Wishes

Sometimes I wish....
... that I could go up to anyone and talk with them or hang with them and not feel like I would creep them out because a complete stranger is intruding into their lives. (Brave words for a four-eyed fat man.)
Case in point: we were traveling last week and at a Burger King in another city I saw four teens sitting at a booth. All were pierced. The oldest seemed to be about 16yrs. The younger ones were maybe 13-14yrs.
Were they siblings? Were they homeless? Were they their own gang just trying to survive without adults in a big city?
I can make up stories about their lives. But I wanted to sit with them and soak up their lives. No judgements. No trying to save them. Just observing...
How would I do that? Hand them a business card? Tell them I am a writer/producer/filmmaker?

.....

Time is the Enemy of Art

Time is the enemy of art.

As I take time to struggle with writing, the longer it takes the harder it becomes to finish.

Or as it has been said,
"Time is short and Art is long."

....

Dragon 10 and Celtx

Bought Dragon 10 Essentials this week. This voice recognition program works well with my Celtx scriptwriting software.
I am hoping that I can write with my eyes closed, just imagining the story as it unfolds and then I can correct and format it later.

...

Writing Life

This month I chose to write.

Last month I finished two animation shorts and one 3-minute short script.

"Doomsday Catch Phrase" is a 2-minute animation I've entered in the 10th Anniversary deadCenter Film Festival. (Haven't heard yet if I'm in.)

"Missing" is a 1-minute animation I entered in a deadCenter X-games contest for their April Showers contest. (I did win a pass the the 10th Anniversary Film Festival in June!)

The 3-minute script was for a Scripped.com contest. The idea was to write as if "found footage" from a video camera showed up from an Unknown Sender. (Haven't heard from them yet.)

So I'm writing for another contest on Scripped.com.

It's just the first 15 pages of a script. The idea is for "a comedy-drama about a middle-aged father who falls for his son's 20-something girlfriend."

I've chosen to emphasize the comedy aspect. Otherwise it might tend toward an "American Beauty" type story.

This contest ends on Friday.

...

New Project

I just got a critique from Scripped.com for a short script I want to make into a short film. The guy liked it a lot without much to criticize. I looked at all the "Average" ratings he gave me and my wife said they weren't bad. Like length of script-how are you going to get a VERY GOOD for length of a short script?

Anyway, he had some good things to say and for me to look at to strengthen the story.

So I'll examine my script for the cracks.

Here's the website for these folks. And they have writing contests too.

www.scripped.com

Watchmen: Portraits by Clay Enos

Found a book at the library in the oversize section called "Watchmen: Portraits" by Clay Enos. Wonderful black and white portraits of the folks that worked on the film, "Watchmen". Set designers and bit actors all get the same fantastic treatment with the camera.

Just flipping through the book, I feel like I could write stories about these characters. Looking into their faces, wondering about the lives they lived. About the lives they are going to live. Adventures in the making....


Here's Clay Enos website to view his portfolio:
http://clayenos.com/

...

Collaboration

Met with some friends the other evening to talk through a short film they're working on. They had about 5 pages as a rough draft of the story. (They write and film as a team.)

I was happy to be a part of the process as we discussed the tone of the film. And we hashed out motivation of the characters. (What is the thing that pushes them over edge?) It was great to have a sounding board for ideas. And the solutions were already part of the story, we just had to pull them out of hiding.

They're planning on getting this film shot and edited by the end of summer so they can send it out to some film festivals in the spring.

Now I want to do the same for one of my stories. I have some "almost finished" first drafts that have gaps that need some thinking through. I need a sounding board.

...

New Story Idea 1

It's funny how an idea can burn

through itself in a matter of hours

or even minutes.

.

Like a delicate wildflower

that blooms and withers

in a short period of time.

.

I fashioned a new story

one day

this week

and by day's end

I had talked myself out of it.

.

Not so much killed it

as realized that the logistics

were too complex for me.

.

At this time.

.

I want my stories to see the light of day.

I want to entertain others.

I want to collaborate.

To see my stories told with other voices.

.

Are the other voices better than mine?

Do I feel that my writing is inferior?

.

Yes and no.

.

No, because others

do like my writing style.

And I like my writing style.

.

Yes, because I am not

as prolific a writer as I want to be.

That is where I feel inferior.

.

Isn't that the rub in all art?

There is not enough time or energy

to adequately connect

the inner self with the outer world.

....

Random Searches

Years ago when surfing the Web was new, I used to waste hours just randomly following links from one webpage to another. Like an explorer without a destination. Just to see what I could see.

Just to see another world outside of my town and my experience.

I was enthralled when I found a webcam of a bridge in Stockholm. I could check the weather there, day or night.

Then, I got tired of random searches. The newness was gone.

I'd reached the end of the universe. I found the last Web page beyond which there was nothing. (Not really, it just felt that way.)

Now I've begun to do random searches for blogs. I just click "Nex Blog" and see what is out there. Most of the sites are in languages I can't read. But there are some fine photogaraphers out there that bring their world close to me.

People have uploaded photos of snow already. I forget there are places that get snow this early in the season.

I found a blog from a Manga artist living in Sweden. Some of it is English, some is not.

I found a photographer in the UK who only publishes her photos and not her words.

What am I looking for? Anything. Everything.

There is a lot of energy out there. Just one idea can keep my mind going all day.

In wonder. In awe.

The world is at once bigger and smaller than I imagine.

....

Blogging

I'm getting into the blogging bit. I've signed up for a few interesting blogs. Just to see how this works.

I've changed my photo. It's now a photo of one of our cats when she was a kitten.

And I can now Google and my blog shows up.

So I'm up and running.

I might even add some more photos.

...

Welcome

November 9, 2008—Electivism, my personal philosophy of integrating the disparate and desperate ideas in my life.

Finding Patterns and Making Sense of It All. (Or at least Part of It All until the Universe shifts again. Hang on, it’s going to be a teeth-grinding-bone-crunching ride.)

Duct taping the Universe. Duct-taping Reality. Tire won’t inflate. Key-in-ignition alarm won’t go off.

Transcendental Dreams and other niceties.

Adele singing on a CD player behind me. Like she’s in the room with me. Like I can’t turn around or I will know that she is not there.

So this doesn’t feel quite like a Sunday. We’re not doing the usual Sunday things.

Some video, some art, some doodles, some thoughts.

"Looking for the creative accelerant to spark a career."

Obscurism: happy to enjoy stuff others may not be familiar with.

Creative Accelerants to Spark Your Career. Maybe you can find it here. Maybe I can point you in a direction you’ve never thought of. Maybe I can point you in a direction that you’ve wanted to go but didn’t know you could. (No, not felonious or treasonous behavior.) We’re staying on the right side of good.

I told you this would be jumpy. Like a UFO making those impossible 90-degree turns. Stay with me if you want as long as you want.

Too much coffee this morning or lack of writing time this week. My brain is spilling over.

She was chronically manic. That’s close to an idea I had this morning.

My time’s about up on this battery. Nap time.

How to set up the break-out blog? The same ingredients as the break-out novel?