I confess that I am excited, based on the footage contained in this clip.
Dem Bones
Steve Buscemi – Dem Bones
Audition
Well, it’s started. Casting for my movie! The script has four male leads, two of which are already cast. We had auditions at the Portage Park Center For The Arts on Saturday, for the two remaining roles.
We didn’t get a huge turnout (we advertised the fact that the roles would be non-paying, as this is a low-budget short film), but several people came in and read.
It was really neat having actors read the lines, and interact in a few of the scenes from the script. Some lines were delivered with an inflection that I hadn’t heard in my head. Some lines came out generally clunky, revealing possibilities of improvement for dialogue — you can think a line is natural-sounding, but if someone can’t say it naturally there’s a distinct possibility it’s the words that are the problem. In either situation, it was pretty cool, as I could see something on the written page growing into a more flesh-and-blood, breathing thing. It was like a 2-D shape suddenly becoming 3-D.
After a while, it was hard to judge the effectiveness of a performance. But I felt in the moment. I knew when there was a direction I wanted to go in a scene, and I did a reasonably good job (I think) of conveying my intent to the actors.
It’s really happening. The film is really going forward. It’s pretty exciting.
My next big hurdle is storyboarding, and working with my friend who is shooting the film to solve potential visual problems that arise (special effects shots, dialogue scenes in a moving car, etc.).
We have a couple more people auditioning on Thursday night. I’m looking forward to it.
Oh My Yes It’s Happening
When your favorite band last released some music in the early 90’s, it’s fair to say there’s not going to be lots of fresh news of the band pumping through the Internet capillaries on a daily basis.
The Feelies are my favorite band. The Feelies album The Good Earth has been my favorite album for almost twenty freaking years. If you’re curious, one of my Green Monkey Mixes, Speed It Up has two excellent cuts from The Feelies (one from The Good Earth, one from Crazy Rhythms).
I know it’s possible to set up Google Alerts, what have you, to keep yourself up-to-date with breaking news regarding a topic, but I have never felt the need to do such a thing. For whatever reason, today I decided to do a blog search on “Feelies”.
Holy crap. This photo was taken last month. The Feelies are back together. That’s the elusive Bill Million second from the right.
In my search I discovered that The Feelies are playing at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, NJ on July 1st and 2nd (they’re also playing with Sonic Youth in Battery Park on the 4th).
I had promised myself that if the Feelies ever had a full-fledged reunion, I would travel from Chicago to see them. And that’s what I am going to do.
I bought two tickets online today. They went on sale on April 23rd. I checked later in the day and both shows were sold out.
Can you believe my luck? I happen to search for the Feelies, discover a full-fledged reunion, and buy tickets for that reunion before they sell out. Holy crap.
I’ll probably be flying into NYC or Newark on the 1st, and fly out on the 2nd. Hot damn tamale am I excited.
Feelies, take me away!
Where’s The Meme, Boy? Where’s It Hiding?
_
|_| ___
| | /___\
_| |_ (| ‘o’ |)
_| | | | _ (_ – _)
| | | | |’ | _| |_ __
| | / \ / \___
\ / / /(. .)\ \__/ |___|_____
\ / / / | . | \__ _______|_|
\ \/ / ||_|| \ ___|
\__/ || || \______|
() ()
|| ||
ooO Ooo
Third Verse, Different From The First
The Ramones – Judy Is A Punk (CBGB’s, 1974)
You know, I am thinking about cutting my words on this blog down significantly, and instead just post Ramones videos all spring and summer.
One Binder To Bind Them All
So, I was kind of panicking last night about the upcoming audition we’re holding for my short film, S________ for the S__. I wasn’t feeling very prepared.
So that’s when I reached for the 3-ring binder. This one little stupid object makes me feel so much better about the film — more organized, more in control. Now I can break this large project into more digestible pieces.
I have separators in my binder. Script! Schedule! Budget! Cast/Crew! Props! Camera!
I have a brand new lefty spiral notebook in my binder, that I swiped from MizSplotchy. I have Post-Its. I have pens.
I am so ready.
A Poem Accidentally Written In A Chat Session
I wrote a sentence in a chat with FranIAm this morning, then realized, hey, that ain’t a half bad Dorothy Parker knockoff. Some minor word rearranging and behold:
Some people flourish
Some people wither
Some people are jerks
I want to punch in the kisser
Who’s Ready For Some More ROT13ed Swear Words? I Sure As Fuvggvat Am!
We started this fun here. Let’s continue the joy and love!
I’ll repeat the verbiage from my original post, for those who have forgotten the spiel.
A list of ROT13-encoded swear words.
Pop them in the Input box of the ROT13 Decoder to the right and hit the “En/Decode input” button. I personally prefer decoding the words one at a time, as that adds to the excitement and sexual tension.
I suppose you could try guessing them first, if that’s your inclination, but this post is more about the swearing than the quizzing.
1. shpxjvg
2. ternfl-nffrq tbbq-sbe-abguvat zbaxrl gvgf
3. Bu, pbpx!
4. shpx-n-qhpx
5. V tbg gur fybccl fuvgf
6. gvtug cnagf jrnevat zbaxrlsvatrerq pbecfrshpxre
7. qvegl onyyf fhpxvat wrexbss
8. fcbbtr-jenatyre
9. cvff ba lbhefrys, nffgbnq
10. hShpx
Blogs Are No Good For Sneakiness
I know blogs are websites moving through time. I know this.
And posts are more disposable than some old-skool webpage from the mid-90’s. Those pages had permanence, baby.
This is an alert to you, dear readers. I am occasionally sneaky.
Like Sweet, Sweet Empty Space.
Looks empty, don’t it?
It’s not. Press your mouse button down and drag your mouse across the Empty Space post. I like doing stupid stuff like this. Now, I don’t know if people didn’t figure out my sneaky attempt, or they just found my attempt not particularly sneaky or interesting. I would prefer to think the former — after all, Manx, the only person who answered my questions, had to be prodded with a sharp stick to notice the text.
So, this is me telling you, all out in the open and stuff, blatant, explicit.
I AM SNEAKY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
I try to make this blog fun, and having the occasional easter eggs for my readers is just another fun thing (to me, at least).
Wow, it’s been months since I did that “Sweet, Sweet Empty Space” post. I reckon I’m probably due for another bout of sneaking. Or maybe I just did one.
?