Coincidences, or am I too much in the moment?

According to Wikipedia (I like the way they worded it, give me a break!), a coincidence "is the noteworthy alignment of two or more events or circumstances without obvious causal connection".

Here are a few coincidences I've read online:

• In 1975, while riding a moped in Bermuda, a man was accidentally struck and killed by a taxi. One year later, this man's bother was killed in the very same way. In fact, he was riding the very same moped. And to stretch the odds even further, he was struck by the very same taxi driven by the same driver - and even carrying the very same passenger! (Source: Phenomena: A Book of Wonders, John Michell and Robert J. M. Rickard)
• In Detroit sometime in the 1930s, a young (if incredibly careless) mother must have been eternally grateful to a man named Joseph Figlock. As Figlock was walking down the street, the mother's baby fell from a high window onto Figlock. The baby's fall was broken and both man and baby were unharmed. A stroke of luck on its own, but a year later, the very same baby fell from the very same window onto poor, unsuspecting Joseph Figlock as he was again passing beneath. And again, they both survived the event. (Source: Mysteries of the Unexplained)
• Mark Twain was born on the day of the appearance of Halley's Comet in 1835, and died on the day of its next appearance in 1910. He himself predicted this in 1909, when he said: "I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it."

When faced with (supposed) events like these, should random coincidental real life situations elicit focused worthy emotions? My answer is, why the heck not, especially if it's relevant to your minute to minute actions.

And when I say random real life situations, I'm not talking about the time when your significant other drapes the entire apartment with red cloth for your anniversary, only to find out you lose complete control of bowel movements when bombarded with the color red. Yeah, no.

While it's not unusual to encounter small coincidences, it's interesting to note how it seems to go hand in hand with causality. Again, going back to Wikipedia, Causality "denotes a necessary relationship between one event (called cause) and another event (called effect) which is the direct consequence of the first"

Don't worry, I won't even start on what I think about the cosmos and how I think it's related to coincidences.

You may be thinking to yourself, "Okay Tasi, what exactly is the point to this entry?". I hate to disappoint (really I do), but I don't think I had a single point I can stick a thumbtack on. Instead, I'm reveling in a coincidental "in the middle of the block, in front of a frozen yogurt shop with smiles on our faces" meeting (or as I'd like say, bumpature) with a friend.

You may now be thinking, "Okay Tasi, it must be a really special friend if you're taking the time out of your day to write about it". Sure, you can say that. I have a lot of acquaintances but only a handful of truly wonderful people in my life I'd consider special friend, or, "I'D TAKE A BULLET IN THE GONAD" kind of friend. So yes, this friend is special. Satisfied?

You may now be thinking, "Well, I'm not THAT satisfied but that explanation will have to do. So what now about coincidences and causality, you have my undying attention..." Well, this event got me thinking about luck and how paradoxical luck and coincidences are. Is it not true that if you work hard enough, your chance of luck increases exponentially? I'd like to stick my neck out and say, "yes". At the very least, I feel I've been caressed by luck induced hard work, especially when it deals with Acting and the various opportunities I've been able to explore. I think coincidences are similar in that each occurrence is, dare I say, like a snowflake: unique, often elegant and many times, easily missed.

So what if I bumped into some friend during an interesting time of the day, at a notable physical intersection of human traffic, with a sunny disposition towards hanging out and sharing a few hours together? So what, you ask? What do you mean so what?! The moment! That's the moment! I live for that. That's the snowflake dissolving on the tip of your tongue, and faster than it can change from a solid state to liquid, your brain has already received information that, yes...a snowflake has coincidentally landed on your tongue and now you are smiling. Coincidence and causality, boy, they must work out together.

Is it a coincidence that, this person lives in the same city as me? I don't think so. Same country? I can put some money on that, sure.

Is it causality that I'm writing this blog entry because of earlier events? Debatable, maybe I just felt like writing. Is it causality that I'm in a great mood because of earlier events? You're warm. No, you're red hot!

Is it a coincidence that as you're reading this, you're probably missing out on a favorite television show (I can wish), or forgetting to fetch your laundry from the dryer? Forecast: "Highly Unlikely". What it most likely falls into is: Timing.

And according to Wikipedia...

Cinequest is back (2009)!

Weird. I thought I blogged about my Cinequest experiences from last year but I realized I actually wrote it in a journal and NOT online! Well, this year, it's going to this blog. For those that are unfamiliar with it, Cinequest is a widely known Film Festival based in the Silicon Valley. The organization utilize The California Theatre, Camera 12 and San Jose Repertory Theatre to host the films and local establishments for various uses.

Last year I spent most of it wandering around, watching films and just talking to some filmmakers. I was mostly a passive observer. At the closing night gala I told myself, "next year, I'm going to be involved in Cinequest somehow", lo and behold, I'm fulfilling that by being part of a media team that's diving into the festival with a show called "Inside Cinequest", appropriate, no? I mentioned in the previous entry that I was fortunate enough to participate in Adobe Youth Voices and here is a wonderful clip from that event (can you spot me in it?):



Inside Cinequest has a host of exceptionally talented people behind it. Among them are Sinohui Hinojosa, Thomas Koch and Amy Puzia from Emerging Artist. A fellow 48hr filmmaker (and San Jose coordinator), Vincent Lowe and a slew of other great folks. As an aside, there's a terrific web series you have to check out, especially if you love theatre! It's called EXIT STAGE LEFT created by Sinohui. I highly recommend it. In fact, keep an eye out for future bloggage. Following is the latest episode of Inside Cinequest:



At any rate, I asked myself recently, "What am I looking forward to to this year's Cinequest (19)?". My head flooded with answers, each one of them valid and worthy of my best efforts. Here are some of them:

• Meet new people and reinforce friendships from prior networking
• Watch at least 10 films
• Work work work work work (yes, work)
• Fulfilling my commitments with Inside Cinequest
• Earn some exposure with filmmakers, local and out of towners alike

I'd like to toss a shout out to my friend and Cinequest alum, Alejandro Adams. His film, "CANARY" is featured this year (some of you may remember "Around the Bay" from Cinequest 18). Some of you may also remember him from previous entries regarding BABNIK. Show dates will be March 1st 6:30p and March 7th 4p. Both shows will be hosted in San Jose Repertory Theatre. You can purchase your tickets HERE.

Don't forget to bookmark or RSS for updates on the Cinequest romp.

Adobe Youth Voices

Today I had the privilege of attending one of Adobe Youth Voice's workshops. I was originally asked to help present, interview and document the event but as the day progressed so did my involvement. Just a quick background for those I haven't told already, I'm part of a media team lead by Vincent Lowe and I am assisting in helping document (ala behind the scenes glimpse) Cinequest.

Today's planned format went straight out the window, and in the end, I think it turned out a better experience for me, and I'm sure for many others. I ran into some familiar filmmakers from San Jose State University too, so that was neat. Richard from Barkada Inc was also in attendance because, as coincidences would have it, he was assigned to work the event!

It was heaps of fun learning about what the young participates found inspiring and what they wanted to get out of the program. Part of AYV's goal is to make sure their voices/ideas are heard and what better way than through the visual medium, right? Right. When formal introductions concluded, we went straight to work. The first thing that caught my attention was that they provided the students/participants with Canon HV30's! And if you've kept up with my blog, you should know that that's the exact camera I own! BONUS: their editing software, obviously, is adobe premiere, so I had some familiarity with the evident trouble(s) the premiere pro has with capturing hdv footage from a canon hv30.

I felt like 'Johnny-on-the-spot' with the quick fixes. But the real credit goes out to those that spent hours assisting with creating something out of nothing by incorporating years of experience to help guide these students through tasks. Who knows, there could be another Speilberg in the bunch, right? It could happen, why not? At some point I assisted with a trio of student's documentary project. I helped them conduct the interview and offered suggestions on how to always keep an eye and ear out for footage that you didn't mean to capture initially because there could be a gem in them. More is better, in the case of documentaries. I hope their project ends up being something they can look back on and know that they'll always remember the small lessons it taught them.

Well, that was my day at Adobe. I left with a smile, experience in my pockets, new friends and a slew of free Adobe software training books. Chhhheeeeehhoooooo!

Cheers with Peers

Due to the nature of my career path, I'm always mixed with an assortment of people. They say networking is one of the most important aspects of an actor's job but to what degree? How aggressive should the networking be? I'd like to think that you should only push far enough that you're not putting yourself in a position where you're not presenting the most truthful representation of yourself.


October moving into November has been an exciting ride for me. Not only have I been a slew of new people but I've also reinforced some of the recent friendships I came across during the last 48hr Film Festival in San Jose. Not even a year ago Cinequest was in town and I remember whispering to myself that one day I'll be fortunate enough to work with a director whose work was presented in the festival.

Boom, enter Alejandro Adams. A wonderful man, a terrific director and one whose work I do enjoy. You may remember a previous entry I made in regards to his current film, Babnik. I look forward to working with him again soon.

Last weekend in a very interesting turn of events, I was, again fortunate enough to work with a crew I've looked forward to meeting. The folks at EyeQ Films offered me the chance to work with them on a few videos for the Dorito's contest! You'll see the results of our hard work soon. While I could go into detail about what who's and what's, I'll save that for another entry when our vids are actually online. In the meantime, here's a short they entered into the last 48hr Film Festival: The Animals

I guess what I'm trying to say is, when you're building bridges...make sure you build it good and strong.

The San Francisco 48hr Film Festival 2008

A few weeks ago a small cast and crew consisting of the founding members of BARKADA INC. and friends set out to compete in the 48hr San Francisco Film Festival. There was a total of 57 teams, of which was then divided into 4 screening groups. Each team pulls a genre out of a hat and BARKADA INC. lands "Musical or Western".

We spent the entire evening brainstorming and laying down the lyrics to the musical. In the early morning we put down the audio for the music and during the many hours that followed, we shot all the sequences. It was INTENSE. Props to everyone for holding out and staying up as late as they did. And especially thanks for the wonderful parents who supported us with words and FOOD.

I am proud to announce that "A Keesh for Hershel" won the Audience Favorite Award for our screening group (D) AND Best Musical Score! So what's next? Well, the 48hr San Jose Film Festival of course!




Here are some shots from behind the scenes:

Visual innuendo?

Director, Editor & Cinematographer: Uly MostralesNothing like a 4am chess game...You dig?

In addition:

Feel free to visit: http://www.48hourfilm.com/sanfrancisco/