Double feature Sunday!

I did something today I haven't done in a while--saw two movies at the theater.

First one I saw was the Melissa McCarthy flick The Boss. This was more for research than anything else--I'm working on something myself that's in a similar vein.

Overall, I'd say it was okay. I actually did laugh out loud a couple of times. I had my little notebook I take with me when I go to see movies and didn't write anything in it about this one. While that means I didn't love it, it also means I didn't hate it, either. Inspiration-wise, I figured out a couple of things about my own project from watching this one, things I need to do and one pretty key plot element I've been neglecting that i need to emphasize.

I'd give it a B-. If you like McCarthy's previous movies you'll like this one, too.

Second film was Disney's The Jungle Book, which I saw in 3D. This was a totally different kettle of fish.

I'm a fan of the old Disney cartoon, and Shere Khan is one of my favorite all-time movie bad guys, so my expectations for this were pretty high. I have to say that this film exceeded them. It was wonderful. Idris Elba's performance as the voice of Khan was spot-on and brilliant. Billy Murray was great as Baloo the bear. Scarlett Johansson as Kaa the snake was very good. Ben Kingsley as Bagheera the panther brought heart and wisdom to the character. The only thing I had a quibble with was the whole bit set in the temple of the monkeys. It just didn't work. King Louie (Christopher Walken) is menacing young Mowgli (Neel Sethi) and suddenly breaks out into this silly, light-hearted tune? I could understand it if the song had some menacing undertones but this was just a goofy little kids tune. It just sort of threw the vibe for the scene out of whack. I think the intention was to strike a note of silly but scary but it didn't quite get there. It wasn't enough to ruin the movie for me but it mars an otherwise outstanding effort.

The story itself is rich with symbolism and metaphor, as well as being an entertaining tale for its own sake. Director Jon Favreau and DP Bill Pope created a film that is visually stunning and worth watching just for the sheer beauty of the images on the screen.

I give this one an A. And a hearty recommendation that you see it.

Getting started is so very hard to do

Gods. I've just started wrestling with this comedy, writing the first draft, and let me tell you, it ain't easy.

Starting anything new isn't easy, but starting a new story is even harder. You have to establish the characters, the setting, put the plot in motion, get the damned thing started. All of those are heavy stationary objects, too, so it takes some effort to get them rolling.

Once you get them rolling it gets easier, as they all take on some momentum and the story starts telling itself. Then, it becomes hard to stop.

This thing I'm working on is a comedy, too, which is a bit of a new thing for me. Comedy is incredibly difficult. It's the only genre where you can't afford to miss the target. If a horror movie isn't scary--and very few of them are, really, these days--you can still enjoy it as an adventure story or something else. A mystery can be entertaining even if you figure out whodunit in the first act, if the characters are interesting or the story is compelling. A comedy that isn't funny, though? Dead before it gets started. Doesn't matter how well acted it is, how clever the story idea is, how well shot it is. If you ain't laughing, it ain't working.

So, writing comedy is intimidating. I know there are people out there who do it successfully on a consistent basis, but those people are rare and should be considered national treasures. (See Dave Barry for an example. If you don't know who that is you owe it to yourself to check him out.)

Anyway, my story is sports-related, which should provide its own opportunities for hilarity.

Will I be successful? We'll see. I can be pretty funny, if I set my mind to it. At least, to me. Maybe to a few other people, too.

On a separate note--this week we said goodbye to Prince. While I've never been a huge fan of his music, I always admired and respected him as an artist, and was in awe of his genius. His death hit me pretty hard, to be honest. We're running out of those guys, the true innovators with the nerve and courage to blaze their own trails and the integrity to protect their vision from those who would corrupt it.

It's been a brutal week, in more ways than one. Hopefully, next week will be better. It has to be. Dammit.

New projects and life developments

I can't really go into details, but I've received some unsettling news this week. It doesn't involve any of the projects I talk about here and I'm not at liberty to talk about it quite yet, but it's going to result in a major life change for me.

Basically I'm being forced into doing something that I've been thinking about doing for a while now, as a friend reminded me recently when I was whining to her about it. The only thing is now I don't have a choice, where before I could do it, or not, at my leisure.

Anyway, as soon as I can I'll post it here so the one or two of you who read this thing will know what's going on.

As far as projects go, I'm in a bit of a quandary there, too. I've been writing the first draft of a science fiction story that I love, and I'm almost at the end of the first act. And I also have an idea for a comedy that will not go away and leave me alone.

Right now I have to be a bit cold-blooded about it and look at it objectively. Which one is more likely to have a shot at getting made?

A significant part of the science fiction story is set on a space station, with zero gravity and other special effects. Those things ain't cheap.

The comedy is set in the here-and-now but it's about a football team so there will be several scenes set during a game, and those can be really tricky and expensive to shoot. But not nearly as expensive as shooting someone floating around on a space station.

So, I'm going forward with the comedy thing now, and putting the science fiction story on the back burner and letting it simmer a while.

Tomorrow I'm planning on going to see The Boss, as it's in a similar vein to the comedy I'm working on now. I'll probably also see The Jungle Book, too, just because I want to.

Have you watched my first short film yet? If not, check it out here.  And while you're at it, check out the video to my song, "Far From the Sun."

My first short film

My first short film, The Metasaurs, episode one, is now available online here. Click on over to take a look.

I'll be adding new ones when I can. I'm planning about six, altogether.

Anyways, take a look.

A question for you

I've been asked a couple of times over the past few months about why I like a particular song or a particular movie.

To me it's an odd question, and one that I've given a lot of thought. Usually when I hear a new song or see a new movie I decide I like it or I don't based on how it resonates with me. Beyond that I can't articulate what it is about it that caused me to like something--though often I can articulate why I didn't like something.

Take music, for example. I know people who will really like a song because it fools around with time signatures in a creative way, or has interesting key signature changes or tempo changes or something like that. I find music that is purely an intellectual exercise boring--if it's devoid of any emotional content that I can detect I don't care for it. If I have to sit there and parse it out to see what's so wonderful about it, and to discover the artist's intent, then I lose interest quickly. Yes, I know people who look down their noses at music and theater that's overly accessible, but to me, if I can't understand it, then it I don't see the point. And I'd rather not have to research something I'm listening to or watching for pleasure to get any pleasure from it.

But do you do that? How do you decide whether or not you like something? Do you intellectualize it when you hear or see something new, or do you do like me and let your viscera decide if you like it?

I'm just curious.

Far From the Sun video

I've finally uploaded the video I made for my song, "Far From the Sun." You can see it here.

Let me know what you think of it! I'll be doing a few more videos of some of my songs as time and inspiration permit.

A rare political post

I rarely discuss politics--mostly because it almost always leads to arguments and I hate arguing.  But I do have to vent a little bit and decided to do it here, where maybe it'll be of some benefit.

I'll admit right here that I support Bernie Sanders, and I voted for him in the primary. He lost my state--he lost several states, but he also won some--to Hillary Clinton during Super Tuesday.

I have nothing against Secretary Clinton, and if Bernie losses the primary I will have no problems throwing my support behind her and voting for her in the general election. I won't even be holding y nose.

My problem is the people who seem to be personally offended that Bernie Sanders is in the race at all. Not because of the positions he takes on the issues, but because he's not an establishment candidate like Hillary Clinton. This seems to turn some people's worlds upside down and inside out--they seem to take his candidacy as a personal affront. I'm also hearing that Hillary's lead over him is insurmountable and any vote for Bernie is wasted.

Maybe that's true. Maybe Bernie doesn't have a prayer. I'm not an expert in politics. However, I feel like he does have a shot--there is still a lot of campaign left.

But even if he didn't I'd still support him. In the primary, even if I knew going in that he had no chance at all of winning (and he didn't in my state, which went overwhelmingly for Clinton), I'd still vote for him.

Why? Why vote for someone if you don't think they have a chance?

Well, for one thing, polls can be wrong. It's hardly an exact science. Some are more accurate than others, true, but none are dead-on accurate all the time.

For another--if a candidate speaks to the issues that matter to you, if you agree with his or her stands on those issues, then you aren't wasting your vote. Every vote for a particular candidate makes that candidate a little bit stronger, his or her voice a little bit louder. Even if your candidate has no chance in hell of winning, it forces other candidates in the race to speak up about those issues, to clarify or even change positions. It forces the debate to go into areas where it may not go on its own.

Consider Hillary addressing income inequality--Bernie's favorite issue, and probably the single biggest problem, not just in this country, but in the world. Would Secretary Clinton be speaking up about it if Bernie wasn't hammering away on that issue? I seriously doubt it.

So, I guess the lesson here is, once you step into that poll, vote for your candidate. Not just the one you're being told is going to win. Vote for whoever you feel like speaks for you, and the issues that matter to you. Don't worry about whether or not that candidate can win. Just vote.