Is Culture Dead? Or does the Internet Just Love Random Dancing?
If you were to mention an object related to a ‘high brow’ subject to my dad (A famous painting, an unheard-of-to-my-generation author, a book from the 15th century, or rare musical recording) he’d trace back its roots (In real time, no Googling) and then either bring out that object – The honest to god original – Or some other rare object directly related to it.
Earlier this afternoon, my mom sent me an e-mail with a link to the Oprah Black Eyed Peas Concert:
EDIT: Taken off YouTube due to copyright violation I say with a hint of irony. Here it is via Oprah.com:
And it took mere seconds to trace its roots in ‘classic’ weblore.
Piracy: The Fight not worth Fighting
Before I get to my point, allow me to do some self congratulating give some background. I uploaded my first (horrible) video to the web in 2000. I used the Iomega Buzz to edit. Trust me, that wasn’t fun. My senior year of college, spring 2006, I pitched Google a webseries. A really cool webseries. It had functionality that YouTube can only now handle . They laughed at me.
I remember a fight with an ex-girlfriend after I had moved to LA, before I was gainfully employed, where she screamed “The only thing you have going for you is your stupid blog!” She was right, of course, but that didn’t prevent me from throwing a beer bottle onto the street (Sorry, Newport Beach) in a triumph of self righteousness. Of course, she was right. My blog was is stupid.
I was on Twitter in 2007 before it was dorky to be on Twitter because no one knew what the hell it was. Not that I was using it. But still, I had that account. And finally, for over two years, I’ve been working at one of the most well known New Media studios around. We’ve pumped out more high quality, web specific content, than probably any other independent shop. Hell, the major studio’s web divisions have all mostly closed up. For now.
What’s this all mean?
- Read the rest of this entry »
Future Tech – Sixth Sense
I’m a geek at heart, and TED gets me through those hard days like today, so this was a welcome addition to my Wednesday.
THIRST has always had a refined version of this tech since a very early outline. This TED talk gives a glimmer but I highly doubt in 10 years we will be projecting on walls. Unless it is to facilitate dialogue with other people within physical proximity, all of this would be visible only to the user (Glasses, then contact lenses, then retinal implant) .
Note – Twitter updates to the upper right. I’ve been on the Twitter bandwagon for some time now but kept forgetting to add it here. Follow me at @NjRFilms
Inspire
Do you have a folder where you save insparational images? You should.
I have these exact cars in my script for THIRST. How convenient.
Recent Movies
Slumdog – 4 Stars – Caught it before the hype, thank god.
The Wrestler – 4 Stars – Took a week for it to become a 4 star. Left thinking 3, then it continued to seep in
Frost / Nixon – 4 Stars – Verbal boxing is cool.
W. – 3 Stars – Much better than I expected. Poor ol’ W didn’t mean to ruin the country, he just a simple folk.
Taken – 3 Stars – I was hating on this film til I saw it. Now I get it and I take back the hate.
A Face in the Crowd – 5 Stars – Amazing. 1957 and it’s more relevant than ever.
I, Robot – 3 stars – Re-watch for THIRST research
Boy A – 3 Stars – Good, got very close to being great.
28 Days Later – 4 Stars – Awesome, scary in the way I like to be scared.
The Fall – 3 Stars – Visually amazing, story had problems (I would have preferred a more serious tone)
Miracle Mile – 3 Stars – I wanted more from it.
Flatliners – 3 Stars – Cool idea.
Double Indemnity – 4 Stars – Classic
Hello, 2009.
The weight of not having a post in 2009 has caused me to lose countless hours of sleep. So here I am. What have I been up to? Writing my ass off, that’s what.
For the time being, Earthquake is what it is. It provided a solid push in the right direction. I am now on a new journey. A journey by the name of THIRST. Page 68 and moving at a solid clip. Target goal for draft 1 completion is February 28th and there is no reason I won’t make that goal.
2009 has been all about routine. Get up early. Write. Go to work. Write some more. Go to the gym. Eat. Sleep. I feel like a marine, minus the PTSD and suicidal tendencies. Those traits usually don’t set in until after the first draft is done.
That’s all I’ve got for you, so I’ll exit with a picture from my ‘inspire’ folder. I didn’t take it, but it’s not photoshopped so it’s got that going for it. Oh, and the picture is up top not down here. Don’t shoot the messenger. Even if it is said messengers fault. Badass though, right?
Movies
I’ve been watching a lot of movies of late. Mostly due to NetFlix Instant coming to OS X (Officially today, although it’s been out in beta for a while now). If you have yet to jump on that train I suggest you do so now. Many a great film to be found.
Here is a run down of what I’ve been watching:
NetFlix / Netflix Instant (Best thing ever)
The Crow – 3 stars – almost cool.
Dark City – 4 stars – This style works much better than in the Crow.
Primer – 4 stars – amazing, $7k budget
Mission to Mars – 3 stars – crappy movie until the end which is amazing and worth watching for.
Godfather II – 4 stars – Late to this party
Gattica – 3 stars – Love the concept, story execution was less than I hoped for.
The Fountain – 4 stars – Film didn’t get the love it deserved. Worth a look (or a second watch)
Panic Room – 3 stars – come on Fincher.
Zodiac – 3 stars – Good but not great.
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest – 4 stars – Classic
Rebel Without a Cause – 3 stars – Didn’t resonate with me
The Kid Stays in the Picture – 4 – Love Hollywood
Bound – 4 – Great seeing the beginning of the Bros style.
Storytelling – 4 stars – funny
2010 4 stars – holy underrated. Don’t compare it to the Masters 2001. Amazing story.
King of California – 3 stars – Nothing special
The Fifth Element – 3 stars – cool idea, absurd execution (Even though that’s what Besson was going for)
Award Screening:
Curious Case of Benjamin Button – 4.5 stars – Best Picture?
Slumdog Millionaire – Watching tonight but I’m going in with a 4.5 star rating.
Hitchock Awesomness:
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Rope
Vertigo
Rear Window
Scrippet Test
John August has released his Scrippet plugin to the masses.
INT. OFFICE – DAY
FIRE and SMOKE.
A computer EXPLODES as a MAN, 40s, JUMPS OUT THE WINDOW.
He crashes through, headfirst, as a fireball chases behind.
EXT. SKY – CONTINUOUS
The man, airborne, looks behind at the fireball.
MAN
I QUIT!
Suddenly – gravity wins and he DROPS.
EXT. OFFICE – CONTINUOS
PEOPLE race out of the building. Scream.
MAN (O.S.)
AHHHHH!
The Man SLAMS down. His body splatters on the concrete.
Beat.
A computer monitor smashes to pieces on the ground next to him.
An EXEC, 50s, walks past the dead Man. Looks down, kicks his body.
EXEC
Loser.
FADE OUT.
Yep, it works! This is going to be great for my next Frame by Frame so I’ll be able to include sections of the script.
Updates
Blog updates: New WordPress, new themes, new widgets (tag clouds, oh my).
Interesting updates: The network pilot for Earthquake LA is DONE.
I couldn’t be more happy with it.
So, now… time to begin the journey of SELLING.