Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Arizona Dream, Before Night Falls, Bon Bon, costume, creativity, directing, dragon, dragon lady, Ernest, Johnny Depp, Julian Schnabel, La Poo Poo, Lieutenant Victor, Mika, mom, movies, Pirates of the Caribbean, psychology, references, SAT, screenplay, summer, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Trader Joe's, We Are Golden
Oh what fun it is to scan SAT practice tests onto my computer and try to write a screenplay, hey! Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg. That has always irritated me. Whatever, it’s what I’m doing right now – scanning SAT practice tests and working on my first feature-length screenplay. I read it today and realized how much I relied on dialogue. No! Not good! Stop! Not good! You’re burning all the food, the shade, the rum!
To expand on my praise for “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” yesterday, I would just like to say this. Julian Schnabel, I must watch more of your movies. For many reasons not limited to because Johnny Depp dresses like a woman in “Before Night Falls” and also plays Lieutenant Victor. What a nasty man is Lieutenant Victor.
If I get any of this wrong, please don’t tar and feather me. It’s been a while since I maintained my library of Johnny Depp trivia and my computer is in no state for me to check it quickly. I can imagine the neurons devoted to Johnny Depp trivia in my brain (if there is such a thing – which would be kind of sad) dying one by one from lack of use. Ah psych 101. The things you teach me. Like endorphins, which made me do the Drew Barrymore Syndrome in class. I hope no one saw that.
“Gives one the feeling of being in love.” “You don’t say…”
It’s the little things in life that make us smile. Like Johnny Depp references. And eating a whole bag of kettle corn before you realize that you’ve eaten a whole bag and emptied the equivalent of a gallon of sugar into your system.
While in the bathroom, I thought back to the moment I realized that I wanted to be a director. 11-years-old, creating a tour of Mesopotamia video for school. We didn’t have the money or the means to create an actual ziggurat, so we printed a picture out and moved our camera toward it. To simulate a long journey, we filmed back and forth on the same seven-foot stretch of hedge, with my friend’s little brother panting behind the camera for sound effects. It was impulsive thinking, it was creative, because we didn’t have anything.
Watching the extra features on “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”, they did the same thing – but more sophisticated. A good use of camera angles and colors excited me more than a good story. It felt like finally, this was art. As I’ve mentioned, “Arizona Dream” felt similar to this, as did “Across the Universe”.
The summer has taken a turn for the better. Tomorrow Miya and Nobu are coming over for an 80’s movie marathon, and by the looks of it Club Retrospect has been approved. Huzzah!
Sorry for the lack of Ernest & La Poo Poo updates. It’s been difficult for me to even find time for my own blog, I’ll really try to find time for theirs but I can’t promise anything.
My mom and I have been hanging out because really, there’s no other option. But it’s fun when there are only two of you because you’re more free to make your own plans. I could never have my friends over if my dad was home, and especially if the house had not stayed somewhat clean. Which it wouldn’t have if my sisters were home.
I can’t wait for tomorrow, and I can’t wait to go to Trader Joe’s today and find more awesome possible birthday foods. Mostly, I can’t wait to fail my first psych test and realize that maybe I should study.
I just realized that “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” has unseated PotC as my second-favorite movie. To be honest, PotC wasn’t my second-favorite, it was only there as an obligation to acknowledge how prevalent it’s been in my life. I could never bring myself to put something before it on a list besides “Arizona Dream”, though. Congrats. I think I’ll watch PotC now…while no one’s home.
I’m busy working on the dragon costume anyway. Oh yeah, I went to Halloween Club and asked for a dragon costume. They showed me a dragon lady costume. I know it’s nothing, they were just trying to help me out and showing me their only options, but it’s sort of funny. In a racial way…and yet…whatever. It’s just…funny. I can’t explain it.
Costume-making isn’t so bad. It’s nice to have something you’re working toward. A goal, I guess, but not necessarily. This stop-motion keeps me optimistic that this summer will not go to waste.
In other news, MIKA’s new single is called “We Are Golden”. Huzzah.
Filed under: Happiness is a Warm Gun, Uncategorized | Tags: ampersand, Arizona Dream, birthday party, challenges, Cuba, digging, directing, film, Sean Connery, shveling, The Diving Bell and the Buttterfly
I apologize for the delay in posting this, but here it is! The happiest post of the week.
1. “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”. You know when you see a great movie, when you realize that you’ve just found one of your new favorite movies? This movie is a real celebration of cinema, using colors, angles, and images to their full advantage. Just like “Arizona Dream”, I keep bringing these movies up when I’m thinking of ideas. Not to steal their plots, but I want to make something as awesome as that.Something that takes your breath away. It is possible for a movie to be visually beautiful. And that’s when you know the filmmaker has a real appreciation for the medium.
And apart from finding a great movie, just film in general. I arranged a speaker session with one of the screenwriters I met with for job-shadowing, and sitting there with other people makes it even more obvious who loves filmmaking and who loves the inside stories about celebrities. Whenever the conversation turns to movies I’m automatically enraptured. I love movies, if that wasn’t obvious already.
2. Birthday planning. The best part wasn’t making a paper chain. It was buying cool looking food at Trader Joe’s to try it out for my birthday. We got sparkling pink lemonade and kettle corn packaged in beautiful “vintage” packaging. Delicious and pretty. This party is moving away from a theme, but I hope it will just be fun and happy. 
3. Directing. This week and all of “preproduction” for my stopmotion has been hell. I’ve been worried and there have been times when I really felt it would fall through, but at the same time I enjoyed the challenges and finding solutions. Never has problem-solving been so welcomed in my mind, maybe because they usually come in the form of word problems.
4. Digging. Rather, shoveling. There’s something liberating about loosening dirt.
5. Sean Connery. I saw “Cuba” today. Needless to say, I wasn’t watching so much as listening to his awesome accent. Have a seat! You can do so!
6. &. The ampersand is fun to draw. And it’s pretty. Although mine tend to look more like treble clefs.
Whell. I’ll try to post again soon. Hang in there & have a great summer!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: celebrity, Johnny Depp, Public Enemies, Tom Hanson, Arizona Dream, acting, Orlando Bloom, style, Marion Cotillard, 1930's, film, routine, Michael Mann, clark gable, John Dillinger, psychology, audience, insomnia, vision, patriotism, woman who licks her teeth, Lilli Taylor, red car, celebrity babies, John Red Hamilton, Charles Winstead, Alvin Karpis, Baby Face Nelson, Billie Frechette
I’m settling just fine into my old person routine. Wake up, go to community college for two hours, come back, feed the fish, eat lunch, do nothing, feed the fish, go to sleep. The important part is feeding the fish. I get so melancholy when I watch them eat.
Last night was as close to insomnia as I’ve gotten in a long time. After the thrill of watching “Public Enemies” – yes, it did finally happen – and hanging out with my old buddies, coming home to a dark and nearly empty house was a shocking downer. My mom had already gone to bed and she went straight back as soon as she had let me in.
I tossed and turned in bed, partially because of my neighbor’s patio lights, which stayed bright for an hour. Another reason was because I just realized how quiet the house was without half of my family here – and I started getting paranoid about them being on a plane. Thoughts like, what if I never see them again?
Sometimes before I sleep I envision situations in my head, and usually they’re happy events. Or scenes from the screenplay I’m working on. But last night nothing positive could come to mind. I was so frustrated. Then I realized I hadn’t fed the fish last night – now my responsibility with my dad halfway around the world – so I got up at 11 PM and fed them. It is the most depressing thing to be in the dark, watching fish eat.
“Public Enemies” was the third reason I couldn’t sleep. The movie wasn’t what I expected, only because it was so unstylized. It was messy and seemed unchoreographed. But I love it for that. It made me realize that even though we have gotten so much better with this since the 50’s, movies are still to some degree staged plays. Only when you see something like “Public Enemies”, which is mostly hand-held and documentary-style minus interviews, do you realize how much we’ve come to depend on having our movies styled to be consumed easily.
Sure, it’s not very enjoyable or comfortable to watch, and the first half is very slow, but I think “Public Enemies” has its merits in doing something different, and in showing that the 1930’s wasn’t much different than today. You know when you look at a black-and-white photo and you try to picture the colors, try to picture living in that environment? Michael Mann basically filled in the colors to the story of John Dillinger. His 1930’s seems like today, but with better-dressed men, a lot of hats, and old Fords.
What “Public Enemies” brings to light is the struggle between making something palatable versus going with your vision. I know that sentence makes it obvious which one to go with, but I’m actually not sure which I would follow. Filmmaking is at the same time catering to the audience while sharing something of your own. Sometimes people won’t accept, or can’t accept your vision. I know that my friends haven’t enjoyed the last few Johnny Depp movies I’ve dragged them too. Personally I always try to learn something from a movie, so I still enjoyed them somewhat. Besides, Johnny Depp’s been in several bad movies, or movies that most movie-goers disliked, but his own individual acting’s always been excellent.
If faced with such a dilemna, which I inevitably will face, I still don’t know what I’d do. When I write I do take the audience into consideration, and sometimes I’ll change things so that it’s easier to understand. I don’t know, maybe I just haven’t written anything that has to be a certain style.
I feel so domestic right now. I just washed all the dishes when a month ago I would have never stepped near the sink.
Goodness. I just read another one of those comments bashing Johnny Depp because he “lives in another country and expects America to pay him”. That’s a ridiculous reason to hate someone’s movies. Although…I suppose I am guilty. But Orlando Bloom does sometimes resemble a cow. That’s not the only reason though, and I don’t avoid his movies. I suppose the only person I dislike with a passion is the woman-who-licks-her-teeth. Miya as my witness I freak out whenever she licks her teeth. And really, those comments bring to mind the stereotype of an overly patriotic old white man. Don’t get me wrong – America is a pretty awesome country – but it’s not worth getting angry over when it comes to mundane things like movie stars and senior class pranks. I’d like those people to be a movie star for a day and see if the paparazzi don’t hound you out of the country as well. Not to mention the obsession with celebrity we have here. Speaking of, you can rent paparazzi for a day. They’ll even put your face on a tabloid magazine. Of course the magazine is fake.
Also, the money Johnny Depp brings in by drawing in fans like me goes to our economy. So there. Fatteh.
A few more things on “Public Enemies”. First of all Lilli Taylor is in it and I freaked out because she was in “Arizona Dream”. Second of all Johnny Depp looked kind of like Clark Gable and now I’m kind of confused because this would be a second link to my dentist. Also, I’m not a big fan of Clark Gable.
As for the other actors, Christian Bale was not bad but not memorable either. You couldn’t quite tell what Purvis was like. He seemed one-dimensional, which was disappointing because he was really interesting in the book. Marion Cotillard was pretty good too, but the relationship between Frechette and Dillinger seemed like one of a prisoner and her captive. I heard tears in the theater though, at the end. The only other characters that stood out to me were John “Red” Hamilton, Agent Charles Winstead, Alvin Karpis and Baby Face Nelson. Sounds like a long list, but there were a lot of supporting characters. Baby Face Nelson stood out the most because of his violence, and the way he had to be dragged away from shooting people.
The stop-motion meeting was lame but fun. Miya came an hour early and we buried stuff in my backyard. And rode down my driveway in a red car thing meant for toddlers. On the seat, it says “Don’t sit hereabouts”.
And we looked at celebrity babies online. And watched the woman who LICKS HER TEETH. What a fatteh. And then she goes and betrays Tom Hanson. Fattehhhh.
Psychology may not be that great after all. For one my teacher’s taking out the chapter on emotions and motivation. I like that stuff. It all sounds very scientific too, obviously, and I’d rather not do science in the summer. But I’ll stick with it. I’ll learn something anyway. But if not psychology, then what will I major in in college? Don’t say film. Oh well, I still have time to think.
This is one long post. I’ll leave you here.
Filed under: Happiness is a Warm Gun | Tags: Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd, Public Enemies, murder, style, happiness, God, pee, concert, love, lego, scooter, Christian, girl, les miserables, Colm Wilkinson, High Flying Adored, Evita, soap opera, passion, ice cream, On the Road, reenactment, musicals, Drink With Me, Enjolras, Grantaire, long hair, short hair, shoulder-lenght, split ends, silly, disguise, plastic, Audrey Hepburn, words, profound, flowers, convention, Bear in the Big Blue House, Big Bang Theory, Bryan Burroughs, book, robbery, midnight, gift, wrapping, creative, pack-rat, pen, Benjamin Franklin, vanilla, cookies and cream
Good morning for most of you. Enjoy your breakfast, or enjoy it as it digests. This week’s happiness was a lot calmer, and I really had to dig to find some of them because they were so subtle. But here they are.
1. One-man musical reenactments. You can’t help but feel ridiculous, but that’s where the excitement comes from. It’s more fun with an audience. I recommend “Drink With Me” from “Les Miserables”. There’s a great moment between Enjolras and Grantaire in the Concert version – watch that on Youtube first – and another great moment where the women echo the men. “Sweeney Todd” is also great because of the rage. “High Flying Adored” from “Evita” always makes me giggle, mostly because I’ve only seen Colm Wilkinson’s rendition of it and it is creepy.
2. Long hair, how I’ve missed thee. Actually not so much. I’ve been enjoying my short hair, but I’d like to have long hair again by September. And not average shoulder-length hair either. I want it halfway down my back, although I doubt it will happen because I always get split ends.
3. Silly disguise glasses. The kind that comes with a stinky plastic nose.
4. Audrey Hepburn. She says the cutest, yet most profound things. Her words are always inspiring and yet they make you feel like such a girl. At the same time, I am just now appreciating her style – but I think I will remain just an appreciator.
5. Flowers. My dad was lecturing this week and it was longwinded as always. I looked out the car window so I could roll my eyes and not incur another lecture, but instead I saw row upon row of little white flowers swaying in the wind. And everything brightened up again.
6. God. Yes, I did go to a Christian convention this week (which also made me happy), and I don’t want to sound too preachy on here, but more than ever I know that he loves me more than I could ever imagine. Like when you say “I love you this much” but times a bajimizillion. And the thing is, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done or whether or not you conform to what most Christians say is right. He loves unconditionally.
7. “Bear in the Big Blue House”. I’ll never forget that episode where Scooter? the blue mouse had to go pee really badly but he wouldn’t because he thought Bear would cheat in the chess game. Reminded me of how earlier this week my sister had to go badly, held it for several hours, and in the end didn’t make it out of the car.
8. LEGO soap operas. I don’t play with LEGOs like a normal person – building impressive structures and figures. I make a blueprint-style house and I play in it, in the same way little girls play with Barbies. I still do this. Currently, there is a cast of six men. They share one thing in common: their obsession with LaQuisha Jones, the Women’s Wrestling League Champion. Of course this is all fiction. My sisters have told me it is akin to “The Big Bang Theory”, except that instead of nerds they are a mix of disabilities and love for food. For some reason, wittier lines come out during LEGO soap opera time than when I’m sitting at my computer trying to write a screenplay.
9. Public Enemies by Bryan Burroughs. The book is very readable. I’ve enjoyed it a lot, and while sometimes it’s difficult to keep track of everything it’s really changed my perspective on the world. Whenever I see something on the news about a robbery or a murder – I don’t know what it is, but something is different. I put down On the Road for this. Not that that’s the entire reason, but still, I did weigh between the two and found that I’d rather read Public Enemies, and not because of six degrees of Johnny Depp at all.
10. Being up at midnight with the family. I hadn’t noticed that it was already 12:30. But here we are eating dinner, and it’s so warm and festive inside while so dark and cold outside. I love this. I wish right now would go on forever. But at the same time not, because there’s so much to explore elsewhere.
11. Conventions. As I mentioned before, I was at a Christian convention this week. The combination of a shared passion, passionate & charismatic speakers, and intense immersion in something made me really happy. I feel like my life’s been reboosted, haha.
12. A well-wrapped gift. I finally was able to give Sibyl a thank-you gift for helping me out with job shadowing. It was hell while I was figuring out the right combination of colors and the right gift, but I was so proud to hand the finished product to her.
13. Creative people. You guys make me feel not alone in my pack-ratting. Because today as I was cleaning I realized that I keep a lot of papers, and most of them only have a few lines scribbled down. Yet I treasure them. So when I see all those pictures of designers’ and writers’ homes, I know it’s a shared trait.
Won’t keep you much longer – you’ve got work and other things to do, and I’ve got sleep to catch up on. In just a few hours it will be the day my dad and sisters leave for Taiwan – won’t see them for two months!, and my buddies come over for fun time. Just realized I haven’t finalized filming dates. Oh well. Good night, good morning, whatever it is for you. Have a great day!
Oh yes, one more that I’ve just realized. Scratchy pens. The sound makes me feel like Benjamin Franklin, even if I’m only writing “sunday june 19 – scene 1, last scene?” or “bread, milk, chocolate ice cream.” Personally I prefer vanilla – so many possibilities from a blank slate. But I am learning to love cookies and cream too. Really now, get on with your life. I’ll be back later.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: birthday, Pink Panther, comments, clean, readers, sweet sixteen, Tropic Thunder, Steve Martin, house, party favors, Lemon Whip, Mickey's Alphabet Soup, U fruit, pumps, Pink Panther 2, Mr. Bean's Holiday, bad comedies, Superbad
The house is clean and all is well. You guys surprised me with comments. They made my day, and so I am back. :)
Recently I’ve been getting views in the 100’s, and it’s sort of astonishing. Just yesterday I was telling my dad about how I wondered if the views were actual readers or just people passing by looking for “Alice in Wonderland” pictures. It’s nice to know some of you took time to read the posts, mediocre as they are. And whiny as they are. These have not been exciting days, but I’m pretty sure that will soon change.
We did some major house cleaning today – vacuuming under the couch, actually going through boxes – the works. It’s great to be living in a place you can invite people into and not be afraid of the mess scaring them off. Clean as it is, my house still doesn’t look like a model home, but that’s comforting.
My dad found some of the old decorations and party favors from my eighth birthday – the first and last real birthday party I’ve had. Of course I’m using them for my sweet sixteen. Party guests, be prepared to get little plastic parachute men and toy frogs in your favor bags. That makes me sound like a boy. No worries, I’ve got tacky plastic rings with tacky plastic gems too. Huzzah! We can all put them on and blind each other with the reflections as we see who can make the highest tower out of my Happy Meal toys and finally I’ll reveal my feet in the sun and KABOOM. No one will survive that.
A few months ago, I wrote a sceenplay based on one of my favorite picture books, Lemon Whip. I let myself get kind of soap opera-y though and it’s just sitting in my hard drive for fun now. Still, the book is amazing, if only because I am sentimentally attached to it. Okay, it’s not that amazing, and I am just attached. I’m also attached to Mickey’s Alphabet Soup, and I spent ages wondering what that U fruit was. If you read that book, you’ll know.
Lemon Whip is about a lemon and a cake that escapes the fridge and goes on an adventure. They go back to Lemon’s home…tree? and party all night, until the open-ended ending where they talk about all the places they’ll go.
My little sister Jocelyn has taken to wearing a pair of my mom’s pumps. A few years too late, my dear. It’s no longer cute when you’re over seven years old and you step on my toes every five minutes. But to each his own.
Remember a while back when I watched “Pink Panther 2″ and had to make a short deep post? I really dislike my deep posts, but while I’m writing them they help me figure things out. Since watching that and the first Steve Martin “Pink Panther”, I’ve had no desire to watch good movies. Bad comedies all the way. I wish I could rent “Mr. Bean’s Holiday” and have a bad comedy marathon. Strike me down with lightning, but “Pink Panther” and “Mr. Bean’s Holiday” made me laugh more than “Superbad”. About equal to “Tropic Thunder”. Completely different target audience but hilarious nonetheless.
I’m going to stop now so I can go work on the weekly happiness post. Have a nice sleeping time and when you wake up to drink orange juice or whatever you drink in the morning, you can read all the things that made my week go “Huzzah!”
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: busy, dreams, effects, excited, filmmaking, Independence Day, J. Edgar Hoover, obstacles, passion, plans, Public Enemies, stop-motion, summer, Taiwan, writing
My summer has taken a huge detour and left me scrambling to salvage it. Fatherman has decided to take my sisters to Taiwan for two months. I’m staying optimistic now, instead of hyperventilating when I first learned of his plans. The stop-motion can happen. I just keep thinking that there’s something unexpected ahead that will make all our hard work for nothing. Something always in the way of every single one of my productions. Then I feel like Terry Gilliam.
But come on, that’s part of the filmmaking. The unexpected challenges, people looking to you for the difficult decisions. I know I said I was passionate enough to do this. Now all these obstacles are presenting themselves, like “Fatteh! You are just a kid. You can’t even drive because you are a lazy fatteh who won’t start driver’s ed. You don’t even know squat about cameras. Are you sure you can do this? Are you sure you even want to bring so much stress on yourself?”
But I have to see this through, so I will. I haven’t even been writing screenplays - all my efforts are concentrated on this stop-motion. Also, the computer with my screenwriting software has been down.
I’m really sorry for neglecting you guys for a week. But it’s been a busy week – literally scrambling to get everything ready for Sunday, when my buddies come over for the first stop-motion meeting and my dad leaves for Taiwan. On top of that I haven’t been reading many blogs for about a month, and I don’t have anything to talk about other than my own life. Which I always feel is not very interesting on paper. This summer particularly so, even with the stop-motion.
Who knows that feeling, when you have big plans and dreams but circumstances don’t let them happen? Which is this summer, because even a trip to the beach requires the consent of my buddies’ parents, my parents willingly taking them. Just a trip to the beach, not a cross-country road trip. To put this into perspective, I live in Southern California, ten minutes from the beach.
Okay, not even that. Getting someone to watch “Public Enemies” with me has been a nightmare. And now I’m going Sunday afternoon, but still not for sure. Every time I ask people it’s always an apathetic or uncertain answer.
Which reminds me of a phone conversation I had with one of my elementary school buddies – we’ve grown kind of distant. She said, “‘Public Enemies’? I heard that the effects kind of sucked…” Wait, I thought, effects? What effects? “Public Enemies” is a historical drama. There are men with guns, not giant robots, and not Freddie Highmore x2. I’m looking at you, Spiderwick Chronicles. I replied, and looking back I guess with a hint of an elitist tone, “Oh…I didn’t know there were effects in ‘Public Enemies’.” Someone warn me though, if in the middle of the movie a giant monster appears that could only have been created with the power of modern technology. I’m more than halfway through the book and there is no sign of a monster, not including the pictures of the FBI and the criminals. Those are kind of scary. I’ll be reading and “Gah! J. Edgar Hoover, what are you doing there?” But no, it was just a slip of my fingers to the glossy photo paper in the middle of the book.
It’s no fun going to something you’ve anticipated for a year if the people you go with don’t care much for it.
It’s not all sham and drudgery, though. I’m still excited for a few things.
Once everything settles down, say Sunday night or Monday morning, I’ll be back. Have a fun day. Oh yeah, and Happy Independence Day. Mine will be spent cleaning the house, so have a double fun day for me. Huzzah.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: audience, big picture, Clouseau, humor, jokes, juvenile, Pink Panther, script, Steve Martin, twitter
Just wanted to cut in as my family’s watching “Pink Panther 2″. Personally, I loved the first one. The second one falls a bit short. But the thing I love about the Pink Panther movies that I’ve seen is that they make adults seem so juvenile. Even characters aside from Clouseau.
Also, I’m sure that when they were writing it Steve Martin and friends found their script to be very funny. But that sometimes doesn’t translate to the audience. I’m still wondering about this – with every movie. What didn’t translate? Whenever I write I worry about the big picture. Not whether each scene is excellent, but whether they form a cohesive whole. Before I put in a joke I imagine myself as the audience or reader and see if they would get it. Not just scripts, even mundane things like twitter. Sometimes I fail. But it’s always satisfying when I succeed.
Wow. Shortest post ever. Huzzah.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: aesthetics, Alfred Hitchcock, America, director, Ernest Lehman, fever, film, filmmaking, mule barge, North by Northwest, passion, road trip, story, wanderlust
To be honest, I haven’t been in the mood to blog for a while now, and my fever isn’t helping.
But today I saw a few old photos I had collected and felt a little bit of a spark return. How fortunate.
I’d love to live in that trailer for a year, just driving through America. More than that might drive me to insanity. I don’t have much else to say about this picture, except that it’s given me back that adventurous feeling I had the last half of the school year. The restlessness. Wanderlust, you could say.
Another dream of mine would be to travel on a mule barge. You know, one of these things.
I remember reading books about people traveling by mule-pulled barge. I didn’t like it at first, but it’s grown on me over the years. I don’t think I’ll be able to actually travel on one, though.
Yesterday I watched “North by Northwest”, and I wasn’t so much impressed by the movie as I was by the sheer complexity of the story. I read an interview with Ernest Lehman, the screenwriter, and it seemed that the story was just contrived with Alfred Hitchcock’s desire to film something on Mount Rushmore. It’s brilliant considering that’s where it started from, and how they managed to create something so complex from that. Aside from that, I loved the aesthetics of the shots. The colors were very rich, in their own old movie sort of way.
I’m feeling much better now and I hope I get better soon. We’ve already postponed the meeting to next Sunday. It’s difficult working with people who don’t prioritize the film as much as you do. This movie is my entire summer. For everyone else it’s something they’re helping me out with. They don’t need this movie, and they’re not entirely passionate about the story either. I came to them asking for help, so when I schedule things I have to remember to respect their schedules. It’s hard though, like when things suddenly come up in their schedules and I can’t force them into working on the film instead.
I also think that if you’re going to be a director, you should make movies you are passionate about. Otherwise all the hectic chaos and stress isn’t worth it. Of course, I haven’t actually made anything aside from school projects, so maybe I’ll soon learn that sometimes you’ve got to make a living, and thus you sacrifice passion.
Alrighty, I’m gonna leave you here. Have a nice night. Don’t get sick – it sucks. Also, you reek of sweat. I should probably shower now.
