world's oil resources have already passed their prime levels of output and are now dangerously close to nonexistent. He presented some pretty alarming information about what repercussions we will have to face once our fossil fuels run out, but fortunately he offered some realistic courses of action that we can all take to help ease ourselves through the transition into a life where oil is no longer available (his suggestions were much more practical than my idea to power all the world's vehicles with oil harvested from the faces of teenagers with bad skin). You should definitely Google him if you're interested in learning more about this issue (if you're interested in non-threatening, one-dimensional pop songs, Google Welcome to Florida).
This past weekend, I went down to New York to hang out with some Conn people and get out of New London for a little while (ever since Pfizer's methane research facility exploded a few weeks back, the entire city has had an uncomfortably pungent funk in the air). The best part of the weekend was that I got to eat at Chipotle twice! Due to scheduling conflicts, I made both trips alone, which was a little uncomfortable. The first time I went, I felt awkward sitting by myself and stuffing my face with a burrito that was literally the size of my face, so the second time around I ordered my burrito to go and ate in Grand Central while waiting for my train home to arrive. Bad idea! I should have known that chomping down on a titanic tube of tortilla stuffed to the breaking point with juicy barbacoa and every vegetable known to Quetzalcoatl without having a table and napkins between my mouth and my lap was a recipe for stained trousers (another recipe for stained trousers: 6 glasses of lemonade and a tickle fight). Fortunately, I very narrowly avoided disaster, but I did have to throw out the last 15% or so of my 'rito in order to seek out a much-needed sink. Dios mio!
Everything else I've been up to would sound pretty boring to anybody out there who's not a college development officer, and since only Jaime Pepper and my mom read my blog, I'll wrap this post up. There are plenty of sure-to-be-hilarious events on the horizon, though, so check back soon!
Comments
Yeah, I read this blog. So, two kids in LA do and your mom.
Posted by: Cornelius Hardenbergh '07 | April 16, 2008 08:33 AM
Thanks Corndog.
Posted by: Chris Reilly | April 16, 2008 08:58 AM