Nightmare Before Christmas

Last night, I dreamed that I received an F minus on my latest script submission, and the biggest reason for a grade that does not even exist was "Eh. It's okay."

Matt, it wouldn't surprise me if you actually sent me an F minus just to freak me out. So I'm onto you.

Girl Meets Script

I am so relieved that this term is almost over, but the work has just begun. I have to remember to pace myself on finishing this script and make sure it's done, hopefully before the end of week 2 - I mean, it'll be done by that Friday, but my goal is before. We'll see how that goes. I reached the midpoint of my script, but it's a few pages short - 45 instead of the 50 I wanted. I'm really just starting to figure out some of what the movie is about and where it's going. I feel like it's starting to come more into its own than it was in the beginning, but I will have a lot of editing and revising to do. Really, I'm just trying to plow through and get a draft finished, even if I'm not totally loving everything that's going on. Having a loose full draft to work with is much better than having three perfect scenes and nothing else. I hope more of the story comes to me to add to the beginning so I can reach the length I want. Actually, in my efforts to "fill pages," I feel like I came up with a couple good things that I didn't think of before, like a young family for my main character to compare to his own life. We'll see how break and the subsequent two weeks go. Here's hoping they're good.

On another note, I'm watching an old episode of Boy Meets World, and I am loving this one scene where Cory is showing a girl how to order at this dive place called Chubbie's. It's so South Philly accurate. Cory says, "Okay listen, [Chubbie]’s gonna turn around and raise one eyebrow. He will not speak. You’ll have a two second window to order. You say 'Turkey Chubbie.' He’ll wipe his nose. Then you say 'With everything.' And he’s gonna look at you real hard like he’s making a decision about you. if he asks what you want to drink, you’re in, you’re set for life."

Hooray Philly accuracy in a show that once referred to the Franklin Institute as "The Franklin Museum of Science."

A Sailor's Christmas

In my script, the main characters go to a restaurant called Lor-e-Lei in Islamorada. This is that restaurant.


This first picture is the bar back in the day before hurricane Wilma nearly destroyed everything. The bar had to be redone and raised up a few more feet. The indoor restaurant flooded completely and was torn down. Last time I checked, they were planning on building little yacht club or something there. I'm hoping the atmosphere stays the same, because the last thing this place needs is more snooty yachtsmen parading by. The indoor restaurant was the nicest part of the whole thing, but not so obnoxious. Just outside that room was an outdoor deck that had an in -between atmosphere.



The bar was and is the most relaxed and the most fun, surrounded by tables and chairs and a small stage. Nightlife at Lor-e-Lei is great, but one of my fondest memories is being there in the middle of winter, sitting at the bar, drinking hot chocolate and eating a bagel while a pelican eyes the food from its perch nearby.

This is the bar now:


A little bit nicer, a tad higher. I really miss the giant "BAR" sign, as does everyone else who goes there. That sign was a real part of the place, and now it's gone. The atmosphere is similar, but part of it disappeared along with that sign. I guess if there's going to be a yacht club, there has to be a mild amount of dignity at the place. But apparently bare breasted mermaids everywhere are still okay. And that's Lor-e-Lei.


And this is the obnoxiously huge mermaid sign that sits by the side of the road to bring you in:

Boat Drinks

Plugging away at my script, heading to the midpoint. Into Act 2 right now, focusing on making sure I've got enough to get me to that point. And working on the final of my short film script. And preparing for a frightening Monday and Tuesday as I do my Basic Film final project since there were absolutely no cameras available except on the due date. Also, I think I only have two actors instead of three. Which means the script gets revised. Again. Hooray!

Plan that's not related at all to homework: try to work for Bonnie Hunt. Why not? She's funny, she knows people, she does it all. Got nothing to lose, so I'm going to send some info out her way. We'll see how it goes.

Is Anybody There?

Fuck wisdom teeth, man. Insight of the night. Fuck wisdom teeth.

I can't open my mouth all the way. It hurts to talk. Spots all over my face and head hurt, actually. And this was only one tooth. And it was a bitch. My top two were wonderful. Popped right out, no problem, some soft foods and I'm good. This one? Bottom left. Took my uncle a long time to wrench it out. The nasty fucker of a tooth had a beautiful hook on one root that practically touched the other root. Whoop dee doo. And what sucks the most is it actually hurts more to talk now than it did 12 hours after the tooth came out. All these sprained and swollen muscles...man. Did I mention I have one more tooth to go?

My mom is a wonderful person: she's bringing me more soft foods tomorrow, plus another awesome book by Keri Smith. I can't wait. Today, when I wasn't writhing or calling my uncle to say "Yeah, is this normal?" I started a new painting and made some wire sculpture. And I ate a lot of pudding. That's the best part of having teeth removed: all the chocolate pudding you can eat. I really hope I can talk again without monster pain soon, cause the improv team has a show at Temple on Friday, and I doubt I'll be talking much in practice tomorrow.

Listening to the soundtrack of "1776." John Adams played by William Daniels (Mr. Feeney!) is awesome. You sing those corny revolutionary songs, you Bostonian, you. I saw a clip from the play's Broadway revival in the late 90s, and it looked okay. But no one can play Adams like Daniels. He was perfect for the role. As was Ken Howard as Jefferson and Howard De Silva as Franklin. De Silva was apparently a total asshole, but he was great in the part, and I miss his voice on this Broadway recording. As if anyone cares.

Sometimes I feel like Adams:
"Nothing's ever solved in foul, fetid, fuming, foggy, filthy Philadelphia!"
"A second flood, a simple famine, plagues of locusts everywhere, or a cataclysmic earthquake I'd accept with some despair! But no, you sent us Congress. Good God, sir, was that fair?"
"Is anybody there? Does anybody care? Does anybody see what I see?"

But goddamn is Richard Henry Lee one annoying motherfucker!

Brand New Day

Everyone should check out Terry Border's blog/gallery. Awesome funny art. Really cool guy.

Apparently, some people will actually respond to their emails, something I find fascinating. After it seems that nobody checks their email -- or yours are the only ones that get lost in cyberspace -- somebody actually reads their email, and -- wait for it! wait for it! -- writes back!!!

I asked Terry about his work and sent him some of my own, basically asking "How do I do what you do?" and he sent a great reply about his work, a comment on my piece, and getting recognized, ending with "p.s. - One more thing - work your ass off." About an hour later, he wrote back again, saying "Just reread the reply I sent you. Seems a bit snarky. Feel free to ignore all of it except the post script." I assured him he was far from snarky, as I get plenty of that in the classroom (not that I'm complaining!).

So check his blog and the photos of his fun with inanimate objects. He has a book as well.

AND I'M WRITING, MATT. I thought I should stick that in there. I'm writing. When I'm not playing with the giant spool of aluminum wire. But I'm writing.

Words

What I'm working on:

1. Senior Project script, getting to the end of Act 1 by the end of next week.
2. Writing the Short Film script, draft 1 due next week
3. Short papers and reading for English
4. Scene for Acting II
5. Filming at some point here for Basic
6. And Degree Planning bullshit

It's Week 7. Wow. This went fast. Like...really fast. And I can only imagine it's going to go even faster.

I feel like doing something like my main character -- hopping a train to Miami or Savannah or wherever with only the clothes on my back and a wallet. But I like having a traveling buddy. Anyone want to join me?

Paperback Writer

This has nothing to do with senior project or any sort of school work, but I feel a need to share two passages from books I am reading / just finished that I love.


This is from Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee which I am reading for my Post Colonial Literature II class:

"It's admirable, what you do, what she does, but to me animal-welfare people are a bit like Christians of a certain kind. Everyone is so cheerful and well-intentioned that after a while you itch to go off and do some raping and pillaging. Or to kick a cat."


And this is from Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman which I read for fun:

"Many people, meeting Aziraphale for the first time, formed three impressions: that he was English, that he was intelligent, and that he was gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide."


Over and out.

Savannah, Fare You Well

Almost done some stuff for my script - it's taken me longer to figure out what I want, and I'm still working on that, but once I get this done, I think it'll flow okay (knock on wood). Mostly, I'm excited that I think I can set some of my film in one of my favorite places in the world, the Florida Keys.

Enjoy a taste of paradise:


Sunset at Craig Key. You are looking at the Gulf. Twenty feet behind you is the Atlantic Ocean.



Sunset at Lor-e-Lei restaurant and bar in Islamorada.



Anne's Beach, taken hundreds of yards into the Atlantic Ocean. The water is barely up to your waist.

Grape Fruit Juicy Fruit

Okay, so the story's changing completely. Currently figuring out character and story line stuff for this movie, and then probably working on another one to figure out which one I feel most connected to and can finish in time. Oy.

Anyone else ever done an annotated bibliography? It's so lame. And pointless. Even my lit professor said so. So why are we doing stupid projects that are a waste of our time? Explain, please!

Midnight Rider

Working on my treatment / character bio stuff.

For anyone who hasn't heard the story, according to literature legend, Hemingway's friends once bet him that he couldn't write a story in six words. He wrote down, "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn" and won the bet.

Basically, my story is about a guy in the early 70s who finds an old newspaper from 1925 that contains a want-ad that reads "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn" and decides to find out the truth -- either the ad is a hoax, modeled after the Hemingway story, or it's a real ad, and there's more to the story than those six words.

My original idea had the guy in college, but I know I can't do that. So then maybe he's a journalist. But honestly, I hate stories about journalists. I really do. I mean, I love "All The President's Men," but that's based in truth and is historical. Otherwise, I find following a journalist incredibly boring, and then I feel like the story is more about whatever the journalist is researching and not the writer's journey. So right now, I'm trying to figure out how to make this guy and his search interesting and make it much more than just debunking Hemingway or whatever.

Grumble. It'll get resolved. Somehow.

If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out

Trying to come up with new ways of putting this story together. Seeing what I can salvage and what to drop completely. That's tough, because just cause you like something doesn't mean it works by any means.

Also bouncing other ideas around my head, since I have Short Film and Basic Filmmaking in addition to this script. Hooray, three times the stories! (actually more)

Just sharing, love this site and her books:
www.kerismith.com

Symphony No. 5 in C Minor

Bloggity blog blog blog.

Welcome and all that jazz.

Senior Project this and graduation that and real world this and yabba dabba doo.

See ya soon.