Why do I do these things to myself?
12.5 hour shift today.
Laundry.
Then I film in the morning.
American Idol can eat my gland.
come visit me, if you wanna share the love…
Lucy’s coffee and tea, 2007 university Blvd.
See you yeggs in the funny pages…
Switched it up on ya, boyyyy!
Check em’ out!
Who You WIT’?Come visit my store on CafePress!
Last night, last chance to reherse.
Everyone was spot on.
It is soo damn sweet to hear my words from real characters.
Believe me, i’ve had my work legitimately butchered before.
One day and about 13 hours to go. Brad is still finding his voice for some of the material thst shifts tone a bit. Leanna Mitchell is kicking ass as…well, you’ll just have to wait and see. And Chris “professor twist” burch is the downhome sage I’d invisioned from the get go.
All is well. I feel religious.
Love me, baby…
There was a full cast reading on Monday night, and while it wasn’t tragic, there were some pacing problems that may have been scary to the uninitiated. I took it in stride.
Last night was the first of two rehersals we’ll get to have, officially, before the beginning of shooting on Saturday (April fools day, but who buys into that shit?)
I have to say that I’m really starting to get excited. Everyone is feeling out their parts so well. My leading ladys are beautiful, and a delight, and actually bear suprising resemblances in character to the roles they are playing.
This means less acting and more living the part.
I love that.
Suisan Buie is so sweet and beautiful, she literally makes me want to cry, and Beth Hanic is just a damn sexy creature.
My guys, well, they kick ass.
Brad Watkins was always my boy for the role of Ringo, but the lead, Joey, has made quite a few changes over the past few weeks. Chris Sams, today’s Joey, is the man, though. He is younger, happier, and whiter than what the original source material intended, but damn if that boy ain’t bringing his A game to this little movie.
Wait until you get a load of Cay and Vance. They may actually steal this flick.
All in all, I’m very excited about this. I can’t believe it’s finally here. Most importantly, though, I can’t wait to play with these people and see what they give me.
They’re ready to bring my story to life. Until I have a kid to train in my special blend of Kung-Fu and Breakdancing, I think this is the happiest a bastard like me can ever be.
Now, more Illeana.
I want her bad.
Is it strange that I’m not at all nervous about this whole “directing my first full length movie in less than a week” thing?
I mean, it is a very big step professionally, if not necessarily personally. Personally, I’ve had lot greater challenges, believe me.
No, I’m not nervous at all. I know what I want from my crew and actors. I know how I want nearly every shot to be executed. I know what I want on the poster.
And even at this point, the main concerns are still wrangling crew and hopes that the cast are as professional as we need them to be, due to a slightly difficult schedule and total lack of budget. I’m keeping it together.
Honestly, all my concerns lie with whether or not I’m still going to get the product I initially set out to create. There have been MANY asthetic concessions I’ve had to make on this picture due to everything from tug of war with producers and incorrect assumptions about the material down to just plain lack of possibility.
But this flick being made on an extreme learning curve. For every big thing that fell right into place, there are ten little things that would drive me crazy if I let them. The product will stand as a testament, though. The audience won’t know what and where changes had to be made, not until I reveal them in a commentary in a year or so. The audience won’t know about the discussion/arguments that I’ve had about, honestly, matters that would not affect the product on the screen in the LEAST.
But the bottom line is this. I have worked in some form or fashion in a creative state for my entire life. We all know that art is subjective, and everyone has their methods. After some completely foul expiriences with people who had no idea what they wanted out of art, I had decided that being autocratic was the only way to acheive anything. Of course, this state of mind is nearly impossible to maintain realistically, especially in the film world.
but then I hooked up with a bunch of guys that wanted to make something just as bad as I did. And it never felt like anyone was trying to hitch onto anyone elses star.
It felt good.
No one was lazy, waiting for the other to do all the work. there was no vaccum; just a circle of professionals with one goal. get the damn thing done.
This is why Ii’m not nervous.
I can concentrate on my craft, my words, my art.
I can live with the minor concessions, because the big picture is, this thing is getting done.
Feels good.
I’ll be loading photos and maybe even some video diary stuff next week.
if anyone reads this, keep coming back. the ride is about to begin.
And now, random girls I mention in the movie.
I know what I like…
I like Women.
Shit, son.
It’s a week and one day until I begin filming my first effort, “Lounge Act” Nervous? Not really… I don’t know what you call this feeling. I can’t wait, though.
saturday. I’m planning to get my mind right by watching a few flicks while I work out some story board stuff, and basically just begin to decompress.
* Punch-Drunk Love
* Rushmore
* Goodfellas
* Boogie Nights
* Magnolia
* Made
* The Way of the Gun
Anyone who wants to is more than welcome to join me, but I’m guessing I’ll end up catching a few with Ringo, and most of them alone.
Somewhere, out there, there is a girl who wants in on this movie day/film study/pep rally.
Eh, whatever. I’m about to get my Directing on.
Keep the fire.
Illeana Douglas. For no reason other than I want to kiss her in the dark. Sue me.
Okay, so I watched the Oscars. I’d made a vow years ago, when Sam L. Jackson didn’t win best suppoting for Pulp Fiction, that I’d not waatch them again until I was nominated. I’ve stuck to that vow about 40 percent, meaning I’ve seen parts of the Oscars, here and there for the last 11 years. But I saw most of the oscar ceremony Sunday night, flipping back and forth between the awards show and triumph the Insult Comic Dog on another channel. I wasn’t surprised by anything, there were too many pointless montages, and they didn’t mention Don Knotts, dennis Weaver, or darrin McGavin on the “People who have died” montage.
Latifah’s side breast/arm cleavage has given me enough material to work with for awhile, though. And couple with the spectacular bosom display that is Salma Hayek, plus the mutant juggs sported by one Ms. Dolly Parton, then i’ll be sitting in the fabled Cat-bird seat for some time.
people like me, people who want to play along with the stars in the Hollywood toybox, we are a hypocritical, snarky lot.
We can go from “that Oscar crap is just a bunch of people patting each other on the back” to “Here’s what I’m gonna wear when I’m nominated” in zero to ten syllables.
It used to be rough. I wanted to hate the show based on the fact that it felt like an eletist club of insider wellwishing, but in reality, it was hard to watch because I wanted to be a part of it so bad, and i’d actually be moved by the cheesy montages, and touched when a lowly sound design guy would get choked up over winning an award for sound editing on “Superfuzz” or “Condorman”.
I’d watch the show, get uplifted, then know that in the morning it was back to slinging product in whatever retail outlat I was working at the time. But it wasn’t so bad sunday. soon, i’ll get to make my own small ripple in the film world. will it win an Oscar. No! but, hopefully, the coriolis effect of fame and stardom. i’m gonna wear black Chuck Taylor’s at the ceremony. Don’t give a damn who don’t like it.
“IT’S HARD OUT HERE FOR MY PANTS!”
J’MEL
I like action film. I like horror film. Sometimes the two converge, but rarely does it work. Aliens is a good example of a time this whole thing came together. From Dusk till Dawn, loosely, is another.
For years I’ve been constructing my version of the perfect action/horror hybrid, but there is a problem. The problem is that the Zeitgeist keeps sucking up my ideas.
Years ago, I wrote a little film called “Rocket Science vs. the Common Cold” (working title) and I was quite pleased with my effort. It was my first ever completed screenplay, properly formatted, and all that jazz. The story followed the exploits of former smartest boy in the world, Rocket J. Science, and his quest to defeat a sentient, ancient, and intelligent virus called the 8. During his quest, he gets into one scrape after another, and eventually ends up fighting the eight on board a top secret Russian space station orbitting earth.
There are two set pieces in particular I want to talk about:
First, there was a chase that took place between Rocket and Government agents on a particulaly busy freeway. The chase mostly happened on TOP of speeding cars. Second, there was the climax where the virus, having learned of the plans for a doomsday device after infecting Rocky, clones itself into an army of evil Rocket J. Science drones that Rocket has to single-handedly fight them off.
cut to June 2002, where i’m sitting in a theatre watching The Matrix Reloaded and am treated to a freeway fight and hero fighting a multiplied bad guy. Sigh.
Sure, in it’s abridged form, Rocket probably doesn’t sound like anything different or amazing, but I was very proud of it. It was tightly scripted, and was actually packed full of plot. It was like “Clear and Present Danger” mixed with “Aliens”.
The second example is from a little movie I’ve been working on called “Riot Act”. It’s about the worlds most dangerous superteam being assembled to take on a planet ending menace. Now, there are some pretty wild characters, and situations in this one, the one of the main ones i was looking forward to seeing on the big screen was a chase scene that took place horizontally on the sides of buildings and sky scrapers. Well, last night, that same chase happened to be up on screen as I watched a film called ‘Ultraviolet’ and I have to say, it wasn’t nearly as cool as the chase I’ve seen in my head for the past 5 years. maybe I can salvage it. I knows thats I cans!
All that is to say that I want to write the great American novel of Action/Horror films.
I still have millions of ideas, but if I don’t get famous soon, they’ll all get swallowed by the spirit of the times with pale comparisons before I get a chance to do it right.
No more to say on this. Just a little visit into the brain of a frustrated, yet hopeful writer on the verge of the verge of the verge of stardom.
“It’s inevitable… You can’t do that scene now. Snap!”
alright, so the time for e-commerce is here.
help us out by buying stuff from the flick.
I’ll be adding more as the weeks go on, so have fun
and know that you helped a local boy make good! thanks!
Come visit my store on CafePress!
Well, how’s they hanging? You know, while at work today, it occured to me that we are living in a special, yet sad time. for now, after fifteen years, we stand together in a world without a Wayans brother or sister on primetime television. I know!! f’d up, right?
Well, what can we do? Very little. The day of the black sitcom lived and died with In Living Color. Martin was good, but it was the “Battlestar Galactica” to In living Color’s “Star Wars”- Sure, the theme was catchier, but after a while, you realized it was recycling itself at an alaming rate. and don’t get me started on Galactica 80′…but I digress…
No, what I really want to talk about is content, language, and comedy.
See, I have been known to…slightly nudge the envelope when it comes to salty language in my writing. I’m not going to go on about First Amendment rights or my creative rights as an artist or any of that…
I write these things because I think they’re funny. I’m not comparing myself to the late great Richard Pryor, but I think it’s the same thing. These pills are harsh and hard to swallow, but they are funny, so it softens the blow, right? No! he said the things he said to make a point, a funny point, but he didn’t want the point softened. Art ain’t safe, comedy ain’t pretty, and as King Pryor once said “Art is the ability to tell the truth, especially about oneself”
Is it true that I could have told the story of LOUNGE ACT in a nice, safe PG-13 Mode?
Sure.
But it wouldn’t have been real, or true…or as funny.
A few people have commented on the extremeness of the dialogue, and have even backed out of the project because of it. It wasn’t my intention to offend, but I knew it could happen. I’m not hurt by this, though. It’s like they’re saying “Jeez, he rocked so hard we had to leave the concert.” It’s almost a compliment.
Also, these words appear a lot harsher on paper than they woull on screen, coming from real mouths, and not just staring up at you from the page. Hell, even if LOUNGE ACT were a novel, you’d have narrative structure there on the page to buffer some of the bluntness.
But I cannot, and do not defend my work. It is undefendable. I don’t make it for people I have to defend it against. I make it for me, and the people that will understand, people that will get it. If I am lucky, one day soon, Ebert will be sitting with his small pad jotting down notes about my little indy outing. Either he will say he liked the heart that came out from superficial rawnwss the characters tried to sheild themselves with, or he’ll say they said fuck a lot. Either way, he won’t say the characters were one dimensional, or cardboard. If he does, then I’ll know there was a failing…in Ebert’s opinion, anyway.
Whatever happens, I’ll know it was funny. Not my ultimate goal, but an important one. Adding new ways to express oneself to the ether, through my twisted vernacular of pop culture and salty language… that’s the dream.
I’d hope that Richard Pryor would be proud. I know he’d get it…
