March 31, 2003

Did anyone go to the Canned Film Festival in Austin? Any reports? I don't even know if the DVD of 'Still' I sent them arrived in time to be shown on Friday. I'm still in the tutorial phase of DVD Studio Pro, but I've been using iDVD in the interim and having a blast with it. I made a deluxe special edition of 'Hot Pussy' for Curtis' birthday.

So June 10th is the day that 'Punch Drunk Love' will be released on DVD, which would be more awesome if I didn't already have an Academy screener. It's also the day that the new Radiohead album is released, which would be more awesome if it wasn't already available online. I only downloaded one track, though -- I figured I'd do the right thing and wait. I hope Outkast doesn't release their new album on the same day, because then I'd go crazy trying to decide what to put on first.

I realized why most of my screenplays rarely top ninety pages (and why 'TBG' got so big). I almost always write subjective stories, never straying from the main character. The project I'm working on right now was like that until last night when I added a few scenes with a supporting character, and suddenly the number of pages shot up. I'm all about keeping things short, but I'm often afraid I'm being too sparse. Anyway, I'll have more on this in the very near future...

I got a rush of athletic inspiration from watching 'Bend It Like Beckham,' so I've increased my normal exercise regiment, which should nicely compliment the diet I'm currently on. I've stayed between 140 and 150 pounds for the the past six years, but there's always room for improvement. Also, If anyone's looking for a great book to tear through, I'd strongly reccomend 'Carter Beats The Devil' by Glen David Gold. It's a dish.

March 28, 2003

I saw all the Oscar-nominated shorts the other day (the Magnolia theater in Dallas runs them for a week after the awards). They were all good, but none of them were great. 'Still' could rank among them pretty easily; I guess it's all about getting the right audience. And a 35mm film print. Judging by the production values, I'll bet that a lot of these movies had some relatively hefty budgets.

Most of them were foregin, too; I wonder if I could find funding overseas (speaking of, I've noticed that the BBC provides the most consistently insightful news coverage). Ahhh, I need stop wondering and focus. I feel like associating with people all of a sudden. I wish I had a girlfriend all of a sudden, too. Watching 'Punch Drunk Love' has that effect. I had another dream about that same girl who doesn't really exist completely but at the same time does, except as a different person. Louis Bunuel said that if he could live forever, he'd sleep 22 hours a day, provided he could remember his dreams. I wonder if he'd ever run out of input.

While I am writing here, I would like to wish a Happy Birthday to my consistently insightful friend Curtis Heath, who I'm told can fellate himself.

March 25, 2003

I'm watching 'Lullaby' right now, on a whim. It makes me want to cry, damn it. It's better than I remember it, plus when you throw in all the sentimental value...sheesh.

I'd been wondering what my two lead actors have been up to since I last saw them, almost two year ago. A quick Google search and I've found the answer.

March 24, 2003

Myazaki + Michael Moore + Eminem + Adrien Brody = best and most surprising Oscar show in years.

After the show was over, we (being JMJ, Curtis, Kara, my brother Ben and a few others) recorded a Chaotic Cong commentary track for 'Still.' It's completely masturbatory, full of in-jokes and insults and the like, but it was a blast to record. It does, however, portray several people in a decidedly less than positive light, to the extent that I don't know if I should actually put it on the DVD -- which means I probably will. I'll probably just hide it somewhere.

This website is my last Windows hangup. Once I have all the HTML files transfered to my new iMac and Dreamweaver installed (just need to find a serial code), it'll be Apple all the way.

I'd like to take a moment here to say thank you to a few people who deserve to be thanked. Thank you.

March 20, 2003

I saw that new 'Animatrix' short film this evening; I loved it, and I really wish that 'Final Fantasy' hadn't been a bomb, because seeing this reminded me how beautiful that style of CGI was. It also got me a bit more excited about the new 'Matrix films.' And I don't know if swordfighting while wearing a thong would be very comfortable, but it sure looks sexy.

My PC days are numbered; I'm in the process of making a permananet switch to Mac. After using Windows for so long (for my non-editing applications), OS X is like a breath of fresh air. Its beautiful. It seems limitless. Its almost -- but not quite -- as sexy as the aforementioned swordfight.

I'm still undecided as to what my next major film is going to be. Have I even written it yet? It could still be 'Post,' but there are a few technical issues, mostly involving horses and firetrucks and commercial retail space, that leads me to believe it might not be the best low-budget film (low as in less than -- oh, say three or four thousand dollars). On a barely related not, in the post before last, I stated that what I was writing would be of no interest to anyone but myself. But, if I acknowledge an audience for this page, then by writing that I am creating interest in it. Online journals are deviously narcisistic. Anyway, what I am writing is...

March 18, 2002

Hey, looks like we'll be at war tomorrow! Awesome. I guess Bush gave a pretty good speech last night, as he sometimes does, but I, like everyone else, certainly hope he knows what the hell he's doing. I'm sure he does. If he didn't, he wouldn't have been elected president --

Wait.

Oh well, on to more pressing matters.

I come to this entry after a fairly satisfying day of creative output (i.e. writing, and a substantial amount of it, although what exactly I'll leave up in the air for now, mainly because its not that exciting to anyone other than myself). I found a battery of sorts in Joy Division's 'Disorder,' which I played repeatedly for a while. I also came close to perfecting my piano rendition of 'Ziggy Stardust,' and I lost five bucks after daring someone to down a bottle of Tabasco, but that's neither here nor there.

Tomorrow is my fake birthday. The story goes that my parents felt that my being born the day after Christmas was not fair, as it would impede on the number of gifts I received; so bearing in mind that my middle name is Patrick, they assigned March Seventeenth as my unofficial birthday. My point here is that if anyone is feeling generous, I really want a certain DVD available here.

March 15, 2003

Well, I think I've been succesfully stunned. The best movies so far this year are 'Irreversible' and 'Gerry.'

I was listening to the radio this morning and heard that new Nas song, which wouldn't be out of place on Sesame Street with its strong and valuable message to kids. But the radio station sanitized it and bleeped out the word 'weed;' by doing that, they're protecting the kids from the point of the song. Then the station follows it up with the latest 50 Cent single, and I realize once more that mainstream hip hop is mostly hopeless.

March 14, 2003

Roger Ebert has been extremely topical lately. This essay is wonderful. It's always nice when people you admire share your opinions, although often frustrating when they can voice those sentiments better than you can yourself.

I'm going to see 'Irreversible' tonight. I'm preparing myself for the worst; that's what I did when I saw 'Gerry,' though, and it completely transcended my expectations. I'm hoping for a similar experience tonight...

From Roger Ebert's review of 'All The Real Girls:'

The thing about real love is, if you lose it, you can also lose your ability to believe in it, and that hurts even more.

February 27, 2003

I watched the most bizarre double feature last night: 'Cries And Whispers' and 'Fast Times At Ridgemont High.' To back up on this anecdote for a moment, I've been catching up on some Bergman films I haven't seen yet. I watched 'Autumn Sonata' the other day, which was nice and painful, and then 'Cries And Whispers,' which I've been wanting to see ever since I read Roger Ebert's review of it back when I was twelve. That is one harrowing and uncomfortable movie. It's devastating. So a few hours after I finished it, when I couldn't sleep, I decided to watch 'Fast Times,' which I'd also never seen before. That's probably a disservice to the Bergman film, but at least its also a testament to its power. For the record, I thought 'Fast Times' was only okay, although I can see why it's a classic.

And I guess I should touch on the death of Mr. Rogers. His was one of the few shows I was allowed to watch growing up, and I think it probably gave me my first live look at the workings of a film set when he did the episode on the making of the Incredible Hulk TV show. When I heard that he died, I was surprised at how sad I felt. Does anyone else remember the Purple Panda that sometimes visited the Land Of Make-Believe? I was obsessed with that when I was little.

February 22, 2003

I finished the initial cut of the making-of doc this morning. It's only nine minutes longer than 'Still' itself. It was a somewhat narcisistic editing experience. I also had to be careful about the amount of goofiness I put in...since I suspect that a lot of the funny stuff James filmed would only be funny to people who were there. I think it turned out great, though, and will make the DVD completely worth owning, especially for aspiring filmmakers.

You won't find much in the way of politics on this site, but I would like to reccomend the comic strip 'This Modern World,' which appears in most alternative newspapers across the country and can also be read online. It's pretty astute.

That Nick Cave album has really grown on me. So has the new Roots album, which I finally listened to again after giving that Common album a break.

February 20, 2003

I was going through some of the behind the scenes stuff from 'Still' again tonight (for the upcoming DVD), where I'm smoking in almost every single shot, and suddenly for the first time since I quit, I had a complete panic attack where I just needed a goddamn cigarette right fucking then, and badly. But I didn't give in, and that takes care of this month's nicotine report.

I've been crazy busy these past few days, but the busier you are the less you feel like you've done. I woke up this morning and I was still on the caffeine jag that kept me up till seven AM last night. It's so weird when that happens. More videos have been sent out, things are being edited, other things are being written and rewritten, etcetera etcetera. As mentioned above, I'm getting stuff together for the DVD of 'Still,' which I'm hoping to have ready by the end of next month, if all goes well.

The movie I'm looking forward to the most right now is Gaspar Noe's 'Irreversible,' which is apparently quite hard to watch. I finally saw the trailer today, and it's definitely one of the best I've seen in a long time. Very Kubrick-esque. I highly reccomend it.

I was looking over some of the old films I did in high school, when I just shot little shorts starring myself, like 'Sonatine.' I decided to do that again this evening, just to challenge myself. The end result was a charming little movie entitled 'Looking For Love,' and in a minute I'm going to have to clean up all the fake blood that drenched my bathroom during the production of it. It was a nice (and more exhausting) change of pace from writing all the time.

February 14, 2003

There are things I know and things I don't, but I can tell you this much: the neverending pancake plate at IHOP is the stuff that great dares are made of.

Today is the one day out of the year when one is permitted to hate without remorse or mitigation all those who are engaged in happy relationships.

Of course, as long as this site exists, there's no reason to get too down, I guess.

Speaking of depressing, I picked up the new Nick Cave album. A few of the songs are forgettable, some of them are good, and about four are really great. 'Babe, I'm On Fire' is the highlight, of course, but 'Bring It On' has really started to grow on me. I really want to see the video for it, which is described in the following excerpt from his website:

The single 'Bring it On' is accompanied by a performance video from the band, assisted by semi-clad extras, shaking anatomy at the camera in homage to American pop videos. "Johnny Hillcoat asked me what I wanted to make a video about" says Cave; "I asked him 'What do videos look like on MTV these days?' and he said 'basically there's a lot of black girls wiggling their asses at the camera'. So, I said yeah, well alright let's do that then".

February 11, 2003

I watched Jarmusch's 'Dead Man' again last night. Damn good movie. If I ever make a Western, I'll have to be sure to screen that for the cast and crew. Oh, and I saw this really awful accident a few days ago. It was raining in sheets, and this mini-Dart bus right in front of me just suddenly ran off the road and flipped over. It didn't make any noise at all. Afterwards, I felt really bad about not stopping to help. That's the third time I've seen a wreck, and I never think about stopping until I'm a mile or so away.

Few more hours till the Oscar nominations. Back in the day, when I was in Junior High, maybe the first year of high school even, I'd be up at the crack of dawn to see the broadcast. This year, like last and the year before that, I'll be sound asleep. But if I ever get nominated for one...I sure won't argue!

I just saw the scariest trailer I've seen in a long time. It's for a Japanese horror movie called Juon: The Grudge. Here's the link to get to it. Don't watch it if you get scared easily! Like I do. Nonetheless, I'm going to have to track this one down.

I ended up not seeing 'The Shining' the other night. To make up for it, I watched 'Barry Lyndon,' which is one of the only Kubrick movies I'd never seen (although I've had it on DVD for almost four years). It was really good, but I'll need to see it again before I could call it great. In any case, the photography was absolutely stunning. If for no other reason, the movie is a masterpiece just because of the way it looks.

I've been feeling angry lately. Not towards anyone or anything in particular, although it turns into that sometimes. It just kinda boils up, all poisonous, and I don't like it. I'm just frustrated or something.

February 7, 2003

The Deadroom trailer we shot a few weeks back is finally online. I cut one version of the trailer, but we have yet to get around to finishing the sound work on it. Yen went ahead and cut a different version that didn't need any dialogue, and so that's what you will see when you click here. It's pretty nifty looking.

Going to see 'The Shining' tonight at Midnight. I always manage to see it once a year, usually on the big screen. I have trouble deciding which Kubrick film is my favorite, that one or '2001.' I think it really depends on whether I'm feeling optimistic or pessimistic.

I'm currently printing out a new and hopefully final DV master of 'Still' for the upcoming screening, while listening to Lou Reed's 'Heroin.' Been digging back through all the Velvet Underground records I haven't listened to in ages. Don't have really anything to say about it, though. Other than that they're great. 'Perfect Day' makes me want to watch 'Trainspotting' again (which would of course remind me how to properly make a dead baby creepy).

I'm reading 'Cities Of The Plain,' which is the third part of Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy. After finishing 'The Crossing' last month, I immediately added it to the list of novels that I really really want to make into films. The other one being James Dickey's 'To The White Sea,' which the Coen Bros. gave up on last year. Both books are really similar. They're full of simple, raw, elemental power. 'The Crossing' is definitely one of the best books I've ever read. It would actually translate very well to film, I think (much better than 'All The Pretty Horses') but it wouldn't make a red cent at the box office.

I also read Charlie Kaufman's new script, 'Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind' (currently shooting with Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, under the direction of Michel Gondry). It's fucking crazy, and if they pull it off right it'll be an amazing movie. I wonder how many studio executives just gave up while reading it.

February 2, 2003

Yesterday, all the digital billboards along the freeway said 'In case of shuttle debris, please call police.' I thought that was a little bit silly, and of course a little bit sad. I remember when the Challenger blew up, I had just turned five, and it pretty much quelled my youthful desire to be an astronaut. Although I still love outer space and all the romantic metaphors that goes along with it. And if I had twenty million to spare, I'd give it to charity, but if I had another twenty million, I'd go into space.

Last night, I happened to catch a special on MTV about breast augmentation. I didn't know they could show breasts on MTV, but I guess since it was in a non-sexual context it was okay. Anyway, they showed everything, the entire surgical process from the first incision to the final stitches, and let me tell you, it was exciting. I have brand new respect for the process and the people who go through it. The way they manage to leave the nipples attached while removing pretty much everything around them is pretty amazing. I wonder if it could be considered a legitimate art form.

January 30, 2003

I've found the coolest website ever. Check it out.

I've also found the website for John Cameron Mitchell's new film. I hope it gets off the ground and turns out well...and that it actually gets released. It sounds terrific.

January 28, 2003

I've been going back to my 'Star Wars' roots. Nick and Kara gave me a book called 'Empire Building' for Christmas, about the formation of Lucasfilm from George's days at UCLA all the way up to 'The Phantom Menace.' It was a great read, and it gave me a lot of insight into the problems with the prequels -- as well as a new appreciation for them. I also realized that I'm very similar to George Lucas, and am myself probably on the verge of changing motion picture history forever.

Ha ha! Ego trip there. But I do sympathize strongly with his distaste for working with actors (I know, I know, that's something I need to work on). Anyway, it's a great book, and now I'm rewatching the movies. All this behind the scenes footage from the original trilogy on the Episode 2 DVD is just awesome. I wonder how much of that stuff is out there.

I've had a few new conceptual ideas about the process of preproduction, and to that end I've been doing a lot of research on art funding and grants. While there is a lot of money out there, no one is naive enough to offer filmmakers money, at least for the early stages of of production. Also, the NEA is practically useless. And speaking of the government, I got my taxes mailed off today. That, on top of finishing my Christmas shopping early last month, apparently makes me very unmasculine. I say fuck the stereotypes. But I do like action movies. How about that super-swell new Matrix trailer? Or the new Hulk trailer, which is awesome except for the really lame music?

January 24, 2003

I heard a song from Nick Cave's upcoming album, and it was just beautiful, and so I've started listening to all my Bad Seeds CDs again. I do wish he'd revisit his Birthday Party roots once more and do something a bit more raw (or even along the lines of the early Bad Seeds stuff), but I guess he's just mellowed with age.

Bjork continues to inspire that 'Post' screenplay; I was looking at the liner notes of her Greatest Hits boxed set and there is an image of her wearing this weird rubber mask that really looks a lot like a certain image in the script. But anyway, what I really want to say here is that I've made a rudimentary/temporary page for that project. View it now, while it lasts, right here.

The updated info about Wednesday's screening can be found in the new section. Dividing the updates between here and there makes me feel rather schizophrenic.

January 23, 2003

I'll post a better update on the day's events tomorrow, when I'm a little less tired and more sober. But for now, I'll say that the whole day was great, beginning with the radio interview and ending with the screenings of my and Yen's films, which seemed to be very well received (I think). Thing is, true to my prediction, I stayed in the bar for the duration of the films. I need to learn how to be less self destructive and self loathing, because I'm sure less alcohol would have made the evening even better (the bartender was very cool, though, and I greatly enjoyed hanging out with him and the revolving circle of people who walked out for a smoke break). So anyway, when Lullaby premiered at the Video Fest, I wrote something in the News section to the effect that I loved everyone and couldn't be happier. I couldn't have been. I think that was the best night of my life. I also was probably on the verge of actually falling in love, which might have had something to do with it. Anyway, didn't feel anything like that tonight, but hey, it's a short film!

Be back when I wake up.

January 21, 2003

Various circumstances have made me want to smoke a lot lately. It's been eight months and three days since I've last imbibed any fumes (that weren't secondhand, at least), so I'm sure I can keep holding out. At least it's just nostalgia, and not actual phsyical cravings.

Here's a funny story. The screening on Saturday is being presented courtesy of the Asian Film Festival Of Dallas. Mye, the lovely young woman who runs it, also happens to be a juror for the Texas Show, a yearly showcase of the best Texas filmmaking that is shown at various festivals around the country. 'Still' was qualified for it, since I entered it in the Dallas Video Fest. They selected the films this past weekend, and she told Yen (who told me all of this) that 'Still' almost made it -- in fact, pretty much the only reason it wasn't was because it was just a little too long. It's the kind of thing that makes you grit your teeth. I'm wondering how often that's been the case with some of these rejections -- I've heard that festivals don't often program shorts that are longer than fifteen minutes. But anyway, apparently four out of the five jurors loved it, which is good, and it's definitely going to be in the Dallas Video Festival, which is also good.

James, Yen, Nick and I shot a teaser trailer for 'Deadroom' over the weekend, and it turned out really well. We actually rented some equipment to do it, which wasn't very indie of us, but it's nice to feel professional every once in a while. Driving to the shoot yesterday morning, with the windows down and the music up as per the cliche, was so exciting; making movies is like Christmas, the anticipation is the best part. Except that in the case of making movies, being on set always excedes the anticipation.

Anyway, we're just about done with the sound work for it, and it should be up on the Deadroom site within a week or so.

An addendum to my post below, which was made in haste: Brian's orchestral score is still in place, but there have been a few slight changes/additions. And I think I'm finally done messing with it.

I've been watching David Gordon Green's 'George Washington,' which is probably one of the most incredible indie films I've ever seen. It's so bold and poetic, and so simple. If I were more forceful, I'd force all my friends to watch it.

I'm going to screen 'Still' at this month's Indieclub meeting and I'm hoping to get some good feedback. Curtis and I have been working on some new music...some variant themes that will make the film darker, more tonally ominous. But I guess I should see what an audience thinks of the current score before I jettison it. It's not bad, and I like it...but I think in the end that an orchestral score was the wrong way to go. The movie needs more silence. Yep, once again, I'm figuring out ways to make my films more boring!

There's a line I like on the track five of the new Bright Eyes album.

January 10, 2003

Most of the responses I've received about 'Post' have been positive and/or confused. Which is good. I also received this one:

"I finished your whole script. And although you are a skilled writer, I can't stand this story. This is utterly depressing. Why did you make me read this?"

The e-mail in which that quote was contained was as impassioned an opinion on a script as I've ever received, and I value it as such. Why do I write depressing movies? I've always been attracted to the darker side of things, as cliched as that sounds. But I take pride in the fact that everything I've made or written has a happy ending. And 'Post' does have an ultimately somewhat positive ending...unless you're an atheist in which case it means nothing at all.

The one exception being 'Still,' of course, which has a pretty satisfyingly bleak ending. But you can only take short films so far.

I can write happy things, though. My next script will have laughs aplenty. And my attempt at a short story, which I finished at about 4000 words, might make someone smile.

January 5, 2003

I bought some new clothes this morning, and I was walking across the parking lot of the mall, past a pet shop, and I saw a girl helping a woman take her dog out of a car. And as often happens to me, an entire story presented itself out of that one passing image. I thought maybe I'll turn it into a screenplay, but I've got enough screenplays on the burner, more than enough, so I sat down and started to write it as a short story. And I forgot what a completely different mindset you have to be in to write fiction like that. You can take things so much further without going very far at all. I put down 1500 words, (exchanging pages for words), but I'm not done yet. I think it's a pretty good story. And I guess I should aim as high as I possibly can and see if I can get it into The New Yorker, which surprisingly has an open submission policy. I do love setting myself up for failure! But of course that can't be the mindset that brings about success.

Today, I also sent out query letters to all the top agencies and recallibrated my stereo system, which was very beneficial to the viewing of this DVD:

After writing some new music on Friday night, Curtis and I watched Wong Kar Wai's 'Chungking Express' at three AM. Neither of us had ever seen it before, and I was deliriously exhausted. But even though I didn't know what was going on half the time (if someone hadn't told me, I would never have known that there were two male leads), it was absolutely exhilarating. And that Asian version of the Cranberries song on the soundtrack was way better than the original.

And on the other side of things, Conrad L. Hall passed away today. Considering the legacy he's left behind, I can't imagine he didn't die happy. But then again, movies aren't everything...