Just got back from the surgeon's office. Both my knees are fucked up.
Left knee: Torn Meniscus
Right knee: Torn ACL
Oh how wonderful. They are doing surgery on my left knee first, sometime this winter. Then my right knee at some later point. I have to go get a brace for my right knee. $400. Damn.
So, I've moved into the new place. Took about seven hours last night to move everything, which is probably a record of some kind. It was definitely the quickest move in my short on-my-own life.
I did end up getting shafted on the bedroom situation. My room is ridiculously small, but I guess I'll have to manage. The kitchen is nice, big living room, nice hallways. Me and the roommate have some big plans for the place.
Pics to come soon.
My friend Ryan and I came up with a new idea for a screenplay that we began outlining on Friday. We haven't written anything since July when we finished the final (for now) draft of Imagine You. Hopefully we will get to writing this bad boy pretty quickly. It's by far the best idea we've come up with. Commercially, anyways. Yes, we are trying to write commercial. To those who don't like it, I don't care, I want to make money.
I ran into an old friend a couple of weeks ago who is very interested in getting into independant film making, as Ryan and I are. We are thinking of putting together a very small production house and making no-budget films. The three of us have got pretty much the same career goals in the film industry, so why not?
At about 1:30 we had a power outage at work. Suhweeet. For a little over an hour we could do nothing but stand around. Which is a good thing, because a bunch of us decided to have a regular poker game starting this Saturday night. So far there are four people from the office that are going to play. I'm sure my roommate will play and we will find a few more to make a nice game of ten or so. Anyway, big ups to the power company for taking out that power pole, and allowing me to do nothing for about an hour.
I was suckered into renting Bewitched on Friday by Lana. It definitely was not my first choice of film, but it was offered to us for free by one of her friends that works at the video store, so how could I say no? Besides, Will Ferrell stars, how bad could it be?
Apparently, pretty bad. While the movie started off alright, and the story takes place in the entertainment industry that I want to be a part of. So, after the first ten minutes, things were looking alright. Then it all went to hell.
First of all, Nicole Kidman sucks. I have never liked her, at all, and find that she is a very over-rated actor. Throughout this film she acts as though she is half-retarded (note to you PC-people: I am not politically correect, nor do I intend to be anytime soon, so live with it). Just because she's a witch, does not mean she needs to be half-retarded.
Will Ferrell did have his funny parts, of course, but not enough to keep this movie going. By about the half-way point I wanted a bullet to enter my head, at any speed. By the end of the movie I was just glad it was over. It was about thirty minutes too long, the story cheated it's audience and was distasteful for a good majority of the movie.
I was actually impressed by Michael Caine, who had quite a few good moments throughout the film, and stole quite a few scenes.
I never watched the original Bewitched TV show, and I wish I never saw the movie either.
In the middle of November, 2004 I stumbled upon the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) during research for one of my screenplay's. I was a little upset about how late it took me to find this fascinating web page.
From NaNoWriMo:National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.
What an awesome idea, and a good way to waste a bunch of time for one month of the year. So, since I found it late last year, I vowed to myself that I would participate in 2005.
Whoops. I had forgotten all about it until I stumbled across this post from Beyond Robson in my RSS Reader. Oh, how upset I am with myself. Another year gone by, another opportunity shot.
From Beyond Robson:... in 2006 when I again plan publically announce my intentions to NaNoWriMo.
Me too. It looks like some 9765 completed it this year. Congratulations to all that wrote, I am envious.
So, I've decided I'm probably going to take a short course at SIAST. It is an Applied Certificate Program in Film, Video and New Media offered through the Wascana campus in Regina, through various off-campus locations. I'm pretty sure it's offered in Saskatoon, which would be deadly.
I'm still planning on going to University in the fall, but I think this would be a fun learning experience, and will get me geared up for the full-time, hardcore studying a four-year University program will bring. I pretty much need something to get me into the ebb-and-flow of school anyway, since I've been out of it for so long.
I will let you guys know when I've got it nailed down.
Tuesday night is cheap night at Rainbow Cinemas - the second run theatre on the East Side - $3.00 marked down from $4.00. On either Thursday or Friday night, Lana had gone to see Prime with a few of her girlfriends, and fell in love with the movie. Actually, she fell in love with the star, Bryan Greenberg. Apparently, he dresses well and I need to watch this movie to learn from him.
So, we went to the movie. From the previews I'd seen, I was expecting a mildly-entertaing two hours. However, after Lana saw it late last week, she hyped it up and made it sound like the movie of the year, so my expectations were hightened a little. This movie is the definition of a chick-flick, and as such, I'm not really sure how I feel about it. The movie started out very slow and took a while for me to get into.
Meryl Streep was (expectedly) outstanding in her role as the psychiatrist/mother. Absolutely outstanding. She was funny throughout and really pulled off the role. However, that is to be expected from someone like Meryl Streep.
I have never been a fan of Uma Thurman, and this movie changes nothing. She is overrated, and I find she is a tough person to stare at for two hours. This role the best I've seen her in to date.
This Bryan Greenberg character, however, is quite the comer. Aside from the fact that Lana fell in love with him, for some unknown reason, he was pretty damn good! He looked very experienced for the few roles he has had. And Lana was right, he did dress well for most of the movie, some of the stuff he wore was not so good, however. He was funny throughout and I found it quite easy to relate to the guy.
Anyway, check out the movie if you are with a date. Guys, this isn't a movie just for you, or you and your buddies. As a matter of fact, suggesting it might result in a black eye.
24's Season Four was released on DVD today. Hoo yeah!
I own the other three seasons of the greatest show on TV, and can't wait to watch this one. It is impossible for me to watch the show while it is actually on television, as the cliffhangers at the end of every episode would drive me to a mental hospital.
Unfortunately, I've got to wait for Marc to get back to Saskatoon to watch it. 12 days.
Two new features can be found on my site today, and fall under the new navigational heading "Film Nav". I've also moved the DVD Wishlist into that category.
Sections under Film Nav are obviously related to movies, the film industry, or whatever I decide to put in there. Movie scripts will be making a home there soon ;)
The Watch List (deprecated) is a list of movies I've watched since November 24, 2005. I will keep it updated constantly. This is yet another portion of the site I expect noone to visit.
Also, the DVD Collection (deprecated) is just that - my DVD collection. Feel free to visit if you wish.
Watch that area of the site for some mega-features coming soon!
Beyond Robson is quickly becoming one of my favorite websites on the internet, due to entries like this one. Amazing that a site dedicated to Vancouver is able to touch on topics that affect everyone, not just Vancouverites.
From Beyond Robson, orginally posted at Daily Kos:
"If a company makes a product that is inappropriately used to illegally copy a movie, that company is liable. If a company makes a product that is inappropriately used to illegally kill a human, that company is not liable. What's the common logic holding these disparate concepts together? Massive corporate special interest money. Welcome to your government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations, where a pirated copy of "Hollywood Homicide" is bigger threat than an actual Hollywood homicide."
The last comment about Hollywood Homicide is especially effective, and quite true in the context it is being used. Now, obviously, killing someone will earn you more jail time than pirating a movie. However, it does force you to really think about how influention corporations are in politics.
I also find it quite offensive, that the same government that decides it is a company like Napster, Morpheus, Kazaa, or whomever must restrict their software because other people are using their product to commit illegal acts, while a gun manufacturer is innocent of the exact same crime. A gun manufacturer is not held accountable in any way when someone using their products commits an illegal act.
I mean, I am 150% sure that this is not just a gun manufacturer-piracy issue, and it is quite a bit deeper than that. I just really wanted to touch on the subject.
Guns suck.
An interesting post popped up in my RSS Reader from Jordon Cooper this morning.
It appears as though Business Week will be focusing more on their online magazine, and less on their print works. It seems like an interesting idea, to say the least. If anyone can afford to move closer to an online-base from print, it is someone like Business Week. I have a feeling that the majority of Business Week's readers are online quite a bit, and don't really have the time to pick up a magazine, sit down and read it. Having access to all of the same information, and being able to pick and choose what content you want could be a big perk for their readers.
I'm interested in seeing if anyone follows suit.
The Christmas Party for work is tonight at 6:15. Supper isn't until 7:15 and I'm already starving. I thought long and hard about eating something before going because the food is probably going to suck something large.
I'm not really expecting all that much from the party tonight, so I don't really expect to stay too long. Oh well, I guess it's something to do for a little bit tonight.
In seven days (depends how you count, because it could be eight) - on the 20th - Marc returns to Saskatoon from Niagara, NY. As he so eloquently stated, some (read: many) Alexander Keith's and Cuban cigars are in our future.
From MAD's Rambling:P.S. Stephen, I can't wait to drink Keith's and smoke a cubano with you.
Marc's return means I can finally watch the fourth season of 24, that I purchased last week, and still have not unwrapped. Oooh, I'm stoked.
I went to Blockbuster yesterday to see if they had any decent Previously Viewed flicks for sale at decent prices. They did!
Lords of Dogtown was on sale for $9.99 so, since I had a very pleasurable experience watching the documentary (Dogtown and Z-Boys), I decided to pick it up.
Lords of Dogtown was penned by the director of the documentary, Stacy Peralta, who actually happens to be one of the main characters in the story. Stacy is one of the original Z-Boys, and is now a successful filmmaker, so it just seems like a natural fit.
The documentary was outstanding, so I came into this movie with pretty high hopes that were quickly dashed. I had no idea what was going on for the first 15 or 20 minutes, which is a shame because I pretty much knew the whole story from the documentary. Just a terrible first impression.
I was surprised to see Emile Hirsch in one of the title roles (Jay Adams). After witnessing the disaster that was The Girl Next Door, I thought this was doomed at the mention of his name in the opening credits. I was wrong. Emile showed some pretty good acting chops throughout the film, and I found that Jay Adams was probably the toughest role to pull off in the entire film.
The story seemed very loosely strung together, very choppy and hard too follow for a major (yes, a $25 million budget is still huge in my books) movie. I'm not sure if it was the very broad scope of the story that led to it's demise or Catherine Hardwicke (director) was ill-prepared to deal with such a large leading cast. Either way, it sucked.
The film was pretty entertaining, but definitely not what I was hoping for, especially after seeing the documentary.
So, if you haven't seen the documentary, watch this first, then watch the docu. The other way around, and it's not even worth watching the "fictional" version.
In my never-ending quest to have this website be more than just a simple blog, I've up put a section entitled Movie Scripts (deprecated). As the name might imply, it is a place to download and read Movie Scripts.
I've posted all the scripts I've got from a numerical title (like 187) through the letter S, and so far the tally is 150 movie scripts ready for you to download. Almost all of them are in PDF format.
I will post the rest of what I've got tomorrow, and then I'll start expanding the list.
Enjoy! (deprecated)
This movie proved to be an evasive two hours of my life. I had plans on going to see the film when it was first in theatres, but that never did pan out. Earlier this year, I purchased it on DVD for the first time.
I must have owned it for a good two months without ever watching it. I'm not sure why, because I watch a lot of movies - always have. I just never got around to it. It's not like I didn't want to watch the movie, because I have heard a lot of good things about it and tend to watch based on other people's gathered opinions - sometimes.
It just never happened. Then, as with a large number of my DVD's over the next few months, it was stolen. I have a pretty good idea of who stole it and why, but that is of no consequence. Matter of the fact, I couldn't watch the movie any longer.
Since I am not big on renting movies - I find it to be quite a waste of money, when for close to the same price I can buy the damned thing - unless I'm with Lana, this movie was pretty much out of the running. Lana has seen it and did not like it, so getting her to sit through it again proved impossible.
Last week I went on a bit of a DVD-kick and managed to pick up Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for the second time. It sat on my shelf for no less than two weeks and I finally watched it last night.
Well, I'm glad I watched the movie. As a huge fan of Jim Carrey, I came in expecting the movie to be funny. Which it was - in parts. Most of the movie was seriously dramatic and just plain twisted. Jim pulled the role of Joel off flawlessly. His dramatic ability really shows through in this film, and is probably doing a lot for his career, and helping him jump out of his physical-comedy schtick.
Kate Winslet was equally good. Having not really seen her in anything of note since Titanic, I was a little skeptical to say the least. Even though she starts out in terrible blue hair, she is outstanding throughout. She plays the role of an unstable twenty-something perfectly.
Before I watched it I was surprised that noone gave the movie away to me. By the end I understood why - it would have been nearly impossible to explain the movie well enough to kill it for me. Charlie Kaufman is an absolutely incredible writer. How he comes up with stuff like this is beyond me. I am a huge fan of his work: Adaptation.; Being John Malkovich; Human Nature, etc.
The visual style of the movie was very dark and depressing. Something I generally try to avoid in a film. And to tell you the truth, I was a little skeptical about putting the movie into the DVD player as a result of this (I had previously seen the first 15 or 20 minutes of the movie). Although not my favorite visual style of film, it was done elegantly, and I did not feel put-off by it for the most part.
If you haven't seen this film yet, which I doubt, I implore you to go out and purchase (or rent, you cheap bastards!) the DVD and give it a watch. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.
So I've finished adding all of the scripts I currently have uploaded to the Movie Scripts (deprecated) section of the website. There is only one script that it is not in PDF format.
I will be adding many more PDF formatted scripts, but will also begin to add HTML and TXT format scripts soon. So watch for the total number of scripts to balloon from 178.
Just thought I'd update you guys!
I've decided the best way to start making movies, is to do just that - start making movies. My writing partner Ryan and I started writing a short screenplay that we plan to actually produce.
The script will probably fall between 10 and 20 pages, making a 10 to 20 minute film. We hope to have a first draft of the screenplay finished sometime this week, before he heads off to Mexico for vacation. The story has already been outlined, and work has begun on the actual screenplay. Just need to finish it up.
Once the writing process is done, we will be approaching a few people in hopes of finding a little extra money, to turn our couple hundred dollar budget into a little more. I am meeting with someone who may be interested in the project on Thursday night, so hopefully that goes well. He is someone in the same situation as I - just wanting to make films. I am not sure what role he may or may not play in the making of this short film, as the it has been decided by Ryan and I that we will both Co-Write and Direct, so that option is pretty much closed off to him. If he wants to come in as a Producer, or just help with logistics, or operate the camera, who knows, but we'll find a spot for him.
We will be renting all of our equipment. The whole purpose of this short film is to really just get some experience behind the camera. To play around, and see if we can make it work.
If everything goes well with the production, which we hope to start filming sometime in January or February, we will be entering the film in some short film festivals. Maybe we'll win, maybe we won't. Only one way to find out.
The reason for the short film idea is really quite simple: it is much easier (read: cheaper) to film something that is going to be at most 20 minutes in length, than something that could easily be two hours.
I will post more about this as news comes along.
I enrolled in a few courses at SIAST, as well as a workshop in Regina today.
As mentioned a few weeks ago, I'm going to be taking this Film, Video and New Media Applied Certificate Program at SIAST. I registered and paid my tuition today! Yay!
January 20-22: Set Protocol & Set Safety
February 10-12: Freelance Business Skills
I also enrolled in a Crew Call workshop, put on by the SMPIA:
January 7-8: Script Supervisor/Continuity
I am actually really, really excited to go to school. For anyone who's known be for more than 6 years can tell you, that would have been quite a stretch of the imagination a few years ago. Anyway, I'll let you know more as it comes to me. Just thought I'd land an update.
As mentioned in an earlier earlier, I am going to be actually producing a short film early in the new year. Well, an early draft of the script has been completed, and is available for reading below:
Exploiting the Holidays - (PDF) - 8 Pages
Exploiting the Holidays is getting some pretty good reviews over at Zoetrope.
Here is an excerpt.
Your script had me laughing out loud. Completely wonderful concept! I also like your visuals. Suzie's character is devious and fitting in the story ... This is a movie I would be first in line to see! I can't think of any criticisms (short of a few typos)! Great script.
This has obviously got my spirits pretty high, since we wrote this in about two hours, and are actually planning on filming this. This has turned this project from a "make it just to make it" type of project, into a "make it to entertain people" project.
More later!
I've recently jumped back into the wonderful world of screenwriting. I spent a really good chunk of 2004 becoming immersed in the world, and trying my best to succeed. It didn't take long for me to realize I was doing nothing right.
Earlier this year, Ryan and I started writing Imagine You. And to our surprise, we actually finished it! Finishing Imagine You was one of the greatest achievements of my life. Actually completing 108 pages was something I never truly expected to happen. Alas, it did, and I haven't really looked back since.
We finished the final draft of Imagine You in July of 2005, and then pretty much didn't do any real screenwriting for the next five months. In the last week or two, we have started to ramp it up.
The first/second draft of Exploiting the Holidays has been written, and posted on the Zoetrope for reviews. We have begun outlining Guardian Angels, Inc. and plan on writing that, starting in January or February - depending on the schedule of production for Exploiting the Holidays.
I have (once again) began spending a considerable amount of my online time on Zoetrope, reading and reviewing screenplays, and generally getting back into the hobby.
Hopefully 2006 will be a banner year for me in the department of screenwriting. I can only hope.
I ordered a Christmas gift from amazon.ca on November 24. Original shipping estimate was December 1 to December 6. Cool! Oops, December 5th rolls around, and they change the dates to December 9 to December 20. Well, I guess I can live with that. And now, they change the shipping date to December 23 to January 3, 2006. What kind of shit is that? It's a Christmas gift that might not get here until next year? Ugh, that pisses me off.
Nothing I can do about it I guess. Still, kind of sucks that one of the largest online retails can't get me on little item in less than a month. An item they say ships within 24 hours, nonetheless.
In approximately 30 hours, I will be done work for the holidays. Sweet! I got stuck on the early shift this week. 6:00 am - 2:30 pm, which positively sucks. A lot. Getting up at 5:00 am is never fun, I don't care who you are. I am already not a morning person, and this 5:00 nonsense just compounds all of my morning issues. On the brighter side of things, the days go by ridiculously fast, and being off at 2:30 is cool.
I only work until tomorrow, then my holidays start. I was smart and booked 'em early. Dec 22 - 27, 2005: No work! That is six, (six!) days without work, how sweet is that? Pretty sweet!
Marc gets home tonight, which means a Cuban and some Keith's. Tomorrow is when the fun starts though. At about 3:30, the 24: Season 4 marathon will begin. I don't care what anyone says about being a 24 nerd. If you've seen the show, you understand. I am going back to Yorkton for Friday/Saturday to be with my dad's family. On Sunday morning I will head to Regina to be with my mommy. :) I'll probably stick it out there until Monday night or sometime on Tuesday, since I don't work again until Monday!
Those are my plans. Cool.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!
Being the final week of shopping, I'm sure it's absolutely craziness everywhere in the industrialized world right now. That does not mean I am not allowed to vent my frustration with Christmas shoppers.
I was at the mall yesterday, and the people were just driving me crazy. I mean, in general, when I am at the Midtown Plaza, the shoppers annoy me. Stopping randomly in the middle of the hallways, with people right behind them. Generally moving at a ridiculously slow pace, etc, etc. But, add Christmas to the mix and you have that problem times about 14,231. Yes, I did the math.
I figure I will complete my shopping at Wal-Mart at about 4:00am on Wednesday night. I have a few small items left to pick up, and since Wal-Mart has decided to stay open for 24 hours starting tomorrow and running through Christmas Eve, I may as well take advantage.
With Wal-Mart Preston Crossing being only about two minutes from my house, I decided that this was the best course of action. Now, if 4:00am Wal-Mart shoppers are as annoying as regular Wal-Mart shoppers (much worse than mall shoppers, btw), I am going to be incredibly pissed off.
Ooh Timmy, how would I get by at 6:30 in the morning without your wonderful presence? Any Canadian needing to be up before anything that can be considered normal, or even uncruel knows that Tim is an essential part of the morning.
If this post made any sense at all, I would be surprised because I'm still not awake. F early mornings.
9 days ago I posted Nova Scotia + Cuba = Hell Yes!, stating that when Marc got home from Buffalo, we would be drinking some Alexander Keith's and smoking a Cuban.
Well, Marc got home last night so I made two trips:
Since I had to work this morning, I only picked up six beer to force myself home a little earlier. I didn't end up getting to Marc's until after 11, and was there until like 1:30. This makes me very tired this morning. Today is 24 day!
I don't really know how I ended up there, but I found myself on Roger Ebert's website for the first time. The reasons this is blog-worthy is numerous:
Being a huge movie fan, one would think I would at least peruse the odd review from the world's most famous film critic. That would be especially true, since I used to watch his TV show every now and again. And that is even more especially true, considering I have been using the internet for more than ten years. One would generally have to assume I would find his website at some point over the past 120+ months.
I've been reading a couple of reviews, trying to kill time and am really starting to like his website. Not just for the reviews, but for the general content.
Every film fan needs to visit rogerebert.com. In before the flames.
I'm at my Mom's house in Regina for Christmas. I got here yesterday afternoon and will probably stick around until tomorrow some time. I spent Christmas Eve with my Dad's family in Yorkton.
Just thought I'd post a quick update here, as it's been probably close to a week! I will post a more detailed account of my Christmas holidays when I get back to Saskatoon.
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