Okay, wow, it's been a while since you've heard from me. Some of you may be thinking, "why don't he write?", others of you may not care, either way I'm here and we're about to get caught up on the past few months.
I'll kick this off with a couple of books that I've read. Admittedly, I've been slacking on the reading front but these two really caught my attention. The first is The Nice Guys by Charles Ardei. Yes, it's an adaptation of the Shane Black and Anthony Bagarozzi script but it seems to make up for some of the faults of the film. What?! Shane Black made a detective movie that's lacking? I hate to speak ill of the maestro but it really kind of felt like a greatest hits compilation. The movie is worth your time but the book is able to go places where time constraints and editing can't take you.
The second book is The Black Badge:Deputy United States Marshal Bass Reeves From Slave to Heroic Lawman by Paul L. Brady. I discovered this gem while doing some research for a different project but, man, this guys life is fascinating. The author is the title characters' great nephew so he has some really interesting insights from family history. If you're looking for something off the beaten path, give it a look.
On the derby front, The Victory Vixens won the Rink of Fire for the second year in a row. The All-Stars have a game coming up later this month when they go to Lincoln, Nebraska for a rematch against The No Coast Derby Girls. The Mad Maxines won the game they played in KC last month so hopefully The All-Stars will win this one. Their record on the road has been a little lacking this season but hopefully they can pull it up and have a decent showing by the end. Plan B, on the other hand, won their first game and have two more in the next two months. Let's hope they can continue their streak.
2016 seems to be the year where death comes off of his holiday. Facebook has earned the nickname Obituarybook. It seems like it all started with Lemmy Kilmister and David Bowie, take out the icons and start whittling away at the rest. If you're in KC, Classic Album Sunday is doing a Bowie tribute show closer to the end of the month. It's the anniversary of The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars and the rest of the show is just all Bowie all the time. Look for it on fb to find times and location.
'16 struck a little closer to home in the last couple of months. Dacia Toll, maybe you knew her as Alice, lost her battle with cancer in March. If you ever made it out to Studio 28 in Olathe in the last ten years, chances are pretty good she pushed the start button on your movie. Tim Warder a.k.a. Coach Ice had a heart attack last month. It happened a week before the Rink of Fire so in his honor we now call the trophy The Tim Warder Cup.
On to cheerier subjects! Marvel Studios put out a new movie, maybe you heard about it, it's called Captain America: Civil War. I really enjoyed it, but I'm slightly biased because I'm a Captain America fan. This is the first movie I've seen twice in the theaters this year. It's not that movies have been exceptionally bad this year, they just haven't grabbed me to the point where I want to see them again.
Order 86 is trudging along through that blissful torture we like to call production. We've finished principle photography and just have a couple of pick up scenes left. Unfortunately, one of them is blowing up a car. You'd think it would be easy to find a place to do that but then you'd be wrong. I'll bet Corman doesn't have these kinds of problems.
Another project I'm involved with is the IX Productions film version of the full length Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare. It's still in production and I record sound when I'm not involved with Order 86. It almost feels like a vacation to be on a set where you're not in charge of everything. I've adopted the mantra Let Go And Let Lolo (Lolo Loren is the director/producer) while I'm on location. If something goes wrong with equipment or there's a problem with talent or a location-Let Go And Let Lolo- and all my problems suddenly condense to just audio. It's kind of liberating sometimes. While we're on IX Productions' sound department, if you're a filmmaker, keep an eye out for Amber Joy. She doesn't have much experience yet but give her another couple of projects and she'll be your go-to girl.
Speaking of other peoples sets, I was in a music video back in March. It's called Republicrat by Shadowsin. At first I was just in a crowd scene but then I was a grip when the director needed somebody to hold a reflector. It was kind of amusing to see non-movie people get excited to take over my job when I needed to get back into the crowd for a continuity shot. My big moment came later when we changed locations and it was supposed to be the next day. The director wanted the crowd to be an angry mob so we were all given things to throw but then he said that he needed somebody to charge "the candidate"s car. "I need somebody angry and physically imposing...oh, you, in the back, come over here please." I'm head and shoulders above the "security agent" so we had to go through how I'd approach the car a few times without looking like a suicide bomber or that I'd plow through the other guy. Eventually, we got it figured out and the rest is on YouTube.
July is an awesome month for live music. This Sunday, Garbage is playing at The Uptown. What are your thoughts on their new album, Strange Little Birds? It took me about three listens to really warm up to it. I had made the mistake of going to the website to find out when the album was coming out and clicked on the video for Even Though Our Love Is Doomed. It just felt like The Discovery Channels greatest hits and, in my opinion, went on far too long. I don't recommend the video, but the album is pretty good if you haven't picked it up yet.
KISS is coming back through town in the middle of the month. They have a new live album coming out in August so it's time to strap on the leather and put on the make up!
It's been about thirty plus years but I'm finally going to see Duran Duran! They come through at the end of the month on their Paper Gods tour. I thought it was about on par with the other albums they've put out in the last decade. It's not something I listen to repeatedly but I don't hate it. That's one of the things I really like about this band is that as long as they've been around, I have never disliked a single or an album. Admittedly, Thank You is my least favorite album but I get why they did it and none of those songs suck, I just think it's a waste of time and effort when a band puts out an entire album of covers. Also, as an added bonus, Chic is opening for Duran Duran. I didn't think those guys were together any more, let alone touring.
One final thing and then I'll be done with you. I know that there are a lot of television watchers out there so I'll let you in on something I found not too long ago. It's called Alcatraz. I'm guessing it played on ABC back in 2012. It deals with a cover up behind the explanation behind the closing of the prison. If you watch the first episode and get into it, stick with it, if it doesn't grab you then forget it.
Well, I think that's all I have for now. I hope you all made it through the holiday with all of your fingers and toes and eyebrows. Stay safe, the world is a crazy place and it's just getting more insane. Hopefully, I'll have a lot more good news to report in the coming month. Until then.
Friday, July 8, 2016
Thursday, February 18, 2016
February News Letter
Hello again,
Well, we seem to have made it to another month. I can't complain about the weather, the movie is coming along, and life is busy but in a good way. Order 86 is going to start filming at the end of the month. We have our big table read coming up in a couple of days. The script is going through some last minute changes and I'm sure there will be two or three more changes before we're done filming. These are good things and the changes don't alter the story line so it shouldn't take long. After casting we decided that we could put in a knife fight to help develop a character. The actress really seemed to warm up to the idea, so I'm working on choreographing a knife fight as well as a few gun battles and some hand to hand fights. Spy thrillers aren't as easy as they look.
The sci-fi comedy I'm working on for IX Productions has two more shooting days! It's called Zoink! and will hopefully be playing at a festival near you in the not too distant future. Also, keep your eyes out for She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not. This is another film from IX that I recorded sound for and is my first producer credit!
There's an independently produced short that I'm doing stunt choreography for called Rivals that will start filming next month. I had a fun conversation with the director the other day, I'm a little surprised that Homeland Security didn't show up.
Me: Hi, I'm filling out my calendar and I'm wondering when you're shooting?
Director: (this date) in March and (that date) in April.
Me: Got it. What day are you killing the family?
Director: Ha! I don't know that anybody has ever asked me that question. It'll be on the first day.
Me: What kind of weapons did you have in mind. Will it be a knife like last time?
Director: Yeah, I figured at most the character would have two knives. I don't have my location locked yet, but I figured you'd probably get some ideas when we finally have the space.
Me: Yeah, I tend to work best when I know what kind of space I'm dealing with.
Okay, here's the fun part, read that again, omitting her side of the conversation and imagine that you're in the middle of a coffee shop and this phone conversation is happening at the next table. I have a fun job.
In sports news, The Roller Warriors are hosting a co-ed game tomorrow night at our new home in Memorial Hall! You can follow all of the action by going to The Wheel Press' new facebook page or just visit the website and the story will be there soon.
Speaking of websites, don't forget to visit www.order86movie.com and Merry BanD Productions . Before I sign off for another month, I'll leave you with this thing I wrote last week when I was having a crisis of creativity. Take care.
We finally decided on a cast for Order 86. After spending several hours in an all -night hash house, my co-producer and I were still stymied as to who should be our female lead. The choices for male leads were relatively easy. We both had a short list of two to three names for each role, some only one name, and through process of elimination, we were able to agree. When it came to Jen, our female lead, we had the same three names on our list but we couldn’t decide which one actress was better qualified.
Eventually, we decided to sleep on it and come back to it later that day. I got five restless hours of sleep and finally just got out of bed. In an effort to take my mind off of things for a while I put a movie on. This was a mistake. I was watching Girl On The Bridge. I hadn’t seen it since the theaters, sixteen years ago, but I remembered that I really enjoyed it. If you’ve never seen it, watch it, it’s still amazing. Patrice Leconte was so on top of his game when he made this one. Some of the trick photography doesn’t have the same impact it did back when the digital age was in its youth, but the cinematography is still pretty incredible. The story line also has a refreshing spin.
Unfortunately, this did not help me to forget my troubles for 91 minutes, it only reinforced them. Vanessa Paradis is the title character and the more I watched, the worst I felt. Through the script and the camera and no shortage of talent and beauty on her part, you as the viewer really start to feel something for this character along with Daniel Auteuil. If you don’t fall in love with this character, just a little bit, the whole movie becomes a waste of time. The producers really knew what they were doing. I started wondering how long they had to look to find the right girl. How long was I going to have to look? My problem wasn’t that I couldn’t find one but that I’d found three.
I started thinking back to earlier in pre-production when I’d had an actor set back. I came up with the brilliant idea to scrap the whole spy story and just do a nature documentary about penguins. People like penguins and you can get them on their marks by waving fish at them. No drama, no problems. After bringing this idea to the creative team, we decided it would be cheaper and easier to use puppies. People like puppies almost as much as penguins. We toyed with the idea for the better part of a half hour and they eventually persuaded me that we could actually make a spy film with human actors.
The more I basked in the glory of Girl On The Bridge, the more my addled, sleep deprived brain started to find solutions to my problems. I could scrap the whole popcorn movie mentality and make it in black and white. If I changed the DP’s last name from Bolen to Bolier, I could probably get away with artistic camera angles and subtitle the whole thing. It could play twice a day for a week at that twin plex down the street that everybody knew about but nobody went to. Instead of Order 86 I could call it Girl With The Chip. Of course, then reality tapped me on the shoulder and reminded me that I still didn’t have a girl…oh, yeah. I’ll bet Selznick didn’t have these kinds of problems.
The upside of this story is that while I was watching a film to escape my problems, my co-producer spent his morning re-watching the audition tapes. When we met up for our scheduling meeting, he told me about his epiphany. It was more productive than mine. We went back to his place and had a three woman Enter The Dragon death match where we scrutinized every nuance of their performance and for a while we were still at a stale mate. By tape number three though, we were starting to drink the same kool-ade. I still can’t say that we’re not going to film it in black and white with subtitles and artistic angles but I can tell you that Girl With The Chip will be Laurie Winkel.
Friday, January 22, 2016
January 2016
So, here we are 22 days into a new year and so much has happened. We've lost Lemmy, Bowie and so many others. Cancer seems to be on the come back folks, so watch yourselves.
I started my winter right by going to a warmer climate. For a few days, I went to California and visited the folks and watched a bunch of movies. I didn't see a bad one the whole time I was out there but a few that you should keep an eye out for are-
Anomalisa- Directed by Charlie Kaufman, based on a radio play that he wrote for a competition. He came out and did a q&a with the co-director and producer.
A Heavy Heart (a.k.a. Herbert)-A German drama. Writer/Director Thomas Stuber was there for a q&a, very cool guy.
The Revenant-Yeah, that movie. It was a sneak preview and Producer Mary Parent did a q&a after the film. She has a lot of cool stories.
Schneider vs. Bax- An action comedy from the Netherlands.If you get the chance, check it out.
Spy Time (a.k.a. Anacleto: Agente Secreto)-A Spanish spy comedy. It's pretty good, but I'm a little biased towards spy films, more on that later.
One of the bigger highlights of the festival for me was actually in a movie that had been out for a while and I'd written off until Redbox. Every year, they have this series called Talking Pictures where they show a movie (sometimes it's one that's been out for a while, other times it's about to come out, just depends). I tried getting into this a couple of years ago when they had Javier Bardem talking about one of his films. I stood in the stand by line for an hour with nothing to show for it but flat feet. Most of the time you can anticipate the guest because the festival will have a big awards ceremony either the day before or after so if you're paying attention, it's not difficult. I sort of suspected that Matt Damon might be there but since he wasn't receiving an award, I wasn't willing to bet on anything. I was just happy to finally get a ticket to this thing after being turned away so many times. Bring out a producer or even a film historian from NASA, it's all good.
A big advantage to knowing people in the same city as a big film festival is that you get to borrow their car so you're not at the mercy of public transportation. I happened to be borrowing my moms convertible, the only way to travel in California! I had a movie right before The Martian screening and another one shortly after it. Public transportation would have screwed me so big shout out to mom!
I made it out of the first movie (Schneider vs. Bax) and down the street to the next theater in time to park and find the line just as it started moving. Found a seat, got comfortable and then they made an announcement. It appeared that today's guest, Matt Damon, was running late because of foul weather from his departure point, but they expected him to arrive by the time the movie was over. Okay, cool, Matt Damon is going to show up. I felt like one of the last people in America who hadn't seen the movie by this point but after two and a half hours, that changed. I really enjoyed it, more than I thought I would. After the credits rolled, the woman in charge of the screening comes back out and announces that Matt Damon's plane still hasn't landed but it should in the next 20 minutes. If we were willing to be patient, Matt Damon and Ridley Scott would be there to discuss the movie. This was too good to be true! Ridley Scott was going to be here?! I'll not only wait, I'll volunteer to pick them up from the airport! I have a car, it's a convertible and it's mostly highway from the theater to the airport. I could discuss films with Ridley Scott and audition for Bourne 5 at the same time, win-win, right? Unfortunately, they already had people in place for this contingency so I missed out on that opportunity but they were willing to refund my ticket for my next movie which started in about 15 minutes at a different theater.
They did finally show up and it was interesting to hear what they had to say about the making of the movie. Eventually, they had to go and as an interesting trifecta, although I can't swear to it since I didn't get that close of a look at him, but I think their security was being handled by Cliff Stewart. For the non-security geeks out there, this guy has been called the bodyguard to the stars, total bad ass in the private security world.
That was the first half of the month, in more recent current events, I'm about to start casting my own movie. It's a spy thriller called Order 86. We've been working on this since September of last year and it's been a real uphill climb but the pieces are finally starting to fall into place and if we can make it over the last of the hurdles then we'll start filming at the end of February. Feel free to visit the website www.order86movie.com as often as you like. We have a team of editors that are constantly updating material, all in the name of your entertainment. There's also a link there that if any of you feel like making a donation to the cause (subtle hint, art's not cheap), you can do so.
If you'd like to audition or sign up for a crew position, send an email to info@order86movie.com and let us know your preference.
That's about all I have to report for now. Work is still work and when I'm not there, my life seems to be filled with spy films. Thanks for reading and tune in next time when I'll have an update on casting as well as my opinion on that big awards ceremony coming up in February.
I started my winter right by going to a warmer climate. For a few days, I went to California and visited the folks and watched a bunch of movies. I didn't see a bad one the whole time I was out there but a few that you should keep an eye out for are-
Anomalisa- Directed by Charlie Kaufman, based on a radio play that he wrote for a competition. He came out and did a q&a with the co-director and producer.
A Heavy Heart (a.k.a. Herbert)-A German drama. Writer/Director Thomas Stuber was there for a q&a, very cool guy.
The Revenant-Yeah, that movie. It was a sneak preview and Producer Mary Parent did a q&a after the film. She has a lot of cool stories.
Schneider vs. Bax- An action comedy from the Netherlands.If you get the chance, check it out.
Spy Time (a.k.a. Anacleto: Agente Secreto)-A Spanish spy comedy. It's pretty good, but I'm a little biased towards spy films, more on that later.
One of the bigger highlights of the festival for me was actually in a movie that had been out for a while and I'd written off until Redbox. Every year, they have this series called Talking Pictures where they show a movie (sometimes it's one that's been out for a while, other times it's about to come out, just depends). I tried getting into this a couple of years ago when they had Javier Bardem talking about one of his films. I stood in the stand by line for an hour with nothing to show for it but flat feet. Most of the time you can anticipate the guest because the festival will have a big awards ceremony either the day before or after so if you're paying attention, it's not difficult. I sort of suspected that Matt Damon might be there but since he wasn't receiving an award, I wasn't willing to bet on anything. I was just happy to finally get a ticket to this thing after being turned away so many times. Bring out a producer or even a film historian from NASA, it's all good.
A big advantage to knowing people in the same city as a big film festival is that you get to borrow their car so you're not at the mercy of public transportation. I happened to be borrowing my moms convertible, the only way to travel in California! I had a movie right before The Martian screening and another one shortly after it. Public transportation would have screwed me so big shout out to mom!
I made it out of the first movie (Schneider vs. Bax) and down the street to the next theater in time to park and find the line just as it started moving. Found a seat, got comfortable and then they made an announcement. It appeared that today's guest, Matt Damon, was running late because of foul weather from his departure point, but they expected him to arrive by the time the movie was over. Okay, cool, Matt Damon is going to show up. I felt like one of the last people in America who hadn't seen the movie by this point but after two and a half hours, that changed. I really enjoyed it, more than I thought I would. After the credits rolled, the woman in charge of the screening comes back out and announces that Matt Damon's plane still hasn't landed but it should in the next 20 minutes. If we were willing to be patient, Matt Damon and Ridley Scott would be there to discuss the movie. This was too good to be true! Ridley Scott was going to be here?! I'll not only wait, I'll volunteer to pick them up from the airport! I have a car, it's a convertible and it's mostly highway from the theater to the airport. I could discuss films with Ridley Scott and audition for Bourne 5 at the same time, win-win, right? Unfortunately, they already had people in place for this contingency so I missed out on that opportunity but they were willing to refund my ticket for my next movie which started in about 15 minutes at a different theater.
They did finally show up and it was interesting to hear what they had to say about the making of the movie. Eventually, they had to go and as an interesting trifecta, although I can't swear to it since I didn't get that close of a look at him, but I think their security was being handled by Cliff Stewart. For the non-security geeks out there, this guy has been called the bodyguard to the stars, total bad ass in the private security world.
That was the first half of the month, in more recent current events, I'm about to start casting my own movie. It's a spy thriller called Order 86. We've been working on this since September of last year and it's been a real uphill climb but the pieces are finally starting to fall into place and if we can make it over the last of the hurdles then we'll start filming at the end of February. Feel free to visit the website www.order86movie.com as often as you like. We have a team of editors that are constantly updating material, all in the name of your entertainment. There's also a link there that if any of you feel like making a donation to the cause (subtle hint, art's not cheap), you can do so.
If you'd like to audition or sign up for a crew position, send an email to info@order86movie.com and let us know your preference.
That's about all I have to report for now. Work is still work and when I'm not there, my life seems to be filled with spy films. Thanks for reading and tune in next time when I'll have an update on casting as well as my opinion on that big awards ceremony coming up in February.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Movie tie in, the novelization or I just can't stop writing this damn story!
I just finished the first chapter of the rough draft for the novelization of a movie I'm working on. I'm getting pretty pumped up about it since I've always wanted to write a book. The novelization seems to be a dying art. I remember as a kid it was just part of the release pattern of a movie. There was always the last line of the credits, right before the copyright dates that would tell you that the soundtrack album is available through _____ Records and the book was through _____ Publishers.
That just doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I still remember the first novelization I ever read was Star Wars by George Lucas. I was in third grade and it really opened my eyes to a whole new genre. My mom wasn't an avid reader when I was growing up so the only books I knew about outside of school were the books about history that my dad had on his shelves (too much like school, I wasn't interested) or John Jakes and Sidney Sheldon on my grandmothers shelves (more history and romance stuff, again, not interested).
The books they would encourage us to read in school were kind of boring too. There was either some large animal in a far away kingdom being everybody's friend or some such silly nonsense that was always pushed at you through the Scholastic label. I felt like a kid without a country. I knew that I enjoyed reading but my options were either silly kid stuff or boring adult stuff. Then I went to the school book fair.
There were all kinds of different books there. The silly kid stuff was on one side and the boring adult stuff was on the other but somewhere in between was something different. They had Peter Benchley's Jaws which always sounded cool and the movie had come out a couple of years ago but since my parents had read it, I didn't quite trust it. But then, I saw it... I knew that they made movies that were based on books but here was a book based on a movie that wasn't a coloring book. This was intriguing to my young, hungry mind especially since I had seen the movie and thought it was the coolest thing since King Kong.
As I was reading, it fascinated me that there were things being talked about that didn't happen in the movie. I'd try to tell my friends about it but they didn't care. They loved the movie but had no interest in the book. They were brainwashed by the Scholastic label. I can kind of see both sides of it since later, most of my classmates started reading Laura Ingalls Wilder and I was content to just watch the t.v. show. When the credits rolled, my interest was over. Especially because I think that either Police Woman or Barnaby Jones came on after that.
The thing that I didn't realize until after I got a little further into the genre was that it was unique that George Lucas wrote his own adaptation. 99.9% of the time there is another person who will write it and that's usually self explanatory. In fact, without Googling or using anything but my memory, I can only think of four (technically five, but we'll get into that later) books that were adapted by the writer. I'm sure there were probably others but I'm not aware of them at the moment. If you have a favorite that I've missed, please, let me know.
The first one, I've already mentioned. The other came out later that year when Steven Spielberg adapted Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This also covers the fifth one I mentioned previously when Spielberg released The Special Edition novelization. This is essentially the same book as was later proven by my seventh grade English teacher when I tried to do a book report on both books.
Sylvester Stallone wrote the novelization for Rocky II and introduced me to the first person narrative. It was amazing to have Rocky Balboa tell me a story. Especially since he'd leave in all of the conversational quirks like, "what was that called?" or "you know what I mean?" That was my first experience with the first person narrative and I've been a fan ever since.
He also wrote Rocky IV but this time in the third person. It was a little disappointing since he had provided such a life changing experience the first time around but it was still an entertaining read. I think he may have adapted an early draft of the script because I remember that the book ended with Adrian being pregnant. There was no novelization for Rocky V or Rocky Balboa so I don't know what he ever had planned for that story line although, I am starting to wonder if it won't get touched on with Apollo's wife to explain the upcoming film, Creed.
Will my book be as good as any of these? I like to think that I can at least achieve the same level of Spielberg, maybe have some scenes that color outside the lines of what you'll see on screen. Unfortunately it doesn't really lend itself to a first person narrative so I'm going with the third. I'll keep writing these journal entries and hopefully you'll keep reading them. Hopefully, you'll read the book when it comes out. Hopefully you'll see the movie and tell all your friends how much you liked it. Until next time.
That just doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I still remember the first novelization I ever read was Star Wars by George Lucas. I was in third grade and it really opened my eyes to a whole new genre. My mom wasn't an avid reader when I was growing up so the only books I knew about outside of school were the books about history that my dad had on his shelves (too much like school, I wasn't interested) or John Jakes and Sidney Sheldon on my grandmothers shelves (more history and romance stuff, again, not interested).
The books they would encourage us to read in school were kind of boring too. There was either some large animal in a far away kingdom being everybody's friend or some such silly nonsense that was always pushed at you through the Scholastic label. I felt like a kid without a country. I knew that I enjoyed reading but my options were either silly kid stuff or boring adult stuff. Then I went to the school book fair.
There were all kinds of different books there. The silly kid stuff was on one side and the boring adult stuff was on the other but somewhere in between was something different. They had Peter Benchley's Jaws which always sounded cool and the movie had come out a couple of years ago but since my parents had read it, I didn't quite trust it. But then, I saw it... I knew that they made movies that were based on books but here was a book based on a movie that wasn't a coloring book. This was intriguing to my young, hungry mind especially since I had seen the movie and thought it was the coolest thing since King Kong.
As I was reading, it fascinated me that there were things being talked about that didn't happen in the movie. I'd try to tell my friends about it but they didn't care. They loved the movie but had no interest in the book. They were brainwashed by the Scholastic label. I can kind of see both sides of it since later, most of my classmates started reading Laura Ingalls Wilder and I was content to just watch the t.v. show. When the credits rolled, my interest was over. Especially because I think that either Police Woman or Barnaby Jones came on after that.
The thing that I didn't realize until after I got a little further into the genre was that it was unique that George Lucas wrote his own adaptation. 99.9% of the time there is another person who will write it and that's usually self explanatory. In fact, without Googling or using anything but my memory, I can only think of four (technically five, but we'll get into that later) books that were adapted by the writer. I'm sure there were probably others but I'm not aware of them at the moment. If you have a favorite that I've missed, please, let me know.
The first one, I've already mentioned. The other came out later that year when Steven Spielberg adapted Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This also covers the fifth one I mentioned previously when Spielberg released The Special Edition novelization. This is essentially the same book as was later proven by my seventh grade English teacher when I tried to do a book report on both books.
Sylvester Stallone wrote the novelization for Rocky II and introduced me to the first person narrative. It was amazing to have Rocky Balboa tell me a story. Especially since he'd leave in all of the conversational quirks like, "what was that called?" or "you know what I mean?" That was my first experience with the first person narrative and I've been a fan ever since.
He also wrote Rocky IV but this time in the third person. It was a little disappointing since he had provided such a life changing experience the first time around but it was still an entertaining read. I think he may have adapted an early draft of the script because I remember that the book ended with Adrian being pregnant. There was no novelization for Rocky V or Rocky Balboa so I don't know what he ever had planned for that story line although, I am starting to wonder if it won't get touched on with Apollo's wife to explain the upcoming film, Creed.
Will my book be as good as any of these? I like to think that I can at least achieve the same level of Spielberg, maybe have some scenes that color outside the lines of what you'll see on screen. Unfortunately it doesn't really lend itself to a first person narrative so I'm going with the third. I'll keep writing these journal entries and hopefully you'll keep reading them. Hopefully, you'll read the book when it comes out. Hopefully you'll see the movie and tell all your friends how much you liked it. Until next time.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Notes Of A Drunk Whisperer
Aggressive Ignorance
"Can I get a couple of orders of chicken wings?" "I'm sorry, the kitchen is closed." "Okay, but I just need a couple of orders of wings." "Sir, the kitchen closed forty-five minutes ago, the fryers are cold by this point." "Well, can I just get a burger?" "The. Kitchen. Is. Closed." "So you're saying that I can't get any food?" "That is what closed means."
lv mns nvr hving to txt I'm srry :(
A couple walk into a bar...they sit down at a table and pull out their phones. They don't speak, just stare into the screen and randomly press buttons. The waitress comes up and they order drinks and then return to their phones. After about fifteen minutes she speaks, only to show him something on her phone. He looks up and comments then they both go back to staring at the screens. This went on for about forty minutes before one of them spoke again.
I can't help but wonder why they even bother to leave the house. They could just as easily stay home, play some music they've downloaded, fix a drink from any of the bartending sites (although from the looks of it they just had vodka and Red Bull) and had a more meaningful conversation through texting. But maybe that's just me.
"Can I get a couple of orders of chicken wings?" "I'm sorry, the kitchen is closed." "Okay, but I just need a couple of orders of wings." "Sir, the kitchen closed forty-five minutes ago, the fryers are cold by this point." "Well, can I just get a burger?" "The. Kitchen. Is. Closed." "So you're saying that I can't get any food?" "That is what closed means."
lv mns nvr hving to txt I'm srry :(
A couple walk into a bar...they sit down at a table and pull out their phones. They don't speak, just stare into the screen and randomly press buttons. The waitress comes up and they order drinks and then return to their phones. After about fifteen minutes she speaks, only to show him something on her phone. He looks up and comments then they both go back to staring at the screens. This went on for about forty minutes before one of them spoke again.
I can't help but wonder why they even bother to leave the house. They could just as easily stay home, play some music they've downloaded, fix a drink from any of the bartending sites (although from the looks of it they just had vodka and Red Bull) and had a more meaningful conversation through texting. But maybe that's just me.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Notes Of A Drunk Whisperer
Thursday night-front door. It was my turn to sit at the front door and check i.d.s. The night was a little slow and most of the patrons were older so it was a little tedious with Sports Center on t.v. and the band on break. Three people walk in, all of them quiet and unassuming. Together, they probably weighed 230 pounds. The shortest one in front was on the androgynous side with short spiked hair, soft featured face and a non-descript leather jacket that hid whatever body shape this person had. From the i.d. I finally figured out he was a guy. The next person had longish hair that covered part of the face but his i.d. was good so I waved him through. The third was a head taller than the rest, even without the modest platform shoes. Mid thigh skirt, tights, heavy jacket zipped up against the cold. Plain Jane on an evening out with friends. When I looked at the i.d. my first thought was that she had a friends and just grabbed the wrong one. I did a cursory glance just to save time when the person showed up. Date checks, hologram checks, picture is somebody with short dark hair and scrub brush on the chin. As I looked up to ask for the other i.d. I hear this tenor voice come out of her face say "That's an old picture". I double check the facial features and discover he's right, that's his i.d.
I've checked drag queens and I can understand that they probably can't get their photo taken in a wig and make up but this person was not in drag. To me, it just makes sense that they could spend a few bucks and get a new i.d. with a current picture, maybe that's just me.
Friday night-side door. It's early in the evening, the d.j. just started a little while ago. Being First Friday, it's a little slow. To keep myself alert I start looking for a blue eyed brunette. They're pretty rare. A woman walks by with long dark hair and curves in all the right places. She smiles at me as she walks down the stairs and I smile back. No harm in being friendly. I only saw the side of her face so I'm not sure what color her eyes are but when she comes back up the stairs she'll be facing me in good light.
When she reaches the top of the stairs, she stops and I can't help but notice that her eyes are hazel; the search continues. She turns towards me and walks forward. "Would you like to dance?" This is not a question I get asked, especially at work. "I'm tempted to say yes but I have to hang out back here and work." There's another exchange and she goes back to the dance floor.
A little while later, at the opposite end of the spectrum... This girl walks around the corner and waves at me. I wave back. She's probably all of twenty one and a half. "Hey, I've seen you here like six times. My friends and I come here sometimes." "It's nice to be remembered." "I tried a few times to get your attention to say hi but you ignored me." "It gets loud in here and I don't always hear you." "Yeah, I was like hey grandpa, and you just kept on walking." "Really, that didn't get my attention? That's surprising." "I know, right? Anyway, I just wanted to come over and say hi." "Hi, watch your step going down the stairs." "Okay."
Not long after that, I see the brunette leave with some guy who looked older than me. Story of my life, I meet some hot chick with daddy issues and I have to work. Oh well, there's always tomorrow night.
I've checked drag queens and I can understand that they probably can't get their photo taken in a wig and make up but this person was not in drag. To me, it just makes sense that they could spend a few bucks and get a new i.d. with a current picture, maybe that's just me.
Friday night-side door. It's early in the evening, the d.j. just started a little while ago. Being First Friday, it's a little slow. To keep myself alert I start looking for a blue eyed brunette. They're pretty rare. A woman walks by with long dark hair and curves in all the right places. She smiles at me as she walks down the stairs and I smile back. No harm in being friendly. I only saw the side of her face so I'm not sure what color her eyes are but when she comes back up the stairs she'll be facing me in good light.
When she reaches the top of the stairs, she stops and I can't help but notice that her eyes are hazel; the search continues. She turns towards me and walks forward. "Would you like to dance?" This is not a question I get asked, especially at work. "I'm tempted to say yes but I have to hang out back here and work." There's another exchange and she goes back to the dance floor.
A little while later, at the opposite end of the spectrum... This girl walks around the corner and waves at me. I wave back. She's probably all of twenty one and a half. "Hey, I've seen you here like six times. My friends and I come here sometimes." "It's nice to be remembered." "I tried a few times to get your attention to say hi but you ignored me." "It gets loud in here and I don't always hear you." "Yeah, I was like hey grandpa, and you just kept on walking." "Really, that didn't get my attention? That's surprising." "I know, right? Anyway, I just wanted to come over and say hi." "Hi, watch your step going down the stairs." "Okay."
Not long after that, I see the brunette leave with some guy who looked older than me. Story of my life, I meet some hot chick with daddy issues and I have to work. Oh well, there's always tomorrow night.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
WTF America?
I feel like I'm getting older but it's the world that's going crazy. When I was a kid, there was a flag in every classroom of my school. In elementary school we said The Pledge of Allegiance every morning. It was just something you did, like the national anthem before sporting events.
In the 1990's everybody started getting all sensitive. Because of the word "God", students no longer said it. I personally don't have any strong religious beliefs so the line about "One nation, under God..." doesn't really bother me. It does bother me that people seem to have forgotten the other part part of that which is "Liberty and justice for all."
Here we are in 2014 and they are taking the American flags out of American schools. There are laws being debated that would legalize discrimination and we're about to have Cold War II. This country used to be a super power, there were captains of industry, a car in every garage and a chicken in every pot. Now, there is nothing being produced in this country except a steady stream of reality t.v. celebutards, there are people starving as we send billions of dollars in relief aid to other countries and we're teaching the next generation to fear anything different and hate what they don't understand.
Aren't we supposed to get smarter with age? Don't things evolve over time? I've defended this country from enemies domestic and abroad but it's starting to feel like we are our own worst enemy. What the fuck, America? Why is it so hard for us to get our shit together?
In the 1990's everybody started getting all sensitive. Because of the word "God", students no longer said it. I personally don't have any strong religious beliefs so the line about "One nation, under God..." doesn't really bother me. It does bother me that people seem to have forgotten the other part part of that which is "Liberty and justice for all."
Here we are in 2014 and they are taking the American flags out of American schools. There are laws being debated that would legalize discrimination and we're about to have Cold War II. This country used to be a super power, there were captains of industry, a car in every garage and a chicken in every pot. Now, there is nothing being produced in this country except a steady stream of reality t.v. celebutards, there are people starving as we send billions of dollars in relief aid to other countries and we're teaching the next generation to fear anything different and hate what they don't understand.
Aren't we supposed to get smarter with age? Don't things evolve over time? I've defended this country from enemies domestic and abroad but it's starting to feel like we are our own worst enemy. What the fuck, America? Why is it so hard for us to get our shit together?
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