THE HYPE OUTPLAY, OUTSWIM, OUTDOORS BEING A 'SURVIVOR' WASN'T THE POINT FOR VALLEY GIRL.When someone asks 14-year-old Alex Julius of Chatsworth what she did for fun last summer, she often talks about swimming with sharks. That's one of the rare experiences she had as one of 10 teen-agers cruising the Caribbean for the new Discovery Kids series ``Sail Away!'' She and the other kids, whose selection was based on their written essays and interviews, spent five weeks last May and June on two boats, finding a lot of their own food, cavorting with dolphins, learning about island cultures and engaging in a few friendly competitions. They studied wildlife and had a firsthand first·hand adj. Received from the original source: firsthand information. first look at the effects of marine pollution. The whole adventure was shot cinema-verite style and will be shown in a 13-week series kicking off at 9 a.m. Saturday on the Discovery Channel. Alex, an eighth-grader at Sierra Canyon Middle School Canyon Middle School is a middle school in Castro Valley, California, USA. It is one of two middle schools in the Castro Valley Unified School District, the other being Creekside Middle School. , hadn't been sailing much before, but she says she got her sea legs sea legs pl.n. The ability to adjust one's balance to the motion of a ship, especially in rough seas. sea legs Noun, pl Informal pretty quickly. ``The girls were pretty good about that,'' she said. ``It was the boys who were barfing overboard o·ver·board adv. Over or as if over the side of a boat or ship. Idiom: go overboard To go to extremes, especially as a result of enthusiasm. .'' They had some provisions and other essentials on the boat, as well as plenty of textbooks and notebooks to make up the schoolwork they were missing at home. ``I thought I was going to end up being really hungry there, but we actually had our fill every day,'' Alex said. ``We had conch conch (kŏngk, kŏnch, kôngk), common name for certain marine gastropod mollusks having a heavy, spiral shell, the whorls of which overlap each other. every day - conch fritters, conch salad - but if it's not prepared very well, it doesn't taste very good. Finally we discovered Spaghetti-O's in our boat.'' Alex admitted the shark encounter was a little scary, especially watching them eat. Then again, she was relieved to know they were full and didn't need to snack on any 13-year-olds. She said her parents were happy she wanted to apply for the program. ``When I came back with all my stories, they said they never would have let me go if they had known the things I'd be doing,'' she said. Despite the exotic setting, the dangerous feats and the occasional competitions, this show is no ``Survivor Junior.'' For one thing, there was no cash prize, nor even a basic actor's wage. Her family paid about $4,000 for the trip, which was coordinated by Island Expeditions, a nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. adventure company. ``Everyone's telling me, 'You should get paid,' '' Alex said. ``But I got the experience.'' - Valerie Kuklenski FILM CINEMA BY THE SEAT OF THEIR PANTS: Anybody can come up with great ideas while celebrating the New Year with friends in a hot tub. But how many of those ideas are actually worth accomplishing? And how many fewer ever come to pass? A group of Hollywood post-production types - they call themselves ``wage slaves'' - on Dec. 31, 1999, decided to stop griping about their inability to get a break and to take the initiative. They formed Group 101 Films, a collective of 15 aspiring writer-directors who by day hold way-below-the-line post-production jobs compiling theatrical trailers, opening credits Opening credits, in a television program, motion picture or videogame, are shown at the beginning of a show and list the most important members of the production. They are usually shown as text superimposed on a blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in the and TV show titles. Their goal: Create one new short film a month during the year 2000. ``Our motto was, 'You have 30 days. Now get off your ass,' '' said co- founder Jeff Consiglio. ``It's eaten up a year of my life in the blink blink the involuntary movement of one or both eyelids of both eyes simultaneously. The frequency varies between species. Cats blink the least, with the possible exception of owls. In birds it is the lower eyelid which is moved up to meet the upper lid. of an eye. But I've got 12 films to show for it, and not all of them suck.'' They had scant budgets for the digital films but some of the best design facilities and edit bays in town available to them after hours Adv. 1. after hours - not during regular hours; "he often worked after hours" , which they say gives the films a very polished look. The results will be shown at 7 tonight at the Shortorder Film Festival, being held at the Knitting Factory The Knitting Factory is a New York City and Hollywood music club, originally specializing in jazz and experimental music. It was opened in 1987 by Michael Dorf and Bob Appel, both from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. , 7021 Hollywood Blvd. Proceeds will benefit Shakespeare Festival L.A. Information: (323) 463-0204. - V.K. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Chatsworth's Alex Julius, 14, didn't think about prizes when entering the Discovery Channel's ``Sail Away!'' adventure: ``I got the experience.'' |
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