Spring Into Action

The set they set up (no pun intended). The very first scene they shot (I think) was a bunch of soldiers stepping out of a truck...now I understand just how much work film making is...
The helicopter doing the aerial filming...I'm guessing this scene would go into the opening credits...

At last winter's chill is almost over. It’s starting to rain more often now, so I’m taking that as a sign that spring is almost here, if not here already. In about 4 weeks time, the semester will end and I will finally move to a (rented) place of my own. Since my last entry, I have bought a new computer; it’s a Dell XPS M1530 and even though it wasn’t as powerful as my old Acer, it was certainly cheaper and of a much better quality. It was also considerable lighter, making it easier to carry around.

I have also applied for a transfer to UBC (University of British Columbia) mainly because it offers a better, more prestigious brand name, and it was a much better university overall in terms of quality and facilities. I do not have much hope that the transfer will be successful because I actually applied past the deadline but if it does, I can look forward to a better life over there. Interestingly, UBC still has the information from my last application, so I’m hoping the processing would not take very long.

I visited UBC for the first time some weeks ago for their Festiva Celebration. It was a weeklong celebration of international culture with performances and games. I only attended the last day of the event but even that blew me away. I knew SFU would never authorize such an event. Just watching the performances made me realize how much better UBC was compared to SFU. I would have put pictures up, but I forgot to bring my camera. I actually carry my camera with me every day but for some reason I forgot to bring it on that day, when I actually needed it. The International Office at UBC was more independent and less interested in making money, so unlike SFU. Furthermore, in UBC, the International Students have their own building called the International House where they can have club meetings and even cook their own food because it has a kitchen. In SFU, all the International Students get is a lousy lounge with a pool table and broken pool sticks, a few saggy sofas and no kitchen. The ‘lounge’ even has security cameras in it, ensuring that those who do choose to hang out in there have no privacy. I actually found out recently that it took years for SFU International to even provide the lounge and only after receiving tons of complaints from International Students.

Just a few days ago, there was a major flurry of activity because a movie was bring filmed at SFU. Actually only several scenes were going to be filmed here, but even so, everyone was curious. The movie was “The Day the Earth Stood Still” which was a remake of a movie made a long time ago. The set here at SFU was a military base- Linwood Military Academy. Quite a fitting choice of location considering the fact that SFU looks like a prison. On their first day of shooting, lots of people crowded around the set (probably hoping to catch a glimpse of Keanu Reeves who was supposed to be in the movie). Whether he was actually in that scene I never found out but I did take a couple of pictures. It was exciting to see the actors in military uniform and all the pseudo-military hardware being loaded on to the set. They even brought half tracks but sadly, no tanks.

That’s it for the end of winter, and judging by how late this entry is, the end of spring is also just round the corner.