MLK Day

I'm reluctant to get into my thoughts about MLK today, mostly because so many other people have said what I feel so much more eloquently than me.

Suffice to say, I am in awe of the man and his legacy. I am also aware that he was a human being, flawed and sometimes ruled by his emotions. This does not sully his legacy with me.

RIP, Dr. King, and may your dream finally, truly be realized. The sooner the better.

I've been mired in depression and despair over the past several days, for reasons I won't go into here. So, I did what I usually do when I get into that state--I started writing.

I've been unable to get Gorgon to come together so it's back on the back burner. I had two projects I had been thinking about working on for a while now, though neither of them were developed much beyond the initial idea stage. I couldn't decide which one I wanted to dive into, so I started a first draft of both of them.

This is without creating an outline or a treatment, by the way. This is the way I used to do it.

Both projects were inspired by dreams I had years ago.

One was a ridiculous dream that was so freaking silly I couldn't forget it, with a 'cowboys-in-space' kind of theme. I'm calling that one, "Showdown at Nebula 7" for now--I may change the title. It's going to be a short, though it keeps getting longer as I work on it. Some serious cutting will be in order, methinks. I'm pretty much sticking with how the dream went, for the most part. Hey, it works! Seems to work, I mean. Unfortunately, the dream was so damned silly I woke myself up laughing at it, so I don't know how it ends.

The other was a nightmare about monsters emerging from underground to wipe out humanity. I'm calling that one Face the Day, and it will be a feature-length horror film. This one will be significantly different from the dream I had, because the dream itself would not work as a movie. As I was working on it I figured out it could serve as kind of a sequel to Walks Like a Man, which is cool with me. It'll stand alone from that project.

And yes, I'm aware of the Angel City song "Face the Day." That's what inspired the title. If this thing gets shot I'd love for the score to be various bands covering that song in various genres--just that one song, over and over again, in a metal version, a country version, a big band version, a blues version, a rap version . . . you get the idea. Though without Great White's hair metal cover, which I thought was soulless and uninteresting.

I'm really happy with the ideas for both projects, and, as I've been working, I think "Showdown . . ." is calling to me a bit more strongly. I've reread what I have so far and it's coming along exactly like I wanted it to, so far. So, I'll probably concentrate on that one for the time being, jumping back to Face the Day when I get stuck on it just for a distraction.

I think I'll slip away to see a movie in a bit. I want to see Spielberg's The Post, though, holy bathroom breaks! It's two and a half hours long! I think it'll be worth it, though.

If I do see the movie I'll post a little review here.