I’ve been slowing down on posts lately, but I though you should all hear this quote from a “top U.S. Intelligence official”, when speaking about the increased surveillance on American Citizens:

It’s “time that people in the United States changed their definition of privacy.”

Love it.

via Yahoo News

I was surprised early Wednesday morning to learn that, due to cancellations, I had been offered a spot in this year’s Film Symposium at the Virginia Film Festival. The Symposium, led by NYU instructor Harry Chotiner, will involve me and 19 others (me being the youngest…again…as in everything I do…) watching a bunch of the films, then discussing them with each other and several of the directors/producers/screenwriters/etc. Basically, I get to talk about film with a bunch of important film people.

We’ve only met once so far, and it seems like the symposium will be fairly informal, meeting about twice each day for discussions, and then turning us loose to go watch the films. Mr. Chotiner actually commented on how we should never be afraid to say what’s on our minds at these discussions - after all, we’re not in high school anymore (after which, of course, I said that I was still in high school, and the usual blend of laughter and awkwardness seeped into the room). Some highlights for the weekend: a workshop with the screenwriter for Rebel Without a Cause, and Actor’s Forum with John Turturro, and Turturros’ new film Romance and Cigarettes.

Honestly, I’m not sure what to expect out of the whole experience - I’ve never even attended a full film festival before. Though I’m already beginning to run into the same problem I run into at conventions: what the crap do I do between events [besides blog]?!?!