Tribal Connection

Listening to Gogol Bordello cause I can't get enough and they're coming to town May 1st

Thoroughly enjoying having to read Everything Is Illuminated all over again for English class

Just finished watching the film version which is great in its own ways that have nothing to do with the book

Please enjoy the first piece in my Dinosaurs In Rocketships Series, Cosmonaut Rex

That's Amore

Yesterday was one of the best days in the Italian Market. I was with a new friend who had only been there once and very briefly, so we got to do some fun exploring. First, we walked through the market to browse the stalls and then went to Sarcone's where they only had one loaf left - lucky for me it was seeded (my fave). Then we trekked to Isgro's to split a biscotti (free!) and a cannoli (not free). After that we picked up some iced tea at Anthony's and then went immediately to Claudio.

She had been in DiBruno before, but never Claudio. I will always love that look of awe that people get when they see those punching bags of provolone for the first time. We searched for pastas (I bought some black farfalle to try) and landed at the counter. Mike, one of the usual servers, waited on us. After he took us to the end of the counter and gathered the things we had already picked out, he listened to our initial orders and went to retrieve them (2 mozzarella balls, 1/4 lb. Italian prosciutto). While slicing the prosciutto, he remarked to me, "You know, it's a shame Tom isn't here to help you!"

Tom is probably my favorite guy at Claudio. He's somewhere in his 40s (maybe 50s) with a mop of curly hair just reaching the top of his glasses. He's the first one who ever recognized me in the store, and that was after over six months of not seeing me. Every time I go in, whether or not he waits on me, he always stops to talk, ask how things are going, how was my holiday, what's new, etc. Any sample he passes to his customers, he always makes sure I get a bite, too. In September, my mom and I tried to go to Villa di Roma for lunch, but they were closed, so we decided to go to Ralph's instead. As we turned around to head back up 9th Street, we ran into Tom stepping out of Claudio. He instantly greeted me and went on his way, and my mom turned to me and said, "You're right. They do recognize you here. Even on the street."

Mike sliced the prosciutto and continued with, "I haven't seen you around in a while - where you been hiding?" I told him that I hadn't really had a chance to get down there what with schoolwork and all. He asked me where I live - I said West Philly. He replied, "Ohhhh, I thought you lived down here!" I wish!

We sampled the prosciutto and the Prima Donna cheese I bought. In addition to those, we tried their 25-year-old vinegar at my request, and Mike brought us a bunch of other things for us to try (I can't even remember the names of them all): a lemon-type deserty cheese, another cheese with cranberries, a wonderfully light and smooth goat's cheese, a roasted turkey with herbs that was sliced like prosciutto, and their sundried tomatoes.

Unless they are ridiculously busy (like Christmas Eve when the line is out the door), the samples that flow from behind the counter are amazing, both in quality and in quantity. One of my best friends makes me order for him when we go there, because (according to him) I get better and bigger samples than he does. Once when we went down there, we were being waited on by one guy, but another server kept bringing us stuff as well. He's a round guy in his 30s with a smile for everyone. As we ordered our food, he kept walking down the entire length of the counter to hand me different cheeses and -- right before we left -- a fist-sized chunk of nougat. All for free.

All of the employees are great in their own ways: the old man is funny and charming in that South Philly Italian way ("This next cheese was named after you...Prima Donna!"), the quiet guy rounds your bill down to the nearest dollar for ease, the youngest guy gives you great banter while you wait...it's wonderful customer service. If they love you, you get great conversation and loads of samples. If you're new, they treat you like they've known you for years to get you to come back -- and you will, cause you can't beat the atmosphere.

I was paying for my order with the gift card my uncle had bought me, and my friend remarked that it's exactly what she wants, but her mom lives in LA and wouldn't be able to get her one. I suggested maybe checking online or getting a business card so she could call one in. She said that sounded like a great idea, and apparently the old man thought it was, too. He leaned over the counter, handed her a few business cards and said, "We also do shipments, dear." He smiled and went back to his customers.

As we stepped toward the door, I said to Mike, "I promise I won't wait as long to come back next time." He said, "Great! See you next weekend!" I laughed, knowing that I won't have to come back next weekend, that the only possible thing I could "need" would be another mozzarella ball, but my best friend said he's in desperate need of things, which means I'll have some ordering to do.

After all that we went to Fante's where I got some Japanese Sencha green tea I've been looking for and a tea infuser. Strolling happily down 9th Street, our arms loaded with bags of food, much like Christmas shoppers and their dozens of boxes and bags from Macy's in New York City, we considered the day well spent.

A couple summers ago, I went to the market in the middle of the day in the middle of the week -- perfect, because everything's open, but no one's around. I stepped into Claudio, munching on Sarcone's loaves as I placed my order. The youngest guy brought me my samples of prosciutto and Prima Donna and I said, "I've been waiting for this all day!"

"Really? You've been waiting for this all day?" he laughed. I nodded as I ate, and he brought me a big sample of their punching bag provolone. We kept talking for a while until the old man came up, pointed at the loaves in my arms, and said to the guy, "You know, you should cut this young lady's rolls and go sit down at a table and eat somewhere." He blushed and we laughed, but all I could think was "You have cheese. Marry me!"

They say the quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Obviously, whoever said that never met me.

Check their video

I Get Ideas, I Get Ideas

Today, I read my entire script out loud. I was quite parched by the end, but I got some feedback and I'm feeling okay. Of course it's not perfect -- it's just the equivalent of a first draft after all -- but I feel much better than I did in September. A lot better. I like it a whole lot more.

I can't believe this is it. Holy shit. Senior project. Done.

How will I be celebrating? By getting my passport renewed on Saturday so I can go to Aruba for Easter. This was all decided in about one day and out of the blue. I'll be missing three days of classes during the first and second weeks of spring term, but who cares? An almost last-minute trip to the islands is worth it every time.

Souvenirs, anyone?

The mind wanders when it should be sleeping

"Rain, rain, go away,
Come again another day."
I write a haiku.

Echo

I've sent in the new draft and I'm going to be spending the next two weeks fine tuning it even more. I think there's still a few things to work out, but I like this version a lot better - I feel more optimistic about its potential than I did last month.

I have mixed feelings about how the course was structured, in terms of draft 1: week 2, revisions: week 6, final: week 8. Part of me missed how loose Workshop was two years ago, because I worked more on my own time and I had one solid deadline instead of thinking in terms of "week 2, week 6, week 8." Then again, this structure was great because we're going to have more deadlines like this in the real world. While I wish I still had those last two weeks of the term to keep working, it'll be nice to have the project DONE in week 8 so I can concentrate on other things.

Everything's almost over. So weird. And it's not four years of schooling ending - it's six years of finding Drexel, finding screenwriting, working my ass off, and falling in love with this city and what I do. Oh I know, it's the cliche "just the beginning," but still. Wow.

I'm so glad I chose here.

Road to Awe

Been going through my script and making notes / changes, but the thing is, I'm thinking of massive story changes that I'm not 100% sure might work, which I plan on discussing next week. For example, my main character's girlfriend is pregnant - should I get rid of that and change part of the problem, or would that be too hard to tackle? I dunno. I'm still figuring it out. I have made some changes and realized some ways that can help explain his frustration with life in general at the beginning, like emphasizing the pressures that are placed on him by everyone around him -- "you should study this" "forget studying and do this" "I want you to do this" "why don't you..." etc.

I'm frustrated myself and pissed off at it. I kinda hate it right now, but if those big changes work, maybe I won't. I find that when I get this way, I keep thinking of new and different ideas for movies and think "Ooh! I should work on that instead! That's much more interesting!" But I can't, because this is Number One and what I have to deal with. Grumble.

Last night, I was incredibly ticked off at life in general, too. There's basically only a handful of people in the world that aren't pissing me off right now, and I want to do something different. So I decided at midnight that I would get up early and go down to Penn's Landing and watch the sunrise. When my alarm went off, I smacked it thinking, "What the fuck is this!? Why is my alarm going off?!" when I remembered "Oh yeah. I'm getting up in the dark because I decided it was a brilliant idea to watch the sunrise. Smart move."

It was. I met up with a friend and we took the El to 2nd and walked all the way to the amphitheater section of Penn's Landing and sat on a bench as close to the river as we could. The gulls circled above in a wonderful Hitchcockian manner and I asked, "I don't look enough like Tippi Hedren for the birds to attack us, do I?" The light wisps of clouds on the horizon scattered the light just enough and there was a lovely orange and pink glow amongst them. My friend pointed to the way the orange reflection mixed with the blues of the water and how it looked like a Monet. We nearly went blind staring into the sun as it began to break over the buildings of Camden. Not exactly the most beautiful skyline to watch, but it was far better than sitting in West Philadelphia and waiting for the sun to clear skyscraper after skyscraper.

When the sun had finally cleared the buildings and lit up the city, we went home, exhausted from getting up before the dawn, but better for the experience. I actually haven't intentionally watched the sunrise in almost four years, and it was well worth it. I came home, made blueberry muffins, drank Jasmine green tea, and found out my English class was cancelled.

It's gonna be a lovely day.

http://tinyurl.com/bealovelyday

Just a Thought

I've often been told I need to do more new things - really, see more new movies - and I agree. And I want to. I enjoy experiencing new things, new films, books, music, places, tastes, smells, textures, sensations, all of it.

But isn't there something truly amazing in revisiting the old and familiar, finding something that you never noticed before...and rediscovering why you fell in love with it in the first place?

Yes, I need to see more new films. Yes, they've been arriving via Netflix and theatre.

But I will never stop feeling the need to sing along with Victor Laszlo.

How It Ends

Since I'm taking the Writing the Personal Essay class which is essentially memoir writing, I've had to read examples of personal essays and excerpts of memoirs. One of the best things I have read so far is something that is not on our list. It's called Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. Inspired by the legend of Hemingway's "For sale: baby shoes, never worn," this book contains hundreds of peoples' lives compressed into six words. They range from Stephen Colbert's "Well, I thought it was funny." to a nine-year-old girl's "Cursed with cancer. Blessed with friends." One of my favorites is "Cheese is the essence of life."

I enjoyed reading these, trying to imagine exactly why these people chose those specific six words to summarize their lives. Some obviously put a lot of thought into it, and others didn't seem to as much. I got ideas for stories and movies from these half sentences. This collection was a brilliant idea. For a while, I made myself write at least one six-word memoir per day, detailing something that had happened or that I thought during the course of the day. For example, the first time I had to answer phones at the Film Office, I summarized the experience as such: "Film Office. Who's this? Please hold." And when it seemed like it was going great, I wrote "This isn't so bad after all!" and then when I fucked up royally: "Shit shit shit shit shit shit."

But then I started to think of how I would summarize my life so far in a six-word memoir. How could I do such a thing? How could I consolidate 21 years into six words? Obviously other people had done it with far more years to consider, but what would I say? Was there an exact moment that defined my life, like the person who wrote, "I fell in love with Charlie"? Or could I sum it up in something silly, like "Happiness is a warm salami sandwich"?

I thought about all the different things I say and do in my life, how I never feel like or seem to be one thing. I'll do something that people expect of me, and then I'll throw them for a loop with something else...but the thing is, it's still me, and they all still realize that. I don't turn into a different person when I change out of my jeans that I have drawn all over and into a satiny cocktail dress. Someone who's only seen me in one of those outfits might not have expected the other, but once they've seen it, they expect anything and everything. And that's when it hit me.

I wouldn't want to sum up my life right now as only accounting for the past 21 years. I want to include past, present and the future. I want something that will last. I want something that will keep.

"One day, I'll really surprise you."

And you're not gonna be ready for it.

Devil's Dance Floor

BAM!

It's just after 3 and it's in!

I MEET DEADLINES!

There is soooooooooo much I need to fix. Like I've said before, I've focused on getting pages out and trying to incorporate certain new ideas into them, but I am looking forward to (1) not thinking about the script for a day, and (2) going back and completely ripping it to shreds to make it something much better.

I've only just realized that my lead is similar to a character I recently saw somewhere else. So what I'm going to do is watch this other character and see how he's been written and how the things in his life are played out. No, I'm not stealing - I want to see what made him successful as a character and how I can apply that to mine.

Oh man. This is amazing. I know the work has only just begun, but now that one -- albeit in desperate need of help -- first draft is done, I feel much better. So much better. It's in. It's done. On time. It's no masterpiece, but there it is. Ha. Done. On time. Boo yah.

Don't rain on my parade, I'm doing my victory dance.

I'll Be OK

It used to be that I'd always write scenes that were way too long and unnecessary. I always had to cut things down by a lot. Now, I feel like I'm getting control of that and getting everything out in scenes much quicker and in a more concise manner. Which means that my scenes are really short. And that means they take up less pages. Which means I need to write MORE scenes to fill the pages. Which really sucks. What also sucks is how little space action takes up on a page. So a moment that might actually last a whole 30 seconds in film isn't actually taking up half a page, but two sentences. So I could write five pages that actually take fifteen minutes, but I'll still be ten pages short. God damn it.

And even though I'm working on this and all, I am much more interested in the real-life drama around me than I am in fake drama on the page. That's another thing that's changing - usually, I'm so interested in my characters and what they're doing and these made up stories that I really don't care what's going on outside the screen. Now? Nope. Real things are ACTUALLY interesting and compelling. And I would much rather go live my own adventure than write one for an imaginary person.

I feel incredibly motivated and alive, and at the same time, ridiculously pissed off and angry at everything. I want all you people to talk to me, and then I want you to leave me alone.

"Everybody's crazy except you and me, and I'm not so sure about you."

Save Me

It's been a while since I blogged, I know, I know, my fault. I've been going crazy over break with everything I have to do between family stuff and my own drama and I haven't written as much as I should have. I'm working on it. It'll be ready by week 2, I know, because I make myself meet those deadlines. I'm still just focusing on cranking out the pages and reworking stuff later. What matters right now is that a draft gets done.

Ugh.

And while I'm not totally feeling this project right now, I just had a great screenwriting experience. I was asked to give advice on and then rewrite a film senior project script. I had three days to do it, and it seems to have turned out well. It was probably the biggest moment when I felt like a writer, that this is what I do. Writing the game simulation script was cool and I actually got paid, don't get me wrong, but reworking a story and putting someone's ideas on paper for them when they can't do it themselves is very rewarding. I felt wanted. I felt like what I did mattered. It needed to be done. It's crisis mode. It's going to be filmed. I know that within a relatively short amount of time, I can say "Yeah, see that? I helped write that."

At first, I did it because my friends asked me to and I wanted to do whatever I could to help them. But I should be thanking them instead, because this opportunity has shown me again how much I love what I do, even if stuff feels like crap from time to time. So Aly, if you're reading this, thank you! And I'll thank you in person, too.

Also going on at the moment: I just reached a critical moment in a certain chapter of my life. For a bit, life actually felt like a movie. I was half expecting to hear the soundtrack playing in the background. I thought -- and sincerely hoped -- that I had entered the last 10 pages in which I would have to get in a cab which would drive too slow so I'd have to get out and run and reach my destination before the stroke of midnight and all would be well. Instead, of course, I have just entered Act Three in which something horrible has happened and then it all has to magically get better before the credits roll. Yes, I'm in "martyr" mode, at my lowest point.

So in these final pages, final terms, final moments that we know that we'll have together...something good better happen. Or I'm going to be very angry. And lose faith in a lot of things. But you know, no biggie.

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.