get Matt on World Famous Hollywood Improv

Matt Portman '09 is out in LA cutting his teeth doing stand-up comedy. He has the chance to get a spot on World Famous Hollywood Improv -- and he needs your help. Go to this site and "like" his video.
http://www.showbizzle.com/last-call-comedy-videos

vote for alums Nathan and AJ

Nathan Morse (TV-R '10) and AJ Pinkerton (Cinema '09), we entered an online contest to celebrate Sonic the Hedgehog's 19th birthday.

The project, titled "NEEDLEMOUSE: THE MUSICAL," has been officially selected as a Top 10 Finalist in the competition. And now they need your vote -- by July 27.

If they were to win, both AJ and Nathan would be flown to Tokyo for one week where they'd get to visit Sega's company headquarters.

The following is the link to the contest/voting page:

http://www.sonicthehedgehog4.com/contest/

Jet-setter media entrepreneur alum

Evan Engel, an '08 Cinema and Photography alum, is a great example of the kind of creativity and entrepreurial skill that we nourish here in the Park School.

His latest project, Jet Set Zero, is a web series that follows an international group of 20-somethings as they quit their jobs in offices, skate shops, and restaurants to embark on a journey to see the world. Far from backpackers, the travelers settle into a different city every 90 days and get jobs, housing, and learn about the local culture. They fund their travels solely with the money they earn in their host countries (the original cast started in Seattle with rent and bus fare, then earned their plane tickets to Vietnam on minimum wage jobs).

So far the series has aired seasons from Tokyo, Seoul, and two seasons from Saigon (with differing casts). They are currently producing episodes in Quito, Ecuador and around Italy. (You can watch their latest episode from Quito here.)

Evan emailed me recently and says:

"I'm currently working as our lone field producer and co-editor in Ecuador. It's a lot of work, and I'm happy to say that no part of my Park education is going to waste down here. I remember in my senior year when PPECS got new H4N recorders. Phil put one in my hand and said "This is the future. Learn it." Sure enough, after 2 years of working around NYC, I'm finally using one. Park was way ahead of the game.

I'm also learning a lot about the business-side, mostly out of necessity. Our company operates on a shoestring budget and yet produces work that competes with much better-outfitted organizations (in my humble opinion). Last week we hired our first intern (we had some great applicants from Park, I'm told), and we had a brief write-up in National Geographic last March. I'm constantly amazed at what's now possible thanks to the low cost of production, the increasing quality of the technology, and my Park education.

Alumni Film on POV July 13

Jeremy Levine '06 and Landon Van Soest '04 of Transient Pictures made a film in Kenya, "Good Fortune" that will show on the PBS Show POV on Tuesday July 13 at 10PM. This is what the POV website has to say about the film:

"The new documentary Good Fortune delivers eye-opening answers from the point of view of the people resisting development projects that are supposed to help them. To capture this vantage point, director Landon Van Soest spent over a year and a half in Kenya, living on a shoestring and filming in areas he had been warned were too dangerous to enter. The result is a rare and intimate portrait of two vibrant Kenyan communities, one urban, the other rural. What they share is being square in the crosshairs of huge aid projects whose supposed benefits don’t impress them. In fact, people in these two communities believe the projects will devastate their lives, and they have organized to fight back."

for more info, and to buy the DVD, go here:
http://www.goodfortunefilm.com/