rubberblog

Quentin Tarantino has "Thought Disorder"

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:16:00 +0000

Researching a character for a script, I came across a Wikipedia article on Thought Disorder and was surprised to find how many of the symptoms actually show up in Tarantino's scripts' dialogue:

Thought is revealed through speech. Thus, observation of patterns of thought naturally involves close observation of the speech of the individual being considered. Although it is normal to exhibit some of the following, especially at times of stress, it is the degree and the resulting functional impairment that leads to the conclusion that the person being observed has a thought disorder.

Blocking - Interruption of train of speech before completion. e.g. "Am I early?", "No, you're just about on-" This is commonly seen when a joke is being told and the speaker forgets the punchline. At an extreme degree, after blocking occurs, the speaker does not recall the topic he or she was discussing.

Circumferential speech - Speech that is very delayed at reaching its goal. Speaking about many concepts related to the point of the conversation before eventually returning to the point and concluding the thought. Excessive long-windedness. e.g. "What is your name?" "Well, sometimes when people ask me that I have to think about whether or not I will answer because some people think it's an odd name even though I don't really because my mom gave it to me and I think my dad helped but it's as good a name as any in my opinion but yeah it's Tom."

Clanging - Sounds, rather than meaningful relationships, appear to govern words or topics. Excessive rhyming. e.g. "I'm not trying to make noise. I'm trying to make sense. If you can't make sense out of nonsense, well, have fun." "I heard the bell. Well, hell, I heard the bell."

Derailment (also Loose Association and Knight's Move thinking) - Ideas slip off the topic's track on to another which is obliquely related or unrelated. e.g. "The next day when I'd be going out you know, I took control, like uh, I put bleach on my hair in California."

Distractible speech - During mid speech, the subject is changed in response to a stimulus. e.g. "Then I left San Francisco and moved to... where did you get that tie?"

Echolalia - Echoing of one's or other people's speech that may only be committed once, or may be continuous in repetition. This may involve repeating only the last few words or last word of the examiner's sentences. This can be a symptom of Tourette's Syndrome. e.g. "What would you like for dinner?", "That's a good question. That's a good question. That's a good question. That's a good question."

Evasive Interaction - Attempts to annunciate ideas and/or feelings about another individual comes out as evasive or in a diluted form. e.g. "I... er ah... you are uh... I think you have... uh-- acceptable erm... uh... hair."

Flight of Ideas - A sequence of loose associations or extreme tangentiality where the speaker goes quickly from one idea to another seemingly unrelated idea. To the listener, the ideas seem unrelated and do not seem to repeat. Often pressured speech is also present. e.g. "My hand is five cigars. I've been to Havana. She rose out of the water, bikini. Mushrooms clouds, Wow. You're God."

Illogicality - Conclusions are reached that do not follow logically (non-sequiturs or faulty inferences). e.g. "Do you think this will fit in the box?" draws a reply like "Well duh; it's brown isn't it?"

Incoherence (word salad) - Speech that is unintelligible because, though the individual words are real words, the manner in which they are strung together results in incoherent gibberish, e.g. the question "Why do people comb their hair?" elicits a response like "Because it makes a twirl in life, my box is broken help me blue elephant. Isn't lettuce brave? I like electrons. Hello, beautiful."

Loss of goal - Failure to show a train of thought to a natural conclusion. e.g. "Why does my computer keep crashing?", "Well, you live in a stucco house, so the pair of scissors needs to be in another drawer."

Neologisms - New word formations. These may also involve elisions of two words that are similar in meaning or in sound. e.g. "I got so angry I picked up a dish and threw it at the geshinker."

Perseveration - Persistent repetition of words or ideas. e.g. "It's great to be here in Nevada, Nevada, Nevada, Nevada, Nevada." This may also involve repeatedly giving the same answer to different questions. e.g. "Is your name Mary? Yes. Are you in the hospital? Yes. Are you a table? Yes."

Phonemic paraphasia - Mispronunciation; syllables out of sequence. e.g. "I slipped on the lice and broke my arm."

Pressure of speech - An increase in the amount of spontaneous speech compared to what is considered customary. This may also include an increase in the rate of speech. Alternatively it may be difficult to interrupt the speaker; the speaker may continue speaking even when a direct question is asked.

Self-reference - Patient repeatedly and inappropriately refers back to self. e.g. "What's the time?", "It's 7 o'clock. That's my problem."

Semantic paraphasia - Substitution of inappropriate word. e.g. "I slipped on the coat, on the ice I mean, and broke my book."

Stilted speech - Speech excessively stilted and formal. e.g. "The attorney comported himself indecorously."

Tangentiality - Replying to questions in an oblique, tangential or irrelevant manner. e.g:

Q: "What city are you from?"
A: "Well, that's a hard question. I'm from Iowa. I really don't know where my relatives came from, so I don't know if I'm Irish or French."

Word approximations - Old words used in a new and unconventional way. e.g. "His boss was a seeover."

Sabi

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:51:00 +0000

Sabi Pictures are in the beginning stages of planning a theatrical tour of event-screenings in August 2010 for White Knuckles and Heart of Now. Simply add yourself to their fan map and encourage your friends and neighbors to do the same. If the demand is there, they’ll bring a Sabi Pictures event to your town. C'mon Vegas people! Let's get them here!

Goodbye to '09

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:01:00 +0000

Can't say it was a bad year. Wasn't a great year. Definitely an interesting one.

Laid off and out of work for four months before getting hired at MGM MIRAGE - funny thing about that being is that i used to be the ad guy, now i'm the corporate guy. you know the song "triangle man" by they might be giants? well, after i started i kept singing in my head: "agency man, agency man, agency man hates corporate man, they have a fight, corporate wins, corporate man."

Most exciting thing that's happened is an opportunity to do a campaign for the las vegas-based cirque du soleil shows. whatever comes of it, it's been fun to do some advertising again - with chris, no less. he does some freelance every now and then.

Speaking of freelance, i've had a couple projects come my way which have been a nice addition to my bank account - and a fresh client for my portfolio.

Also got addicted to LittleBigPlanet. love it. i could spend forever playing. there's something so amazing about the style, like a little crafty, handmade stage. love it.

During my hiatus, i took my first solo road trip and visited my good pal rachel in san diego. crashed on her couch (and thankfully not on the freeway). petted her dog non-stop (that's not a euphemism). had fun, chatted and chilled. (and was introduced to agave nectar).

Wrote a horror film while i was unemployed. it pretty much sucked, but was fun to write. Also finally got feedback on Detox - positive, no less. We'll wrap that one up shortly. Also working on plotting Beautiful and hope to have it moving along to get feedback early next year.

Also decided to work on the next DVXUser scriptfest (whatever it may be). I have less than a week to write one for the current fest (BetryalFest), but if i can bust out a feature in a week, i hope i can bang out 6 pages for a short. Definitely no lack of things to be working on. Just not much time to work on them.

That's my goal going into the new year. More time on the stuff that matters.

It's a thought.

"Detox" receives coverage

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:03:00 +0000

After finishing draft 14 and spending nearly 3 years working on it, Chris and I decided to send Detox for coverage. Script coverage is, according to Wikianswers, a filmmaking term for the analysis and grading of screenplays, often within the "script development" department of a production company. While coverage may remain entirely verbal, it usually takes the form of a written report, guided by a rubric that varies from company to company. Criteria includes, but is not limited to:

* IDENTIFICATION: Title, Author, Type of Material, Locale, Genre.
* LOGLINE: A one sentence summary.
* COMMENT SUMMARY: A paragraph summary of the analysis.
* GRADE: Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor for categories that include characterization, premise, storyline, production values, dialogue and more.
* SYNOPSIS: Summary of plot: 1-3 pages depending on script quality.
* BUDGET: The script reader's estimated budget.
* ANALYSIS.

In our case, the "grade" was either a pass, consider or recommend.

We got our coverage through ScriptShark. Chris ordered the 3-reader pack to get a variety of feedback since it's all so subjective anyway. The first issue was length, which somehow the script ballooned the past few drafts and we never went back to trim it down. This also lead to some comments about pacing. Both fairly easy fixes. There was also an across-the-board comment on the characters. They wanted them to more fully developed. Even so, there were comments that the characters were something top talent might be interested in. We knew all of this before sending the script in, but it was good to hear from an objective party that we knew what we were doing wrong with some concrete ideas on how to fix it.

They did, however, very much like the dialogue. This was an area Chris was nervous, but I always thought our dialogue was good. Natural, but cinematic. My concern was two of the main characters might have been too similar, but they thought the dialogue defined and differentiated the characters.

Then there were a couple of characters they felt weren't necessary. They felt there was padding to keep the plot points in their proper places. Various stuff like that. In all, though, the comments were positive - or at least constructive.

As for grade, we got a "Pass," a "Reluctant Pass" and a "Consider." Getting a consider made our script eligible for their scouting services to agents, producers, etc. We have until about April to refine the script to be submitted to that service. Pretty good news.

When I sent in Under as a trial run, knowing it was pretty bad, they tore it apart, so I knew they were capable of being heartless and cruel. And hearing their comments on Detox made us really re-evaluate what we were trying to do and say with the script. t made us a lot more focused. So we think the next draft should be pretty damn good.

Funding has begun for "Beautiful"

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:30:00 +0000

Funding for the new short film "Beautiful//The Janssen Twins" has begun. The official budget hasn't been sorted completely, but we've set $10,000 as the initial goal. Besides funding through IndieGoGo, a couple of other fundraising events are being discussed, including special screenings and other events.

Stay tuned. You can go to beautiful.rubbersquare.com for updates or, as always, send an email to updates +at+ rubbersquare.com to subscribe to the mailing list.

A new short script

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:38:00 +0000

Last week I finished the first draft of a new short script entitled "Beautiful // The Janssen Twins." Yes, the // is part of the title and, actually, a symbolic element of the script. It's an idea I've been knocking around for a long time. Something Chris Smith (co-writer of "The Bet") has been fascinated with as well. And when I sent him my draft, his response was that it was "remarkable and touching." He's too nice. By the end of the weekend, I'll have a 2nd draft done which will address Chris' comments and some things I knew needed noodling. After that...

My hope is that I haven't written something beyond a budget I can muster. It seems doable, but I never know. I pretty much used up all my favors on "The Bet," so there'll be no freebies this time. So, well, here's hoping it can get made.

I haven't said anything about the plot, have I? Well, intentionally so. The 'tubes have not been my ally lately. Once the thing's been registered and copyrighted, maybe I'll share a little more, but I can say this: In my interview with ShortEnd Magazine, I said that I didn't see my style really changing much, that with "The Bet" I had made a film I wanted to see, that I thought matched my "vision" - this one, at least on paper, does that, too. It's dark, it's controversial, but, as Chris said, it's touching. A combination I find fascinating.

Go to beautiful.rubbersquare.com for the tease and, as always, there's the (spam-laden) forum. Or follow me on Twitter or join the Facebook fan page.

The Wicked Blood

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:34:00 +0000

At the end of the school year, my son, Spencer, got all of his various papers and projects sent home with him. He had just finished second grade. This is one of the papers he brought home. Click it to make it bigger (opens in a new window).

May the pants be with you.

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 05:16:00 +0000

I can't get this one outta my head. I love the word pants, as do apparently many others. And I love Star Wars. So, thanks to Mat Planet, I want to hear your best pantsing of Star Wars (if you have a better name for it, let me know). Basically, replace a word from dialogue in any of the Star Wars films with "pants" :

These aren't the pants you're looking for.
You want to go home and rethink your pants.
Blast, this is why I hate pants.

Go. Comment. Pants.

um

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:00:00 +0000

yelling upstairs.

took forever to load this fucking thing.

my life is hell.

suck it.

A new chapter

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:52:00 +0000

So, I got a job. I won't go into details, but it was a very odd process. Basically, the interview was with people who knew everything that was in my portfolio because it was for their company. I applied and had to take a drug test. About a week later, on a Friday, I was 30 minutes late for the HR processing (I got lost). Then was told to go to where I was going to be working. There I was told "See you monday." It wasn't a "Here's the job, do you accept?" I guess, I pretty much stated that at the interview? Still, it's a job, so I really can't complain (though I compain about everything).

It's been tough, actually. Having a 4-month hiatus and suddenly getting launched back into a 9-5... well, let's just say it's like the grieving process. I just left the denial phase.

In other news, I am trying desperately to get at least one thing shot for DVXUser's MonsterFest. I could, with a small bit of money and a shitload of effort on my part, get a music video shot that should qualify. Chris (my co-writer extraordinaire) has an idea that could be doable as well. I can submit 2 films max, though I'd be thrilled with one. It's driving me insane not having shot something, knowing how awesome of an experience it is. I just gotta get over the drain the new job is taking and get back into the groove.

I've been very nostalgic lately (yes, changing the subject again). Partly because at this time of year I can feel summer dying and giving way to a melancholy sort of... existence. It makes me both creative and sad.

I'm not making any sense.

"The Bet" Digital Download for $1.99

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:11:00 +0000

Finally! You can now download a digital copy of "The Bet" for $1.99 through Payloadz. Simply go to RUBBERSHOP or directly to the PAYLOADZ page. Either link opens a new page.

Get "The Bet" for only $9.99 ($3 off!)

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:05:00 +0000

For a limited time (until August 31, 2009), use coupon code RUBBERSQUARE for $3.00 off "The Bet" DVD from FilmBaby - LINK OPENS NEW WINDOW.

The DVD includes over 4 hours of Special Features, including Commentaries, Making-Of Featurettes, Alternate and Extended Endings, "Hallway" Music Video, Trailers, Bloopers, Storyboards, the Short Film "Foreplay" and MORE.

Hurry, the offer expires August 31, 2009!

A fail and a retry

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:16:00 +0000

Funny thing about criticism - at least with me - is that I'll try to rationalize why I did whatever it is for whatever reason, but eventually that nagging feeling they were right will weigh me down and I'll buckle and give in. I sent Under, the latest script, for paid coverage - yes, I know, it's not the best way of doing it, but it was a test run for Detox which very, very, very badly needs an objective, professional opinion. Anyway, they pretty much bashed every aspect of it. At first, I wasn't too miffed since I knew it wasn't the best script - it's a simple monster film. And I couldn't get mad since I knew they were right in everything they said. What stung was that it could have been said about nearly any script about monsters of late: Cloverfield, The Descent, etc. But I think I can see where I went wrong.

I didn't realize how much the criticism had affected me until the next day when I found myself in quite the funk. I had figured out how to get one of the more slippery scripts to work, but didn't want to touch it. Why? What's the point? It's gonna suck. Yeah, it was one of those kinds of days.

Then, this morning I got an email from FilmBaby who sells "The Bet" online saying that due to a lack of warehouse space and lack of sales on "The Bet," they are ready to return all but one DVD which - according to them - is a 2-3 month supply. I have until mid-August to prove them wrong. My main reason (other than pride) for wanting to have a larger inventory with them is that it's expensive to ship DVDs and if I sell that one, I'll need to ship more. Commerce sucks.

So, clearly it has not been the most promising week where my future in filmmaking is concerned. Not to mention I'm on the verge of returning to work which makes these past few months feel like they've been wasted with nothing to show for them besides a 13th draft of Detox and a failed attempt at another script. I'm a bit under the gun.

So, I'm not giving up. I'm giving that slippery script another chance to come out. It's certainly not my last idea or hope. In a few weeks, we'll be submitting Detox for coverage. I think that's where my fear is. If that is completely bashed...

Update

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:49:00 +0000

We have decided to forgo further contests due to a lack of funds for entry fees. Instead, we are polishing the latest and final draft which will be sent for a paid critique (yeah, I said we had a lack of funds) and then we will be packaging it up for presentation to a producer whom we know through a friend. It's doubtful he will toss out a wad of cash to produce the film (we are also submitting the recently finished Under to him as well), but our hope is he might know someone who would be interested in tossing out a wad of cash.

Pretty much all we are doing (and by "we," I mean "Chris," since he's working on the latest draft while I banged out Under) is tightening up the characters' motivations/arc/etc. That's the one thing I felt was missing. And now we've got a handle on it. Otherwise, we (Chris and I) both think it's a rockin' awesome script.

QR Codes hit America

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:38:00 +0000

This poster for 9 - the Tim Burton/Timur Bekmambetov-produced, Shane Acker-directed CG film - features the (in other countries, at least) ubiquitous QR Code - also seen in the header of this blog (and as an Easter Egg on "The Bet" DVD leading to other goodies). I love the QR Codes (for more reasons than that they're squares made up of smaller squares). And am very jealous I wasn't the first to prominently feature the device.

QR Codes (according to Wikipedia) are

a matrix code (or two-dimensional bar code) created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The "QR" is derived from "Quick Response", as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed. QR Codes are common in Japan, where they are currently the most popular type of two dimensional codes. Moreover, most current Japanese mobile phones can read this code with their camera.

At any rate, it's cool to see this form of marketing here in the US. How well it'll be received... ?

Effects artist directs the undead

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:50:00 +0000

As a favor for a fellow filmmaker, I am linking the press release for the zombie film Haunting Kira. Take a read (opens a new window) HERE.

Not supposed to do it

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:44:00 +0000

My best friend and co-writer of "The Bet" and Detox, Chris Smith said that when you tell people that you're working on something it takes the wind out of the sails. This blog is mostly just my own diary that I have decided for whatever reason to make public, so I don't really think I'm "telling people" much if I tell it here - for all you, oh, 3 readers. Anyway. I've gotten 50 pages into a script (which translates to 50 minutes of screen time) that is a full-on horror script. Blood, fun and mayhem. And, yes, boobies. I'm hoping to be done with the first draft by the end of this fourth of July weekend (family vacations and fireworks are impeding my progress). At any rate, this one is A) low budget, B) fun and scary (the way "popular" horror films are) and C) as my producer friend mentioned - serializable. Yes, this could have sequels. And yes, it's fun. And yes, there's boobies - another genre favourite.

So, challenging my dear Smitty's advice, I think there's something good here.

The Verizon guy, Chad and why I love comments.

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:34:00 +0000

In response to an article about the verizon guy and that chad guy (i swear he's the "O face" dude from Office Space) for alltel, i found this:

When I was in high school, I worked at the local K-Mart.

That's right. Jealous much?

I was a cashier...then I was promoted to the Books/Stationary section. And in the summer months, I also covered Lawn and Garden. Outdoor duty...sweetness.

My most reflected upon memory of that glorious time, was one day, talking with an employee from another dept - like children's apparel or something.

I can't remember her name, but I remember our conversation crystal clearly.

I was 17. She was maybe, MAYBE, a year older. And she was so supremely happy with her lot in life.

She was engaged to a fella who wanted to be a cop. (Wasn't a cop, wasn't in cop school, but wanted to be a cop.) She LOVED working at K-mart. Loved the discount. Loved working with children's clothes. Couldn't wait to get married. Couldn't wait to have kids.

I asked her about college or travel or seeking anything outside her current realm.

Complete disinterest. She had what she felt was everything. A job she enjoyed. A man she loved. Plans for marriage and a little place to raise rugrats.

Part of me was completely aghast at her. No other goals than to be married and kid-ridden before she was even legal to drink.

But another part of me, and I remember this as such a strong reaction, was kinda envious. While I have my doubts about her contentedness lasting for decades to come, I had never met anyone so happily satisfied with their state of being.

It was like talking to a Martian. A really pleasant Martian.

Maybe Chad is content with his lot.

Or maybe he's just a Martian.

p.s. "You're still a ding dong." does make me laugh. It doesn't make me want to buy into Alltell, but it does make me laugh.

I love the comments section.

Lock down - UPDATE!

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 03:39:00 +0000

So, apparently there are multiple males (that's what the cop people say) living in the house. And one of these males was holding multiple females hostage (which is sometimes okay - well if you can pull it off, it's awesome) and the cops were getting the chicks out one-by-one, save the last one which is when they retreated. Even when they blew in the door with EXPLOSIVES! the dude still wouldn't give up. So they sent in the K9 unit which made him his chewtoy (the dog may have also anally raped him, too, but nobody will corroborate that). Then he gave up and came out and got TAZED (wow, dog fucked and tazed, that's a bad night). My question is, how'd the dog know who to chomp on? And, apparently, they are renting the house. Yay. I want to move. No, I want everyone else to move. To space. Or really far away. And let me swim naked without worrying about the cops showing up to bust some dick with harem issues. Oh, and, if you're the cause of the commotion, and the cops fuck up your shit (tires and door and all that - yes, they shanked his tires) insurance WILL NOT cover it. Lesson learned.

Lock down!

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:31:00 +0000

Had an interesting night last night. At 10:45, Michelle and I went upstairs to go to bed and we were looking for something for one of the kids when BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG on the door. I figured it was kids joking around. Then a few seconds later, again, BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG! So I went downstairs and tried to look out the peephole - our porch light is broken - thinking if I opened it, someone was gonna push their way in or some sort of home invasion scenario was going to unfold. But I could hear what sounded like intercoms. So I opened the door a crack, fighting to keep the dogs back.

"It's the police. Stay in your house. We have a situation across the street."

So, I ran upstairs to peek outside. By now, both kids were awake, and Michelle and I were being not so sly spying out the upstairs window. There was a police truck just off to the right of our house in the middle of the street. And a few cops hiding in various places. Even a K9 unit was there. I could hear voices, so I figured there were cops down by our garage below us, just like I could see cops back against the garage door across the street. Then I saw more cops - with guns drawn - in the garage of the house to the left of the one across from us.

Interesting. So, we kept watching, wondering what might be going on. Michelle works for Metro and suspected there was someone who had locked themselves inside. A few minutes later, a cop rushed a woman in handcuffs away from the house and then about seven more cops followed. Now there were even more of them on the street, maybe 20 or so. Then they pulled out one of those bullet-proof shields you see SWAT guys use and the cops that came out of the house lined up behind it and backed away carefully. They were doing the hand signals like you see in the movies. Seemed surreal.

Michelle called 311 and all they would tell us was that someone had barricaded themselves in the house. She tried to get hold of one of her co-workers as i was pulling out the camera when another BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG. I answered the door and the cop said that we needed to evacuate. All things considered, we most likely would have been fine, but the kids were freaking out. Michelle knew that if a barricade didn't end in a few minutes, it usually lasted hours and there was no way any of us was going to sleep until it was over. So we decided to bail and go sleep at her mom's house.

So we piled into the truck in the garage and headed out the back way - which was blocked by every assortment of vehicle imaginable. Cop cars. SWAT trucks. A police/fire trailer that Michelle thought might have robots (cool!). Laptops setup in the back of pickups. Police tape blocking the street. Dozens of people in all sorts of uniforms. Even a negotiator (which was also cool). We had to wait for them to clear the road so we could get through and saw the woman who'd been taken out in handcuffs walking with a police officer (no longer handcuffed).

When we came back this morning, the front door of the barricade house was lying on the ground and the front window was shattered. The back tires of all the cars there were flat. Out next-door neighbor was outside and told us what he'd seen (he hadn't bailed). He said a SWAT truck pulled up in front of the car on the street and then they flattened all the tires. They threw in smoke bombs and flash bombs. And then set up a charge on the front door, ran a line out to the street and blew it open. No battering ram. EXPLOSIVES. The blast shattered the front window. Finally, they got the guy out - who was drunk as hell, staggering around and swinging his bottle of whatever. Apparently they tazed him and that was pretty much the end of it.

EXPLOSIVES! Damn, I wish we'd stayed. Dazed and tazed. Still not sure exactly what was going on. Our suspicion is a domestic violence call. The cops said they hadn't had problems with them before. We also thought it might be drug-related since there have been some people coming and going that don't look familiar. Whatever it was, the chick is back and the door and windows have just finished being boarded up. Fun!

Road trip

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:45:00 +0000

Over the weekend I took my first solo recreational road trip. I went to San Diego to visit my friend Rachel (who wrote the song "Hallway" for "The Bet." After I'd gotten laid off, she kept bugging me to come and visit. So I did. I was a bit nervous driving out there on my own - especially since my car is having issues. But I took it in, got it checked and dropped $920 to get some repairs. Still freaky on certain roads, but it was fine for the trip.

It was a nice ride, no traffic to speak of, and once I neared SD it was overcast and foggy. And great break from the 100-degree weather here. I watched as the temp dropped from 98 to 88 to 78 to 52.

I got there about 3pm. Rachel had told me we were going to ride in Critical Mass that night. I was up for it. Until I saw the bike I was borrowing was a townie, not a bmx. BIG difference. I was way wobbly on it and was suddenly very nervous. Not to mention it was in the lowest gear and a bitch to pedal uphill. But I figured I'd driven all this way, I might as well give it a go. As Rachel said, we'd jumped out of a plane together; this was nothing.

As hundreds of bikers gathered around the fountain in a park, waiting to go, there was a thud. Some guy who'd been standing about 15 feet from me passed out. While one of our group ran over to the cop car nearby, he came to, then went out again and I was sure he had just died. But he came to again and seemed fine. An ambulance came and took him away. Not what I needed to calm my nerves. Rachel and I decided we'd bail on the whole event and head back. I was plenty exhausted anyway from the drive and all, so I was all too happy to call it a night.

The next day we went to Salton Sea. I'd never heard of it, but it seemed like a pretty interesting place. Apparently the algae is so thick that it robs all oxygen so when fish get to a certain size they suffocate and float to the surface. Fun! It took nearly three hours to drive out there and the misty overcast skies gave way to sun and heat. When we got there, the smell was so overwhelming we nearly just turned around. But decided to do some exploring.

We'd hoped to find some of the abandoned buildings and such that we'd heard about, but the shore that we were one really held nothing but dead fish. Lots and lots of dead fish. And ground up fish bones. And stink. We'd had enough of the heat and smell and headed back.

That night we went to So Say We All, a Moth-style storytelling event that some of Rachel's friends were in. The theme was "It seemed like a good idea at the time" - which could have described our two pseudo-adventures. After that, we were both dead tired. I was leaving in the morning and wanted to get some sleep, not looking forward to the long drive back.

It may not have been everything we'd hoped, but I was with a good friend so the misadventures were simply adventures. And her dog, Agent Cooper, is probably the cutest damn dog I've ever met. Plus, now that my road trip cherry has been popped (Rachel's words), I'm looking forward to doing it again.

Lots of stuff in the past much days

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Fri, 15 May 2009 04:47:00 +0000

Still unemployed, though not poor enough to start whining. I'm getting scarily accustomed to not having a job. Finding a new schedule comprised of family-centric tasks. Odd.
Really studied script structure over the past few weeks - thanks largely to Michael Hauge's 6-stage Script Structure and this one. Helped to rewrite the first act of Detox, and - soon - the rest of the script.
May have figured out the key to the new script - which will be called a "weapon of mass depravity."
Getting a handle on the photography thing. Got my terms sorted and my focus pulled. Just need some interesting subjects. And some lights. And a meter. And a Lens Baby. ... kidding. The gadgets are all nice and fine, but I really love being able to shoot in natural light, which is so unlike my usual aesthetic. Maybe because I don't have all the gadgets.
Finally getting my car serviced. 8000+ miles after his last checkup was due. And two more new tires. That means...
Road trip is imminent. Gonna head out to see my uber friend Rachel - hopefully - May 29th. I'm gonna be shooting a video for her song "Virgins" as soon as money doesn't suck and maybe get in a less expensive one (or two) on the way. Because...
I got a Steadicam Merlin. Borrowed it from a friend and it kills the jello effect of the D90. So I can actually shoot handheld video that doesn't make you wanna puke. I just gotta learn how to fly it. You can see a comparison of with and without the Merlin HERE.
Besides all that, I'm really starting to see myself as a person, rather than an employee. Weird thing, that. No one is my boss. And that's making me become my own boss. And that means I'm slowly - very slowly - becoming more aware of what I'm doing and why. And what to change and how. And what I like about myself. Sadly, the last of those is tougher to solve. But I'm getting better. And I've lost 9 pounds. Just another 40 to go. I think I need to actually exercise to get there, though.

Wil Wheaton is, well, cool

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:35:00 +0000

Unemployment FTW

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 04:40:00 +0000

Don't cry for me, I'm not without income. But I am without schedule, sadly something I was really, oddly, addicted to. It'll be 1:45 and I try to tell myself I need to eat, but I don't know what to eat and spend the next 20 minutes and realize I need to go to the shower and pick up my elder son son from school (my life is now governed by half-hours - half-hour to shower, half-hour to get kid, half-hour to eat, etc).

The job I was really hoping to get was given to some other... someone. Um, yeah. Fuck it.

Did I mention I blew a tire, my battery decided to fuck off and my tires, in some sort of odd mutiny - one of my few consistent comrades, BAT BOY, is even giving up on me - decided to enhance my daily fatigue -by getting out of alignment or balance or whatever makes him shimmy and shake and swerve across the freeway. Now, that I realized the damn guy's out of warranty. Maybe it's his lack of bathing got him, BB, on edge.

Today I watched the end of Donkey Punch, a fair thriller, though it was tough to hear what they were saying in subdued tones late at night with their Leeds accent (and only got to watch the last half hour with the sound up). Then watched, in stops and starts (those half-hours again), what may be the best film I've seen in... years: The Orphanage. It's like a remake of Poltergeist without copping to the remake fuckery and actually one-upping the original. I called them out, then nearly cried, then nearly cried, then was haunted by then film the rest of the day.

As far as what I'm doing? I've revamped the Rubbersquare site, spent much time understanding script structure to where I can finally understand it (and watch The Orphanage and absolutely love it and recommend it and recognize the script structure (and Poltergeist-ness of it), and am rewriting Detox and making sure the new script follows it (which oddly they both already do to a large extent). There's the Detox novelization and a really exciting Mother's Day gift which just emerged today and got me more excited than I've been in weeks.

New site is LIVE

noreply@blogger.com (the man in the planet) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:33:00 +0000

The newly revamped Rubbersquare site is now live. Go ahead, check it out (opens in a new window).

Some of the cool stuff you'll find are information about all of Rubbersquare's projects, like "The Bet" and Detox. There's also the music video for "Hallway" and the short film "Foreplay" - both of which you can watch on the site. There's a news section which connects to the brand-new Rubbersquare News Blog with an option to subscribe. And links to the Rubbersquare network, including this blog, Rubbershop and Rubberforum.

Now that the hard part of designing it is done, it should be easy to add new content and keep the news current.

Why are you still reading? Go check it out.