movie! on my block!

as i walked back from church this morning, i passed a sight not often seen.


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a section of balbo street, above, was cut off from traffic and covered in film crews, traffic diverters, and actors. ("b" is where i passed by. "a" is where i assume the blockage ended. "c" is where i LIVE. boom baby!)
i asked a traffic diverter what all the bustle was about, and he said it was for the film traitor. he said that85-90% of the cast was in chicago today, doing reshoots of walking from place to place. and just for today. i may or may not have seen don cheadle walk into the south loop club, a local bar/restaurant. (but it was from a distance.)

the film comes out in august. i wanna go see it now!

where are you from?

i had to answer this question all the time in australia. and it makes sense, too-- you talk funny, you have a slightly different way of dressing, and something about an international kid just reads "international kid" to the locals. it makes sense. but i have recently started getting the question again.

it makes a lot of sense. i just forgot that i wasn't done answering the question because it's just been so long since i got it. and i forgot how complex the answer was.
i'm from arkansas by way of the suburbs by way of australia by way of chicago.
of course that's not the answer i give when i'm really asked, but it's the most accurate concise honest answer i have.

maybe it's just late, maybe i'm over-thinking things. but i think the variety of answers i can give for this question is fascinating and i never would have guessed any of it a few years ago.

good news!

i have to congratulate my big brother, matt, for recently being accepted to med school at / uams, after a long process of back and forth with different schools and such. give three cheers and a huzzah for him!
also, keep victoria (his wife) in your prayers this weekend as she takes the LSAT. [my family is brilliant. is that okay to gloat about?]
also, keep ME in your prayers this weekend as the entire malony clan except for me will be in arkansas briefly. i am jealous and excited for all of them, but the last time all seven of us were in the same room was last may! this will not do!

stay tuned.

update. and not daily.

hello! this is the second week of june, if you can believe that. i've been here three weeks! it feels like a day if it feels like a year. i am enjoying my classes well enough. i have enjoyed getting into some discussions on theory with my drawing teacher and our class continues to bond, slowly but surely. my photography class is even smaller than the drawing and meets twice is often, which means we are quickly becoming friends and complimenting each other's photos. it makes being in class until nighttime tolerable.

last week, dad was in town on his last visit to chicago. due to our schedules, we didn't get much face time at either of our mental peaks, but i was glad of some company. we stopped by the chicago blues festival and were able to listen to blues great johnny winter jam before dad left bright and early on friday morning.

i FINALLY got into wheaton last weekend for improv playtime, and it turned into an afternoon of hanging out with folks and dinner! it was SO GOOD to see friends, to chat, to share a meal, to giggle over online movie trailers and laugh at shared references. (we even shared the best kind of Christian school humor: theology jokes.)
i miss hanging out with those people. next weekend can't come soon enough!

on sunday, i saw a little more improv at iO, but i missed my friend's show. and walked home from the train in the rain. i sang the whole way home!

this week doesn't hold anything that exciting it would seem. i'm doing some volunteer work for a gaming graphics class at columbia (will report on that!), keeping up with homework and the like, hopefully going back into wheaton this weekend, and perhaps doing some vounteer work with some contacts i made at willow creek last week.

meh. not much to report. i have borrowed a few seasons of the office and am plowing through it, and have been listening to ender's game while working in the darkroom and on my sketchbook. i'm keeping myself entertained.

much love to you all. i am super envious of my family this weekend, as ALL my brothers and sisters will be gracing
northwest arkansas with visits.
miss you.

ps. i am now facebook friends with the president of my college.

of course.

of course, it doesn't take two days for me to fall off the wagon with this "one post a day" thing. keep on the lookout, i'm coming back.

ch-ch-check it out!

tomorrow, i'm going to wheaton to play some improv with kids i like. yippee!

summah (round three!)

well, hey there kids. what's up?

it's hard to believe it's been only how long now? three weeks or so? since the last post. my locales have changed since then, but not much else. i'll try to give the short version:

i spend my first few weeks of summer at home in arkansas, as planned. i had a wonderful time once i started some allergy medication (who knew?) i saw a few friends from high school, putzed around the house with mom, helped with housework, saw some fun movies, and basically got pampered by my folks for two weeks. it was awesome.

last saturday, i jumped on a plane back to chicago. a friend of mine helped me move in to the apartment that day and took me to see some improv (io) AND the neo-futurists! the next day i got some rest, continued to settle, went on a nice walk to the parks, and went back to io for a friend's improv show. dee-lightful. monday i really slept in and seriously unpacked.

classes started on tuesday:
-drawing I: tuesday/thursday, 1:30-5:20pm
(we've yet to go till 5:20, but it seems some days we might. i'm no good at drawing and don't even like it much, but it's kind of a basic i need to get under my belt.)
-photography I [taken together with darkroom foundations]: monday/friday, 6:00-9:40pm
(basics of taking a good photograph.)
-darkroom foundations: tuesday/thursday, 6:00-9:40pm
(basics of custom-printing a good photograph. this process is specific and technical, part art and part chemistry. it should be interesting...but expensive. ouch.)

if you do your math, that means i'm in class every evening until 9:40 or so. ouch again. these classes end on july 17th, leaving me the rest of the summer to do as i please. i plan on making myself available to saatchi part/full time intern/volunteer. the office seems bustling nowadays, very different from last summer. it was under half-full then.

recall last summer, when i had an old bike i called "charlie?" i left charlie at school between the end of classes and my return to chicago, and it appears that charlie has been stolen. i miss it and hope somehow it misses me, too.
but i still need to get around! i went back to working bikes to see if lightning struck twice. never the same way, it seems. my new bike, who i have named dylan, is newer, bigger, looks as though it has been lightly modified for tricks, and is covered in funky stickers. very different than old charlie, the old road cruiser. i would love to meet dylan's previous owner for coffee, a drink (once i'm legal, of course), or whatever the heck it is that person likes to chat over.

the apartment is okay...not great, but okay. my room is spacious, i have a bookshelf and a desk and chair when i thought i would have no furniture. my roommates are still strange creatures to me, but nice enough. i am still curious about a great many things, including what cleanliness standards can be negotiated between the three of us. i am, for the very first time, feeling like the "clean" one. i mean, my own room is a little chaotic, but i was taught to put my stuff away in the kitchen for sure. particularly if one has used someone else's kitchenware... also taking out the trash, and HOLY COW WHY DON'T ANY LIGHTSWITCHES WORK IN HERE? WHAT HAPPENED?
the summer is still very young and i look forward to what there is in store.

in the next few days, i look forward to participating in critical mass with dylan, shooting, processing, and printing a contact sheet for another roll of film, doing some sketches for my sketchbook, going into wheaton for some improv love, attending willow creek chicago, spending some time with my dad, and sorting through some paperwork. it's gonna be GREAT.

one last thing: i'm hoping to restart my promise for a post-a-day. i would love to get in the habit of making a daily short post to be sure days don't go by without my consent. here's hoping. check back soon and often! love and miss you much.