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| Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 | | 6:07 pm |
Do I Like This?
Directing a short film, even a teeny tiny production like mine, can be quite a taxing and amazing experience. The hours last weekend were a little more reasonable - 9am crew call, targeting a 7pm wrap. The first night, the actor wrapped at 7 and we shot cutaways until 9. The next night we wrapped around 8pm and scheduled the rest of the cutaways for another day since we didn't need the actor for them. We'd been driving so hard, though, that after we wrapped everyone hung out and chatted (a very good sign, methinks) for another hour until Tim started glaring at us. We finally packed up and saw the last crew off around 10. So now I'm at the point of processing. Do I like this? I'm not sure. Yes and no. Which weighs more? The days leading up to shoot days are maddening - the details, the stress and anxiety, loss of appetite and sleep. The days themselves are long and arduous. And I'm not quite done - 1 1/2 more shoot days left and then post-production begins. I'm really just over halfway through with my "little" film. Do I like this? I don't know. I just don't know. I fantasize of living in Ireland, sipping a pint while facing out on rolling green hills dotted with sheep, with nothing, absolutely nothing on my schedule but writing a novel. It's idyllic. It seems so simple. But somehow I don't think that's all I'm here to do. Current Mood:  satisfied | | Thursday, July 31st, 2008 | | 5:28 pm |
| | Monday, July 28th, 2008 | | 2:54 pm |
The Making of Peepshow, Part 0
It's been awhile since I've blogged. So at the risk of this being more of a diary than a blog, I thought I'd document my latest adventures. At the end of May I turned in my last tech project, on which I put the finishing strokes at the beginning of June. It posted around mid-June after getting client sign-off and I haven't looked back. Most of June and July have been devoted to making my first short film. I've been in an intense 1-man film school. Well, more than 1 man if you count the incredibly helpful people I've been meeting along the way. So over the past 2 months, in addition to buying a frightening amount of new equipment and reading stacks of books on filmmaking, directing, lighting, storyboarding, and running my new camera, I've been in pre-production on this "little" film. It was supposed to be a quickie, something simple. When I first thought about this over a year ago I looked around our apartment and thought, "What can Tim and I shoot over the weekend that would be fun?" I came up with a simple story - a few nice turns but no big payoff other than the monster popping out at the end. We were going to shoot with his little $300 camera. Fast forward to a year later. A lot has happened since then. For various reasons I decided to Go For It. But I realized that instead of running the camera, I wanted to direct and have someone else shoot. I've been working my way up to this point. Tim and I shot a short corporate video that ended up being sold for $10k (nice surprise after a quickie 1 day shoot). Then I shot another corp video, this time with the addition of an actress. And then a third, this time with a crew of 2 other people and a different actress, plus caterer. The last 2 sold for a combined $12.5k. So the idea was to inch along, add 1 or 2 key positions at a time, until I had a decent crew. Surprise. 2 days after thinking to myself "I should like a DP (director of photography)", I was chatting with a director/filmmaker friend of mine who wanted to do more DP work. Things fell into place and he got involved. And suddenly my little 2-man project turned into something quite extraordinary. Ironically, the short film is about a tiny marshmallow peep that blows up into giant proportions. That's exactly what the film has done. For the past 2 months I've felt like I'm just trying to hang on as more and more people get involved, I buy more and more Stuff, and I get deeper and deeper into the details of proper filmmaking. But wow, what a learning opportunity. Storyboards, shot lists, production meetings. On July 20 we had our first shoot day - 13 long hours. On set were the Director (Me), the DP, the AD (assistant director) slash script supervisor, an Art Director (a nice last-minute surprise), an Audio Engineer, an all-around Grip / Gaffer / PA / Tech Wizard / Godsend, and the Actor. Still a "skeleton crew" by professional standards but terrifying enough for a full-time introvert writer. I was so nervous I didn't eat the entire weekend. That morning I got up at 6am to prep for a 7am crew call. By the time the equipment was packed away and everyone was gone and I had repaired the "set" (my partner's bedroom) and done all the dishes (I also doubled as Craft Services), it was 11pm. At that point I kicked back and watched The Two Towers and ate. Fortunately, I've been able to spend the entire last week recuperating, so I'm ready for next weekend, where we shoot 2 days in a row. Baby steps. And my career? Who knows. Lack of income is another somewhat terrifying constant, especially piled atop the other stresses of a major life transition. But things are in motion. I have 3 promo videos in the work, which I'm doing for free to build up my portfolio. After that hopefully I'll be able to find some work with my new mad skillz. If not, I have a few tricks to fall back on, so to speak. Incidentally, last night I had a dream. More banks collapsed, people became terrified, the economy froze, and we plunged headlong into a new Great Depression. Odd dream. I wonder if it was prophetic or merely reflective of my own anxieties. | | Monday, March 10th, 2008 | | 3:07 am |
New Old Blog
Tonight I felt inspired to refresh an old blog I used to keep on, first, political topics and, later, my more touchy-feely side. I got yet another mass email from a fervent but hopelessly tainted niece who's become fully indoctrinated in the xtian warrior mentality of "kill em in the name of jesus". It so so so so sad watching a beautiful young spirit slowly take on the hate-filled rhetoric of heartless conservatives. I think that's why her emails in particular get to me. I can ignore the ones from my uncles, my aunts, my own mom. But not hers. Here's my response. (Caution, it's not for atheists. Unless read with a sense of righteous irony.) Current Mood: righteous | | Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 | | 3:07 pm |
More research gold
I LOVE historical research. There's pure gold to be mined on microfiche. Yesterday I was looking through 1943 copies of the San Francisco Chronicle. On Page 20, next to the want ads, I found this tiny snippet, about an inch in column space: Dog Shot at Dead Master's Request
Pittsburgh, Feb 3 (AP) - All day yesterday an aged German shepherd dog whined in the room he shared with his master, Albert E. Newcomb.
Neighbors, investigating, found Newcomb dead and his faithful pet lying despondent near him.
Friends of Newcomb told humane society officials his last request was that the dog be shot should he die.
Today the animal joined his master.
| | Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 | | 12:39 pm |
It's Official!
I didn't want to make a formal announcement until I had check in hand, but the production company came through and I'm holding it right now. As of today, I am OFFICIALLY a professional screenwriter! WOOOHOOOOOO!! Now, off to the bank. Current Mood: excited | | Sunday, February 17th, 2008 | | 11:01 am |
Writers of the Future Honorable Mention
Yay me!
 At first I had to wonder how many entries they get each quarter and whether this was akin to getting a ribbon for your 5th Science Fair just for successfully schlepping posterboard and a dead frog to the gym. But as it turns out, it's not such a bad thing after all. Karen Joy Fowler shared with me that her first award was this very same one. And I can think of a lot worse career paths to follow than hers. What this means for the story, though, is that it won't get published in the WotF anthology. Which means I'm still sending it out. Interestingly, this was the story that got me into Clarion, so I know for a fact that it's a decent story. It shouldn't be too long before someone picks it up. And makes a big budget science fiction action adventure out of it. I understand that's the way it works. [UPDATE] I checked back at the WotF blog and judging from the sheer number of Honorable Mentions that were getting posted, I went back to thinking about frogs in formaldehyde again. But then I came across this bit of business: Is there any way we can put these results into context? That is, how many total entries were there? How many received Honorable Mention status? How many received Semi-Finalist status...etc. Is this information being made available elsewhere or sometime in the future?
Sorry for the naggy questions.
Thanks!
KP
And thank YOU, KP, because this is exactly what I was wondering, too. Here's the response: Dear KP,
Here is the breakdown for you and those who don't know:
We don't give out the number of entries. It scares people.
Honorable Mentions are between 5 and 15 percent each quarter. It depends on how many good stories there were.
There is no set number on semi-finalists either but it is approximately 8 to 12 per quarter.
There are 8 finalists always. Those are the stories that get sent to the quarterly judges and the 3 winners are chosen from the 8 finalists.
Hope that puts it in perspective for you.
Joni Labaqui
Indeed it did, Joni. And thank you, too, if you stumble across this post. Ok, I feel good about myself again. (That's the crappy thing about writing. I'm so darn fragile!) Current Mood: satisfied | | Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 | | 10:57 pm |
Wtf WotF?
I just got an Honorable Mention for the first quarter of the Writers of the Future contest. I'm not sure if this is significant, but I'm pleased. It was one of my Clarion submission stories. I'm not quite taking the SFF world by storm yet. Just pissing on them a little. But just you wait. Current Mood: pleased | | Thursday, February 7th, 2008 | | 7:30 pm |
Historical Research
I'm feeling my oats. The ever-charming and brilliant Ellen Kushner just posted an exchange I had with the equally charming and brilliant Karen Joy Fowler regarding historical you-are-there style information. Lots of great info for people writing period pieces. Current Mood: Proud | | 10:54 am |
Memories retain their aroma best in sealed containers
So...a couple of months ago I was walking along Haight and passed by a recycled bookstore with a $1 bin on the sidewalk. Of course, I had to stop and poke through it. And what did I discover but books 4 and 5 of a TRILOGY I cherished as a teenage geek. Piers Anthony's The Apprentice Adept. I never knew he'd written two more books. I snatched them up, then set about looking for the first three so I could relive that childhood pleasure. It took some doing. They're out of print and evidently even the library's copies have walked off. I found 2 and 3 in other used bookstores but couldn't find the very first one until 2 days ago. The SF public library, main branch, did some major remodeling and the long-lost paperback evidently showed up again. I yoinked it and started reading yesterday whilst on the bike at the gym. *sigh* Piers Anthony is a fucking perv. Sweet Jesus. I can't tell you how rabid I was about these books while I was growing up. I wore them out like no others. I loved them. I can see why now - I was just hitting puberty. I think that's an important point. I'd forgotten that everyone in the first book is naked. A sociological thing. Clothing is not allowed. And so literally every page mentions "nicely jiggling breasts" or "full-formed crotch" or the various comforts and discomforts of being totally nude 95% of the time (except during certain competitions or in private, where a touch of clothing is considered highly erotic). Oh yeah, and I'm up to Chapter 4 and the two main characters have had sex twice. Does this guy know his audience or what? I can't believe how bad the writing is. Ridiculous plot, ridiculous characters, unrealistic EVERYTHING, almost no descriptive language. Basically, take a really cool idea, add nekkid people, and you got a story PERFECT for teenage boys. It's a cliche at this point - don't go back and read the things you loved as a child. The Crap Fairies (thank you, Kater) always work hardest when you're away for a few years. Still, the writerly part of me is a little bit inspired. I know, I freakin KNOW I can write better than this. With all due respect to Mr. Anthony. Current Mood: Inspired | | Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 | | 10:21 pm |
Why customer service should stop using templates
I've got a video project coming up and was thinking about buying Adobe Premiere and After Effects for my Windoze laptop. Problem is, I seriously want to switch to a Mac as soon as I can afford it, which will probably happen after the project is done (I may even use the income from said project to finally make the switch). So I posed a simple question to Adobe: "I want to buy some of your products, but I'm thinking of possibly switching from Windows XP to a Mac in a couple of months. Would I have to buy separate Mac products or can I use the same license key for a new Mac download? Thank you." Adobe's Response (this is a direct cut and paste, so the little treats are all them): I especially like that last bit: "...[we] are pleased to inform you that you are one of our esteemed customers." Aw *blush*. Current Mood:  annoyed | | 8:56 am |
Plastic Soup Floating in Pacific
I actually heard about this from a Hawai'in native and pictured a solid land mass. Her description was a "floating mass twice the size of Texas." It turns out that's a little inaccurate - this article describes it as a "plastic soup twice the size of the continental US." This is where our garbage is ending up. I know there's a short story here. I just haven't figured it out yet. So don't steal it. (Well ok, steal it - if you're reading this, chances are you're a brilliant writer and I want to see what you come up with.) Btw, I already checked and it's NOT visible from satellite. Towards the end of the article: Mr Moore said that because the sea of rubbish is translucent and lies just below the water's surface, it is not detectable in satellite photographs. "You only see it from the bows of ships," he said.
Poop. Guess I'll just have to go out there and see for myself. Current Mood:  calm | | Thursday, January 31st, 2008 | | 9:30 am |
| | Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 | | 2:00 am |
| | Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 | | 2:50 am |
I wonder...
...how many writers write because they feel they have something to say. And how many write because they're scared they don't. Current Mood:  depressed | | Saturday, January 26th, 2008 | | 2:06 am |
New article posted
Got a new one up: Walkthrough: Building a Mobile Game in Visual Studio 2008. I especially like this one because it's a BIG-ASS, very ambitious demo that worked out quite nicely. I'm rather pleased with myself. On other fronts, I finally turned in version 4 of The Script, as I will refer to it from here on out. Haven't heard anything about it yet, really. But I'm also really pleased with that one. Like v1 (and unlike vs 2 and 3), this one really *zinged* as I was writing it. I had that experience of feeling like "Yes! Omg, this is fucking great." I finally got a lock on the main character, which has taken me some time. After that, everything started falling into place. We got the go-ahead on the next film. We're starting the brainstorming on Sunday. I'm excited about beginning a big new writing project. At the same time, i also got the go-ahead on an interesting industrial video project that I pitched. That one should be fun, too, albeit potentially stressful because of some aggressive timelines. In the not-so-great news, I am officially a vampire now (and I'm not referring to Facebook). I've had the worst insomnia. Last night I discovered I had a full-on flea infestation IN MY BED. I didn't go to bed until about 5am, and then I felt fleas crawling all over me, biting my legs, crawling into the most inconvenient locations. I thought it was my imagination but once I figured out it was really happening, I got up, stripped the bed, flipped the mattress, put on clean sheets, and finally got to sleep with a bustling bundle of flea heaven wadded up in the corner (and currently awash in hot bleached water in the laundry room). I didn't sleep until 9:30am, not long after the sun was up. And I woke up again around 5pm, as the sun was going down. I feel like I should be wearing goth. Lawd, how did this happen? Perhaps if I go ahead and take my trip to Japan, I can keep my schedule and slip into sync. Maybe? (I have no idea what the time zone is there. Let's just pretend.) Current Mood:  awake | | Thursday, January 24th, 2008 | | 5:10 am |
| | Monday, January 21st, 2008 | | 9:48 pm |
Cloverfield and miscellany
So for the past several weeks we've had leaky plumbing in the bathroom. Walking on the tiles around the toilet causes water to seep up from underneath the floor. But in the past couple of days it's gotten so bad that we're keeping a pile of rags around the toilet and they're constantly soaked. Tonight I had to do some reading (to put it politely), so I stripped off my socks and rolled my pants up, so only my feet got soaked. After I came out, I mentioned to Tim what a mess it was becoming and he casually commented that he wasn't sure if the water was clean or "used". Um. In other news, I saw Cloverfield yesterday and can't stop thinking about it. FUCKING GREAT MOVIE, damn!!! I would have to say my top 15 list just got a new entry. Maybe even top 10, but I'll see how it replays before making that decision. One of the main criticisms of the movie has been its use of 9/11 imagery. That makes me wonder - where's the boundary between allusion and exploitation? The way I see it, we've had mass destruction many times before, but all the old disaster/monster movies got it wrong. As horrible as it is to think about it, we now know what happens when a building collapses in a large city, i.e. what the debris looks like, how crowds respond. Is it exploitive to use this information to portray such events accurately? Is it exploitive to depict a character's mom dying in the hospital if we've experienced that very thing (which I have not, thank God)? Meanwhile, I'm currently distracting myself from finishing draft 4 of the script I've been working on since Clarion. I'm fucking exhausted. I just want to sleep. But the director's waiting for it. This is the part I love. Current Mood: exhausted | | Saturday, January 19th, 2008 | | 12:27 am |
for the renaissance man
ZOMG I've finally found my perfect sport: chessboxing. Round of boxing, round of chess, round of boxing, round of chess. Repeat until someone gets knocked out or a checkmate. I'm still tripping on the image of two boxers pummeling each other in their silk shorties, then frowning over a chess board. Where do I sign up?? Current Mood: excited | | Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 | | 11:11 pm |
New article posted
It's been awhile since I've posted anything. I've skipped over all the good stuff - my trip to Vegas to see my parents in lieu of going to Texas for the holidays, my trip to Hawai'i for said holidays, my severe food poisoning on xmas day a few hours before I had to get on a plane and fly back to SF, the week my 16-year-old niece was here, 1 day after recovering from said food poisoning. All in all, it's been quite an eventful couple of months. In the meantime the film projects are moving forward, albeit slowly, I'm still writing short stories and not sending them out, and the tech work just keeps coming in. Evidently my latest batch of articles has been hugely successful (ahem). They want more more more. I want less less less, but I can use the money. In the meantime, here's the latest: " OBA and UC: Directions for Developers". You know, it occurs to me that if my readers or clients ever come across my writing blog, it might strike them funny that I'm always talking about how much I want to get out of tech work. Well, just know that I'm 100% committed to the work I'm committed to and that every technology I write about works perfectly and makes bluebirds sing and shit little rosettes as they crown me with ivy. Seriously. Or maybe I'll just restrict my posts to friends-only. Nah. Current Mood: chipper |
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