Justin K Miller

And here we can sit back and enjoy the video production process at it’s best. Before us are three fine students in my Video Production for Multimedia cla. Camera ready, checking his own audio levels, girls with the mics and a slate, ready to get a good interview down on tape. Still getting the basics settings down of 5.6K for light, 0 gain, zebras at 80% and don’t foget to turn up the volume on the earphones. Zoom in, get it in focus, then zoom out.

So I went and got my hair cut and my ears cleaned and the pours in my face cleaned. I guess I needed it. I’m not quite sure I needed to get my pours cleaned. Van said I did. The ears I thought was worth a try since it’s been a while. But when a guy has a big pointy thing in your ear and there is a little kid running around screaming, you get a little freaked out the kid is going to bump the guy in the arm and  you now you have just lost your earing. Or does that metal stick go right in your brain? I hope not. Anyway I’m alive with clean ears so it’s all okay, but I don’t think I’m going to do that again.

I never was one for shows about saving the world. And if there was a chosen one whose destiny was to save the world . . . well I really wasn’t into that. But I guess something needs to be saved and someone needs to do it.  If it has to be a badass psycho woman and her emo brooding son with his walking metal semi-girlfriend protector, then I guess it has to be. It’s a shame the show ended how it did. I would have liked a glimpse of the new timeline and what role the young and unknown John Connor would have played.

Any word if Chuck would be back next season? Why are they getting rid of the best shows. I need to get me some of this TV money and make my own shows.

My Niece and Nephews

Over break I went across the pond to America. This time it was to see the family back in Michigan. It’s been a while since I spent time with my sister’s kids. She’s got three. Mark, Madison, and Joseph. As you could see from the picture I really couldn’t get them to sit still enough to take the picture. I guess that just the problems a distant uncle must face. We had some good times hangining out and playing Rock Band on the WII, but I miss being around. Not that I’ve been around much, but I’ve missed the last two Christmas’ and that’s just one to many. I will not miss the next one.

It’s been a long haul. Last semester I felt safe going back knowing that I had a job. Then we learned the process to a non-immigrant into America is not easy for a foreigner, and even harder to get married in Vietnam. So we ran to Singapore and eloped. Okay, My folks were there and Van’s mom and sister. But basically we eloped. It was a very small family wedding.

After getting back from Singapore I went monday to the USCIS and filed the I-130 petition for immdeate family. That was March 30th. On April 29th is was accepted and mailed to the US Consulate on May 5th. On May 13th the US Consulate issued the packet 3 for IV to us, but we never seem to get our mail. I had to go into the US Consulate and get copies. Now we sit and wait for the Interview Letter and Packet 4 for IV. We’re nearning the finish now.

As I wait, I’m still not sure what’s next. Where to live. Where to work. When to start. I want to come back and buy a SUV, then take Van on a tour of America. I mean how often will I ever have the chance to do that? My wedding gift would be a trip on route-66. It’s not like we can’t look for job or me do my master’s degree while I’m on the road.

I’d take the 101 south to from San Francisco to Santa Monia going the seenic way. We’d pick up route-66 them, and fly though the dust bowl torwards Chichago. Once there we’d finish the trip to Detroit, Michigan where my parents would be waiting. That has got to be a nice week long trip.

Awww . . . my cold weather zombie flick is already being taken by “Snow Dead.” Damn I need to get moving forward on all my ideas before they all get stolen. I actually do have some written work on most of these stories which have been lost or deleted by accident. Yet their development continues. “Winter Blood” needed some type of treatment written and I decided it should start in Ann Arbor, Michigan and rest should be an effort to get to the fabled city of Detroit. So I took all the characters I wanted, and cut those down by more than half. Then I just wrote whatever I could which would not force me to ever actually see Detroit. This is what came of it . . .

—

STEVE and ANN are investigating strange noises in the empty room of the university. They think the worst. That the undead have entered their hiding place and are looking for food. In their panic shoot first, injuring what turns out to be, MICHAEL who is republican guard.

The two other officers, LEO and EDWARDS don’t react with guns. They react by helping their fallen friend. Grabbing whatever it was they came to get, they patch up their friend and rush him to the SUV.

STEVE and ANN follow as well as hidden suvivors JAMES and LINDA. They all jump into the SUV, and almost manage an escape. But the undead have heard the shots and force their SUV off the road.

The seven try to excape by foot, but undead come from all sides and they are forced into a sewer drain. ANN is bitten, but they all manage to get into the sewer.

The onslaught continues in the sewer until ROLAND, DAVID, MITCH, and KENJI show up. They are undead but can think. They manage to dismember the feral undead.

ROLAND the leader agrees to take them all back to the city, but they must kill ANN for food. EDWARDS agrees and ANN is drained of blood much to the fear of the other survivors.

STEVE freaks and grabs MICHAEL’s gun and bag. There is a standoff, but it is interrupted by more undead. This time there are too many. STEVE is bitten, but manages to excape down the sewer. MICHAEL and MITCH are killed by the undead, but everyone else escapes and block off that part of the sewer. The undead trio agree to take the four living and uncontaminated back to the city through the sewers as promised.

In another part of the sewer, STEVE finds a strange device which electroctures him when he turns it on. When he awakes he rezlies he is dead. Angry and upset he screams. His screams are echoed by the screams of the other undead. He rezlies the undead empathize with him and it has something to do with the device, which fits neatly around his head.

Almost back to the city, ROLAND, DAVID, and KENJI sense the emotions of STEVE, knowing his utter hatred for all of them. Questioning EDWARDS they realize the device the guards took from the university was a headband they were developing to try and control the undead. But they found only the undead could control the undead and the project was abandoned.

Seeing STEVE has gone mad, ROLAND and KENJI turn back to find and destroy STEVE, before he can mobilize any army of the dead to lead. Blaming himself, for following the law, EDWARDS goes with them. LEO, JAMES, and LIND follow DAVID back to the city.

As EDWARDS, ROLAND,  and KENJI head back into the tunnels, EDWARDS discovers more about ROLAND and KENJI. They are some of the very few undead who have managed to keep their sanity for so long, partily due to their loyalty to their families still living in the city. But all this is background to the barrage of attacks by undead STEVE though their journey to find him.

At the university they find the halls full of undead who are swarming like bees in a honeycomb. KENJI is killed ROLAND injured, and EDWARDS bitten as they attempt to find where STEVE is located. The two are brought to STEVE who wants to drain them both himself before sending all the undead to attack the city so he may increase the size of his undead army and rule the city as it’s king forever.

He is interrupted by ANN, who doesn’t want him to continue on becoming this crazy undead leader. But rages flare and STEVE accidently causes one of his undead to kill her. ROLAND uses this distraction to behead STEVE. But before the undead can pounce on EDWARDS, ROLAND tosses the device on EDWARD’S head, killing him instantly. When EDWARD awakes he find he is now in control of the less consious dead. Rule of the undead colition is also given to him by ROLAND, who requests to be behead now that he is useless.

—

So that’s pretty much the whole story. It’s a world where the undead have been around for a few years. People are managing to survive by working as a community in the Detroit compound and making deals with those undead who can think. And let’s not forget that most of the dead that have lost thier mental facilities freeze for the winter. It’s a work in progress, so go poke holes in the treatment.

Since I was young I have dreamed to write comic books, graphics novels, movie, and televisions shows. From Vietnam I have been scoping out the new movies coming out as the television season dies down. I’m proud to see my generation has taken old of entertainment today and put sci-fi/fanatasy on the map. I don’t always agree with the concepts or how the stories unfold, but when they hit it right, it is amazing.

Rather than rattling on about what I like, what I hate, and what looms in the distance, I thought I might write out a little on my own ideas, which have been stewing, in my head for some time now. Weather they are a series or a movie or a three-part movie saga I’m not sure. But here goes:

1.    The Arch
One evening a blast shakes the streets of St. Louis from the Archway. Thousands are left injured or dead on the ground as a strange fog covers them. Soon the dead return to life and feed on the injured and living. Their control spreads with the fog, killing and re-animating all in their path. Lucky someone has a plan. The Arch must be closed.

2.    Titans
An unknown force of energy immunities from the ground and locates twelve beings on earth, giving them the powers of the gods. These powers start very similar, but each Titan begins to hone their own control of their powers and find they can do more. Guns, Rockets, Militaries, Armies, Governments, cannot stop even one of them. Nothing is more powerful than a Titan, except another Titan. The world must change to accommodate them and their destiny.

3.    Winter’s Blood
In a post-apocalyptic world where vampires and zombies prey on your blood, your only hope is to stay somewhere cold. Guards from the last human cities run into survivors while having found what may save them from all creatures who seeking blood to survive. But what can save can also kill, and the power struggle for control first begins outside the city.

4.    Chaos-Division
Since the destruction of the moon, Kenji has lived in a world where Werewolves run the show, Magic and Picnics are gifts you are born with, and vampires wait in the dark to bring destruction to what’s left of civilization. While the last civilization begins to tear itself apart, Kenji and his partners must keep the peace and solve the mystery of what went wrong.

5.    Long Live the King
Cesar is cursed to be the King of the Dead.  Tormented by their voices he would try to kill himself, except the dead would never allow it. His only option is finding someone willing to kill him with his own cursed gun. But trying to find the right guy to kill you and take over as King of the Dead is harder than it sounds.

Some of these stories I have fleshed out. Something I take out now and again, hit them, and put them back in the box. If you like any of the concepts tell me and I’ll see what I can do to make it into a real story.

I never had any G.I.Joe action figures as a kid. I think it had something to do with my father’s distaste for the military. I do remember as a kid I used to go to a friends house that owned all the action figures and battle out the fight with Cobra. I watched the TV show, read the comic books, and always-preferred Snake Eyes out of all the characters. What American teenager didn’t? Snake Eyes kicked ass and always will.

I can’t say I ever kept up with G.I.Joe since then. But as a fanatic comic book collector I do have the comic book where they unmask Cobra Commander, Destro, and Snake Eyes. I was totally bummed because they were all still wearing disguises in that comic, but it’s still a cool comic to have. In the back of the comic they go though the history of the characters, or at least the history before they updated any of the storylines. Cobra Commander at one time was a used car salesmen. Ah, those were the days when a man went from a used car salesmen to head of a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world.

Honestly though, Cobra Commander was a little crazy in the cartoon, don’t you think? It didn’t help he had the same voice as Starscream from Transformers. Both were totally megalomaniacs, but seriously, Cobra Commander was head of COBRA! Give the man a little respect. He didn’t need to be replaced by Serpentor in the cartoon. I’m told the comic book continued to do the man justice. Plus in the comic book he has a serious hate and grudge to settle with Snake Eyes, which makes me feel for the man even more.

Which leaves me to this new movie coming out. G.I.Joe: Rise of Cobra. I’m worried. I’ve tried to compile all the data I can out there about the movie and I’m still worried. I hear Paramount has confirmed the next full Rise of Cobra trailer will debut online at 4:30PM EST on May 1. I’m waiting. And I’m worried.

G.I.Joe is supposed to be a real American hero. This G.lobal I.ntegrated J.oint O.perating E.ntity reeks. I’m all for tossing them against Destro to start since he is and always was an arms dealer. But if they don’t make something serious out of Cobra Commander I’ll be pissed.

I can’t help this feeling. It’s my own fault. A decade ago “Fight Club” came out into the movie theaters. As I watch that film I could not help but think this story was actually about the rise of the man that would soon be Cobra Commander. Project Mayhem at the time was the small beginnings of his terrorist actions, ending in the destruction of a number of credit card companies and the TRW building to end the debt record and put everyone at zero. I could see his whole motley crew getting on their busses and heading to Springfield to start a new bold new place to change the world for the better under the name Cobra.

It made sense to me. Tyler Durden was charismatic psychopath with a dream and a split personality.  He already had an army ready to do his every bidding. Now from what other schemes that may have been a part of the destruction of those buildings, he had enough credit for even more. And that to me is the beginning to the rise of Cobra. Damn I wish it was true and Tyler Durden was Cobra Commander . . .

Yeah, what can I say. I’ve been busy since I last posted. So quick recap. First Van and I moved to be closer to civilization. I’m sorry to say in this situation that means close to the mall. But now I‘m next to Black Cat, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Pho 24, and other places that will make me fatter than I already am. I’m blowing up like a balloon in Vietnam. I need to get a treadmill so I can run like a hamster in my little cage.

After that came my birthday. I turned thirty-four. I feel old.

Then Van quit her job and left to Singapore so she could spend the fifteen full days required there so we could get married. Well she didn’t quit her job because she wanted to go to Singapore for fifteen days.  She quit for other reasons. And we didn’t have to get married in Singapore. But I thought it was a pretty cool idea and I like that the wedding was all in English.

Anyway it totally sucked celebrating Christmas on my own. Van and I talked via Skype, but it’s just not the same thing. Van decided she wanted to come back home by New Years Eve, and that only cost $10 extra for the flight change. So luckily we were able to celebrate the New Year together.

January was all end of semester work for me while at the same time trying to work on my Master’s degree. But at the end of the semester we took a break celebrating Tet, and then flew to Thailand for some fun in Bangkok. I like Bangkok. Public transportation is excellent, the food was good, and I felt closer to western civilization. I would say the red light district was interesting, but transsexuals kinda freak me out. I see them now and then in San Francisco, but not nearly as often as in Bangkok.

When we got back to Vietnam I got ready for the new semester, and Van found a new job. She finds new jobs fast. I’m always amazed, but I think good sales management is hard to find in Vietnam and Van knows what she’s doing better than most. I almost didn’t want her to start a new job since we were totally focused on preparing for the wedding. Each week we had to try on suits and dresses, buy items like ties and rings. It’s more work and stress than I want to have while I start teaching a new semester and taking classes and Van starts a new job. But it all worked out.

March flew by. Before I knew it Van and I were on our way to Singapore with her mom. We met Van’s sister at the airport and my parents at the hotel. The next day we did some quick shopping for things we were missing, checked in with the registry of marriages, and made sure we had flowers. Thursday we spent the day at the orchid garden taking pictures. Check out all the pictures at www.justinkmiller.com/wedding.

Friday we got married! I’m married! It’s been eleven days now. People ask me about the marriage. Well, not people. My students ask me. I’m not sure what to say. I think the process of getting married was difficult. I’m happy the process is over than the marriage has begun. Being married is much better than trying to get married or waiting to get married. I don’t think that’s true for most people, but it is for us. I love my wife and now I just want to take her with me to America where we can move somewhere quiet and safe and raise a family.

Damn I sound so domestic. Eh, so what? I’m old and I’m married. I can be domestic if I want to be. I want a big house and a bigger television and a lake in the backyard and a big SUV to drive to work in. I am want to have children and play alot of xbox with them. That’s what I want and I’m going to get it. Oh, and maybe I’ll make a movie about a post-apocolyptic world where zombie roam the street and people are governed by werewolves. Yeah, I want that too.

Van wants to take classes and learn how to dance like the girl above. I told her she should if she can find a place. She wanted me to go with her to learn, but I don’t think I can shake my butt like that. Plus I don’t really look good in a dress.

Tomorrow we’re moving to our new place in district 7 which is closer to work and on a high floor overlooking the city. If this place works out I’ll be happy, but I really really really wanted a house. I like houses. Anyway I consoled myself by getting a 42″ plasma TV and speaker system. Maybe I’ll add a xbox 360 to top all that off. I need to see how well Van handles first person shooter games.