I've been watching anime recently as to get idea of where I want to take an upcoming script. I never really had much interest in the genre, maybe because all the Japanese animation I saw was Pokemon and the like. Though a couple of years ago I was introduced to El Hazard and watched it quite feverishly to the end. Quite literally since I remember having the flu at the time.
Since I decided to write an episodic pilot for Dead Land, my intent for watching anime was more for research. I used suggestions from Dave, who has much more experience with this genre and I must say he hasn't steered me wrong yet. I first started watching Full Metal Alchemist. The series had a fantastic progression in characterization as well as storyline. The pacing given for character reveals was very well done and there's this humor to it that somehow has the capability of often surprising. There's a very particular comedy to anime that is often very quick in its delivery. I watched some 40 or so episodes and then the movie. Now I am watching Avatar. Though this series is much more innocent and geared toward a younger audience, it still provides many of the same qualities.
Though anime may not be the truest genre for Dead Land, I think Dead Land will find its home somewhere in between anime and more gritty American adult oriented cartoons. One thing is certain, I seriously underestimated anime. I'm sorry Japan.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
"Where Are the Stars of Police Academy?"
As retribution for recently doubting someone's endless wisdom, I present, "Where are the stars of Police Academy?"
.....................................................................
Steve Guttenberg:
(Cadet Carey Mahoney)
I ask you, what boy in the 80's didn't love Short Circuit. I myself was obsessed. No shame. Steve Guttenberg was the shit in the 80's. There's just no denying it. Steve is hard at work on his next blockbuster, Major Movie Star, co-starring Jessica Simpson. A match made in heaven.
Kim Cattrall:
(Cadet Karen Thompson)
Yes, she too was propelled into stardom thanks to PA. Then Sex and the City
came along and ruined all her credibility as an actress. Fortunately some of us remember her in the role of Spock’s apprentice in Star Trek IV. She's currently starring in the Sex and the City movie.
G. W. Bailey:
(Lt. Thaddeus Harris)
He was no-good, that’s for sure. And always the butt of a good cadet prank. Bailey is playing a Det. Lt. on the police show, "The Closer." Stretching out those ole’acting chops.
Bubba Smith:
(Cadet Moses Hightower)
With a name like Bubba, it’s a good thing he’s 6'7'’ or people’d be mocking him into a cornered fetal position. FYI, not his birth name. Bubba’s still at it, playing a hulk referee in 2004's The Coach.
George Gaynes:
(Cmndt. Eric Lassard)
That dumb-witted leader of a group of cadet misfits, who could resist his charm? Also Punky Brewster’s foster father. Come on!! Speaks 7 languages. He last played a Father on Just Married.
David Graf:
(Cadet Eugene Tackleberry)
The other tall guy. Except this one’s dead. Why the movie needed two giants I’m not sure. But if I had to choose one or the other, I tell you I just COULDN’T!!!
Leslie Easterbrook:
(Sgt. Debbie Callahan)
Nicknamed "Bunny." I don’t really remember her character, but she was in every damn one but #2. She’s got various projects going on, but since I can’t remember her so I don’t really care.
Michael Winslow:
(Cadet Larvell Jones)
"Skilled at making highly realistic sound effects with only his mouth." You remember him now right? This is the guy that got me in trouble. Works in stand-up comedy now. He is the only character to appear in all the installments of Police Academy, including all seven movies, the cartoon, and the TV series. And that makes him GOD!
.....................................................................
Steve Guttenberg:
(Cadet Carey Mahoney)
I ask you, what boy in the 80's didn't love Short Circuit. I myself was obsessed. No shame. Steve Guttenberg was the shit in the 80's. There's just no denying it. Steve is hard at work on his next blockbuster, Major Movie Star, co-starring Jessica Simpson. A match made in heaven.
Kim Cattrall:
(Cadet Karen Thompson)
Yes, she too was propelled into stardom thanks to PA. Then Sex and the City
came along and ruined all her credibility as an actress. Fortunately some of us remember her in the role of Spock’s apprentice in Star Trek IV. She's currently starring in the Sex and the City movie.
G. W. Bailey:
(Lt. Thaddeus Harris)
He was no-good, that’s for sure. And always the butt of a good cadet prank. Bailey is playing a Det. Lt. on the police show, "The Closer." Stretching out those ole’acting chops.
Bubba Smith:
(Cadet Moses Hightower)
With a name like Bubba, it’s a good thing he’s 6'7'’ or people’d be mocking him into a cornered fetal position. FYI, not his birth name. Bubba’s still at it, playing a hulk referee in 2004's The Coach.
George Gaynes:
(Cmndt. Eric Lassard)
That dumb-witted leader of a group of cadet misfits, who could resist his charm? Also Punky Brewster’s foster father. Come on!! Speaks 7 languages. He last played a Father on Just Married.
David Graf:
(Cadet Eugene Tackleberry)
The other tall guy. Except this one’s dead. Why the movie needed two giants I’m not sure. But if I had to choose one or the other, I tell you I just COULDN’T!!!
Leslie Easterbrook:
(Sgt. Debbie Callahan)
Nicknamed "Bunny." I don’t really remember her character, but she was in every damn one but #2. She’s got various projects going on, but since I can’t remember her so I don’t really care.
Michael Winslow:
(Cadet Larvell Jones)
"Skilled at making highly realistic sound effects with only his mouth." You remember him now right? This is the guy that got me in trouble. Works in stand-up comedy now. He is the only character to appear in all the installments of Police Academy, including all seven movies, the cartoon, and the TV series. And that makes him GOD!
Recycled
Well the car is more or less done.... I think. I went home on Friday to retrieve it. And though it runs fine, the engine light in one and the damn thing continues to rev while in park and neutral gears. Don't ask me how the garage missed it. I tried to get it back into the garage on Saturday but no luck. So I said fuck, I'm taking it. I bought a few more things for my apartment, as I am trying to give my place a bit of personality. I have lived here about a year and half now and this place has until now been geared 100% to functionality and 0% toward aesthetics. So little by little I am going to spruce the place up. It does make a difference I'm noticing even with the small amount of stuff I have purchaed thus far. It's starting to feel like a real apartment. As for my car.... I didn't have any problems on the drive down, though I must say I am a bit nervous should I elect to drive to CT for work. It wouldn't be good if I was stranded somehwere in between and unable to get to set, for numerous reasons. I don't know, we'll see. I will feel better after I talk with the garage I suspect.
I was thinking of going to watch "Across the Universe" today, but I think I'm ditching the idea. I would have liked to have seen it upstate, since I the feeling like I should be productive was removed up there. But it's only in limited release until next week. It was the first movie I was in when I started on the whole actor in NY thing, and responsible for 2 of the 3 waivers I needed to enter SAG, so I'd like to see it because of that. Plus it looks pretty damn good, its only fault so far being reminding a little too much of "Moulin Rouge." I have a second or two on-screen which might also have something to do with all this. Usually I don't care about such things, but I think because this was the first time I had worked on something big....eh whatever.
So in looking for a bookcase at my parents' house, I found my old acoustic guitar. Honestly I had forgot that I kept it around. You see the guitar has been in unrepairable condition after a drunk now-ex sat on it during some summer bash I was hosting when I was renting out a house. I remember the moment SO clearly. Looking over in disbelief, everyone about looking over with awkward "oh shit" looks on their faces. Luckily I was already sitting. Strangely I didn't get very upset for how important the guitar had been to me. But I couldn't part with it, so I kept it in box without intent or purpose. And then 4 years later I am digging around for a bookcase and there it is. My first thought was that I'd just hang it on my wall. But the guitar is unusually heavy, so I decided to gut it out to make it lighter. Then the idea came to turn it into a shelf. And that's where the craziness began (the items inside are temporary until I buy stuff for it, most of the ideas for my apartment at this point are somewhat incomplete)...
I was thinking of going to watch "Across the Universe" today, but I think I'm ditching the idea. I would have liked to have seen it upstate, since I the feeling like I should be productive was removed up there. But it's only in limited release until next week. It was the first movie I was in when I started on the whole actor in NY thing, and responsible for 2 of the 3 waivers I needed to enter SAG, so I'd like to see it because of that. Plus it looks pretty damn good, its only fault so far being reminding a little too much of "Moulin Rouge." I have a second or two on-screen which might also have something to do with all this. Usually I don't care about such things, but I think because this was the first time I had worked on something big....eh whatever.
So in looking for a bookcase at my parents' house, I found my old acoustic guitar. Honestly I had forgot that I kept it around. You see the guitar has been in unrepairable condition after a drunk now-ex sat on it during some summer bash I was hosting when I was renting out a house. I remember the moment SO clearly. Looking over in disbelief, everyone about looking over with awkward "oh shit" looks on their faces. Luckily I was already sitting. Strangely I didn't get very upset for how important the guitar had been to me. But I couldn't part with it, so I kept it in box without intent or purpose. And then 4 years later I am digging around for a bookcase and there it is. My first thought was that I'd just hang it on my wall. But the guitar is unusually heavy, so I decided to gut it out to make it lighter. Then the idea came to turn it into a shelf. And that's where the craziness began (the items inside are temporary until I buy stuff for it, most of the ideas for my apartment at this point are somewhat incomplete)...
Monday, September 03, 2007
Animal House
Well, it's been a terrible month. Absolutely fucking horrible. But it's over now.
I went home (upstate) at some point. I planned on only staying there a few days and I ended up there for a week and a half. Why you ask? Well I decided to invest in my car and finally get it back on the road. So I insured it, registered it and had it towed to a garage. Unfortunately this garage sucked fucking elephant balls and wasted 3 days of my time not mention overpriced me on a part. So I got it out of there and took it to a certified Honda garage. I am much happier with Honda's service, though it remains in the garage until Tuesday because of this fucking holiday shit. The work I turned down! OH the work!!! It was sick, I had about 6 calls for it, but I declined because I just wanted to get the car done and drive it back to the city, rather than take a train down and then come all the way back up for it once it was done. It added another bit of stress to my week that I really could have done without. This isn't to say I didn't have some good times. Staying up there that long gave me some opportunities I don't usual have, like trying to relax. I managed to get a fair amount of pool time in, tanned up a bit, visited as many people I as could, spent almost an entire day napping, there were also ridiculous times like eating dinner over to my father's - I was being my usual smart-ass self, picking on my step-mother for stealing all the crunchies off the mac and cheese and so we ended stealing food off eachother's plates and have a giggle fest so badly that we were accused of being high. I also invented a new game. This is because my sister's house is currently overrun with felines. 9 cats in all. Yes 9 like, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. Mostly kittens. The game is called Kitty Bomb. You basically toss a cat into a unsuspecting group, as you exclaim "kitty bomb" and then run away. She also has two dogs, a Boxer and a Rot-mix who are either also picking fights with eachother (friendly ones) or with me. Not to mention quite insistent about sleeping on the couch with me and stinking up the night with their gassy little butts. And there are my two neices. So it's very much a mad house. And the extremes of being here and being there are pretty extreme let me tell you.
There was also a moment when my sister thought she had an extra bone in her foot and with some help I came up with the nickname "the bone collector" for her, continuing with "she collects the bones of innocents to add spares to her own body" then it turned out that her foot was actually broken, so the nickname was kind of lost. But fortunately they gave her a big boot cast which I started referring to as her Robocop foot, making mechanical noises while she hobbled around on it, adding beeps and "disengaged" when she would sit down. Hey I'm a brother, this kind of stuff is expected of me really.
Well anyway, I decided I needed to get back here as I am working Tuesday and Wednesday, so I took the train home. And it was a fucking nightmare. As usual the train was an hour late into the Saratoga station and I didn't get into my place until about 6 hours after I had started off. So I'm not really sure what this week holds. I will hopefully be working during the whole fucking thing and when I get a chance I'll be taking that bitch-ass Amtrak back up to get my car and drive it back here.
I went home (upstate) at some point. I planned on only staying there a few days and I ended up there for a week and a half. Why you ask? Well I decided to invest in my car and finally get it back on the road. So I insured it, registered it and had it towed to a garage. Unfortunately this garage sucked fucking elephant balls and wasted 3 days of my time not mention overpriced me on a part. So I got it out of there and took it to a certified Honda garage. I am much happier with Honda's service, though it remains in the garage until Tuesday because of this fucking holiday shit. The work I turned down! OH the work!!! It was sick, I had about 6 calls for it, but I declined because I just wanted to get the car done and drive it back to the city, rather than take a train down and then come all the way back up for it once it was done. It added another bit of stress to my week that I really could have done without. This isn't to say I didn't have some good times. Staying up there that long gave me some opportunities I don't usual have, like trying to relax. I managed to get a fair amount of pool time in, tanned up a bit, visited as many people I as could, spent almost an entire day napping, there were also ridiculous times like eating dinner over to my father's - I was being my usual smart-ass self, picking on my step-mother for stealing all the crunchies off the mac and cheese and so we ended stealing food off eachother's plates and have a giggle fest so badly that we were accused of being high. I also invented a new game. This is because my sister's house is currently overrun with felines. 9 cats in all. Yes 9 like, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. Mostly kittens. The game is called Kitty Bomb. You basically toss a cat into a unsuspecting group, as you exclaim "kitty bomb" and then run away. She also has two dogs, a Boxer and a Rot-mix who are either also picking fights with eachother (friendly ones) or with me. Not to mention quite insistent about sleeping on the couch with me and stinking up the night with their gassy little butts. And there are my two neices. So it's very much a mad house. And the extremes of being here and being there are pretty extreme let me tell you.
There was also a moment when my sister thought she had an extra bone in her foot and with some help I came up with the nickname "the bone collector" for her, continuing with "she collects the bones of innocents to add spares to her own body" then it turned out that her foot was actually broken, so the nickname was kind of lost. But fortunately they gave her a big boot cast which I started referring to as her Robocop foot, making mechanical noises while she hobbled around on it, adding beeps and "disengaged" when she would sit down. Hey I'm a brother, this kind of stuff is expected of me really.
Well anyway, I decided I needed to get back here as I am working Tuesday and Wednesday, so I took the train home. And it was a fucking nightmare. As usual the train was an hour late into the Saratoga station and I didn't get into my place until about 6 hours after I had started off. So I'm not really sure what this week holds. I will hopefully be working during the whole fucking thing and when I get a chance I'll be taking that bitch-ass Amtrak back up to get my car and drive it back here.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
How To Detect A Bad Idea
I had the perfect plan. I would take a serving of protein powder and bring it with me today, with it a piece of paper to use as a funnel and when I felt hungry I would add the protein powder to a half bottle of water using the paper funnel and booya! Instant nutrition! Unfortunately I didn't get the opportunity to try it until I was on the subway. And when I was on the subway I didn't have a seat.
How to you detect a bad idea? It's simple. Something will go off. Something inside you. That sounds much like, "oh fuck me."
The funnel didn't funnel. The powder caked. The bottle shifted. It was messy. It was on the floor. On my hands. On my pants. On my bag. On my shoes. On my nerves. I ripped a hole in the plastic bag carrying it. It worked barely better. But I just kept at it. I was not about to give up. The mess had already been made. Giving up, well that would have just been complete failure. And damn it, if I could still get a shake out of all this. Then let there mess, at least I would have succeeded still. At least I would be nourished. And so I stayed the course and had my shake. That's my story.
I was called today to work BG on film shooting in midtown...today. So I got my shit together and made for the location. Quite happy in the fact that I didn't have to travel downtown and then subsequently to New Jersey, as I have been for the last month. The only unfortunate thing about the day was that the scenes were all exteriors and midtown is a pretty fucking chaotic place to do exterior scenes in the middle of the day or during rush hour, what with Rockefeller Center and Times Square right there. And we were there for both of them. It was sickening. I hate crowds anyway, but this was pushing your way through person after person, not really knowing where the hell to be and the like. I might have needed a break at some point. I MIGHT have wondered off set for a bit to get away from the insanity. I MIGHT have used that time to go to my bank to make a deposit. I don't know though, doesn't sound quite like me. The day was relatively short. Well to me, it seemed like a half-day. 7 hours. That's nothing, a walk in the park!! I've been doing double days for who knows how long, probably got golden time on three different occasions in the last three weeks. Really 7 hours! It's a hiccup.
Anyway tomorrow I'll be standing- in on a series. It's the same series that I was offered regular stand in work on before, but couldn't take because I was already committed to Choke. I'd like to think that maybe I still have a shot, but seeing as how I am on a second unit tomorrow, I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm just happy for the work. Still I'm going to shave just in case. The real bonus is that THIS set is even closer. Right in Queens. I'm coming home SCup!!
How to you detect a bad idea? It's simple. Something will go off. Something inside you. That sounds much like, "oh fuck me."
The funnel didn't funnel. The powder caked. The bottle shifted. It was messy. It was on the floor. On my hands. On my pants. On my bag. On my shoes. On my nerves. I ripped a hole in the plastic bag carrying it. It worked barely better. But I just kept at it. I was not about to give up. The mess had already been made. Giving up, well that would have just been complete failure. And damn it, if I could still get a shake out of all this. Then let there mess, at least I would have succeeded still. At least I would be nourished. And so I stayed the course and had my shake. That's my story.
I was called today to work BG on film shooting in midtown...today. So I got my shit together and made for the location. Quite happy in the fact that I didn't have to travel downtown and then subsequently to New Jersey, as I have been for the last month. The only unfortunate thing about the day was that the scenes were all exteriors and midtown is a pretty fucking chaotic place to do exterior scenes in the middle of the day or during rush hour, what with Rockefeller Center and Times Square right there. And we were there for both of them. It was sickening. I hate crowds anyway, but this was pushing your way through person after person, not really knowing where the hell to be and the like. I might have needed a break at some point. I MIGHT have wondered off set for a bit to get away from the insanity. I MIGHT have used that time to go to my bank to make a deposit. I don't know though, doesn't sound quite like me. The day was relatively short. Well to me, it seemed like a half-day. 7 hours. That's nothing, a walk in the park!! I've been doing double days for who knows how long, probably got golden time on three different occasions in the last three weeks. Really 7 hours! It's a hiccup.
Anyway tomorrow I'll be standing- in on a series. It's the same series that I was offered regular stand in work on before, but couldn't take because I was already committed to Choke. I'd like to think that maybe I still have a shot, but seeing as how I am on a second unit tomorrow, I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm just happy for the work. Still I'm going to shave just in case. The real bonus is that THIS set is even closer. Right in Queens. I'm coming home SCup!!
Monday, August 06, 2007
Back To The Drawing Board
Well some 3 months after losing my license in a taxi cab, I finally went to the DMV today and applied for a replacement card. I now have my temporary license and am expecting my real card within the next couple of weeks. Why did it take so long? pro-crast-I-nation! But really I didn't have much incentive. I don't drive anymore. I look old enough to have never been questioned upon entering a bar. I am able to use my old passport for work identification. And that's it. I really didn't have any complications due to my lack of a license. Compound that with the nightmare-like vision I had of going to a DMV office in NYC and I really didn't have any reason to apply for a new license....except that eventually I would need it. So today I went and the line was ....intimidating. But I stuck with it and waited ever so patiently. For some reason people kept approaching me and asking me questions about the whole process, which lines to go in and the like. So I became the information desk apparently. It even got to the point of ridiculousness of someone approaching me to borrow my pen, no one else, just me. Well anyway long story short I was able to skip a few steps and I got out of there much more quickly that I anticipated.
In other news I think I've come to the conclusion that I need to rethink the storyline of my script. I am just stuck in it and I think why I'm getting nowhere is because I'm just not happy with the story and so I'm stalling. I procrastinate with some things yes, but not with writing, not when I'm truly into what I'm writing. So I got to accept that I have to come up with some new ideas and move on from there. Yup.
I recently caught an headline about Barry Bonds tying Hank Aaron in home runs. I happen to think this is bullshit. Forget about Bonds being a prick. Which he certainly seems. Aaron actually earned the home run record, while Bonds pumped his body with steroids to enhance his performance. So why the fuck does his shit even count? I'm not going to say fuck you Bonds cuz there's a slight chance the media has just painted you an asshole, but I'll sure as hell say fuck your record.
I recently watched Demon Days: Live in Manchester Opera House. Now if I had to choose between Demon Days and Gorillaz first album, I would pick their debut. I'm just really into the blend of alternative and hip-hop sounds. BUT!!! having seen Demon Days live I gotta say I like the album much better. Though I would have loved it had it been a full visual concert showcasing the characters, it was pretty awesome to see the mass involvement that formed the sounds of each track. "Dirty Harry" was fucking brilliant! But probably the song that really impressed me seeing it live was "Demon Days" itself. Maybe because the track on the actual album didn't really stand out to me. I think songs get produced so much sometimes that you can't really hear the true sounds, instruments of the song, because they're just too....perfect. I kinda of joked about that once for DCUP, but there may be some actual truth to it. 2-D and Murdoc made a guest appearance in the balcony, so I'd like to think the concert was actually Damon Alburn covering Gorillaz.
Meanwhile I try to return to something of a "normal" schedule, going to bed at say 3am instead of 7 in the morning. Tonight I hope to be in snooze land by 1am.
In other news I think I've come to the conclusion that I need to rethink the storyline of my script. I am just stuck in it and I think why I'm getting nowhere is because I'm just not happy with the story and so I'm stalling. I procrastinate with some things yes, but not with writing, not when I'm truly into what I'm writing. So I got to accept that I have to come up with some new ideas and move on from there. Yup.
I recently caught an headline about Barry Bonds tying Hank Aaron in home runs. I happen to think this is bullshit. Forget about Bonds being a prick. Which he certainly seems. Aaron actually earned the home run record, while Bonds pumped his body with steroids to enhance his performance. So why the fuck does his shit even count? I'm not going to say fuck you Bonds cuz there's a slight chance the media has just painted you an asshole, but I'll sure as hell say fuck your record.
I recently watched Demon Days: Live in Manchester Opera House. Now if I had to choose between Demon Days and Gorillaz first album, I would pick their debut. I'm just really into the blend of alternative and hip-hop sounds. BUT!!! having seen Demon Days live I gotta say I like the album much better. Though I would have loved it had it been a full visual concert showcasing the characters, it was pretty awesome to see the mass involvement that formed the sounds of each track. "Dirty Harry" was fucking brilliant! But probably the song that really impressed me seeing it live was "Demon Days" itself. Maybe because the track on the actual album didn't really stand out to me. I think songs get produced so much sometimes that you can't really hear the true sounds, instruments of the song, because they're just too....perfect. I kinda of joked about that once for DCUP, but there may be some actual truth to it. 2-D and Murdoc made a guest appearance in the balcony, so I'd like to think the concert was actually Damon Alburn covering Gorillaz.
Meanwhile I try to return to something of a "normal" schedule, going to bed at say 3am instead of 7 in the morning. Tonight I hope to be in snooze land by 1am.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
All Good Things....
Well that's it for me. At the end of last night (this morning) Sam Rockwell was wrapped on the film I was working on. We were in a big gymnasium for most of the night and the atmosphere was pretty casual and upbeat, I'm sure because the star of the movie was wrapping. After they announced the end of Sam Rockwell's run of the movie, the 1st AD made an announcement that applied particulary to me, "ladies and gentlemen, that is a picture wrap for Rick second team." This was news to me I must say, since I was told my last day would be the 9th. Granted I was standing-in for Rockwell, and he was done, so it makes sense that I would be too. I guess I was just thinking that I'd be used as a utilty stand in. Not the case. The announcement was also odd because the applause that I got from cast and crew was phenominal. I was not expecting so much. In fact I had to make various gestures to past the time as people clapped for me and I still ended up standing there with my head down, looking up and smiling at the crowd around me, completely embarassed by all the attention. I mean I talked to people here and there and made a few friends I guess, but I ...yeah I just didn't know I was so popular. It's odd that it was my last day, people I was slightly more open and talkative that day. I had a brief conversation with the author of the book that the movie is based on (the book and movie being 'Choke.') I also told people of my ghost hunting expeditions and endevoured in a food challenge with one of the producers.
So yeah, now I'm looking for work again. It sucks. Next week on "Choke" their hours are kind of normal and I was really looking forward to that. I'm also used to steady work now, work that I didn't have to seek out. Eh, it sucks. But whatever I'll make good use of the sudden free time I'm sure. Plus there is more and more work coming in, so I should be okay. Yeah, that's it for now.
So yeah, now I'm looking for work again. It sucks. Next week on "Choke" their hours are kind of normal and I was really looking forward to that. I'm also used to steady work now, work that I didn't have to seek out. Eh, it sucks. But whatever I'll make good use of the sudden free time I'm sure. Plus there is more and more work coming in, so I should be okay. Yeah, that's it for now.
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