Harry Lime Cuckoo Clock Quote

"You know what the fellow said – in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

- Harry Lime

Real Life Cons & Heists

CIA duped by con-man:

The intelligence reports fitted the suspicions of the time: al-Qaida sleeper agents were scattered across the US awaiting orders that were broadcast in secret codes over the al-Jazeera television network.

Flights from Britain and France were cancelled. Officials warned of a looming "spectacular attack" to rival 9/11. In 2003 President Bush's homeland security tsar, Tom Ridge, spoke of a "credible source" whose information had US military bracing for a new terrorist onslaught.

Then suddenly no more was said.

Six years later, Playboy magazine has revealed that the CIA fell victim to an elaborate con by a compulsive gambler who claimed to have developed software that discovered al-Jazeera broadcasts were being used to transmit messages to terrorists buried deep in America.

The world's largest diamond heist:

Leonardo Notarbartolo strolls into the prison visiting room trailing a guard as if the guy were his personal assistant. The other convicts in this eastern Belgian prison turn to look. Notarbartolo nods and smiles faintly, the laugh lines crinkling around his blue eyes. Though he's an inmate and wears the requisite white prisoner jacket, Notarbartolo radiates a sunny Italian charm. A silver Rolex peeks out from under his cuff, and a vertical strip of white soul patch drops down from his lower lip like an exclamation mark.

In February 2003, Notarbartolo was arrested for heading a ring of Italian thieves. They were accused of breaking into a vault two floors beneath the Antwerp Diamond Center and making off with at least $100 million worth of loose diamonds, gold, jewelry, and other spoils. The vault was thought to be impenetrable. It was protected by 10 layers of security, including infrared heat detectors, Doppler radar, a magnetic field, a seismic sensor, and a lock with 100 million possible combinations. The robbery was called the heist of the century, and even now the police can't explain exactly how it was done.

The loot was never found, but based on circumstantial evidence, Notarbartolo was sentenced to 10 years. He has always denied having anything to do with the crime and has refused to discuss his case with journalists, preferring to remain silent for the past six years.

Until now.

Some thoughts on production

John Rogers is getting ready to run some of his older posts on screenwriting and production. He also has a link to the site Hollywood University:

My path to showrunning is essentially unique. I'm not sure that if you want to write/run a television show you should do hundreds of gigs on the road as a stand-up, get a failed sitcom pilot, then spin that into a staff position and spec feature career, all oriented solely 'round your geek identity. I mean, I can help you with some tools in the writing toolbox, but I basically backed my way through the process of building a career.

So I'll heartily recommend Hollywood University, where Jessica Butler -- former producer and newly minted writer -- attempts to run you through the basics of the business and craft. She's got a nice eye for detail, does actual research (as opposed to my anecdotal style) and has already accumulated a wide range of links over a good spectrum of resources. Warren Bell also contributes the occasional article. Considering Warren was running shows when I arrived in Hollywood (in, actually, the office two doors down from mine) that's a good ringer to have.

So reading John August recently:

That’s not really the case. Aspiring screenwriters have always had access to this material the same way Reeves apparently got access to it: by working and interning in the industry.

In between answering phones and trying to get their bosses on flights out of Kennedy, bright underpaid aspirants have the opportunity to read almost every script in town. Impromptu networks of assistants pass around their favorite screenplays, in the process picking the next generation of hot writers.

Studios turn a blind eye to this because it helps the industry. You want the smartest people with the best opinions working for you, and you want them to have a good sense of what’s in development all over town. A boss at Disney isn’t going to lose sleep if an intern at CAA reads a draft of that Miley Cyrus comedy. It’s expected. It’s good.

This piece of his post struck me because it makes it seem as though New York or L.A. are the only places to go to break into the business. I would argue that in our current production climate that isn't the case. Just in the U.S. people are receiving experience, and lots of it, in Louisiana, Michigan, Florida, Georgia, and elsewhere.

Wondering what some of you think? Do you still have to go to New York or L.A. to make it in the production world? I know I have no desire to move to either. I personally think we are going to see a rise in more regional filmmaking (not just where films are made, but where they are being produced and coming from).

The Weary Kind - Ryan Bingham

Your heart's on the loose
You rolled them sevens with nothing lose
And this ain't no place for the weary kind

You called all your shots
Shooting 8 ball at the corner truck stop
Somehow this don't feel like home anymore

And this ain't no place for the weary kind
And this ain't no place to lose your mind
And this ain't no place to fall behind
Pick up your crazy heart and give it one more try

Your body aches
Playing your guitar and sweating out the hate
The days and the nights all feel the same

Whiskey has been a thorn in your side
and it doesn't forget
the highway that calls for your heart inside

And this ain't no place for the weary kind
And this ain't no place to lose your mind
And this ain't no place to fall behind
Pick up your crazy heart and give it one more try

Your lovers won't kiss
It's too damn far from your fingertips
You are the man that ruined her world

Your heart's on the loose
You rolled them seven's with nothing lose
And this ain't no place for the weary kind

Piece from Twenties

I wrote this this weekend. Another piece added to Twenties which still has a small way to go before being finished. To me this scene shows both how much crap the "heroes" of the story are in and yet how wily and ahead of the game they are (and maybe how out of they are at the same time):

INT. APARTMENT - DAY

THE CONNECTION
Okay, we have to assume this man is under surveillance by the FBI and that is a whole world we do not want to be in or even on their radar.

THE BRAINS
As far as we know we are still not even known to them.

THE PLAYER
All FOIA requests came back negative for us.

THE CONNECTION
So we know they will be onhim. We are going to need more noise than just the crowd although that is going to help a lot.

THE BRAINS
Small white noise emitters. Keep them on you and going at all times. Kind of fucks up surveillance. We hope.

THE JOCK
“We hope” doesn’t sound very hopeful.

THE BRAINS
Hey, doing what I can with the resources I have.

THE CONNECTION
You two will be on his guards. Keep an eye on them. All three of you have to be watching though for a pattern in the crowd. The surveillance team will be blending in, but they still are going to want to keep close. I am going to keep him on the move, with no discernible pattern.

THE PLAYER
Look at you with the big words and jargon. So what do we do, with us on his guys, not a lot we can do.

THE BRAINS
They will be looking for the same thing I am sure. They don’t want the FBI getting close to their boss. So follow them and their eyes and keep a look out. You see them heading into a certain direction or pointing someone out, you try and make a move the best you can. I will run interference where I can, as well as try and find their listening spot or van or whatever the hell they have set up.

THE CONNECTION
They will be there. We want them off of us. I will try and stay near groups to keep the sound going and talk as low as I can. But again, I can’t keep any kind of pattern going. Every time I shift us, you have to look.

THE JOCK
And what exactly do we look for?

THE CONNECTION
That is the hard part.

THE BRAINS
We don’t really know.

THE CONNECTION
You look for what feels wrong. Someone quickly trying to follow us. Someone almost running into the back of us but ignoring us. Home less people who don’t ask for money.

THE PLAYER
The thing which appears normal but is slightly off. The forgery.

I love this piece from BLDGBlog on counterfeit universities. I am just trying to figure out how to apply that here in NOLA and to filmmaking topics

But you need nothing more than a structure, a common topic, a place to meet up, a backpack full of the most basic office supplies, perhaps a bottle opener, and the will-power to see it through; with any luck, in other words, more "counterfeit universities" will be popping up here and there, their research published independently on blogs, their meetings hosted in apartments, offices, restaurants, bars, and other spaces in their after-hours, bringing more and more people into productive conversation.

Dingo by Michael Alan Nelson

New comic from Boom! Studios:




Check out the original online novel.

More than likely set in the same universe as Hexed.

Paul Pope - Hexed Cover

Panic Attack!

Slingers

SLINGERS from Mike Sizemore on Vimeo.

Found via Warren Ellis.

More here.

High quality version here.

Paul Pope - Girl With Headphones

Paul Pope Girl Guitarist

Found through Warren Ellis:

Girl From the North Country

Girl From The North Country

Well, if you're travelin' in the north country fair,
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline,
Remember me to one who lives there.
She once was a true love of mine.

Well, if you go when the snowflakes storm,
When the rivers freeze and summer ends,
Please see if she's wearing a coat so warm,
To keep her from the howlin' winds.

Please see for me if her hair hangs long,
If it rolls and flows all down her breast.
Please see for me if her hair hangs long,
That's the way I remember her best.

I'm a-wonderin' if she remembers me at all.
Many times I've often prayed
In the darkness of my night,
In the brightness of my day.

So if you're travelin' in the north country fair,
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline,
Remember me to one who lives there.
She once was a true love of mine.

Copyright ©1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music

Bootlegging Script Research

From Warren Ellis' latest Wired column - iPhone/Cell phone maps:

■ Bruce Sterling’s comment about "Nazi layers" in his recent address to augmented reality (AR) company Layar comes true very fast, as the BNP releases a "British layer" that superimposes on your camera view of any British town a hyperlocal guide to population pressure, of "indigenous" British supposedly being "forced out" by what the rest of us call simply "other people". AR is self-selected mediation of the world. It lets us choose the glasses we want to see through. A nicked iPhone and credit card lets you buy criminal layers that establish where CCTV is densest in relation to regions with the wealthiest demographic, establishing the easiest predation. Soon enough, citizens of the digital cities are peering at everything through their AR phones, seeing not the city that’s in front of them, but the city they want to see.

Now imagine a map which changes with your GPS position to let you know where the State Troopers or county cops usually hide. Mpas which lay out the road ahead of you and where you can drop the hammer down and where you might need to ease up (or if you are running blocker for a truck where you can know you are going to get into the shit with law enforcement).

Yes, this is being used for a script I am writing.

The car itself is not modern, but when they hook into it is. Also Tweel tires. Localized EMP.

Yeah, this is going to be fun. Sneaking in futuretech/nowtech into my take on Smokey and the Bandit. I can't leave well enough alone.