Wanted to talk about Algae.

Interestingly enough, I have had a lot of interesting infomation being put in my head today. All from just logging in an interview with a scientist specializing in the research of algae used for fuel. As in gasoline for cars particularly.

So there's a lot of national interest in this, with a burgeting field and the roots of this sort of was in back in the late 70's to early eighties. There was a government sponsor program called the "aquatic species program" which was funded by the national energy renewable lab. They really laid a huge foundation for researchers of alternative fuel where they looked at algae as a possible source for bio fuels and did some really pioneering work. Unfortunately the funding for that program was cut in the 90's and a lot of the funding was shuttled to corn and ethonal work at that time. People have finally realized that there's some really distinctive advantages over a prop plan for fuel production and so that's why there's the shift back to this area.
Since I am not proficient in bio sciences, I definitely have a huge interest in it. So I wanted to know if using eco friendly gas, particularly algae, would ruin a car's performnance. Ultimately on the interview I found out that there is really no difference in the performance of a vehicle using a renewable bio source of fuel. The characteristics of the fuel are identical. In fact one of the pleasant benefits is that bio diesel smells a little like popcorn when it's being burned. So there's no effect what so ever; gas mileage would be the same, the perfomance would be the same, there's no difference at all between the performance aspect of the fuel.

Now as an avid driver there's the question of "are scientists experienced enough to make this happen?" It's actually been quite a while for this technology, it's nothing new. I went on wikipedia and found the first diesel engine that was commercially availible. It was back in the 1900's and the original source of fuel was peanut oil. So the technology has always been there for a long time.

We must realize that algae is availible in swamps, ponds, oceans, and the most random places. The big advantage is that it's renewable. With fossil fuels we burn the fossil fuels, we're producing co2 and have atmospheric issues with that. When you talk about using algae, it's not 100 percent recycling but it's a partial recycling of the carbon so from that aspect the societal benefits are tremendous. People are shooting it in terms of economics at this stage kind of equivalent fossil fuels that's the target. Again the biggest benefit will be that it's a renewable source of energy.

As much as we should be optimistic, there is a downfall to this and we can overcome these challenges. Today I feel pretty accomplished.

the past week.

busy shooting music video, and girlfriends birthday.

what will happen after the internship.

im looking for tv jobs around the city and with the economy being down or so we're told... its pretty hard lookin for a job at a TV station. At channel 8, there's a lot of folks that have stayed for more than 20 years. I think that tells a lot about the job there. It just happens to be something they like and the turnover rate isn't that bad. Seriously I go in every time and everyone seems like they just started the job. It's an attitude I have takin with me and I'm pretty sure it'll go for good.

With such limited opportunities at San Diego for film, I have to hit up Los Angeles and see what mountains I could climb. But for now I can only work on graduation and completing this piece of experience that will turn valuable for me.

LONG THURSDAY, TOUGH FRIDAY

Long and tiring, I had to run back and forth from San Diego to San Marcos. From filming my next craziest music video to documenting another student performance. I have to admit everytime I document events at school it gives me a nother insight in life. What I mean is that sometimes I find answers I look for by doing what I'm doing.

When I document the performances I listen to and view them differently than the regular audience. I think everyone has that question of what they want to do after college. Some people have that answer and some people don't. I do have an answer for myself sometimes and sometimes I don't. So when I document the performances I realize I'm doing what I do best and get better at it. Cinematography. It may be video, but it's the same. When I view the performers, it gives me that vision to see what I would do or suggest to make the show better. I'm not saying the shows are bad, but everything might be different if changes are made.

busy wednesday

TV Station internship, work at the community college, and documenting Tim Miller's main performance.

I have to skip the first two activities of the day and jump to talking about this performance. It was honestly shocking more than cool. I'll go ahead and just say what was shocking, the gay activist performer got naked and as the cameraman it was like shining a bad light in my eye. Of course I'm open minded, but it was not a pretty scene. I saw 20 students on my left and right leave the show right away. I had to stay to record the thing. Now it's hard to be a hippocrit as an audience and accept a woman getting naked and not have a dude do the same. So basically it was the audience leaving that made it more shocking. Alright, but as an unbiased person, I did listen on the performance and found that there was some creativity involved. The story telling in particular was effective because it was a performance art. Editing the thing was easy since that flash was real quick, and I didn't have to really piece the thing together since it was a performance nonstop.

not really pumped to speak today. have to take care of super 8 footage then transfer it.

a happy friday

Well on Friday I probably have experienced the best day so far in terms of being productive. Just so I don't contradict the other productive days, this one was a pretty fun day basically. I started off the day at the internship given 3 stories to write; one on Madonna's newest concert tour, the next is of a ski resort in Northern California that opened early, and the last one about a weather pattern known as the "pineapple express" moving on to the northwestern states of the US. Surprisingly I was quite motivated in doin them and when Simone my "boss" or "mentor" took a look over it she only corrected one story. I WAS SURPRISED and of course proud of myself for the day. But still staying humble knowing that either she was in a good mood or I was lucky that my writing was of good quality. Speaking of good mood, I figured out that Simone would be in a good mood since there was some flowers on her desk and not just any flowers it was roses. Sometimes red roses might mean the whole romantic thing, and she must be having a good day from it.

So after feeling pretty stoked about my writing, I pretty much wanted to check it out when it would get aired. But little did we know that the new president had his first conference around 12pm which is the show we work on. So it was pretty dope to find out that the show has to work around press conferences and basically show what's left of the news show at whatever time is left. Ultimately it presses a challenge for the producer making cuts and keeping the right amount so that ratings are still in and sponsors are happy. The show was cut off about 15 minutes leaving only a 45 minute news show. Great experience to know what happens when unexpected events kick in.

After the intern session, I wanted to follow up on the music video shoot with my friends band. It was 1 oclock and I figured if I'm already shooting b-roll shots of San Diego, I might as well shoot B-Roll skate footage. So I meet my friends in Downtown ending up in a skate park to shoot as much as we can for the music video. For this new video, I've been using my new Canon HV20 with my 35mm adapter. A real bonus since I have a fisheye camera lens. After the skate park, we snuck into a hilton hotel parking structure grabbing massive footage there as well, it was empty and the roof had the best location to shoot the video with a great shot of downtown San Diego. This past Friday couldn't have been better.

So here we are today on a Sunday with some light to medium heavy showers, I got to catch the Chargers game a little since I was busy doing some extra photography practice since I haven't really shot in the rain before. It was crappy today since I think I might have caught a cold or knocking on wood, a flu. Either way I caught some rad photos today and I thought I might as well put this in the blog. Alright folks, I should get some rest for tomorrow is Monday and fresh energy is going to be needed.

weather change, president change.

Usually I don't worry so much about politics but how awesome is it to have someone different. I know there's no guarantee for a "better" future but hey it's historically significant. But I definitely wanted to speak out because of certain things that will be changing. The number one thing I want to start with is hip hop music. I know it's totally random, but over the last few decades of the 20th century, the music had certain artists calling out politicians in high power and rhyming the truth. I wonder how it's going to sound from here on out. Are the concious rappers still going to speak out? We'll see...

internet down

Just when it keeps getting busier, something will happen. Unfortunately I've been relying on this tool too much. It's just too convienent. I remember back in the day if you wanted to do research for papers you would go to the library using every resource. You would start from the reference person, who would sit and be super busy helping finding a range of things you want. Next you would go to the catalog viewer and search for articles in print. You may ask how I know about these things even though I am born with a computer background. Well as a kid in the 80's my mom used to take me to the library.
Surprisingly it was a smart choice, because it taught me to use my resources well. There's something good in the library, and that is knowledge. But of course I don't want to be isolated into reading all the time, I do want to keep the social life as well. Anyways the internet was down at the TV station today and at home it wasn't.