The Youth Revolution - Project 2012 [Extended Version]

Check out this fantastic video from YearOfYouth.org I am currently volunteering as a core-team member in their marketing department and helped make this video, (did the paper-animations.)

It's time for real change. Prepare for the Year of Youth.

Watch the video in high-def on YouTube → http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_adrf-qKwQ

Like it? Help make our Viral Video Experiment a success. Get your own copy of the vid file and upload it wherever you want. Details here → http://www.yearofyouth.org/the-viral-video-experiment

You know you love us. http://www.yearofyouth.org

Oh - and send us to Washington. Just $5 gets you on our 'good list', with all sorts of goodies for you. http://www.yearofyouth.org/contribute

THe Quest for various things in my life... Ch. 4

It's been awhile since I blogged. I've been quite busy. Finished up my Environmental Impact Journal, which included my valiant bicycling efforts. Also I've made another trip down to Universal Studios (making the most of my annual pass). Also Thomas and I have been hard at work for a Top Secret video for our Mass Communications class as well as continuing work on Ghetto Movie, and Elmo Vs. Death 2. In addition to working on video related efforts, I have been exploring possibilities on the college front. Recently, I took a trip down to CSUN with AVC's transfer center and was able to get some good information about transferring, as well as being able to take a tour of the Cinema and Television Production facilities, which was a great little film-maker geek out moment for me. Then yesterday, I went down to USC and had some even greater film-maker geek out moments as I attended 2 informative sessions for USC's School of Cinematic Arts as well as taking a tour of the new facilities (the $175 million dollar facilities donated by George Lucas). CSUN looks a great school, at an affordable price, while USC looks like a fantastic dream-school, at a not so affordable price. So I am applying to both and USC #1 choice and CSUN #2 choice , if I get into USC then where there's a will there's a way will be my motto for finding the means to pay for it. As always... wish me luck!

The Quest for various things in my life... Ch. 3

This weeks has been good exercise! I began parking my car at the college and riding my bike everywhere i need to in town. So far I have ridden: 34.7 miles. Tomorrow I am going to ride from home to my Dean's house to the college and then hitch a ride home with Thomas. Should be a fun day. Yesterday I stopped and took a few pictures as the sun was setting, I'll post the best of at he bottom of this blog. And today I dropped off applications at Red Robin and Applebees as well as checked up on my Old Navy, Oak West and Bath & Body works apps AND picked up apps for Aeropostale and Wet Seal. In other words, I've been busy busy busy all day everyday. My girlfriend has a Cross-Country trip tonight and tomorrow so I shall be homesick as the possessor of my heart travels up to Mammoth, but as always absence makes the heart grow fonder. Saturday (i apologize for the highly un-chronilogical order of this blog) I had to work, but got back in time for most of the church's Open House/ Fall Festival, muchos fun! This Sunday Wayside Chapel had their dedication service, very touching to see how our dream has been completed and awesome to be able to serve a meal in the fellowship room of the building. Also Gloria (the partially spanish choir song) went very well, speaking of choir its time to wrap this up and head off to practice. As always wish me luck!

This is what blogs were made for right?

I know youtube was made by people that wanted to share videos of their cats, so i can only assume that blog were made for people to share pictures of their dogs in christmas sweaters, so I present to you the magnificent mercury!

The Quest for various things in my life... Ch. 2

Well, you better make fiends with me now, before I get too famous. Today has been a good day. I was interviewed for a Time Warner television show called Reel Chasers. Our video "Landing" was on the October episode of the show, and this next episode will be an exclusive DragonCow Productions themed episode. You can catch the show on Time Warner Cable channel 3 Mondays at 6:30, Fridays at 10:30 or Saturdays at 4:30. I also decided to try connecting my old "broken" external hard drive to my new macbook, and lo and behold it worked! Thank the Lord! So I am currently copying all the files off of it onto my new hard drive, which means I should be able to access all my original full quality videos as well as several projects that I thought were lost forever including: Elmo Vs. Death 2, Fatninjas: The Movie, and the Hit 2. Very exciting.

This week is turing out to be a very busy week. I am working down at the Pasadena Convention Center on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, which is a blessing to have that boost in income. This morning I finally recycled my old iMac G5, farewell and rest in Peace! Yesterday the Masters Chorale from the Master's College came and performed at Wayside Chapel in Rosamond, it was a great concert. This Sunday is Dedication Sunday and we're dedicating the new building to the Lord and having our first meal together as a church in it after the service. I am singing in the choir sunday and am a little nervous because the song we're working on is something the choir snag last year, so we just starting working on it last week, and its partially in Spanish. Thats all for this chapter, I'll hopefully make it through the week and onto the next chapter, as always: wish me luck!

The Quest for various things in my life... Ch. 1

Ah, that's a title that I can go for. The search for admission continues. I am beginning to find my way through the tangled web of transferring colleges. All the courses I need to take at AVC are available in the Intercession and Spring Semester, Hooray! I also found out that the Pasadena City College has the pre-requisite course I need to take (again hooray, because there were complications to taking the class at College of the Canyons). However oddly enough, I managed to misspell my own last name on my application to CSUN, Benjamin Aandrews! So I need to call and get that straightened out, magically enough the automated system at CSUN does not respond to me pressing numbers on my cellphone, so I need to call from my home phone hopefully tomorrow morning. Enough of that school stuff though, onto business:

Exciting things are happening with DragonCowProductions. I edited a video for a friend from church's Air Force Retirement, $20. Picked up a bunch of used dvd covers from a friend, used one for the Retirement video and made a very professional cover, on Photoshop. I am currently (and nearly finished) editing a video made by Dean's band mates, it's about a killer teddy bear, pretty funny so look forward to that. In October my sci-fi video "Landing" was featured on TIme Warner's Reel Chasers and the producer of the show wants to do an episode about DragonCow Productions for November, hooray television exposure! Matt Baldwin (from Landing) has also agreed to be in the upcoming web-series "Rebel Filmmakers" which I am writing a pilot episode for. And last but not least filming for Ghetto Movie is nearly done, there is also a new Preview for it online now at http://dragoncowproductions.com/ghettomovie

In other news Alta Dena has egg-nog on sale. I love egg-nog. Happiness tenfold! Thank you for reading, have a great day, and as always wish me luck!

Thomas/Kratos Photoshop MADNESS

I downloaded a 30 day trial version of Adobe Photoshop. This is my first use of it. Thomas is Kratos, and if you look closely (click on image for a closer view) I am one of Zeus's undead soldiers fighting Thomas. Delicious I know.

The Quest For Employment- Day 8

Back at the job hunt again today, somewhat. I applied to Old Navy online today. My job search is getting slightly distracted due to college stuff. Today I had the chance to work down in Pasadena, but... had a 12:30 Transfer Center counseling appointment, that I am very glad I went to instead. I learned a lot of things I wouldn't have been able to figure out on my own. I now know that UCLA is not an option for the Fall 2010 session. Too many of the courses I took for the Cal State system requirements do not transfer to the UC system, which would leave me with 30 units to complete in the spring, which is impossible. Fortunately I am still on track for CSUN, although I found out I need to take one more course than I thought, and on track for USC, which I also would need to take one extra course for. This leaves me with a total of 7 classes to take. If I can take at least 1 or 2 in the intercession it will really help out for my spring semester. Hmmm... this blog post is evolving into the quest for admission, I might need to start a new series... as always: WIsh me luck!

The Quest For Employment- Day 6/7

Yesterday was my long class day (3:45 - 10:00) and also my girlfriend's of campus lunch day, so I was in Lancaster from about Noon to 10:00, this still left me some time in the morning to fill out an application to Best Buy online, and to continue working on my resume. Today I took a little extra time to sleep in, got up and read some devotional materials on AFLC.org/college, specifically a newsletter called "Convergence" which my sister is editor for. I highly recommend. Today I am going to inquire about a job at Oak West Footwear in the mall as well as pick up applications for I-Hop and Denny's. Wish me luck!

CONTINUED! - Today I applied for a front desk job at a hotel in Palmdale online, applied to Oak West Footwear, picked up applications from Denny's and Bath And Body Works, as well as Apple-bee's where I need to apply in November. I also found out I am working tomorrow in Pasadena, (I thought I was working next Saturday). Overall that is a good thing because the Pasadena Convention Center has been getting more business which means I should get more consistent work, and much needed income.

The Quest For Employment- Day 5

Turned in applications to Chili's today, not hiring at the moment... need to check back closer to the holiday season. Red Robin, need to try again closer to November. Talked to the manager at BJ's, they're fully staffed... but might take on a couple near Christmas time. Red Lobster just hired someone, but I am to call and check with a manager next week. I also need to pick up an application from Famous Daves on Friday. So goes the job search. I just got my final check from my previous job, $489, I'll have to try and stretch that as long as possible, I don't work in Pasadena until next Saturday. bleh...money. I'll be back at the searching tomorrow, I'm going to include some seasonal retail jobs in my search... I hear Old Navy, and Wal-Mart are looking to hire... as well as Best Buy. Wish me luck!

The Quest For Employment- Day 4

Today I took a tour of UCLA. It was a great tour! The campus is beautiful, I could see myself at that school. Only 15 people outside of UCLA are accepted into the Film program, so I've got my work cut out for me. I embrace the challenge! On the job search side of things, I was able to find time to print out and fill out applications to Chili's and Red Robins, I will turn those in tomorrow afternoon. Wish me luck!

p.s. I took some pictures of flowers awhile ago.. thought i'd share them!

The Quest For Employment- Day 3

Well... today... not much accomplished towards finding a job. I spent the morning cleaning and re-aranging my room, then went to class, worked on kgb in the afternoon, went to class again, and came home. Still need to print out and fill out applications. Going to go take a tour of UCLA tomorrow, so I probably won't get much done tomorrow either, but I will try! Wish me luck.

p.s. sorry for this blog being lame.

The Quest For Employment- Day 2

Today was Sunday, so I didn't get as much work done on the job searching. I downloaded an application to Red Robin, started typing up my resume, and found out I need to apply in person at Famous Daves and Johnny Carino's. I'll go pick up applications from Famous Dave's and Johnny Carino's tomorrow, as well as turn in applications to Chili's and Red Robin, plus try and talk to a manager at Bj's and Red Lobster. Wish me Luck!

The Quest For Employement - Day 1

For the past four months I have been fortune to have a job at Wayside Chapel Community Church in Rosamond. The church just added a huge 3-story building to their existing facilities, I was able to get hired on as a construction cleanup guy while the building was being built. Now that the building is done, I'm no longer needed, and find myself out of a job. Fortunately I've still been working part-time as a waiter down in Pasadena catering at the Pasadena Convention center, and just started working online as a kgb special agent (text any question to 542 542!). However that's really no enough to live on a.k.a cover my bills, plus be able to save for college/independent life, so I'm on the hunt for another job, specifically a job in the Antelope Valley as a waiter. So today was day one of my quest. I applied online to: BJ's and Red Lobster, printed out an application for Chili's, and found out I need to apply in person at Applebees. I'll keep you posted on how it all goes, Wish me luck!
-Ben

Universal Pictures

Told you I'd eventually post Universal Studios pictures!

Good News!

As an early Christmas/Birthday present my father has ordered a brand new 13" Mac Book Pro!

More awesome videos, blogs, pictures soon to come! hooray!

Fatal Diagnosis.

I took my iMac to the Mac store in Pasadena on Saturday. The experts at the Genius bar informed me that my hard drive is dying. Considering the computer is 3 years old, that's not unusual. So that means new Mac time! which makes me happy, but my wallet sad...
so before I can have a reliable place to blog from, or a machine capable of continuing video production, things may be slow here at DragonCow Productions.
While you wait for new content, why not check out Merchandise at cafepress.com/dragoncow
The more you buy, the easier getting new equipment will be, the faster new videos will pop up!
: )

Universal Studios

Just got back from a fun day at Universal Studios Hollywood. Went with my girlfriend, her brother and his girl friend. We got off to a little bit of a rough start. First some random middle aged guy in a Miata had rode rage and brake checked me on the free way, now I know  my breaks work. Then my girlfriend lost her drivers license in City Walk, guest relations found it. And then we almost didn't get our free guest tickets, because the promotion supposedly expired, I complained and convinced guest relations to make an exception and give us free guest tickets, hooray! The rest of the day went pretty smoothly. Rode rides, saw shows, ate ice cream. Then bought Popcorn at popcornopolis on City Walk, plus my girlfriend bought me and awesome toxic boy mug!

Will add pictures... later

Night Pictures

Some pictures, i took a couple nights ago. Hope you like!

Unfortunate

Unfortunately I have not been able to keep up my daily writing/picture post, due to technological problems. My beloved iMac will not start. So posting things is quite complicated now as I must use other computers. Hopefully I can get this fixed soon, and get back to work on blogs, and of course finishing my never-ending almost done project: Ghetto Movie!

One a Day

I am embarking on a new adventure. In an effort to push myself to a state of continual creativity, I am am going to post a piece of writing and a photo everyday. My photo and writing will be from that day, and may or may not be related. Hope you enjoy!


Technology- by Ben Andrews

Technology, you suck.
On tuesday I buy you.
by wednesday you're obsolete.
by thursday you crash.
by friday you break.

you cost too much to repair
and even your backups expire
you're temporary and temperamental

Of course, I don't have the right cord
of course its the wrong type of file
it won't connect
it won't attach
it won't send
I can't receive
can't download
can't convert

you and me
old tech
we just aren't...
well...
compatible

but hey. its not your fault.
if you don't work its the result of human error
either the maker or the user
and you're never showered with unconditional love
we only praise you when you work
so dear technology, I will try to be patient
I will try to forgive
and to be your friend.
Cause you've been there for me.
holding my thoughts and memories.
so I'll be there for you.

technology, i love you.

Staying up late

Its past 1 am. I have been up since 5:30. Very tired. Worked an 8 hour day. Then worked on a bunch of filming for our upcoming film Ghetto Movie. Now watching Samurai Jack with Dean. 

Kind of insane. Is there really a reason for all this sleep deprivation? maybe.

What drives us, as humans to stay up late if we know we can sleep in tomorrow?

Ah...

I was going for some deep reflection on the nature of mankind, but didn't quite achieve that.

oh well.

maybe another late night.

What a Wednesday

While running an errand for my boss, I discovered a man lying on the ground behind a building. He had been assaulted with an axe and had a bad wound on his skull/forehead. There was an insane amount of blood. I almost didn't believe my eyes. I had to use my shirt to try and stop the bleeding. I call 911 and waited for the paramedics to arrive. I was alone there for about 5 minutes before they arrived. He was airlifted to Holy Cross and last I heard is alive, talking and breathing on his own. I arrived just in time to save his life.

What a Wednesday.