Memorial Weekend Update

Hey y'all! Whats good in the hood?! Let me get ya up to date with stuff goin' on in MY neck of the woods.

First off: EMERGENCY
Folks very dear and close to me have had the misfortune to be attacked by a known, yet seemingly underestimated enemy to may of us. Termites. They are horrible creatures and everyone out there reading this should get Terminex or some one else to give a free house inspection. Thats right, it FREE. Because the damage done can happen without you even knowing before its too late. Right now, the folks I have mentioned are forced to live on w/o a Kitchen for over a week, while the redoing process is going on. There is no reason why no one should not get a free inspection. That is all.

Next: Screenplays.
Do the names Syd Field or Blake Snyder sound familiar to you? Well, interesting story about how I am getting into them and their work. It's funny when you talk to people, and they happen to have SOME relation to you or your passion, no matter how minute or (on the other end of the spectrum) grandiose it is! The story goes like this: One of the jobs I hold involves occasionally working around people in their dwellings. So, I just happen to mention briefly 'bout my interest in writing for the screen (AKA screenwriting). They instantly had an interesting story to tell. You see there's a couple that were both, you could say, bitten by the creative bug. One was an actress, the other an aspiring screenwriter. Unfortunately for them they didn't go very far in their respective "passions". However this doesn't mean someone else can't benefit from past knowledge learned, only to be bestowed upon themselves?? Right??? So by the end of it all he's telling me about 2 books he has read by the "well respected" Syd Field and Blake Snyder, but he has no use for the literature anymore since he he is sticking to his first love: "massaging." Fast forward months later. I'm now totally getting into the books. They both have different takes on writing screenplays, yet are perfect for beginners like myself; clear, concise and engaging (so far!) You see, I've been into writing for couple years now. Actually since I graduated college, I've been jotting down little ideas that randomly come to my head for ideas for movies. But I never really developed them. In fact for a while I didn't like the idea of writing at all! I thought maybe just directing, or assisting to the direction with just treatments here or there so that someone ELSE could actually formulate them into full-fledged works. However over the next few years that would past, i liked the idea of comming up with good dialouge, and painting visual vistas for the screen on paper. Something inspiring maybe, but different. Something that may not be entirely original yet unique because it has MY point of view, and quirks and that little something that hasn't been quite worded the way I have worded it. So there you have it. Me the Screenplaya! haha

Good night and good luck to you all!
Current weather: 77 degrees at 10:00pm

Double Feature Blog

This today my friends is a double blog. I have to catch you all up on the past events. 2 Saturdays back I saw a play and last week I saw a movie. Not just any movie, but THEE EVENT movie of the decade or beyond. I will get into that later. 1st letz begin with the beginning: A Soldiers Story.
1. Got off work
2. I got 2 HOURS TO KILL! But I'm kinda sorta hungry. Not really hungry, just a little. The situation is: I'm in the middle of Chestnut Hill and need to find some casual place just to chill and eat something...that AINT XPENSIVE! hah! Would I find such a place? Not really, but what I did find was the Chestnut Hill Grill in the Hotel. You enter on the side. At this point I had to relieve myself like NO other! Finally, after "business" is done, now off to see what their menu is about. I step up to the bar and get greeted almost immediately by a nice bartendress. She gave me a menu and a quick rundown. I question about a grilled chicken salad w/ black bean and corn dressing. She shoots an immediate positive response expressing how popular it is. So I go for it. Meanwhile, I'm sipping on some good ole reliable Gin N Tonic. I delight at their asking me what I prefer, so I tell em what I always go for, Tanqueray!
So The salad comes out and its oh so damn scrumptious! Its alot for 9 bucks I love it! I had just enough time to eat n leave before the play started....

3. The Experience! When I get closer n closer to the entrance, I already feel the big crowd, the warmth from all the bodies, the energy, its in the air. Then I approach...I'm inside and still could not be prepared for the huge crowds all over the place: in line, in the aisles talkin to friends or fam, those racing to find a good seat. I wasn't quite prepared for this...but then I WAS! Because I bought a ticket early on, so all I need to do now is find a seat right? Wait a minute, I see some folks I recognize, so I chat em up and then we all move to some premium 1st and 2nd row seating. HAH! Its ok, 'cept for the fact that we get forewarned in the beginning that there will be not 1, 2 or even 3, but 4, yes FOUR gun shots on stage!

In the end, the shots were a bit of a jolt but nothing life threatening. Everybody around me survived(there were friendly "older folk" there). The play though, was outstanding! I was told by a fellow theater goer that the performances were like the ones he's seen on Broadway. I BELIEVED it! Wow. The lighting was just right as well, so as to better accentuate the flashbacks best. Good timeless themes as well.



Now. PART II Avatar:

Okay. This adventure would go down approximately a few dayz later...Tues. Got a call from pops askin if I had followed up on my word to look up some timez for the movie. I hadn't by that time, so told him I would right quick! We agreed to a time which would make for lil time to waste but also wouldn't keep us out past bedtime (HAH!). Unfortunately by the time we got down there and in line, we missed the very beginning (8 minutes?)...
Entering the theater was kinda funny/weird. I usually feel so damn self conscious when I'm late for something. This time I STILL felt that but I noticed how everybody was so into the movie wit their glasses on, they don't really care to notice anything or anybody else outside the experience. So the glasses come on. Instantly I see a change. I start to kinda take em off, then back on...off again..alright they stayin' ON now! haha It takes a few minutes for it to sink in, but the visual beauty of it al never gets tired. The creativity of the environments were so awesome and lush. Some folks say this was like a 3D video game. I say this is what not only video games, but films will ASPIRE to be! Its no wonder that we have films that previously were not shot in the 3D format, yet the producers are runnin' around trying to get their film TRANSFERRED over. So funny. I mean, yes Avatar is the biggest grossing movie of all time or something like that. But who knew it would almost singlehandedly revive 3D?! It's crazy really. Though prior to this there were few films in 3d earlier that year that arguably may have made less if not for that novelty.

Then theres the story aspect. To be honest I don't even wanna go INTO the story. I mean, geez. It was so...whats the word? Pedestrian? Middling? Corny? Simplistic? The characters, aside form the main 2, were so simply drawn. The people of Pandora were from another PLANET! Yet why do they have to be sooo...HUMAN?! I mean, they aren't yet they are. If that doesn't make any sense, maybe this will: try putting together the indigenous native Americans, Mayans, Aztecs and so forth in a pot and make them 10 feet tall and color them blue. Then make them able to physically, as well as spiritually, connect themselves to their environment and animals. That was the only thing close to being alien that was about them. Actually I would have liked this movie better if the conflict lied within the framework of the planet itself. Not having to do with the humans so much...except for the fact that the humans were indeed exploring their land within avatars and the main would be "hero" gets captured like in the movie. The conflict could be something that is wrong with the ecosystem and thus has caused a lot of tension and strife between the different peoples. Maybe towards the climax it is revealed the hero must make the ultimate sacrifice in order to save alot of the people of Pandora.

That's the movie and that's my take. How it was I give it *** out of ****. But if it were simply in 2D, it be **.
Peace!

Good night and good luck.

Weather today was nice up to 53 I believe. Right now its 48.