I just spent an hour or more on KISSonline tracking down the EXACT dates that I saw KISS live. If you're curious, they are as follows:
02/03/1985 - Odessa TX , USA - Ector County Coliseum
09/20/1990 - Odessa TX , USA - Ector County Coliseum
07/07/1996 - San Antonio TX , USA - Alamo Dome
11/05/1996 - Austin TX , USA - Frank Irwin Center
03/31/2000 - San Antonio TX , USA - Alamodome
08/17/2000 - Austin TX , USA - Frank Erwin Center
The first 2 dates were the Simmons/Stanley/Kulick/Carr line-up, no makeup. The last 4 were the Simmons/Stanley/Frehley/Criss lineup w/makup.
If you're not curious, I'm not surprised. In fact, I'm not even sure why I AM curious...
I just get in these moods, wherein I obsess about stuff...
I'm just in one of my KISS obsessions right now.
My Genius Friend Dave discovered this INCREDIBLE writing utility called yWriter!!! I've been playing with it over the weekend, and it's REALLY cool! If you're a writer... If not, probably not as groovy.
But you can plug in scenes as you create them, both brief descriptions and entire pages. And the program is set up so that every scene you plug in, you're prompted to figure out (a) whose scene it is, (b) what the main conflict of the scene is and (c) what the outcome of the conflict is.
I plugged my audio story into it and discovered that a couple of my scenes didn't really have any significant conflict in them!!! Now THAT's useful!!! That's the type of thing that could take 4 or more drafts to spot. But this guy -- the programmer/novelist who created yWriter -- made it so that every scene, you have to consider all these things.
Then, once you have enough scenes to start seeing your story come together, you can rearrange scenes for greater dramatic impact.
It's very versitile.
I LIKE IT!!!
Oh, and I spent some time Saturday in Second Life.
...a LOT of time, actually... Several hours.
Not as much time as Brian, though! That boy is DEEP!
But I'm not complaining: He found me a Paul Stanley outfit! So as of last night, I'm wandering around Second Life looking like the Starchild!!!
Did I meantion I'm obsessing about KISS lately?
Monday, February 27, 2006
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Kelly's Ready To Write SILVERFISH!!!
I don't believe I've shared this with you yet, but I have a goal:
5 screenplays in 2006!!!
I realized earlier this month that I've been focusing on WRITING for the last 3 or 8 years, but I haven't been focusing on my CAREER as a writer.
So, taking stock what I know, I decided I'm in a position to try to start my career again. Most experts will tell you to have 3 good screenplays to take to Hollywood with you. One guy suggested that to get your screenwriting career started you be writing 6 screenplays a year. But because I'm just as arbitrary as the next fellow, and I have to do things MY way, I settled on 5 screenplays this year.
Now, I knew from talking with Kelly at the end of last year and the beginning of this year that he would very likely be ready for me to join him in co-writing his screenplay sometime in 2006. (he's been developing it, figuring out themes and characters and tentpole moments in the piece, but he had chosen to share the writing duty, 'cause that just MORE FUN than doing it alone!) And so I had decided that if Kelly were indeed ready to write SILVERFISH (working title) this year -- and I ahd already enthusiastically told him that I would drop whatever I was doing to help him write it, since he's working for a production company and all but has a secured green-light already -- I could count that as one of my screenplays for 2006.
See, the point of the screenplays is to have writing samples. That's how you get assignments (like, say, doing the next MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movie for a studio, or writing Warner Brothers' next DC Comics-based movie; just for example), or how you get hired on to write for series television. (Those usually, for a TV show, they'd prefer to read a spec teleplay for some other show, just so they can see you can write for TV.)
But even if you sell one of your spec scripts (the scripts you didn't write on assignment; the scripts you didn't write for a paycheck) agents and studios and production companies like to see that you're A WRITER, as opposed to someone who had ONE good screenplay in them.
Therefore, for an aspiring screenwriter to get into the habbit of writing 6 (or 5) scripts a year makes a lot of sense, because it teaches you to write and write and keep writing.
Now here's where this becomes a Ray Jay Story...
So for the past 2 days I'm trying to figure out what my first screenplay this year is going to be. I've got a good character here, some good backstory there, but not that CLICK moment when you know you've got a good movie.
Then my buddy Kelly calls me up!
He tried to call Sunday, but I didn't get his message in time, so when I called him back he had already gone to bed or something.
But he calls me up at work -- late, so I've got plenty of time to talk -- and we catch up, then we start talking about the movie.
And as we're talking, I'm hearing a lot of what I've been hearing in previous conversations, only now it's locking together. What I'm hearing is that he's not coming up with a lot of NEW material, he's been exploring how the material he's already created fits together!!!
Whether he knows it or not, I suspect, he's ready to write this movie!
So I pop the question: "It sounds like it's time for us to write this."
His reply is quick and decisive: "It's time for us to right this! We've got to write this NOW!"
So now I don't have to wonder what my first screenplay of 5 will be, it's gonna be KELLY'S MOVIE!!!
And like I said, the production company he works for KNOWS he's a writer/director, and they're WAITING for him to hit 'em with a finished screenplay! And Kel seems to have an idea how he can shoot this thing with the resources he has at his disposal. (Some of these resources would astound you!!! Like the ability to take 15 pound off an already hot singer for her music video -- I've SEEN IT!)
So I am, naturally, ELATED!!! Not only has my first screenplay landed in my lap, but I don't have to write it alone!!! AND, it VERY WELL may turn out to be my first PRODUCED screenplay!!! (Second, if you count a pilot for an independant TV series that never got bought, back around 1995-ish. )
So YAY!!!
GREAT evening for Ray Jay!!!
And I'll be keeping you updated, natch.
PEACE!!!
5 screenplays in 2006!!!
I realized earlier this month that I've been focusing on WRITING for the last 3 or 8 years, but I haven't been focusing on my CAREER as a writer.
So, taking stock what I know, I decided I'm in a position to try to start my career again. Most experts will tell you to have 3 good screenplays to take to Hollywood with you. One guy suggested that to get your screenwriting career started you be writing 6 screenplays a year. But because I'm just as arbitrary as the next fellow, and I have to do things MY way, I settled on 5 screenplays this year.
Now, I knew from talking with Kelly at the end of last year and the beginning of this year that he would very likely be ready for me to join him in co-writing his screenplay sometime in 2006. (he's been developing it, figuring out themes and characters and tentpole moments in the piece, but he had chosen to share the writing duty, 'cause that just MORE FUN than doing it alone!) And so I had decided that if Kelly were indeed ready to write SILVERFISH (working title) this year -- and I ahd already enthusiastically told him that I would drop whatever I was doing to help him write it, since he's working for a production company and all but has a secured green-light already -- I could count that as one of my screenplays for 2006.
See, the point of the screenplays is to have writing samples. That's how you get assignments (like, say, doing the next MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movie for a studio, or writing Warner Brothers' next DC Comics-based movie; just for example), or how you get hired on to write for series television. (Those usually, for a TV show, they'd prefer to read a spec teleplay for some other show, just so they can see you can write for TV.)
But even if you sell one of your spec scripts (the scripts you didn't write on assignment; the scripts you didn't write for a paycheck) agents and studios and production companies like to see that you're A WRITER, as opposed to someone who had ONE good screenplay in them.
Therefore, for an aspiring screenwriter to get into the habbit of writing 6 (or 5) scripts a year makes a lot of sense, because it teaches you to write and write and keep writing.
Now here's where this becomes a Ray Jay Story...
So for the past 2 days I'm trying to figure out what my first screenplay this year is going to be. I've got a good character here, some good backstory there, but not that CLICK moment when you know you've got a good movie.
Then my buddy Kelly calls me up!
He tried to call Sunday, but I didn't get his message in time, so when I called him back he had already gone to bed or something.
But he calls me up at work -- late, so I've got plenty of time to talk -- and we catch up, then we start talking about the movie.
And as we're talking, I'm hearing a lot of what I've been hearing in previous conversations, only now it's locking together. What I'm hearing is that he's not coming up with a lot of NEW material, he's been exploring how the material he's already created fits together!!!
Whether he knows it or not, I suspect, he's ready to write this movie!
So I pop the question: "It sounds like it's time for us to write this."
His reply is quick and decisive: "It's time for us to right this! We've got to write this NOW!"
So now I don't have to wonder what my first screenplay of 5 will be, it's gonna be KELLY'S MOVIE!!!
And like I said, the production company he works for KNOWS he's a writer/director, and they're WAITING for him to hit 'em with a finished screenplay! And Kel seems to have an idea how he can shoot this thing with the resources he has at his disposal. (Some of these resources would astound you!!! Like the ability to take 15 pound off an already hot singer for her music video -- I've SEEN IT!)
So I am, naturally, ELATED!!! Not only has my first screenplay landed in my lap, but I don't have to write it alone!!! AND, it VERY WELL may turn out to be my first PRODUCED screenplay!!! (Second, if you count a pilot for an independant TV series that never got bought, back around 1995-ish. )
So YAY!!!
GREAT evening for Ray Jay!!!
And I'll be keeping you updated, natch.
PEACE!!!
Monday, February 20, 2006
A Couple of Cool Sites
Okay, you may already know about this site, but I only just discovered it and I HAVE TO share it!!! It's called I Am Bored and it's GENIUS!!!
Also, I found the official site for the animated CLERKS series!!! It's still up!!! (I LOVE that show!!! I wish they had produced more than 6 episodes!)
Also, I found the official site for the animated CLERKS series!!! It's still up!!! (I LOVE that show!!! I wish they had produced more than 6 episodes!)
Sunday, February 19, 2006
I JUST FINISHED CELL!!!
This ones a keeper!!!
Stephen King has written a novel that is as close as he's probably likely to get to a straight-up APOCOLYPTIC ZOMBIE FLICK!!!
I love me some apocolypse!!! (Fictitious, of course. Reall apocolypses tend to me so... you know... Horrifying.) Because the essence of any good apocolyptic story is what the survivors do AFTERWARD! We think of apocolypse and we thing "It's all over." But in apocolyptic literature, MOST of the story is about what comes next!
Plus, there's that whole examination of What Is Humanity? And What Is Civilization? And What Is Necessity? And What Is Truly Important To Us?
And CELL doesn't disppoint!!!
It's a good book! Defintely a worthy read!
My next read turns out to be a local author!!! MY LATE DAD'S PASTOR!!! She showed up to check on the family the day my Dad passed, she was really cool and sweet, and kind of took over stuff when she got there, so Mom and Brian and me didn't have to worry about morbid details. She was (and is) just this LIGHT!
And the sermon she gave at Dad's memorial service was respectful and expressed what we were feeling, but she also managed to be incredibly uplifiting and inspirational, too!!! (She helped me see my dad in a fulness I could not have known before.)
And this means A LOT coming from me, because I'm not a fan of death rituals, and I'm not a fan of organized religions. I believe we are meant to find our OWN connection to God, we shouldn't have a go-between. We don't talk to God's agent, we speak to the Man HImself, if you will.
But Tina -- Pastor Tina -- has this spirituality that can FULLY embrace a specific dogma, a specific doctrine without being exclusive about how she communicates the Truth. My best friend Kelly, who is a fiercely devout Christian, approved of her message just as passionately as I, a fiercely devout non-devotee, did.
And after Dad's service I read some of her sermons online, and felt compelled to email her and tell her how brilliant she is!
Anway, a recent email conversation found me going on about the shooting and writing and stuff I've been up to, and Pastor Tina says that when we become famous maybe we can adapt her novel into a movie.
HER NOVEL?!!
First of all, she's got 2 PHDs, is a brilliant orator, and obviously a wise theologian. So I wouldn't be the SLIGHTEST BIT surprised to hear that she had written a text of some sort.
But novels are FICTION. That's my 'hood! She writes FICTION!!!
LET ME AT IT!!!
So I hopped on Amazon and bought it, but it came after I had already begun CELL, and I HAD TO finish THAT ONE! (I'm a Horror-whore, in case you weren't already well aware of that.)
And now I'm stoked to leap into Tina's world
I've read the firt chapter, which is essentially a teaser, gauranteeing that you're in for a rough ride, but also assuring you that things will turn out okay.
Goorvy. I'm hooked!
So I may be going off about her novel the next time you hear from me.
For the time being, however, I'm going to finally sit down to THE CONSTANT GARDENER. I've done my laundry for the week, I've determined that The Muse isn't stopping by tonight, so there's no writing that needs to be done. I'm gonna watch me a movie!!!
Stephen King has written a novel that is as close as he's probably likely to get to a straight-up APOCOLYPTIC ZOMBIE FLICK!!!
I love me some apocolypse!!! (Fictitious, of course. Reall apocolypses tend to me so... you know... Horrifying.) Because the essence of any good apocolyptic story is what the survivors do AFTERWARD! We think of apocolypse and we thing "It's all over." But in apocolyptic literature, MOST of the story is about what comes next!
Plus, there's that whole examination of What Is Humanity? And What Is Civilization? And What Is Necessity? And What Is Truly Important To Us?
And CELL doesn't disppoint!!!
It's a good book! Defintely a worthy read!
My next read turns out to be a local author!!! MY LATE DAD'S PASTOR!!! She showed up to check on the family the day my Dad passed, she was really cool and sweet, and kind of took over stuff when she got there, so Mom and Brian and me didn't have to worry about morbid details. She was (and is) just this LIGHT!
And the sermon she gave at Dad's memorial service was respectful and expressed what we were feeling, but she also managed to be incredibly uplifiting and inspirational, too!!! (She helped me see my dad in a fulness I could not have known before.)
And this means A LOT coming from me, because I'm not a fan of death rituals, and I'm not a fan of organized religions. I believe we are meant to find our OWN connection to God, we shouldn't have a go-between. We don't talk to God's agent, we speak to the Man HImself, if you will.
But Tina -- Pastor Tina -- has this spirituality that can FULLY embrace a specific dogma, a specific doctrine without being exclusive about how she communicates the Truth. My best friend Kelly, who is a fiercely devout Christian, approved of her message just as passionately as I, a fiercely devout non-devotee, did.
And after Dad's service I read some of her sermons online, and felt compelled to email her and tell her how brilliant she is!
Anway, a recent email conversation found me going on about the shooting and writing and stuff I've been up to, and Pastor Tina says that when we become famous maybe we can adapt her novel into a movie.
HER NOVEL?!!
First of all, she's got 2 PHDs, is a brilliant orator, and obviously a wise theologian. So I wouldn't be the SLIGHTEST BIT surprised to hear that she had written a text of some sort.
But novels are FICTION. That's my 'hood! She writes FICTION!!!
LET ME AT IT!!!
So I hopped on Amazon and bought it, but it came after I had already begun CELL, and I HAD TO finish THAT ONE! (I'm a Horror-whore, in case you weren't already well aware of that.)
And now I'm stoked to leap into Tina's world
I've read the firt chapter, which is essentially a teaser, gauranteeing that you're in for a rough ride, but also assuring you that things will turn out okay.
Goorvy. I'm hooked!
So I may be going off about her novel the next time you hear from me.
For the time being, however, I'm going to finally sit down to THE CONSTANT GARDENER. I've done my laundry for the week, I've determined that The Muse isn't stopping by tonight, so there's no writing that needs to be done. I'm gonna watch me a movie!!!
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Hmm...
If April showers bring May flowers, what do February sprinkles bring?
I don't have a clever punchline for that.
Just thought the question needed to be asked.
Any thoughts?
I don't have a clever punchline for that.
Just thought the question needed to be asked.
Any thoughts?
Monday, February 13, 2006
What A Weekend I've Had!!!
The weekend starts off with a bang.
Tisha is going to be in San Antonio all weekend, so for the price of a tank of gas (as oposed to the 3 or 4 tanks I buy when I drive to Levelland) I get to spend a day with my daughter!!!
The plan is that I get to sleep a quickly as I can when I get home Friday night, then wake up at 10 am so I can be in San Antonio at 1 pm.
Some people use Niquil or sleeping pills to get to sleep fast. I'm an old-fashioned boy; I shoot Jager.
Two shots, I climb into bed and pop some X-MEN: EVOLUTION in the portable dvd player.
I watch the fist episode on the disc, and I'm REALLY digging it! A little too much. It seems that the combination of the surround-sound effect of the headphones, the pretty good writing and really good animation of the show, and the alcohol are combining to have the reverse effect from what I was going for. I'm having too good a time here.
I need to get sleepy.
Two more shots of Jager.
Also, it's looking like and animated Action show isn't the best way to go. Maybe if I listen to some stand-up comedy... Stand-up is designed to activate the brain; the comedian paints word pictures so that he/she can engage you with a specific image, then surprise you with the punchline, which will be a humorously exaggerated image. Plus, they work with themes and ideas to give the jokes structure.
The point is that stand-up uses the mind.
And I've found, by falling to sleep to books-on-cd, that when I'm not laying in complete silence and dark, TRYING to fall asleep, but instead my mind is engaged creating images, and just not worrying about anything, I'm much more likely to actually doze off. The images created by the words I'm hearing become other images, just the random jetsom of my subconscious.
So I try some Bobcat Goldthwait, his album I DON'T MEAN TO INSULT YOU BUT YOU LOOK JUST LIKE BOBCAT GOLDTHWAIT.
I end up laughing a lot and listening to the WHOLE album!
Okay, two more shots and some George Carlin that I've heard at least three times already.
I guess I ended up drifting off around 5:30 am -- which isn't too far from the time I usually fall asleep.
It never fails! When you WANT TO go to sleep, you just can't!
So I wake up around 12:30 pm to the phone ringing. It's Tisha. She can tell by my voice that I'm still asleep.
"You slept through your alarm, huh?"
"Yep. Sorry! I'll get in the shower NOW!"
I have a vague memory of the alarm going off... I set it for 10 am -- which would give me an hour to get up and get ready. My memory is looking at the clock and seeing that it's 11:28 am. I think I remember sitting up.
Then I DEFINITELY remember waking up to the phone.
So I get to San Antonio some 2 hours later than I intended, but once I get there all is right with the world!
Tisha has braces now, and they look COOL!
Plus every time I see her she's taller than the last time!
Her best friend Marisa had accompanied her on the trip, and her grandparents/adoptive parents had business that they were still busy with, so the three of us catted around the Riverwalk.
Mostly shopping. Tisha wanted UT gear, and they both wanted to find gift to take back to their boyfriends.
I brought the camera, so I spent a lot of my time shooting them and the sights.
We bombed around downtown SA for a while, but when we got back to the place Connie and Dale were, they were STILL busy! So Tisha and Marisa and I played what I call "Travel Clue" for a while in the lobby.
This is basically CLUE without the board and dice. You ask questions and mark down stuf on your little notepad until someone figures out Who and How and Where. Without the board, the game moves a LOT faster, and you can fit the whole setup into a plastic sandwich back that you can slip in your back pocket. (I keep mine in my Homestar Runner satchel that I take everywhere with me.)
Oh, yeah! When I got to the building where Tisha was, and I met Marisa for the first time, Marisa takes a single look at my bag and says "That's Homestar Runner"!!! I know RIGHT OFF THE BAT that Marisa's Good People!
So anyway, we get 2 and a half games in before Connie and Dale are finally through.
Tisha and I tend to play this game whenever we're together for more than a day, so we've got our strategy down, AND we have a good sense of how to keep an eye on each other. I won the first game because I had my eye on Tisha and I spotted the moment she figured it out. (So she SHOULD HAVE won, but I exploited the rules of the game and stole her thunder. Yes, I AM that much of a bastard.) But Tisha won the second game. Because I stole her first win, she was less careful and moved faster on the accusation.
Then, before we were far into the third game, Connie and Dale were done and we all hit the Alamo!
After the Alamo we did more shopping. I got to talk politics with Dale, which is something he LOVES to do. He's a Conservative and I used to be way-Liberal, but I lean more toward Libertarian nowadays. Still, he loves to debate ideals with me. I don't know why. I'm guessing it's because his household is full of women, who simply REFUSE to even listen. (That's not always true: Tisha can be very political at times. Year before last she and Dale and I got into a debate in which she her views were more conservative that Dales! Dale and I were on the same side of that debate!!! Almsot NEVER happens!)
After shopping was dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe -- and that was my FIRST TIME to go there! Not the one in San Antonio, specifically, but ANY Hard Rock Cafe!
That was pretty cool.
Then we went to the River Center mall. It was neat, it's this multilevel mall BUILT AROUND THE RIVER!!! So where ever you are in the mall, the windows you're ALWAYS looking out over the river!
I hadn't had coffee all day, so while the ladies shopped for clothes, Dale and I went for coffee -- and more politics talk.
We closed the mall and then hung out at their hotel room for a bit, then I came home and caught up on the last 2 episodes of GILMORE GIRLS -- which were both GREAT!
Then I woke up a little before 5:00 pm today, JUST in time for the weekly Family Dinner w/Mom and Brian.
After that, I went to see FINAL DESTINATION 3... AND IT WAS GREAT!!! The third movie in the franchise is JUST AS GOOD as the first 2!!! Those are some filmmakers who REALLY, LEGITIMATELY CARE about us, their audience!!!
Then after the movie I finally gave into the silent hype... Every time I go to Walmart Stephen King's new novel CELL just keeps yelling at me, "BUY ME! YOU'LL LIKE THIS ONE, BUY ME!!!" Only, because it's Stephen King (hit-and-miss for me) I would rather have the book-on-cd. His longest, least intriguing tomes are still great when you're traveling, or while you play Tomb Raider 3! PLUS, with my ZVUE I can take my books ANYWHERE! (After I convert the discs -- there are 12, 13 hours of play! -- into mp3s, of course.)
So while I was still riding the adrenalin rush from FD3, I stopped by Borders on the way home and grabbed CELL on cd -- unabridged, and 30% off!!!
And while I've been writing this entry, I've also been converting the discs to mp3s. I'm about to start Disc 10.
And that catches you up with my weekend.
Perhaps less exciting for you than it was for me... But this is my blog, so nyah :P
Tisha is going to be in San Antonio all weekend, so for the price of a tank of gas (as oposed to the 3 or 4 tanks I buy when I drive to Levelland) I get to spend a day with my daughter!!!
The plan is that I get to sleep a quickly as I can when I get home Friday night, then wake up at 10 am so I can be in San Antonio at 1 pm.
Some people use Niquil or sleeping pills to get to sleep fast. I'm an old-fashioned boy; I shoot Jager.
Two shots, I climb into bed and pop some X-MEN: EVOLUTION in the portable dvd player.
I watch the fist episode on the disc, and I'm REALLY digging it! A little too much. It seems that the combination of the surround-sound effect of the headphones, the pretty good writing and really good animation of the show, and the alcohol are combining to have the reverse effect from what I was going for. I'm having too good a time here.
I need to get sleepy.
Two more shots of Jager.
Also, it's looking like and animated Action show isn't the best way to go. Maybe if I listen to some stand-up comedy... Stand-up is designed to activate the brain; the comedian paints word pictures so that he/she can engage you with a specific image, then surprise you with the punchline, which will be a humorously exaggerated image. Plus, they work with themes and ideas to give the jokes structure.
The point is that stand-up uses the mind.
And I've found, by falling to sleep to books-on-cd, that when I'm not laying in complete silence and dark, TRYING to fall asleep, but instead my mind is engaged creating images, and just not worrying about anything, I'm much more likely to actually doze off. The images created by the words I'm hearing become other images, just the random jetsom of my subconscious.
So I try some Bobcat Goldthwait, his album I DON'T MEAN TO INSULT YOU BUT YOU LOOK JUST LIKE BOBCAT GOLDTHWAIT.
I end up laughing a lot and listening to the WHOLE album!
Okay, two more shots and some George Carlin that I've heard at least three times already.
I guess I ended up drifting off around 5:30 am -- which isn't too far from the time I usually fall asleep.
It never fails! When you WANT TO go to sleep, you just can't!
So I wake up around 12:30 pm to the phone ringing. It's Tisha. She can tell by my voice that I'm still asleep.
"You slept through your alarm, huh?"
"Yep. Sorry! I'll get in the shower NOW!"
I have a vague memory of the alarm going off... I set it for 10 am -- which would give me an hour to get up and get ready. My memory is looking at the clock and seeing that it's 11:28 am. I think I remember sitting up.
Then I DEFINITELY remember waking up to the phone.
So I get to San Antonio some 2 hours later than I intended, but once I get there all is right with the world!
Tisha has braces now, and they look COOL!
Plus every time I see her she's taller than the last time!
Her best friend Marisa had accompanied her on the trip, and her grandparents/adoptive parents had business that they were still busy with, so the three of us catted around the Riverwalk.
Mostly shopping. Tisha wanted UT gear, and they both wanted to find gift to take back to their boyfriends.
I brought the camera, so I spent a lot of my time shooting them and the sights.
We bombed around downtown SA for a while, but when we got back to the place Connie and Dale were, they were STILL busy! So Tisha and Marisa and I played what I call "Travel Clue" for a while in the lobby.
This is basically CLUE without the board and dice. You ask questions and mark down stuf on your little notepad until someone figures out Who and How and Where. Without the board, the game moves a LOT faster, and you can fit the whole setup into a plastic sandwich back that you can slip in your back pocket. (I keep mine in my Homestar Runner satchel that I take everywhere with me.)
Oh, yeah! When I got to the building where Tisha was, and I met Marisa for the first time, Marisa takes a single look at my bag and says "That's Homestar Runner"!!! I know RIGHT OFF THE BAT that Marisa's Good People!
So anyway, we get 2 and a half games in before Connie and Dale are finally through.
Tisha and I tend to play this game whenever we're together for more than a day, so we've got our strategy down, AND we have a good sense of how to keep an eye on each other. I won the first game because I had my eye on Tisha and I spotted the moment she figured it out. (So she SHOULD HAVE won, but I exploited the rules of the game and stole her thunder. Yes, I AM that much of a bastard.) But Tisha won the second game. Because I stole her first win, she was less careful and moved faster on the accusation.
Then, before we were far into the third game, Connie and Dale were done and we all hit the Alamo!
After the Alamo we did more shopping. I got to talk politics with Dale, which is something he LOVES to do. He's a Conservative and I used to be way-Liberal, but I lean more toward Libertarian nowadays. Still, he loves to debate ideals with me. I don't know why. I'm guessing it's because his household is full of women, who simply REFUSE to even listen. (That's not always true: Tisha can be very political at times. Year before last she and Dale and I got into a debate in which she her views were more conservative that Dales! Dale and I were on the same side of that debate!!! Almsot NEVER happens!)
After shopping was dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe -- and that was my FIRST TIME to go there! Not the one in San Antonio, specifically, but ANY Hard Rock Cafe!
That was pretty cool.
Then we went to the River Center mall. It was neat, it's this multilevel mall BUILT AROUND THE RIVER!!! So where ever you are in the mall, the windows you're ALWAYS looking out over the river!
I hadn't had coffee all day, so while the ladies shopped for clothes, Dale and I went for coffee -- and more politics talk.
We closed the mall and then hung out at their hotel room for a bit, then I came home and caught up on the last 2 episodes of GILMORE GIRLS -- which were both GREAT!
Then I woke up a little before 5:00 pm today, JUST in time for the weekly Family Dinner w/Mom and Brian.
After that, I went to see FINAL DESTINATION 3... AND IT WAS GREAT!!! The third movie in the franchise is JUST AS GOOD as the first 2!!! Those are some filmmakers who REALLY, LEGITIMATELY CARE about us, their audience!!!
Then after the movie I finally gave into the silent hype... Every time I go to Walmart Stephen King's new novel CELL just keeps yelling at me, "BUY ME! YOU'LL LIKE THIS ONE, BUY ME!!!" Only, because it's Stephen King (hit-and-miss for me) I would rather have the book-on-cd. His longest, least intriguing tomes are still great when you're traveling, or while you play Tomb Raider 3! PLUS, with my ZVUE I can take my books ANYWHERE! (After I convert the discs -- there are 12, 13 hours of play! -- into mp3s, of course.)
So while I was still riding the adrenalin rush from FD3, I stopped by Borders on the way home and grabbed CELL on cd -- unabridged, and 30% off!!!
And while I've been writing this entry, I've also been converting the discs to mp3s. I'm about to start Disc 10.
And that catches you up with my weekend.
Perhaps less exciting for you than it was for me... But this is my blog, so nyah :P
Thursday, February 09, 2006
A Sound Rant
To wind down last night I watched THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK on my portable dvd player in my room.
(Don't know why I was in the mood for that particular movie, I just was. Usually when I feel like watching dinosaurs terrorize humankind I watch JP III. I've seen the first movie TOO many times, so I don't really watch it anymore. Besides, if I'm in the mood to visit Jurassic Park I've got the book-on-cd version of Michael Crichton's novel, read by John Heard. It's abridged, running, like, 3 hours TRT, and yet it still packs 50% more story and action that the movie was able to fit in! Plus, it's darker in tone with a more scientific bent -- like most of Crichton's work. GOOD STUFF!)
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this viewing last night!
There are a couple of reliable scare moments in LOST WORLD that are gaurenteed to make me jump, but what surprised me most was how much I got into just the action of the movie! I was really interested the whole way through! When I saw the movie in the theater I was disappointed, and when I watched it on VHS or dvd afterward it was usually just because I wanted to watch dinosaurs and had seen the first one too many times.
But last night, I really dug on the flick!
And I think what made it work was the headphones!
Let me explain a bit:
When I saw the American version of GODZILLA on the Big Screen the first 3 times, I LOVED it! I had a blast! I really enjoyed that movie!!! I kid you not.
On the Big Screen.
When I watched in on VHS, and later on dvd, I wan't impressed AT ALL. I grew to loath the flick. Well, not loath it... It was more like I pittied it for all it's short-comings. For all the ways it failed us, the audience, when it so enthusiastically thought it was being revolutionary or something. It took a lot of chances, and most of them failed.
On VHS and dvd, that is.
So what's the difference between the media?
The EXPERIENCE. The movie-viewing experience is VASTLY different in the theater than at home on TV.
In the theater the image is some 20 feet high and however many feet long, and the lights are out -- so ALL you can see is the movie.
At home, these white or off-white walls reflect all the light, either sunlight coming in from the windows or lamp light bouncing around, to really emphasize how small your TV screen is. You are INTENSELY aware -- subconsciously, if nothing else -- of the fact that you're watching TV.
You're just watching a movie on TV. Nothing special. No big deal. It's just TV.
If someone wants to talk to you, you are socially responsible for listening to them. After all, it's not like you're in a movie theater or anything.
Ya gotta go to the bathroom? PAUSE, "Be right back." There's no urgency, no "Do I have time? What's gonna happen next? Should I hold it? They might be kissing for a while, but what if that thing's still behind the door? I could miss it!"
Unless you are seeing the movie for the first or second time, watching it on TV is not in any way an EVENT. You're just killin' time.
I'm saying that it's psychological. Subconscious. It's the size of the screen, the fact that you can see EVEREYTHING around the screen, and the subconscious attitutudes and habbits we have programmed into us about watching a movie on TV. We tend not to be IMMERSED IN movies on TV.
Okay. So why was my viewing last night so intense and enjoyable?
I was watching on a PORTABLE DVD PLAYER. We're not talking about an IMAX screen here. In fact, the screen on my dvd player is approximately a quarter of the size of the screen on my computer monitor.
The picture's CRISP... but COMPACTED. In fact, if you've ever sized-down a jpeg image, and you noticed those little artifacts (that kid of pixelation sort of ) that occur when you make an image TOO small... That occurs to video sometimes on my dvd player.
I mean, I can see everything clearly and sharply. In fact, I caught a few in-jokes when the bus gets slammed into the video store. There are posters for the following movies in the store: Arnold Schwartzenegger in WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S KING LEAR, Robin Williams as the Giant in JACK AND THE BEANSTALK, and Tom Hanks in TSUENOMI SUNRISE! (I had to zoom-in to be able to read Tom Hanks's name, though.)
Still, it's not what I'm looking at that makes the movie as exciting as it was on the Big Screen.
I believe -- and that's why I bothered to sit down and write this little tome -- that it's WHAT I'M HEARING that makes it work.
I've known for a LONG time about the power of audio. Been a fan since I was on a family trip around age 12 or 13, and I escaped the boredom of listening to adults catch up with adult stuff by popping a cassette of THE LONE RANGER radio show into my walkman and disappearing into the Wild West! Then, when I fell in love with the Tom Hanks/Dan Akroyd movie DRAGNET and I discovered that before it was a cheesy, too-serious-for-its-own-good TV show it was a cheesy, too-serious-for-its-own-good radio show, I ran down to the Ector County Public Library and checked out all the tapes they had of the show. Even then, I had already been listening to the vinyl album of Orson Welles's infamous radio broadcast of THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, the research about which had gotten me into THE SHADOW. Plus, stumbling across a cassette -- around Halloween time, I think -- of an episode of THE INNER SANCTUM introduced me to the sheer joy that is audio-horror!
So I've long frequented the Theatre of the Mind, and have long known that the imagination could conjure far more gruesome, exciting, or straight-up beautiful images than any combination of director, cinematographer, art director and special effects wizard.
Still, that's not what I'm talking about here. LOST WORLD already HAD images. I was watching them. (Plus, Spielberg's a brilliant filmmaker, he tells the story visually; if I hadn't been looking at the pictures I wouldn't have know what was going on.)
I'm talking about SOUND DESIGN.
Since the late '80s (at least since the time that Lucas created the THX sound system) cinema sound designers have been hiring and/or training aural GENIUSES! Their techniques are so subtle and so sophisticated that if there is something going on off-screen that doesn't exist exept in sound (say there's a fire that we saw the shot before, and now we're getting the reactions of the characters that are watching this building burn; we see the faces, but we hear the fire) the sound will shift between the cuts so that it's on the proper side of the character! And in such a scene, the off-camera sound is the ONLY thing keeping that fire alive in our imaginations! That's TOTALLY the work of the sound designers!
And that's a subtle thing, but it's not even as subtle as these guys get! I was watching the scene where Malcom is visiting Hammond at his (Hammond's) estate, and I had to pause the movie a couple of times and remove the headphones just to be sure this tiny little tinkling sound was actually coming from the movie. Hammond, apparently, was listening to this classical piano piece. But the sound mix had it almost completely removed from the soundtrack. It was this tiny little subliminal key to Hammond's character that revealed that while he was at home he always had this sublime music filling the large space of the home. Here in his room, it was almost inaudible. But in the reality of the world of the movie, almost inaudible or not, this sound would be there -- even if just barely.
The reality of filmmaking means that this room was most likely a sound stage, in no way attatched to the vast hallway we had just seen in the scene before. But the sound designers are all about helping CREATE the reality of the movie!
The night before that I wound-down watching the first X-MEN movie, and was more emotionally engaged in it thatn I had expected to be!
Don't get me wrong: Bryan Singer is a GREAT director and X-MEN is a straight-up great movie! I ALWAYS enjoy watching that movie!!!
But I did enjoy watching it on my tiny little dvd player much more than I expected.
And I believe it's about the sound.
I think that even without the spacial effect of having the 5-point surroundsound setup, the headphones immerses you in the world, which in turn brings you emotionally into the world of the movie.
I know that's the case with some of the great audio I've heard!
I'm not talking about X MINUS ONE or LIGHTS OUT. Those were recorded in mono. Those merely illustrate the power of listening with your imagination.
But I am talking about the HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY radio series (particularly the Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases!) and the CHRONICLES OF NARNIA RADIO THEATRE and the STAR WARS RADIO DRAMAS!!!
SERIOSULY! Slide some headphones on and listen to a single episode of ANY of those series!!! It is a SINGULAR delight!
Why am I going on about this?
I guess I'm just still amazed that something that gets so little notice can be SO impacting!
Plus, who knows? Maybe someone will read this an look at audio dramas or theatrical cinema in a new way.
Mainly, though, I guess I just woke up obsessed with the notion, and had to get it out of me...
(Don't know why I was in the mood for that particular movie, I just was. Usually when I feel like watching dinosaurs terrorize humankind I watch JP III. I've seen the first movie TOO many times, so I don't really watch it anymore. Besides, if I'm in the mood to visit Jurassic Park I've got the book-on-cd version of Michael Crichton's novel, read by John Heard. It's abridged, running, like, 3 hours TRT, and yet it still packs 50% more story and action that the movie was able to fit in! Plus, it's darker in tone with a more scientific bent -- like most of Crichton's work. GOOD STUFF!)
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this viewing last night!
There are a couple of reliable scare moments in LOST WORLD that are gaurenteed to make me jump, but what surprised me most was how much I got into just the action of the movie! I was really interested the whole way through! When I saw the movie in the theater I was disappointed, and when I watched it on VHS or dvd afterward it was usually just because I wanted to watch dinosaurs and had seen the first one too many times.
But last night, I really dug on the flick!
And I think what made it work was the headphones!
Let me explain a bit:
When I saw the American version of GODZILLA on the Big Screen the first 3 times, I LOVED it! I had a blast! I really enjoyed that movie!!! I kid you not.
On the Big Screen.
When I watched in on VHS, and later on dvd, I wan't impressed AT ALL. I grew to loath the flick. Well, not loath it... It was more like I pittied it for all it's short-comings. For all the ways it failed us, the audience, when it so enthusiastically thought it was being revolutionary or something. It took a lot of chances, and most of them failed.
On VHS and dvd, that is.
So what's the difference between the media?
The EXPERIENCE. The movie-viewing experience is VASTLY different in the theater than at home on TV.
In the theater the image is some 20 feet high and however many feet long, and the lights are out -- so ALL you can see is the movie.
At home, these white or off-white walls reflect all the light, either sunlight coming in from the windows or lamp light bouncing around, to really emphasize how small your TV screen is. You are INTENSELY aware -- subconsciously, if nothing else -- of the fact that you're watching TV.
You're just watching a movie on TV. Nothing special. No big deal. It's just TV.
If someone wants to talk to you, you are socially responsible for listening to them. After all, it's not like you're in a movie theater or anything.
Ya gotta go to the bathroom? PAUSE, "Be right back." There's no urgency, no "Do I have time? What's gonna happen next? Should I hold it? They might be kissing for a while, but what if that thing's still behind the door? I could miss it!"
Unless you are seeing the movie for the first or second time, watching it on TV is not in any way an EVENT. You're just killin' time.
I'm saying that it's psychological. Subconscious. It's the size of the screen, the fact that you can see EVEREYTHING around the screen, and the subconscious attitutudes and habbits we have programmed into us about watching a movie on TV. We tend not to be IMMERSED IN movies on TV.
Okay. So why was my viewing last night so intense and enjoyable?
I was watching on a PORTABLE DVD PLAYER. We're not talking about an IMAX screen here. In fact, the screen on my dvd player is approximately a quarter of the size of the screen on my computer monitor.
The picture's CRISP... but COMPACTED. In fact, if you've ever sized-down a jpeg image, and you noticed those little artifacts (that kid of pixelation sort of ) that occur when you make an image TOO small... That occurs to video sometimes on my dvd player.
I mean, I can see everything clearly and sharply. In fact, I caught a few in-jokes when the bus gets slammed into the video store. There are posters for the following movies in the store: Arnold Schwartzenegger in WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S KING LEAR, Robin Williams as the Giant in JACK AND THE BEANSTALK, and Tom Hanks in TSUENOMI SUNRISE! (I had to zoom-in to be able to read Tom Hanks's name, though.)
Still, it's not what I'm looking at that makes the movie as exciting as it was on the Big Screen.
I believe -- and that's why I bothered to sit down and write this little tome -- that it's WHAT I'M HEARING that makes it work.
I've known for a LONG time about the power of audio. Been a fan since I was on a family trip around age 12 or 13, and I escaped the boredom of listening to adults catch up with adult stuff by popping a cassette of THE LONE RANGER radio show into my walkman and disappearing into the Wild West! Then, when I fell in love with the Tom Hanks/Dan Akroyd movie DRAGNET and I discovered that before it was a cheesy, too-serious-for-its-own-good TV show it was a cheesy, too-serious-for-its-own-good radio show, I ran down to the Ector County Public Library and checked out all the tapes they had of the show. Even then, I had already been listening to the vinyl album of Orson Welles's infamous radio broadcast of THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, the research about which had gotten me into THE SHADOW. Plus, stumbling across a cassette -- around Halloween time, I think -- of an episode of THE INNER SANCTUM introduced me to the sheer joy that is audio-horror!
So I've long frequented the Theatre of the Mind, and have long known that the imagination could conjure far more gruesome, exciting, or straight-up beautiful images than any combination of director, cinematographer, art director and special effects wizard.
Still, that's not what I'm talking about here. LOST WORLD already HAD images. I was watching them. (Plus, Spielberg's a brilliant filmmaker, he tells the story visually; if I hadn't been looking at the pictures I wouldn't have know what was going on.)
I'm talking about SOUND DESIGN.
Since the late '80s (at least since the time that Lucas created the THX sound system) cinema sound designers have been hiring and/or training aural GENIUSES! Their techniques are so subtle and so sophisticated that if there is something going on off-screen that doesn't exist exept in sound (say there's a fire that we saw the shot before, and now we're getting the reactions of the characters that are watching this building burn; we see the faces, but we hear the fire) the sound will shift between the cuts so that it's on the proper side of the character! And in such a scene, the off-camera sound is the ONLY thing keeping that fire alive in our imaginations! That's TOTALLY the work of the sound designers!
And that's a subtle thing, but it's not even as subtle as these guys get! I was watching the scene where Malcom is visiting Hammond at his (Hammond's) estate, and I had to pause the movie a couple of times and remove the headphones just to be sure this tiny little tinkling sound was actually coming from the movie. Hammond, apparently, was listening to this classical piano piece. But the sound mix had it almost completely removed from the soundtrack. It was this tiny little subliminal key to Hammond's character that revealed that while he was at home he always had this sublime music filling the large space of the home. Here in his room, it was almost inaudible. But in the reality of the world of the movie, almost inaudible or not, this sound would be there -- even if just barely.
The reality of filmmaking means that this room was most likely a sound stage, in no way attatched to the vast hallway we had just seen in the scene before. But the sound designers are all about helping CREATE the reality of the movie!
The night before that I wound-down watching the first X-MEN movie, and was more emotionally engaged in it thatn I had expected to be!
Don't get me wrong: Bryan Singer is a GREAT director and X-MEN is a straight-up great movie! I ALWAYS enjoy watching that movie!!!
But I did enjoy watching it on my tiny little dvd player much more than I expected.
And I believe it's about the sound.
I think that even without the spacial effect of having the 5-point surroundsound setup, the headphones immerses you in the world, which in turn brings you emotionally into the world of the movie.
I know that's the case with some of the great audio I've heard!
I'm not talking about X MINUS ONE or LIGHTS OUT. Those were recorded in mono. Those merely illustrate the power of listening with your imagination.
But I am talking about the HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY radio series (particularly the Tertiary, Quandary and Quintessential Phases!) and the CHRONICLES OF NARNIA RADIO THEATRE and the STAR WARS RADIO DRAMAS!!!
SERIOSULY! Slide some headphones on and listen to a single episode of ANY of those series!!! It is a SINGULAR delight!
Why am I going on about this?
I guess I'm just still amazed that something that gets so little notice can be SO impacting!
Plus, who knows? Maybe someone will read this an look at audio dramas or theatrical cinema in a new way.
Mainly, though, I guess I just woke up obsessed with the notion, and had to get it out of me...
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Here's A Good Story...
This is a good one. It's kind of like the Oral Hygiene On The Highway story. Happened to me just today...
Alright, so last night I go off on my little tangent about how great it would be to have an email flirt-friend, and there's this girl on MySpace that, out of no where, has emailed me to say she wanted to be friends. I emailed her back and said that'd be cool.
Her profile says she's an L.A. girl, so it's not going anywhere beyond the Net. And unless she's EXTREMELY unbalanced, she gets that, too.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not naive. I get that it's highly suspicious when a hottie (MySpace has pics in your profile, so when you email each other, you get to see what the person emailing looks like) just decides she wants to get to know me out of nowhere. I mean, I'm CUTE... But... Women usually have to have at least one several-hour, in-depth philosophical/spiritual conversation with be before they start thinking of me as a being with genitals.
Still, I'm not looking for much, right? I'm not even looking for something REAL. Just some little online flirting to distract me every now and then.
So okay. Her second email includes her personal email address as a "sign of trust". Cool. I'm down. Her emails are short, and kind of form-letter-y, but she's just being safe. So I email her from my real email addy and talk a little longer, break the ice a bit. I ask her what interested her in my profile and cop to what interests me about hers, admitting that her agressive friendliness is really attractive.
I'm at work, and I just finished the heavy portion of my job, the portion that keeps me busy the longest, and I log in to my email and see that SHE HAS ALREADY REPLIED TO MY EMAIL!!!
Hmm...
Things could be looking UP for Ray Jay...
So I take care of a couple of small things, make sure nothing here at work is going to blow up if I take a minute to read a message, and then I open her message up.
It says, like, "Hey, Honey" and "Thanks for responding to my email" and "You're so sweet" and stuff. Then it says "here's another picture of me"...
AND THEN she says "you can see me on my webcam" and sends me an URL to HER WEBSITE!!! AND TELLS ME WE CAN CHAT THERE!!! (After I clear an age check, though, which will PROBABLY involve my credit card number...)
I'm being WORKED by a PRO!
Now, I've GOT TO GIVE IT UP TO HER for her marketing strategy! Seriously, a well-deserved KUDOS to the babe for a BRILLIANT recruiting method!!! You can particularly see the cleverness of her strategy if you read my previous blog entry (I'm not trying to plug it, just making a point) and get the headspace I'm kind of sometimes in!
She doesn't know it, but I'm a PERFECT mark! (Well, ALMOST perfect; I'm a bit TOO inquisitive and attentive...)
You go to some online gathering place, email every cat who might be a potential customer, then after a couple of ingeniuously sparse -- yet flirty, don't forget the flirty! -- emails you GIVE your "personal" email address and "real" name, BEFORE THEY DO. Thus you are making yourself vulnerable. Any dude's gonna "volunteer" his real email addy right back!
(I studied magic for about a year with a buddy of mine. We call this tactic a "force". You often do it with cards. You appear to randomize the deck -- by cutting it or doing apparently arbitrary things to mix the cards up -- then tell the mark to take the top card, or middle card, or bottom card or whatever, and the card they pick is the card you have setup for them to pick. Only they believe that THEY picked that card.)
Then, when you have their email addy, THAT'S when you reel 'em in.
Now, to be honest, I haven't looked at that picture she attatched. And I haven't visited the site, either. (I'm at work, so you know... I'll wait.) So I don't know for FACT -- yet -- that I'm a mark.
But let's be REAL...
Oh, and what I intentionally DIDN'T tell you earlier -- because I didn't want to forshadow the punchline, which I KNOW you would have figured out before I did -- was that after receiving her first email I checked out her profile fairly thoroughly. Not a lot there. "I like the outdoors" and "guys who are natural and sensitive." Real sort of evasive, Beauty Queen stuff -- "If I win I'll work to stop world hunger and help the environment..."
But when you check out her FRIENDS...!!!
On MySpace you have a Friends List, which is people who have accounts on MySpace and who have agreed to put you on their Friends List also.
Her Friends List is 17 pages long (mine is 1; my teenage daughter's is 2), and it's 99% dudes! Every type of dude you can imagine, except gay!
Now, I didn't know what this meant at the time, but I made a mental note of it.
So she's insecure and needs to have the attention of a lot of guys. I can respect that. I'm one of a number. Cool. It's not like I'm looking for a girlfriend. Just an email flirt-buddy.
But I'm trying to work it out: She's not an escort, 'cause why would she look for clientele THIS far away? Maybe she's an exotic dancer? Pretty much, same question.
Her profile meantions wanting guys to "spoil" her. This is Chick Speak for "spend a lot of money on me," but this is the Internet. How would THAT apply? What, she's gonna start talking like we're girlfriend & boyfriend somewhere down the road and then ask me when I'm gonna fly her out so we can meet face-to-face? That's easy enough to deal with: "Sorry, I can't afford to." She stops emailing and it's over. Fine. I can deal with that. So I figure there's no way she can get money out of me. Let's see where this goes.
OOOOHHHH! THAT'S where this goes!!!
NOW I get it!
I simply hadn't CONSIDERED Internet porn!
But if I open up the picture she attached and she's all naked and naughty in it, (1) I'll know for certain that I've guessed correctly about her and (2) I'm TOTALLY making it my desktop wallpaper!!!
Plus, one more time, I had to laugh at the sheer GENIUS of her marketing!!! Now THAT'S some skillful entrepreneurship!!!
And I don't know if I've done the story any justice here, but the whole experience is PRETTY DAMN FUNNY!!!
Happy Valentine's Day!!!
Alright, so last night I go off on my little tangent about how great it would be to have an email flirt-friend, and there's this girl on MySpace that, out of no where, has emailed me to say she wanted to be friends. I emailed her back and said that'd be cool.
Her profile says she's an L.A. girl, so it's not going anywhere beyond the Net. And unless she's EXTREMELY unbalanced, she gets that, too.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not naive. I get that it's highly suspicious when a hottie (MySpace has pics in your profile, so when you email each other, you get to see what the person emailing looks like) just decides she wants to get to know me out of nowhere. I mean, I'm CUTE... But... Women usually have to have at least one several-hour, in-depth philosophical/spiritual conversation with be before they start thinking of me as a being with genitals.
Still, I'm not looking for much, right? I'm not even looking for something REAL. Just some little online flirting to distract me every now and then.
So okay. Her second email includes her personal email address as a "sign of trust". Cool. I'm down. Her emails are short, and kind of form-letter-y, but she's just being safe. So I email her from my real email addy and talk a little longer, break the ice a bit. I ask her what interested her in my profile and cop to what interests me about hers, admitting that her agressive friendliness is really attractive.
I'm at work, and I just finished the heavy portion of my job, the portion that keeps me busy the longest, and I log in to my email and see that SHE HAS ALREADY REPLIED TO MY EMAIL!!!
Hmm...
Things could be looking UP for Ray Jay...
So I take care of a couple of small things, make sure nothing here at work is going to blow up if I take a minute to read a message, and then I open her message up.
It says, like, "Hey, Honey" and "Thanks for responding to my email" and "You're so sweet" and stuff. Then it says "here's another picture of me"...
AND THEN she says "you can see me on my webcam" and sends me an URL to HER WEBSITE!!! AND TELLS ME WE CAN CHAT THERE!!! (After I clear an age check, though, which will PROBABLY involve my credit card number...)
I'm being WORKED by a PRO!
Now, I've GOT TO GIVE IT UP TO HER for her marketing strategy! Seriously, a well-deserved KUDOS to the babe for a BRILLIANT recruiting method!!! You can particularly see the cleverness of her strategy if you read my previous blog entry (I'm not trying to plug it, just making a point) and get the headspace I'm kind of sometimes in!
She doesn't know it, but I'm a PERFECT mark! (Well, ALMOST perfect; I'm a bit TOO inquisitive and attentive...)
You go to some online gathering place, email every cat who might be a potential customer, then after a couple of ingeniuously sparse -- yet flirty, don't forget the flirty! -- emails you GIVE your "personal" email address and "real" name, BEFORE THEY DO. Thus you are making yourself vulnerable. Any dude's gonna "volunteer" his real email addy right back!
(I studied magic for about a year with a buddy of mine. We call this tactic a "force". You often do it with cards. You appear to randomize the deck -- by cutting it or doing apparently arbitrary things to mix the cards up -- then tell the mark to take the top card, or middle card, or bottom card or whatever, and the card they pick is the card you have setup for them to pick. Only they believe that THEY picked that card.)
Then, when you have their email addy, THAT'S when you reel 'em in.
Now, to be honest, I haven't looked at that picture she attatched. And I haven't visited the site, either. (I'm at work, so you know... I'll wait.) So I don't know for FACT -- yet -- that I'm a mark.
But let's be REAL...
Oh, and what I intentionally DIDN'T tell you earlier -- because I didn't want to forshadow the punchline, which I KNOW you would have figured out before I did -- was that after receiving her first email I checked out her profile fairly thoroughly. Not a lot there. "I like the outdoors" and "guys who are natural and sensitive." Real sort of evasive, Beauty Queen stuff -- "If I win I'll work to stop world hunger and help the environment..."
But when you check out her FRIENDS...!!!
On MySpace you have a Friends List, which is people who have accounts on MySpace and who have agreed to put you on their Friends List also.
Her Friends List is 17 pages long (mine is 1; my teenage daughter's is 2), and it's 99% dudes! Every type of dude you can imagine, except gay!
Now, I didn't know what this meant at the time, but I made a mental note of it.
So she's insecure and needs to have the attention of a lot of guys. I can respect that. I'm one of a number. Cool. It's not like I'm looking for a girlfriend. Just an email flirt-buddy.
But I'm trying to work it out: She's not an escort, 'cause why would she look for clientele THIS far away? Maybe she's an exotic dancer? Pretty much, same question.
Her profile meantions wanting guys to "spoil" her. This is Chick Speak for "spend a lot of money on me," but this is the Internet. How would THAT apply? What, she's gonna start talking like we're girlfriend & boyfriend somewhere down the road and then ask me when I'm gonna fly her out so we can meet face-to-face? That's easy enough to deal with: "Sorry, I can't afford to." She stops emailing and it's over. Fine. I can deal with that. So I figure there's no way she can get money out of me. Let's see where this goes.
OOOOHHHH! THAT'S where this goes!!!
NOW I get it!
I simply hadn't CONSIDERED Internet porn!
But if I open up the picture she attached and she's all naked and naughty in it, (1) I'll know for certain that I've guessed correctly about her and (2) I'm TOTALLY making it my desktop wallpaper!!!
Plus, one more time, I had to laugh at the sheer GENIUS of her marketing!!! Now THAT'S some skillful entrepreneurship!!!
And I don't know if I've done the story any justice here, but the whole experience is PRETTY DAMN FUNNY!!!
Happy Valentine's Day!!!
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Friggin' Valentine's Day...
It's THAT time of year again!
The time of year when ya just can't escape notions of romance! I mean, I'm happy with my lot. I'd even go so far as to say I'm BLESSED in my life! But the human condition seems to include an inescapable desire for whatever it is we don't have. And romance is, like, the ONE place my life is lacking!
Okay, I could be paid more, and I could be working exclusively in my chosen field -- creating entertainment (films, audio stories, novels, the works). But that's just about time and effort, it's a destination at the end of a process. (It's also the beginning of ANOTHER process, but that's outside the purview of this discussion.)
For the most art, though, I dig on, and deeply appreciate, the life I live!!! It's a lifestyle that keeps me in possitive mental and emotional and spiritual health! It's a lifestyle that makes me disinterested in going to sleep and eager to wake up!
How many people can say that about their lives? Can YOU? (If you can, RIGHT ON! THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!!!)
But this current lifestyle doesn't really allow for (1) time to go out and meet new people frequently or (2) the necessary disposable income that makes going out and meeting new people possible.
One friend suggested, very wisely, that I simply pick a coupld of nights a week and go do my writing at a coffee shop. This would put me in place where I might meet new folks, and if I did meet new people at the hours I would be available to hang at a coffee shop (LATE... or EARLY, depending on your pespective) they would be people with compatible schedules!
I got excited! I didn't have any money that week, but next paycheck I would start!
...but then... you know, LIFE happens. Some dvd came out that I NEEDED to own, or some flick came out in theaters that was a must-see for me, or SOMETHING.
Point is, I never implimented this plan, and doubt I will be implimenting it any time soon.
I'm not complaining, mind you. I would MUCH rather be alone and creating when I'm not at work than in a relationship with the WRONG person. I mean, if she's not a writing, filmmaking or horror-flick/animation-flick/sci-fi geek herself, I'd just make her miserable. (Been there, done THAT.)
Still...
I AM human...
And that patch of grass over there by you sure does look GREEN...
I actually googled "email flirting", hoping that there might be a site or sites dedicated to people in my particular predicament: Too busy -- for the moment -- to actually go on dates, but seeking that little extra something you get when another peson is PARTICULARLY interested in YOU.
Know what I found?
Tips on how to write emails that entice the other party to commit to that first date.
And tips on how to all-out SEDUCE chicks via email.
Apparently I'm the only person in this particular dilemma. I can believe it's actually true, but there just don't seem to be services set up to provide temporary relief for those who are working to accomplish a specific goal, but also could stand to feel like they're special to someone else as they pursue their goal.
I know what you're thinking... "You could just join an on-line dating service." I COULD, but they're geared toward getting people on that all-important First Date. I'd blow the wad on the service and not have any money left over for the date! Besides, I'm sure "Hey, I don't have the time or money to take you out, so can we just flirt online for a few years? You know, until I accomplish my life-long dream of BREAKING INTO THE MOVIE BUSINESS" is something EVERY girl wants to be asked.
"Oh. You're one of THOSE," would be the inevitable reply email.
That, or the MORE dreaded, "You're HOW old?"
Blah.
Like I said, I'm not sincerely complaining. I believe that there is a flow to life, which means that there are also ebbs. Creatively, I'm in a flow. Romantically, I'm in an ebb. It's life. It's how it is for the time. Everything ALWAYS changes, and that's not a bad thing at all.
But I'm intellectually frustrated. I can't help feeling as though there's some part of this puzzled that I'm not seeing, or I'm not looking at in the right way. It's like there's some variable I'm failing to take into account, one that holds the solution, which will inevitably turn out to be ridiculously simple!
Isn't that always the way? You abng your head against a wall for a long time, then when you find the solution you go, "Oh! Of course! Why didn't I see that right away?!"
Anyway, Valentine's Day... Bah humbug!
When are they going to create a Live In The Moment Day, wherein we who are capable of enjoying what we HAVE and where we ARE in life are congratulated, and those-who-are-always-looking-for-that-greener-grass-without-taking-the-time-to-simply- appreciate-what-is-already-theirs are encouraged to experience genuine appreciation for the day?
Oh, wait... There's no money to be made that way. You can't very well entice people to spend money they otherwise wouldn't have spent that day on a holiday "sale" if the holiday embraces contendedness...
Okay, how about this: A girlfriend/boyfriend RENTAL agency!!! For that on-the-go person. You don't have time to develop and nurture a relationship? NO PROBLEM! Come on down to Significant Others R Us and we'll hook you up with a Temp Other for a reasonable price!
I mean, those of us who can't afford to buy a home are allowed to RENT an appartment! It's not like if you can't find THE house that you want to live in for the rest of your life, you have to live in an alley! (Or, in my case, your first choice of house is a bit unrealistic...)
But try to rent a date and you're charged with "solicitation"!
That's a shame, too. Because I could forgo buying as many movies as I do if it were a choice between occasional affection and OWNING a movie I could simply get via Netflix. I think I could find room in my budget for flirtatious emails and/or phone calls. I could find the time, too!
I'm not talking "adult" phone calls, either! Phone sex just isn't the same as a "Just called because I was thinking about you," ya know?
Maybe THAT'S how I can make my FIRST MILLION! I create an inexpensive service for people who are living good lives, but they're just not yet where they're headed in life, and they don't yet have the time or money to date around!
Nah.
It would most likely just degenerate into Intenet porn and phone sex before the business was a month old. People would be emailing "So, ya got any NAKED pictures you can send me?" and asking their phone girlfriends "What are ya wearin'?"
Blah.
The solution continues to elude me.
And it usually get's stcuk in my craw twice a year: Spring & VD.
Friggin' Valentine's Day.
The time of year when ya just can't escape notions of romance! I mean, I'm happy with my lot. I'd even go so far as to say I'm BLESSED in my life! But the human condition seems to include an inescapable desire for whatever it is we don't have. And romance is, like, the ONE place my life is lacking!
Okay, I could be paid more, and I could be working exclusively in my chosen field -- creating entertainment (films, audio stories, novels, the works). But that's just about time and effort, it's a destination at the end of a process. (It's also the beginning of ANOTHER process, but that's outside the purview of this discussion.)
For the most art, though, I dig on, and deeply appreciate, the life I live!!! It's a lifestyle that keeps me in possitive mental and emotional and spiritual health! It's a lifestyle that makes me disinterested in going to sleep and eager to wake up!
How many people can say that about their lives? Can YOU? (If you can, RIGHT ON! THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!!!)
But this current lifestyle doesn't really allow for (1) time to go out and meet new people frequently or (2) the necessary disposable income that makes going out and meeting new people possible.
One friend suggested, very wisely, that I simply pick a coupld of nights a week and go do my writing at a coffee shop. This would put me in place where I might meet new folks, and if I did meet new people at the hours I would be available to hang at a coffee shop (LATE... or EARLY, depending on your pespective) they would be people with compatible schedules!
I got excited! I didn't have any money that week, but next paycheck I would start!
...but then... you know, LIFE happens. Some dvd came out that I NEEDED to own, or some flick came out in theaters that was a must-see for me, or SOMETHING.
Point is, I never implimented this plan, and doubt I will be implimenting it any time soon.
I'm not complaining, mind you. I would MUCH rather be alone and creating when I'm not at work than in a relationship with the WRONG person. I mean, if she's not a writing, filmmaking or horror-flick/animation-flick/sci-fi geek herself, I'd just make her miserable. (Been there, done THAT.)
Still...
I AM human...
And that patch of grass over there by you sure does look GREEN...
I actually googled "email flirting", hoping that there might be a site or sites dedicated to people in my particular predicament: Too busy -- for the moment -- to actually go on dates, but seeking that little extra something you get when another peson is PARTICULARLY interested in YOU.
Know what I found?
Tips on how to write emails that entice the other party to commit to that first date.
And tips on how to all-out SEDUCE chicks via email.
Apparently I'm the only person in this particular dilemma. I can believe it's actually true, but there just don't seem to be services set up to provide temporary relief for those who are working to accomplish a specific goal, but also could stand to feel like they're special to someone else as they pursue their goal.
I know what you're thinking... "You could just join an on-line dating service." I COULD, but they're geared toward getting people on that all-important First Date. I'd blow the wad on the service and not have any money left over for the date! Besides, I'm sure "Hey, I don't have the time or money to take you out, so can we just flirt online for a few years? You know, until I accomplish my life-long dream of BREAKING INTO THE MOVIE BUSINESS" is something EVERY girl wants to be asked.
"Oh. You're one of THOSE," would be the inevitable reply email.
That, or the MORE dreaded, "You're HOW old?"
Blah.
Like I said, I'm not sincerely complaining. I believe that there is a flow to life, which means that there are also ebbs. Creatively, I'm in a flow. Romantically, I'm in an ebb. It's life. It's how it is for the time. Everything ALWAYS changes, and that's not a bad thing at all.
But I'm intellectually frustrated. I can't help feeling as though there's some part of this puzzled that I'm not seeing, or I'm not looking at in the right way. It's like there's some variable I'm failing to take into account, one that holds the solution, which will inevitably turn out to be ridiculously simple!
Isn't that always the way? You abng your head against a wall for a long time, then when you find the solution you go, "Oh! Of course! Why didn't I see that right away?!"
Anyway, Valentine's Day... Bah humbug!
When are they going to create a Live In The Moment Day, wherein we who are capable of enjoying what we HAVE and where we ARE in life are congratulated, and those-who-are-always-looking-for-that-greener-grass-without-taking-the-time-to-simply- appreciate-what-is-already-theirs are encouraged to experience genuine appreciation for the day?
Oh, wait... There's no money to be made that way. You can't very well entice people to spend money they otherwise wouldn't have spent that day on a holiday "sale" if the holiday embraces contendedness...
Okay, how about this: A girlfriend/boyfriend RENTAL agency!!! For that on-the-go person. You don't have time to develop and nurture a relationship? NO PROBLEM! Come on down to Significant Others R Us and we'll hook you up with a Temp Other for a reasonable price!
I mean, those of us who can't afford to buy a home are allowed to RENT an appartment! It's not like if you can't find THE house that you want to live in for the rest of your life, you have to live in an alley! (Or, in my case, your first choice of house is a bit unrealistic...)
But try to rent a date and you're charged with "solicitation"!
That's a shame, too. Because I could forgo buying as many movies as I do if it were a choice between occasional affection and OWNING a movie I could simply get via Netflix. I think I could find room in my budget for flirtatious emails and/or phone calls. I could find the time, too!
I'm not talking "adult" phone calls, either! Phone sex just isn't the same as a "Just called because I was thinking about you," ya know?
Maybe THAT'S how I can make my FIRST MILLION! I create an inexpensive service for people who are living good lives, but they're just not yet where they're headed in life, and they don't yet have the time or money to date around!
Nah.
It would most likely just degenerate into Intenet porn and phone sex before the business was a month old. People would be emailing "So, ya got any NAKED pictures you can send me?" and asking their phone girlfriends "What are ya wearin'?"
Blah.
The solution continues to elude me.
And it usually get's stcuk in my craw twice a year: Spring & VD.
Friggin' Valentine's Day.
Friday, February 03, 2006
Esoterika
This is my old, old, OLD friend Daniel's blog (he's not old-old-old, but I've known him since we were wee rascles) and THIS is one of the funniest blog entries I've ever read!!!
It took me COMPLETELY by surprise!
And I just finished reading 3 Kevin Smith blog entries, so I don't think it's just because he's my buddy that I laughed so hard.
If you haven't been bombin' around BlogSpot and discovered his site yet, you should do yourself a favor and catch up on it! Daniel's SMART. I mean, I'm pretty sharp and I tend to hang with REALLY sharp cats, but Daniel is, like, computer-genius smart! (He was using computers back in 1982 -- in fact, it was HIS copy if the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Text Adventure game that I utterly failed to play back when I was a young'un! The ORIGINAL!) (I couldn't even figure out how to turn on the lights!) (I have since gotten a lot better at it, just for the record...)
It took me COMPLETELY by surprise!
And I just finished reading 3 Kevin Smith blog entries, so I don't think it's just because he's my buddy that I laughed so hard.
If you haven't been bombin' around BlogSpot and discovered his site yet, you should do yourself a favor and catch up on it! Daniel's SMART. I mean, I'm pretty sharp and I tend to hang with REALLY sharp cats, but Daniel is, like, computer-genius smart! (He was using computers back in 1982 -- in fact, it was HIS copy if the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Text Adventure game that I utterly failed to play back when I was a young'un! The ORIGINAL!) (I couldn't even figure out how to turn on the lights!) (I have since gotten a lot better at it, just for the record...)
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Back To Work Tomorrow
I feel rested and relaxed and -- believe it or not -- READY to return to work!
Not that I wouldn't prefer NOT having a Day Job. But I have no complaints.
...well, maybe ONE...
Friggin' Second Life IS STEALING MY TIME AWAY!
Brian and Tommy were both online last nigt, so I spent most of the evening online with them! And here's the really addictive aspect of Second Life for me:
I've always fealt that videogames would be cooler if (1) you could CONVENIENTLY play with friends (no annoying split-screen image or flipping a coin for the controler that works better) and (2) there were a game mode in which you could just EXPLORE THE WORLD! You didn't have to worry about zombies popping up behind you and having to start over, or turning a corner and being flattened by a boulder. You could just stroll around and enjoy all the hard work these designers and programmers put into creating this fictitious reality.
Well that's what Second Life is.
Only, you're not just exploring the world, you're one of the creators! And you'r not just interracting with friends, you're also interracting with cool strangers!
How lame am I?! If there were a typing station in Second Life I'd probably go there and finish my scripts in-world!
Blah.
Speaking of which, I'm hanging at 12+ pages of my zombie story. 16+ to go and the first draft is done! (Yay!)
Also, the thing Brian and I shot a couple of weeks ago still isn't edited. The good computer, the one that can handle editing, also happens to be the wone that can handle graphis-heavy websites... so... It's usually tied up.
Also, I'm waiting to hear back from my good friend Nicole. She had some serious surgery Monday and Tuesday -- she didn't seem worried, so I'm not -- and I'm looking forward to hearing how everything went. But I don't expect to hear back until she has some spare time. (She has LOTS of family and friends who are, no doubt, even more anxious than I am to hear from her!)
Like I say, I'm not actually worried about her. But I would like to actually hear that she's okay.
Blah.
What else?
I think after I get all my "errands" for the day done I'm going to kick back and just watch stuff. I got JAY & SILENT BOB DO DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION, GANDHI, Disc 5 of VERONICA MARS Season 1, and THE CONSTANT GARDENER from Netflix. All of which I'm eager to tear into!
So I probably won't get any writing done tonight, either. But it's all good. I don't think the story is ready for me to finish it yet. I got the idea and basic elements, then NOTHING for 4 days. No inspiration, no ideas, nada. Then I talk to Brian and he helps me break the story, I write like a madmad for several hours... And that was 2 days ago. I figure at this rate the first draft will be finished Saturday or Sunday.
Unless I get trapped in Second Life all weekend...
Not that I wouldn't prefer NOT having a Day Job. But I have no complaints.
...well, maybe ONE...
Friggin' Second Life IS STEALING MY TIME AWAY!
Brian and Tommy were both online last nigt, so I spent most of the evening online with them! And here's the really addictive aspect of Second Life for me:
I've always fealt that videogames would be cooler if (1) you could CONVENIENTLY play with friends (no annoying split-screen image or flipping a coin for the controler that works better) and (2) there were a game mode in which you could just EXPLORE THE WORLD! You didn't have to worry about zombies popping up behind you and having to start over, or turning a corner and being flattened by a boulder. You could just stroll around and enjoy all the hard work these designers and programmers put into creating this fictitious reality.
Well that's what Second Life is.
Only, you're not just exploring the world, you're one of the creators! And you'r not just interracting with friends, you're also interracting with cool strangers!
How lame am I?! If there were a typing station in Second Life I'd probably go there and finish my scripts in-world!
Blah.
Speaking of which, I'm hanging at 12+ pages of my zombie story. 16+ to go and the first draft is done! (Yay!)
Also, the thing Brian and I shot a couple of weeks ago still isn't edited. The good computer, the one that can handle editing, also happens to be the wone that can handle graphis-heavy websites... so... It's usually tied up.
Also, I'm waiting to hear back from my good friend Nicole. She had some serious surgery Monday and Tuesday -- she didn't seem worried, so I'm not -- and I'm looking forward to hearing how everything went. But I don't expect to hear back until she has some spare time. (She has LOTS of family and friends who are, no doubt, even more anxious than I am to hear from her!)
Like I say, I'm not actually worried about her. But I would like to actually hear that she's okay.
Blah.
What else?
I think after I get all my "errands" for the day done I'm going to kick back and just watch stuff. I got JAY & SILENT BOB DO DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION, GANDHI, Disc 5 of VERONICA MARS Season 1, and THE CONSTANT GARDENER from Netflix. All of which I'm eager to tear into!
So I probably won't get any writing done tonight, either. But it's all good. I don't think the story is ready for me to finish it yet. I got the idea and basic elements, then NOTHING for 4 days. No inspiration, no ideas, nada. Then I talk to Brian and he helps me break the story, I write like a madmad for several hours... And that was 2 days ago. I figure at this rate the first draft will be finished Saturday or Sunday.
Unless I get trapped in Second Life all weekend...
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