Cap Hollywood--act 1

Our Cap Hollywood film is about a man struggling to find his way in an unknown city. The story is  a series of flashbacks, which show how the character ended up in is situation. Then, in he present, he is trying to fix what has happened to him without any money or phone or people to help him.

My group is filled with talented actors, cinematographers, scriptwriters, and editors. In my group is Waslu Hopkins, a talented gaffer and the writor of our story, Alex Frandsen, a gifted thesbian and miraculous on screen actor, and he is the star of the film. Next we have Maddie Daly, the alluring love interest to our star Alex, and she plays a big part in the story boarding and audio mixing for our film. Last but not least, we have Cherie Carter, a talented makeup artist and visual affects person. I am the editor in chief of out production, as well as a villain in our film. Together we are an unstoppable team that has already begun the process of creating a masterpiece that is sure to capture the hearts of our audience.

1) We began filming on the weekend of April 28th, and we plan on finishing during first period tomorrow, which we were given permission to do. One challenge is definitely our lack of an editing suite, which could cause much distraction during post production. Also, the camera we were filming on takes video in a strange setting that is not allowed by final cut pro, so we must convert it to mp4 before we edit, which takes time and lowers the quality of the video.

2) As mentioned before, we filmed last weekend with my camera, and we got plenty of usable footage. I have also began editing our film, and going at our current rate, we should be finished with the footage gathered on last Saturday night by hopefully the end of the week. I have done all of the editing thus far, as well as some of the filming.

3) This week, we are planning to finish filming entirely and start the full post production phase. We will hopefully be nearly done with the old footage by the end of the week so that we can promptly begin editing the new footage we will get tomorrow.

Nationals this season

The Nationals are going to be really good this year.
They have many new players like Bryce Harper, Dan Harren, and Denard Span. With their new talent, they will hopefully be as good of a team as last year, except maybe this year they'll make it further in the playoffs.

Bryce Harper has been good this year, batting above .300 with 7 homers and 32 rbis. Dan Harren has also done well, he's 1-1 as a nationals starting pitcher, and he should do well as the year goes on.
Denard Span, the recently acquired Centerfielder from Texas. He's a solid leadoff hitter who gets on base for Werth or Harper to knock him in.

This year, hopefully, the Nationals will go much further than last year, and maybe there is even a world series in their future.

Sankofa

I went to see Sankofa over the weekend, mainly because of Kalanzi, a fellow CAP student who was in the play.  The play itself is about Black History, and it took place on the last days of February, which is Black History Month.

The play revolved around a central theme of school, where the students were learning about Black History. One by one, the students would share what being black meant to them, either by poem, song, or speech. Some of the actors posed as famous civil rights activists, such as Malcolm X and John F. Kennedy.

 

They play seemed well produced and, although it was a collection of smaller pieces, it was well connected.

There were many talented actors involved, and not all of them were African American. There were several people of other ethnic backgrounds involved, which made it seem like a more accepting community where all cultures accept each other rather than a "black power" event.

At the end of the play, the cast came out and received a standing ovation, and they used that opportunity to thank all of the teachers and students who were involved in the play behind the scenes. After that, the cast invited anyone who wanted to join onto the stage for a huge dance party.

Overall, I'm glad i went to the play because it was a lot of fun, really well produced, and educational. I hope to attend next year's Sankofa, and i hope it will be even better!

Driving

Just like many of you, I recently got my learner's permit. Almost right away, I was excited with the prospect of driving all over the place and not needing to rely on my parents' schedules or the bus.

I have already driven a few times, and each time, I challenge myself further and further. Sometimes I will try to drive to downtown and back, or over to college park for some buffalo wild wings.  Maybe someday, I'll be able to drive on the highway to the beach, or over to Arlington, Virginia to visit my uncle.

What I also realized that with driving comes great responsibility. I need to pay attention to other drivers and make sure I don't do anything stupid that could risk their lives. I also need to think of my own safety when i drive, whether it's making sure there aren't any distractions (like my brothers) in the car so that I can pay attention to the road.

Although driving can be a fun and exciting part of growing up, it can also be dangerous, so I need to make sure I am responsible behind the wheel. In a few short months, I will be old enough to get my actual driver's license, which is something I can't wait for. But until then, I'll make sure I am the best driver I can be so that I take care of others' and my safety.

Video Challenge

Nico and I went downtwon recently to film, and at first it started out as a genuine, normal type of thing.  Then, we had the razy idea to film us messing around with some of the stores and people.  After several various mockeries and gags, we left and started editing, and we stumbled accross the music. If you ask me, it adds life and a little more humor to the video. I hoe you enjoy it!



All of our filming was done in downtown Siver Spring, and the video was edited on Adobe Premiere Pro. Our music is from youtube.

Playoffs!

The redskins are going to the playoffs! Ever since week nine, the bye week, the Redskins have not lost a game, and rookies Robert Griffen III and Alfred Morris have made that all possible.  RGIII is rated amoung the top quarterbacks in the country, and Morris broke the Redskins' single season rushing record, set by Clinton Portis.   Their last game against the Cowboys, a division rival, held the gravity of a playoff game in the sense that the winner would make the playoffs and the loser would start their offseason.  The Redskins had beat the cowboys earlier in their win streak, and they had little trouble doing it again.  RGIII threw for multiple touchdowns, and Alfred Morris ran for 200 yards. 
The Redskins won the game, which started their postseason and marked the first time the Redskins have won their division since 1999.  The best part of this team is it's youth: RGIII and Alfred Morris are both rookies, so hopefully the team will be experiencing success for the future.
The only issue the Redskins may face is the health of RGIII. He suffered a knee injury against the Baltimore Ravens and has had to wear a brace ever since.  Against the Seahawks, he is expected to be near 100% but still not able to run as much as he usually does.  The solution is Kirk Cousins: another rookie quarterback on the Redskins who won the game against the Cleveland Browns.  If RGIII is unable to continue at any time, Cousins is ready to step in and keep the offense going.



Wrestling Scoring System

Now, since I believe i have convinced you to attend some wrestling matches, I should probably teach you how the scoring works.

A wrestler can score by:

• Taking their opponent down (2 points)
• reversing control (2 points)
• escaping control of their opponent (1 point)
• holding their opponent on their back for a certain amount of time (3 max points)
• holding them there for 2 seconds (2 points)
• holding them there for 5 seconds (3 points)
• note: if one holds an opponent on their back for five seconds, they only get 3 points, not 3 plus the 2.
• any technical violations (full nelson, locked hands, illegal headlocks, unnecessary roughness, etc.)
• the first technical violation is a warning, the second is one point, the third is 2 points, and the fourth is disqualification. some may vary due to the referee and/or the severity of the violation.
• Stalling (similar to technical violations, but the scoring and definition varies per ref)
• pinning the opponent is an automatic win for the pinning wrestler, no matter the score

Some of this may seem a little strange, but you will see the referee awarding points, so you can see what is ment by some of these. 

Now, the team points are different.  The team points are what decide who wins a match, and how a wrestler wins is taken into account.

A team scores by:

• pinning their opponent (6 team points)
• winning by points but by less than a ten point margin (3 team points)
• winning by more than 10 but less than 15 points (4 team points)
• winning by over 15 points, results in disqualification of losing wrestler (5 team points)
• a forfeit, which happens if a team doesn't have a wrestler for a certain weight class (6 team points)
• unsportsmanlike conduct towards the other team, may result from unnecessary roughness (deducts one team point from offending team)

After every weight class has wrestled, the team with the most team points wins. 

Now that you know how a wrestling match is scored, I urge you to come to our next match.  we have one at Blake at 6 on Tuesday, and our next home match is the week after winter break. Hope to see you there!