The Oscars are this Sunday or a better title "How many Oscars will La La Land win?"

I was thinking about writing a blog about how La La Land has a great chance to win a majority of their nominations and has a possibility of setting a record for most wins. All they need is twelve. But instead of talking about how La La Land will win most of them or the dark horse movies that could surprise everyone with a win like everyone else is talking about, I want to talk about something else that I hope will help you enjoy movies more.

Cinematography.

The cinematographer in the movie department is the person in charge of the scene. They will help the director decided every single shot of the movie and then make that happen as they direct the camera and light crews. When you're watching a movie and notice how pretty or cool it looks, a lot of that is because of the cinematographer. Now, you can have the best sets and best customs, but if you have an awful shot of what is happening or poor lighting, it's all worthless because the bad cinematography will draw you out of the movie.

Good cinematography has the opposite effect as it only helps you draw into the film, into the story. 

Great films have great cinematographers and they sadly don't get the recognition they deserve. That is why I want to highlight one of the greats.

Roger Deakins.

He has been nominated for Best Cinematography thirteen times. Five of those have been during the past six years and twice in 2008. He did the cinematography for great films like Unbroken, True Grit(2012), O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Shawshank Redemption, and a host of other great films. He is, in my opinion, the greatest cinematographer of our time and one of the greats of all time! And he has yet to win a single Oscar. (Dumb)

It was actually a film he did the cinematography for, Skyfall, that was the first time I started to really notice the beauty of the scenes he was crafting and the importance of the cinematographer. Many blockbuster films have shaky cameras close in on their actors during action scenes or just boring shots Deakins is setting up paintings. Now, he isn't perfect as I am sure he has done over the shoulder shots for conversations and shaky cams, but I don't remember those. I remember the scenes where he crafted a painting. The wide scenes where you could pause it and set it up as a picture in your home. Though you may not want to do that when it's the silhouettes of a sniper against a blue sign with a jellyfish(Skyfall), but it's still gorgeous. 

This year the nominations for Best Cinematography has a great line up that I think Linus Sandgren for La La Land will win but Rodrigo Prieto will give La La Land a run for their money for his work on Silence. Though we are missing Deakins this year I believe we will see him nominated again next year for Blade Runner 2049 (I'm calling it now.) And let's hope the 14th time is the charm!

​Thanks for reading, I hope this helps you enjoy movies a little more, maybe help you to notice good cinematography, or just makes you curious in seeing some of Rodger Deakins films, which I highly encourage! 

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!!

A few weeks ago, I went with my boss and co-worker to lunch. We usually don't know where to go when we get in the car and spend at least five minutes trying to figure it out. This one day, we all were in the mood for a food truck. Earlier we had tried but it was on Monday that all the food trucks in Fort Smith decided to take a day off. We quickly decided on Truckin Delicious because of the rave reviews and praise it had received. It was parked next to Valet Cleaners behind Central Mall on that cold day. The wind blew quickly past us as we walked up and looked at the chalkboard menu. My colleagues both got a burrito that sounded good, but something else caught my eye. "The Cuban." The slow roasted pulled pork was the main meat of the sandwich but it wasn't alone as it was topped with melted Swiss cheese and a slice of grilled ham above that. The ham acted as the wall between the pork and the coleslaw. I'm personally never impressed by coleslaw but this was the exception. It was fresh and was lightly coated in a jalapeño lime honey dressing. Homemade pickles laid on the bottom while the mustard was on top. This was all contained in a jalapeño cheddar bun that, to me, was the star of the meal. The bun was fresh and soft but never got soggy or broke apart on me. The meat was top notch and the mustard wasn't overpowering. The coleslaw did a great job in balancing the flavors while the pickles were always a surprise. The home made chips were light which balanced the sandwich and the weight it brought. The Cuban wasn't the only thing that caught my eye, as they had some side dishes but also desserts. Simply put, I followed my Cuban with an Oreo Cheesecake Egg roll. No, you didn't miss read that. It looks just like an egg roll with chocolate sauce on it and inside is a delight. It was a dessert that ended my meal perfectly as it wasn't too rich since it was following a somewhat heavy sandwich. This was the only time I've been there so far, but it won't be my last. Definitely a place you should check out!

If you haven't seen the teaser watch it​!!


I know! You got really excited and then saw we still have eight months till the release and disappointment washed over you. Instead of thinking how long we have to wait just think about how awesome the gang looked in their ghost busters outfits and how genius they were for not showing us Eleven, which raises the question what Chapter will they bring her back? Chapter 11 or the last chapter? I doubt that since they showed with the first season to wrap major things up but to leave a lot of little questions for us.

I'M SO PUMPED!!!!

Oh yeah, update. 

Well, first, sorry about the enormous absence of blogs for the past several months. I have been occupied with a lot of work, school, work, and work. I am now a licensed real estate agent after several months of studying and I am enjoying it so far. I will go into further detail about all that in a later blog. Besides that, I have made progress in The Dragon and the Lumberjack I'm in the final edit BEFORE sending it to the beta readers. After that, I will fix the grammatical mistakes, character inconcinnities, and plot holes they pointed out and then, the editor! While it goes through those edits away from me I will be working on my next book that won't be the conclusion to the Thornhill trilogy but the start of a whole new series not of this world. ;)

Also, if you are interested in becoming a beta reader for The Dragon and the Lumberjack please contact me through my website or any social media.

Thanks for reading!