{"id":6234,"date":"2013-05-22T22:15:14","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T04:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=6234"},"modified":"2014-09-06T14:48:32","modified_gmt":"2014-09-06T20:48:32","slug":"well-it-was-20-years-ago-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=6234","title":{"rendered":"Well, it was 20 years ago today\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2026 that Mr. JaPan<\/strong> earned his right of way:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Amongst all the movie paraphernalia that decorates the walls of the Secret MICRO-FILM Headquarters<\/strong> hangs one modest document of distinction, earned with the turning of tassels on Illinois Wesleyan University<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s Eckley Quadrangle<\/strong> the afternoon of Saturday, May 22, 1993<\/strong>. Little did I know, sitting with my art school peers and graduating class on that pleasantly breezy day, I would end up in a similar-sized college town barely 50 miles away within six months, only to remain there ever since. Even less did I know, with movie-making a career consideration throughout my school years, I would eventually become a film culture journalist and arts proponent without really becoming a movie maker<\/em>. Where I am today, professionally or cinematically, could not have been foretold through my essential IWU experiences throughout those four years and I have little regret with how it all played out.<\/p>\n

At certain moments on certain days, I can\u2019t help but flash back with a casual smile. The Argus<\/span><\/strong>, after hours \u2026 even later nights at the School of Art<\/strong> \u2026 midnight rendezvous at the Hot Plate<\/strong> \u2026 Lizards From Afar<\/strong>, rocking the Quad on Saturday afternoons \u2026 The RadioActive Doghouse<\/strong>, rocking for the weekend on WESN FM<\/strong> \u2026 literary discourse wafting from within the walls of the English House<\/strong> \u2026 coffee to snap the senses awake, courtesy of the Dugout<\/strong> \u2026 meetings of the buzzy minds across the street at Mugsy\u2019s<\/strong> \u2026 skimming of the stacks instead of studying in Milner Library<\/strong> at ISU<\/strong> \u2026 basking in the sun with Big Questions in mind while visiting the French countryside during J-Term<\/strong> \u2026 yelling ridiculously as our more-successful-than-not Fighting Titans<\/strong> sports teams competed \u2026 dreaming of the movies we were going to make but never did, simply because we had plenty other things to do, my friends and I. Ulp<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>I invariably pass by the IWU campus along Main Street <\/strong>if I cut through Bloomington-Normal<\/strong> en route to visiting dearest Ma JaPan<\/strong><\/strong>. Despite the addition of several buildings and revamping of others, my alma mater<\/em> Wesleyan always feels like the comfortable, tree-shrouded hideaway of learning it became for me back in those semi-serene, pre-grunge Nineties. Marking this milestone on C-U Blogfidential<\/strong> may seem an awkward fit of nostalgia, but soon I hope you will connect the contextual dots while reading future articles relating to this era in my life, starting with that monumental act of moving on at age 22.<\/p>\n

One tick on our collective timeline, which just so happened to involve Hollywood<\/strong>-funded cap-and-gown action on a different downstate Quad later that same summer, will be recounted in the next studious issue of C-U Confidential<\/strong> digest \u2013 FIRST NEWS! WINK! WINK! \u2013 set to hit Champaign-Urbana<\/strong> this fall. Look for it!<\/p>\n

~ Jason Pankoke<\/p>\n

p.s.<\/em> See? It\u2019s all connected.<\/em><\/p>\n

p.s.2<\/em> Not really sure why B-N has managed to creep onto CUBlog<\/strong> so much lately. Go here<\/a>, check here<\/a>, and look for at least one more at this time next week.<\/p>\n

p.s.3<\/em> Do you<\/em> remember what happened on the Main Quad<\/strong> at the University of Illinois<\/strong> 20 years ago this summer? More importantly, were you there? Write us and spill those memories<\/a>, gang!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you think we’re going to dredge up the story about Brendan Fraser and co. filming the Harvard graduation scene in WITH HONORS on the UIUC Main Quad in 1993 … well, we’ll get to that one later. Right now, let’s talk real life instead of reel life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,53,16,31],"tags":[1082,772,331],"class_list":["post-6234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alums-done-good","category-educationclasses","category-jp-confidential","category-the-old-school","tag-bloomington-illinois","tag-illinois-wesleyan-university","tag-jason-pankoke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}