normalization
I've come to the studio and started getting my life back into Normal Mode again. I opened the last draft of Minus and, apart from reviewing old notes, have done nothing else with it. I got some good feedback on which parts worked and which failed miserably, but I had to put the whole thing (writing in general, actually) on hold for Open.
I filed my taxes. (Somehow I broke exactly even on my state return? I have no idea how.)
I'm catching up on my DVD burning, ever so slowly.
Yesterday I watched the George C. Scott film The Hospital (which was pretty good, though I feel it's served an injustice being filed under comedy) and Cool Hand Luke, which was also pretty good but I think far less seminal for me at this age in this age than it would have been if I'd been younger (like Russ was) or if it'd been the 60s (when it came out). I finished volume one of Tom Strong, which is a wholly interesting read. I can't do it justice in review, but it is a pastiche to the olden days of comics and its use of shorthand and summary is nothing short of frustrating, and yet I found the read totally engrossing and the ideas totally amazing. Alan Moore deserves every lauded word of praise he gets; the man casually redefines or at least deeply enriches the comics genre every time he puts a title out. Also last night I watched Chinatown (an all-time favorite) and, since I didn't know where my copy of The Two Jakes was, I put on and fell asleep to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? to follow it up. (Bonus points to anyone who knows the direct connection between these three films.)
I'm waiting desperately to find out what the story is, budgetwise, with the rest of my money. I owe some of what's left to Debi and some more to Andy, but I don't have a clue how much. Right now, several thousand feet of 16mm film sit in Jon's refrigerator waiting for me to be able to afford to send them out. Every day I delay increases the possibility of degradation, and naturally we are nervous. But Debi's out of town (and apparently LA doesn't have good wifi or cell signals, or Debi's booked solid and hasn't had a chance to respond) so I'm stuck in a holding pattern until she and Russ return. Not that they don't deserve some time away from me (truth be told, we got a little at each other's throats there toward the end, though we hugged and made up afterward).
I haven't really done the shoot justice in posts here, but at this point it's kind of an overwhelming experience to try and look back on. It was good, and I think it's going to be a gorgeous and sexy film, and possibly one I can even keep under ten minutes (!!!) but with all this time and no way to even see what footage we've got, I keep going over in my mind all the tiny things I should have done differently. I wish I'd held the moment before Annie comes in, in shot 1.1, longer, for titles. I wish I'd remembered to have Annie make lingering eye contact with Gina when buying the tickets. I wish I'd rehearsed the end scene a little more and I wish I had a better concept of how those last shots are going to look, as they end my film and I want to end on strong visuals. But the truth is, it's probably going to be not just all okay, but fucking amazing, and I'm just worrying because it's all I can do.
Tonight I'm going to a fundraiser for Katie Rasmussen's ambitious first feature, Belmont. It's tonight at 9:00 at the Someday Lounge downtown ($7 at the door) and anyone else looking for something to do, they should come, too.
Right now: I'm going to grab my Kobo Abe, a moleskine, and head out in search of reasonably priced food and drink. I'm going to eat, drink some tea, read some Secret Rendezvous (so close to the end now), and hopefully jot myself down some notes about how to fix up the "boring half" of my busker script, which might involve taking out the "busker" part altogether.
I feel vaguely like I'm back inside Travis's body finally. And that body, right now, is very hungry.
I filed my taxes. (Somehow I broke exactly even on my state return? I have no idea how.)
I'm catching up on my DVD burning, ever so slowly.
Yesterday I watched the George C. Scott film The Hospital (which was pretty good, though I feel it's served an injustice being filed under comedy) and Cool Hand Luke, which was also pretty good but I think far less seminal for me at this age in this age than it would have been if I'd been younger (like Russ was) or if it'd been the 60s (when it came out). I finished volume one of Tom Strong, which is a wholly interesting read. I can't do it justice in review, but it is a pastiche to the olden days of comics and its use of shorthand and summary is nothing short of frustrating, and yet I found the read totally engrossing and the ideas totally amazing. Alan Moore deserves every lauded word of praise he gets; the man casually redefines or at least deeply enriches the comics genre every time he puts a title out. Also last night I watched Chinatown (an all-time favorite) and, since I didn't know where my copy of The Two Jakes was, I put on and fell asleep to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? to follow it up. (Bonus points to anyone who knows the direct connection between these three films.)
I'm waiting desperately to find out what the story is, budgetwise, with the rest of my money. I owe some of what's left to Debi and some more to Andy, but I don't have a clue how much. Right now, several thousand feet of 16mm film sit in Jon's refrigerator waiting for me to be able to afford to send them out. Every day I delay increases the possibility of degradation, and naturally we are nervous. But Debi's out of town (and apparently LA doesn't have good wifi or cell signals, or Debi's booked solid and hasn't had a chance to respond) so I'm stuck in a holding pattern until she and Russ return. Not that they don't deserve some time away from me (truth be told, we got a little at each other's throats there toward the end, though we hugged and made up afterward).
I haven't really done the shoot justice in posts here, but at this point it's kind of an overwhelming experience to try and look back on. It was good, and I think it's going to be a gorgeous and sexy film, and possibly one I can even keep under ten minutes (!!!) but with all this time and no way to even see what footage we've got, I keep going over in my mind all the tiny things I should have done differently. I wish I'd held the moment before Annie comes in, in shot 1.1, longer, for titles. I wish I'd remembered to have Annie make lingering eye contact with Gina when buying the tickets. I wish I'd rehearsed the end scene a little more and I wish I had a better concept of how those last shots are going to look, as they end my film and I want to end on strong visuals. But the truth is, it's probably going to be not just all okay, but fucking amazing, and I'm just worrying because it's all I can do.
Tonight I'm going to a fundraiser for Katie Rasmussen's ambitious first feature, Belmont. It's tonight at 9:00 at the Someday Lounge downtown ($7 at the door) and anyone else looking for something to do, they should come, too.
Right now: I'm going to grab my Kobo Abe, a moleskine, and head out in search of reasonably priced food and drink. I'm going to eat, drink some tea, read some Secret Rendezvous (so close to the end now), and hopefully jot myself down some notes about how to fix up the "boring half" of my busker script, which might involve taking out the "busker" part altogether.
I feel vaguely like I'm back inside Travis's body finally. And that body, right now, is very hungry.