Friday, August 14, 2009

First post, Special Collector's Edition

Excerpt from my Basic Training journal, Feb. 22, 2009:

...it seems like I've been here much longer than 5 weeks. I feel like I've been doing this routine and seeing the same faces for much longer than a month. I think it's because I haven't seen anyone else or done anything other than Basic Combat Training.

If you're wondering what happened to me and DVD Panache since January, that's it. I joined the Army, and am now stationed at Ft. Bliss, Texas with my family. What do I do? The exact thing I joined the Army for, and probably the coolest job available, a broadcast journalist. I'm trained to shoot and edit video, write stories for air and even work a soundboard and act as a radio D.J. On my first day at Ft. Bliss I interviewed a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On my second day I interviewed the current Sergeant Major of the Army. I've been enjoying myself.

Of course, it wasn't always that way. Basic training was hell, but not for the reasons you may think. The training itself wasn't that bad, it was the complete lack of any stimulation and hours and hours of waiting and repetition that gets to you. There usually wasn't any talking, and the only reading material afforded you was an Army study guide I read through so many times I had to put duct tape on the binding. In need of some -- any -- kind of stimulation, I took up the habit of writing things down. I wrote a lot of things in a small notebook I kept with me at all times: movie quotes, movies I wanted to see after I graduated, names of Twilight Zone episodes, memorable movie credits.

That final one kept me occupied for many hours. I found that since it had been weeks and weeks since I had actually seen a movie, my gallery of mental images slowly faded away. But what still burned strong were the credits, since they can be written down, and jog your memory much more easily. I filled pages with credits that were memorable for me in one way or another, trying to get a good assortment beyond just directors and stars. And through it all I told myself that when I got back I would post screengrabs of these credits.

Well, I'm back. I still have the notebook and grabbed stills of what credits I could. Welcome to my new blog, glad to be here.



















7 comments:

  1. Welcome back, my friend. And I see you're now enjoying my neck of the woods. Glad to have you back and writing again.

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  2. Congrats, Adam - nice to see you writing again, and your first post does not disappoint. I always loved the movie credits where what you see in the frame somehow reflects the talents of the person credited. Take a look at Douglas Slocombe's credit in INDIANA JONES AND LAST CRUSADE to see what I mean.

    (p.s. my hapless site's also been dying a slow death, so your phoenix-like reemergence is an inspiration!)

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  3. Welcome back, Adam! Love those stills.

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  4. Welcome back Adam. Your blogging has truly been missed.

    Now will those Friday Screen Tests be back too?

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  5. Joseph -- Thanks, I'm in the "it's 8 hours to anywhere" region of Texas, but I'm enjoying it so far.

    Alan -- I'll have to watch Last Crusade again. I've always thought it would be funny if during the opening credits we saw "Credits designed by John Smith (pretty good, huh?)"

    Jim -- Thanks, I'm not sure on the Screen Tests, I've learned lately not to make time commitments that aren't 100% possible.

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  6. Well hello friend,

    It's good to have you back.

    I tagged you in a Facebook thingy majig and you should get on that.

    Chop, chop.

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