My First Film Script! (A Commercial for NX Grind, an Internet Music Station)
Over the past few years, I’ve made it a point to learn how to write scripts. Like with any new endeavor, my first tries weren’t anything to brag about. But, anything worth doing is worth doing badly until you can do it well, and while I still have a long way to go, I’m finally seeing some of the fruits of my labor. This 2 minute short film (commercial, really) represents my the first completed and released project. It was done with Wicked Window Productions, and it’s for a little internet radio station called NX Grind. (By the way, I’m actually IN the commercial, too, the dude in the green football jersey.)
If you like it please, please, please share it. The more views we can get on this, the better. Thanks for watching! And in case you can’t see the video, here’s the link to the YouTube page: http://youtu.be/VEoGXsPIimo.
Categories: Entertainment, Games, Videos, Writing Tags: NX Grind, Projects, Screenwriting, Wicked Window Productions
When We Become Our Own Worst Insticts
There are moments when we all become someone else. Something other than what we are. It takes only a moment. But we spend the rest of our lives looking back at that moment in shame. For one instant, out of a lifetime of service, he became his own worst instincts. — Delenn, “Objects at Rest” (Babylon 5, Season 5, Episode 22. Written by J. Michael Straczynski)
There are times in our lives when, because of hurt, or immaturity, or anger, or any other strong emotion, we do things that completely alter the way others see us. At those moments, we reveal the very worst part of ourselves, the part we choose never to show. (Bloggers have documented evidence of these moments, usually because of hitting “Publish” too early.) Some call this “the true self,” but I do not subscribe to that. We are more than the worst of ourselves, more than what we reveal during times of great emotion. The actions we take then are choices we make once, but for which consequences can last a lifetime, especially when they involve others. And sometimes, the very worst of these, happen due to misunderstandings brought about by one simple fact: that to every story there are three sides: your side, their side, and the truth. Read more…
Categories: Quotes Tags: babylon 5, relationships
Suspension of Disbelief
A while back, I read the following in Neil Gaiman’s Journal, as he wrote about his impressions of the most recent Dr. Who episodes:
[T]here were bits of plot . . . that necessitated not just suspension of one’s disbelief but the surgical extraction of said disbelief before dangling it over a vat of bubbling acid in the hopes that it would shut up.
– Neil Gaiman, regarding a recent Dr. Who episode
It was a moment like that which finally tossed me over the edge and forced me to pursue the life of a fiction author, in the hopes that one day people would choose to read/watch/play my stories and not have to suffer a full-on suspensionofdisbeliefectomy.
Then again, I wonder whether disbelief can be used in order to enhance a story. Does it always detract?
Categories: Quotes, Writing Tags: neil gaiman
Blood Type, a novel by Melissa L. Garrett
A good friend of mine, Melissa L. Garrett, just released her latest novel, Blood Type, which you can (and should) pick up at Amazon.
Now, before you dismiss this as your standard, run-of the mill, Twilight ripoff, you should know: I have a problem with vampires today. Serious problems. As in I hate most of them. (Vampire: The Masquerade gets a pass. Nosferatu FTW.) So when I tell you that you should pick up a copy of this book, you know that it’s more than just a friend talking.
(Disclaimer: yes, she did give me a preview copy, but like any good supporter of amateur authors, I actually bought a copy for myself.)
Categories: Life Tags: Melissa L. Garrett, Paranormal, Romance, Vampires, Young Adult
Sometimes a deal with the Devil is a prerequisite to reaching Heaven
After a LOT of consideration, I’ve come to realize that if I want to play with the latest and greatest tech, get my hands dirty with cool new software, and really geek out with my cell phone or tablet, I have to switch to Android.
- Chrome easily the best default mobile browser.
- Android offers, hands down, the best customization.
- Android phones offer the best looking hardware out, bar none. (I mean, take a look at those huge, beautiful screens on phones like the S3, the Note 2, and the RAZR MAXX HD!)
- Android phones have the most exciting technology out there (with Windows Phones catching up, fast)
- I spend a LOT of time using Google products. A lot. An embarrassing amount, in fact.
- Ideologically, it’s quite possibly THE perfect platform for me.
However, more than playing with tech, I love doing my work, and expressing myself through what I create. If I want to get any actual work done, especially in such diverse fields as writing, film, and music then it’s best I embrace Apple’s walled garden. For now.
Read more…
Meaning vs. Happiness
Mr. Linderman: There comes a time when a man has to ask himself whether he wants a life of happiness or a life of meaning.
Nathan Petrelli: I’d like to have both.
Mr. Linderman: Can’t be done. Two very different paths. To be truly happy a man must live absolutely in the present. No thought of what has gone before and no thought of what lies ahead . . . but a for a life of meaning, a man is condemned to wallow in the past and obsess about the future.
– Heroes, Season 1 Episode 18 (1.18): “Parasite” Read more…
Categories: Quotes Tags: happiness, Heroes, meaning, television
Anything Can Happen After Your First Draft
I saw this on Tumblr recently and felt it had to be shared.
Rantings Ravings Dragon Tamings asked:
Dear Mr. Gaiman, I am following your advice on writing and well, writing. I’m even handwriting so as to stop myself from preemptive editing. However, every day it becomes more and more apparent to me that the book I have in my mind is way better than the one that’s coming out. I get the feeling that once I get around to editing the book, it will end up changing A LOT. Is this normal? Is it okay for the plot to undergo lots of changes later as well? Or should I just write a better first draft?
Neil Gaiman responded: Read more…
Categories: Personal Development, Quotes, Writing Tags: advice, neil gaiman
Upcoming Projects: Suicide Run, Wicked Windows, and Health Care Reform
If you’ve been following this site for a while (a special thanks to the RSS readers who’ve not dumped me from their stream) you’ll have noticed that I recently started posting again. That’s because I finally feel like there’s something that needs to be said, that I want to share, that others might find useful. My absence, as you’ve no doubt guessed by the previous sentence, has been eventful. In that time I’ve accomplished a number of things, from continuing to improve my health to expanding my writing abilities to seeking and pursuing business opportunities.
All of this improvement and knowledge has come by that I’ve finally realized I am truly most passionate about: books, hence the recent (and continuing) theme of the posts here. But books aren’t the focus of this particular post. Rather, the focus is on my recent projects.
Here’s what’s been going on: Read more…
Categories: Entertainment, Games, Life, Writing Tags: Berserk Entertainment, Film, Health Care Reform, Powerpuff Girls, Screenwriting, Suicide Run, Wicked Window Productions
If You Just Walk Long Enough
“Cheshire Puss…Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
– Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”
Categories: Personal Development, Quotes Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Cheshire Cat, goals
One Bit Better
[I]f the question of perfection means wading through hell and back for some minuscule attempt to be better than you already are, because I love what I do, I see nothing wrong in that. I guess that’s what passion is about.
– Edrei Zahari of Footsteps in the Mirror, in response to Quality: When Enough is Enough
Categories: Personal Development, Quotes, Writing Tags: Edrei Zahari, Kaizen, Quality
