To be honest, there was no dumpster and no diving involved. What there was, sitting lonely and forgotten on the curb outside my apartment this morning was a sweet looking chair, much sweeter than the folding chair I currently sit in at the table when I'm typing or eating or generally not lazing on the couch.
Image ahoy!
Ain't she purdy?
I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. I had a most excellent time. But that was yesterday. Today, I am at work while most of America is a churning mass of sweat, flesh, mangled adverts, clawing, sweaty palms, being bilked by false advertising, supply shortfalls, and smarmy, rude salespeople- wait, what am I missing again?
My sister and I drove up to visit our mother's sister (whom we only met a month ago) and her husband (who we hadn't met at all) in Schenectady, NY.
Highlight #1: Seeing a DVD of Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo on the rack of the news shop at a random rest-stop on the New York Thruway:
Highlight #2: Learning that Robert, my mother's sister's husband (he doesn't feel like an uncle), is good friends with Kevin Grevioux who wrote (and had a small role in) Underworld. He also writes for Marvel Comics. How cool is that?
That segways rather imperfectly into this slightly old news. Last weekend was the second challenge in round one of NYC Midnight's 2008 Screenwriting Championship. My first challenge screenplay placed second in my group. I felt better prepared for challenge #2. If you're interested in giving it a read, here it is.
Back in my trick-or-treating days, I don't remember ever throwing away the sacred vestments of Halloween. Each cloak, each cape, each plastic prop and mask was a transformative charm that could be endlessly repurposed and reused. Apparently, even in a struggling economy, such frugality is no longer in vogue.
Some aspiring wizard is missing his broom.
Not far from the dumped magical implement was this slightly used pumpkin. There's something menacing in the way it stares out from atop its throne of trash:
Why is this guy smiling?
In an attempt to lower my spending a bit this winter, I forwent brunch yesterday to make myself breakfast. In the process, I discovered something completely mind-blowing and wholly evil: Aunt Jemima Complete Pancake Mix. When they say complete, they mean it. All it needs is water, some whisking, and a hot griddle. It was all too easy to make. Though the resulting pancakes were horribly misshapen, they tasted awesome and took no more than five minutes to make from start to finish. This is something I don't need. I have seen the devil and it is thick, golden batter. Oh, sweet, sweet devil.
Samhain and his brood have come and gone, apparently taking the cold weather with them. I played it pretty close to the vest last night. I was tired from the week. I didn't get any trick-o-treaters either. The young ones were already prowling the neighborhood for sucrose when I was getting home from work.
My neighbor spent last night moving out. He and I actually worked for the same company though in different offices and got there by different routes. He had worked for a small company that was then bought out. The overlords decided to jettison most of the acquired crew from that purchase, including him. There's a lesson in this story for me that I'll probably ignore. Moving out of your apartment on Halloween Friday must have been loads of fun.
You won't like him when he's angry... well, angrier anyway.
I watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown last night. I always loved the Peanuts holiday specials but this one might be my favorite. Is there any doubt that this is the type of family holiday special that would never get made today? You've got war imagery in the Snoopy vs. Red Baron sequences, you've got the questioning of faith in the Linus and the Great Pumpkin sequences with Lucy's great commercialism-laden rant about the cost of his faith measured in her loss of candy. "I should sue!" she tells him, "I should sue!" I wonder when some righteous group from one end of the spectrum or the other will pull enough strings to get it off the air. Which reminds me, I ought to pick it up on DVD along with the rest of the Peanuts specials.
I saw this while surfing through my morning's news-feeds and I couldn't resist passing it along. Somebody spotted a clown on the G train yesterday. Why am I never around when these things happen? I love a good clown. Even more, I love a bad clown. So what could be better than a subway panhandling street clown (follow the link for a fuzzy picture of the red-haired rascal)? Nothing, I tell you. Absolutely nothing.
In other news, I submitted my script for the first challenge of the Screenwriting Championships 2008. Because I was in Philly on Saturday, I only had Sunday to work on it. Still, I got it done and submitted. I've uploaded it here for your reading pleasure. I called it "Old Man River". It seemed more or less apt and I was under the gun. The next challenge isn't until almost Thanksgiving. Wish me luck!
As they say in Hollywoodland, it's a wrap. Today's casting call is a done deal. Let me say this: I do not want to be a casting director. Do not want.
As an aspiring writer, I've been subject to the buyer's market in which writers are a dime a dozen and publications hold all (or most) of the cards. I had assumed actors were in the same general situation but, until today, I did not realize the extent. To see the number of actors with credits under their name come in to try out for a non-paying part shocked me. I'm still not over it. Attracting an actor looking for experience I expected but to see actors with plenty of experience, experience to spare in a few cases, I did not expect. There are some great actors out there looking for parts. And then there are the others.
First, I have much respect for someone making the time to come and perform cold in front of strangers with zero promise of pay. That being said, some of these folks were scarily bad, some hilariously bad, and some just awful. Easy for me to say, right? Yes, yes it is but no less true.
The coolest thing about this whole day was that I got to watch people act out my words. This stuff I had put to paper was here coming out of people's mouths, with their interpretations, emotions, and energy. My creation had come to life, unpredictable, sometimes great, sometimes not, life. It's alive! It's alive!
After spending the better part of last night waffling over whether to go to Philadelphia this morning, I went, somehow rousing myself up at five this morning to make a 7:00AM train. While I waiting at the station, I wandered into the Hudson News and was confronted by this display:
Disposable DVD rentals? Does this remind anyone of anything?
DIVX was a rental format variation on the DVD player in which a customer would buy a DIVX disc (similar to a DVD) for approximately $4 US, which was watchable for up to 48 hours from its initial viewing. After this period, the disc could be viewed by paying a continuation fee, typically $3.25.(From Wikipedia)
The trick with DIVX was that it needed a dedicated player and involved internet connectivity for some extra-charge billing tomfoolery. It looks like this evolution (called Flexplay) works with ordinary DVD players. It also doesn't have any options for extended rentals or ownership. What's old is new, like bell-bottoms and moon-walking, or something.
For reasons of only pure, unadulterated laziness, I took the better part of ten days off. I have no excuse and I actually had a lot to say but somewhere between my brain and my keyboard, it all got lost. In order to absolve myself of guilt, I shall blame Saints Row 2 which I've been playing on my 360. Perhaps I should take Dr. Phil's Gaming Addictive Behavior Audit. Probably not.
I'm home from work this morning because I am having a couch delivered. My speed at furnishing my apartment could be described as glacial but this is a big step. Actually, it's the first brand-new couch that I've ever bought. I am excited... provided they can get it into the buildings. I think I've mastered the arcane formulations and calculations of mass and space but I have my doubts. I shall soon see if the mind can really conquer matter.
I've written two short screenplays (one inspired by the Brooklyn Film Race). My sister, an aspiring film director, is planning on filming both of them, beginning next week with the longer of the two (as yet untitled). Here are the cast and crew calls:
Untitled Student Project
The project is a dark comedic short that takes an offbeat look at climbing the corporate ladder. The project will be shot across two weekends in November in and around Philadelphia. Our budget is very limited, so we will not be able to offer compensation, but meals and a reel will be provided.
We are looking for hard-working volunteers who share our passion for excellence in filmmaking. We will be taking this short to the Cannes International Film Festival as well as others.
This is a great opportunity for anyone trying to expand their resume and their reel!
Format: miniDV
Compensation: Meals and Credit
Location: Philadelphia Area
Breakdown (age ranges are flexible):
ALEX-Lead / Male / All Ethnicities / age 25 - 35
Description: Strong-willed main character who challenges the status quo and is forced to fight for his survival. An ordinary man thrown into an extraordinary situation.
JOHN-Co-Star / Male / All Ethnicities / age 25 - 45
Description: Alex’s best friend at the office. Is faced with a dire situation when he is shown a possible successful future brutally taken away. Looking for a male who can easily cry.
SANDMAN-Featured / Male / All Ethnicities / age 25 - 45
Description: A character inspired by Logan's Run. Mysterious and intimidating man. Works for the corporation and functions as Alex’s antagonist for the majority of the film. Stunt experience a plus.
FELIX-Featured/ Male / All Ethnicities / age 25 - 45
Description: Slight and bitter maintenance man that works at the office building. He is tired of fixing the Sandman's damage around the office.
FLO-Featured / Female / All Ethnicities / age 25 - 45
Description: Discontent cleaning woman who doesn't feel like cleaning up anymore.
THULSA-Featured / Male / Caucasian / age 40 - 65
Description: CEO of the corporation. Imposing boss that is pulling all the strings behind the scenes.
THORGRIM-Featured / Male / Caucasian, Hispanic, Multi-Ethnic / age 25 - 35
Description: A character inspired by Conan the Barbarian and one of Thulsa’s bodyguards. Must be extremely well built and be willing to wear barbarian garb and wield a battle-ax.
REXOR-Featured / Male / Caucasian, Hispanic, Multi-Ethnic / age 25 - 35
Description: A character inspired by Conan the Barbarian and one of Thulsa’s bodyguards. Must be extremely well built and be willing to wear barbarian garb and wield a giant maul.
OFFICE EMPLOYEES-Cameo / Male or Female / All Ethnicities / age 20 - 65
Description: Employees who have been broken and tortured by the same means as John.
Auditions will be held by appointment only on Friday October 24th and Saturday October 25th at the University of Pennsylvania. Please email us your resume and availability to schedule an appointment and receive a set of sides. Please contact us no later than Thursday October 23rd.
Contact Information:
Name: Courtney Terwilliger
Email: championsfilms [at] gmail [dot] com
Untitled Student Project
The project is a dark comedic short that takes an offbeat look at climbing the corporate ladder. The project will be shot across two weekends in November in and around Philadelphia. Our budget is very limited, so we will not be able to offer compensation, but meals and a reel will be provided.
We are looking for hard-working volunteers who share our passion for excellence in filmmaking. We will be taking this short to the Cannes International Film Festival as well as others.
This is a great opportunity for anyone trying to expand their resume and their reel!
Format: miniDV
Compensation: Meals and Credit
Location: Philadelphia Area
Crew:
Director of Photography
Camera Operator
Gaffer
Sound Recorder/Mixer
Wardrobe
Makeup
Production Assistants
Interviews will be held by appointment only on Friday October 24th and Saturday October 25th at the University of Pennsylvania. Please email us your resume and availability to schedule an appointment no later than Thursday October 23rd.
Contact Information:
Name: Courtney Terwilliger
Email: championsfilms [at] gmail [dot] com
If you or someone you know is interested in participating, drop her a line.
My apartment, for reasons that a non-arachnid mind cannot hope to fathom, has become home to a league, a colony, a collective, of wiry, thin-limbed spiders.
In particular, my bathroom has become their adopted habitat. My trashcan, my radiator, my claw-foot tub have all become anchors for their silken demesnes. I watch them hang motionless from their perches and, I suppose, they also watch me.
My invasive neighbors withstanding, I live in a bug free space. It hadn't occurred to me precisely why it was bug free. I live in a ground floor garden apartment. I often open my windows (now with screens) and there must be numerous dark, hidden ways leading from the outside to the inside. Indeed, such ways had been used by probing, exploratory assaults by the warlike queens of both ants and termites in the spring. However, long ago did I slay their armies. As the pharaohs of old, I made them as those that exist not.
Which brings me back to the spiders: who are they? what do they want? I don't know. As predators of insects, I appreciate their silent guard of my domain. My domain, however, has rules. The bedroom, the kitchen, and attacks on my most eminent personage are all off limits. The penalty for any breach is death. My word is law. There is no appeal. I announced my decree this morning. They have been warned.
It's a funny, strange thing to meet family that you've never seen or heard of before. It's mostly impossible to guess what it'll be like, whether everyone will get along or if furtive glances will speak to pangs of deep misjudgment. Luckily, everyone got along just fine.
Having thus made first contact with the natives of this lost familial continent, I can now say this with pride: my uncle is Frederick Douglass. Okay, he's not precisely Frederick Douglass, he simply plays one, among other historical personages of import, as well as teaches middle school. In the tradition of all great uncles, he is funny and loquacious. My aunt has courageously battled back and recovered from Lupus related nastiness.
The only thing I've battled through is my cousin in a game of Madden (Jets 24, Colts 0 baby!), not exactly impressive in light of the achievements on display that night. I definitely have work to do.
I don't suppose there's a market for impersonating minor historical figures like say... a young Walter Mondale, is there?
... I really have work to do.
In what will surely be a made-for-TV movie coming soon to the Hallmark, Family, or Lifetime (possibly) channel, my mother was able to re-connect with her (literally) long-lost half-brother and half-sisters this week via Facebook. As a result, I now have an excess of riches in the aunt, uncle, and cousin department.
In the beginning, I was quite apathetic towards the different social networking sites, especially MySpace. However, two things won me over to Facebook. First, it has a clean, mature, professional look. Second, I found many old friends that I had lost in my trails, travels, and travails through the site. When one of my mother's old friends popped up on the 'book, I told her she ought to join up.
Fast forward a few months and my mother decided, on a lark, to try searching for one of her half-sisters whom she hadn't seen in forty years or so, give or take a few years. Surprise of surprises, she got a hit. Not long after, first contact was made.
Casting Note: The part of my mother will be played by either Valerie Bertinelli, Jo from Facts of Life (Nancy McKeon), or Bebe Neuwirth.
As of... now, three siblings have been reclaimed from the murky waters of Lethe. Conveniently, none of them live far from me or my sister. Consequently, the first meeting in the flesh between the lost family branches will take place next Saturday in Philadelphia. We're all very excited.
I guess this means I can be counted among the social networking success stories. I have to give them credit where credit is due. It's times like this that make me forget the propagation of cyber-stalkers, hackers, spam-artists and mega-perverts that these sites seem to spawn with geometric rapidity. So, with that caveat, thanks Facebook, I owe you one. Don't let it go to your head.
Production Note: My script, tentatively titled "Time Bandits Stole My Family" (based on a true story) is being handled by top men at an important studio. Top. Men.
Sometimes you just know you're getting sick. I knew it the moment I woke up this morning. There was a rough patch at the back of my throat that scraped like sandpaper at every inhaled breath, every sip sip and swallow. I took what precautions I could but as I walked home this evening in the light rain, I felt the shiver, the slight lightheadedness that told me the fever was coming.
My feverish sleep seemed to dilate space-time itself. I felt like Elric of Melniboné, trapped in a place without time, beset by demons so terrible and fell that I dared not name them, kept alive only by a curse almost as horrible as the creatures that attacked me. Surely, if I awoke from this infinite torment, I would find myself in an alabaster sarcophagus, in a forgotten marble tomb. A fine dust would cover me. My name would be forgotten and even my people dead beyond legend. I would wake to find the world thrown upside-down in time. Only Ookla the Mok would stand beside me to take on a world I hadn't made, a world that had forgotten me.
When I did finally awake from the half-sleep, chilled from hot sweat gone cold, and beyond (at least for the moment) fever's ragged touch, I looked at the clock: barely two hours had passed since I had gone abed. How is this possible?
Clearly the Lords of Chaos have plans for me, here, and in this time. Tis a sobering thought. The fever is gone though. At least I can get some sleep.
It is weird watching the great media anticipation surrounding Ike's inexorable march towards the Texas coast because, right up until a couple of years ago, I was there. I was there for Katrina and I was there for Rita. I've got plenty of friends and family who are there now. It's different watching it from afar, where the only fallout from the big storm will be some extra rain and a lot of gratuitous news coverage. There's a palpable disconnect now because I'm not there. I'm just another bystander tuning in to watch the giant storm donut churn over the gulf. It's a strange feeling.
Am I the only one who thinks of Ike Turner every time I hear or read the name Hurricane Ike? I guess it's a silly question because I know I'm not, having received this wonderfully evocative image in my email inbox today (thanks Paul, Shaun):
Well, if there's anything that can stop Ike, it's Tina.
So, for the city of Houston, Harris county, and the state of Texas, please play the above YouTube video or any of the many great singles, EPs, or albums of the incomparable Tina Turner. It may be their only hope.
Hang in there, H-Town!
Sometime between the July 4th weekend and tonight, I found myself addicted to Vietnamese coffee. I don't know precisely when it happened but happened it did. Iced or hot, I had to have it. Already twice since Sunday the urge for it has driven me to procure either Vietnamese or Thai cuisine just for the coffee (Thai coffee is very similar to the Vietnamese variety). This afternoon, I decided to take matters into my own hands. At $3 a cup, I figured I could obtain the implements to make the stuff myself. I could and I did.
As most of these enterprises tend to start, my first step was googling the bajeezus out of the thing and seeing what I could find. What I found was that this type of coffee consisted of dripping coffee (traditionally with chicory) over sweet condensed milk. The only necessary equipment is a filter to do the dripping which fits over a glass that holds the milk. One trip into Chinatown later, I had the filter ($5.50), some coffee with chicory, and a couple of cans of condensed milk. I was on my way.
The rest is rather elementary. I put the coffee grounds into the filter, put a bit of the milk into a mug. I put the filter on the mug and boiled water into the filter and, five minutes later, I get one steaming cup of Vietnamese coffee. All addictions should be this easy.
I'm now curious as to if I can get a reasonable facsimile of this to work with powdered milk. If I can do that, I can finally ween myself off the world's worst office coffee. A man's gotta dream.
It wasn't easy but I managed to grab a copy of the new blu-ray release of Dark City. When I say it wasn't easy, I mean it: there was a queer shortage of the discs all over town. It wasn't to be found at Best Buy, Circuit City, or Virgin Megastore. I finally found a copy at the Union Square Barnes & Nobles of all places.
Ever since the abysmal director's cut of The Abyss, I've been wary of re-edited films, director's vision or no director's vision. However, Dark City has long been one of my absolute favorite films. So, with much excitement and a dash of trepidation, I tossed the disc into the PS3. This action almost induced a fit the likes of which even Richard Pryor in The Toy had never seen. Almost.
When I popped the disc into the PS3, it loaded as it should. After a moment, it pauses at a screen at which you can select the director's cut or the theatrical cut. All was well. Well, all was well until I touched any (and I mean any) button on the bluetooth remote. As soon as I pressed a button, I was dumped out of the player, back to the cross-media bar. I tried many different buttons. None of them worked.
A lesser man might have quit but not I. In a stroke of pure, unadulterated genius, I tried the controller instead of the remote. Problem solved. I don't know what sense that makes but there it is. At least I got the movie to play.
Other than removing the voice-over at the beginning (ala the Blade Runner director's cut- coincedence?), the changes from the theatrical release are mostly subtle but almost always welcome.
Instead of being told up front essentially exactly what is going on and why, it is now slowly drawn out over the course of the film. We're no longer waiting for John Murdoch to catch up with what's already been revealed to us. We find everything out at the same time.
Since I can't recall anything being cut in the new edit, it must certainly be longer than the old one. That said, I couldn't tell by watching it. It just moves along so well, and I was so caught up in it, that by the time I looked away from the TV the end credits were running. It was already a great film and I think this edition makes it just that little bit better. I already can't wait to watch it again.
There aren't too many villains better than Mr. Hand. Oh, how I've missed him.
It seems that life is never without its little problems. I got the new PC up and running but I can't get my laptop hard drive to work. I've got it inside an external enclosure and when I plug in the USB cables, I get a blinking red light as if the drive is working or thinking or plotting acts of unkindness but Windows just won't see it. I've tried it at work on an XP PC and here at home on Vista. No dice on either flavor of OS. The hard drive was not the reason the laptop went south so I'm assuming at the moment that it is alive and well inside its new home. However, I'm running out of ideas on why Windows is shunning it. Something will have to be done. I just don't know what that something is yet.
Consider my PC acquired. After much muttering, mumbling, and gnashing of body parts, I somewhat over-spent and brought home a bouncing new baby Acer desktop. When it came down to brass tacks, I went with bang for buck over pure cheapness. What that got me was a Pentium Dual Core E2200, 4 GB of RAM, and a 500 GB hard drive. Not too shabby for a budget box.
Since I don't have a monitor handy and I didn't want to buy one, I've got the beast tethered to my TV via HDMI. So far, that setup is working fine. But if I go with this configuration for any sort of long term, I'll need to rustle up some wireless components.
The Acer comes pre-loaded with Vista. It's my first experience with the much-maligned OS but so far it's treating me alright. We'll see how it goes. At least it seems, so far, that things haven't moved around too much on me: the Control Panel is right where I left it, for example. Put me and Vista in the Honeymoon Suite. Let's see how I like it a month down the road. For now, it's just nice to have my computing capabilities restored. Now, I can go back to watching YouTube and porn in peace.
A strange thing happened on the way to kickball yesterday, rather at kickball yesterday: a redtailed hawk had taken refuge in a tree in McCarren Park right off the playing fields.
Lots of people gathered around to take a look. One gentleman who seemed so sincere and serious that I could not help but believe him, shook his head sagely and said, quietly, "The hawk is very sick. It will die soon." I don't know how he knows this but it didn't take a trained eye to see the hawk looked more than a little under the weather.
Someone from Parks & Recreation did take a look at the poor bird of prey but I don't know if anything was done. I didn't go back to look for it when I left.
If the maybe-dying bird was an omen, it wasn't a good one. We lost narrowly 5-4 in game one and got crushed, 9-2, in game two. It was a bummer all around.
My laptop has passed on. What I thought was a dead battery has revealed itself as a short on the motherboard. Basically, it's done.
Now, I'm looking for the cheapest but least shitty desktop I can find and get home this week. So far, I've eyeballed a couple of Compaq, Acer, and HP models. I've seen, out of the corner of my eyes, various eMachines but I've already gone down that road and it ends only in sorrow. I'll never buy an eMachine again.
I did finally see The Dark Knight on Saturday via IMAX. I'm still putting my thoughts together but, as a preliminary review, I'll say this: I liked it a lot.
Before the film, there was a trailer for Watchmen. It looked intriguing. I've never read the graphic novel. I think I might give it a read.
Vacation is over and I'm back at the grind. I had an incredible time and my only complaint is that it was over too quickly.
I ordered a new battery for my laptop which, over-nighted, should arrive before the weekend. If it goes according to Hoyle, that means I can begin bulk uploading photos from the trip. I have uploaded a few and I've created a set for them here. I'll be uploading in fits and starts but when the photos go up, that's where they'll go.
Work has been oddly calm and kind today although there were enough issues while I was gone that I knew I was missed. It's a nice feeling to know the place struggles without you when you're gone.
Since I took a ton of pictures, I feel like I can say that I put my camera through it's paces. My humble conclusion is that I really really like it. I can't speak to how it compares with others because it's my first but I can say that it did absolutely everything I needed it to and was very easy for me to use. I'm not a total photo-noob but I know just enough to be dangerous. I hope the pictures I took will bear this out.
Since I missed The Dark Knight during my trip, I'll be catching it on IMAX this weekend. I think I've kept myself fairly clear of spoilers and hype. I'm ready and I'm looking forward to it. This has been a great summer for comic book movies.
The voyage up into Maine cut communications fairly completely, neatly slicing internet access and mobile phone reception like a propeller might slice a lobster line. now, moored off of Martha's Vineyard, I'm back in the soft caress of technology's embrace.
The Maine-ish coast was extraordinary. There was something wild about the deep pine forest abutting rock carved waterfronts that could fire images of the virgin land before it was tamed and, though it is in reality not really wild, it is preserved to hold that image and it burned into my mind.
We went up from Manchester, Mass., to Boothbay and East Boothbay in Maine. East Boothbay was the apex of our northern arc. From there, we turned back to Kennebunk and, today, back through the Cape Cod Canal to the Vineyard.
Pictures will come fast and furious as soon as I can get a new laptop battery.
