snagle.net

Each spring, shortly before graduation, the Stanford radiology residents and faculty gather for a last night of fun as a group. After dinner, the 1st year residents present a video lampooning the attendings and the department.

This event is called “DRAB.”

I was the editor of Drab 2004 and directed some of the sketches. Here are some clips out of the sections I directed:

Introduction (low res 3.3 MB) (high res 7.6 MB)
“Radiology & the Farm” (low res 13.6 MB) (high res 31.0 MB)
Commercial Break (low res 3.6 MB) (high res 8.1 MB)
Defecography (low res 5.4 MB) (high res 12.2 MB)

Just watched my 2nd film since joining netflix: Chinatown. I had seen this when taking an undergraduate media studies class on film noir. Liked it then, but had pretty much forgotten about it until reading Story by Robert McKee, which itself should be the subject of another post.

On 2nd viewing, WOW! Incredible writing and character development, both for Nicholson’s Gittes and Dunaway’s Mulwray. Very nuanced acting by both as well. Knowing the major plot twist as I went into this viewing brought a deeper understanding of the characters’ choices in the 1st two acts. HIGHLY recommended!

Discovered Ratchet Up, John Schott’s blog. Interesting posts on media, writ large.

Daggammit. Talk about shock and awe. It’s stunning how quickly the Bush Cabal is undermining American values and human rights. They apparently have no appreciation of the fundamental importance of the concepts “separation of powers” and “checks and balances” to the health of our democracy.

The New Yorker just published an article by Seymour Hersh documenting the plans of the cabal to move the war in the Mideast on to Iran. Are they nuts? And this is supposed to get ordinary Iranians to rise up against their government to support our invasion? Didn’t the cabal have this same theory regarding the Iraq disaster?

Thank god. The interview-centric promotional DVD I was tasked to create for my residency program is done. It does the job, but it’s crazy trying to do this sort of thing while holding down a 70-80 hr/wk day job as a resident.

Interesting insight gained: documentary is more complicated than narrative in the sense that the interviews are unscripted. The story evolves and changes as you go through the interview footage to see what you’ve got. It’s hard to plan what sorts of cutaways and B-roll footage you’re going to need until after all the interviews are done.