Oscar Nominations Breakfast Pt. 3

Having eaten my Oscar Nominations breakfast successfully, I share it with you.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Also, the nominees for Best Motion Picture Of The Year are:

• "Brokeback Mountain"
• "Capote"
• "Crash"
• "Good Night, and Good Luck"
• "Munich"

The nominees for Best Foreign Language Film are:

• "Don't Tell" (Italy)
• "Joyeux Noël" (France)
• Paradise Now" (Palestine)
• "Sophie Scholl - The Final Days" (Germany)
• "Tsotsi" (South Africa)

The nominees for Best Animated Feature Film are:

• "Howl's Moving Castle"
• "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride"
• "Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit"

← Oscar Noms Breakfast Pt. 2

Oscar Nominations Breakfast Pt. 2

I approach the Academy building, hungering deeply, also willing to hear some movie award announcement crap or other:

1 min, 10 sec

← Oscar Noms Breakfast Pt. 1 | Oscar Noms Breakfast Pt. 3 →

Oscar Nominations Breakfast Pt. 1

I - awake before dawn - prepare to eat breakfast at the Academy Award Nominations press conference:

1 min, 23 sec

Oscar Noms Breakfast Pt. 2 →

7 Most Popular Posts

The rabbit + crow blog is 7 months old today.

7.

Lucky seven.

10 - 3.

3 + 4.

7.

I thank you...Yes, YOU. You know who you are. And if you don't know, you should. You should know who you are. And you should also know that I thank you - just you - for the encouragement and overwhelmish responses that has kept us up with the bloggage.

Here are:

The 7 Most Popular rabbit + crow Blog Posts
(according to YOU)

• 2006 - The Trailer
• Comic-Con 2005 - Marshall Vandruff
• Cutting Hare (Lepus lupus)
• Death Star OSHA Report
• I Am Not A Blogger
• Neal Gets An Agent
• ScriboMeme

Night Of The Living Cats

Bar Mitzvah Blues

Today is the Bar Mitzvah of my Nephew & Godson (they are the same person). So...

10 Cool Things About My Nephew & Godson (they are the same person)

1. He is a rock star
2. He is very, very funny
3. He dresses superbly
   
4. He is kind to animals
5. Girls swoon in his presence
6. He is generous & thoughtful
7. He plays a mean piano & guitar
8. He is sweet to his Grandparents
9. He's not too cold & not to hot - he's just right
10. He does not revile his Uncle & Godfather (they are the same person) for not attending his Bar Mitzvah (we hope)

Congratulations, CGL!

Capeholly Townwood

A fire in the Hollywood Hills blazes out of control for the fourth straight night. Movie stars grieve. Swimming pools boil.

Choogle

China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China Cowardice China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China Google China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China Walls China China China China Freedom China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China Democracy China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China Double-standard China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China Liberty China China China China Hypocrisy China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China Greed China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China China

Sundance Cast #2

rabbit + crow's 3rd podcast - Rob ("Attack Cat") and his midnight update from the Sundance Film Festival.

Hear it HERE.

Featuring:

• Bob Goldthwaite & "Stay"
• "Wordplay" & IFC
• Patrick Creadon & Doug Blush
• Music Cafe (more a bar than a cafe)
• The Brazilian Girls
• Volunteer girls from St. Louis

...or listen to the interview in your
browser via Shockwave player:

<--- rabbit + crow cast #2 | rabbit + crow cast #4+ --->

Sundance Cast #1

rabbit + crow's 2nd podcast - a midnight interview from Sundance 2006 with Rob of Attack Cat. In a hot tub. With Miss Elina.

Hear it HERE!

Featuring:

• Jack Valenti and "This Film Is Not Yet Rated"
• "Glastonbury" and Glastonbury
• Ug boots
• "Art School Confidential"
• Black people at Sundance?
• Snow on body parts
  
  

...you can also play the interview in your
browser via Shockwave player, if that's your thing:

<--- rabbit + crow cast #1 | rabbit + crow cast #3 --->

Neal Gets An Agent

Congratulations to tv writer ras at Procrastinatey for getting her first agent last week.

Her success has sparked lots of discussion in the Scribosphere about the Hollywood agent hunt. So I thought I'd share my own experience.

I have had the same representation since I first started writing professionally - Jon Klane, currently of the Klane Company.

He used to be my AGENT. Now he's my MANAGER.

He was going to start producing movies, you see. And an agent isn't allowed to be a producer. But a manager is. Don't ask me how that works. A real professional would know exactly why that is. But I just don't know - and apparently can't be bothered to find out. It must be some Writer's Guild rules thing or other. In any case, Jon and I have always had a handshake agreement so it was no big deal for him to close shop and say "I'm no longer an agent", then instantaneously reopen shop and say "I'm now a producer/manager." One of the benefits to the handshake agreement - no contracutally contractal bindments. The practical impact on our relationship was negligible. In fact, it probably works out a little juicier for me, as a client, because I get the benefits of representation combined with what amounts to a producing partner.

My search started with sending out random query letters to boutique agencies. A much better organized friend had been doing a search and he gave me the list of agency addresses he'd compiled.

So I sent out to-the-point 3-paragraph letters with a brief description of the one spec script I'd finished - a vampire drama with lots of guns - also saying that I was about to finish a second script which I could show them, and mentioning casually that I'd just graduated from USC's extremely prestigious School of Cinema-TV Production, by the way. I didn't know that much about the agencies I was sending to. I chose some of them based on location. I chose blindly really. I sent a query to Judy Daish because she was based in London and I loved London and one of the projects I was working on was a screenplay about British warrior-queen Boudicca and I thought that might get a more friendly reception in Blighty (and so we will be moving to London later this year, so it all comes full circle or something like that).

A week or so later, I followed up the letters with phone calls:

"Hello, I'm following up. I sent a letter last week. I'm looking for representation."

Not knowing exactly what you're doing is more often an asset than a liability. I actually ended up talking to some of the agents on the phone directly, because I didn't know you were supposed to talk to the assistant.

"I need to talk to ---- " I would say, "I'm following up. They know what it's about...Okay, I'll have to call back again when they're available."

I was surprised at how many polite refusal letters I got back. My memory is telling me that almost half of the agencies I sent letters to sent a reply by mail saying: "We're not excepting new clients now" or "Based on your description of your screenplay, it doesn't sound like the kind of thing we're looking for."

In a mid-February of the 1st Clinton Term, I did my follow up call to one Jon Klane, who was then at his agency Circle Talent (which he was just about to leave).

I got Klane on the phone. I asked:

"...Did you get my query letter?"

And he said:

"I think it's probably over there in the garbage."

So I said:

"Well (because that is how I begin sentences), I have a very good vampire script you should read. It's really very good. I've just graduated from USC's film production program."
"I don't look at any unsolicited material. I don't look at anything unless it's recommended to me by someone I know."
"Well, you should really read this script anyway."
"What is it?"
"Well, it's like a down and dirty vampire movie, where a (insert rest of logline here)."
"Huh. That doesn't sound bad. Send it in."
"And I'm going to have another script - a science fiction thing - done in the next few weeks."
"Yeah. Send it in..."

...And I did. He read it. He liked it. We met. In the next few weeks, I gave him the science fiction script. And we made lots of money.

And then I was carjacked.

Arching

Look! I'm shooting an apple off Geena Davis's head!!

The Bill of Rights of the USA

Bill of Rights

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III

No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Amendment VII

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

They Might Be Gods

There is a God.

And how do I know this?

It's not because my brother survived Katrina intact and is now living with our parents, with nieces and nephews nearby who think he's the coolest.

It's not because my wife laughs at my jokes.

It's not because I'm able to see hundreds of free movies a year.

No, no.

I know there is a God, because he has created a World in which there exists...

...a THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS podcast.

21st Century History in the Movies

God bless you - and loads of it - for downloading yesterday's rabbit + crow vid No. 1.

It really is thrilling to eat cheese & crackers at 6 and have shared it with the entire planet Earth (aka "Planet of the Crazy, Highly Dangerous, Tailless Monkeys"? - see Weekly Poll in the sidebar) by 7. Hell, all this new machinery nowadays makes a body feel like he's living in the FUTURE! Living in the goddamn 21ST CENTURY!!

Movies - whether about cheese & crackers or no - often foretell the future in accurate and very accurate ways.

Here are:

10 Movies About The 21st Century
(with the years they chronicle)

1. "2001: A Space Odyssey" - 2001
2. "2010" - 2010
3. "Blade Runner" - 2017
4. "Rollerball" - 2018
5. "The Island" - 2019
6. "Soylent Green" - 2022
7. "I, Robot" - 2035
8. "Minority Report" - 2054
9. "Star Trek: First Contact" - 2063
10. "Total Recall" - 2084
    
    
    

Cheese & Crackers - Vid #1

Very happy, so happy, to present the very first rabbit + crow vid:

Sitting home tonight, alone, I became hungry. And when I become hungry, you know what happens?

I eat cheese and crackers...

Sundance 2006

This week, read about the Sundance Film Festival as seen through the penetrating gaze of Attack Cat.

Start with his harrowing tale of...

...TERROR IN THE SKIES!

3 Greatest Shots In Movie History

THE THREE GREATEST SHOTS IN MOVIE HISTORY:

Internet Explorer Causes Rickets

I just want to say that if you're using Internet Explorer, then you're an idiot.

No, no. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that the way it sounded.

I don't mean that you're an idiot. It's just that...you're a bad person. Not a bad person, no. A despicable person? What I mean is...you're part of the problem.

I know I sound like your mom. I know she told you to shun Internet Explorer, but you knew better and you were going to be your own person and blah, blah. But...I implore you.

Please note that if you're reading the rabbit + crow blog using Internet Explorah - also called "I.E." (ie means "house" in Japanese by the way) - then you probably are not enjoying the sidebar (that column to the right, with goodies on it) as much as you might. This would be because Internet Explorer often puts the sidebar of the rabbit + crow blog at the BOTTOM of the page.

Why? Because I.E. is a software only interested in causing suffering.

If you're an Internets Explorer user and you happen to be enjoying a sidebar now (that column to the right, with lots of great crap on it), then bully for you. You are one of the lucky few.

Internet Explorer is the most widely used web browser in the world.

McDonald's is one of the most popular restaurants in the world.

In the 1930's, an entire country of educated people thought Nazism was a really, really good idea.


There are always alternatives:

Firefox
Netscape
Safari

And there are alternatives to alternatives:

iCab
iRider
Konqueror
Lynx
MosBraille - browser for the blind
NCSA Mosaic
Opera
Voyager

Read this fine article: "Migrating to Mozilla Firefox" and you will become quite wise.

I myself use Firefox and Safari almost exclusively. But I think - though I am a dedicated Apple man - I may go all Firefox all the time.

What the hell browsers are you freaks using? Why? Why not? What for? Where fore? Why? Stop it.

Words Of Wiseness

One man's quagmire is another man's cash cow.

Rabbit vs. Crow Movie

Mark at Copperhill Films has kindly granted rabbit + crow blog permission to present his fine nature clip entitled:

"Attack of the Deadly Terror Crows
and the Courageous, Helm's Deep-like Defense
of a Lone Hero Rabbit"

aka

crowrabbit.mov

Mark said:

"I get a lot of hits from the video search engines for that video...The crows around here love to eat the young of any animal that they can carry off and the rabbit is trying to protect its young from the hungry birds."

- more of Copperhill's nature clips -

Femmes du Jour

Screenplay Blitz - Day 7

Today is the 7th and Final Day of the Screenplay Blitz. Tomorrow: back to work at the Archive.

I spent an hour this morning working on the computer, cleaning up the script so that my screenwriting homies (whom I trust as far as I can throw them - they are all against me - but one day they shall suffer), will be in a position to give me optimal feedback. I will distribute the pages to them tomorrow using a digital internet script distribution solution (DISDS).

Writing is hard. The Screenplay Blitz was hard - even though I don't feel like it really was much of a blitz. The blitz(krieg) is an attack in which a lot of ground is covered very quickly. I have about 30 pages of script done after a week. But I'm on the fence as to whether 30 pages is a lot of ground or no.

It is obvious to all - but most especially to my loved ones, whom I have let down again - that I did not write enough. I did not put in enough time or effort. I did badly. I'm lazy. I am ashamed of myself. I am a wretched failure.

(for those not familiar with the Screenwriting Process, these sentiments are an essential part of the screenwriter's methodology and are mandatory utterances at the completion of any part of the work, up to and including the day after receiving an Academy Award)

(Charlie Kaufman is a GREAT screenwriter because he begins the mandatory utterances even before he has started the script - such talent)

Plan for tomorrow:

- do a little polishing on the laptop in the morning, at the Starbuck's, before heading to the special secret workingplace of filmology.
- send pages out to the Select Comrades in the afternoon.
- read the crap myself and try not to cry

Thanks for watching "Screenplay Blitz: Season One"!

---

← Screenplay Blitz - Day 6

Martin Luther Texas Ranger Day

Today, in the U.S.A., is Martin Luther King Day.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot dead by a lone nut in the 1960's.

Your chances of getting shot by a lone nut in the 1960's were about equal to your chances of dying in a car accident.

So the fact that that Martin Luther King, Jr. began his rise to prominence during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, is really quite ironic.

But why does Dr. King get a special day to himself, and all of the Great American Presidents of America all have to share a day betwixt them? I ask this not because I care that deeply about justice and fairness and all that, but because I keep hearing other people ask the question. When they ask it, their voices get all huffy, and they start to sound like sixth graders who've just lost a dodgeball game. But I just didn't want to feel left out. I wanted to be part of the group. I'll do anything to be part of the group, you know. Anything. Put a hood on my head and hand me a torch. I'll do anything. Just please, please don't hate me as much as I hate them. Please.

Martin Luther King Day is a nice little koan of a holiday. It's worth ten minutes or so of quiet contemplation. It's worth taking a moment to compare and contrast the day with other American national holidays past and present. For instance:

- Presidents' (originally Lincoln's - Civil War - Birthday and Washington's - War of Independence - Birthday) Day
- Memorial (originally "Decoration" - for War service) Day
- Independence (War of Independence) Day
- Veterans (originally "Armistice" - of World War I) Day
- Thanksgiving (War against the Turkish, as I recall) Day

and

- Martin Luther King (a man who systematically and thoroughly rejected War and violence in all its forms and, as a result, was shot dead) Day

Yes. It's possible that the observance of Martin Luther King Day might be...well...unpatriotic. Unless, you're celebrating James Earl Ray Day today.

And - get your heads out of the sand, kids - someone somewhere is doing that right now.

On a lighter note, Wikipedia's Featured Article Of The Day today is about...

...the Texas Rangers! And not the baseball team.

HAPPY MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY!

Krayon #7

Screenplay Blitz - Day 6

Spent a nice chunk of the cool clear day at Golden Apple Comics and at the fine new Silverlake comic store, The Secret Hideout, researching, studying, absorbing...buying.

But I did get myself back to the computer to type in the remainder of the hand-written script pages, which led to some embellishment of those same pages.

I succumbed to one of the great dangers of writing in the home - internet access. So the last half of my two-hour writing stint was actually spent doing research online for elements in the script.

Normally, I would put "doing research" in quotes, except that in this particular instance I really was doing research - into Puritan New England; ostrich farms; the topography, geography and landscape of Western Massachusetts; the Trevi Fountain. If those elements don't make for a soul-searing horror film for the ages, then I just don't know what.

---

← Screenplay Blitz - Day 5 | Screenplay Blitz - Day 7 →

Krayon #6

Screenplay Blitz - Day 5

No writing (so far) today.

I blame...

...fine rainy weather, which made me all happy and cheerful and not in a mood to work.
...sudden death of the alternator - which had been replaced only yesterday - and the resulting AAA tow to the repair shop to get the replaced alternator replaced.
...wife and I had lunch together which led to our hanging out after lunch, which led to our hanging out further, which led to our watching "24 Hour Party People" (2001), which led to us eating ice cream, which led to us sitting on the couch enjoying our evening together.
...writing is stupid and I don't like it.

---

← Screenplay Blitz - Day 4 | Screenplay Blitz - Day 6 →

Screenplay Blitz - Day 4

Didn't get up till late today - near 11AM. I'd like to say that my Christmas cold still hasn't entirely dissipated and that I needed the rest. So I'm going to say that. That's what I say: My Christmas cold still hasn't entirely dissipated and I needed the rest.

But when I did get up, I showered, made coffee, ate Grape Nuts, and sat down at the computer.

Yesterday I didn't get to typing in the scenes I'd written longhand in the morning. I intended to sit down at the computer yesterday evening and enter all into Final Draft. But I waited too long. My wife got home and that was the end of all screenwriting. I thought I might sit down to do that work once she had gone to bed - hoped I might. But the fact is - and repeated experience has borne this out - that if it's a choice between hanging out with my wife in the evening vs. screenwriting, hanging out w/wife will win every time.

I can fight it. I can try not to act on it. I can try to choose Screenwriting over Wife. But I have found the most reliable method to be acceptance of that fact and then adjusting of my schedule accordingly. If I know I'm going to want to hang out with my wife in the evening, then I'd better find a way to get all the work done before she gets home. And there was plenty of time yesterday to get all the work done.

Today, this morning, I spent two hours typing in yesterday's scenes. And typing those scenes brought up all kinds of new ideas. There's more to type, but now that evening has rolled in, I doubt I'll be get around to that.

So, only two hours of work today - but two productive hours.

Plan for tomorrow:

- Get over to the coffee shop at noon
- Write longhand for two hours
- Type hand-written scenes into Final Draft before nightfall

I'll keep you posted.

---

← Screenplay Blitz - Day 3 | Screenplay Blitz - Day 5 →

10 New Planets for Star Wars

Before George Lucas was consumed by the Dark Side of the Force, he used his powers for good and not for evil.

One of the great goods he did upon us all was giving us all kinds of wonderful new names - which were not new names at all. In fact they were very familiar names: Han, Luke, Sky, Walker, Millenium, Falcon, Chew, Tobacco. But these familiar sounds had been reshuffled, paired with one another in unlikely combinations. Words which had no extraordinary significance before to us, were slapped onto things strange and wondrous, where they acquired an unexpected depth and weight. So Taunton, a little town in England, became the name of a furry dinosaur with ram's horns. Massassi, the name of an African goddess, became the name of the gigantic stone complex where the Rebels were holed up on the fourth moon of YAVIN.

My favorite star names are those of the Star Wars planets, because those have some of the most mundane and everyday roots - sometimes to the point of silliness - which, as a creator of fictional worlds, I find fascinating.

DAGOBAH, for example, is the name of a kind of ancient Indian temple. MUSTAFAR is essentially a common guy's name in the Arabic-speaking world - the equivalent of Hank or Bob. And NABOO - as far as I can tell - has its origins in an abbreviation for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention, 2000. And, of course, YAVIN is derived from the word we use to describe our own solar system's giant gas planets. It would take a while to explain , but trust me there.

There are other planet names out there which George Lucas could have used - perhaps should have used - instead. I mean, let's face it, MUSTAFAR is a stupid name for a planet. Planet Bob? What was he thinking?

It may be arrogance to think I can compete with the man who brought us CORUSCANT, HOTH and ORD MANTELL, but here are ...

10 New Planet Names for the Star Wars Galaxy

1. Osama
2. Tandoori
3. Moo Goo Gai Pan
4. Alito
5. Cirrhosis
6. Angelina Jolie
7. Scapula
8. Mandrill
9. Pina Colada
10. Verizon

Honorable Mention: Planet Kasdan

I honestly think my names could have improved the movies even that much better:

"I have chosen to test the station's destructive power on your home planet of Cirrhosis."

or

"What of the reports of the rebel fleet massing near Angelina Jolie?"

or

"You must learn the ways of the Force, if you are to come with to Scapula."

or even

"Our scoutships have reached Tandoori. They found the remains of a rebel base, but they estimate it has been deserted for some time."

Much better. Much, much better. Don't you think?

Screenplay Blitz - Day 3

Per the scheduled schedule, I spent 2 hours yesterday evening typing in the scenes I'd written by hand earlier in the day. It might seem an inefficient process to write out everything twice, but it serves two functions:

1.) a slight bit of rewriting happens as the scenes are typed in, bringing me just that much closer to a finished draft
2.) I am reviewing and chewing over the scenes which will provide fresh fodder for the next day's writing

Also, I seem to get a lot more pages done when I write them by hand.

This morning, slow start:

- Took wife into work
- Picked up laundry
- Took car into shop
- Walked home from car shop, via Circuit City, where I stopped to buy a new FireWire cable.
- Showered
- Goofed off
- Ate lunch
- Went to bookstore

And finally...

...went to local coffee shop to write scenes in a Spiral Notebook (note exciting contrast to yesterday's Legal Pad work!)

Pictured is a picture of the tabletop on which it ALL HAPPENED! If you can identify - based on the picture only - in which Los Angeles establishment I was writing, I will praise you publicly.

Right now I'm waiting for the Car Guy to call to tell us how much our axle & power steering belt & etc repairs amount to.

Sometime tonight...but not right now...I will spend another 2 hrs working - this time at the computer, typing into Final Draft the scenes written earlier today.

The method has been yielding good results - as far as I can tell, based on only two days of it. It's hard. Sitting for two hours at a table with a pen in your hand and a pad in your face is hard. Most of the time I sit there, noticing how little work I'm actually doing, how ridiculous it is that I'm just sitting there holding a pen with absolutely no ideas in my head at all, how slowly the clock is moving.

Then at the end of 2 hours, I'm amazed at how many pages I have filled.

So many pages, that I get depressed when I think of the time it's going to take to type them in later.

---

← Screenplay Blitz - Day 2 | Screenplay Blitz - Day 4 →

ScriboMeme

FunJoel has sent forth unto the Scribosphere this here meme (which I pronounce "meme"). Warren of Screenwriting Life sent it unto me. Now, I ontu you give it up I do...

ONE (1) earliest film-related memory:

TERROR! Terror and dread of Maleficent, the sorceress from "Sleeping Beauty" (1959). I ran out of the theater into the lobby. Was maybe 5 years old.

I think rabbit + crow may have begun with that trauma. See the pic? There she is...with a CROW! And what's that on her head? Horns? Or RABBIT EARS!



TWO (2) favorite lines from movies:

Always in flux, this. But a bit of dialog I've been digging just recently - running it over and over in my head in order to catch a little hit of self-induced melancholy - is from "Black Robe" (1991):


Algonquin Indian CHOMINA is dying in the snow, in a place he has seen in visions. He and his DAUGHTER exchange final words:

CHOMINA: I know this place. For many years. In my dreams. If only I knew it was the dream of death, then what a gift that would have been. I would have been brave. I would have been a great warrior.

CHOMINA'S DAUGHTER: You are a great warrior.

CHOMINA: No. I am as stupid and greedy as any white man.

And, of course, there's the final line from "Doctor Zhivago" (1965):

YEVGRAF: "Ah, then it's a gift."

THREE (3) jobs you'd do if you could not work in the "biz":

Raise tropical fish
Write books of proverbs
Jedi Knight (but a cool one, not like those pansy ones in the movies)


FOUR (4) jobs you actually have held outside the industry:

The word "held" might be a little too strong, but...

Night Desk Clerk
Pet Store Salesperson
Circus Refreshment Booth Worker
Tray-Carrier at Fancy Parties


THREE (3) book authors I like:

Joseph Campbell
David Sedaris
Hubert Selby, Jr.

TWO (2) movies you'd like to remake or properties you'd like to adapt:

"A Princess Of Mars" (what else?)
"Scaramouche" (what's the status on Terry Gilliam's remake? Dead and gone, I'm thinking)

ONE (1) screenwriter you think is underrated:

James Goldman

THREE (3) people I'm tagging to answer this meme next:

Athena007
The Attackcat
Elijah

Screenplay Blitz - Day 2

Yesterday, I learned how to use Audioblogger to post audio/voice content on the rabbit + crow blog. And while this is not technically part of the Screenwriting Process, I feel it was a necessary step in my evolution as a human being and artist.

I got no writing done yesterday. None at all.

But I have an explanation, Your Honor.

I was giving some feedback on a friend's script. Warren Hsu Leonard's new finished spec. And that's important, right? Isn't supporting our colleagues important? I think it is. Because, you see, in helping others, we are actually helping ourselves. Or that's what I've heard people say. And it sounds really convincing when they say it.

But TODAY...Yes, TODAY is moving along in different fashion...so far...

7:30 AM - woke up, showered, said bye to wife and cats
8:00 AM - ate breakfast at House Of Pies
8:15 AM - sat with legal pad and pen at local coffee shop and wrote...and wrote...and wrote...
10:15 AM - packed up, came home, did blog post...

...which brings us to the present.

Plan for the rest of the day...

- Goof off
- Spend 2 hours this afternoon typing in scenes written this morning on legal pad
- Goof off some more
- Possibly watch "Kwaidan" (1964)

I'll keep you posted.

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← Screenplay Blitz - Day 1 | Screenplay Blitz - Day 3 →

Coughcast

The first official rabbit + crow audio post.

Click to hear it HERE!

Screenplay Blitz - Day 1

Today is Day 1 of the Screenplay Blitz.

I'll be hunkering down (been practicing my hunker for days) for the rest of the week to wrestle the new Horror Script into shape. I have the story bones laid out. I intend to flesh them out fast & furious, without thinking too much. Hopefully, that will help to keep it raw and vital and add energy to the scenes. I don't like overthought horror films. The best horror films convey the sense that you may have been abandoned by the filmmakers, that anything can happen, that you are completely on your own. I will of course go back and polish, polish, polish in later drafts, but - consciously resisting my tendency toward over-caution - I'm going to let it rip with this one.

So I've slept in - naturally. That's how I do it. That's how I roll up my sleeves and get to work - I sleep in. In a first draft it's important to stay light. To have fun. To stay out of all judgement - of the work, and of yourself. When the words "I should have" creep in...DOOM.

So I'll finish my breakfast, open the files, and get this Sandcrawler rolling.

I'll keep you posted.

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Screenplay Blitz - Day 2 →

Things You Can Shout #3

Today, I will be shouting the following:

"Look out for them! They have become too large! Aiyeeee!!!"

I HIGHLY recommend that you shout it as well.

Perhaps we could all meet in the park and shout it together. Dozens of us. Thousands of us. Meet. And shout!

Shout it with me, my friends!

Shout it with one voice!

Shout it with great robust!

Shout it NOW!...

"Look out for them! They have become too large!! Aiyeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!"

Isn't that satisfying?

Also see:

things you can shout #1
|
things you can shout #2

Buzznet vs. Flickr

Buzznet or Flickr?

Please discuss.

New New Beverly Sked

The new New Beverly Cinema schedule - for Jan. & Feb. - is on my desk. And I am happy.

I'm always happy to see the new New Beverly schedule. Creaky chairs and cockroaches aside, it is still the best art theater in Los Angeles. No panel discussions with Naomi Watts at the New Beverly. Leave that nonsense to the Cinematheque. No $20 per person (ticket + popcorn) to see "La Cercle Rouge". Leave that bullshit to the Nuart.

When I look at the New Beverly schedule - this month on one side, next month on the other - always on 11x17 paper folded in half (this month lavender 11x17 paper) - I project ahead like a Santa-trusting 5-year-old and imagine all the wonderful nights ahead, all the double-features in my future, breathing in all those movies I've been meaning to see for years but just haven't gotten around to.

Then reality hits.

Then I remember the last time I looked at the New Beverly schedule. I remember the excitement I felt then. I remember my grandiose plan to finally see "The Conformist". And I remember how it never happened. How it was all a dream. Only a dream.

In that same spirit I look over the wonderful schedule now. Grim, sad, heavy, I think back to the last time I walked through the doors of the New Bev. Two years ago was it? More? It was for the two "Kill Bills", I think.

I thought I'd share some snapshots of the new schedule - movies that I wish to see at the New Beverly, am excited to see at the New Beverly, but will, let's face it, never see at the New Beverly.

I encourage you to go to the New Beverly this month. See some of the movies pictured here, if you can. And tell them I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry.

And tell them I can't wait for the next schedule to come out.

Okay, We'll Take Romanek...

I thought I didn't dig team sports because I was above it all. I thought I avoided getting pulled into the hysteria of US vs. THEM, MY Team vs. YOUR Team, because of my moral superiority. Maybe due to the unresolved trauma of always being the next to last kid picked for the kickball team? I had many theories. But I never really knew, for certain, why - until last night.

I see now, all too clearly, that it is my own emotional weakness that has made me withdraw from sports fandom.

I am the world's worst USC fan. I haven't watched a single USC game this year. And my freshman year, I missed my first USC/UCLA game because I was too drunk to be let into the Coliseum (I am one of the few people in America actually turned away from a college football game for being too drunk. I count this as one of my proudest college moments). I haven't seen the grass/turf of a football field, in person, for a decade.

When I was a kid, I consumed "Wide World Of Sports" rabidly. I watched all the Olympics I could get my hands on (my Nadia Comaneci crush continues until this day). I saw every bowl game. But as the years went on, I became more and more disinterested. My attitude toward sporting events (team sports primarily - I still enjoyed sumo and boxing and the marathon) cooled and cooled.

I understand now that what I was avoiding all those years was PAIN. Who knew? I have avoided team sports because I just can't take the stress and anxiety and PAIN of being emotionally invested in a team that might not win. It's not that I'm too grown-up to watch sports, it's that I'm too damned immature! I can't bear losing. Can't stand it.

I listened to the USC/Texas game last night, confident in - excitedly anticipating - a USC win. And...

And...

And they didn't win.

And I was crushed.

And I still am crushed.

I am angry, and sad, and crushed. I do not expect to be uncrushed anytime soon.

This confirms however that I've been doing the right thing. I will continue to avoid sporting events in the future. I lack the fortitude to do this more than once every couple years.

Jesus, how do you Red Sox fans do it!?

New T-Shirt - C is for Ceratopsian

The new Rabbit + Crow design is available now!

This month, in the wake of our "What's Your Favorite Ceratopsian?" poll, we present the world's premiere t-shirt featuring silhouettes of the major Ceratopsian dinosaurs. I think we can confidently declare that no other t-shirt featuring silhouettes of the major Ceratopsian dinosaurs matches this one in quality and superbness.


Of course, the design doesn't stop at mere chest adornment! At the Rabbit + Crow Shop you will also find Ceratopsian coasters, stickers, posters, mugs, as well as a selection of underpants with three different horny Ceratopsian designs from which to choose from.