4.29.2008

Dr. Who Test

4.28.2008

German Beer Purity Law

4.27.2008

Ugh

Oh fuck me. Not as far along as I thought. Jeesus, I am going to be killing myself this week. Someone send me bourbon. Small batch; single barrel; aged; and lots of it. Corruption and Twenties. Two screenplays to work on. Plus the John Ford cowboy thing and about 12 other things in my head.

Guess it is time to get to work.

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Saturday Night 4.26.08

Saturday night. Sunday morning. Who really cares?

Just finished Warren Ellis' Iron Man:Extremis. Illustrated by Adi Granov. First off, Granov, or someone of his ilk should be the the type illustrating a story about a man of the future. Damn Ellis and his being able to cram that much information and that mnay ideas into a six issue series. Dear god, there probably isn't a better character for him to write than Iron Man (other than his own creations).

Also reading an article by Robert Pelton in this month's Men's Journal about an attempted coup in Equitorial Guinea titled "My Friend: The Mercenary From Hell."

Also looking through Shakespeare's Julius Ceasar (One here, and one here).

Drinking Woodford Reserve tonight. On the rocks. As bourbon should be.

Listening to MIA's Paper Planes and the soundtrack for the original The Thomas Crown Affair.

Working on and thinking about Corruption. How am I going to hammer this into a coherent screenplay?

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MIA - Paper Planes Lyrics

I fly like paper, get high like planes
If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name
If you come around here, I make 'em all day
I get one down in a second if you wait

Sometimes I think sitting on trains
Every stop I get to I'm clocking that game
Everyone's a winner now we're making that fame
Bonafide hustler making my name

All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And (KKKAAAA CHING!)
And take your money

Pirate skulls and bones
Sticks and stones and weed and bombs
Running when we hit 'em
Lethal poison through their system

No one on the corner has swag like us
Hit me on my burner prepaid wireless
We pack and deliver like UPS trucks
Already going hell just pumping that gas

All I wanna do is (BANG BANG BANG BANG!)
And (KKKAAAA CHING!)
And take your money

Third world democracy
Yeah, I got more records than the K.G.B.
So, uh, no funny business

Some some some I some I murder
Some I some I let go
Some some some I some I murder
Some I some I let go

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4.26.2008

From Corruption - Meeting the Head Dago

Something I just wrote. Screenplay I am working on. Calling it Corruption until I get a proper title for it. Very rough right now. I don't even have character names worked out yet or much in the way of scene descriptions. Lot of fricking dialog tho. But thought I would just put it out into the world and see what happens:

“The fuck you can talk to me that way!”

“I get to talk to you that way cause you are the Boss.”

“Fucking right I am the Boss. Aint no old men here to take care of you.”

“Yeah cause I need them now… What’s going to happen? One of these guys is going to take me? The only reason they are here is to play babysitter for you. Its out of respect for your father they are here. And yeah they might make a move, but without heart it won’t mean shit and nada will happen.”

“Fuck you! I run shit here. I am the head of things now.”

“You aren’t the head of squat. Capos are running their own little fiefdoms while you sit in this rundown shack and play Scarface. Christ, you could at least get the right movie to base your life on. Then again that would ass-ume you know what the fuck to do.”

“You always were an arrogant fuck. Why the fuck did any of them listen to you anyway or even let you in? You’re not even real Irish. They could whack you anytime and no one would care.”

“They listened to me, and they listen to me again, because I know what the fuck I am doing. Because I don’t spend my time ingesting what pays the bills. Because my vices don’t lead me to fuck everything up for them.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

He pulls a gun.

“What are you going to do with that? Shoot me? Look at yourself. Your father was a man Presidents learned to fear. Hell he got out of jail and you know what’s the first thing my mother said: ‘Time to go eat Italian. All the food is going tog et a lot better.’ And it did. Now look at your ‘family.’ Jesus, street gangs have more pull than you do right now. That’s why they are listening to me again. That’s why the two men in this room who know what is means to be a part of a Family aren’t going to do a damn thing. Because while you may be ‘The Boss,’ I am the motherfucker who is fixing things and giving all of ya’ll a shot at being a Machine again. But hey, once I am done you can fuck things up again by getting busted in some shit club selling party drugs to underage girls.”

“I want my fucking respect!”

“Respect. Respect? I don’t give a shit about it or showing it to you. Do I offend your Italian honor? The fuck do I care. I respect them for staying here watching you chase down the tail of drugged out heroin chicks. But you? You can take you’re dago ass and shove your head up it.”

Click.

“I don’t have to listen to you. I can run things fine.”

“No, you can’t. You haven’t. And you won’t. But that’s okay you guinea piece of shit, Cause I am not being choosy who I work for.”

“You wont be so smart with a bullet through your head.”

“Then do it already and get it over with. End the fucking headache of dealing with you. Everything you were given you pissed on. Go ahead and piss on this. Cause you fuck this up you are gonna wind up in the same place all those others do. At least I know my corpse will get a fucking funeral instead of becoming a fucking feeding ground for crawfish.”

“You go cause I want you to. But I don’t want to fucking see you again.”

“Fine. Whatever you want to tell the kids. I don’t really feel like hanging out in any of your opium dens anyway. You stay sober until things are done. They call though and you do what the fuck is needed. You fuck this up, and I will stop showing you any fucking respect and I will make sure the capos know about things which will seal your fate with Hades. Capice?”

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Books to read - Research for Corruption

Paddy Whacked by TJ English

The Westies by TJ English

The French Quarter by Herbert Asbury

Mafia Kingfish by John H Davis

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4.25.2008

The Art of Pixar Shorts - Cartoon Brew

4.19.2008

Mack the Knife Lyrics - Bobby Darrin

Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear
And it shows them pearly white
Just a jackknife has old MacHeath, babe
And he keeps it … ah … out of sight.

Ya know when that shark bites, with his teeth, babe
Scarlet billows start to spread
Fancy gloves, though, wears old MacHeath, babe
So there’s nevah, nevah a trace of red.

Now on the sidewalk … uuh, huh … whoo … sunny mornin’ … uuh, huh
Lies a body just oozin' life … eeek!
And someone’s sneakin' ‘round the corner
Could that someone be Mack the Knife?

A-there's a tugboat … huh, huh, huh … down by the river don’tcha know
Where a cement bag’s just a'droopin' on down
Oh, that cement is just, it's there for the weight, dear
Five'll get ya ten old Macky’s back in town.

Now, d'ja hear ‘bout Louie Miller? He disappeared, babe
After drawin' out all his hard-earned cash
And now MacHeath spends just like a sailor
Could it be our boy's done somethin' rash?

Now … Jenny Diver … ho, ho … yeah … Sukey Tawdry
Ooh … Miss Lotte Lenya and old Lucy Brown
Oh, the line forms on the right, babe
Now that Macky’s back in town.

Aah … I said Jenny Diver … whoa … Sukey Tawdry
Look out to Miss Lotte Lenya and old Lucy Brown
Yes, that line forms on the right, babe
Now that Macky’s back in town …

Look out … old Macky is back!!

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4.15.2008

Penxar - Baseball Portraits

4.14.2008

Books in 2008

In the Blink of an Eye
In Harm's Way
Callaghen
One Fearful Yellow Eye


Way behind on reading books this year.

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Life on Mars Lyrics

It's a God awful small affair
To the girl with the mousey hair,
But her mummy is yelling, "No!"
And her daddy has told her to go,
But her friend is no where to be seen.
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seats with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen,
But the film is sadd'ning bore
For she's lived it ten times or more.
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on

Sailors
Fighting in the dance hall.
Oh man!
Look at those cavemen go.
It's the freakiest show.
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy.
Oh man!
Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show.
Is there life on Mars?

It's on America's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow.
Now the workers have struck for fame
'Cause Lennon's on sale again.
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibeza to the Norfolk Broads.
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns,
But the film is a sadd'ning bore
'Cause I wrote it ten times or more.
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on

Sailors
Fighting in the dance hall.
Oh man!
Look at those cavemen go.
It's the freakiest show.
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy.
Oh man!
Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show.
Is there life on Mars?

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4.10.2008

The Altering Eye by Robert Kolker

Preface to the Online Edition

The Altering Eye was published by Oxford University Press in 1983. The book spoke to a vital, worldwide movement in film, a movement full of energy and experimentation. Politically and formally adventurous, it claimed the world for cinema. The movement is over, but the films and their influence remain. The print run of The Altering Eye is over, but because there is now another movement full of energy and experimentation in the digital, online community, it will have a second run in electronic form.

The electronic edition maintains the original text with very, very few alterations. What is new, in addition to easy access, is a rich and changing panoply of visual elements: still and moving images that prove how appropriate the Web is for the serious work of film criticism. The electronic Altering Eye will now continue to be a fully present visual work in progress.

Robert Kolker
Jan, 2007

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4.09.2008

Steve McQueen - Drive By Truckers



STEVE MCQUEEN

Steve McQueen Steve McQueen
When I was a little boy I wanted to grow up to be
Steve McQueen Steve McQueen
The coolest doggone motherscratcher on the silver screen

I’d drive real fast everywhere no one would ever catch me
and I’d kick your ass if you pissed me off so be careful what you ask me
and I’d never have an empty bottle or an empty bed
and as cool as Paul Newman is I bet Steve could whup his head

Steve McQueen............................

Bullit was my favorite movie that I’d ever seen
I totaled my go-cart trying to imitate that chase scene
That Duster had six hubcaps, know what I mean
and I love the way they all flew off when it landed in that ravine

Steve McQueen............................

I really loved The Getaway back when I was eight
that pussy Alec Baldwin sucked in the remake
and speaking of pussy, I guess Steve got it all
He fucked Faye Dunaway and he fucked Ali McGraw

Steve McQueen Steve McQueen
When I was a little boy I wanted to grow up to be
Steve McQueen Steve McQueen
The coolest goddamn mothefucker on the silver screen
(yee-haw)

(suddenly the scene turns slow and somber, as a campfire harp plays in the background)
I went to see The Hunter on my first date
The Hunter was the last movie Steve McQueen lived to make
They took my drivers license when I was just sixteen
the year Mesothelioma killed Steve McQueen


lyrics by Patterson Hood
music by Drive-by Truckers (Cooley, Hood, Howell, Lane, Neff, Stacy)
©1998 Soul Dump Music

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4.08.2008

Yuri's Night - 2008



So now I need to plan an event for Saturday night. One that involves space and rockets? Oh yeah.

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3-D Anniversary

I saw this just now on Wired. Kind of cool given what I am working on:

April 8, 1953: Hollywood Finally Catches 3-D Fever

By Tony Long 04.08.08 | 12:00 AM

1953: Man in the Dark opens at the Globe Theater in New York City. It is the first 3-D movie released by a major Hollywood studio, beating The House of Wax to the screen by two days.

It took Hollywood a while to embrace 3-D technology -- the earliest known 3-D feature film, not made by a mainline studio, was The Power of Love in 1922.

But 3-D had already been around for a long time. Charles Wheatstone made the world's first stereoscopic viewer in 1838, basing his invention on theories of perspective dating to the Renaissance.

Wheatstone's viewer, built using angled mirrors, contained two separate drawings mounted side by side, one for each eye. Using the stereoscope allowed the images to merge, giving the viewer the illusion of depth.

The same principle was applied much later to 3-D movies. The audience was provided with special anaglyph viewing glasses with different color lenses that created the same illusion of depth as Wheatstone's stereoscope.

Man in the Dark was a noir film starring Edmond O'Brien, a remake of the 1936 Ralph Bellamy movie, The Man Who Lived Twice. As 3-D it was underwhelming -- the climactic roller-coaster scene was described as flat -- and it apparently wasn't much of a flick, either, at least not to a New York Times critic who called it "a conspicuously low-grade melodrama."

Nevertheless, it got Columbia Pictures off the 3-D dime and began Hollywood's rather fitful relationship with the technology that continues to this day.

(Source: Various)

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4.03.2008

Toon Books - Comics for Sippy

Something else to help me bring about the destruction of the youth of our world. Or just a way to get the monkey to read comics.

Toon Books

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MLS THURSDAY NIGHT DOUBLE HEADER ON ESPN

I have to say, I am a big fan of this ad:

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4.01.2008

Con Books from Boing Boing