Ah yes, Will Smith.
The Fresh Prince is the man.
Huge musical career… even bigger movie star.
How?
Watch the video:
“I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill…”
cartoon by Alex Noriega
Here are this week’s links for Tuesday:
Okay, nothing like waiting until the last minute, but Julie Gray has a brand new single-page scene contest up on her site. The scene has to use the words Bengal tiger, hot air balloon, and Krakatoa. Due date is Wednesday, July 29 at 12 am PST. Get more details here.
Go Into The Story continues its “40 Days of Screenplays“, covering movies like Dead Poets Society, The Matrix, Thelma & Louise, Die Hard, The Shawshank Redemption and Some Like It Hot. Go get your edumication on.
The DaVinci Dilemma discusses how you can complete projects by just dedicating an hour to them per day.
Listen and purchase Zo!’s new album, SunStorm. You’ll be happy you did.
photo by Jan von Holleben
Oh hi.
It’s been a little bit since we visited. There has been a lot going on and blah… blah… blah…
The typical. Life’s been busy so my blog has been the first to get pushed to the side. But, hopefully things are starting to calm down.
The folks at Nicholl’s decided that my script, Super Ted, was not one of the 326 to make it on to their quarterfinals. The news stung for about seven hours, but I feel like I haven’t had an opportunity to really dwell on it. I’m rewriting it and prepping to send query letters out at the end of this week.
After the news from Nicholl’s, and with Script PIMP giving Super Ted the boot earlier in the month, the contest recap as of now is as follows:
Super Ted's Contest Life
The life and death of Super Ted in the screenwriting contest world.| Contests | Status | Next Step |
|---|---|---|
| Nicholl's | Did not make quarterfinals | None |
| Script PIMP | Did not make final 20 | None |
| Silver Screenwriting | Currently a quarterfinalist | Semifinalists to be named 8/1 |
| Final Draft Big Break | No news | Quarterfinalists to be named late August |
This week’s collection of links isn’t long, but there are some really cool things to check out.
Scott Myers at Go Into The Story has started a “40 Days of Screenplays” reading program. Day one looks at Back To The Future. You can download it, read Scott’s comments on it, and share your thoughts with other readers.
Check out how Hong Kong resident Gary Chang was able to create 24 different rooms in his 330 square foot apartment.
Jeanne Bowerman writes a great post about how screenwriting is similar to martial arts.
I need one of these vapur water bottles immediately. Vapur offers a foldable, reusable water bottle that can be rolled up, folded and flattened to throw in your pocket. Yes, please.
I love this print by Pope Saint Victor. “I Should Probably” do something today.
photo of Ellen Page, spotted at Dorothy Surrenders
I’ve been experiencing a little bit of movie mania lately. My wife and I hit up the movie theaters twice this weekend, and I’ve been trying to make my way through Julie Gray’s GASP list, throwing on movies while I’m writing freelance articles.
Lately I’ve seen…
Inception: This movie is super cool. Christopher Nolan brings the same tone and feel that he had in Batman Returns. There are some plot holes, but it remains captivating and it’s visually stimulating. And I’m an Ellen Page fan, but can anyone tell me why her character was necessary? My score: 4/5
Despicable Me: This movie will make you laugh out loud. It was more of a collection of hilarious scenes than a complete quality film, but it was definitely worth the cash to see it in theaters. We blew it and didn’t go to a 3D screening, which I hear is super cool. My score: 4/5
Close Encounters of the Third Kind: This is one that I watched while writing freelance articles, which may play a part in me not being able to stay engaged into the film. It’s an older flick, so the pacing probably wouldn’t fly today. It’s a bit long for my taste. My score: 3/5
Moonstruck: I also watched this one while working, but had no problem paying attention to the movie. Cher and Nicolas Cage are pretty great. For some reason, I’ve avoided watching this, but it was really enjoyable. My score: 4/5
I still need to go see The Kids Are All Right. It’s only showing at theaters that are a bit of a drive to go to, but hopefully it’ll be in my nearby artsy theater next week. I’ll probably catch it next weekend, along with Salt.
cartoon by Alex Noriega
Friday, Friday, Friday…
It’s exciting and yet I can’t believe that another week has blown by me.
I can’t be upset about my productivity, because I’ve been working nonstop. Once again, my to-do list simply exceeds the amount of time available.
There have been some things to really be thankful for this week. Drum roll, please…
+ Made forward steps towards the Super Ted rewrite.
+ Although the house situation is still up in the air, it’s still up in the air. I’ve gotten over the emotional roller coaster of stress and am now just excited that there’s an opportunity that we may buy a house. My wife and I decided that if it works out, we’ll get a house. If it doesn’t work out, we’re taking our asses to Hawaii. Not a bad position to be in.
+ I spent some quality time with close friends this week. My two favorites came over for dinner and we watched Work of Art.
+ I signed up to be an extra next month in Moneyball, a movie that will feature Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
+ Finished a significant number of freelance articles this week. Putting away money for possible upcoming house expenses is dope.
+ This weekend, my wife and I will be camped out at the movie theater. The list to watch consists of Inception, Despicable Me, and The Kids Are All Right. Popcorn and Twizzler overdose is inevitable.
Hope you all have a great weekend.
I saw the trailer for the upcoming documentary, Waiting for Superman, a while back, but I wanted to share it here. The film was made by Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) and explores the public school system issues that we’re currently experiencing in the United States.
The film is slated to come out this fall. Check out the Waiting for Superman website for more information.
still from Fantastic Mr. Fox
Well, we’re back on track again with the house. I’ve learned not to get my hopes up, as I’ve come to understand that that the house we want to buy is a player. One second it whispers sweet nothings into my ear about how happy it is that we’re going to be its owners, and the next second turns around and runs around on me, causing problems that need to be addressed for the loan to go through.
But, with the possibility of a house purchase looming, I’ve been really motivated to push myself to write more freelance articles. That way, once we buy the house, we can also still buy other things… mainly, food.
Every morning I wake up motivated to bust my butt to both build up some savings and get some time in on script work.
There are times, however, where you’ve got to put other priorities above being productive. Today is going to be a complete cluster, as I’m going to go visit some little boys who I’m close to losing it over as they’re going to be gone for a month, helping a friend pack for a big move, and then having dinner with my dad.
My work productivity is going to be trash, and I’ll have to make arrangements to somehow still fit in what needs to be done, but there’s no doubt that there’s more to life than work.
* Luckily and thankfully, I have a job where I can decide when I want to work.
Here are this week’s Tuesday Links. If you’re unfamiliar with my Tuesday link deal, it’s a weekly list that I compile featuring cool articles on writing, art pieces I’ve come across, or at times complete randomness I find interesting.
Without further ado…
I swear I’m not a fifty year old woman yet, but I was on the Real Simple website and found their article entitled, “9 Things You Can Do To Be Happy in the Next 30 Minutes” helpful.
The artist, Blu (not the hip-hop artist, but the painter), puts together a brand new painted animation video that is absolutely ridiculous.
The script that I’m currently developing while rewriting Super Ted is going to possibly have two main characters. Scott Myers over at Go Into The Story discusses how to effectively make this happen.
Julie Gray updated her GASP list, a collection of 100 movies any screenwriter should have seen or would risk looking like a dumbass. Over the last couple of months, I’ve used this list to try and step up my movie knowledge, so it’s exciting and yet frustrating that there are new selections on the ever-changing list.
Isaac Niemand put together a video that features Alfred Hitchcock explaining the definition of a MacGuffin.
One of Marc Johns’ latest cartoons, “We Now Have Legs“, makes me smile.
Allie Brosh’s latest hilarious write-up and cartoons on the intelligence struggles of her doggy.
oil painting by Abdi Farah
What are they going to want next? One of my kidneys?
Buying a house is way too difficult than it needs to be. Every time we think we’re going to reach a point of smooth sailing, some storm blows in and here come the choppy waters. There’s going to be SOME big decision to make, most likely one that’s going to cost us money and is associated with paperwork that requires us to sign our names no less than thirty times.
If we make it through this week, we just may get ourselves a house.
I’ve been absolutely slammed, but it feels good to work hard. I’ve been handling the house stuff and writing more freelance articles than I ever thought I would, all the while still putting in quality rewriting work into Super Ted. Every night I’m ready to pass out at eight o’clock, but it’s that good-tired feeling, similar to how I feel after a hard run.
Because it’s my goal to have Super Ted ready for the masses at the end of the month, I put together a query letter for the script and submitted it to Write On!’s June Query Letter Contest. It was just announced this morning that my letter for Super Ted took third, which means while it needs some tweaking, perhaps it has a chance to catch the eye of whoever opens the mail at the production companies I’ll be hitting up.
Here is the announcement of the contest winners over at Write On!
