So, a friend of mine just gave me 8 boxes comics. I figure I have enough reading material for the next year. Most of the boxes are well organized, but one of them was just comics, thrown in a semi-random order. So, before I went out tonight, I decided to kinda look through and see what was there. Before I knew it, I had unpacked a decent portion of the box on my floor. For those of oyu who don't know me, I'm kinda OCD, so I had to unpack and organize the whole box at that point.
So, now I have the whole box in piles by title on my floor. Some of which I am super excited to read (Runaways, Danger Girl) and some of which I still will read, but will not be a top priority (Groo).
When I got the boxes, he was showing me some of the books. It was crazy. I remembered reading them about 20 years ago when they were fresh on the stands. Kraven the Hunter. Spider-Man and MJ's wedding. Issues I went to the comic book store and bought with anticipation when they came out, coming back into my life when I am more than twice as old as when I read them the first time. I can't wait to read those old issues and see how much I remember.
I am also excited to read the new stuff that I have read about, but never went and bought. I feel like just recently, comics have kinda crossed over into the mainstream. July was the first ComicCon I went to, and I can't wait for next year. Comikaze is next weekend, and eventhough I am currently unemployed, I am trying to figure out (rationalize) how to pay for at least one day.
So far I have only read one book out of the boxes. It was a "What if?"
I know I have written about the DC version "Elseworlds" before on this blog, but I wanted to revisit some of the same topics. The "What if?" series essientially asks what would have happened if a storyline had gone in a completely different direction. In this case it was about "what if Jean Grey had been resurrected in Astonishing X-Men instead of Colossus. It was interesting, because it called the Cyclops and White Witch relationship into question. But, it also made me think of Batman: Flashpoint.
In Batman: Flashpoint, it's alternate relaty where Bruce Wayne was killed and his parents survive. In this reality, Thomas Wayne becomes Batman. He fights the crime that killed his son, and is searching for his arch-nemesis the Joker. What is interesting is that when we see the Joker, it is not the Joker we know, but instead it's Martha Wayne, Bruce's mother. What we see is 2 different reactions to parents seeing their child murdered. One is to become a crusader for justice. The other is become the incarnation of the chaos that took that child. In some ways, this is more interesting view of characters. But, I'm not sure how long this could remain interesting.
I like these kind of stories because it make the writer ask "What if?"
I could and probably will say more at a later date, but I have been drinking and am going to bed.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Friday, November 5, 2010
Timing is everything.
PREFACE: I have decided to branch out from the strictly writing beginning of this blog.
So, I went and saw a friend of mine do 10 minutes of stand-up at Flappers in Burbank. She was easily the funniest person all night. One of the big problems I had with two of the comedians was the fact that their pop culture references were horribly dated. One of them was telling a joke about how music was telling her to do things (i.e.: Get that dirt of your shoulder). Now, I am pretty much the whitest man who has ever lived, but even I can tell you that Jay-Z's "Black Album" came out in 2003 (actually I thought it was "The Blueprint" (2002), but Wikipedia corrected me, but I was at least close). Then the next comedian came up and made a joke about "Jenny from the Block". I thought to myself I think that was the same album as "My Love Don't Cost a Thing", which video had Ben Affleck. Since that video, Affleck has dumped J Lo; met Jennifer Garner; Married Jennifer Garner; Had at least one kid; and directed two movies (as well as acting in I don't know how many). The point I want to make is that if you are going to make a pop culture reference in your jokes, make sure it's still in the popular culture. If you seriously want to be comedian, you might want to write new jokes once every 5 years.
Actually, this did turn out to be about writing. I guess the lesson I learned was be careful about putting pop culture references in your script, because by the time the movie gets made, they will probably be dated.
So, I went and saw a friend of mine do 10 minutes of stand-up at Flappers in Burbank. She was easily the funniest person all night. One of the big problems I had with two of the comedians was the fact that their pop culture references were horribly dated. One of them was telling a joke about how music was telling her to do things (i.e.: Get that dirt of your shoulder). Now, I am pretty much the whitest man who has ever lived, but even I can tell you that Jay-Z's "Black Album" came out in 2003 (actually I thought it was "The Blueprint" (2002), but Wikipedia corrected me, but I was at least close). Then the next comedian came up and made a joke about "Jenny from the Block". I thought to myself I think that was the same album as "My Love Don't Cost a Thing", which video had Ben Affleck. Since that video, Affleck has dumped J Lo; met Jennifer Garner; Married Jennifer Garner; Had at least one kid; and directed two movies (as well as acting in I don't know how many). The point I want to make is that if you are going to make a pop culture reference in your jokes, make sure it's still in the popular culture. If you seriously want to be comedian, you might want to write new jokes once every 5 years.
Actually, this did turn out to be about writing. I guess the lesson I learned was be careful about putting pop culture references in your script, because by the time the movie gets made, they will probably be dated.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
T.J. vs. Productivity
So, I picked the wrong week to institute a new work regiment. Between business meetings and a curling party, I was actually busy last week and my plan relies on the fact that I have no life.
My friend Disco suggested I try the iPhone app "Epic Win". It's basically a getting things done app where you get experience points for completing tasks. It's kinda cool. I still need the pomodoros, but this is a cool addition.
As far as screenplays, I just read an early version of "Scott Pilgrim". It's interesting because it has several parts which are even more different from the book than the theatrical version. I think a lot if this is because Brian Lee O'Mally hadn't decided how the series was going to go when the books were optioned, so the screenwriter was able to make a lot more choices. It's sorta like an alternate reality.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
My friend Disco suggested I try the iPhone app "Epic Win". It's basically a getting things done app where you get experience points for completing tasks. It's kinda cool. I still need the pomodoros, but this is a cool addition.
As far as screenplays, I just read an early version of "Scott Pilgrim". It's interesting because it has several parts which are even more different from the book than the theatrical version. I think a lot if this is because Brian Lee O'Mally hadn't decided how the series was going to go when the books were optioned, so the screenwriter was able to make a lot more choices. It's sorta like an alternate reality.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, August 29, 2010
The September Accords
Yesterday, I had one of those moments where I knew that I couldn't keep coasting through life. So, I made a list of things I needed to do and then a list of things I needed to do to accomplish those goals. So, as an experiment I am putting this list to the test as something called "The September Accords". I think it sounds fancy. So, basically you'll probably hear more from me for the next month.
Anywho, I read the script for Batman today. This is an unproduced script from 1984. The whole time I was reading it, all I could think about was which era would this fit (Burton, Schumaker, Nolan), because as the Joker said in Dark Knight "But I know the truth: there's no going back. You've changed things... forever." And that's the truth, once you've established a world, people will always compare it and if you change it too much, they won't believe it. Every movie has to be a product of their time, even if it's sci-fi, a period piece, or comic book movie. In this Batman, the Joker's sidekicks had jet-packs. Now this might have worked in Batman Returns, or any of the Schumaker's, but it wouldn't work now. People want everything nowadays grounded in some sort of reality, or at least people acknowledging that it's not comporting (i.e. Superman). Everything in the Nolan Batman movies at least seems like it might possibly happen. Also, this script has the introduction of Robin, which would never (I hope) enter the Nolan universe. The idea of a man adopting a boy to train to fight crime just seems like abuse at this point in time.
Well, there's the first of what I hope are many posts during the the month.
Anywho, I read the script for Batman today. This is an unproduced script from 1984. The whole time I was reading it, all I could think about was which era would this fit (Burton, Schumaker, Nolan), because as the Joker said in Dark Knight "But I know the truth: there's no going back. You've changed things... forever." And that's the truth, once you've established a world, people will always compare it and if you change it too much, they won't believe it. Every movie has to be a product of their time, even if it's sci-fi, a period piece, or comic book movie. In this Batman, the Joker's sidekicks had jet-packs. Now this might have worked in Batman Returns, or any of the Schumaker's, but it wouldn't work now. People want everything nowadays grounded in some sort of reality, or at least people acknowledging that it's not comporting (i.e. Superman). Everything in the Nolan Batman movies at least seems like it might possibly happen. Also, this script has the introduction of Robin, which would never (I hope) enter the Nolan universe. The idea of a man adopting a boy to train to fight crime just seems like abuse at this point in time.
Well, there's the first of what I hope are many posts during the the month.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Wow, 2 days in a row
So, I hope this means I'm back. I didn't get a lot of writing done today. I did however watch the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, which I started after my blog post last night. I also started watching 3 Days of the Condor, which I like, but I also realized that I like doing other things while I watch TV (internet, Words With Friends) and I don't always pay attention to what's going on, and for a movie like that i really need to sit down and watch. I plan on attempting again after this blog post.
I also watched two sports movies today. I like watching sports movies because they motivate me to train for curling. I'm going focus on the one I watched in morning because it had a much more complicated story than the one I watched while riding my exercise bike (The Rookie). Gracie is the story set in the 1970's of a girl who's brother was a soccer star coached by her father. After her brother is killed in a car accident, she decides that she is going to play on boys varsity team (there is no girls team) and beat the team her brother couldn't. Her father refuses to coach her because she's a girl and boys coach won't let her train in the boys gym (the only one with weights).
At this point, I was like "Okay. Here is where she decides to do it on her own and prove everyone wrong." Except that's not what happens. She decides to quit. She starts partying and sneaking into clubs. She fails her classes and eventually steals her parents car and has get pulled off some older dude by her dad. It's only when she's hit rock bottom that her dad decides to train her because that's all he can think to do because he can't talk to her. Her father goes so far as to quit his job to train her. But, when the school board refuses to let her play on the boys team, her father talks to the school and gets her on the field hockey team (essientially giving up on her playing soccer). She does the appeal herself and the school board agrees to let her try out. She tries out, but only makes JV. She wants to quit, but her dad talks her out of it. I won't ruin the end (but we can all guess what it is). There is a lot more to this movie, but it's father-daughter relationship that makes it memorable.
I guess the thing I took away from this movie is that you can have that typcial set up and even the same act breaks as every other sports movie, but make it a much more complex story if you make your characters rounded and fallible. She doesn't have the strength in the begging to keep going when everyone tells her to quit. She needs to hit rock bottom and her dad to believe in her. After all the training, her dad still doesn't believe a girl should play on the boys team. Depending on the type of movie you're making you don't necessarily need all that complexity. It's entirely possible that it was realness of the story that kept it from succeeding at the box office. But, at the end of the day I'm going to remember this movie for a lot longer than something like that football movie with Marky Mark Invincible or probably even The Rookie. When Gracie succeeds, you feel it a lot more as you have way more invested in the character.
When I inevitably write a curling script it'll probably be more The Cutting Edge than Gracie, but I'm definitely going to be thinking about Gracie while I'm writing it.
Wow, in an effort to make this even more stream-of-consciousness. I was just thinking about how in those things you see on-line "50 questions to ask your charcater" and the like, in most cases while I'm writing a movie I can answer most of those questions, but not all. And certainly after watching a movie I couldn't answer most of them. But, after watching Gracie, I could probably answer most of them, not only about Gracie, but about her mom and dad as well. None of the characters felt like throwaway archtypes.
I'm seriously rambling now. I'll leave it at this and hope to be more coherent when next we meet.
BTW: I'm finishing my 2nd pomodoro of the day right about now.
I also watched two sports movies today. I like watching sports movies because they motivate me to train for curling. I'm going focus on the one I watched in morning because it had a much more complicated story than the one I watched while riding my exercise bike (The Rookie). Gracie is the story set in the 1970's of a girl who's brother was a soccer star coached by her father. After her brother is killed in a car accident, she decides that she is going to play on boys varsity team (there is no girls team) and beat the team her brother couldn't. Her father refuses to coach her because she's a girl and boys coach won't let her train in the boys gym (the only one with weights).
At this point, I was like "Okay. Here is where she decides to do it on her own and prove everyone wrong." Except that's not what happens. She decides to quit. She starts partying and sneaking into clubs. She fails her classes and eventually steals her parents car and has get pulled off some older dude by her dad. It's only when she's hit rock bottom that her dad decides to train her because that's all he can think to do because he can't talk to her. Her father goes so far as to quit his job to train her. But, when the school board refuses to let her play on the boys team, her father talks to the school and gets her on the field hockey team (essientially giving up on her playing soccer). She does the appeal herself and the school board agrees to let her try out. She tries out, but only makes JV. She wants to quit, but her dad talks her out of it. I won't ruin the end (but we can all guess what it is). There is a lot more to this movie, but it's father-daughter relationship that makes it memorable.
I guess the thing I took away from this movie is that you can have that typcial set up and even the same act breaks as every other sports movie, but make it a much more complex story if you make your characters rounded and fallible. She doesn't have the strength in the begging to keep going when everyone tells her to quit. She needs to hit rock bottom and her dad to believe in her. After all the training, her dad still doesn't believe a girl should play on the boys team. Depending on the type of movie you're making you don't necessarily need all that complexity. It's entirely possible that it was realness of the story that kept it from succeeding at the box office. But, at the end of the day I'm going to remember this movie for a lot longer than something like that football movie with Marky Mark Invincible or probably even The Rookie. When Gracie succeeds, you feel it a lot more as you have way more invested in the character.
When I inevitably write a curling script it'll probably be more The Cutting Edge than Gracie, but I'm definitely going to be thinking about Gracie while I'm writing it.
Wow, in an effort to make this even more stream-of-consciousness. I was just thinking about how in those things you see on-line "50 questions to ask your charcater" and the like, in most cases while I'm writing a movie I can answer most of those questions, but not all. And certainly after watching a movie I couldn't answer most of them. But, after watching Gracie, I could probably answer most of them, not only about Gracie, but about her mom and dad as well. None of the characters felt like throwaway archtypes.
I'm seriously rambling now. I'll leave it at this and hope to be more coherent when next we meet.
BTW: I'm finishing my 2nd pomodoro of the day right about now.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Has it been 4 months already?
It's been one of those summers (spring/summers?). So, I'm still on the job hunt. Since last I blogged, I worked for 9 days and did a curling music video. It wasn't union, but it was still pretty legit (apparently, they showed it at the Playboy mansion). I also curled in the Hollywood Blockbuster Bomspiel (see it's sorta movie/writing/pop culture related). I curled one of the best games of my life against a team from Scotland and ended up losing on the last stone (I'm actually happy and not bitter).
But, back to the task at hand. So, I hadn't been reading much in the way of scripts nor had I been writing much. Although having been inspired by Cutaway, I "cutaway" the majority of DVD and book library. Lean and mean, that's what I'm going for. I also realized that writing (or the lottery, fingers crossed) might be the only way I can get out of the massive debt load I'm under (I mean I guess there's always the possibility that someone would hire me to do actual law work, but I'm not sure that would allow me curling schedule I aspire for). I also cancelled my cable and am contemplating cancelling the internet. Not that the internet is all that expensive, it's just kinda distracting and I have an iPhone, so I'll still be able to blog and tweet and email and stuff.
So, I'm back on the horse. I wrote for 2 pomodoros today and spent another 2 finishing up reading the thing I have been plugging away at for months now: a transcript of the story meeting between George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Lawrence Kazdan for Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's like 120 pages long. I'm not sure how far along Lucas is in the process, but it feels like he's given it more thought than the others, but it's still really raw. The two big things I got out of reading it was:
1)Your first idea is rarely the best: In this case it took them about 5 pages to realize that the Nazi should have a part of the amulet burned on his hand instead of there being an out and out miscalculation. they went through such ideas as mistranslation and not factoring in the change of the Earths orbit/tilt. None as good as what they ended up with.
2)Just because you don't use it here, doesn't mean you won't use it: There are two sequences that they initially talk about in this meeting that both appear in Temple of Doom. They're both great sequences (most of the opening through the boat going down the mountain and the mine cars through the tunnels) and I'm glad they didn't just chuck them. They kept them around and used them in the sequel and I think they actually work better there).
But, back to the task at hand. So, I hadn't been reading much in the way of scripts nor had I been writing much. Although having been inspired by Cutaway, I "cutaway" the majority of DVD and book library. Lean and mean, that's what I'm going for. I also realized that writing (or the lottery, fingers crossed) might be the only way I can get out of the massive debt load I'm under (I mean I guess there's always the possibility that someone would hire me to do actual law work, but I'm not sure that would allow me curling schedule I aspire for). I also cancelled my cable and am contemplating cancelling the internet. Not that the internet is all that expensive, it's just kinda distracting and I have an iPhone, so I'll still be able to blog and tweet and email and stuff.
So, I'm back on the horse. I wrote for 2 pomodoros today and spent another 2 finishing up reading the thing I have been plugging away at for months now: a transcript of the story meeting between George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Lawrence Kazdan for Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's like 120 pages long. I'm not sure how far along Lucas is in the process, but it feels like he's given it more thought than the others, but it's still really raw. The two big things I got out of reading it was:
1)Your first idea is rarely the best: In this case it took them about 5 pages to realize that the Nazi should have a part of the amulet burned on his hand instead of there being an out and out miscalculation. they went through such ideas as mistranslation and not factoring in the change of the Earths orbit/tilt. None as good as what they ended up with.
2)Just because you don't use it here, doesn't mean you won't use it: There are two sequences that they initially talk about in this meeting that both appear in Temple of Doom. They're both great sequences (most of the opening through the boat going down the mountain and the mine cars through the tunnels) and I'm glad they didn't just chuck them. They kept them around and used them in the sequel and I think they actually work better there).
Thursday, April 29, 2010
I know what my problem is - I didn't Cutaway
So, Script Frenzy was pretty much a bust as I wasn't really ready to do another first draft, so I just poked at a couple things. I eventually decided to go back and do the re-writes I should have been doing all along. Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced my rewrite notes, so it's taking me a lot longer than I had anticipated.
Last Saturday I took a class with Scott Lobdell (X-Men, Buffy [comics]) on comic writing and screenwriting. It was kinda amazing just to here about his process. It seems like he is just constantly coming up with ideas, but more importantly, he's also constantly working. He told us his story about how he broke into a comics, and it was basically just working his ass off, until they gave him a chance. He also gave out handouts about the different stages of writing a comic. He also talked about
At the end, Caleb Monroe (an up and coming comic book writer) also spoke about breaking in. I think it was he quoted the old saying about how breaking into comics is like breaking out of prison: once one guy does it, they close off that means of escape.
As I was leaving I grabbed a copy of Hunters Fortune, which Caleb scripted. The thing I immediately noticed was, like in screenwriting, Caleb kept entering each scene at the last possible moment. The book opens with Hunter's landlady yelling about how he is 3 months late on rent. We don't need to see him miss the first two payments, look at his bank account, or turn out his pockets like in Monopoly. We find out everything we need to know about his normal life in the first two pages: he is homeless, unemployed, and his car is being repossessed. The story never stops moving. There is never a wasted frame.
I'll probably end up buying the other book he wrote, something involving Steven Baldwin. Ever since http://www.restorestephenbaldwin.org/, I've been a little weary of anything involving that Baldwin brother (Although, I did love him in Shark in Venice, one of the movies that inspired my own creature-feature Piranhasteroid!).
I have to include this as well:
AUTHORS NOTE: I applaud Mr. Baldwin for living his life openly, I just don't think he should be soliciting money for it.
Last Saturday I took a class with Scott Lobdell (X-Men, Buffy [comics]) on comic writing and screenwriting. It was kinda amazing just to here about his process. It seems like he is just constantly coming up with ideas, but more importantly, he's also constantly working. He told us his story about how he broke into a comics, and it was basically just working his ass off, until they gave him a chance. He also gave out handouts about the different stages of writing a comic. He also talked about
At the end, Caleb Monroe (an up and coming comic book writer) also spoke about breaking in. I think it was he quoted the old saying about how breaking into comics is like breaking out of prison: once one guy does it, they close off that means of escape.
As I was leaving I grabbed a copy of Hunters Fortune, which Caleb scripted. The thing I immediately noticed was, like in screenwriting, Caleb kept entering each scene at the last possible moment. The book opens with Hunter's landlady yelling about how he is 3 months late on rent. We don't need to see him miss the first two payments, look at his bank account, or turn out his pockets like in Monopoly. We find out everything we need to know about his normal life in the first two pages: he is homeless, unemployed, and his car is being repossessed. The story never stops moving. There is never a wasted frame.
I'll probably end up buying the other book he wrote, something involving Steven Baldwin. Ever since http://www.restorestephenbaldwin.org/, I've been a little weary of anything involving that Baldwin brother (Although, I did love him in Shark in Venice, one of the movies that inspired my own creature-feature Piranhasteroid!).
I have to include this as well:
AUTHORS NOTE: I applaud Mr. Baldwin for living his life openly, I just don't think he should be soliciting money for it.
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