“Wunderlist is a Simple, Elegant, and Free To-Do App that Synchronizes Across Your Machines”.

Before Wunderlist, I spent 3 hours at Target and still forgot to buy these items...

I like to think "Find Freelance Designer" and "Scott's send-off" are related.

But until then! I’ve used this app for only two days and I’m completely sold. You are able to update

• By emailing “me@wunderlist.com” a simple list, as copied from the notes application or even an email to yourself. This is a good SPO activity, or perhaps when you’re supposed to be taking notes during a production meeting that in no way involves you.
• By using the computer application, which I’ve just downloaded and used. This is best while I’m re-color coding my google calendar leisurely in pajamas.


I think I could probably survive on these 3 things.

• Using the application itself on your phone, probably the most obvious and easy method of entry.
What I love is that I put tasks down usually very quickly in Notes or Excel if I’m rushed. This makes it effortless to put it in a place that is universally accessable from my home computer, a borrowed computer at SPO, and my phone if it isn’t dead!

Link to Wunderlist

- Josie Azzam


]]> http://josieazzam.com/2011/08/29/review-of-iphone-app-wunderlist/feed/ 0 josieazzam iPhone screens hot Wunderlist for my iMac http://josieazzam.com/2011/07/28/usc-food-spending-part-2-the-coffee-bean/ http://josieazzam.com/2011/07/28/usc-food-spending-part-2-the-coffee-bean/#comments Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:30:05 +0000 Josie Azzam http://josieazzam.com/?p=518 Continue reading →]]> When I was in undergrad, we had a joke that we should start a coffee shop in the Ross Theatre Building where we had our classes. We had even had a joke naming session of what it would be called and what drinks it would serve:


The winner was Schindler's Latte

Names not shown in the picture are were The Lord of the Beans, It’s a Wonderful Latte, The Treasure of the Sierra Grande, Donnie Darkroast, Chai Hard, and La Venti e Bella.



Well, at USC, we DO have a coffee shop in the school. The Coffee Bean. This was the first photo I ever saw of it when I was scouting the school online:



Return of the Java? Americano Graffiti?

I admit it. It’s really rad to have a coffee shop in the school. When I’m sick and still have to go to school, a giant cup of tea puts me back on track. I even had a cupcake and a cup of coffee this morning myself.

But there is a dark side to the Coffee Bean. CBD means Coffee Bean dinner. This is when you’ve booked your day too tight and can’t even leave the school to go get food. You have to pray that there is a bagel or a gross sandwich left at the coffee bean upstairs for you to eat. I once really pissed off Gabe Blanco by taking the very last bagel of the night.

Here is how much I’ve spent at the coffee bean since I’ve entered mint.com/USC:

Update: So…I double checked with my wells fargo. Turns out that the 110.40 was just my debit card. Since January 2010, with credit card, the new total is $264.77 over 70 purchases. The average is still the same (not surprising).

$264.77

That’s really not TOO bad. But considering that it costs me $.05 cents to make coffee at home, that’s pretty silly. And a bagel at home is only $.50 verses $1.25.

The average amount I spend at the coffee bean is $3.80, which sounds right as well. And I’ve only used my card there 29 times.

Here are some pro tips on how to best utilize the Coffee Bean:

1. Get the granola and pour some milk into it. What milk? Why, the milk people usually put in their coffee! Delicious.
2.  If you ask for hot water in a cup, they will give it to you for free. Just bring your own tea bag and you get free tea!
3. If you already have a thermos or mug, you can get it “refilled” for only $.60!
4. There are two types of cream cheese, the whipped kind and the regular kind. They are the same price. Ask for the whipped kind.
5. The super tall guy plays basketball with cinema students sometimes. And he’s from San Francisco. So be nice!
6. Don’t get the sandwiches. From all accounts, they are gross.
7. There are honey sticks that they will give you for free to suck on. (That’s what she said)

AND MOST IMPORTANT TIP: IF you bring food to school, steal forks and spoons from the coffee bean, rather than bring your own.

How does this rank with the other fast food options on campus? If you just need to get something in your belly for under $4, this is a one stop shop. Unless it’s 8am or 4:30pm. Then it’s a 20 minute line of entirely dental students. Get your own coffee shop, you blue scrubbed coffee snatchers! You guys will actually make money when you get out of school. Have some respect for the person who only has 5 minutes to eat dinner before going back to the dungeon.


]]> http://josieazzam.com/2011/07/28/usc-food-spending-part-2-the-coffee-bean/feed/ 0 josieazzam Screen shot 2011-07-27 at 3.33.24 PM George Lucas http://josieazzam.com/2011/07/27/foodp1/ http://josieazzam.com/2011/07/27/foodp1/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:52:39 +0000 Josie Azzam http://josieazzam.com/?p=393 Continue reading →]]> A lot of us at the USC School of Cinematic Arts feel really bad about the money we spend on eating the poor quality and very expensive food available around USC. I think we just figure, “We’re already paying $60 an hour for our classes, what’s $5 for a salad?”.

As I enter into my last year at USC, I realized that I have an excellent set of data from my mint.com account. Mint.com categorizes all your purchases, and I have been using it since January 2010. I may have missed out on the valuable information from my 507 semester (doubt it), but I have all my food purchasing habits through 508, 546 and 547. I did bring food quite a bit (see previous entry) that I could microwave. But as I often complain, one cannot pack enough food for a 15 hour day.

Here are the statistics, superlatives and analysis of the places that I have eaten on campus. Part 1 is simply an overview of my personal habits and trends for Spring 2010, Fall 2010 and Spring 2011.

Part 2 will be about the Coffee Bean.

Part 3 will be an impersonal cheat sheet of campus dining options for me to use this fall. But if you’re just entering USC for the fall or if you’re just curious how much you might have spent these years at school, this is probably close.

FOOD SPENDING FROM 3 SEMESTERS AT USC:

FAST FOOD:		RESTAURANTS:
Total Visits	109		Total Visits	58
Average Spent	$7.41		Average Spent	$15.13
Total Spent	$1,671.23		Total Spent	$974.53

SUPERLATIVES		Average Bill
Most expensive	The Lab	$21.13
Least Expensive	BK/Chick Fil-A	$5.00
Least expensive restaurant	Galen Center	$11.45
Most expensive fast food	Seeds	$11.22
Most visits	Chipotle	23 visits
Times at UV	24	Mostly at Cilantro
Most money spent	The Lab	But worth it!

UPDATE: It occurred to me to calculate by semester. Couldn’t help it:

SPRING 2010, 508 SEMESTER
Amount Spent:	$203.69
Ate the most at:	Subway (Sad times)

CTPR 508

is hell. You are randomly paired with 2 strangers in the school to make 3 films over a very few weeks. The 4 professors are especially harsh on your scripts and twice as harsh about your dailies (You’re just documenting the action, Josie!). It’s a particularly hellish semester if you hate your trio-mates, which I most certainly did not. We’re the three best friends that anybody could ever have.




Three best friends that anybody could ever have.

During 508, I ate the most at Subway (Average meal price: $6.75). When you only have an hour for lunch between your sessions, you can be sure that you’ll get your super gross sandwich bought and eaten in time. In fact, everything that semester is fast food.




Chipotle for me and my triomates

I ate quite a bit at the University Village, a food court near campus, as well. That way, my triomates could get whatever they wanted and I could get my shredded beef salad at Cilantro Mexican Grill (Average meal price: $6.42). Then we’d sit outside and talk out our miseries and budgets.

FALL 2010, 546 SEMESTER
Amount Spent:	$968.58 (Whoosh!)
Ate the most at:	Traditions (Drank a lot)

CTPR 546

destroys. Really long days of editing, harder notes from the now 6 professors, and a much bigger crew of 12 people. The bar Traditions/Traddies/Trannies opened (Average meal price: $15.03).



SF Fans watching the Giants play in the World Series

This was a godsend. There’s a pool table, burger sliders, nachos, beer, boozy Manhattans (oops), and other bar foods. This was a good place to escape from the lab to watch USC football games (just the first quarter, of course) or disappear to when you can’t stand the post basement anymore.

I was introduced to Soy Grill for Sushi (Average price: $10.05), which later gave me food poisoning. So that will be included with a big ole asterisk on part two.

I also went to the number cafes for the first time, Cafe 29 (Average price: $20.96) and Cafe 84 (Average price: $6.59). Cafe 29 is a semi romantic, semi undergrad porch restaurant with soft Christmas lights and delicious burgers. Cafe 84, hidden near the Lyon center, has salads you can weigh by the pound, which became a staple of “I got so fat during 546″ dieting. Downtown’s IHOP ($14.33) also became a sad times refuge at 1am when you haven’t had a chance to have dinner and the labs have finally closed. The 546 I edited also had a scene where they ate bacon (No, it was not “How to Eat Bacon”, it was “Blackbird”) and this drove us crazy, leading to many late night IHOP trips.

SPRING 2011, 547 SEMESTER
Amount Spent:	$461.61 (Better!)
Ate the most at:	Cafe 84 (Trying to lose beer weight)

CTPR 547

is delightful…at first. The documentary class accepts that you got what you got and you can’t go get something again, you can only get more. But what “more” is what usually leads to the disagreements towards the end. Again, 6 professors have radically different ideas of where the story could go. Thank god Chick-Fil-A (Average price: $5.09) graced our neighborhood and became a great way to convince Evan Matthews walk to Chipotle (Average price: $10.05 but who really cares?) with me.



Evan Matthews deserves a photo.

The Galen Center (Average price: $11.45), where the athletes go to eat, also started taking cards, so it was the first time it showed up on my mint.com. Our 547 class started having our meetings there twice a week, so that lead to some serious Galen spending. But they have real food (fish, mashed potatoes, asparagus, etc) that is really very delicious and a fancy salad bar.

THE LAB:

A special note about the Lab. The Lab is 507 city. This is where, in your first semester, you go to “have a beer”. It is only in quotations because of the social obligations and insinuations that phraseology implies. Having a beer means you just ran a few laps with Professor John Watson or had a great guest lecturer from Professor Todd Robinson. Or you discovered that your second 507 is required to have someone work with you…and boozing up Jeremy Royce first will lubricate the “will you shoot for me?” question. (this is a lie joke)

After 507′s semester, you cannot make it between classes to the lab. So it is a purely “Hey! Lets go talk about our scripts after class!” place. You never talk about your silly scripts. It simply becomes regular gossip city (which is far more delightful).

But with every end of semester screening, we all troop to the Lab. They have fantastic appetizers, amazing burgers and inexpensive beers. I went to the lab only a very few times per semester outside of the end screening.

Or celebrating the first day of shooting 546…



Oktoberfest beers to celebrate the editors cut with my 546 partner.

Or day before picture lock for 547 with my editing partner…

The Lab earns a bad wrap on my statistics because it comes across as the most expensive place to eat. But I’m always so happy to spend $40 on beers and kobe beef sliders when I’m celebrating with my triomates, Kelly and Kaveh, or my two Evans, Schrodek and Matthews, that I’ve edited with.

FALL 2011:

There are a couple places I’m excited to try this fall. I’ll be taking the doc pitch class, hopefully the television class, a feature writing class and a small crit studies class. So I’m going to need a lot of brain food, as opposed to editor food. I need to get a milkshake at Ground Zero and lunch from the food truck India Jones. The architecture students eat at the USC Shop Cafe, apparently, so I need to find that. La Taquiza is recommended by the foodies of the school. I also will start going to Armando’s food truck more often, which is basically super delicious and inexpensive. I only was told about it by fellow editor Kelly late last semester.

So hopefully I will be better about bringing food to school in the fall. I know I will be better about cooking when those loans start being due…


]]> http://josieazzam.com/2011/07/27/foodp1/feed/ 3 josieazzam Screen shot 2011-07-25 at 9.36.45 AM Chipotle Trannies Screen shot 2011-07-25 at 9.39.10 AM Oktoberfest http://josieazzam.com/2011/07/12/what-to-charge-the-freelance-editors-view-on-opportunity-cost/ http://josieazzam.com/2011/07/12/what-to-charge-the-freelance-editors-view-on-opportunity-cost/#comments Tue, 12 Jul 2011 07:26:35 +0000 Josie Azzam http://josieazzam.com/?p=350 ]]> This post is password protected. You must visit the website and enter the password to continue reading.

]]> http://josieazzam.com/2011/07/12/what-to-charge-the-freelance-editors-view-on-opportunity-cost/feed/ 0 josieazzam http://josieazzam.com/2011/06/08/pro-tip-1/ http://josieazzam.com/2011/06/08/pro-tip-1/#comments Thu, 09 Jun 2011 05:09:04 +0000 Josie Azzam http://josieazzam.com/?p=346 Continue reading →]]> If you are working on your resume and cannot remember all the projects that you have worked on, or even when you worked on it, go to your Avid Attic/Final Cut Autosave Vault. This will list all the projects you’ve ever opened on your computer and when they were created.

 


]]> http://josieazzam.com/2011/06/08/pro-tip-1/feed/ 0 josieazzam http://josieazzam.com/2011/05/30/editor-food/ http://josieazzam.com/2011/05/30/editor-food/#comments Tue, 31 May 2011 01:40:24 +0000 Josie Azzam http://josieazzam.wordpress.com/?p=312 Continue reading →]]> The art of craft services on student sets will always be lacking. But a student or freelance editor has the luxury of a microwave, fridge or at least the time to order pizza from Papa Johns (and earn them Papa Points).

These are my Dos and Don’ts of my editing food choices and prep methods from over the years and how I’ve sadly tailored them for working and gaining weight faster.

DO: Eat things that require one hand (if that).

Burritos and Subway Sandwiches have to be eaten with two hands. Bagels and toast bread sandwiches do not. Little vegetables, certain types of chips, dry cereal and churros only require one hand. The other hand should be on the keyboard and not the mouse, Final Cut Kids.

Pro Tip: Get the Burrito BOWL at Chipotle rather than the burrito. You get more food, it’s easier to save for later, and requires one hand.

DON’T eat things that stick to your fingers.

This includes but is not limited to: Cheetos, Popcorn, Doritos, Onion Rings, Fried Chicken and Wings. It seems obvious, but I have eaten all of these cheesy/dusty/greasy things while editing and the bottom of my jeans from wiping my fingers would prove it (I said this list was sad).

Pro Tip: Pita Chips are a great way to go.

DO try to eat healthy.

If you sit for 10 hours a day, keyboard strokes do not burn calories.If you feel abused or don’t get to sleep much, you will eat nice things as a treat. If you have 5 MINTES TO EAT, GO GO GO, you will chug cold soup. If you know you will not be eating for the next 10 hours due to meetings/cutting/class, you will eat large quantities like a bear.

You can eat as much salad as you want, until you’re stuffed. Baby Carrots are also good because they follow the first two rules. I have replaced Diet Coke with orange juice.

Pro Tip: Being pale is a healthy “I work so hard” alternative look to being chubs.

DON’T eat anything from a spoon.

Eating cereal with milk or soup requires looking at the food that you are eating. If it can be eaten with a fork (such as ramen or easy mac), that should be the optimal choice. The only exception to this is pudding and Kefir.

Exception: Fellow Editor Evan tells me that Mini Wheats are his early morning syncing breakfast of choice.

DO prepare food while rendering/exporting

The time to prepare food is when you Cannot use your Avid. You’ve got 30 minutes to spend on actually making a sandwich, boiling that spaghetti, or even make some Hamburger Helper. Eat while cutting, cook while exporting.

Exception: This is also a good time to shower. Just saying.

DO buy bowls with handles.

I cannot stress this enough. To drink giant cups of coffee or to actually have soup for once, get a bowl with a handle on the edge. You can sip at it for hours without the hand eye coordination that a utensil requires.

No clever note. Just truth.

DON’T get creative.

As my fellow Editor Kelly pseudo-advocates, eat like a picky 10 year old. Pasta based dishes, microwavable goods, dry cereal and canned food are your friends. You’ve got a director waiting on Version 3 of Scene 10 and they won’t care that you had a great turkey cranberry sandwich with Gouda for lunch.

Addendum: Get creative with how to make your boring ass above mentioned food better tasting, not more prep intensive. Add some spices to your Prego.

DO get a mug heater.

This reduces the amount of coffee I make during the day. If your current cup is always warm, there is no reason to make more or even to get up and microwave it.

Note: Do not let it go for more than 3 hours or it will get gwoss.

Recommended Food FOR EDITING AT SCHOOL/Work:

These items can all be kept in your car! You don’t have time to prepare lunch in the morning when it takes 45 minutes to get to school. Just make sure you grab a few boxes and put them in one of your many hard drive bags.

Trader Ming’s Pad Thai and Kung Pao – $2



These are inexpensive, filling, and require no refrigeration (a problem since they took the mini-fridge out of the Grad lounge at USC). Do NOT get the Green Satay Box. It tastes like death and peanuts.

Easy Mac bowls – Usually 10 for $10 at Ralphs



These are as easy as professed, kind of delicious and they make novelty shapes like Cars and Spongebob. They are a good grad lounge conversation starter.

Cup of Noodles – $0.50?

I use this mostly as a means of conveying Sriracha to my mouth. Also follows the no-spoon-required rule.

Beef Jerky – $4

Always delicious and makes male directors know you are masculine/Nebraskan.

Trail Mix with Wasabi Peas – $5



It’s trail mix, which can be munched on for days and the Wasabi peas can wake you up during the dark times.

Dried Fruit – $Varies

Especially Mango, Banana Chips or White Peaches. These also don’t expire and are very easy to share without crying.

Stuff that seems like a good idea but is NOT:

Chef Boyardee microwaveable goods
Gross.

Soft Fruit
Rots.

Chocolate covered something or others
Melts.

Anything with Fish in it.
Just had some Sushi food poisoning a few weeks ago, pushed all my deadlines by a week and I threw up while driving on Vermont.

So, the moral of the story is to keep your hands and mind free and clear!


]]> http://josieazzam.com/2011/05/30/editor-food/feed/ 2 josieazzam Trader Joes Easy Mac Wasabi Wow http://josieazzam.com/2011/05/24/bless-this-workspace/ http://josieazzam.com/2011/05/24/bless-this-workspace/#comments Tue, 24 May 2011 19:01:40 +0000 Josie Azzam http://josieazzam.wordpress.com/?p=249 Continue reading →]]> Last week, I upgraded my editing space at home in a major kind of way. I’m editing at home this summer on a lot of different projects (3 thesis films, 2 for pay projects) . I spend at 6-9 hours in front of my computer each day, plugging in different drives (only one Firewire800 in back) and working on different projects. And my edit station was…less than inspiring. Previous cost of work station was under $50.

My edit space is in my 10′x10′ room, at the end of my bed. This makes for some easy sad times crawling under the covers (“I hope this exports by morning…must sleep…”) and some very infrequent movie watching from bed – (“Disney Oceans! This looks great…zzzz….”).



The window is more distracting than pleasing.

I have no drawers. No place to put pens, pencils, tape or the countless cables I’ve collected over the years. My 80GB, 1.6Ghz PowerMac G5 is a glorified foot rest. Papers get scattered all over the table, from doctors bills to script supervisor notes. The white table showed every coffee cup ring and raspberry preserves stain.



Drive on Drive Action

How my drives were set up was the worst of it, able to topple over at any minute. I wondered if the heat from my blasting radiator at night would effect them (probs, sorry guys). Adding drives looked like I was running a pirated video business for my friends.

The idea wasn’t mine (Having other editors tell you your workspace is pitiable is good for motivation) but I measured the closet and was assured that the closet space that is only being used for boxes and suitcases would easily fit a desk.  Then I would have a back wall, instead of swinging doors. Shelves above my head, built in.

Items for a beautiful new workspace:

1. A brand new desktop, in IKEA Birch and NOT from the As-Is department. 2.5 feet deep, 5 feed wide.
2. Get adjustable legs for the table. This will accommodate anything/anyone ever.
3. Get Lennart. Seriously, he’s a doll.
4. Get Micke. Surprisingly unpronounceable, even for a Swede.
5. Get some cable baggies, letter trays, paper boxes, and all those other goodies in the downstairs section.
6. Curtains for your wardrobe, as there will be no doors.
7. Forget to buy a corkboard and a lightbulb.
8. Buy a dimmer before you’re sure it works with your light.

After some heavy door lifting (the door was NOT hollow), rearranging, laundry, drilling by hand and lots of allan wrenches…


The new workspace!

Voila! The curtain keeps my clothes separated from my workspace, so I don’t even see them hanging there all day (and neither do clients and directors that hang out in my bedroom for hours). Over 30 articles of clothing went to Goodwill, shirts I haven’t worn since high school but were my favorite in middle school. Threw out all my “sewing scraps”, which is a kind term for shirts with holes in them.



Storage boxes, all neatly lined up and labeled.



Lennart with 5 drives

And Lennart! My new place to keep, separate and not overheat hard drives. They cozily sit in their own compartments and share a single Firewire800, depending who is being used! And all their power cables are connected right above, rather than under my desk somewhere.



Just need a new chair...

Finally! I love working in my apartment. I’m quite sure I could do this forever, if people will let me. Save on all that office space, get to make pies for my assistants. What’s what to love, future self?










]]> http://josieazzam.com/2011/05/24/bless-this-workspace/feed/ 5 josieazzam WSbedroom IMG_2023 IMG_2049 IMG_2057 IMG_2063 IMG_2053 http://josieazzam.com/2011/05/10/summertime/ http://josieazzam.com/2011/05/10/summertime/#comments Tue, 10 May 2011 18:08:05 +0000 Josie Azzam http://josieazzam.wordpress.com/?p=240 Continue reading →]]> Yes! Josieazzam.com lives again! After a very intense breakup with bluehost.com (they got me when I was young and foolish), I am back on track with a domain name that looks sort of legit. Especially as my website already looks a little pre-fab, I’ve got to at least look like I have a vague idea of how the interwebs works.

So much to do today! I have to finish gathering selects for a documentary I’m editing, through a grant from the National Science Foundation for the program “Be A Scientist”, as conducted by a group called “Iridescent”. It’s hours of footage of children adorably learning how to make Lunar Landers and Stomp Rockets out of construction paper and pipe cleaner. Tough gig.

Then I’ve got my co-editor-turned-director Evan Matthews coming over to work on his CTPR 533 with me. 533 is the advanced directing class at school, a little desperately ambitious since you’re creating a thesis scale scene on your own. 546 gets a crew of 12, Thesis films get tons of reel hungry people, 532s are small enough to nab some crew but 533s are for serious on your own. Fortunately, Evan Matthews has horses and cowboys in his so people are flocking to the scene.

Then, some more crazed selects gleaning before heading off to Disneyland tomorrow! A well deserved day off to celebrate the end of the semester. Only one more year left until this cozy USC blanket gets ripped off and I’m told to get up, get dressed, and get to work.

12 hours of editing, Go!


]]> http://josieazzam.com/2011/05/10/summertime/feed/ 0 josieazzam http://josieazzam.com/2011/01/12/attempt-at-maintaining-a-blog/ http://josieazzam.com/2011/01/12/attempt-at-maintaining-a-blog/#comments Thu, 13 Jan 2011 05:30:53 +0000 Josie Azzam http://josieazzam.wordpress.com/?p=215 Continue reading →]]> First day of school! I’m editing a CTPR 547 documentary this semester, called “Made By Me”, about the process and importance of handmade goods. The documentary class at USC is extremely chill in a dead serious kind of way. Everyone had to introduce themselves and give some sort of justification of why they were working on this particular doc. Feel good/meaningful kind of class.

It’s directed by Jess Dang and my Co-Editor is Evan Matthews. So this is bound to be a good semester, if I can just keep all my meetings/appointments/classes/ work shifts/keyboard shortcuts straight.

Also got three editing books at the library – Conversations with Walter Murch, British Film Editors and an Ian Christie’s second book about Michael Powell. A few pages out of these a night will no doubt give me pleasant and well-cut dreams.

Will not bother with clever sign off.


]]> http://josieazzam.com/2011/01/12/attempt-at-maintaining-a-blog/feed/ 0 josieazzam