Last night I helped my friend Kelly make a dvd cover for a film he had to have submitted by 10:00 am this morning. In fact, in the end, I made it for him.
The really cool part is that this was an on-the-fly impromptu thing, and I'm in Austin, Texas and he's in Los Angeles, California!!!
Here's the thing: This could not have happened 5 years ago. I mean, we couldn't have done it.
I remember in '98 or '99 or sometime watching a vcd on Kelly's laptop on which George Lucas was in Austrailia (if memory serves) and Dennis Mueren(sp?) was in LA and they were video-conferencing, working on THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: SPECIAL EDITION. It was the most amazing thing to Kelly and me that these geniuses were able to harness this new technology in such a way that allowed them to work on the same project ACROSS CONTINENTS!!!
And now, maybe 6 years later, Kelly calls me up (via cell phone) and tells me what he needs to have happen in a few hour, asks me for my technical advice -- because he knows I've been playing with MSPaint and PaintShopPro for several years now, and has seen some of my work -- and together we make happen exactly what he needed to happen!!!
Basically, this is LIVING THE DREAM. I mean, neither of us are making Big Bucks in the field we are striving to get into, but -- more importantly -- we are doing what we want to be doing, and utilizing ALL our resources in fairly inventive ways. I mean, no, we don't have web-cams for web-conferencing. But we are using the technology at our disposal to the uttmost extremes of its abilities!!! I mean, Kelly says he's having problems with this, and I'm not, so I whip it out on my end, emaile it to him ALMOST INSTANTANEOUSLY, and he prints out his dvd cover!!!
HOW FUCKING COOL IS THAT?!!!
Now, granted, you have to be here to really enjoy this -- and if you're reading this and you're under the age of 30 you will NEVER actually feel what this feels like -- but maybe you can bend your mind around it: We are doing things that we never knew would be possible, creating in ways that -- for most of our lives to date -- were actually BEYOND our imagininings. (And we're both VERY imaginative buggers!!!)
Theres' just no other way to describe it other than to simply say that between 2:00 am Central time and 5:30 am, Kelly and I WERE LIVING THE DREAM.
And I believe that to truly get the most out of this Life we're given, we have to appreciate those little near-perfect moments we're granted within it.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Blah...
No post today because I'm in a whiny, moan-y BLAH! mood.
Yesterday, though, I got some more writing done ( 1 1/4 pages!) and I figured out about when I can expect to be done with the scripts: February 2006. Believe it or not, I'm actually excited about that!
But otherwise, right at this very moment in time, I question the purpose that romantic love plays in one's spiritual life, and why those that can give the most seem to be the least likely to recieve, and...
Like I said, whiny, moan-y BLAH!
I get like this from time to time. Sorry.
It'll be over before next post.
PEACE!
Yesterday, though, I got some more writing done ( 1 1/4 pages!) and I figured out about when I can expect to be done with the scripts: February 2006. Believe it or not, I'm actually excited about that!
But otherwise, right at this very moment in time, I question the purpose that romantic love plays in one's spiritual life, and why those that can give the most seem to be the least likely to recieve, and...
Like I said, whiny, moan-y BLAH!
I get like this from time to time. Sorry.
It'll be over before next post.
PEACE!
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
A Little Catch-up Entry
Just finished reading a couple days out of Kevin Smith's life, and started to feel like maybe I should make an entry. It's a little less easy to just plop down and blog now that I have ti actually make an effort to do so...
So okay, it's Wednesday, before I go to work.
Monday night I discovered that Step 7 is actually taking the story and backstory I've created and just trying to make the first story beat happen. I wrote the first page and quarter-page of the first draft of the first episode of Ezekiel Hollow and I'm proud of it!!! I read an article in Creative Screenwriting magazine by Karl Iglesias, whose new column is titled "Crafting Emotional Impact", and he helped me ensure that first scene worked.
Iglesias points out that a screenwriter (professional or asping) isn't trying to write a well-structured, well written script; he/she is actually -- if they are serious about their craft -- trying to creat what he calls "WOW! moments". And we want them on every page!!! That is to say, if someone picks up our script and randomly opnes it to any page, that someone should be compelled to continue reading! Because let's face it, if the scrict isn't that good, it doesn't really stand a chance of competing in a marketplace that has better and better writers.
Basically, every writer that inspires me and makes me want to write stories: I'm competing against them! That's a bit of a generality, but not really an overstatement.
I mean, I want to write and produce radio dramas to hopefully be heard on whatever radio stations will play them, as well as possibly the Net, and to be sold as cds. Now for a person -- for you, reading this -- to buy my story you have to use the money you have. And that's money you might be saving for a Spielberg or Soderberg or Sonenfeld movie, a Crichton or Koontz or King novel, or to buy Twilight Zone or Firefly or Simpsons on dvd, or your favorite comic books, or your favorite manga, or you favorite videogames!!! So I really can't dick around with my mediocre stuff. I have to hit you with material that is better that I think I can pull off.
THANK YOU, KARL IGLESIAS!!!
So anyway, Monday night I found that "channel" that allowed me to tap into the best I can do (on the first pass, anyway) as a writer and I was pleased by my writing.
In fact, I've got this theory that when we create something good, we know it. We feel it. (Maybe this is just true if you've been doing it for a few years. It may take time to set our creative "barometers", I'm not sure.) And if you're really dying for someone to tell you whether or not it's good, then it's not ready yet.
And I tested this theory Monday night. I wanted to show the pages to My Genius Friend Dave, but then I realized that I felt that the pages were good. But then I wondered how much I could trust my theory -- I mean, it's not as though I'm a professional writer, right? So I explained all this to Dave and he agreed to read the pages.
And he liked them.
Now, this might seem as though I'm like "Dave, tell me these pages are good" and Dave's like "Oh, all right, they're good." Dave's not like that. He's a Creative, too, and he truly understands the value of HONEST feedback. (Something that only true Creatives appreciate: Wannabe Creatives just want to hear that their work is good -- been there -- but Real Creatives want to know what needs to be fixed, so that the next person to check out their work is honestly impressed.)
So I trust My Genius Friend Dave when he assures me that the work is solid.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm only talking about a page and a quarter. It's not like I wrote the whole first script.
HOWEVER, without the individual pages I can't have the entire script. And without each script I can't have the whole series. And the point is that I can turn out pages packed with interest! That's the accomplishment I'm going on and on about.
So YAY!
And then last night Brian and I watched Dogtown and the Z-Boys, the documentary that inspired the movie Lords of Dogtown currently at your local theater. It was great!!!
And then we stuffed ourselves full of the first half of Father of the Pride: The Complete Series!!! GENIUS comedy!!! I honestly can't believe the show got canceled!!!
Oh, and I listened to more of the Star Wars: The Radio Drama! Good stuff! Inspiring stuff!
Let's see, I heard "Fit the Twenty-fifth", the penultimate episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy the radio series. (Next week, it's all over...)
Oh, and Monday I had my teeth cleaned, then yesterday I had some filling put in (2 consecutive days in the dentist's chair)! And as I was leaving the dentist's office, I got to say hi to Brian, who was just settling into the chair!!!
A fairly packed couple days, really!
I hope that maybe tonight I'll get the next scene written.
OH! Just a note on craft: When I write the scenes, what I do is outline all the material that should go into the scene, writing rather a dense synopsis of the scene. Then when I write the pages, I usually end up streamlining some stuff out. Basically, I write more than I will be able to fit into the scene. That is, I believe, how I accomplished a compelling page-and-a-quarter.
The Newbie tendency is to write the pages, and let the scene unfold as the pages get written. And that seems to work for novelists and short-story writers. But screenwriting -- and at least my audioplays -- can't afford the figurative "ums" and "ahs" that happen when the writer is trying to figure out what happens next. There needs to be a rich world beneath the surface, the story can't exist only on the surface.
So in order to do that without writing an actual treament, I do that with each scene just before I write it.
There seem to be many different creative processes in play, and switching between backstory and characterization and treatment and pages and back to backstory again seems to keep the creativity alive for the impatient writer. (Me.) A more disciplined writer could probably do one from beginning to end, then do another from beginning to end, and so on.
But I am not a disciplined writer.
And I'm aware of that. And I'm attempting to ensure that my impatience does not -- as it has for the last 12 years of my life -- interfere with getting the actual work done.
So there. Probably one of my more pompous entries, and sorry about that. But maybe it's helpful to someone...
:)
So okay, it's Wednesday, before I go to work.
Monday night I discovered that Step 7 is actually taking the story and backstory I've created and just trying to make the first story beat happen. I wrote the first page and quarter-page of the first draft of the first episode of Ezekiel Hollow and I'm proud of it!!! I read an article in Creative Screenwriting magazine by Karl Iglesias, whose new column is titled "Crafting Emotional Impact", and he helped me ensure that first scene worked.
Iglesias points out that a screenwriter (professional or asping) isn't trying to write a well-structured, well written script; he/she is actually -- if they are serious about their craft -- trying to creat what he calls "WOW! moments". And we want them on every page!!! That is to say, if someone picks up our script and randomly opnes it to any page, that someone should be compelled to continue reading! Because let's face it, if the scrict isn't that good, it doesn't really stand a chance of competing in a marketplace that has better and better writers.
Basically, every writer that inspires me and makes me want to write stories: I'm competing against them! That's a bit of a generality, but not really an overstatement.
I mean, I want to write and produce radio dramas to hopefully be heard on whatever radio stations will play them, as well as possibly the Net, and to be sold as cds. Now for a person -- for you, reading this -- to buy my story you have to use the money you have. And that's money you might be saving for a Spielberg or Soderberg or Sonenfeld movie, a Crichton or Koontz or King novel, or to buy Twilight Zone or Firefly or Simpsons on dvd, or your favorite comic books, or your favorite manga, or you favorite videogames!!! So I really can't dick around with my mediocre stuff. I have to hit you with material that is better that I think I can pull off.
THANK YOU, KARL IGLESIAS!!!
So anyway, Monday night I found that "channel" that allowed me to tap into the best I can do (on the first pass, anyway) as a writer and I was pleased by my writing.
In fact, I've got this theory that when we create something good, we know it. We feel it. (Maybe this is just true if you've been doing it for a few years. It may take time to set our creative "barometers", I'm not sure.) And if you're really dying for someone to tell you whether or not it's good, then it's not ready yet.
And I tested this theory Monday night. I wanted to show the pages to My Genius Friend Dave, but then I realized that I felt that the pages were good. But then I wondered how much I could trust my theory -- I mean, it's not as though I'm a professional writer, right? So I explained all this to Dave and he agreed to read the pages.
And he liked them.
Now, this might seem as though I'm like "Dave, tell me these pages are good" and Dave's like "Oh, all right, they're good." Dave's not like that. He's a Creative, too, and he truly understands the value of HONEST feedback. (Something that only true Creatives appreciate: Wannabe Creatives just want to hear that their work is good -- been there -- but Real Creatives want to know what needs to be fixed, so that the next person to check out their work is honestly impressed.)
So I trust My Genius Friend Dave when he assures me that the work is solid.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm only talking about a page and a quarter. It's not like I wrote the whole first script.
HOWEVER, without the individual pages I can't have the entire script. And without each script I can't have the whole series. And the point is that I can turn out pages packed with interest! That's the accomplishment I'm going on and on about.
So YAY!
And then last night Brian and I watched Dogtown and the Z-Boys, the documentary that inspired the movie Lords of Dogtown currently at your local theater. It was great!!!
And then we stuffed ourselves full of the first half of Father of the Pride: The Complete Series!!! GENIUS comedy!!! I honestly can't believe the show got canceled!!!
Oh, and I listened to more of the Star Wars: The Radio Drama! Good stuff! Inspiring stuff!
Let's see, I heard "Fit the Twenty-fifth", the penultimate episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy the radio series. (Next week, it's all over...)
Oh, and Monday I had my teeth cleaned, then yesterday I had some filling put in (2 consecutive days in the dentist's chair)! And as I was leaving the dentist's office, I got to say hi to Brian, who was just settling into the chair!!!
A fairly packed couple days, really!
I hope that maybe tonight I'll get the next scene written.
OH! Just a note on craft: When I write the scenes, what I do is outline all the material that should go into the scene, writing rather a dense synopsis of the scene. Then when I write the pages, I usually end up streamlining some stuff out. Basically, I write more than I will be able to fit into the scene. That is, I believe, how I accomplished a compelling page-and-a-quarter.
The Newbie tendency is to write the pages, and let the scene unfold as the pages get written. And that seems to work for novelists and short-story writers. But screenwriting -- and at least my audioplays -- can't afford the figurative "ums" and "ahs" that happen when the writer is trying to figure out what happens next. There needs to be a rich world beneath the surface, the story can't exist only on the surface.
So in order to do that without writing an actual treament, I do that with each scene just before I write it.
There seem to be many different creative processes in play, and switching between backstory and characterization and treatment and pages and back to backstory again seems to keep the creativity alive for the impatient writer. (Me.) A more disciplined writer could probably do one from beginning to end, then do another from beginning to end, and so on.
But I am not a disciplined writer.
And I'm aware of that. And I'm attempting to ensure that my impatience does not -- as it has for the last 12 years of my life -- interfere with getting the actual work done.
So there. Probably one of my more pompous entries, and sorry about that. But maybe it's helpful to someone...
:)
Monday, June 13, 2005
More About Diggin' My Life
It's Garfield's favorite day: Monday the 13th.
When I was 12 or 15 that little realization would have made my day!
So I find myself in an interesting predicament:
I have begun blogging to get into the habit and rythm of writing on a daily basis. But in trying to tweak just one more perk into my room computer, I ended up breaking my Internet...
...and the living room Net computer has a faulty keyboard -- besides being terrible uncomfortable to sit at, and too slow for my fingers when I really get going on the keys -- and so is not particularly convenient for blogging.
So now I'm back to writing plain old Journal entries for my personal Journal.
It has occured to me that until I (a) fix my Internet or (b) get a new computer I can simply blog in here on Word and then cut-and-paste onto the Net. And that's probably what I'll end up doing. But still, it's an interesting development to me. I wonder if it will have some unique rammification later...
GOT TO SEE TRACI TONIGHT!!!
God, I love her so much!!! She just couldn't be a more perfect woman! (Well, unless she were in love with me. But that would simply add a new top to her perfect-ness, as opposed to detracting from her current level of perfection.) She hung out for a while with Brian and me, and I got to eat Shrimp Scampy with 3-Cheese Biscuits while I looked at and listened to her.
LIFE CAN BE SO SWEET!!!
And I got to see Momento for my second time! This time with Brian, who dug it! Ever since I heard that Nolan was directing the new Batman, I've kinda sorta wanted to watch Momento again. And then Brian said that he wanted to see it before he saw Batman Begins, which opens Wednesday, and I just happen to have been carrying around this free-movie cupon for Hollywood Video. So the moment he said it I was out the door!
So that was a super-cool Zen/Wu-Wei moment!!! (I now know (a) why I've been carrying that cupon around all this time and (b) why I hadn't used it yet!) [Incidentally, that's the second time I've used that "a/b" thing. It's not that it's something I find particularly clever. But I guess it's just that Life is so multi-dimensional: when you realize one thing, you immediately realize another thing. Maybe...]
Tomorrow should be interesting. I have to get my teeth cleaned, stop by my lawyer's office on my way to work to (a) pick up another form and (b) reschedule my Tuesday appointment and pay the Rescheduling Fee. [There it is again! And it's not that I'm adverse to using a "c"; the last two really are part of the same activity. Read it again.] Then I've got to...
...do a couple more things that I won't discuss here...
Blah!
I should be asleep now if I'm going to get 8 hours before I have to get up for my dental appointment. I guess I'm not going to get 8 hours.
I was going to listen to some more Star Wars: The Radio Drama while playing Jewel Quest, but I simply had to write!
So the blogging was a good idea, apparently. Well, and effective one. Whether it was a good idea or a bad one is yet to be seen.
Still, more and more I seem to percieve that I live in a Reality in which ideas that come to me from a certain source, in a certain way, are just always, ultimately, good ones. It seem like if I listen to the right "voices", every step leads to a good destination.
AND the journey is a fun one!
Could I ask for anything more than that?!!
NOTE TO SELF: If I do start using Journal entries as blog entries, I need to proofread for stuff -- like ********** talk and particularly honest discussion of ***** -- that maybe should be removed.
That being said, I think I'm gonna try it with this entry!
NOTE TO (HYPOTHETICAL) BLOG READERS: I figure if anyone actually is interested in following my blog, this is the type of stuff they would be interested in. But I did edit some stuff, and will continue to in the future. (Plus, this editing helps me catch a couple of my spelling mistakes.) If entires read a little oddly in the future -- well... you know -- it's probably because I wrote it for my personal Journal and then edited it slightly for the blog. But I don't plan on explaining this every time I do that.
When I was 12 or 15 that little realization would have made my day!
So I find myself in an interesting predicament:
I have begun blogging to get into the habit and rythm of writing on a daily basis. But in trying to tweak just one more perk into my room computer, I ended up breaking my Internet...
...and the living room Net computer has a faulty keyboard -- besides being terrible uncomfortable to sit at, and too slow for my fingers when I really get going on the keys -- and so is not particularly convenient for blogging.
So now I'm back to writing plain old Journal entries for my personal Journal.
It has occured to me that until I (a) fix my Internet or (b) get a new computer I can simply blog in here on Word and then cut-and-paste onto the Net. And that's probably what I'll end up doing. But still, it's an interesting development to me. I wonder if it will have some unique rammification later...
GOT TO SEE TRACI TONIGHT!!!
God, I love her so much!!! She just couldn't be a more perfect woman! (Well, unless she were in love with me. But that would simply add a new top to her perfect-ness, as opposed to detracting from her current level of perfection.) She hung out for a while with Brian and me, and I got to eat Shrimp Scampy with 3-Cheese Biscuits while I looked at and listened to her.
LIFE CAN BE SO SWEET!!!
And I got to see Momento for my second time! This time with Brian, who dug it! Ever since I heard that Nolan was directing the new Batman, I've kinda sorta wanted to watch Momento again. And then Brian said that he wanted to see it before he saw Batman Begins, which opens Wednesday, and I just happen to have been carrying around this free-movie cupon for Hollywood Video. So the moment he said it I was out the door!
So that was a super-cool Zen/Wu-Wei moment!!! (I now know (a) why I've been carrying that cupon around all this time and (b) why I hadn't used it yet!) [Incidentally, that's the second time I've used that "a/b" thing. It's not that it's something I find particularly clever. But I guess it's just that Life is so multi-dimensional: when you realize one thing, you immediately realize another thing. Maybe...]
Tomorrow should be interesting. I have to get my teeth cleaned, stop by my lawyer's office on my way to work to (a) pick up another form and (b) reschedule my Tuesday appointment and pay the Rescheduling Fee. [There it is again! And it's not that I'm adverse to using a "c"; the last two really are part of the same activity. Read it again.] Then I've got to...
...do a couple more things that I won't discuss here...
Blah!
I should be asleep now if I'm going to get 8 hours before I have to get up for my dental appointment. I guess I'm not going to get 8 hours.
I was going to listen to some more Star Wars: The Radio Drama while playing Jewel Quest, but I simply had to write!
So the blogging was a good idea, apparently. Well, and effective one. Whether it was a good idea or a bad one is yet to be seen.
Still, more and more I seem to percieve that I live in a Reality in which ideas that come to me from a certain source, in a certain way, are just always, ultimately, good ones. It seem like if I listen to the right "voices", every step leads to a good destination.
AND the journey is a fun one!
Could I ask for anything more than that?!!
NOTE TO SELF: If I do start using Journal entries as blog entries, I need to proofread for stuff -- like ********** talk and particularly honest discussion of ***** -- that maybe should be removed.
That being said, I think I'm gonna try it with this entry!
NOTE TO (HYPOTHETICAL) BLOG READERS: I figure if anyone actually is interested in following my blog, this is the type of stuff they would be interested in. But I did edit some stuff, and will continue to in the future. (Plus, this editing helps me catch a couple of my spelling mistakes.) If entires read a little oddly in the future -- well... you know -- it's probably because I wrote it for my personal Journal and then edited it slightly for the blog. But I don't plan on explaining this every time I do that.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Diggin' My Life
This is why it's great to be me...
Okay, so I spent most of my day burning discs -- including some great Mercury Theatre On The Air shows including Orson Wells's versions of Only Angels Have Wings & Treasure Island!!! -- and I finally finished watching The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou -- and I ended up really liking it; the first Wes Anderson movie I liked! -- but Brian and I had a meeting in which we worked out our next audio miniseries: Port Blood!!! It's a pirate adventure!!!
How cool is that?!! Brian and I are sitting around talking about just... stuff, and then half an hour later we have a good, sound basis for a second audio minisiereis!!!
See, this is why I think creative people should be roommates!!! Particularly during the creative process! Work gets done when your not even trying to do work!
Those are the BEST meetings, too. Because basically, other meetings -- the planned ones -- are pretty much people sitting around, justifying their jobs to each other. "You see, the reason you can't fire me is because I..." But the spontaneous ones are, like, hyper-productive because none of it's crap. I mean, it's all crap because it's just talking, and so without the feeling of needing to perform, the crap-crap gets quickly dismissed and the good ideas just sort of naturally sweep in to fill the vaccuum.
Okay, watching Momento with Brian now so... BYE!!!
Okay, so I spent most of my day burning discs -- including some great Mercury Theatre On The Air shows including Orson Wells's versions of Only Angels Have Wings & Treasure Island!!! -- and I finally finished watching The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou -- and I ended up really liking it; the first Wes Anderson movie I liked! -- but Brian and I had a meeting in which we worked out our next audio miniseries: Port Blood!!! It's a pirate adventure!!!
How cool is that?!! Brian and I are sitting around talking about just... stuff, and then half an hour later we have a good, sound basis for a second audio minisiereis!!!
See, this is why I think creative people should be roommates!!! Particularly during the creative process! Work gets done when your not even trying to do work!
Those are the BEST meetings, too. Because basically, other meetings -- the planned ones -- are pretty much people sitting around, justifying their jobs to each other. "You see, the reason you can't fire me is because I..." But the spontaneous ones are, like, hyper-productive because none of it's crap. I mean, it's all crap because it's just talking, and so without the feeling of needing to perform, the crap-crap gets quickly dismissed and the good ideas just sort of naturally sweep in to fill the vaccuum.
Okay, watching Momento with Brian now so... BYE!!!
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Homestar Runner LIVE! Old School!!!
That's what it saidon the marquee at the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown tonight. Not sure exactly what it means...
But bad news first. (I like to finish my green beans before I chow on my apple cobbler...)
I'm writing this on the Internet computer Brian set up in the living room because I'm not on the Net anymore... I got sassy with some files that looked like they were just ad/pop-up facilitaors, but apparently one of them was actually necessary for connecting to the Net. That, or I somehow lost the settings formy LAN connection.
In either case, I broke my Internet... :(
So now I'm typing rather uncomfortably on an old keyboard with keys that stick.
But the good news...
Brian and I got to see the creators of www.homestarrunner.com live tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse!!! It was awesome!!! So inspiring!!! I mean, they're just these guys who have this creativity, and the worked at it for a while for free, and now they do it full-time!!!
DUDE!!!
And they're fun!!! And they're funny!!! And I just wish all my friends could have been their to enjoy it with us!!!
But still, being a selfish bastard by nature, the most important thing to me is that The Edwards Boys gotto the The Brothers Chap in person!!!
IN FACT... I had to use the restroom after, and Matt Chapman (the voices) was RIGHT BEHIND ME IN LINE!!! He was enagged in conversation with a couple of other people -- one of whom was a rather shapely young lady bearing a T-shirt sporting one of his/his brother's creations upon her rather shapely chest -- so I didn't actually get to speak with him, but that's fine! I got to stand in front of him in line!!!
(Dude, I swear! If he had just a second to talk I would have let him cut in front of me! Really!!!)
But I'm cutting this entry short. Poor Brian had to work 11 hours straight to get off in time to see the show, and this space bar just couldn't be any louder!!! And I'd hate to wake him!
So that's all for now.
But bad news first. (I like to finish my green beans before I chow on my apple cobbler...)
I'm writing this on the Internet computer Brian set up in the living room because I'm not on the Net anymore... I got sassy with some files that looked like they were just ad/pop-up facilitaors, but apparently one of them was actually necessary for connecting to the Net. That, or I somehow lost the settings formy LAN connection.
In either case, I broke my Internet... :(
So now I'm typing rather uncomfortably on an old keyboard with keys that stick.
But the good news...
Brian and I got to see the creators of www.homestarrunner.com live tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse!!! It was awesome!!! So inspiring!!! I mean, they're just these guys who have this creativity, and the worked at it for a while for free, and now they do it full-time!!!
DUDE!!!
And they're fun!!! And they're funny!!! And I just wish all my friends could have been their to enjoy it with us!!!
But still, being a selfish bastard by nature, the most important thing to me is that The Edwards Boys gotto the The Brothers Chap in person!!!
IN FACT... I had to use the restroom after, and Matt Chapman (the voices) was RIGHT BEHIND ME IN LINE!!! He was enagged in conversation with a couple of other people -- one of whom was a rather shapely young lady bearing a T-shirt sporting one of his/his brother's creations upon her rather shapely chest -- so I didn't actually get to speak with him, but that's fine! I got to stand in front of him in line!!!
(Dude, I swear! If he had just a second to talk I would have let him cut in front of me! Really!!!)
But I'm cutting this entry short. Poor Brian had to work 11 hours straight to get off in time to see the show, and this space bar just couldn't be any louder!!! And I'd hate to wake him!
So that's all for now.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Aliens Have Figured Out How To Move
I'm outside having a smoke just now -- I'm facing roughly south, the sun is sinking, at about a 25-degree angle to my right -- and I look up in the eastern sky, and I see a silver, cigar-shaped vehicle flying through the sky, moving roughly north-to-south.
Now, it's moving line an airplane, not the way I've heard/read the movement of UFOs described. But as the vehicle travels further south, I still don't see wings! The further south it moves, it continues to look like a flying silver cigar-tube.
With the sun at the angle it is, I'm sure someone could come up with a formula that shows how the distance from me and the angle of the sun simply makes the wings impossible to see. And I'm not even trying to have had a UFO sighting.
But it gave me a neat notion: What if UFOs figured out that all they have to do to avoid detection is simply move the way terrestrial aircafts move?
I mean, they traveled here from another galaxy, right? Aren't they clever enough to figure out that it's their extra-terrestrial mobility that gives them away?
And now, as I write this, I wonder if there isn't some Human insight suggested by this notion. Like, if we're being targeted by peers -- because we're "too sensitive" or because we work harder than they do or because they're jealous of whatever other possitive trait we've worked for years to cultivate in ourselves but that makes them feel badly about themselves -- wouldn't it be the simplist thing in the world for us to just sort of "move" like "normal" people, like Them?
I don't mean back down from what we belive in or follow the herd. But if we're smarter can't we just flow with them when it's not against what we believe to do so?
But then, this is just a half-baked concept I'm sort of throwing out as it comes. I paint my fingernails blue simply because it amuses me, and I don't really catch flack for that. (Sometimes it even opens up brief conversations with annonymous hotties who probably wouldn't even speak to me under other circumstances...)
So blah. Whatever.
But the point is that aliens have figured out how to fool us, so we gotta keep our brain-probe-scrambling tin foil hats handy!
Now, it's moving line an airplane, not the way I've heard/read the movement of UFOs described. But as the vehicle travels further south, I still don't see wings! The further south it moves, it continues to look like a flying silver cigar-tube.
With the sun at the angle it is, I'm sure someone could come up with a formula that shows how the distance from me and the angle of the sun simply makes the wings impossible to see. And I'm not even trying to have had a UFO sighting.
But it gave me a neat notion: What if UFOs figured out that all they have to do to avoid detection is simply move the way terrestrial aircafts move?
I mean, they traveled here from another galaxy, right? Aren't they clever enough to figure out that it's their extra-terrestrial mobility that gives them away?
And now, as I write this, I wonder if there isn't some Human insight suggested by this notion. Like, if we're being targeted by peers -- because we're "too sensitive" or because we work harder than they do or because they're jealous of whatever other possitive trait we've worked for years to cultivate in ourselves but that makes them feel badly about themselves -- wouldn't it be the simplist thing in the world for us to just sort of "move" like "normal" people, like Them?
I don't mean back down from what we belive in or follow the herd. But if we're smarter can't we just flow with them when it's not against what we believe to do so?
But then, this is just a half-baked concept I'm sort of throwing out as it comes. I paint my fingernails blue simply because it amuses me, and I don't really catch flack for that. (Sometimes it even opens up brief conversations with annonymous hotties who probably wouldn't even speak to me under other circumstances...)
So blah. Whatever.
But the point is that aliens have figured out how to fool us, so we gotta keep our brain-probe-scrambling tin foil hats handy!
Thursday, June 09, 2005
TIME TRAVEL IS POSSIBLE!!!
I conduncted a little experiment:
I adjusted the settings at the bottom of my Posting screen so that I actually posted an entry before I even signed up on Blogger.com!!!
To see the entry, you'll have to go to my Archives. It's the first one listed.
So I now have the ability to post- or pre-date entires as I desire!!!
Don't fret, though. I understand the great responsiblity that now rests on my shoulders, and I will endeavour to not abuse this new and awesome power.
I adjusted the settings at the bottom of my Posting screen so that I actually posted an entry before I even signed up on Blogger.com!!!
To see the entry, you'll have to go to my Archives. It's the first one listed.
So I now have the ability to post- or pre-date entires as I desire!!!
Don't fret, though. I understand the great responsiblity that now rests on my shoulders, and I will endeavour to not abuse this new and awesome power.
MORE Writing Progress!!!
If this degenerates into a journal of my writing, I know this will become the most boring web log ever!
BUT I'M JUST SO EXCITED!!!
I finished Step 6 -- listed below -- tonight and am gearing up for Step 7!!!
7. Genre-proof Your Structure
This is probably a silly way to phrase it, in that you're not trying to protect your structure from your genre, but ensure that you're being faithgul to your genre.
If you're writing for horror, you've got to make sure you structure in enough scares to make your story an actualy horror story! So next I'm going to break down my storyline (structurally) in terms of the scares.
Now, if this were Comedy I would want the audience laughing once or every minutes or two, with big laughs at least every 10 minutes and HUGE laugh sequences every half hour -- the exception being the first and last 5 pages, which should probably have much more comedy to, respectively, set the tone and end on a high note.
In Horror, however, every 10 pages is good, with BIG scares every half-hour.
That's in screenplay terms.
What I'm actually up to is an audio miniseries in 6 half-hour episodes. So I figure if I get between 2 and 4 good scares in -- with (un)healthy dollups of creepy -- I'm in good shape.
Why that much?
Because every episode should feel like it's own reason for listening. Every episode should stand alone as a listening experience. And what I'm selling is scares.
Now, 2-4 might be a bit ambitious. I may be letting my First-Timer Insecurity make me over zealous. I'll feel it out as it goes. But it's a decent starting point, even though trying that hard might interfere with the actual storytelling. But like I said, I'll feel it out.
I just don't want to fall into the trap of so many Horror writers I've read and seen: I don't write a Horror story that isn't actually scary!
BUT TONIGHT...!!! I hadn't worked out the events of the last 2 episodes (the last half-hour, or Act III, in screenplay terms), but I figured they'd work themselves out if I stayed true to my theme... AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED!!!
I have the slightest twinge of temptation to start writing the script pages going off the work I've already done! But personal experience and extensive study has taught me that I can't give in, because if I do I'll have shallow, uninspired pages that seem to be stretching out little material, rather than feeling packed with storytelling richness.
I have one layer of what should be a multilayered work.
So tomorrow I'll begin mapping out my scares -- not cramming them in where they don't belong but, as I've done with the thematic structuring, looking at what I've got and simply enhancing what is there -- when that's done, I'll figure out what Step 8 should be.
THIS SO SO EXCITING!!! I may actually have a long-form piece of fiction that I'm truly, deeply proud of for the first time ever!!!
P.S. Scrubs rules!!!
P.P.S. If Traci (My Super Hot Best Friend Whom I Will Never See Naked) happens to be reading this, HI, TRACI!!!
BUT I'M JUST SO EXCITED!!!
I finished Step 6 -- listed below -- tonight and am gearing up for Step 7!!!
7. Genre-proof Your Structure
This is probably a silly way to phrase it, in that you're not trying to protect your structure from your genre, but ensure that you're being faithgul to your genre.
If you're writing for horror, you've got to make sure you structure in enough scares to make your story an actualy horror story! So next I'm going to break down my storyline (structurally) in terms of the scares.
Now, if this were Comedy I would want the audience laughing once or every minutes or two, with big laughs at least every 10 minutes and HUGE laugh sequences every half hour -- the exception being the first and last 5 pages, which should probably have much more comedy to, respectively, set the tone and end on a high note.
In Horror, however, every 10 pages is good, with BIG scares every half-hour.
That's in screenplay terms.
What I'm actually up to is an audio miniseries in 6 half-hour episodes. So I figure if I get between 2 and 4 good scares in -- with (un)healthy dollups of creepy -- I'm in good shape.
Why that much?
Because every episode should feel like it's own reason for listening. Every episode should stand alone as a listening experience. And what I'm selling is scares.
Now, 2-4 might be a bit ambitious. I may be letting my First-Timer Insecurity make me over zealous. I'll feel it out as it goes. But it's a decent starting point, even though trying that hard might interfere with the actual storytelling. But like I said, I'll feel it out.
I just don't want to fall into the trap of so many Horror writers I've read and seen: I don't write a Horror story that isn't actually scary!
BUT TONIGHT...!!! I hadn't worked out the events of the last 2 episodes (the last half-hour, or Act III, in screenplay terms), but I figured they'd work themselves out if I stayed true to my theme... AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED!!!
I have the slightest twinge of temptation to start writing the script pages going off the work I've already done! But personal experience and extensive study has taught me that I can't give in, because if I do I'll have shallow, uninspired pages that seem to be stretching out little material, rather than feeling packed with storytelling richness.
I have one layer of what should be a multilayered work.
So tomorrow I'll begin mapping out my scares -- not cramming them in where they don't belong but, as I've done with the thematic structuring, looking at what I've got and simply enhancing what is there -- when that's done, I'll figure out what Step 8 should be.
THIS SO SO EXCITING!!! I may actually have a long-form piece of fiction that I'm truly, deeply proud of for the first time ever!!!
P.S. Scrubs rules!!!
P.P.S. If Traci (My Super Hot Best Friend Whom I Will Never See Naked) happens to be reading this, HI, TRACI!!!
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
HHGG: Fit the 24th Today!!!
I listened to the 3rd-to-last installment (ever) of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on BBC4 today!!!
Also, I watched as lot of Scrubs!
I was thinking that this is just really a spectacular summer to be a fan-boy! I mean, in March we started off with the film version of HHGG (FINALLY!!!), then for the last time ever, we get to stand in line for a Star Wars movie!!! (Brian and I saw it opening morning at 3:00 am and 6:00 am, and both times Darth Vader comes down the isle, walks to the screen and starts the movie with his lightsaber and the Force. And just before the 6a, Vader stood in the lobby as we walked in, and he fed me a Krispy Kreme doughnut! AND we saw it in the only digital-projection theater in Austin!!! I'm telling ya, I'm in Geek Heaven!!!) Then Spielberg's version War of the Words comes out later this month! Then soon we get to see Batman Begins, and sometime this summer we get The Fantastic Four!!!
Good summer to be a fan-boy!
That's not even including the broadcast of HHGG on the radio!
(I may pass out.)
Now if Alice Cooper or the original KISS lineup came to Austin before the Fall, I would truly just have to lie-down and declare my life finished!
Ooh! Ooh! AND... this weekend Brian and I are supposed to see the creators of www.HomestarRunner.com -- the "Bros Chap" -- LIVE at the downtown Alamo Drafthouse! I mean, come on! Could Life be any cooler?
Well, maybe if I were writing a kickass horror audio miniseries...
OH WAIT! I AM!!!
Okay, maybe if I met the Love of My Life and we instantly recognized each other and...
...oh... now I'm depressed...
THE CHAPMAN BROTHERS LIVE!!!
Okay, I'm up again!
Also, I watched as lot of Scrubs!
I was thinking that this is just really a spectacular summer to be a fan-boy! I mean, in March we started off with the film version of HHGG (FINALLY!!!), then for the last time ever, we get to stand in line for a Star Wars movie!!! (Brian and I saw it opening morning at 3:00 am and 6:00 am, and both times Darth Vader comes down the isle, walks to the screen and starts the movie with his lightsaber and the Force. And just before the 6a, Vader stood in the lobby as we walked in, and he fed me a Krispy Kreme doughnut! AND we saw it in the only digital-projection theater in Austin!!! I'm telling ya, I'm in Geek Heaven!!!) Then Spielberg's version War of the Words comes out later this month! Then soon we get to see Batman Begins, and sometime this summer we get The Fantastic Four!!!
Good summer to be a fan-boy!
That's not even including the broadcast of HHGG on the radio!
(I may pass out.)
Now if Alice Cooper or the original KISS lineup came to Austin before the Fall, I would truly just have to lie-down and declare my life finished!
Ooh! Ooh! AND... this weekend Brian and I are supposed to see the creators of www.HomestarRunner.com -- the "Bros Chap" -- LIVE at the downtown Alamo Drafthouse! I mean, come on! Could Life be any cooler?
Well, maybe if I were writing a kickass horror audio miniseries...
OH WAIT! I AM!!!
Okay, maybe if I met the Love of My Life and we instantly recognized each other and...
...oh... now I'm depressed...
THE CHAPMAN BROTHERS LIVE!!!
Okay, I'm up again!
Monday, June 06, 2005
Possible Writing Breakthrough!!!
I have spent 12 years studying the writing process(es) and trying to figure out how it's properly done. Every writer is supposed to have their own personal way of getting it done, the way that works absolutely great for them, but probably not 100% for any other human in the world.
Well at the very beginning of this year I had a crisis of faith and gave up "being" or "trying to become" a writer. After over a decade, if I couldn't find a process that worked for me -- a way of generating stories from scratch -- then it just wasn't going to happen.
And, practicing Wu-Wei, I simply accepted that. I am not "a writer". I am one who can write, and one who knows a great deal about writing, but I am not a writer.
Then tonight...!!!
Okay, so I'm working on my first 6-part audio miniseries. I'm not worried about "being a writer", I'm just worried about getting the job done. I've done some other stuff last week, but tonight I hit a snag that might have stopped me cold in my tracks five months ago. But I thought about it, with no expectations, nothing to live up to, and I think I figured out the first part of my method for writing! My Process!!!
I'm sharing this in case it contains anything useful for anyone else, but mostly so I can come back here when I finish this story and start my next one.
Now, this is for a longer-form story, like a screenplay or a novel (or an audio miniseries)...
1. Find your Concept:
You need to know the major elements of the story that will immediately hook people into your story. You need Time, Place, Hero, Villain, Goal, Complication, and Hoped-for Resolution (the way the audience wants it to end) & Not-hoped-for or Hoped-Against Resolution (the way the audience DOES NOT want it to end). Now, you don't necessarily have to have all those elements, just enough of them to hook your audience from the logline. Note: If the Concept isn't a grabber, all the work you do after this is pretty much in vain.
2. Thematic Statement:
What do I want to say at the very end? What basic human Truth do I want to illustrate with this story? I'm not talking about preaching here. The theme should never actually be stated verbally. But the thematic struggle informs every line and every action of every character I create (otherwise, they don't get to be in it) and the outcome defines the culmination of the story. So I decide what my core Thematic Statment and then I...
3. Frame the Argument:
Here I'm combining Robert McKee's approach with that of Ted Elliot & Terry Rosio (imdb them if you don't know who they are) and I won't go into what those approaches are, I'll just say what I'm doing. I find the core Value at stake in my Thematic Statement. Let's say my T.S. is "Humans will help each other if circumstances allow." In that case, I judge the core value to be "Help". And that's a Positive Value Charge (see McKee's STORY for more). Then I figure out the counterpoint, or Negative Charge of that value, which I would say is "Hinder". But I don't stop there: I also fins the "Contrary" and "End of the Line" charges of that value (again, refer to STORY) which I would say are probably, respectively, "Ambivalence" and "Help that Devistates". Next I...
4. Character-ize the Arguement:
Now this is what tripped me up for 12 years... The Anagonist obviously represents the Negative Value Charge... But so does the Protagonst! The difference is that at the end of the story (if it has a "happy ending") the hero will learn his/her lesson -- via the other characters in the story -- and switch to the Positive Value Charge. So here's how I solved that problem: With the Protagonist's allies. [NOTE: I'm writing a taught, Action Horror story with a very simple throughline, where a band of monster-fodder try to escape alive. This IS NOT a quiet, pensive Drama; I would re-think this strategy for a different genre.] So here's how it plays out: The Protagonist begins the story with the Negative Value Charge, the Faux-Antagonist (the Prot's Ally with whom the Prot can argue during the story) will actually represent the Positive Valure Charge, but an extreme version of it that comes off abrasively. Then 2 lesser characters represent the Contrary and End-of-the-Line Value Charges, but in passive, powerless ways. (I'm just looking for means of debate and personality-clash here. My thematic point will be made by how the story plays out.)
5. Break the Story:
Next I break the story down into bite-sized peices. I arbitrarily chose 15-minute chunks, and here's why:
When I first started writing I learned the basic 3-Act structure, and that didn't work because I could easily bore my audience to sleep in 30 pages... and Act II is 60 pages long! Then I tried to micro-manage, going at the script in 5-page chunks; but I found that I tended to cram each segment with too much story info, so every scene was exposition with no real room for just sort of "being" in the world, with the characters... 10-page chunks may work, but I'm trying 15-page chunks for the time being.
So, knowing that every 30 pages needs to climax big -- in a Plot-point or a Reversal -- and knowing that every 15 pages needs to be it's own unit of entertainment to keep the audience from losing interest, I break each 15-page segment into five 3-page units (a more-or-less arbitrary division, but I suspect it will "all come out in the wash"). So I break the basic story into 5 untits within the 15-page Segments, getting as far along as I can until I just don't know what happens next. (The ending will work itslef out, if I stay true to my characters and my theme. It just somehow does.)
6. Segment-ize the Arguement:
Here's where I get really clever! AFTER I have figured out the basic (the VERY BASIC) action of the majority of the movie, I re-state the general storyline (movie as a whole) in terms of all 4 Value Charges!!! I make sure to hit all the bases, bending the story action (not changing it, just sort of nudging it) so that it covers the gamut of my Thematic Arguement.
Then I do the SAME for EACH SEGMENT!!! (Yes, you may worship my brilliance now!) I've got the action that happens within most of each segment now! All I have to do is look at what I've got, then see how I can apply it to all 4 of my Value Charges!
Why is this such a brilliant stroke? Because I know that subliminally, the audience will FEEL the thematic arguement playing out every 15 minutes. More than that, each Segment is a different bit of action, so I'm effectively playing out my thematic arguement 9 times, under COMPLETELY DIFFERENT sets of circumstances.
PLUS... You know what happens to those last 2 missing Segments at the end of your story? THEY GET WRITTEN! When you get there (I'm recomending the Plotting stage, not the Page-writing stage, mind you), they'll just sort of write themselves because of what has come before and what your thematic arguement is doing.
So after you've broken down each Segment in terms of how it hits the 4 Value Charges, you WILL NOT have to ask yourself "What happens next?!!".
And for me, that's the toughest part of writing!!! That's always what stops me dead in my tracks!
Well, that AND the realization halfway through my script that the Concept is merely mediocre, and no one will ever want to read this anyway! If I can't pitch my story in 2 sentences I don't really have a story worth 120 pages!
Blah.
So that's for me, and for anyone who wants to try it.
Too bad no one's reading this thing...
;)
Well at the very beginning of this year I had a crisis of faith and gave up "being" or "trying to become" a writer. After over a decade, if I couldn't find a process that worked for me -- a way of generating stories from scratch -- then it just wasn't going to happen.
And, practicing Wu-Wei, I simply accepted that. I am not "a writer". I am one who can write, and one who knows a great deal about writing, but I am not a writer.
Then tonight...!!!
Okay, so I'm working on my first 6-part audio miniseries. I'm not worried about "being a writer", I'm just worried about getting the job done. I've done some other stuff last week, but tonight I hit a snag that might have stopped me cold in my tracks five months ago. But I thought about it, with no expectations, nothing to live up to, and I think I figured out the first part of my method for writing! My Process!!!
I'm sharing this in case it contains anything useful for anyone else, but mostly so I can come back here when I finish this story and start my next one.
Now, this is for a longer-form story, like a screenplay or a novel (or an audio miniseries)...
1. Find your Concept:
You need to know the major elements of the story that will immediately hook people into your story. You need Time, Place, Hero, Villain, Goal, Complication, and Hoped-for Resolution (the way the audience wants it to end) & Not-hoped-for or Hoped-Against Resolution (the way the audience DOES NOT want it to end). Now, you don't necessarily have to have all those elements, just enough of them to hook your audience from the logline. Note: If the Concept isn't a grabber, all the work you do after this is pretty much in vain.
2. Thematic Statement:
What do I want to say at the very end? What basic human Truth do I want to illustrate with this story? I'm not talking about preaching here. The theme should never actually be stated verbally. But the thematic struggle informs every line and every action of every character I create (otherwise, they don't get to be in it) and the outcome defines the culmination of the story. So I decide what my core Thematic Statment and then I...
3. Frame the Argument:
Here I'm combining Robert McKee's approach with that of Ted Elliot & Terry Rosio (imdb them if you don't know who they are) and I won't go into what those approaches are, I'll just say what I'm doing. I find the core Value at stake in my Thematic Statement. Let's say my T.S. is "Humans will help each other if circumstances allow." In that case, I judge the core value to be "Help". And that's a Positive Value Charge (see McKee's STORY for more). Then I figure out the counterpoint, or Negative Charge of that value, which I would say is "Hinder". But I don't stop there: I also fins the "Contrary" and "End of the Line" charges of that value (again, refer to STORY) which I would say are probably, respectively, "Ambivalence" and "Help that Devistates". Next I...
4. Character-ize the Arguement:
Now this is what tripped me up for 12 years... The Anagonist obviously represents the Negative Value Charge... But so does the Protagonst! The difference is that at the end of the story (if it has a "happy ending") the hero will learn his/her lesson -- via the other characters in the story -- and switch to the Positive Value Charge. So here's how I solved that problem: With the Protagonist's allies. [NOTE: I'm writing a taught, Action Horror story with a very simple throughline, where a band of monster-fodder try to escape alive. This IS NOT a quiet, pensive Drama; I would re-think this strategy for a different genre.] So here's how it plays out: The Protagonist begins the story with the Negative Value Charge, the Faux-Antagonist (the Prot's Ally with whom the Prot can argue during the story) will actually represent the Positive Valure Charge, but an extreme version of it that comes off abrasively. Then 2 lesser characters represent the Contrary and End-of-the-Line Value Charges, but in passive, powerless ways. (I'm just looking for means of debate and personality-clash here. My thematic point will be made by how the story plays out.)
5. Break the Story:
Next I break the story down into bite-sized peices. I arbitrarily chose 15-minute chunks, and here's why:
When I first started writing I learned the basic 3-Act structure, and that didn't work because I could easily bore my audience to sleep in 30 pages... and Act II is 60 pages long! Then I tried to micro-manage, going at the script in 5-page chunks; but I found that I tended to cram each segment with too much story info, so every scene was exposition with no real room for just sort of "being" in the world, with the characters... 10-page chunks may work, but I'm trying 15-page chunks for the time being.
So, knowing that every 30 pages needs to climax big -- in a Plot-point or a Reversal -- and knowing that every 15 pages needs to be it's own unit of entertainment to keep the audience from losing interest, I break each 15-page segment into five 3-page units (a more-or-less arbitrary division, but I suspect it will "all come out in the wash"). So I break the basic story into 5 untits within the 15-page Segments, getting as far along as I can until I just don't know what happens next. (The ending will work itslef out, if I stay true to my characters and my theme. It just somehow does.)
6. Segment-ize the Arguement:
Here's where I get really clever! AFTER I have figured out the basic (the VERY BASIC) action of the majority of the movie, I re-state the general storyline (movie as a whole) in terms of all 4 Value Charges!!! I make sure to hit all the bases, bending the story action (not changing it, just sort of nudging it) so that it covers the gamut of my Thematic Arguement.
Then I do the SAME for EACH SEGMENT!!! (Yes, you may worship my brilliance now!) I've got the action that happens within most of each segment now! All I have to do is look at what I've got, then see how I can apply it to all 4 of my Value Charges!
Why is this such a brilliant stroke? Because I know that subliminally, the audience will FEEL the thematic arguement playing out every 15 minutes. More than that, each Segment is a different bit of action, so I'm effectively playing out my thematic arguement 9 times, under COMPLETELY DIFFERENT sets of circumstances.
PLUS... You know what happens to those last 2 missing Segments at the end of your story? THEY GET WRITTEN! When you get there (I'm recomending the Plotting stage, not the Page-writing stage, mind you), they'll just sort of write themselves because of what has come before and what your thematic arguement is doing.
So after you've broken down each Segment in terms of how it hits the 4 Value Charges, you WILL NOT have to ask yourself "What happens next?!!".
And for me, that's the toughest part of writing!!! That's always what stops me dead in my tracks!
Well, that AND the realization halfway through my script that the Concept is merely mediocre, and no one will ever want to read this anyway! If I can't pitch my story in 2 sentences I don't really have a story worth 120 pages!
Blah.
So that's for me, and for anyone who wants to try it.
Too bad no one's reading this thing...
;)
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Groovy Sunday
Just had a fun text conversation with Traci, My Super-Hot Best Friend Whom I Will Never See Naked, and I wanted to share it. I picked her up at the airport today, and got to spend a great day with her, but it wasn't quite long enough for me, so after I'de been home a couple of hours I texted her phone.
This is how the conversation went...
Ray Jay: Fude iz GUDE!!!
Traci: I agree! Too much makes me feel shity though!
Ray Jay: Trew. :-,
Traci: What's up with the spelling?
Ray Jay: Knoe eyedeah. I mei bea pozest.
Traci: U may be a dork.
Ray Jay: LOL!!! Yeah, I just may be... A little...
Traci rules!!!
I'm killing time now, waiting for Brian's computer to get well. I was burning The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul from Audible.com, and the the poor eMachine just couldn't handle it any longer.
But I managed to get Salmon of Doubt burned. I guess 10 discs in a row is just too much to ask of an eMachine. Still, it's not as though I haven't read these books. I just wanted to have them for the car.
You'd think I'd be burned out on Douglas Adams by now, but I just don't think that's possible. Can't have enough!!! Hitchhiker's Guide, Dirk Gently, Last Chance To See and the random essays of The Salmon of Doubt, I just can't get tired of Douglas Adams! His particular take on Life is somehow always fresh to me.
Blah.
I'm kind of just rambling now. So I'm going to go.
This is how the conversation went...
Ray Jay: Fude iz GUDE!!!
Traci: I agree! Too much makes me feel shity though!
Ray Jay: Trew. :-,
Traci: What's up with the spelling?
Ray Jay: Knoe eyedeah. I mei bea pozest.
Traci: U may be a dork.
Ray Jay: LOL!!! Yeah, I just may be... A little...
Traci rules!!!
I'm killing time now, waiting for Brian's computer to get well. I was burning The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul from Audible.com, and the the poor eMachine just couldn't handle it any longer.
But I managed to get Salmon of Doubt burned. I guess 10 discs in a row is just too much to ask of an eMachine. Still, it's not as though I haven't read these books. I just wanted to have them for the car.
You'd think I'd be burned out on Douglas Adams by now, but I just don't think that's possible. Can't have enough!!! Hitchhiker's Guide, Dirk Gently, Last Chance To See and the random essays of The Salmon of Doubt, I just can't get tired of Douglas Adams! His particular take on Life is somehow always fresh to me.
Blah.
I'm kind of just rambling now. So I'm going to go.
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Okay, No Pic...
Oh, never mind. I can't seem to get that Hello program to work right.
Anybody know how to get my picture onto my profile?
Anybody know how to get my picture onto my profile?
Got A Pic Up!
I managed to get a picture onto my Profile!!!
YAY ME!
Still not sure how I did it -- programs talked to each other and said some stuff to me, but I'm not sure exactly what -- but it's there!
It's not a great pic. The resolution sucks. I need some new e-pics taken with a decent camera. But this pic will do for now.
Anyway...
I'm having a geeky-great time today! My friend Kelly -- the one LA ones -- has recently discovered the original Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series (Primary Phase), but hasn't been able to bring himself to finish it: He listens to Side 1 over and over (he only has an audio-cassette player in his car and he drives a lot) because he doesn't want it to be over.
I just happen to have the cd version of the Tertiary Phase, and a I recorded the Quandary Phase off BBC4 (which naturally won't prevent me from buying the official cd version the moment it becomes available here in the States) and so I'm making some audio tapes for him! So he can finish listening to his Primary Phase tape with the reassurance that he has more of Adams's brilliant universe to explore.
And I'm geeking-out with this! I recorded this little intro to give him some historical backstory on the Hitchhikers series, I'm including trailers from BBC4's website, just the whole 9 yards! It's got the audio-cassette equivalent of dvd extras.
And this is fun for me. This is how I choose to spend my Saturday night.
Pathetic? Probably.
But for me, this is better than a lot of parties I've been to recently! I mean, I get to listen to Douglas Adam's wit for hours, and I get to share his genius with someone who appreciates it! Isn't that the real answer to the question of Life, the Universe and Everything?
Well... Work for me, anyway.
Ooh! Ooh! And Traci, My Super-Hot Best Friend Whom I Will Never See Naked, is supposed to call me later! So that'll be fun. (When we're not talking in person, I get to imagine she's wearing anything I want!!! You'd be surprised how stimulating a conversation about, say, the weather can be when you're talking to a super-hotty wearing a French Made outfit!!!)
Am I a bad person?
YAY ME!
Still not sure how I did it -- programs talked to each other and said some stuff to me, but I'm not sure exactly what -- but it's there!
It's not a great pic. The resolution sucks. I need some new e-pics taken with a decent camera. But this pic will do for now.
Anyway...
I'm having a geeky-great time today! My friend Kelly -- the one LA ones -- has recently discovered the original Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series (Primary Phase), but hasn't been able to bring himself to finish it: He listens to Side 1 over and over (he only has an audio-cassette player in his car and he drives a lot) because he doesn't want it to be over.
I just happen to have the cd version of the Tertiary Phase, and a I recorded the Quandary Phase off BBC4 (which naturally won't prevent me from buying the official cd version the moment it becomes available here in the States) and so I'm making some audio tapes for him! So he can finish listening to his Primary Phase tape with the reassurance that he has more of Adams's brilliant universe to explore.
And I'm geeking-out with this! I recorded this little intro to give him some historical backstory on the Hitchhikers series, I'm including trailers from BBC4's website, just the whole 9 yards! It's got the audio-cassette equivalent of dvd extras.
And this is fun for me. This is how I choose to spend my Saturday night.
Pathetic? Probably.
But for me, this is better than a lot of parties I've been to recently! I mean, I get to listen to Douglas Adam's wit for hours, and I get to share his genius with someone who appreciates it! Isn't that the real answer to the question of Life, the Universe and Everything?
Well... Work for me, anyway.
Ooh! Ooh! And Traci, My Super-Hot Best Friend Whom I Will Never See Naked, is supposed to call me later! So that'll be fun. (When we're not talking in person, I get to imagine she's wearing anything I want!!! You'd be surprised how stimulating a conversation about, say, the weather can be when you're talking to a super-hotty wearing a French Made outfit!!!)
Am I a bad person?
How Smart Am I?!!
Okay, so yesterday I start my day off with a little Scrubs action -- the pilot -- and it gets my day off to great start!!! I love that show! I've seen a couple of episodes last year and, like, 4 episodes this year, and I always laugh hysterically! So I finally bought Season 1 on dvd!
But then I get to work and manage to lock my keys in the car!!!
I go through this ritual at work: I take a jacket, because it's super cold in master control (so many monitors, tape machines and computers that we have to keep the AC arctic so nothing overheats), a cooler filled with bottled water (I don't get to get up and roam around because of the nature of my job so I keep my hydration at hand), and a book-bag/satchel thing (it has Homestar Runner on it!). And then yesterday I had purchased some dvds (all 4 of the Jaws movies). So I managed to get all this stuff unloaded from my car, lock the doors, shut the doors... And then notice that instead of pocketing my keys, I left them in the back seat!!!
So I had to call my brother -- who works up in North Austin, near where we live; I work downtown -- and have to ask him if he will, after his long day at work, drive downtown and open my car up for me.
Luckily, he's a cool guy and he didn't even needle me for being a dumbass.
But, I mean, I'm 34 years old and I still manage to lock my keys in the car! Often!
So I'm on my way to buy a Valet Key. See, I've been without a car for a couple of years now, and I've been borrowing my brother's car. And you can't lock the keys in it (for reasons I won't go into). But I have a car now, and I remembered last night the way I had solved the problem before...
My Genius Friend Dave -- that's his name, but I sometimes call him Genius Dave when I'm feeling lazy -- introduced me to the idea of a Valet Key. Whenever he goes somewhere that has valet (am I spelling that right?) parking, he's not comfortable giving the attendant all his keys -- house key, et. al -- so he has a Valet Key, which he keeps in his other pocket.
And this is a simply brilliant idea! (An excellent example of why I call him My Genius Friend Dave.) I'm right-handed, so I keep my keys in my right pocket. I used to keep my Valet Key in my left pocket. And the only time I even thought about my Valet Key was after I get that instant shock of panic that comes at the moment you realize you've locked your keys in your car yet again. Followed buy the euphoric sense of peace that comes when you reach in your left pocket and discover you've remembered to bring your Valet Key with you!
So I'm about to go get a Valet Key made.
Also... I had to uninstall RealPlayer! It's just such a resource-hog I couldn't get online with it on my computer!!! Check it out: I'm sporting a 1 gig harddrive! (Yes, they do still exist.) And without it I have between 205MB and 149MB of free memory on my C Drive. But with RealPlayer installed I had between 159MB and 88MB!
So no BBC Radio for me, at least not on this computer. :( But I didn't have to uninstall any of my videogames (I'm currenlt obsessed with this MSN game called Jewel Quest, with is a little like a cross between Tetris and Tai-Pai), and I can still blog, so life is still groovy!
Okay, I'm off to buy my Valet Key.
But then I get to work and manage to lock my keys in the car!!!
I go through this ritual at work: I take a jacket, because it's super cold in master control (so many monitors, tape machines and computers that we have to keep the AC arctic so nothing overheats), a cooler filled with bottled water (I don't get to get up and roam around because of the nature of my job so I keep my hydration at hand), and a book-bag/satchel thing (it has Homestar Runner on it!). And then yesterday I had purchased some dvds (all 4 of the Jaws movies). So I managed to get all this stuff unloaded from my car, lock the doors, shut the doors... And then notice that instead of pocketing my keys, I left them in the back seat!!!
So I had to call my brother -- who works up in North Austin, near where we live; I work downtown -- and have to ask him if he will, after his long day at work, drive downtown and open my car up for me.
Luckily, he's a cool guy and he didn't even needle me for being a dumbass.
But, I mean, I'm 34 years old and I still manage to lock my keys in the car! Often!
So I'm on my way to buy a Valet Key. See, I've been without a car for a couple of years now, and I've been borrowing my brother's car. And you can't lock the keys in it (for reasons I won't go into). But I have a car now, and I remembered last night the way I had solved the problem before...
My Genius Friend Dave -- that's his name, but I sometimes call him Genius Dave when I'm feeling lazy -- introduced me to the idea of a Valet Key. Whenever he goes somewhere that has valet (am I spelling that right?) parking, he's not comfortable giving the attendant all his keys -- house key, et. al -- so he has a Valet Key, which he keeps in his other pocket.
And this is a simply brilliant idea! (An excellent example of why I call him My Genius Friend Dave.) I'm right-handed, so I keep my keys in my right pocket. I used to keep my Valet Key in my left pocket. And the only time I even thought about my Valet Key was after I get that instant shock of panic that comes at the moment you realize you've locked your keys in your car yet again. Followed buy the euphoric sense of peace that comes when you reach in your left pocket and discover you've remembered to bring your Valet Key with you!
So I'm about to go get a Valet Key made.
Also... I had to uninstall RealPlayer! It's just such a resource-hog I couldn't get online with it on my computer!!! Check it out: I'm sporting a 1 gig harddrive! (Yes, they do still exist.) And without it I have between 205MB and 149MB of free memory on my C Drive. But with RealPlayer installed I had between 159MB and 88MB!
So no BBC Radio for me, at least not on this computer. :( But I didn't have to uninstall any of my videogames (I'm currenlt obsessed with this MSN game called Jewel Quest, with is a little like a cross between Tetris and Tai-Pai), and I can still blog, so life is still groovy!
Okay, I'm off to buy my Valet Key.
Friday, June 03, 2005
Big Day!
Exciting day for Ray Jay!!!
My special makeup effects friend Marvin stopped by the station tonight to pick up a disc with a trail logo I made for him, and ended up bringing spectacular news for me!!! (Even though he didnd't know it when he came...)
I may not have mentioned it before, but I'm an aspiring writer. And one of my obsessions is the aural arena: The Theatre of the Mind. Audioplays.
And it turns out that for the first time since... I dunno, the '50s?... there are a couple of American markets out there that might be interested in audio content! So I've been humming and hawing about a project idea I have... and tonight Marvin made it totally do-able for me!!!
See, Marvin has this band... And they have this recording studio space... You see where this is going yet?
I mean, with computers you functionally have a full recording studio. But logistically, it's still easier to record a cast of more than 3 in an actual physical space! PLUS, a big concern of mine about making this happen was the need for score... And now that's not a big worry!
On top of all that, Marvin has said he might let me tinker with some of his story concepts for horror movies that would just be too expensive to shoot as features, or to try to sell as spec scripts!
So YAY!
I'm "off the pot" -- refering to a West Texas phrase -- and I'm now officially working on a new project!
Moreover, I'm stoked!!!
In fact, I was looking for some backstory for this mysterious town for this project, and I found a town I had created a backstory for last year! I had done all the research so that all the historical details would work, and with a simple name change here and a tweak there, I have my new backstory! (It's always nice to find that work you've already done, that you thought might go to waste, can be recycled for a current project!)
Then, on top of that, a good friend/filmmaking buddy who had also migrated to Hollywierd stopped by to visit and catch up!
OH! And then this morning, I managed to download an older version of realPlayer on my little computer, so now I can listen to BBC radio in my room!
Okay, blah.
Not particularly exciting for anyone else, really, but I'm expecting I have a readership of maybe two -- MAYBE -- so I'm not too worried about boring anyone.
And if your name is Kal or Kelly and you are bored, don't you have some writing to be doing anyway?!!
:)
My special makeup effects friend Marvin stopped by the station tonight to pick up a disc with a trail logo I made for him, and ended up bringing spectacular news for me!!! (Even though he didnd't know it when he came...)
I may not have mentioned it before, but I'm an aspiring writer. And one of my obsessions is the aural arena: The Theatre of the Mind. Audioplays.
And it turns out that for the first time since... I dunno, the '50s?... there are a couple of American markets out there that might be interested in audio content! So I've been humming and hawing about a project idea I have... and tonight Marvin made it totally do-able for me!!!
See, Marvin has this band... And they have this recording studio space... You see where this is going yet?
I mean, with computers you functionally have a full recording studio. But logistically, it's still easier to record a cast of more than 3 in an actual physical space! PLUS, a big concern of mine about making this happen was the need for score... And now that's not a big worry!
On top of all that, Marvin has said he might let me tinker with some of his story concepts for horror movies that would just be too expensive to shoot as features, or to try to sell as spec scripts!
So YAY!
I'm "off the pot" -- refering to a West Texas phrase -- and I'm now officially working on a new project!
Moreover, I'm stoked!!!
In fact, I was looking for some backstory for this mysterious town for this project, and I found a town I had created a backstory for last year! I had done all the research so that all the historical details would work, and with a simple name change here and a tweak there, I have my new backstory! (It's always nice to find that work you've already done, that you thought might go to waste, can be recycled for a current project!)
Then, on top of that, a good friend/filmmaking buddy who had also migrated to Hollywierd stopped by to visit and catch up!
OH! And then this morning, I managed to download an older version of realPlayer on my little computer, so now I can listen to BBC radio in my room!
Okay, blah.
Not particularly exciting for anyone else, really, but I'm expecting I have a readership of maybe two -- MAYBE -- so I'm not too worried about boring anyone.
And if your name is Kal or Kelly and you are bored, don't you have some writing to be doing anyway?!!
:)
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Lake Placid
Just finished watching LAKE PLACID again, and I still dig this movie!!! I honestly think it's a shame it isn't better remembered!
I mean, I can see how horror fans were probably disappointed by it's lack of carnage.
But the characters are extremely well-written, the structure is solid, and if the movie had been marketed as a dramedy kind of thing, or an action comedy or something, I think people would have loved it! But it came out in '99, summer if I'm not mistaken, and whichever studio released it was trying to compete for, like, MATRIX box office. And granted, that wasn't going to happen!
Still, really good flick! I mean, for movie fans -- as opposed to "cinema enthusiasts". It's about fun, not deep inner meaning. Basic human truth, rather than the most profoundly disturbing aspects of the human condition.
The movie still makes me laugh out loud. I think there's a great deal to be said for that!
Blah.
Okay, I should go to bed now.
I mean, I can see how horror fans were probably disappointed by it's lack of carnage.
But the characters are extremely well-written, the structure is solid, and if the movie had been marketed as a dramedy kind of thing, or an action comedy or something, I think people would have loved it! But it came out in '99, summer if I'm not mistaken, and whichever studio released it was trying to compete for, like, MATRIX box office. And granted, that wasn't going to happen!
Still, really good flick! I mean, for movie fans -- as opposed to "cinema enthusiasts". It's about fun, not deep inner meaning. Basic human truth, rather than the most profoundly disturbing aspects of the human condition.
The movie still makes me laugh out loud. I think there's a great deal to be said for that!
Blah.
Okay, I should go to bed now.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
The Future?
Douglas Adams did a 4-part BBC4 radio series called HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE FUTURE, and it talks about how the Internet and technology will change life as we know it. Particularly music, publishing and broadcasting.
It's really great! You can listen to all 4 programs here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hhgttf/
What I wonder is this: Is blogging on of our first toddling steps toward that future? I mean, I HATE reality TV, but one of my favorite "shows" now is SilentBobSpeaks.com! (So to speak.)
Adams observes that the 20th Century was the first -- and possibly last -- to create fomrs of entertainment that are primarily non-interactive.
Blogging seems, to me, to be something of a return to the days of meeting up with your neighbors at the local general store and catching up with how your crops are doing and what your family's been up to.
I dunno. Maybe I'm just being wierd. (I'm told I do that from time to time.)
It's really great! You can listen to all 4 programs here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hhgttf/
What I wonder is this: Is blogging on of our first toddling steps toward that future? I mean, I HATE reality TV, but one of my favorite "shows" now is SilentBobSpeaks.com! (So to speak.)
Adams observes that the 20th Century was the first -- and possibly last -- to create fomrs of entertainment that are primarily non-interactive.
Blogging seems, to me, to be something of a return to the days of meeting up with your neighbors at the local general store and catching up with how your crops are doing and what your family's been up to.
I dunno. Maybe I'm just being wierd. (I'm told I do that from time to time.)
Still Getting the Hang of This
Argh!
Okay, that first entry was just sort of a crap how-does-this-thing-work entry. Sorry. And the computer in my room is this Windows-98-running little thing that plays the first three Tomb Raiders well and runs Final Draft 7, and I guess I never imagined I'd really be asking it -- this specific computer -- to do much more.
Then I get addicted to SilentBobSpeaks.com and eventually decided that maybe blogging might be fun.
So last night I set up this blog on my brother/roomate Brian's computer -- he's got the POWER -- and when it's all nice and ready to go, I scurry back into my room to do some real soul-sharing...
...and I can't log in for the life of me!
It's around 6:00 am when I give it up and force mysefl to get some sleep. (Oh yeah, I'm a night owl who works from 4p to 2a, so my morning is... well, right now, actually.)
Blah.
So this morning I tried resetting my "privacy" option in my Internet Options from "They're Out To Get Ya" to "Not Everyone's Evil" and the site finally let me sign on!
Other than that, yesterday was pretty cool.
But maybe instead of recapping yesterday, I'll tell you a little about myself. I live in Austin, TX and work at a TV station. Nothing glamorous, I'm a master control operator, so I'm the techy who makes sure your programs get on the air when and how they're supposed to. (IF you live in Central Texas, that is, and are watching my station.) I live with my brother who is also one of my dearest friends. Whenever we can wrangle the resources, we make short films with another life-long best friend, Tommy.
Actually, Brian and I are ridiculously blessed, because we grew up in West Texas and moved away, ended up here in Central Texas, and then -- all independantly of each other -- most of our dearest friends from youth ended up here, too! Moreover, meeting each other as adults, we've all bonded -- so Brian's Best Friend growing up is now also my Best Friend and my Best Friend growing up is now Brian's Best Friend, too.
Well, there's more to it than that, really. That's just the super-simplified version. But whatever, that's enough for now.
Anyway, so Tommy is a mutaul friend and he directs most of the shorts we shoot.
Kelly is also a mutual friend and used to direct the other films we made, but he's in Hollywood now and most of our collaboration is via internet and cell phone.
And Traci is My Super-Hot Best Friend Whom I'll Never See Naked, and she acts in our movies, but she's not a film flunky like us. She's just really cool and super-smart and really, really enjoys films. But doesn't have an all-consuming desire to make them. (HOW is that POSSIBLE?!!)
Chuck is another long-time mutual friend who writes plays, but he's in Florida now, so we don't get to talk to him much.
Um... who else? I'm trying to give you a taste of the names you'll be reading here most.
Marvin is a friend we met here that makes films, but we can't afford him for our projects. He does Makeup and Special Makeup FX, and he's pro. So he's often -- so far -- pretty much a consultant a drinking buddy. (One day, though!!!)
So, okay, there's the cast. More or less.
And I guess this isn't much of a first entry, either, but I'm out of time. Gotta shower and throw some clothes on drag myself into work.
But first, a warning: Those cute little squirrels you see playing along the roadside as you drive, then "innocently" dart out in front of your car and cause you to swerve, they're out to get you! Those little monsters are waging psychological warfare on the human race, bent on our ultimate downfall! This isn't a call to arms here, oh no! Direct action against them will only bring our demise more quickly! They know what we think is cute and what we find disturbing, so they know a great deal more about us than we know about them. I'm just saying watch them. Learn. Because one day, brothers and sisters, the war will no longer be a cold one, and we must not be caught unawares!!!
Okay, that first entry was just sort of a crap how-does-this-thing-work entry. Sorry. And the computer in my room is this Windows-98-running little thing that plays the first three Tomb Raiders well and runs Final Draft 7, and I guess I never imagined I'd really be asking it -- this specific computer -- to do much more.
Then I get addicted to SilentBobSpeaks.com and eventually decided that maybe blogging might be fun.
So last night I set up this blog on my brother/roomate Brian's computer -- he's got the POWER -- and when it's all nice and ready to go, I scurry back into my room to do some real soul-sharing...
...and I can't log in for the life of me!
It's around 6:00 am when I give it up and force mysefl to get some sleep. (Oh yeah, I'm a night owl who works from 4p to 2a, so my morning is... well, right now, actually.)
Blah.
So this morning I tried resetting my "privacy" option in my Internet Options from "They're Out To Get Ya" to "Not Everyone's Evil" and the site finally let me sign on!
Other than that, yesterday was pretty cool.
But maybe instead of recapping yesterday, I'll tell you a little about myself. I live in Austin, TX and work at a TV station. Nothing glamorous, I'm a master control operator, so I'm the techy who makes sure your programs get on the air when and how they're supposed to. (IF you live in Central Texas, that is, and are watching my station.) I live with my brother who is also one of my dearest friends. Whenever we can wrangle the resources, we make short films with another life-long best friend, Tommy.
Actually, Brian and I are ridiculously blessed, because we grew up in West Texas and moved away, ended up here in Central Texas, and then -- all independantly of each other -- most of our dearest friends from youth ended up here, too! Moreover, meeting each other as adults, we've all bonded -- so Brian's Best Friend growing up is now also my Best Friend and my Best Friend growing up is now Brian's Best Friend, too.
Well, there's more to it than that, really. That's just the super-simplified version. But whatever, that's enough for now.
Anyway, so Tommy is a mutaul friend and he directs most of the shorts we shoot.
Kelly is also a mutual friend and used to direct the other films we made, but he's in Hollywood now and most of our collaboration is via internet and cell phone.
And Traci is My Super-Hot Best Friend Whom I'll Never See Naked, and she acts in our movies, but she's not a film flunky like us. She's just really cool and super-smart and really, really enjoys films. But doesn't have an all-consuming desire to make them. (HOW is that POSSIBLE?!!)
Chuck is another long-time mutual friend who writes plays, but he's in Florida now, so we don't get to talk to him much.
Um... who else? I'm trying to give you a taste of the names you'll be reading here most.
Marvin is a friend we met here that makes films, but we can't afford him for our projects. He does Makeup and Special Makeup FX, and he's pro. So he's often -- so far -- pretty much a consultant a drinking buddy. (One day, though!!!)
So, okay, there's the cast. More or less.
And I guess this isn't much of a first entry, either, but I'm out of time. Gotta shower and throw some clothes on drag myself into work.
But first, a warning: Those cute little squirrels you see playing along the roadside as you drive, then "innocently" dart out in front of your car and cause you to swerve, they're out to get you! Those little monsters are waging psychological warfare on the human race, bent on our ultimate downfall! This isn't a call to arms here, oh no! Direct action against them will only bring our demise more quickly! They know what we think is cute and what we find disturbing, so they know a great deal more about us than we know about them. I'm just saying watch them. Learn. Because one day, brothers and sisters, the war will no longer be a cold one, and we must not be caught unawares!!!
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