So far, my summer has been going well. A little busy at times, but that’s a good thing. I am doing electrical work with my dad and am working on his website, Ask The Electrician. I am taking a Spanish class online. I filmed a wedding a couple weekends ago in the Bay Area with a buddy of mine from school. I also turned 19 on the 18th.

I plan on entering some video contests this summer. I will let you know about those as they come up. I am also going to see if I can volunteer at the Nevada City Film Festival. Somewhere in between all that, I also have a script I would like to work on.

I will post my thoughts on WALL-E within the next couple of days.

I’ve been a bad, bad, blogger! Three months without any posts! Well, I am back home from school for the summer, so I will have time to update the blog and I WILL continue after school starts again. So much has happened: I got into the film program at Biola and I will be taking film classes next semester, I volunteered at the Biola Media Conference, I have a backlog of notes from Guerrilla Film Society, and I am watching movies. In short, I have a wealth of information to share with you! Look forward to it in the months, and hopefully years, to come!

Ok, so I dropped the ball again. I promised that I would have an exciting announcement, but forgot that I was getting together with a bunch of friends for a birthday celebration. My bad.

However, starting tonight and almost every Wednesday night after that, I will be attending a club here at Biola called the Guerrilla Film Society. This is a club for everyone interested in the film industry, film majors and non-majors alike. Sometimes they show student films, but most of the time they have a guest speaker from the industry come in for a Q and A. There’s usually tons of great information, and I plan on relaying what I learn on to you.

Tonight, three alumni from Biola who are now working in the industry will be speaking about their experiences since leaving school. Should be interesting. Stay tuned!

I will be finding out by the end of the month if I am accepted into the film program here. I will keep you posted.

Oh, and in other news, the WGA strike is over.

Has it really been almost a month since I last posted? Wow, time flies! I was out of town for a few days and then went back to school right afterward. Sorry about the lapse in posting. I’m settled in now and will be posting on a much more regular basis.

Either tonight or tomorrow morning I will be posting something that I think most of you will be very interested in if you have any interest in the film industry.

Bond 22 began production in London last week. Among the scenes shot were a man talking on his cell phone at the Barbican and Bond and M walking together in the London streets. Other foreign locations for the film are said to include Italy, Panama, Austria, and Bolivia. Plot details and even the title are being kept very tight under wraps, but it is said that Bond 22 will be a direct continuation of Casino Royale.

Bond 22 is scheduled for release on November 7, 2008, just over 10 months from the beginning of production. Marc Forster is directing. Daniel Craig will be reprising his role as 007. Maurice Green has been cast as the main villain, Mathieu Amalric; and Ukrainian actress Olga Kurylenko as the lead bond girl. Also reprising their roles from Casino Royale are Judi Dench as M, Giancarlo Giannini as Mathis, and Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter, Bond’s “brother from Langley.”

Director Forster has said that “audiences should be prepared for a few surprises in this outing.” (read on…)

I am out of town for a few days, and I thought I would have internet access where I am staying, but it turns out I don’t. Oh, well. I guess this is a happy Boxing Day post for those of you who celebrate that.

It’s not surprising really. After Golden Compass makes only $44 million during its first two weeks in the box office (Alvin and the Chipmunks made $11 million more than that in just its first week), New Line Cinema has announced that it has settled its differences with Peter Jackson and that he will produce two Hobbit films. Wait a second, produce? TWO? (read on…)

I know some of you are probably wondering why we need another article about the WGA Strike. I just thought I would summarize some of the latest news and give some of my personal opinions about the strike.

Many of the late-night hosts will be returning to their shows in the coming weeks. Kimmel, Letterman, Leno, and O-Brien will be returning on January 2. Stewart and Colbert will go back on the air January 7. Some WGA members are criticising these hosts, but I am leaning more toward supporting their decision to return to resume production on their shows. Leno said, “”Now that the talks have broken down and there are no further negotiations scheduled, I feel it’s my responsibility to get my 100 non-writing staff, which were laid off, back to work.” Whether you agree with these hosts’ decision to go back to work, it will be interesting to see how the shows fare without their writers.

(read on…)

My name is Matthew Rongey. I am currently a freshman at Biola University in La Mirada, California. I will be applying to their film program for next year with an emphasis in production. (read on…)