"Wanna see something scary?"
Dan Akroyd says this as he pops in an old cassette tape into the dashboard tape player...then the camera pans away. Off screen his character turns into a monster and (we presume) he kills the man riding beside him. The question isn't just asked of Akroyd's co-star at the begining of THE TWILIGHT ZONE MOVIE...it's asked of the audience as well. Want to see something scary? Well, do ya?
I'm not a timid person, at least, I don't think so. I try to avoid a lot of horror movies not because I get scared, but because I don't really like gore. Blood and guts are just not my thing. My girlfriend is the exact opposite: she's afraid of even the most tame "scary" movies. There is, however, a difference between what you see on a screen (big or small) and real life.
Right now, I'm really freaked out...
It was one of those deals where I was just surfing the web. Somehow (I don't know how) I ended up looking at John Landis (American director). I spent about 20-30 minutes reading about his career and the court case surrounding the wrongful death lawsuit surrounding his segment of THE TWILIGHT ZONE MOVIE. I was reading the IMDB movie message boards about the film, and of course, everyone was talking about the film's loss of life. Eventually I find out that you can see the rough footage of actor Vic Marrow dying (along with two child actors) on YOUTUBE.com
Hesitantly, I decided to check it out. I am really scared right now. Something about the reality of what I saw has freaked me out. Why has someone posted such a thing? Well...why did someone (like me) want to watch it? Why are we so attracted to dark, scary, terrible things? I don't know. I do know that if I was realated to the late Croc Hunter (Steve Erwin) I would make sure that all of the footage of him dying WAS PERMENANTLY DESTROYED or it will end up on the internet. And people, like me, will be up late at night...haunted by the images of extreme horror. Something really scary--reality.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
364 (The Science of Sleep)
Tonight was a very good night. Me and Leah ran down to the loop and had a quick dinner at Jimmy John's...then we went and saw a free movie! THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP was very good/weird/funny/strange/exotic movie. Truly it was a cartoon-romance come to life.
Tomorrow is me and Leah's one year anniversary! One year ago tomorrow, I woke up to a power outage. I decided to call this funny girl I had just started hanging out with...and we spent the whole day together. We had breakfast, went to the Science Center, we went to Forest Park (I was scared of the butterflys), we watched part of TEAM AMERICA and all of THE INCREDIBLES at her house, she made me pizza that was way too hot (I burned my lips), we rode the Metrolink to the Savis Center where we were going to get jobs...but I used psychology to trick Leah into wanting to leave and so we went back to my place and made out.
It was a good day. Tomorrow should be another power outage. Except I don't think we'd spend it the same way. Sadly, I think sometimes that I've let things get boring. I feel bad that we tend to do a lot of the same stuff. I can't help it. Me and my dad were talking about this the other day. I am SUCH a creature of habit! And I think I'm bringing the whole damn world down with me! Isn't that sad?! Well I vow to take this matter up as my personal mission in life! I shan't be boring anymore!
Seriously though, THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP is really good...if you get a chance (and don't mind subtitles) go and see it! Funny, funny stuff.
Tomorrow is me and Leah's one year anniversary! One year ago tomorrow, I woke up to a power outage. I decided to call this funny girl I had just started hanging out with...and we spent the whole day together. We had breakfast, went to the Science Center, we went to Forest Park (I was scared of the butterflys), we watched part of TEAM AMERICA and all of THE INCREDIBLES at her house, she made me pizza that was way too hot (I burned my lips), we rode the Metrolink to the Savis Center where we were going to get jobs...but I used psychology to trick Leah into wanting to leave and so we went back to my place and made out.
It was a good day. Tomorrow should be another power outage. Except I don't think we'd spend it the same way. Sadly, I think sometimes that I've let things get boring. I feel bad that we tend to do a lot of the same stuff. I can't help it. Me and my dad were talking about this the other day. I am SUCH a creature of habit! And I think I'm bringing the whole damn world down with me! Isn't that sad?! Well I vow to take this matter up as my personal mission in life! I shan't be boring anymore!
Seriously though, THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP is really good...if you get a chance (and don't mind subtitles) go and see it! Funny, funny stuff.
Monday, September 18, 2006
More Cool stuff from (someone's) childhood
I have two major exams tomorrow (yikes!) but I had to take an hour and clean up my dorm, because I can not study in filth. Anyway, while I was washing my dishes and putting my trash in the can and clothes in the hamper,I listened to Little Steven's Underground Garage . This week's show is all about Rocky and Bullwinkle. I forgot all about R&B (as we say in the cartoon industry) until I heard this show. Funny, funny, stuff. I really liked the total and complete obsurdity of a moose and flying squirrel (not just a regular one...a flying squirrel) being pals. The humor was really sharp, and as Little Steven suggested in the show, it was the God-Father of modern animated shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy.
So here's to you Rocky! And Bullwinkle!
So here's to you Rocky! And Bullwinkle!
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Find your rainbow
Tonight me and Leah went to the Tivoli and saw a midnight showing of 1979's THE MUPPET MOVIE. According to Jim Henson, the Muppet's first movie is (loosley) based on his own rise to fame. Kermit has a dream to entertain people and goes on a typical quest to make this dream come true. In the end, he and his Muppet friends walk into a movie execs office (Orson Welles...a PERFECT role for him, he after all battling Execs all his professional life), anyway they waltz in and he just looks at them. Then he gets on his intercom and tells his secretary to "draw up the usual fame and fortune contracts." Poof. Just like that, all of Kermits dreams are realized.
Initially I thought this was rather cheap. "Henson's Muppets are cheating!" After all, we know making it in life isn't that easy. But that's not the point. The hard part wasn't getting the movie deal, it was getting to Hollywood (thus the adventure of the movie). So I guess, the point of THE MUPPET MOVIE is really very inspirational. Kermit goes through all this shit, nearly gives up...but decides to press on (face his problems) and thus, succeeds. THAT is the true battle of life--not giving up once one finds his/her "rainbow." Find that dream, hold it tight, and maybe Orson Welles will stare at you one day and give you that contract. Probably not, but if Kermit had just given up and gone back to the swamp, it never would have happened. And if the movie hadn't worked out, well look at what he got along the way--freinds! A bear that tells jokes (and drives), a pig that loves him, and a cool band to follow him around, playing songs.
I wonder where people like Henson are today, in my generation. People who have a vision and a message. People don't want to make things for kids (young and old) of quatilty that tackle serious subject matter. Movies like "Shrek" are funny, but in the end sort of hollow compared to Henson's Muppets. We're all so cynical today. If THE MUPPET MOVIE had been made in 2006 everyone would have been winking during all the silly, optimistic songs. We do that nowdays. We say really sincere things, but the whole time we wink and nudge each other. That way when people laugh at us, we can say "oh we were just joking! Ha, ha!" It's not cool to actually say what you mean: to believe in yourself, your friends, and the that the things will be better someday. Everyone is afraid, even embarassed to be genuine. Childhood innocence is out of vogue I suppose. For a culture so obsessed with youth, I find this puzzling. Everyone has become a kid wanting to grow up so fast.
Initially I thought this was rather cheap. "Henson's Muppets are cheating!" After all, we know making it in life isn't that easy. But that's not the point. The hard part wasn't getting the movie deal, it was getting to Hollywood (thus the adventure of the movie). So I guess, the point of THE MUPPET MOVIE is really very inspirational. Kermit goes through all this shit, nearly gives up...but decides to press on (face his problems) and thus, succeeds. THAT is the true battle of life--not giving up once one finds his/her "rainbow." Find that dream, hold it tight, and maybe Orson Welles will stare at you one day and give you that contract. Probably not, but if Kermit had just given up and gone back to the swamp, it never would have happened. And if the movie hadn't worked out, well look at what he got along the way--freinds! A bear that tells jokes (and drives), a pig that loves him, and a cool band to follow him around, playing songs.
I wonder where people like Henson are today, in my generation. People who have a vision and a message. People don't want to make things for kids (young and old) of quatilty that tackle serious subject matter. Movies like "Shrek" are funny, but in the end sort of hollow compared to Henson's Muppets. We're all so cynical today. If THE MUPPET MOVIE had been made in 2006 everyone would have been winking during all the silly, optimistic songs. We do that nowdays. We say really sincere things, but the whole time we wink and nudge each other. That way when people laugh at us, we can say "oh we were just joking! Ha, ha!" It's not cool to actually say what you mean: to believe in yourself, your friends, and the that the things will be better someday. Everyone is afraid, even embarassed to be genuine. Childhood innocence is out of vogue I suppose. For a culture so obsessed with youth, I find this puzzling. Everyone has become a kid wanting to grow up so fast.
Friday, September 15, 2006
New iTUNES Sucks
Hey, just a fair warning to anyone out there...don't download the new version of iTUNES it really, really, really, really SUCKS! Not sure what the hell they were thinking releasing this thing (I think it's like version 7.0 or 7.1). They changed the look of the browser (again) and I don't really like the it. But worse is the new "features" like the option to GET ALBUM ART. Sounds good, right? You can get album art for files you DIDN'T download from iTUNES.
Except there is a MAJOR problem...some of the artwork is wrong...dead wrong...and it's a bitch to change it back to what it should be. They had some black guy's album (Thomas Long? ever heard of him? me neither) artwork for all of my Queen MP3s. Now does that make ANY sense? Also, for compilations it just goes and finds the first artist listed, rather than go and get the artwork for the acutal compilation. RESULT: every song on my Pulp Fiction soundtrack had the art work for Al Green's Greatest Hits. Riiiiight....maybe what I keep hearing about iTUNES/iPOD going the way of the Dodo bird might be more than speculation...
Except there is a MAJOR problem...some of the artwork is wrong...dead wrong...and it's a bitch to change it back to what it should be. They had some black guy's album (Thomas Long? ever heard of him? me neither) artwork for all of my Queen MP3s. Now does that make ANY sense? Also, for compilations it just goes and finds the first artist listed, rather than go and get the artwork for the acutal compilation. RESULT: every song on my Pulp Fiction soundtrack had the art work for Al Green's Greatest Hits. Riiiiight....maybe what I keep hearing about iTUNES/iPOD going the way of the Dodo bird might be more than speculation...
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Back on Track?
Had a good talk with Dad today. Talked about Wendy's being closed out here in St. Louis, writing, and how I need to start living. You know, the usual stuff. I got off the phone and promptly went to the library with a pad of paper and two blue ink pens and started writing. 75% of which isn't all that bad! Not that it really matters, though, it's just good to be writing again.
Tomorrow is FRIDAY! TGIF!! Yeah, I know it's really only Thursday, but for a lazy college student like me that's Friday kids. I'm supposed to go and talk to Leah's Dad tomorrow about getting married. I'm "asking for her hand in marriage." Can't wait for that...I'm sure that will be a nice, tense conversation.
I shaved for the occasion, but not that much. I kept the stash and the fuzz on my chin (come on, once I get out of school I'll have to shave full time...and go to bed early and all that stuff that comes with being grown up). Even though I know I should be scared, I'm not, because no matter what happens it'll be great fodder for the 'old memoirs one day!
Cheers!
Tomorrow is FRIDAY! TGIF!! Yeah, I know it's really only Thursday, but for a lazy college student like me that's Friday kids. I'm supposed to go and talk to Leah's Dad tomorrow about getting married. I'm "asking for her hand in marriage." Can't wait for that...I'm sure that will be a nice, tense conversation.
I shaved for the occasion, but not that much. I kept the stash and the fuzz on my chin (come on, once I get out of school I'll have to shave full time...and go to bed early and all that stuff that comes with being grown up). Even though I know I should be scared, I'm not, because no matter what happens it'll be great fodder for the 'old memoirs one day!
Cheers!
Well I'm at it again...
Since I've started writing on this blog, I've started several attempts at writing a novel. Each attempt has failed for one reason or another, lets examine each:
Attempt #1: Rewriting 1984
My first idea was basically my own spin on 1984. Gee I can't imagine why that failed, maybe because Orwell's book is so dark and scary (and sadly coming to fruition in our reality of today) that any attempt to do one better will fail (see "V For Vendetta" the film and comic book). Beyond that, my heart just wasn't in it. Part of what doomed me was that the fact that I decided to write the whole thing out by hand. This meant that all the revisions had to be done by hand...ugh...too much work
Attempt #2: My take on Spirituality
My second idea was much more interesting, basically I wrote a revenge/death fantasy story about a guy who dies and travels around an alternate plane looking for his shoes. "The Wizard of Oz" meets Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series. Exactly...the idea might have worked, except that my own spiritual beliefs (which would have been the heart of the story) are wishy-washy at best. I got 10,000 words out of this, making it my second longest novel attempt yet. Sad, huh?
Why have these, and all my other attempts really failed though? I think it's because I keep writing about things that are too far outside my sphere of experiance. They always say things like "write what you know." So, in that vein, I've decided that my first novel...will be about a disillusioned college student who goes home and hangs out with his friends from High School. They talk about how much it sucks to be young and totally clueless about the future. Sex. Drugs. Rock and Roll.
I'm not even going to lie and say something to jink the whole thing (like I've done in the past) like "I'm really going to write this one, I'm going to see it all the way through to the end..."
On the plus side, however, I have the first chapter written in my head and it's:
1. Really fucking funny
2. Good enough to stand on it's own as a short story (so if the novel doesn't materialize...I'll at least have a new short story...which at this point will be better than nothing).
Anyone who reads this, please get behind this thing...force me to actually write this...writing seriously the only thing I'm even remotely good at.
Attempt #1: Rewriting 1984
My first idea was basically my own spin on 1984. Gee I can't imagine why that failed, maybe because Orwell's book is so dark and scary (and sadly coming to fruition in our reality of today) that any attempt to do one better will fail (see "V For Vendetta" the film and comic book). Beyond that, my heart just wasn't in it. Part of what doomed me was that the fact that I decided to write the whole thing out by hand. This meant that all the revisions had to be done by hand...ugh...too much work
Attempt #2: My take on Spirituality
My second idea was much more interesting, basically I wrote a revenge/death fantasy story about a guy who dies and travels around an alternate plane looking for his shoes. "The Wizard of Oz" meets Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series. Exactly...the idea might have worked, except that my own spiritual beliefs (which would have been the heart of the story) are wishy-washy at best. I got 10,000 words out of this, making it my second longest novel attempt yet. Sad, huh?
Why have these, and all my other attempts really failed though? I think it's because I keep writing about things that are too far outside my sphere of experiance. They always say things like "write what you know." So, in that vein, I've decided that my first novel...will be about a disillusioned college student who goes home and hangs out with his friends from High School. They talk about how much it sucks to be young and totally clueless about the future. Sex. Drugs. Rock and Roll.
I'm not even going to lie and say something to jink the whole thing (like I've done in the past) like "I'm really going to write this one, I'm going to see it all the way through to the end..."
On the plus side, however, I have the first chapter written in my head and it's:
1. Really fucking funny
2. Good enough to stand on it's own as a short story (so if the novel doesn't materialize...I'll at least have a new short story...which at this point will be better than nothing).
Anyone who reads this, please get behind this thing...force me to actually write this...writing seriously the only thing I'm even remotely good at.
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