2011 Kavalan Short Film Festival

I was walkin back home from dinner a few weeks ago, when I came across this flyer. A short film festival here in Taiwan? Moreover, a cell phone shot short film? That sounds like something right up my alley. Right away I was pretty excited to kick things into gear. Given that I've been playing around with editing and shooting this whole year, and really developing this hobby of mine, the mobile short film competition will be a good way to see what the "experts" in the field think of my work.

I am pretty excited about what we have conjured up. Music. Singing. Some laughs. Taiwan. Even some Lady Gaga. All that is going to be included in my one minute short film debut. It took a little while to put the idea together in a comprehensible and rational manner, but I think we've managed pretty well. We commenced shooting today, July 26, and have until August 5 to submit the material. Top prize winner takes home NT$20,000. Not too shabby. It could sure go a long way in helping pay off some bills and debt. 

The first day of shooting was pretty successful and fun. Even thought today Taiwan's weather decided to bring us heavy rain, we worked around it and I am remaining optimistic that tomorrow we can sneak in at least a few hours of sunshine in the morning. That's how it works here - it shines in the morning and it pours in the afternoon and evening. For more info, go here. 

Now on to day two... lights, camera, action! 

Episode 4 Trailer

I am still only half way through editing the fourth episode, but I've finished the trailer. This one is taking a bit of time since I am pretty busy with job search and planning my life out for the next year. It looks like I might stick around here for another year. Even apply to do my MBA degree, as well. 

The fourth episode shows a bit of what's it like to teach English in Taiwan. Anything from college students all they way down to those little, adorable, and yet VERY crazy kindergarteners. Also, throughout the year I've caught on tape some pretty funny moments, both of random Taiwanese people as well as my friends. People's whack work out routines at the gym, to dancing on the MRT, to acting a fool in class. That's all here. Finally, my first trip to Russian in over ten years, is going to be shown here. It was a pretty special time for me since I haven't seen most of my family in the past decade. But that's all to come when I finish putting it together. For now, here's the trailer!

The Dot Com Situation

Situation 101 gets its own website - 101.khandurin.com - now up and running.

The other day I had an idea to organize all the episodes in a neat and creative way, so voila, the 101 website! Wix.com offers some cool flash templates, with which you can quickly make a clean looking, modern, and professional website. There are many free templates options as well, which is great!

Also, for quickness, I made a another subdomain off my website - blog.khandurin.com - which takes you directly to this blog. It beats the actual web address, I think. Plus, I like doing these tech things.

Add Some Blood To The Mix

While waiting on more from Taiwan, I'd recommend checking this show out. Yeah, I know, it's about vampires, but its cleverly done. I, myself, was never into the whole "Twilight" saga, but this is quite different. Well thought out. Interestingly shot. Good actors. Enthusing story line. 

No HBO? Go here.

Speaking of blood, I was recently cast in a music video for an up and coming Taiwanese rap star. He's really new, and his style isn't exactly what you'd expect from a rapper, but hey, when in Taiwan... I played the part of some army general, interrogating and torturing this kid. It was a pretty low budget shoot, but turned out pretty well. My part was shot in a span of about an hour on some dorm roof top of a university here in Taipei. You can check out the behind the scenes action in one of the upcoming episodes. For now, check out the the final product below. 

Blog goes Mobile

The other day I discovered that Blogspot now supports mobile browsing. I enabled the option and it now works a lot better on my iPhone than the cumbersome full webpage. I think it works well on most Smart Phones. Try it out!

Episode 3 - Special Friends

Commercial. Halloween. Partying. School.

That pretty much sums up this episode. I've had some pretty cool experiences during the filming of this episode, including being in a lingerie commercial (Mode Marie) with a Taiwanese soap opera star - their version of Susan Lucci. Just younger. A LOT younger. We spent fifteen hours on set, made bank, and found out that Cheryl Yang (the Susan Lucci) is a real bitch. She wouldn't even respond when spoken to directly. She'd glance up at one of her dozen assistants and signal her to answer me. Playing a Hello Kitty game on her iPad was more important. Naturally.

Halloween was pretty wild this year. We had a big group get together and go to one of the events happening around the city. I ended up at my friend Paul's house without any recollection of how I got there. But I was good enough to communicate with the taxi driver - in Chinese! All in all, a pretty good night.

And finally, you'll see a bit of what the MTC (Mandarin Training Center) is all about. I will actually take you inside the classroom - WOW! Yeah I know. It's pretty cool. And you'll see how the teacher confiscated my phone. Although, this happened pretty regularly. What did she expect when the school had WiFi?

Oh yeah, and check out the new intro and song. Just to freshen things up a bit. Enjoy. 

Loosing Your Virginity Taiwan Style

...not really, but that's what this song is about. Our school had a karaoke or a singing contest, if you will, and the Mongols owned the show. They (he) took home the first prize for this sick rendition of a 90's Taiwanese pop song, which is about loosing your virginity. For real. It's a catchy tune and easily got the crowed going. Most other students chose Taiwanese ballads. And it's not their fault. There's not much variety when it comes to the pop here, or any genre for that matter. Actually, there's really only one genre when you come to think of it - what EVERYBODY else listens to. I guess that's the best way to explain it. They like to conform here. Everyone does the popular thing. Deviation from the norm is sort of weird.

Anyways, this dude really brought it home. He chose an upbeat track, added some fly dance moves and got the crowed into it. I really enjoyed it myself. And I can't say that for most of the other contestants. So I decided to put together this video. Something to watch while you wait (I hope) for the following episode! You can see more of the contestants and the competition in this upcoming installment of Situation 101, which is almost finished! I'm working faster this time around.

Also, you can google the lyrics and check out the original song/video on YouTube. I think this Taiwanese tune is definitely worth the download. And I won't say that about a lot of tracks put out by the Taiwanese music industry. Enjoy!

Song: 愛的初體驗 (Literally, first love experience)
Artist: 張震嶽 (Zhang Zhen Yue)