The Sky

Books in 2010

The Big Con
When the Shooting Stops ... The Cutting Begins
The Scarlet Ruse
The Turquoise Lament
A Voyage for Madmen
The Dreadful Lemon Sky
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The Girl Who Played With Fire
The Empty Copper Sea
The Strain
Gone Tomorrow
The Hard Way
World War Z
The Fall

Obsolete Tracks

The Harahan/Elmwood area is littered with railroad tracks no longer being used. This one is at Mounes and Edwards and they run behind a warehouse there.

Summary of Screenwriting How To

From James Moran (Doctor Who, Torchwood, Primeval):

Of course, people are still curious. They wonder if maybe the books have some secret, magic formula, a short cut to telling brilliant stories. So, to save you some time and money, here is a bullet-point summary of every screenwriting "how-to" book ever:

--1: Have a Beginning, Middle, and an End. In the Beginning, kick off the story in an interesting, exciting way, introduce all the characters (making sure they're interesting, flawed, with voices distinct from each other, snappy dialogue that sounds real, and their own specific goals and conflicts, especially the baddies), and show us what the main character wants, and the obstacles in their way. In the Middle, throw all the obstacles at them and see how they cope, while avoiding visible exposition ("As you know, my father, Dr Robert McFuckleberry, the eminent parapsychologist, went missing last year under mysterious circumstances"), working it into the dialogue and actions subtly, showing us what's going on instead of telling us. Similarly, don't tell us stuff in the action description that can't be seen on screen (Jack is a black belt in AssKickFu, and loves his mum), show it happening (Jack uses martial arts to kick a guy's ass for insulting his mum), because every scene should move the story on, or reveal character, preferably both. Halfway through the Middle, throw in a surprising twist that moves the story in another direction. In the final bit of the Middle, have everything go wrong, and make it look grim for the main character. In the End, show the main character summoning up their strength for one final battle, where they overcome all the obstacles, save the day (in a surprising yet inevitable way that was hinted at from the very beginning), and walk off into the sunset having learned something and grown as a person - that, or they tragically fail/die, but with a glimmer of hope for the future. Keep it all between 90 and 120 pages (a page is roughly equal to a minute of screen time), and make sure it's in the proper screenplay format (use Final Draft or Movie Magic Screenwriter if you have some spare cash, or the free CeltX or BBC ScriptSmart Word template).

--2: Er, that's it.

Books in 2010

The Big Con
When the Shooting Stops ... The Cutting Begins
The Scarlet Ruse
The Turquoise Lament
A Voyage for Madmen
The Dreadful Lemon Sky
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The Girl Who Played With Fire
The Empty Copper Sea
The Strain
Gone Tomorrow
The Hard Way
World War Z

Inception - Music

Breakdown of the music from the movie Inception:

Obsolete

Phone booth in Harahan/Elmwood area:




They are obsolete until we need a land line. Then we will wish for them to work.

The Mechanic 2011 Trailer

The Mechanic 2011 Poster

Poster from a remake of The Mechanic:



I worked on this movie.

Warren Ellis - Doctor Whiskey

It is not yet 4pm and I already suspect today's going to require copious prescriptions from Doctor Whisky.

- Warren Ellis

Warren Ellis on Moon Wiring Club

Warren Ellis on where Moon Wiring Club is at:

The Club is sinking deeper into hermetic sound collage, an authentic Summoning of that strange zone where electronic music rubbed against science fiction, atmosphere was more important than narrative and no idea ever had a budget larger than twenty quid.

The thing is there is an idea in there for what you could do with a movie. Lots of atmosphere and sonics for a low budget production. A DJ applying sound and music throughout the whole thing.

Train Over I-10

Not super happy with any of these pics, but wanted to post them anyway. Seemed to be too much light out this weekend to get any good pics.

Fr. Des Crotty's Grave

Took the monkey to clean Fr. Des grave this weekend since we didn't get to do it on All Saints Day. Here a few pics I took.







Only pic I took this weekend that I liked:

Warren Ellis: On What Comics Can Do

Warren Ellis from a new piece he is writing:

All of which is to say you’re not necessarily hemmed in by realism, or naturalism of any kind. This is a field that combines, on the one hand, the novel and the poem and the slogan and the news story, and on the other hand every stop from pointillism to cave painting. Understand comics as the marriage of word and picture, as simple as that, and you’ll get a sense of how broad the medium’s reach really is.

Couple of Pics from the Car

I kind of love the way the electric tower in the distance looks like some kind of giant walking in the distance. Expect some more pics like this this weekend:



I just thought everything came together really well for this one from the clouds and the colors and the poles:

WPE Location Sign

Location sign at the corner of Mounes and Clearview in the Elmwood area:



You see location signs all around town now. They are markers to let crews know they are going the right way and where to go as well.

Monday Morning Contrails

Impressions of a Campout

These are a few pics from our campout this weekend. Not as many as I wanted, but I was on limited battery life.