The Accidental Metaphor

Today, we, meaning the freshmen of the Photo/Video Boot Camp pre-orientation group, Brian Palmer, and myself interviewed a retired sailboat racer named Ralph "Towney" Townsend. He grew up in Chestertown and has been sailing since he was ten years old. After high school he planned to attend the Naval Academy, and after passing all but one of the required tests for acceptance, he was asked to identify a couple letters within colored circles. He could not do so, was told he was colorblind, and rejected from the Academy. So he attended Washington College and graduated in 1952 with a major in Physics.

He's been hugely successful in sailing and racing, winning so many awards and trophies he started giving them away to his crew, and when one of the students asked him how he became so successful as a sailor, his response was accidentally some of the most inspiring [and metaphoric] advice I have ever [indirectly] received.

Well...I guess it could be because I've been at it for so long, but I think it's because I'm so focused. I'm always focusing on making the boat go. That's the most important thing; making the boat go. I see these other skippers focusing on the other boats and where they're going, where they're headed, how fast they're moving, what they're doing. Yeah, they're making sure they don't collide with the other boats, okay, but I'm just focused on making the boat go. Not how fast it's going, not where I might end up...just making it go.

If you don't get it or just don't care, that's cool, but I was frozen when he said this. I knew after he said it that every single word was literal and that he was talking about actual sailing the entire time, but man, was that just amazing, yet simple, to hear as a senior in college. I was blown away that every single phrase seemed to build upon this unintentional advice. It was a little crazy that there was no part of what he was saying that wasn't sinking in. It all fit into this fantastic metaphor created by him telling us why he was considered a talented sailor. I have never really been asked why I am good at something, and that sounds like a peculiar, maybe awkward, question to answer, but I think that if I could answer it...and I mean really answer it and not just say "practice, practice," I think I might be able to inspire someone, too. Just like Towney.

It truly was inspiring. Maybe it's the boat metaphor, maybe it's hearing it from a man in his 70's that I am quite convinced I would love to talk to for hours, but the mindset that he has when he is sailing is what I want and what I need to be able to tackle the sometimes overwhelming path that I have chosen to follow to my future.

Twittered. :O Second City?

Well... I made a Twitter a while back, and within a week I deactivated my account, thinking it was useless, annoying, and kind of a lazy blog. Well...I could no longer deny its usefulness for advertising and since the internet community is steadily getting lazier, I thought it would be a good idea to reactivate it. I refuse to actually answer the question "What are you doing" unless I have something interesting to say though! Otherwise, I'll just update with stuff about my upcoming videos or something funny. Once I graduate, I hope to be able to update it [and this blog] with news about future performances and strides I'm making in the comedy industry.

So, before I move on with that thought - http://twitter.com/CoreyHolland - Follow if you're interested. Though I'd much rather people subscribed to my youtube page ;)

So I've been thinking a lot about what I'm going to do after graduation, and one thing I'm highly considering is taking classes at Second City in Chicago. Some amazing performers have come out of Second City, and I know it would be a really great decision for me. They have courses in improv, comedy writing, comedy performance, sketch, stand up, and they have their own sketch and improv groups. Of course nothing is final right now, but it is definitely an option. It's an awesome gateway into other jobs in the industry as well, even performing on one of the teams Second City has. Justan audition for one of those would be a huge honor.

Well, it's back to school this weekend...

Summer is winding down...

I finished work at the MPC last Friday, and I'm home for 2 weeks before I return to school once again. I'm working the Photography and Videography Boot Camp again this year, so I'm going back a week early.

For the past few days, I've been at Claire's house which was great! I love hanging out with her! We saw Funny People, which was alright, but, like most Judd Apatow films, it needs some script editing. Someone needs to give that man a second opinion. It was a wonderful weekend, and I even got to stay an extra night since there were pretty bad thunderstorms. Her parents insisted that I stay :) Claire and I went to this great coffee house called Saxby's and got smoothies. It was a really nice place. I wish The Cove at our school was like that, I'd totally love to hang out there! I told Claire that I think it would be awesome to own a place like that and hold performances there - live sketch and improv, bands, stand up comedians, and even video showings or whatever. Maybe someday.

What the hell is up with this commercial where Jack-in-the-Box sings with midgets?

So I ordered a brand new HD video camera, the Canon Vixia HG21 and it came today! It's awesome! I love it! I looked at the difference between my ZR500/800 and the new HG21, and it's such an enormous step up! I can't wait to start filming with it!

Travis and I are currently working on a few different projects that we are really excited about. I'll explain the larger project later, but right now we're focusing on making a Batman vs Rorschach fight! We were actually a bit surprised to see that it hasn't been done yet, which is awesome! We better get to it before someone beats us to the punch. (...no fight pun intended. Ew.) We have pretty much worked out the opening and closing plot (if I could juuust get Claire to help out), and we're meeting soon to work on fight choreography and figure out some costume and location details. This shall be EPIC!

Here's a little preview of how the fight will go. Let's look at the facts here... Batman is basically a super ninja that knows almost every style of martial arts. He's super rich and can afford to have all sorts of crazy gadgets and has dealt with some of the most insane villains in the DC universe. His "superpowers" are being super rich and the ability to prepare for anything. Rorschach is definitely badass, but he's just a street fighter who refuses to go down. He'll put a good fight, but let's not kid ourselves...

I clicked Small, so sorry it looks enormous...just click and look at it. I don't know why it's not cooperating. Oh wells.

Watch The Fret!

My new video, The Fret, is up online! Check it out! Rate, comment, and subscribe. You should should definitely subscribe :D

Click here to watch The Fret, starring Mike Ross and Corey Holland!

Hope you like it!

Almost finished...

The Fret will most likely be done and online by tomorrow. I finished the video portion and am doing all the audio tonight. It will be awesome.

I had a wonderful time with Claire this past weekend! I'm so glad I finally saw her, it's been forever. We saw Orphan this weekend, which was pretty cool despite the psycho mom that always made things worst, and I got a haircut. I'm happy to say that it was the first time in a while that I walked away satisfied. Usually I think, Hm...maybe I'll like this in about a month.

This weekend is going to be great. People will be watching my new movie hopefully, I'm hanging out with my bud Ben for the first time since winter break, and I think my brother and I are going to see Funny People on Saturday, which should be great. Even though he's been in far too many recent comedies, I don't mind that Seth Rogan is in this one, he seems to fit the part of a slob comic that insults himself... maybe that didn't come out right. Whatever. Hope it's good. We'll see.

Melting Lampshades

This weekend was extremely fun and productive. On Saturday, my brother, his wife, and their friends came over for a barbecue (Did you know you could spell it with a "c" instead of "q?" ...huh), and we went swimming in our pool. Daniel put the basketball hoop next to the pool so we play in the water, which was fun. It wasn't as hazardous as the time when he took the slide from our old swing set, strapped it to our dog pen with bungee cords, sprayed some water on it, then called it a water slide. The only problem with that was when we jumped quickly, the water decided to hang on to our trunks. I could not comfortably go all out, so my dunks were pretty half assed.

Chris and Jessica brought their 9 month old baby, Riot, which is indeed a strange name for a child, and that he is "a good baby," as my dad put it. He didn't cry the entire time he was at our house, and he was there for a good 8 hours, well past his bed time. I found his baby babbling so amusing, and it was even more amusing when we all would respond to his babbling. He was totally cool with being in the pool, too. I was a little jealous of this crazy baby raft he had that even had its own sun roof. Once we got out of the pool, we played "House Ball," as we called it where just threw a ball on my roof and let it come back until my dad suggested we, meaning Daniel, Chris, him, and I, should play dodgeball. So we had two fairly ineffective dodgeballs that would curve with the wind. We decided you were out after two hits just to make our 2 on 2 last longer than 3 seconds.

On Sunday, Mike and I continued to film "The Fret," and we really made some great stuff. We played with lighting for the first time by moving lamps and pointing the lampshades around Mike's house, and later my garage, which really improved our shots. My boss, Brian, insisted I get some practice with the $2000 Gyro stabilizer, and let me take that home. It gets pretty warm since it has a fast-spinning motor inside of it, so when we smelled burning, we thought it was the Gyro. I went to redirect a lampshade, only to find that part of it had melted onto the light bulb. Goopy shade stretched as it hung on to both the shade and the bulb. Luckily, nothing caught fire, and we continuing using it, being a little more careful to prevent the shade from touching the bulb again. Overall, it was great, and it made a lot of progress, but we will need one more day to film, so it won't be complete this week as I hoped, but still very soon.

I'm so excited for this weekend! I get to see Claire on Friday! I can't wait! :D

Weekend TO DO List

(first off...I just saw a gnat flying across my screen and for a moment I thought my mouse cursor was going haywire.)

• -Finish filming "The Fret."
• -Compose part of the music for "The Fret."
• -If time allows it, possibly film "The Gay Mood."
• -Call Claire.
• -Call Claire.
• -Think about calling Claire, but get a little shy about it...
• -Call Claire.
• -Find...the remote.