tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17546056655950997452024-03-05T04:08:43.594-08:00New Wave MagicFilms and Scripts. Reviews and Thoughts.Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-85185997096570673522011-07-18T18:39:00.000-07:002011-07-18T18:39:31.548-07:00WE'VE MOVED!!!Matt Rickett no longer writes at this address!<br />
<br />
Instead, you can find him and his musings at resurgamreview.wordpress.com<br />
<br />
It's a clean, well-lit, website that looks better and keeps up better analytics than this hunk a junk.<br />
<br />
I'm sorry, Google. I love you, but it's just time to move on.<br />
<br />
See you there, thanks for understanding, and I hope you enjoy!<br />
<br />
-- MattMatt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-1316976676102737042011-07-14T20:07:00.000-07:002011-07-14T20:29:24.841-07:00In Defense of Film SchoolWhen I was a kid – like six or seven – my grandfather, Byron, a retired police officer, would take me to the movies after school. Kid movies, like <i>Ace Ventura: Pet Detectiv</i>e and <i>D2: The Mighty Ducks</i>. On our way we would play a game where I would come up with an assortment of exotic, severely misplaced, animals that would, somehow, find their way into the middle of busy Maine roads and he would swerve to avoid them.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">“Look out for the hippopotamus!” I would exclaim. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">And he would swerve accordingly. This was great fun. I was a weird kid. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">One day he got pulled over. The cop assuming, at first, that he was drunk. But this cop soon realized that my grandfather was only under the influence of his eccentric, imaginative, grandson during one of our favorite outings. The cop let us go.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">It’s these expeditions and memories that created the love that I have for movies.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Then I got older and he stopped taking me to kids' movies – looking back, I can’t believe he was capable of achieving the patience required for a sixty year old man to sit through <i>Ace Ventura</i> – and I started watching more films on my own. A lot of them. I watched <i>Jurassic Park </i>so much I wore out the VHS tape within months.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoB3PDLTc4-C8N3q2un1gJSu-EFUJr1htLaX5X9JIy2wVnBO_fFTsn9ojAp4zJp3_L7oHwzd5BegeZv7MF4esOYx_vCI-he6OCYOG6P7Yo5LO8k42IASeuIMECWVk7aiCnNinx8P1kT9w/s1600/tumblr_ldlw79LNGQ1qcx2poo1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoB3PDLTc4-C8N3q2un1gJSu-EFUJr1htLaX5X9JIy2wVnBO_fFTsn9ojAp4zJp3_L7oHwzd5BegeZv7MF4esOYx_vCI-he6OCYOG6P7Yo5LO8k42IASeuIMECWVk7aiCnNinx8P1kT9w/s320/tumblr_ldlw79LNGQ1qcx2poo1_500.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Never had to avoid this one ...</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">If I wasn’t watching movies I either had my nose buried in a book, or attempted to play sports. I actually used to read at sporting events, paying no attention to the action on the field, diamond, or basketball court. I was more obsessed with the <i>Redwall</i> series by Brian Jacques, Harry Potter, or any sort of epic fiction involving sword wielding mice and indecipherable moles. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Clearly, since an early age, I loved movies and writing. Naturally, the combination of the two in a form that operates in a bizarre-o world of rules and efficiency known as screenwriting just rocked my socks. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">It still does and I still write.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">I didn’t stumble upon this epiphany until my freshman year of college, when I watched a shitty movie called <i>The Holiday</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (the one with Jack Black and Cameron Diaz). For some reason the all too charming character of Arthur Abbot (Eli Wallach) made me realize that screenwriting is for me and I promptly declared myself a film major. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Knowing my goals and intentions early on, I didn’t spend much time in Production classes, but I did them. I held lights, looked at lenses, made weird Dutch Angles, awkwardly acted, and awkwardly put my friends in front of the camera, making them argue about things as if they were saying something important when they were just yelling gibberish.<br />
<br />
I spent four hours a day, twice a week, analyzing the videos of Hitchcock, Scorsese, the Coppolas, and the most profane films Europe has to offer. I spent hours a week writing and revising scripts like a man on a mission (still am). I had an internship, where I learned firsthand about contracts, negotiations, and the loss of innocence when you sell your first script and watch it go nowhere (here it is in a brilliant, storyboarded <a href="http://sweetingmedia.com/orleansparishplay.html">trailer</a>). Among other things I learned how to write, watch, listen, and that Europeans have a ridiculously artistic obsession with sex.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">And, unless I find my way into this inexplicable, chaotic, monstrosity, known as the Film Industry, none of those lessons have any apparent value in the inexplicable, chaotic, monstrosity, known as the Real World.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Or am I wrong?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">My reflection of my time in film school started as early as graduation, but after this article came out from the <span style="font-family: ArialMT;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/movies/film-school-graduates-job-prospects-at-usc-nyu-ucla.html"><span style="color: #4a647e; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-decoration: none;">New York Times</span></a></span>, and then this one from <span style="font-family: ArialMT;"><a href="http://www.indiewire.com/article/filmmakings_for_chumps_iw_asks_the_indie_film_community_about_mondays_nyt_a"><span style="color: #4a647e; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-decoration: none;">IndieWire</span></a></span>, and then this one from <span style="font-family: ArialMT;"><span style="color: #4a647e; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://gawker.com/5818130/film-school-still-for-suckers">Gawker</a></span></span>, I started to ramp up the reflective analysis of a major part of my life. What did I really learn? Will I ever benefit from this? Will I ever find my way into this mess of an industry?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">I came to realize that there are certain things to be said about being a film major, or having graduated from film school …<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Writing</span></b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">When you read a script a week, every book on screenwriting there is (which, by the way, are complete and utter bullshit), and then write <i>as much</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><i>as you possibly can on a strict schedule</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, you tend to get a little decent at it. At least. But, it’s having this high level of written communication that’s essential in life, not just in writing movies about cowboys and aliens or <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttv-gvOzaPw">talking beaver puppets</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK2WCPYMERg">angsty teenage wizards</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Stephen King – whose book <i>On Writing </i><span style="font-style: normal;">is </span><i>not</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> complete and utter bullshit – came into my high school and spoke to my creative writing class. I only remember two things he said: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: list .75in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;">1.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span>“I’m a car slut.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: list .75in; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;">2.<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span>“The people who can read and write will rule the world.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">The power of written communication is infinite. Should we, God forbid, fall into another Dark Ages and lose all written language – those who either develop or still possess the skill will be the ones with the power. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfJtBVdzam_l91AYWOv3p3T90M4DbHYLX8eEa40ap0ro7rHZdjBAafeEFb2C8p6jQKJDbau2e9BaNEQiZdTKcTqx_y3qwHH5lPyrPokyF_n2nXyY2mDIJdFHsq7Fk1oQpw_MkgceW5HsM/s1600/King-of-Horror-Stephen-King-with-Chevy-Volt-500x375.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfJtBVdzam_l91AYWOv3p3T90M4DbHYLX8eEa40ap0ro7rHZdjBAafeEFb2C8p6jQKJDbau2e9BaNEQiZdTKcTqx_y3qwHH5lPyrPokyF_n2nXyY2mDIJdFHsq7Fk1oQpw_MkgceW5HsM/s320/King-of-Horror-Stephen-King-with-Chevy-Volt-500x375.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All <i>too</i> happy ...</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Although film school may not seem like the logical way for me to become competent in the written word, it still happened. And even if you don’t want to be a lowly screenwriter, the film studies classes that require you to write ten thousand word essays on the use of the color green in <i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc2s9uSXWKM">Vertigo</a></i><span style="font-style: normal;"> will surely get your chops up when it comes to communicating complex thoughts in a clear and concise manner. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Analysis</span></b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">If you can sit down and thoroughly analyze every second of <i>Inception</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> and its overall meaning to Cobb’s character arc and then comment on all the major British Cinema influences that Christopher Nolan draws from … then you can surely analyze a spread sheet. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">A professor once explained the double bottleneck effect of movies to me: <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">The writer creates a world that is epic, sprawling, complicated, and spans life times, then finds a way – hopefully a good one – to put it all into two hours (the bottleneck). It is then the audiences job, whether they know it or not, to take all the information behind that bottleneck and understand all of it (the other bottle).<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">If I were to have a fancy diagram, it would look like an hour glass. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Film is a two way street of presentation and analysis that is constantly happening as the movie goes on. The average moviegoer does this on the level of topical character and exposition developments. The basics. As a film major, you are able to dissect the relationships between camera movements, lighting, thematic lines of dialogue, musical score, <i>mise-en-scene</i>, costume and wardrobe, and acting. That’s an overwhelming number of variables to take into very serious consideration all at once. Hence why in order to completely understand a film it takes multiple viewings. But at the same time, are their any other mediums that require the complete analysis of that many variables, all of which have a life of their own?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Not that I know of.<br />
<br />
Well maybe architecture. But that’s a whole other post.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">The point is, that if you apply that level of cognitive energy to anything else, you will be able to slice through it in no time. There are very little creations out there that are as complex and multifaceted as movies are and, as a film major, you need to have the ability to analyze their relationship with each other. That makes sitting an office and analyzing spreadsheets and market trends seem kind of easy. Almost a little too easy. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Collaboration</span></b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">“Film is a collaborative medium. Now, bend over,” said the Producer to the Writer. Or the Director to the Writer. Or the Actor to the Writer. Or just about anybody to the Writer. But we’re not going there.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Film is a collaborative effort. A very collaborative one. The director does not do everything – for those who don’t know. They don’t really operate the cameras, they don’t set up all the lights, they don’t do all the budgeting, nor make sure the catering gets there on time, or that the film gets developed on time. Sure, some might do the cinematography or editing or the score and then cross over into producing with budgets and what not. Those are either the multi-talented <i>auteurists</i> who want complete control over the entire project or they may just have a tiny budget and have to do it themselves -- which makes them that much better at filmmaking. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">But, for the most part, the amount of manpower that goes into creating a feature film is incredible. Next time – you non-film majors – are at a movie theater, take the time to sit and watch all the credits roll by. Pay respect to all who worked on this film you just spent ten dollars on. You’ll get an overwhelming understanding of how much is required to make these films that you so easily discard as being “shit” or “dumb” or “not worth ten bucks”. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">The best example of this I’ve seen is from <i>Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. Probably one of the best movies I’ve seen in the past few years, this highly underrated animated film has an interesting take on its opening credits.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Most opening credits feature a title card that goes “A Film by This Egocentric <i>Artist</i><span style="font-style: normal;">” italicized so you pay attention to him and</span><i> </i>all the bullshit<span style="font-style: normal;"> he thinks is important. But, </span><i>Cloudy</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> simply has “A Film by A Lot of People”. And that’s just brilliant.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="A"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none;">Its informality fits the tone of the film.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none;">Its casual intellectuality fits the tone of the film.</li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">It simply abuts the idea that this was a film created by one man <span style="font-style: normal;">and instead gives credit to the fact that a film is a product made by hundreds of people. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC4RcqoF0bXMY1kO3o7SeScYOtGETbbkMMx_tXqdCd7Jy6X0E2K5qKKadkVp8lAkIX55gaTyD2IIcReSVdOgQrRrmGGVebRWE8ObI7qx6afqJsjn2JBTmI-rZyFFgJOPJG5jrgUwlKVoQ/s1600/49959_orig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC4RcqoF0bXMY1kO3o7SeScYOtGETbbkMMx_tXqdCd7Jy6X0E2K5qKKadkVp8lAkIX55gaTyD2IIcReSVdOgQrRrmGGVebRWE8ObI7qx6afqJsjn2JBTmI-rZyFFgJOPJG5jrgUwlKVoQ/s320/49959_orig.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You mean the director <i>doesn't</i> take "film by" credit? What?</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">There’s a book by Joe Eszterhas called the <i>Devil’s Guide to Hollywood</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> where he talks about how amazing it is to know that this one little bull shit, fairy tale, story I wrote in my underwear in my living room has created two months worth of jobs for over a hundred people. All of which are working their asses of to make my tiny, little vision, as the writer, come to fruition. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Film is as collaborative as any team sport out there. Trust me, I struggled through all of them.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Creative</span></b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">You are creative, you film major. Nobody can deny that from you. And, more importantly, no one can take that away from you. Ever. It’s something you were born with that not everyone has. You, for some God given reason, have an incredible imagination. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">You’re training as a film student has helped you take this imagination – this weird thought or vision in your head – and turn it into something tangible. Be it a camera angle, a score, a script, a lighting scheme. As a film major, you know how to reach into your mind and turn something as milky, half-baked, and ridiculous as your imagination into something clear, formulated, and understandable. This can be applied to anything.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">In fact, this is what the business world calls <i>innovation</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Look at every start up, or IPO, or CEO that champions innovation. All they’re saying is that some guy had an idea (like you! You get those all the time!), turned it into action, and then found a way to monetize it. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Kind of like my friend Max, who started his own <a href="http://espositooriginals.com/">production company</a> where he does freelance digital video work. Or Matt Sweeting, who gave me my first writing job for his fledgling <a href="http://sweetingmedia.com/">production company</a>. Or Kevin Smith, who made a silly little movie about a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6lzEhoXads">general store clerk</a> and became a rich and famous director of amazing films. Or any of these Kickstarter projects …<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/film%20&%20video?ref=sidebar">http://www.kickstarter.com/discover/categories/film%20&%20video?ref=sidebar</a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Being creative – due to our sad and pathetic <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKTfaro96dg">educational</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uem73imvn9Y">system</a> – is a rarity these days. And, those of us who actually are get looked at rather curiously by everyone else.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">“Like, oh my God, it’s so cool how you, like, think about yourself and stuff,” says the blonde sorority girl from New Jersey.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">“Dude, you’re so weird. How do you come up with this shit?” asks the Jewish frat boy from Long Island.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">They’re kind of jealous. Even if they don’t know it.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Which brings us to another Pro of being a film major …<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Being An Expert<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Movies are a major part of American culture. Huge. Enormous. Studies show that more people go to movies during “hard times” than any other form of entertainment. This has deep, very complicated, psychological rooting (escapism, fantasies, cultural identity, etc …) but, the point is that films – since their birth – have been a point of cultural fascination and always will be.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">And, being a film major, you are an expert on the most popular commodity in our country.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">The amount of influence that films have, the amount of money that people are willing to spend, and the amount of emotion we invest in our favorite actors, actresses, directors, and characters is ridiculous. Being film majors, we understand this phenomenon on a much higher scale; a much clearer plane of cognition.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Forgive me for perpetuating the hoity-toity, I'm-smarter-than-you, film kid stereotype … but it’s true. We understand movies better than they do. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><i>They</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Such an ugly word for the masses that encourage producers to spend millions on movies like <i>Fool’s Gold</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> or pretty much anything Matthew McConaughey’s been in by actually buying tickets. We know better than </span><i>they</i>.<br />
<br />
We know what to and not to encourage. What films will make you a better person and what ones just simply stimulate brain activity. And this, like creativity, will last us our entire lives. One can hardly even imagine the shear wonder, excitement, and curiosity that Einstein must have felt when he looked at -- what once was -- a pristine New Jersey night sky. Every time we film majors see a trailer, major block buster, or next brilliantly fashioned film, those synaptic connections we've so deeply entrained will spark up and we won't be able to help but marvel at the brilliant way J.J. Abrams uses diegetic sound to create tension in the <i>Super 8</i> gas station scene -- something <i>they</i> probably missed. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">But, like everything, there are both pros and cons. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Specialized</span></b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">That’s mostly a stigma perpetuated by everyone else then reperpetuated by the disheartened graduates who hear it so often they actually believe it. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">This narrow minded belief that if you studied film in college that’s all you can do should be dead. The same applies to those who studied business or art history. For some reason our culture is obsessed with categorizing everyone based on their <i>curriculum veritae</i>, and don’t seem to understand that almost all institutions of higher learning are moving towards a liberal arts foundation. That means there is no more specialization in the sphere of higher ed – or at least that’s the plan. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">In this Day and Age, nearly all Millenials graduating college now should be entering the real world with the belief that they are, at least a little, creative, technologically savvy, hard working, quick learners, with great social skills. But that’s just a <i>should</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, not an</span><i> is</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Truth be told, most kids graduating now are lazy, dispassionate, and uninspired. Spending more time on Facebook and Twitter than trying to develop contacts to get a foot in the door, or creating a personal brand to make a name for themselves. That’s kind of sad and also off topic.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Point is, as stated before, film majors are capable of much more than just “film stuff”. We are a deeply creative, intellectual, hard working, analytical, and communicative group of people who are rather ambitious. Film stuff is only the beginning of our potential. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Egocentric</span></b><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Yes, there are way too many kids in film school that take themselves too seriously. That is a fact. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">But that happens everywhere.<br />
<br />
Just look at the kids in business school who show up to class with brief cases and sit in front. Or any Fine/Visual Arts majors. Or the Art History kids who use fake British accents and act like they have Avian Bone Syndrome. Or the History majors who will argue about everything to prove their belief that they are authorities on the state of the world because they read five books on Woodrow Wilson’s shitting habits during World War I. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Egocentrism is not centralized in film school. It’s universal. But, one thing you learn in film school is that all they need – those James Camerons – are people who can quietly, and confidently, step their game up and show those fools how it's really done. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Hipsters<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">Although there is an epidemic in Film School this is, again, a universal problem. But, if you donate five cents a day to 1-800-NO-HIPSTERS you can help alleviate this socially awkward disaster and teach an ever expanding group of kids how to … <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="A"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none;">Put their money where there mouth is.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none;">Dress properly. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none;">Contribute to Society. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: list .5in; text-autospace: none;">Effectively argue about artistic issues without sounding like a dick. </li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Conclusion</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">When it comes down to it, the vast majority of people who graduate from college never go into the field they studied. If every history major went into history there would be too many high school history teachers awkwardly hitting on cheerleaders. If every film major went into film, unemployment would surely sky rocket to an embarrassing level (if that hasn't already been reached ... ). Just like an overpopulation of a single species can seriously damage an ecosystem, if everyone did what they majored in life would be way too overloaded and boring. Cross pollination is a great thing for flowers, bees, and human ideas. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">What you really need to do is focus on making the best of the opportunities that you have here and now. Life is going to take you on weird paths, and if you make the most of them by using the skills you’ve acquired through time spent studying what you love, then you'll start to see things fall into place. Maybe they won’t be in Hollywood – that elusive, mythical, land of wine and Dionysian orgies – but you’ll start to see something is happening, that so long as you keep giving it everything you got you’re going to get somewhere and you will be happy. That takes faith, commitment, and determination. Things that will never ever be taught in any classroom. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">So, in final remarks, being a film major is by no means a guaranteed job in the Film Industry. But it is a guaranteed way to spend the four most important years of your life studying something you deeply love and a great way to obtain universal skills that can be applied to anywhere to be good at anything. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">And that’s priceless.</div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-13866262426039249542011-06-15T16:28:00.000-07:002011-06-15T16:28:27.560-07:00Generational Gaps: Why LeBron James Will Never Be Jordan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://grantland.com/">Grantland</a>, a sports-writing website sponsored by ESPN and ran by Bill Simmons, is quickly becoming a major voice on the Internet -- or at least my Internet.<br />
<br />
It's popularity makes sense, featured columnists and editors are some of today's literary giants (Eggers, Klosterman, and Gladwell) as well as ESPN's best -- Bill Simmons.<br />
<br />
One of my favorite parts of the website is the great coverage and analysis of everything LeBron James. This is especially prominent considering what happened the other night (if you don't know what happened then there's a wealth of Internet you haven't explored and TV you haven't watched).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/cdtejCR413c?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<br />
Here are just some of the articles ...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6655966/lebron-exquisite-corpse">http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6655966/lebron-exquisite-corpse</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6657623/nba-finals-game-6-retro-diary">http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6657623/nba-finals-game-6-retro-diary</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-Triangle/post/_/id/195/">http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-Triangle/post/_/id/195/</a><br />
<br />
All the writers at Grantland do a brilliant job analyzing and communicating the cultural impact that LeBron James has -- and why we have such an incessant need to pay attention to him -- but one thing I think they fail to mention is the important generational difference that LeBron has become a victim of (don't get me wrong, I'm a Boston guy. I hate the man's guts. But it's unfortunately true.)<br />
<br />
In the era of Bird, Magic, Thomas, etc ... big time players were drafted to teams and stayed on those teams. The franchise was built around them and, after five years of hard work and growth, they became a championship caliber team and legendary, well respected players. From everyone.<br />
<br />
That phase of pro ball ended -- popularly -- with Jordan. Most major stars after Jordan have played on at least two teams in their career. Just look at the past five years of major trades<br />
<br />
-Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett<br />
-LeBron and Bosh<br />
-Melo and Stoudemire<br />
-Steve Nash<br />
-Iverson<br />
-<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Shaq </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">(extra emphasis for the most teams)</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span></b><br />
Pierce and Kobe are the obvious exemptions to this trend.<br />
<br />
Long story short, there's no more loyalty -- from both players and administration.<br />
<br />
Stars have become bigger than the teams they're on and winning championships has been more about individual legacy than the fact that the Lakers and Celtics have won almost every championship between 1980 and 1990. It's about <i>my</i> legacy, not the <i>club's</i>.<br />
<br />
Yes, it was always Jordan <i>and</i> the Bulls, Magic <i>and</i> the Lakers, Bird <i>and</i> the Celtics, but they were all around long enough -- and struggled long enough -- that they were able to develop a very, very good supporting cast of role players. In fact, pretty much every major star from the 1980s to mid '90s played with another Hall of Famer for an extended period of time without ever leaving their original team. That doesn't happen anymore.<br />
<br />
So, yes, the fine writers at Grantland have done a great job analyzing why we dole massive amounts of attention to the Man We Love to Hate (or, He Who Must Not Be Named). But, most of other pundits have spent the past month or so thinking of ways that LeBron is like Jordan.<br />
<br />
But he's not. He's completely different.<br />
<br />
Jordan was a mature, battle-hardened, work horse (and a cocky dick) who became a symbol of a team, city, and a generation. All by <i>earning</i> himself a championship -- not by whoring his "talents" to the highest bidder to get on the fast track to the championships because, God forbid, LeBron isn't a NBA champion by <i>at least</i> seven years out of <i>high school</i>.<br />
<br />
(By the time Jordan had been seven years out of high school he had:<br />
1. Won an NCAA Championship and earned nearly every college basketball award available.<br />
2. Got drafted a year early.<br />
3. Went back and got his degree from UNC Chapel Hill in cultural geography.<br />
4. Set a still unbroken record for points in a single play off game of 63 and still lost the series to Bird and the Celtics [after missing 64 games from a BROKEN FOOT]<br />
5. Scored 3,000 points in a season with 200 steals and 100 blocks<br />
6. FINALLY, after being in the league for four years, made it out of the FIRST ROUND of the play offs by beating -- lo and behold -- the Cleveland Cavaliers.)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/6urPqclSDDE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<br />
But, given the recent history of transactions and geographical displacement of talent, can you blame LeBron for just being contemporary?<br />
<br />
Calling out LeBron for his pre-season fiasco is one thing, but blaming his decision is completely different. That's like calling out your dad for giving up writing letters by hand to using e-mail. He's just getting with the times.<br />
<br />
That's what LeBron did. This doesn't just apply to the NBA, but to every major sport. Baseball is the worst of all -- you might as well be a Nomad than a pro baseball player -- but football (Terrel Owens, Randy Moss) and hockey are no different either.<br />
<br />
We're in an era where our beloved stars aren't taken care of nearly as much as previous generations. And, because of that, they need to take care of themselves. Do you think Shaq's career would have had the longevity if he hadn't bounced around the country looking for a team to take him in? No.<br />
<br />
The times aren't-a-changing anymore, they already have. Sure, LeBron may have pulled the cockiest, most immature, move in sports history by handling his career the way he has, but for simply leaving his hometown is something we can not fault him for.<br />
<br />
We seem to forget that he grew up right outside of Cleveland. Can you imagine being of that stature, ambition, potential, and God-given talent and living in your hometown for twenty five years? I would want to leave, too. There's a whole world out there and it's unfair to cage a bird as bright he in a city as dark and dirty as Cleveland.<br />
<br />
Long point short is that LeBron can never be compared to Jordan -- as far as legacy is concerned -- because the era that LeBron is playing in is vastly different than when Jordan played.<br />
<br />
When Jordan left a void was created (like a bad break up) and during that void the NBA -- and us -- needed to change so we could move on (like a bad break up). This is the change we've created. This is the current state of affairs, where what used to be common practice is now a rarity.<br />
<br />
I hate LeBron as much as the next Bostonian, but let's put this cultural debacle into perspective here -- he's just a kid. He's twenty-five and has had more pressure and expectations thrown upon him than most ever will in their lifetime. He's allowed to fuck up.<br />
<br />
So, LeBron, I'm sorry for those nasty Tweets I mentioned you in during the playoffs. I realize now that I, like everyone else, got caught up in the disappointment that you are not what I hoped you could have been. You are something different. It was unfair of me for projecting this nostalgic fantasy upon you that maybe -- just maybe -- there might be some unifying player out there that can revolutionize a failing city and bring a Nation together (whether for or against) like what someone else who wore number twenty three did. I realize now that was asking too much.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/7WR86xLSITc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
</div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-71932145574181534572011-06-02T11:43:00.000-07:002011-06-02T11:45:33.052-07:00The Avett Brothers vs. Mumford & Sons<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Mumford & Sons and The Avett Brothers. They're seemingly the same -- folk bands that weave influences of rock, punk, and the blues. They use the same instruments: guitar, stand up bass, drums, banjo, mandolin, fiddle -- anything you can find at a yardsale in the Smoky Mountains. But are also very different bands. One, an international pop behemoth. The other, a cerebral and dark band atop a massive cult and critical following.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKMa0tTCqLj62L7FeORm77igNMooM8-tOOKii6iiPVDKvD8rbWp_RdCBexlzDarhpIqdAIyEB29gP3CjrERnkw9vzJfU57tYGab_jHk0jnnXwmfUupKZTQaOfZV6pilqRPWDqkrmkGiY/s1600/mumford-and-sons-x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKMa0tTCqLj62L7FeORm77igNMooM8-tOOKii6iiPVDKvD8rbWp_RdCBexlzDarhpIqdAIyEB29gP3CjrERnkw9vzJfU57tYGab_jHk0jnnXwmfUupKZTQaOfZV6pilqRPWDqkrmkGiY/s320/mumford-and-sons-x.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Mumford & Sons outside their antique store.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div><br />
</div>Whether you know it or not, like them or not, or even care or not, these bands are quickly becoming mainstays in our Cultural Vernacular -- especially after they shared the stage with Bob Dylan at this year's Grammys and with Mumford & Son's debut album sitting pretty on top the Billboard Top 200 for quite some time now. Which one you choose says more than you think it does.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTL_hoH3QXlrYXVEhcZoGQwMDja5VfwahvFyUDZ9q0B1BE91DNr5Jtc2o2tewVb7py792CUHpxPogD7THDmOpphwCi7e-T_wPfoOzQpbblejCKQok6Jdbzv4LHU5EHlqJGKce6Ck0O6Qo/s1600/AvettBrothers2009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTL_hoH3QXlrYXVEhcZoGQwMDja5VfwahvFyUDZ9q0B1BE91DNr5Jtc2o2tewVb7py792CUHpxPogD7THDmOpphwCi7e-T_wPfoOzQpbblejCKQok6Jdbzv4LHU5EHlqJGKce6Ck0O6Qo/s320/AvettBrothers2009.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Avett Brothers and pink rabbit mascot.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Mumford & Sons is an energetic, rockish, and catchy Americana/folk band from West London. They're album, <i>Sigh No More</i>, has reached the top of the charts in three different continents (North America, Europe, and Australia). They're relatively new, forming in 2007, they toured for a while, made an EP, and cut a full length album in 2008 (<i>Sigh No More</i>), released it in 2009, and rocked the world with Bob Dylan at the Grammys in 2011. After their performance of "The Cave", social media was abuzz with Mumford & Sons hype, as a great "break out artist". Despite their first single, "Little Lion Man", having been around around the blogosphere since 2008.<br />
<br />
The Avett Brothers started out as a rock/punk band called Nemo in North Carolina. (Nemo, besides being a popular, animated clown fish, is Latin for "nobody"). The two brothers, Seth and Scott Avett started an acoustic/folk side project aptly titled The Avett Brothers in 2000. The brothers quickly rose above their rock band associates and garnered a quick -- and southern -- reputation as an incredibly passionate, energetic live band with intelligent and challenging studio albums. A cult following ensued. They started to gain mainstream attention, and critical acclaim, when their song "If It's the Beaches" aired during an episode of <i>Friday Night Lights</i>.<br />
<br />
Still the question remains: what's the difference? Or -- more importantly -- why should I care?<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><div class="MsoNormal">“If It’s the Beaches” written by Scott and Seth Avett from <i>Gleam</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Don’t say it’s over</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Cause that’s the worst news</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>I cold hear I swear that I will</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Do my best to be here</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Just the way you like it</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Even though it’s hard to hide</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Push my feelings all aside</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>I will rearrange my plans</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>And change for you</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><br />
</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>If I could go back</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>That’s the first thing I would do</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>I swear that I would </i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Do my best to follow through</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Come up with a master plan</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>A homerun hit a winning stand</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>A guarantee and not a promise</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>That I’d never let your love</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Slip from my hands</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><br />
</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>If it’s the beaches</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>If it’s the beaches' sands you want</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Then you will have them</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>If it’s the mountains bending rivers</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Then you will have them</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>If it’s a wish to run away</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Then I will grant it</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Take whatever you think of</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>While I go gas up the truck </i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>Lock the old love letters up</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>We will read them when we forgot why we left here</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The Avett Brother's specificity is disarming, almost intruding. It’s as if we are invited into a very private conversation that we're familiar with. It’s clearly the story of a man holding on to a relationship – of any sort – by any means. The Avett Brothers have presented us with a protagonist.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The first verse is our protagonist pleading. He’s willing to change, to bend and break and <i>“push his feelings all aside”</i> for this person. He is a man on his knees.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The second verse presents why he’s in this predicament. “<i>If I could go back</i>…” is all we need. There was clearly a point, earlier on, where this man made the mistake of not communicating his love during a time when someone needed it most. Or, even worse, taking the reciprocation for granted. <i>“A guarantee and not a promise/That I’d never let your love/Slip from my hands.”</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The last verse ends with a glint of hope, that at some point during this dark journey they embark on they will read their old love letters and realize exactly what brought them together in the first place. Using nostalgia as a glue.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This is an extremely personal song. A song of redemption and love, flaws and mistakes. This song is a <i>story</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSx-mk9D7Z7RsJRe1AUCaEJ18m1racCRwCdI_DtiYUuC9tW2iz-ZkrE0mD5Hr84b0kjnMlLhnB2LxcNey5u3vARs00mfKG6jkopBKCFYF3RgwK3akyFed7G4K2ykoiipcd7UsHnfXFGps/s1600/avett1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSx-mk9D7Z7RsJRe1AUCaEJ18m1racCRwCdI_DtiYUuC9tW2iz-ZkrE0mD5Hr84b0kjnMlLhnB2LxcNey5u3vARs00mfKG6jkopBKCFYF3RgwK3akyFed7G4K2ykoiipcd7UsHnfXFGps/s320/avett1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Bringing punk rock energy to folk. </i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Musically speaking, it’s gorgeous, even chilling. The soft strum of acoustic guitars, the lonely violin, and a piano as heavy as a set of weights; it’s as if every note cuts a small hole where the song can flow, like a river flooding dry creek beds.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Art has two basic functions – to either expose the culture, or expose the artist. Some artists become zeitgeists, expressing their culture through their medium. Others, put their heart on their sleeve and inform the world what’s going with them. They mold and chip away at certain personal aspects until they have the best representation of themselves, and then present it to the world.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This what the Avett Brothers have done.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">"The Cave" by Mumford & Sons from <i>Sigh No More</i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>It's empty in the valley of your heart <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The sun, it rises slowly as you walk <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Away from all the fears <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>And all the faults you've left behind <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br />
</i> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The harvest left no food for you to eat <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>You cannibal, you meat-eater, you see <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>But I have seen the same <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I know the shame in your defeat <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br />
</i> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>But I will hold on hope <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>And I won't let you choke <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>On the noose around your neck <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>And I'll find strength in pain <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>And I will change my ways <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I'll know my name as it's called again <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br />
</i> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Cause I have other things to fill my time <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>You take what is yours and I'll take mine <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Now let me at the truth <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Which will refresh my broken mind <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br />
</i> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>So tie me to a post and block my ears <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I can see widows and orphans through my tears <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I know my call despite my faults <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>And despite my growing fears <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br />
</i> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>But I will hold on hope <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>And I won't let you choke <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>On the noose around your neck <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>And I'll find strength in pain <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>And I will change my ways <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I'll know my name as it's called again <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br />
</i> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>So come out of your cave walking on your hands <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>And see the world hanging upside down <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>You can understand dependence <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>When you know the maker's land <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br />
</i> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>So make your siren's call <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>And sing all you want <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I will not hear what you have to say <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Cause I need freedom now <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>And I need to know how<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>To live my life as it's meant to be <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br />
</i> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>And I will hold on hope <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>And I won't let you choke <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>On the noose around your neck <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>And I'll find strength in pain <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>And I will change my ways <o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I'll know my name as it's called again<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The lyrics scream – almost literally – of change, redemption, and personal victory. Existential elements that require serious self-awareness, combining these types of epiphanies to an allusion of leaving Plato’s Cave. It takes knowledge – something brutal and painful – to create the conflict needed for this kind of self conscious breakthrough.<i> “Cause I need freedom now/And I need to know how/To live my life as it’s meant to be”. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But, unlike the Avett Brothers, their lyrics lack a certain amount of specificity and personality. In fact, they maintain a “just right” balance of nebulous and thematic wording. We understand what Mumford is talking about – we get it, we’ve been there -- but we don’t get the intimacy we did with Avett. This is definitely by design.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>“And I’ll find strength in pain/And I will change my ways", </i> are words that clearly ring with crisis, conflict, and triumph, but their simplicity and lack of Identity allow us to fill it with </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">our</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Identity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It’s as if </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">we</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> wrote it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_lKzBfPvV2UEsoRWM-1QH5IhXKVLrSBM6FGP_Z6USvFbwramOqFYTN42aJM0P45F_HvNYuv_Axp2TYkgmMVgx-mIRDdEZE2qR6DV1HMU4sq4VbeWelQ7y8o4fEiw4f1Mb55BfSybrGE/s1600/51RNerVHKRL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir_lKzBfPvV2UEsoRWM-1QH5IhXKVLrSBM6FGP_Z6USvFbwramOqFYTN42aJM0P45F_HvNYuv_Axp2TYkgmMVgx-mIRDdEZE2qR6DV1HMU4sq4VbeWelQ7y8o4fEiw4f1Mb55BfSybrGE/s1600/51RNerVHKRL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sigh No More ...</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Which is a very smart move on the their part as far as commerciality is concerned. This turns Mumford & Sons into </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">our</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> band. They have that perfect blend of epic optimism with allusions to a vague angst. This balance – a lyrical game, so to speak – is akin to the likes of:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Britney Spears, </span>Madonna, and Lady Gaga.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It’s just enough to get a certain theme across while not getting too intimate. It’s enough for us to relate to it without being challenged. It’s remarkably uplifting, extremely catchy, and makes us feel smarter and better about ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Mumford & Sons have created folk-pop. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This is also shines through their image. Their previous tour – with hipster demi-Gods Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes – was spent on a train traveling around the country. They would play their shows then jam at random public places during the night -- like 19th century musical vagabonds making thousands of dollars a night. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The extravagance really kicks in when they get back to their train to an open bar and a jam cart. Even Jake Gylenhaal jumped on board in LA. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Mumford & Sons is the bloated, commercialized, cash cow of Americana. They have the music chops, lyrical skills, and presence to be a major "niche" pop star -- w</span>hich is good for them.<br />
<br />
It's clear that the two bands are dopplegangers on the rise. Although Mumford may have had more commercial success than the Avett Brothers, the Avett Brothers' critical acclaim, cult following, and creative history make them a more mature band.<br />
<br />
This doesn't -- necessarily -- mean they're a band for "mature" audiences, but a band that's been around the block. A band that's earned the awards and acclaim they've gotten. A band you can trust is writing -- and performing -- from the heart. That challenge us, and themselves, in their songs. Whereas, Mumford is a band that hit a homerun on their first swing -- which is great -- but they don't have the sense of vindication that the Avetts have earned.<br />
<br />
In the simplest sense, Mumford is a band that will lift you up, inspire you, bring you to your best and cheer you on. They are a much needed band in our trying times for our "trying" generation.<br />
<br />
But, the Avett Brothers is a band that will make you a better person. And that's needed all the time.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div></div></span></span></div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-317697777151483892011-05-19T10:48:00.000-07:002011-05-19T11:30:31.767-07:00Stars in ______<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Jamey Johnson has always been one of my favorite country artists. He continuously redefines and revises the genre -- alluding to past giants while carefully blazing his original trail. He's smart, plain spoken, and bold in his challenging song design (thought he never truly breaks from the "standard" format, but place himself far enough away, as if you're experiencing something "new").<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This song, "Stars in Alabama", off the nearly perfect album <i>That Lonesome Song</i>, is a particular favorite because: </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A. The story is crystal clear and the characters well defined. </div><div class="MsoNormal">B. The specificity of the writing is engaging -- it's clear that Johnson is not only writing from the heart, but also knows how to dive into his heart and bring out complicated emotions in an extremely simple way. That's art.</div><div class="MsoNormal">C. The tone of the story is captured perfectly in the music. </div><div class="MsoNormal">D. Substitute Alabama and Tennessee for whatever state you're in and where you're from. It's completely universal. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Enjoy. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/5-nHnIhSUTU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I said, “Mama don’t you worry</div><div class="MsoNormal">I’m getting by just fine on the road</div><div class="MsoNormal">Yeah, tonight we played in Knoxville</div><div class="MsoNormal">And tomorrow night it’s back to Music Row</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">No, I don’t know when I’m comin’ home</div><div class="MsoNormal">Montgomery seems so very far away”</div><div class="MsoNormal">She said, “Boy it wouldn’t kill you now</div><div class="MsoNormal">To look out past the bright lights on that stage</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">‘Cause God put stars in Alabama</div><div class="MsoNormal">You just can’t find in Tennessee</div><div class="MsoNormal">The same ones are waiting on you</div><div class="MsoNormal">That taught you how to dream</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I know there’s big names up in Nashville</div><div class="MsoNormal">And you’ll be one before too long</div><div class="MsoNormal">But God put stars in Alabama</div><div class="MsoNormal">To help you find your way back home”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I hung up the phone and I could feel</div><div class="MsoNormal">The emptiness at 80 miles an hour</div><div class="MsoNormal">And I listened close and I could hear</div><div class="MsoNormal">My heart beating louder than the tires</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This old bus was headed west </div><div class="MsoNormal">But my mind was drifting</div><div class="MsoNormal">Somewhere towards the South</div><div class="MsoNormal">And I closed my eyes and I could see</div><div class="MsoNormal">The bright lights shining clearly through the clouds</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">‘Cause God put stars in Alabama</div><div class="MsoNormal">You just can’t find in Tennessee</div><div class="MsoNormal">The same ones are waiting on you</div><div class="MsoNormal">That taught you how to dream</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">She said, “There’s big names up in Nashville</div><div class="MsoNormal">And you’ll be one before too long</div><div class="MsoNormal">But God put stars in Alabama</div><div class="MsoNormal">To help you find your way back home</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Yeah, there’s stars in Alabama</div><div class="MsoNormal">That just can’t wait ‘til you get home</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>By Teddy Gentry and Jamey Johnson</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Performed by Jamey Johnson</b><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
Stay tuned for a post on the difference between The Avett Brothers and Mumford and Sons and what they each mean to us!</div></div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-28183723806800913132011-05-18T10:23:00.000-07:002011-05-18T10:23:23.964-07:00Timshel<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">The following is a guest post I wrote for my friends over at <a href="http://stuffbostonuniversitystudentslike.wordpress.com/">Stuff BU Kids Like</a>. I hope you enjoy it and do check out their site. It's absolutely hilarious. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“To have a reason to get up in the morning, it is necessary to possess a guiding principle. A belief of some kind. A bumper sticker, if you will. People in cars on busy freeways call to each other <i>Boycott</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><i>Grapes</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, comfort each other </span><i>Honk</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><i>If</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><i>You</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><i>Love</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><i>Jesus</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, joke with each other </span><i>Be Kind to Animals – Kiss a Beaver</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. They identify, they summarize, they antagonize with statements of faith: </span><i>I Have a Dream, Too – Law and Order; Jesus Saves at Chicago Fed; Rod McKuen For President.</i><span style="font-style: normal;">”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-font-width: 0%;">n<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><i>Ordinary</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span><i>People</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> by Judith Guest<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">For the past sixteen years – whether you know it or not – you’ve been laying the foundations of a house. This house will be you. And, on the Sunday morning of May 22<sup>nd</sup>, 2011 you will begin constructing your house the moment you open your eyes. The moment you make a choice either to sleep forever – completely ignoring the moving, changing, and confusing world outside – or to wake up and be someone. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The moment you wake up on this impending Sunday – hung over and potentially still drunk – everything you do from then on will be for you. No longer will you acquiesce to the desires of Professors, coaches, TAs, RAs, and Dorm Security Guards. There is no one left to impress – save for the people you want to. You have earned the power of choice. But, this choice and how you use it says multitudes of who you are and what you stand for.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, I hope you’ve laid your foundation properly.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The key to not being overwhelmed – should you choose to participate in life – is to know why, exactly, you get out of bed in the first place. Why wake up? Why not just lie there and sleep – unable to be contacted, to disappoint, to shame, to be vulnerable. Why subject yourself to this cruel, unforgiving, and dispassionate world? Knowing what gets you out of bed, and knowing <i>why</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> these things get you out of bed, is paramount in understanding yourself. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Knowing who you are is like hiring the best architect or interior designer for the house you’re creating. Who else would know how to design the kitchen or where to place the master bedroom? Who else would know what off shoot of burgundy the dining room should be or what wood your dresser should be – cherry or oak? By understanding why you choose to live you understand what makes you … you. This is an incredibly powerful asset.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">By understanding you, you are now invested with the power of <i>change</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, with the power of editing and revising. We, like a great work of art, are beings of constant flux. We ebb and flow with the path that Life puts us on. It’s imperative, for our happiness and our prosperity, that we understand – </span><i>truly</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> understand – who we are, where we’ve been, and where we are heading. This can only come through the introspection that is necessary of analyzing why we get out of bed every morning. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, when you’re two years into the “real world”, unemployed, and scratching for reasons to wake up – think about what’s gotten you up for the past twenty something years. Think about what keeps you up at night. What you day dreamed about while strutting down Comm. Ave on your way to class – looking good and feeling even better. Who are you at your best and what brought you there? Knowing yourself is not only a tool for improvement and understanding, but perseverance and strength. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The same can be said for when you’re two years into the “real world” and realizing that this job you were so excited for isn’t what it was supposed to be. You start to feel that horrible, sinking, feeling that creeps in at night when you begin to realize that your hopes and expectations are nowhere near being met. Knowing yourself gives you the power to make the change you need because of the <i>faith</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> it puts in yourself.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Because – sometimes – change is a choice, too. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, lets say by now you know who you are – hypothetically – now what? You put it into action i.e. you get a fucking hobby. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We are creatures of creation – just look around. You are surrounded, everyday, by edifices we’ve constructed. Buildings, art, food, roads, cars – all manmade. We thrive on purpose and when that purpose and creation is involved in something we love – a <i>passion</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> – then that leads to internal happiness unparalleled by any other experience. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A happiness that can keep you up at night and out of bed in the morning, that grants you peace of mind and a foundation to stand on. A happiness that is contagious, inspiring, and separates you from everyone else.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I urge you all to be someone – at the very least. To be constructive with your cognitive energy and not spend your time on Facebook or Twitter. To not get sucked into the terrible toxin of reality TV – a unique phenomena that has, unfortunately, taught us Millennials that you do not have to be worthwhile to be “famous”. I urge you all to make yourself vulnerable, to get out of your comfort zone, to participate in the world that is outside your window. To make a difference, an impact, to embrace the pain. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I hope you all – in complete sincerity – fall flat on your face in failure then rise to be better than before. You are human – malleable, plastic, adaptable, and changeable. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">You are not made out of glass. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We are given no purpose when we enter this world, we are given no set of instructions, and no path is opened for us. We are merely given a toolbox and ourselves and must make do with what we have, make the best of what God gave us. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Doing this successfully only comes from knowing why the Hell you got out of bed this morning.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><!--EndFragment--> </div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-45374268454264977842011-05-14T10:36:00.000-07:002011-05-14T10:36:02.709-07:00What's Going on at 808 Comm. Ave?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">In complete honesty, I don't go to the 808 Commonwealth Avenue art gallery. Let's just say, I'm not their biggest fan. But, recently, they exhibited work that the costume, stage, and lighting design majors at Boston University's College of Fine Arts did -- for both undergrad and grad students.<br />
<br />
And I was thoroughly impressed.<br />
<br />
It was clear how much care had been put into displaying these costumes, scene sketches, and lighting outlines. They were presented in a way that was clean, organized, and stylishly informal. It was a welcoming and -- most importantly -- <i>engaging</i> presentation.<br />
<br />
As I meandered through the wide, well-lit, gallery I started to notice that they were not only showing the final products of scenery paintings and intricate hand-made costumes but also the rough sketches, outlines, and drafts. They weren't just displaying the finished product -- but how the artist <i>got</i> to the finished product.<br />
<br />
This I found very exciting.<br />
<br />
Rarely do we get to see the creative process of such talented craftsmen -- we are presented with their final product and all our judgments -- everything we perceive -- is from this "final" draft. As a writer, I know that what the artist puts out to the world is only the tip of the iceberg.<br />
<br />
Creating something -- anything, really -- is like finding a diamond. You can't put this diamond and it's awkward cut, dusty coat, and worn out edges on sale and expect people to shell out thousands. You have to <i>edit</i> it. You have to <i>revise</i> this diamond, dust it off, cut away the unnecessary aspects and smooth out the edges.<br />
<br />
You have to turn it from a dirty diamond in the rough, to a fine piece of jewelry you've been dreaming about. It's how well you execute this revising -- this mending and bending -- that dictates how happy you are with the final product and how good you are at the craft.<br />
<br />
Everybody starts out with a blank slate, and all our first drafts are atrocious -- true creation, true art, comes from the ability to revise, change, adapt. To edit. True art comes from a teleological process; a long march towards an end goal.<br />
<br />
That being said I urge you all -- if the exhibit is still up -- to take a look at what these kids have produced and how hard they've worked along the way. From sketch book to final product, you'll learn that art isn't all grand muse and romance -- it's work, planning, and trial and error. Really, creating something is a testament of passion, desire, and work ethic -- just like being good at anything else out there.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQcnDZODTijpMRsCJ5vtHzDkjTSJR51oqznkeTtNA3QEaPEMt-q8EgRDTu-wpiMTKVmz0kVmlyNKPReIfL33A1aOJjDRUNGISgspbNRC03UeWp8zEN0chcJkkwknINKs2Ekv_X8hwQD3M/s1600/IMG_0011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQcnDZODTijpMRsCJ5vtHzDkjTSJR51oqznkeTtNA3QEaPEMt-q8EgRDTu-wpiMTKVmz0kVmlyNKPReIfL33A1aOJjDRUNGISgspbNRC03UeWp8zEN0chcJkkwknINKs2Ekv_X8hwQD3M/s320/IMG_0011.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik9jJe9nmFSlTYO6B444tEKzznIE4eaJzdLvuFuZYuBOlDrvrsXlTMMMAU4FQBVfHAZeJrBt2t0_YWzKvzwmvZFxXNNjNJgQ-wk-x_TN83GcpH8mH-OZIFbXB_59TfbW8uZH8pB_sQpRs/s1600/IMG_0013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik9jJe9nmFSlTYO6B444tEKzznIE4eaJzdLvuFuZYuBOlDrvrsXlTMMMAU4FQBVfHAZeJrBt2t0_YWzKvzwmvZFxXNNjNJgQ-wk-x_TN83GcpH8mH-OZIFbXB_59TfbW8uZH8pB_sQpRs/s320/IMG_0013.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Early designs and cloth ideas stapled to them.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFeOrvqj8U-OE8_5rNqHNWUKE9h81Ma16v8xa6hwOMH2dJ_IG8i8YaPsJ-Cqw9-U64gF83ZgGdhuA_-MBosGB3jGylYtirePr0AL1HZyoJZuFQZ1xqoWv893O0fa1WYTehgkJAfzG5Hug/s1600/IMG_0035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFeOrvqj8U-OE8_5rNqHNWUKE9h81Ma16v8xa6hwOMH2dJ_IG8i8YaPsJ-Cqw9-U64gF83ZgGdhuA_-MBosGB3jGylYtirePr0AL1HZyoJZuFQZ1xqoWv893O0fa1WYTehgkJAfzG5Hug/s320/IMG_0035.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtVAa6EYBNM5HSBmZB_TjmI7qJt-Oo9Ki7Ju6_WOX_0UX2Bl8ktERuuCdMYgtu6e6Dc1PlKpQ2ftDklYGPWBQMHpHoAiM3kOzS1AmzbDRz257pCNEP3wmTBpMcaCuY4I3qwIklt1eGYc0/s1600/IMG_0048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtVAa6EYBNM5HSBmZB_TjmI7qJt-Oo9Ki7Ju6_WOX_0UX2Bl8ktERuuCdMYgtu6e6Dc1PlKpQ2ftDklYGPWBQMHpHoAiM3kOzS1AmzbDRz257pCNEP3wmTBpMcaCuY4I3qwIklt1eGYc0/s320/IMG_0048.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8kKiZ3_EhddIatHo6JBwFv23Xr-gwuvtjxVthrq1_Jwc0uqWg6YjG_egqLYIZy8Xfntqfgrtf6MRVQwSyhwgIB_5B6NNxaUbTRHCZSK2HEuLYwAIAaXiHtXW9cSCJqTIxq5ULh4aRf0Q/s1600/IMG_0056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8kKiZ3_EhddIatHo6JBwFv23Xr-gwuvtjxVthrq1_Jwc0uqWg6YjG_egqLYIZy8Xfntqfgrtf6MRVQwSyhwgIB_5B6NNxaUbTRHCZSK2HEuLYwAIAaXiHtXW9cSCJqTIxq5ULh4aRf0Q/s320/IMG_0056.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQAVXza5C05BGeb5AmJgrnnbLyWqIVg1Z285IckXuLWuVRGJNWYX_lb0h4MpIBLjqQFT0EUsMbWzPVi5NqiMfzEtyjKuq3q6UMWn_xpGGWCmrO69Z0XK8kVLoGiJfg6NG1YEaSenabOQ/s1600/IMG_0059.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQAVXza5C05BGeb5AmJgrnnbLyWqIVg1Z285IckXuLWuVRGJNWYX_lb0h4MpIBLjqQFT0EUsMbWzPVi5NqiMfzEtyjKuq3q6UMWn_xpGGWCmrO69Z0XK8kVLoGiJfg6NG1YEaSenabOQ/s320/IMG_0059.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Rough sketch to colored final.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimDdQAIkK86ChQtPsc__zxjpdMuCXi5LkXfVrQfTO1XmQWTVl0ja2Yfsv_PD9aKxFqFMRC19-MsKkua4YX6DeENY2nf2OlysqViCpklotL103VxmGo0CGFF62U5-AUo0yjrCbGEhC6pEQ/s1600/IMG_0063.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimDdQAIkK86ChQtPsc__zxjpdMuCXi5LkXfVrQfTO1XmQWTVl0ja2Yfsv_PD9aKxFqFMRC19-MsKkua4YX6DeENY2nf2OlysqViCpklotL103VxmGo0CGFF62U5-AUo0yjrCbGEhC6pEQ/s320/IMG_0063.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih44O1GNJhIvmZCB_gzHy3FJlTC4dTW6b1mxumxdulN_KsLY02q-77sPC5chGxuEz4Cy93gpP4cnhikxPzfcysyCpnwf-OZEy7D3yEloTD2ujmR7vu6LsmvXhX-VYh3MvXj1ZXV_0pElc/s1600/IMG_0073.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih44O1GNJhIvmZCB_gzHy3FJlTC4dTW6b1mxumxdulN_KsLY02q-77sPC5chGxuEz4Cy93gpP4cnhikxPzfcysyCpnwf-OZEy7D3yEloTD2ujmR7vu6LsmvXhX-VYh3MvXj1ZXV_0pElc/s320/IMG_0073.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIQZKPbDVioiREArcikKfVQjh6UnACH2PUlzUZvxpmfAz1R_wvx-hhJpszhnYbGiMY3VaR4-okB8-c_GkwCQNW-whY4yQxTNKHG6URN1iDUXlREjvYupLCGu44A6-bIexbP10QSrH4pJo/s1600/IMG_0097.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIQZKPbDVioiREArcikKfVQjh6UnACH2PUlzUZvxpmfAz1R_wvx-hhJpszhnYbGiMY3VaR4-okB8-c_GkwCQNW-whY4yQxTNKHG6URN1iDUXlREjvYupLCGu44A6-bIexbP10QSrH4pJo/s320/IMG_0097.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The sketches themselves are worthy being framed.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizvG31iKIuaxJEX9uRwEgJsGJx470oJw8tvuK34D1SZwkrzkqsgxagIYwezswW4BPo95kGlOnVAX9vZpxlBeiyKRE7wwllVrTKOpGWQuuNn_I6-ad8PIpbcWan1EaR6TEeLi0JHSeLkZ0/s1600/IMG_0125.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizvG31iKIuaxJEX9uRwEgJsGJx470oJw8tvuK34D1SZwkrzkqsgxagIYwezswW4BPo95kGlOnVAX9vZpxlBeiyKRE7wwllVrTKOpGWQuuNn_I6-ad8PIpbcWan1EaR6TEeLi0JHSeLkZ0/s320/IMG_0125.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjQIE-YCpQ5pIOHlycxnM6-gncAj60cCzl7AO8vcu2iFiru6YysRnL2ctfi8qAsYVT1w1VD0W2n5owWJAlCNMe_BkH09xzotAftHLQn1SwfwVA1FhugJwwiuYQVPGcEOBCnU6pG2G7zmk/s1600/IMG_0146.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjQIE-YCpQ5pIOHlycxnM6-gncAj60cCzl7AO8vcu2iFiru6YysRnL2ctfi8qAsYVT1w1VD0W2n5owWJAlCNMe_BkH09xzotAftHLQn1SwfwVA1FhugJwwiuYQVPGcEOBCnU6pG2G7zmk/s320/IMG_0146.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Look closely to the one on the left. The artist didn't even erase the perspective lines.</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i> </i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5x7VHbBfWRgBzbN4Jx6iKPcQ5la41kma58s9bcf_OC-ii2aN_3EDGZ-biDp7f_Nw5QEuPxEGtPNGBmbN2XzFg7S6yrZHNxI8EByXX5N2h8p5JWL6RaTuZkHi9dfPLJMG_qOlrOUFxIGg/s1600/IMG_0153.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5x7VHbBfWRgBzbN4Jx6iKPcQ5la41kma58s9bcf_OC-ii2aN_3EDGZ-biDp7f_Nw5QEuPxEGtPNGBmbN2XzFg7S6yrZHNxI8EByXX5N2h8p5JWL6RaTuZkHi9dfPLJMG_qOlrOUFxIGg/s320/IMG_0153.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Close up of lighting outline. All those little boxes in the middle are lights ...</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Jh9j-mZdYJG2bw50tmSkNyXRKbzcFHxIIqegc-V9bz0h2dhP5r0i1aGnVDftmJsbvY_-6WeBqUsnpd1ubRDTO1kk9e_BTNbLRwLspu6z3Qk52J7vkwQYmT-wEd8_6frwbTOJ2crguAo/s1600/IMG_0158.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7Jh9j-mZdYJG2bw50tmSkNyXRKbzcFHxIIqegc-V9bz0h2dhP5r0i1aGnVDftmJsbvY_-6WeBqUsnpd1ubRDTO1kk9e_BTNbLRwLspu6z3Qk52J7vkwQYmT-wEd8_6frwbTOJ2crguAo/s320/IMG_0158.JPG" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Wide of lighting outline. Almost overwhelming how much Light Designers have to keep track of.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieyH-cvzQEVuGuYJQK53Pi8bBkTuH862vZKL8nScibPTiQ0cg3XdP4VUniS-pn9X1vK3JSvlOZ7VR4lSCkl85EISJaVi53Dz87ojqZKAYvgE17bb9GKc4sE4W1ZSJDKhyrd0AOEGKiMmw/s1600/IMG_0213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieyH-cvzQEVuGuYJQK53Pi8bBkTuH862vZKL8nScibPTiQ0cg3XdP4VUniS-pn9X1vK3JSvlOZ7VR4lSCkl85EISJaVi53Dz87ojqZKAYvgE17bb9GKc4sE4W1ZSJDKhyrd0AOEGKiMmw/s320/IMG_0213.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWxPl-AIQkYCl82ulAarjMhLlIJT4dRo5edRvtTZoMk9aMsq-l_eAF3EOmQ62j5TPEj7Xk1jx2Y7XD9qqM-t65TzhVcgRO7oNHL1nKPinZWlCobPan6xy5izCa4N8XpFIzrNPQz6jxeNw/s1600/IMG_0214.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWxPl-AIQkYCl82ulAarjMhLlIJT4dRo5edRvtTZoMk9aMsq-l_eAF3EOmQ62j5TPEj7Xk1jx2Y7XD9qqM-t65TzhVcgRO7oNHL1nKPinZWlCobPan6xy5izCa4N8XpFIzrNPQz6jxeNw/s320/IMG_0214.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfd8ch5TT6CZPrdb072Zk2xEzlzpTUBqKr9rMLZQr0MdRpOQVIOFUj3_nR7q58zSz3Foru3gsey-83yBScys1jFwbi26v4jhLpwoCpKnUHfaohqQ0fHlpZyTM0_8ksBuCTiBnVdiI4GDs/s1600/IMG_0229.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfd8ch5TT6CZPrdb072Zk2xEzlzpTUBqKr9rMLZQr0MdRpOQVIOFUj3_nR7q58zSz3Foru3gsey-83yBScys1jFwbi26v4jhLpwoCpKnUHfaohqQ0fHlpZyTM0_8ksBuCTiBnVdiI4GDs/s320/IMG_0229.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji3LZYVrGQkzlQjYUubX2Xb6swCKrG4nthJJhdx0rDKQMjMQhVwCG0OSWpm7xiFl7QkYZ3WELVAOfMikJdrKkC4dDobTuP45rAVdw88EatvM1bUu_Mp8w8xGpN69iedRKvbY-xuiJftXA/s1600/IMG_0244.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji3LZYVrGQkzlQjYUubX2Xb6swCKrG4nthJJhdx0rDKQMjMQhVwCG0OSWpm7xiFl7QkYZ3WELVAOfMikJdrKkC4dDobTuP45rAVdw88EatvM1bUu_Mp8w8xGpN69iedRKvbY-xuiJftXA/s320/IMG_0244.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdMIURjNHhQ0trRWmQIJh1lneuLvqF5kdcjUYKdXxuq7Q69q0fb2OMXB6wSMWL8qYcgO9GgzCZAjtJjsGyCdUApYEmneSz6FnW2eHAobgSALLw4XH8aF4s1LuBfiQOoJ4r7dBedYKUYS4/s1600/IMG_0263.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdMIURjNHhQ0trRWmQIJh1lneuLvqF5kdcjUYKdXxuq7Q69q0fb2OMXB6wSMWL8qYcgO9GgzCZAjtJjsGyCdUApYEmneSz6FnW2eHAobgSALLw4XH8aF4s1LuBfiQOoJ4r7dBedYKUYS4/s320/IMG_0263.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_j_-vyUb-u-wpaKylydrcHu2tIM7ylLq45yYXge_nXCj2DpqCIrWajJ_CkDyEN1Ekn4a74vj1Kp282BznxPCoYRxh0HXq1cFJoMLmv-_czZQ5KkwLEwRpLCAFYtk4ENjzXcc0v2h_gxk/s1600/IMG_0282.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_j_-vyUb-u-wpaKylydrcHu2tIM7ylLq45yYXge_nXCj2DpqCIrWajJ_CkDyEN1Ekn4a74vj1Kp282BznxPCoYRxh0HXq1cFJoMLmv-_czZQ5KkwLEwRpLCAFYtk4ENjzXcc0v2h_gxk/s320/IMG_0282.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Rough lighting and scene sketches. Beautiful in themselves.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS7WwxUEzq05rw1U_qf8qqX12FgKR1P2HzMGWx-oGnRul00KEGQRyFPoD_dVma6eknYg8630f6w3wnPtEmOI4OhmIbdT8c0KVa4_JXYFnuMXp8ggMDjMjHPA4bVck_mJLGJMHFYboWzsU/s1600/IMG_9960.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS7WwxUEzq05rw1U_qf8qqX12FgKR1P2HzMGWx-oGnRul00KEGQRyFPoD_dVma6eknYg8630f6w3wnPtEmOI4OhmIbdT8c0KVa4_JXYFnuMXp8ggMDjMjHPA4bVck_mJLGJMHFYboWzsU/s320/IMG_9960.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsIDclOV21cC8vMW-WBBfG7Qo02G4Yk2WQFy-XN595Aj-c_aDK8j4o12IUfnS5RpWS2dK7GXPb1Q8eQiYCM_6OCndp5wko_MS1_kqOA68ZtZn2uB-mai98lUcUq5lfnaS0HOSHaZ-T2zU/s1600/IMG_9988.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsIDclOV21cC8vMW-WBBfG7Qo02G4Yk2WQFy-XN595Aj-c_aDK8j4o12IUfnS5RpWS2dK7GXPb1Q8eQiYCM_6OCndp5wko_MS1_kqOA68ZtZn2uB-mai98lUcUq5lfnaS0HOSHaZ-T2zU/s320/IMG_9988.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhocVnL-odGokBRFQv3G1MI56wHlbjD4T58TCnVidCYJeX4lD5jZ3Q5E-iKNjp5tFrP25GWLjV0QVzhLsC2M4ujDpbwJdEK3Xnl4hovAEqLek5oh6TnGNq8GmBdZ0HqKeP4ZdDi2N6oRu4/s1600/IMG_9990.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhocVnL-odGokBRFQv3G1MI56wHlbjD4T58TCnVidCYJeX4lD5jZ3Q5E-iKNjp5tFrP25GWLjV0QVzhLsC2M4ujDpbwJdEK3Xnl4hovAEqLek5oh6TnGNq8GmBdZ0HqKeP4ZdDi2N6oRu4/s320/IMG_9990.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX_pXumgh1y1_hxg29O0Zktpi_XuzxonuJEzByVXadS1iSDnBeYVNthNFIM2Og5ixaXaY1xwZZFq856uuUxOJhv18S625hcRlk1gCmpnl6vZ3dNE0Q-QLws8-HDJ0xmwCwlLUQjmf5E40/s1600/IMG_9992.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX_pXumgh1y1_hxg29O0Zktpi_XuzxonuJEzByVXadS1iSDnBeYVNthNFIM2Og5ixaXaY1xwZZFq856uuUxOJhv18S625hcRlk1gCmpnl6vZ3dNE0Q-QLws8-HDJ0xmwCwlLUQjmf5E40/s320/IMG_9992.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
</div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-38664546969411098662011-05-08T20:17:00.000-07:002011-05-08T21:09:38.845-07:00What I Learned Underwater in Hanouma Bay<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i>"I am challenged to estimate the esthetic value of, say, a drawer stuck into a canvas. But nothing I've ever seen can teach me how this is to be done. I am alone with this thing, and it is up to me evaluate it in the absence of available standards. The value which I shall put on this painting tests my personal courage. Here I can discover whether I am prepared to sustain the collision with a novel experience. Am I escaping it by being overly analytical? Have I been eavesdropping on conversations? Trying to formulate certain meanings seen this art -- are they designed to demonstrate something about myself or are they authentic experience?" </i><br />
<br />
<i></i>--Art critic, Leo Steinberg via his essay "Contemporary art and the Plight of its Public".<br />
<br />
Not long ago I was blessed with the opportunity of snorkeling in Hanouma Bay, the Hawaiian cove formed in the mouth of an underwater volcano and home to thousands of fish, turtles, eels, and a massive coral reef. It was beautiful and the activity itself a great source of pleasure -- like going to a zoo without the sinking feeling that the animals are actually imprisoned. But, this major tourist site turned out to be an extremely profound experience.<br />
<br />
I was in Hawaii as part of a training trip. A training trip, for those who don't know, is when a swim team goes somewhere tropical to train for a week. To swimmers, it usually means a week of adventures and beaches in between hard work outs. To non swimmers, it usually doesn't make any sense.<br />
<br />
Either way, I was the only guy who opted to go snorkeling in Hanouma Bay. Just me and a van load of chicks. So, naturally, I already felt alienated. Granted, I was comfortable with this group, I've known most of them for the better of three years and got a long well with the assistant coach brining us. But, there was still the feeling of being on the outside looking in that every guy gets when stuck with a group of girls. Their constant chatter of things so irrelevant and petty to male lives, it's almost like being in a foreign country.<br />
<br />
When we arrived at Hanouma Bay it was hot and sunny. We got shoved into this little waiting area that looks out over the bay where you wait for your instructional video to start screening. You must do this in order to paddle around in the bay below. We then get ushered into -- like cattle covered in beachwear and sun screen -- a tiny movie theatre and forced to watch the campiest and most stereotypically Hawaiian instructional video out there.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYYhuVTZ3NNclFCHUl47TiybucVJLU3z-as3RC9hVaBkJU9ZhhQKEzzvoCFbQmzM1no0QRna7I3vRTkaLeKIOAUufJ-itbJcq3Emr-gaA4vWh88MoOJtz2DLf-FEsOiSrTEZl_x6RLtB4/s1600/IMG_9765.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYYhuVTZ3NNclFCHUl47TiybucVJLU3z-as3RC9hVaBkJU9ZhhQKEzzvoCFbQmzM1no0QRna7I3vRTkaLeKIOAUufJ-itbJcq3Emr-gaA4vWh88MoOJtz2DLf-FEsOiSrTEZl_x6RLtB4/s320/IMG_9765.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>View from waiting area.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Between the opening montage of hula dancers, Iz, Hawaiian music, volcanoes exploding, and the Sesame Street gone Hawaiian jingle about not stepping on the coral, I started feeling assaulted with a pre-packaged, processed, and FDA approved Hawaiian snorkeling experience. And then, looking at all the sun burnt tourists I was huddled with, I got the awful feeling that I was just another part of the millions of people that paddle, pee and, probably, poop in this bay while taking in these beautiful fish and extremely rare forms of life. This did not make me happy.<br />
<br />
But, as we all mooed and shuffled our way out of the theatre I put these thoughts on the shelf. I was determined. This experience will be mine, whatever it may end up being.<br />
<br />
Once we successfully traversed the steep slope and set up shop on the beach (hey, sorry girls, but can someone rub lotion on my back?) we proceeded to wade into the bright blue Pacific. We paddled around, already equipped with our own snorkels, goggles, and fins and pointed at various fish as they darted beneath us, completely indifferent to our enamored presence. We were in their world and they knew it.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAfO_EsjcJNKUz1cwkkzLcd306pzQBZ8uSwIP5YGD4yuzSNwJ7lwnN7g-koFFBSmM_X-4NtiythxVW6EFl5lO067wlOsEelNMeYMJxEhuNwFqq8oDp1qDh_tzOaeEWBFkD0-BPJXXJWoo/s1600/IMG_9773.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAfO_EsjcJNKUz1cwkkzLcd306pzQBZ8uSwIP5YGD4yuzSNwJ7lwnN7g-koFFBSmM_X-4NtiythxVW6EFl5lO067wlOsEelNMeYMJxEhuNwFqq8oDp1qDh_tzOaeEWBFkD0-BPJXXJWoo/s320/IMG_9773.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>There's a lot going on under those waters.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>I, being of large and lanky stature, started to feel bad about my fins. When snorkeling, one will be paddling around and suddenly come to a massive reef. To swim around would be impossible, one must go over. But the water is already shallow and this reef that has just thrust itself upon you only gives you six inches to swim over it. My fins were dragging everywhere and I felt awful about it after that beautiful jingle.<br />
<br />
So, I went back and took my fins off.<br />
<br />
I spotted my crew of female swimmers -- they're not hard to spot -- and paddled back out, much more comfortable and confident in traversing the reefs. But, I soon lost them, unable to keep up with their kicking abilities. <br />
<br />
At first I was worried. The video informs us to always have a buddy, but I was a DI swimmer and only a hundred yards from a beach full of tourists and lifeguards. What's the worse that could happen?<br />
<br />
So, I went solo.<br />
<br />
Then, as I started paddling around, I started to feel more and more vulnerable.<br />
<br />
Ever since I watched <i>Jaws</i> at an age much too young to comprehend -- and appreciate -- it, I've had a very deep fear of water that I can't see the bottom of -- especially if it's over my head. And, after watching a <i>DateLine</i> episode when I was -- again -- far too young, I've also been afraid of rip currents and being too far from shore. Naturally, in a world where it's just myself and my thoughts, these demons started working their way into my consciousness.<br />
<br />
It wasn't long after climbing over coral for a while that I found myself in a ravine. Completely lost, alone, and vulnerable, I sunk down into this ravine, about six or seven feet underwater, and looked around.<br />
<br />
I was surrounded by beautiful fish. Colored and shining in the sun. They chewed on the coral reef -- you could even hear them munching. But unlike the annoying guy you on the subway eating his Ritz Crackers obnoxiously loud, their eating noises were endearing.<br />
<br />
Here I was, alone and in a world that I was not evolved to be in, utterly vulnerable and going against all of my deep seated phobias. At any moment these fish could gang up and attack me, killing me off in seconds. The spiky coral reefs could shoot their spikes out at me, or emit some kind of poison that only these prehistoric fish have adapted to and end me right here. For once in my life, I was not in control, completely vulnerable, and at the will of Mother Nature, Fate, and God.<br />
<br />
Then, one fish -- big, shiny, and striped, about a foot away from me -- turned from his meal of coral and looked directly at me. For five seconds that seemed like thirty minutes, there was a moment where it acknowledged my entirety. He acknowledged my vulnerability, my loneliness, every single insecurity and ridiculous thought my imagination could muster. It was as if he said, "I know you're here, Matt. I know you're scared. And that's perfectly fine."<br />
<br />
Then he turned back to his coral and continued munching.<br />
<br />
This was as much as I could take.<br />
<br />
I pushed off the bottom and booked it for land, longing for something familiar, something human, something terrestrial. I spent the rest of the day surrounded by sun bathing women. I went in a couple more times, but nothing as intense.<br />
<br />
I was clearly shaken. What happened down there? What had I experienced? These questions had stuck with me for the rest of the trip and remained unanswered. They just collected dust in the back of my mind, waiting for an answer to bring them off the shelf.<br />
<br />
When I read Leo Steinberg's essay, I was immediately struck with this memory once I hit the passage above. At no point in my life had I been prepared for the moment that I experienced six feet underwater in the middle of a coral reef. I had no idea how to handle that situation, how to be so far out of my comfort zone and so vulnerable and human. It was as if being in a place so foreign made me realize what I am. This was a collision with a novel experience that happens very rarely, especially in such an undesigned and unplanned forum. It's in these experiences that we realize more about who we are than in any other.<br />
<br />
I had never been so human.<br />
<br />
I urge you, wholeheartedly, to embrace these experiences. I'm not saying to seek being thrusted out of your comfort zone, but when the occasion arises -- to embrace it, accept it, and deal with it honestly. I was scared shitless that day in Hanouma Bay, but I'm glad I was able to be put into such a position. I believe art's best, and most important, function is to put us in these situations.<br />
<br />
To challenge us.<br />
<br />
It's how we react to these challenges that shows us more about who we are than about the art that we've been experiencing. Art (including film) -- at its highest -- charms us, disarms us, and then challenges us. It's in these challenges that we find who we are.<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-16068561277483016602011-04-23T20:32:00.000-07:002011-04-23T20:32:50.082-07:00Thank You Drive-By Truckers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I recently bought an excellent album called <i>Go - Go Boots</i> by a great band called Drive-By Truckers.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxIr1eGMAgoq6db3Ewzz-inGuK82Ba61JL0L5JSaGhpTRJY6oY2iwxI1hmovOiZINoEBdRVgybrMYNZOgJmcsuQUpvIVmgvoCQhIEq0qJzPN84TeMead3qFzug3haxOPMOHAw25uZpG7E/s1600/drive-by-truckers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxIr1eGMAgoq6db3Ewzz-inGuK82Ba61JL0L5JSaGhpTRJY6oY2iwxI1hmovOiZINoEBdRVgybrMYNZOgJmcsuQUpvIVmgvoCQhIEq0qJzPN84TeMead3qFzug3haxOPMOHAw25uZpG7E/s320/drive-by-truckers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Drive-By Truckers have garnered quite the reputation as being this dark, intelligent, and story driven band of the South. They're the front runners in the Southern Gothic genre for the musically inclined. I've always been a fan of their brooding darkness with glaring hints of light trying to peel through their black canvas saturated with booze, blood, and tears. They're a really great band to get you in the mood to write, long drives home, and lazy lonely evenings during sultry summer nights.<br />
<br />
But, their newest album, <i>Go-Go Boots, </i>is surprisingly... optimistic. It's as if something snapped and Patterson Hood (the brain of the group) said, "Hey. Life ain't so bad after all, is it?" This is evident from the Beatles-esqu "Everybody Needs Love" to the uplifting final song "Mercy Buckets" about the power of friendship and unconditional love.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy9e4mrlylR1sKYrH-9kTvL9VVco_Yz4T3whtrsZCk2GYdnS-Hxj_Do8bk5qIyHH53-d5MNFyuEAOGDtj4AYEDn9YdNbnM65AKGqTcN5Hl-LBSxOBk_XJE6jSUJUWJ6pw4YZak_BGmnWk/s1600/drive_by_truckers_go_go_boots.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy9e4mrlylR1sKYrH-9kTvL9VVco_Yz4T3whtrsZCk2GYdnS-Hxj_Do8bk5qIyHH53-d5MNFyuEAOGDtj4AYEDn9YdNbnM65AKGqTcN5Hl-LBSxOBk_XJE6jSUJUWJ6pw4YZak_BGmnWk/s320/drive_by_truckers_go_go_boots.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
And I'm glad they did. They still maintain the tone of of someone who has been through something disastrous -- but they emit the emotion that they came out of that disaster better than they were.<br />
<br />
It's as if the Phoenix has finally burned the nest.<br />
<br />
There are two great things about every DBT album and those are the music (obviously) and the album art. The album art for every DBT album has always been original paintings by artists whom they personally met along the way. One of whom, Bryon Wilkes, has unfortunately passed away recently.<br />
<br />
But, one thing that separates <i>Go-Go Boots from</i> all the others is the first page of their liner notes (yes, artists still make albums, with album art and inside these albums they still have liner notes that they pay attention to) Patterson Hood has shared a poem with us:<br />
<br />
<i><b>The Movie Version</b></i><br />
<i><b><br />
</b></i><br />
<i><b>It's The Movie Version</b></i><br />
<i><b>Names were changed, storylines simplified, characters unified and plotlines streamlined.</b></i><br />
<i><b>It might have happened. </b></i><br />
<i><b>Might even be a true story, but we're not calling it that.</b></i><br />
<i><b><br />
</b></i><br />
<i><b>It's The Movie Version</b></i><br />
<i><b>Real life might be stranger than fiction.</b></i><br />
<i><b>It's certainly messier.</b></i><br />
<i><b>A fact is a fact (or so I heard).</b></i><br />
<i><b>That might have been a lie.</b></i><br />
<i><b><br />
</b></i><br />
<i><b>But the lighting is impeccable and the camera angles sublime</b></i><br />
<i><b>and the Set Director did a stunning job.</b></i><br />
<i><b>The parts were all well cast and the dialogue was snappy.</b></i><br />
<i><b>The Actors all won Oscars and the Director was a sadistic tyrant</b></i><br />
<i><b>but the DP's bloodshot eyes were unfailing</b></i><br />
<i><b>and the audience was stunned and amazed.</b></i><br />
<i><b><br />
</b></i><br />
<i><b>It's The Movie Version.</b></i><br />
<i><b>It's not better than "real life". </b></i><br />
<i><b>But for a couple of hours, "real life" stops and we get to tell this story.</b></i><br />
<i><b>Not quite how it really happened.</b></i><br />
<i><b>But hopefully a little more entertaining.</b></i><br />
<i><b><br />
</b></i><br />
As a person who grew up loving movies of all types it can be hard for me to, sometimes, discern between why I love certain parts of life. Do I love the way something looks because it would look great in a movie? Or is it because the way the sky and the architecture of the buildings, street, and urban design mix together? Are all my pleasures in life derived from film -- would this look good in a movie? this is so cinematic! -- or from a mix of pure sensory perceptions that haven't gone through a cinematic filter first?<br />
<br />
People with photographic memories have been known to have issues in separating imagination from reality (if you were to remember and think that much, wouldn't you?). Film lovers and filmmakers have been known to issues separating life from the cinema. Do I like this moment in my life because it's similar to what would happen in one of my favorite movies or because of actual, real, sensory perceptions creating an influx of happy chemicals? This poem, I believe, helps me discern this difference.<br />
<br />
The difference, it seems, isn't from discerning between the two but in recognizing how they <i>blend</i>. Understanding and consciously shifting how we <i>think</i>.<br />
<br />
"I recognize my affinity for this situation in my mortally inexplicable life and wish to weave into whatever creations I may make (stories, paintings, films, etc...). "<br />
<br />
NOT<br />
<br />
"This would look cool in a movie. I like it."<br />
<br />
We don't exist in films -- nor do we exist in songs, or paintings, or novels -- but are certainly welcome to take what we may from this realm of our own reality and share it with everyone else via film. In fact, it's encouraged, so long as we do it right.<br />
<br />
It's in recognizing this difference between the two, and the cognitive practice of copying and pasting, that we can create <i>great</i> art. And it's this practice that the Drive-By Truckers have mastered.</div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-41108109585070865762011-04-12T12:57:00.000-07:002011-04-12T12:57:33.301-07:00Color Composition (Movie Barcodes)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I recently ran across this fascinating blog called <a href="http://moviebarcode.tumblr.com/">movie barcode</a> through the wealth of information known as <a href="http://kottke.org/">kottke.org</a>. What the creator of movie barcode does (who is selling prints, by the way) is take all the various colors throughout a film and shove them all into a series of vertical lines, creating a colored barcode image.<br />
<br />
That was, of course, a repeat of the obvious. I actually have no idea who does movie barcode, nor do I know anything about how they do it. But what I find interesting is what each of these bar codes says about the movies that get <i>de</i>coded (broken down into fascinating post-modern collages).<br />
<br />
Another statement of the obvious: different movies have different tones. By tones I mean that one movie may be called <i>dark</i> because its content is centered around less than happy ideas or ideals. Others may be called <i>bright</i> or <i>light</i> because of their slightly more happy tone. Either way, every film has its own spot on the emotional spectrum.<br />
<br />
This -- if the movie is any good -- is reflected in not just the soundtrack, (think Trent Reznor in T<i>he Social Network</i>), the acting (think Jack Nicholson in <i>The Shining</i>), and the direction (Paul Thomas Anderson in <i>There Will Be Blood</i>) but also in the colors that flood and dilate our pupils based on their lightness or darkness. The colors should match the tone.<br />
<br />
It's clear when you look at these great films below, that the filmmakers worked very carefully throughout their production to make sure the visual tone of the film matched the emotional tone of the narrative, thereby creating a very original, stylized, and harmonious film. Something very rare these days.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFyfWsBnnLV9tsZFv6cz54yFmQo8pgfAbO3uV9kKD0yFD1FTsfPvv8B3vKSRJiuVHYXYheXYCTclUYVMxvQx-n1c4_YHrMcY2vSvGFtiktzA5__G9fa_BpLu986ebs_mSM-MiubAfppro/s1600/tumblr_lh845wckd41qhtovio1_r1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFyfWsBnnLV9tsZFv6cz54yFmQo8pgfAbO3uV9kKD0yFD1FTsfPvv8B3vKSRJiuVHYXYheXYCTclUYVMxvQx-n1c4_YHrMcY2vSvGFtiktzA5__G9fa_BpLu986ebs_mSM-MiubAfppro/s320/tumblr_lh845wckd41qhtovio1_r1_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Enter The Void</i>. Gaspar Noe is known for creating experiences rather than films. This is no exception. The dark story is clearly represented, but so aren't the hints of neon exposure that are also present in his film <i>Irreversible</i>. Most of his technical aspects -- his sound design and color schemes -- are psychologically based to make us feel uncomfortable. The contrast between the dark and the neon accomplishes such. Or, at least, makes feel lost and drunk in Manhattan (still disorienting).</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOfCt8A6b-G2E6_ET9bWwO4KHlSlotPZopJgswKxtUfOJf5DzTxxd7PvK9xPUe060sIdxE6j59RLFaA-c3cCxzjq-RD5FfNMCqCTuRtrpu8UrrI10qCwVXlUAbNhsfVOsNr03wwNIfYw/s1600/tumblr_lifftzThsJ1qhtovio1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOfCt8A6b-G2E6_ET9bWwO4KHlSlotPZopJgswKxtUfOJf5DzTxxd7PvK9xPUe060sIdxE6j59RLFaA-c3cCxzjq-RD5FfNMCqCTuRtrpu8UrrI10qCwVXlUAbNhsfVOsNr03wwNIfYw/s320/tumblr_lifftzThsJ1qhtovio1_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Lion King</i>. A story that spans the entire spectrum of triumph to defeat is represented quite diversely on the color spectrum.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjapS1Rnw3sUetxCXrzfWPsgR79iE4zxktZ10JXTo7-Wldsz-uyzkuXbVsLOcG0xSYT-n8hB98_QuWravD6O-zyw8IsgRRWXCXgf5GLheXvgGFLSFQmaw4ynZBDr5pVFvukabH3a5YjK3c/s1600/tumblr_lh8xadoOve1qhtovio1_r2_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjapS1Rnw3sUetxCXrzfWPsgR79iE4zxktZ10JXTo7-Wldsz-uyzkuXbVsLOcG0xSYT-n8hB98_QuWravD6O-zyw8IsgRRWXCXgf5GLheXvgGFLSFQmaw4ynZBDr5pVFvukabH3a5YjK3c/s320/tumblr_lh8xadoOve1qhtovio1_r2_1280.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Fight Club</i>. Need I say more? A film about the oppression of our primal urges for violence and destruction isn't going to be as bright and shiny as <i>The Lion King</i>. The abundance of night scenes, as well as the darkness of the soundtrack, acting, characters, and -- therefor -- color scheme are represented here.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
</div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-48079948698952451062011-04-03T19:23:00.000-07:002011-04-03T19:40:12.519-07:00Kitchen Conversations<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Conversations that should never make it into any screenplay, or play, but are too good to not be written down.<br />
<br />
INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT<br />
<br />
Three girls and two guys sit around a coffee table. Drinks in hand and dressed to the T, these twenty-somethings are ready to conquer a Saturday night. The empty and half empty bottles of wine and spirits stand guard on the coffee table, forbidding the threat of boredom.<br />
<br />
JANE, a tan brunette with a go-get-em attitude, is commanding the floor.<br />
<br />
JANE: No, here's how it happened: So, my brother used to play guitar in this band, like this complete bro jam band, like Dave Matthews Band or some shit. Anyway, so his band was playing at this festival, right? And my mom is the only one that can make it/is actually willing to go listen to my brother's shitty band at this ridiculous hippie ass festival. So my mom gets there, my brother's been there all fucking weekend, and she immediately starts texting me, "Jane, wish you were here! Free drinks! Yay!" And I'm like "Oh fuck. Already?" So I'm like, "Whatever, this is nothing new." And I move on with my day not thinking anything of it, right? A couple hours later I get this text from her that goes, like, "Oh my God it's so weird how you have to get down on your knees to smoke pot now!" And I'm just like "Uh, what?" So I call my brother and I'm like, "Where the fuck is Mom and what happened?" and he's like, "I don't know! She just got drunk backstage and ran off!" So, me, my other brothers, and my dad all fucking high tail to that damn festival and go searching for my mom. We end up finding her drunk off her ass with a blunt in her hand in this circle of fucking fat rednecks with no teeth and beer stains on their fucking wife beaters and we like pry her out of there and the whole ride home she's just giggling and telling these awkward stories about her and Dad in college while my Dad is trying to either shut her up or change the subject. It was easily one of the weirdest days of my life. And that's why I don't like smoking pot anymore.<br />
<br />
All other persons in living room are nearly asphyxiated from laughing too hard for too long. </div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-80427726153766118252011-03-31T20:14:00.000-07:002011-03-31T20:25:50.417-07:00Tarantino Chic<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Any time someone creates something--especially a writer--what they're doing is presenting their version of the world they live in.<br />
<br />
This especially rings true for film, considering it's intrinsically tied to our world and is the most literal example of a stylized presentation of our world. Whenever you watch a movie, what you're essentially getting is a processed rendition of life. It's like looking through a window within your window of the world outside both windows.<br />
<br />
That being said, it's obvious that every writer (since it all starts with the writer) has a different view of the world than the other one.<br />
<br />
This is why most movies can be so different. The world <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0031976">Judd Apatow</a> creates is very different than the one <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001873">Steve Zallian</a> creates, and even that is very different than <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0744839">Eric Roth</a>. But none of them are as unique, stylized, intelligent, original, and just plain <i>cool </i>as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000233">Quentin Tarantino's.</a><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIA1rX1P47i_b0akFFK-WcaNBIJZWbuGLZT2PeknGbRvFakCqMn1-CjV0RhkhT1Z0QlONosE-YnG4HefD0BVkAdP1de99QMmQpCqPtQ4QrG5O-wWhN-60NkfQI2_gJCcIjEXSGPoXWciU/s1600/leib_port5b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIA1rX1P47i_b0akFFK-WcaNBIJZWbuGLZT2PeknGbRvFakCqMn1-CjV0RhkhT1Z0QlONosE-YnG4HefD0BVkAdP1de99QMmQpCqPtQ4QrG5O-wWhN-60NkfQI2_gJCcIjEXSGPoXWciU/s320/leib_port5b.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Car from </i>Reservoir Dogs<i>. Doesn't get much cooler. Photo by Annie Leibovitz.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and then soon after was raised in Los Angeles, California. He was named after Burt Reynold's character in <i>Gun Smoke</i>. His mother was sixteen when she gave birth to him. His father split later on and he and his mom moved to LA. When Tarantino was sixteen he dropped out of high school to "pursue filmmaking". Apparently he had an IQ of 160 at the time--which is genius level--so I guess he knew what he was doing. He started working at a video store, back when they were relevant and VHS tapes still existed, where he had infinite access to hundreds of films and film lovers to network with.<br />
<br />
Clearly, Tarantino has lived a very colorful life with an obvious level of intelligence, complete disregard of what is expected, and an extreme lack of formality. After watching and reading multiple interviews, it seems like he's lead this singular life in a way that's worked for the better (his career also suggests this). Instead of being a total weirdo, he's become a very entertaining and enlightened man.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ClFBKaJIrPo?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<br />
This comes through without a doubt in the films he writes.<br />
<br />
Although his most popular films like<i> Reservoir Dogs</i>, <i>Pulp Fiction</i>, <i>Kill Bill 1-2</i>, and <i>Inglorious Basterds</i> do a great job at displaying his unique and entrancing view of the world, I believe his most personal film, <i>Deathproof</i>, is the best example.<br />
<br />
Unlike the previous movies listed,<i> Deathproof</i> is essentially plotless. It's a complete homage to seventies car movies, beautiful woman, brilliant conversation, libations, and some of the best music south of the Mason-Dixon Line (it takes place in Austin, Texas and Lebanon, Tennessee. Tarantino usually always mentions his home state and one of his favorite cities). It even has an eighteen minute, epic, car chase at the end. It is, in other words, Tarantino's fantasy movie where he was given free reign to put whatever he wants on film.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/gjoW62Klpng?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<br />
It's obvious that by 2007, when <i>Deathproof</i> came out, Tarantino had been successful long enough that his name being put on a project was enough for producers to start throwing money at him--regardless of content and commercial capabilities.<br />
<br />
But, his earlier films were a huge risk. <i>Natural Born Killers</i>, his first sold feature script, was an ordeal which lead to Tarantino physically assaulting producer Don Murphy in a restaurant resulting in a $5,000,000 lawsuit. All Murphy did was attempt to change Tarantino's script.<br />
<br />
<i>Reservoir Dogs</i> was his first break out. A film about a robbery gone wrong, we can't help but watch as the train wreck unfolds in front of our eyes, resulting in a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=komvFIGYBYM&feature=related">bloody climax</a> that is one of the best scenes in film history.<br />
<br />
And then he shocked the world with <i>Pulp Fiction</i>, a film that could have been good going in chronological order but got propelled to greatness when Tarantino decided to cut up the story. Once again, a gutsy move.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQdIqqR1YofnpfH7-r1E3BL3XQln4XSeytT-9Rll8OKOC9XS5EOKBFHmlZyuq2pkKWFzcxibGQ2RItuo7JlTZ0vOj0kd5zAeP7Gn9ca25bZmHFTze5OBkfeFE1_dqu2J3LX7UuJ2f9qiQ/s1600/tumblr_ky6venglMk1qz762fo1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQdIqqR1YofnpfH7-r1E3BL3XQln4XSeytT-9Rll8OKOC9XS5EOKBFHmlZyuq2pkKWFzcxibGQ2RItuo7JlTZ0vOj0kd5zAeP7Gn9ca25bZmHFTze5OBkfeFE1_dqu2J3LX7UuJ2f9qiQ/s320/tumblr_ky6venglMk1qz762fo1_500.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo by Annie Leibovitz.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Tarantino's films may be based on a stylized view of the world combined with his own brilliant art of conversation, but his career is marked by an uncompromising determination to make <i>his</i> film. To write the movies that he wants to see about the world that he sees and experiences. He certainly has the chops to pull it off. Thank God he's got the balls to share it with us.<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-59680977351528453722011-03-17T18:00:00.000-07:002011-03-17T18:00:49.439-07:00The Business of One-Sheets<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I was introduced, a little while ago, to one-sheets by <a href="http://johnaugust.com/">John August</a>. Well, the official name I was introduced to. I was already familiar with what they are: movie posters.<br />
<br />
Most of us cinemaphiles know that the one-sheets of old are much better and more sophisticated than the one-sheets of now. But, I was introduced to <a href="http://reelizer.com/">this website</a> by <a href="http://twitter.com/Jon_Favreau">amazing director Jon Favreau</a>, which features artists' modern, sophisticated, stylish, and incredibly original one-sheets of contemporary and classic films. This is not a new trend in the modern art world, in fact here's another source for what Mr. August calls "unsheets" at <a href="http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/25-magnificent-modern-day">My Modern Metropolis</a> and also <a href="http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/retromodern-tarantino-movie">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWLSuybGN8G1KPB8Tc7n8lratA2QUjmiOrWqxvioe_SIawtmqwGzfeESOkqZ4v3sC31XBnNd_qhDekCUYurCja1RDKFeBPvzQ_XpDpHqS975t8GLr1pQvqJs5T2tkT_DxccqeSs-TQfyY/s1600/source_code.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWLSuybGN8G1KPB8Tc7n8lratA2QUjmiOrWqxvioe_SIawtmqwGzfeESOkqZ4v3sC31XBnNd_qhDekCUYurCja1RDKFeBPvzQ_XpDpHqS975t8GLr1pQvqJs5T2tkT_DxccqeSs-TQfyY/s320/source_code.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Less this.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
As you can see, the graphics of these posters are all driven by the content of the movie. These artists consume these films, get to the heart of them, and use that as a way to represent the film in one image. For example, if you had one image to express, what you feel, is the most important aspect of the film, what would you choose?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEG_JkMu1JSTZ0N6FJ8wC926yH6j6aE5hwgF3qHVZCSCFeVG7q1cJMMMxgDYuAmNec6IXFrISvBbFOMqHJ7LRZRX-vwKze9d20xqZbk7ugca3gbh4HsaEKlWegrMXWmT75-rV1VLsPUro/s1600/Source-Code-Olly-Moss-476x714.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEG_JkMu1JSTZ0N6FJ8wC926yH6j6aE5hwgF3qHVZCSCFeVG7q1cJMMMxgDYuAmNec6IXFrISvBbFOMqHJ7LRZRX-vwKze9d20xqZbk7ugca3gbh4HsaEKlWegrMXWmT75-rV1VLsPUro/s320/Source-Code-Olly-Moss-476x714.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>More this.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>The resulting product are images that say things about our culture on multiple levels. One of them is how deep of an affect films have on us. Clearly these artists have spent considerable time not only creating these posters, but also in watching and analyzing the films. They break down the tone, the camera angles, and the meaning of certain poignant images in these films and mashed them all together in one image that is designed to get to the core of the film.<br />
<br />
In a simple sense, what I'm getting at here, is that the posters linked to above are all examples of what the motion picture industry is missing: class, sophistication, taste, and style.<br />
<br />
Now, obviously, these posters are infinitely better than what studios are pumping out as ways to collect our hard earned dollars. My conundrum is why doesn't the studio use these as advertisements for their films?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8fmonclMoF6ztrm4kl90TQHOQu5F2MoGBba5oYnM-_mm5OCwXojlQLWqhLYXj-yqXFO9y62snKWs0IEek-5OjeIemAFcO1p9DL3vSIoDvyv5Z_wkrEfy2R4nay4cQ4oqUS8miGBM0qk4/s1600/chinatown-476x634.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8fmonclMoF6ztrm4kl90TQHOQu5F2MoGBba5oYnM-_mm5OCwXojlQLWqhLYXj-yqXFO9y62snKWs0IEek-5OjeIemAFcO1p9DL3vSIoDvyv5Z_wkrEfy2R4nay4cQ4oqUS8miGBM0qk4/s320/chinatown-476x634.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Faye Dunaway as beautiful as ever.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Granted, they are not for every demographic. This much is true. But they are for the biggest and wealthiest demographic: 18 to 25 year olds at metropolitan colleges.<br />
<br />
<b>My proposal</b>: The studios distributing, and therefore advertising, these major Hollywood releases, should commission works by local artists in Boston, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and LA to create "unsheets" like these to be posted and used as advertisements in these cities. That way they not only add a local feel and flavor to the promotion of their films, but also play towards the abundance of "creative" 18 to 25 year olds coming out of progressive, WASPy, suburban schools.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheJ64lmU5wzvxEHcvtMq_M9VssS1uqE_1fOfggFNUKM__B8DEuzTOIWyqpelCyfnfRk9AEqmyiBYg-HjNMGQHrPdgtHjWA32JHkgT0snRAe3ICryWotIEBBB64wArdB2zlP-KyENC4tgI/s1600/mean_streets-476x673.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheJ64lmU5wzvxEHcvtMq_M9VssS1uqE_1fOfggFNUKM__B8DEuzTOIWyqpelCyfnfRk9AEqmyiBYg-HjNMGQHrPdgtHjWA32JHkgT0snRAe3ICryWotIEBBB64wArdB2zlP-KyENC4tgI/s320/mean_streets-476x673.jpg" width="226" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Imagine in this in the halls of NYU's Tisch, promoting an alumni's next film and maybe made by an alumnus as well.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
On top of that, if they're feeling generous, they can cut a deal with the local artists to split the profits from all poster sales 50/50. That's pretty good. If my recently post-grad graphic design friend got commissioned by Warner Brothers to do the posters for their next release I'd buy a few. Wouldn't you? The "buy local" movement is still holding strong.<br />
<br />
Either way, how we present what we create stands a lot for what we believe in. Clearly, the film industry doesn't believe much in style and class. Unfortunately, though, the film industry is also a major taste-maker for our culture. It's important that every once and a while our culture tears down and starts anew with what we idolize. Rebirth is growth, and if you look at every truly successful artist (the "true" coming from longevity) image regeneration has played a major part in their success.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ftO534zaOxFV1zvTm8zLETuNmdjBtvpv8y5gePR9Bp1g9hogJDvpR4TgpBY3Elv1HYzLdxIU7-vTXx6z8enq22l-N0oelILy6BcaeQpN7bCUnuosID1-tAm7dNaLgWOrF7p36snow70/s1600/d4ef52b0dad186f84363cfa5c3d51a39-476x670.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ftO534zaOxFV1zvTm8zLETuNmdjBtvpv8y5gePR9Bp1g9hogJDvpR4TgpBY3Elv1HYzLdxIU7-vTXx6z8enq22l-N0oelILy6BcaeQpN7bCUnuosID1-tAm7dNaLgWOrF7p36snow70/s320/d4ef52b0dad186f84363cfa5c3d51a39-476x670.jpg" width="227" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I would see this movie in a heartbeat. I didn't even like </i>No Country for Old Men<i>.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
The film industry isn't just the last industry that wants to fall behind the curve of what's popular, it's the industry that absolutely can not afford to. And, right now, these are pretty damn trendy.<br />
<br />
Think about it, Hollywood.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0cFHJDWkZrBY6PNVKggnbiGaPOTEMxuoJf9yM2ZysclLq6-UAVEW2W7HAQhiCuGHhh8a4Bzpzg7Vg2DKoWVyh5WXssTMhSgtvkYn0WPTJyKwci4qAamnEEmj866gQjI2iJxjw3z6mC8A/s1600/The-Social-Network.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0cFHJDWkZrBY6PNVKggnbiGaPOTEMxuoJf9yM2ZysclLq6-UAVEW2W7HAQhiCuGHhh8a4Bzpzg7Vg2DKoWVyh5WXssTMhSgtvkYn0WPTJyKwci4qAamnEEmj866gQjI2iJxjw3z6mC8A/s320/The-Social-Network.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Noir of</i> The Social Network.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRI8RT3WBIDQQzHyYtpXY1NNfjHYrhYZZYcTpeMgaw9HZ8pWukHIasOQIJJIUmwdcO3ZA2xbaEimR8Mn1ClE0Bj34hCeoKoytP_SBS2m6FD81cRmSeWFH8JTSO2R-YXVX2QjvvRX7rK8/s1600/www.andcompanydesign-2-476x634.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRI8RT3WBIDQQzHyYtpXY1NNfjHYrhYZZYcTpeMgaw9HZ8pWukHIasOQIJJIUmwdcO3ZA2xbaEimR8Mn1ClE0Bj34hCeoKoytP_SBS2m6FD81cRmSeWFH8JTSO2R-YXVX2QjvvRX7rK8/s320/www.andcompanydesign-2-476x634.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Paramount aspect of the story</i>. Titanic <i>as a thriller</i>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
</div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-62430759553598465762011-03-10T09:30:00.000-08:002011-03-10T09:47:52.281-08:00Why Everyone Should See HappyThankYouMorePlease<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">About a week ago I posted an analysis of my top three scripts. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1481572/+">Josh Radnor's HappyThankYouMorePlease</a> is a close fourth.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMU-gSsRm-gV29GWbLIUVCR84VJocI5gVA8doDps-HDRdYmCKqwxLZHjpryHka6XcSrUvBf8aMLfhYSERXR24LTZkqddvoRlrFTzH3R3sW8CXh4af9K9Q6NiA-32Hh6O6Kal3Y-kEFKtI/s1600/happythankyoumoreplease-8278-poster-large.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMU-gSsRm-gV29GWbLIUVCR84VJocI5gVA8doDps-HDRdYmCKqwxLZHjpryHka6XcSrUvBf8aMLfhYSERXR24LTZkqddvoRlrFTzH3R3sW8CXh4af9K9Q6NiA-32Hh6O6Kal3Y-kEFKtI/s320/happythankyoumoreplease-8278-poster-large.jpeg" width="215" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Go get yourself some lovin'.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<i>HappyThankYouMorePlease</i> is an ensemble piece--probably the first good one in ages--about a couple twenty-something New Yorkers struggling to find direction and meaning in our modern culture. Written in 2007--where it was voted on to the Black List--it took years of work by Radnor (who wrote, directed, edited, produced, and is starring in it) for it to come to fruition. It was premiered at Sundance this year and just opened to a limited audience in New York last weekend.<br />
<br />
I don't normally read the <i>Huffington Post,</i> but I was just directed to a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-radnor/why-i-chose-happythankyou_b_830205.html">great article</a> by Cate from <a href="http://cisforcinema.blogspot.com/">C is for Cinema</a> on <i>Huffington</i> that was written by Radnor.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB-Dp3VJmekYrc9OXsA0U4MqjpLWX4iZSomgXgTKfS7a5Uip2bTXVyLmHAATk7qvFaYBAPnFB6ZDlN8Yg7XJUaS6R2fjqPFYpK0ye-gRLESltblBULhbAqkpT14SIBlztVfwFjrbUmhh0/s1600/news_4587_user_21868.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB-Dp3VJmekYrc9OXsA0U4MqjpLWX4iZSomgXgTKfS7a5Uip2bTXVyLmHAATk7qvFaYBAPnFB6ZDlN8Yg7XJUaS6R2fjqPFYpK0ye-gRLESltblBULhbAqkpT14SIBlztVfwFjrbUmhh0/s320/news_4587_user_21868.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Radnor in HTYMP and his new best friend.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
In summary, the article stipulates why, in a time of post-post-modern-existential speed of thought, where trends and ideas last a good two weeks and we all seem to be incredibly pessimistic, doubtful, or just thoroughly lost, that he chose to spend years slaving over something so...happy.<br />
<br />
His answer is very well written and very intelligent. The normal stigma we give to "happy" films is that they're less intellectually fulfilling. My experience in reading <i>HTYMP</i> was the exact opposite. It's an extremely smart script, that challenges our modern thoughts and beliefs on happiness and success. And so does Radnor's article.<br />
<br />
I highly recommend you go view this movie when it's available at a theatre near you. And, if it already is, than go see it on this rainy weekend. It'll make you so <i>Happy</i> that you'll say <i>Thank</i> <i>You</i> and come back for <i>More </i>saying <i>Please</i>.<br />
<br />
That last joke was pretty bad but in all honesty this is required viewing for twenty-somethings everywhere. </div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-28770848867108056142011-03-06T11:47:00.000-08:002011-03-07T07:07:18.017-08:00Architectural Narrative<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Narrative is storytelling. Stories consist of events that are put in a certain order to affect characters in certain ways. These stories may exist on Pluto or in your backyard. Either way, they came from your (the storyteller's) head and therefore are intrinsically, subconsciously, and unavoidably involved in the world we exist in, right here and right now.<br />
<br />
A writer once said that the best writers are the ones who beautifully weave life in and out of the story--using its essence rather than its topical events. Mediocre writers attempt to do this, but their failures show too easily--there's always a sense of something not being right, something being uncomfortable (not in the sense of content, but in tone). And bad writers just rape the shit out of life.<br />
<br />
That being said, life is crazy. It's unpredictable, irrational, irreversible, meaningless, way too short, and it tosses us around like a rag doll in a Hurricane. So what do we do? We take it in--all of it, the worst of the worst to the best of the best--and we structure it. We control it. We compartmentalize it until it gets to the point that it's an easily controlled and understandable form of literature. Our world in 90 to 120 pages.<br />
<br />
In a sense, we are architects in designing the edifice of a story. We are building a narrative. We are constructing a connected series of events.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWW3u0fFiPEnJlvtJRDWtK3HwseQvw3X74Dfoc1f5Fo_n7KLZ8oV0_PlK8urzFWH0TqnOacehSSYNKEn14hbeQIarTmGwCH2z7TYaGsGCfkOvj0voaHDRyhGzTCL0PcmbLAb_z3AfX9KY/s1600/IMG_9079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWW3u0fFiPEnJlvtJRDWtK3HwseQvw3X74Dfoc1f5Fo_n7KLZ8oV0_PlK8urzFWH0TqnOacehSSYNKEn14hbeQIarTmGwCH2z7TYaGsGCfkOvj0voaHDRyhGzTCL0PcmbLAb_z3AfX9KY/s320/IMG_9079.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Boston Public Library Courtyard. Neoclassical. At once an homage to classics and a symbol of new learning.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Architects, in order to successfully design a building--a massive piece of product that effects our lives on a daily basis--must take into account numerous, often too many, Things. A couple of them are a little more important i.e., the function of the building and the building's relationship with the world around it.<br />
<br />
What is this building for? What is this building doing?<br />
<br />
These two questions affect everything. The mode of design--contemporary, neo-classical, arts nouveau, arts and crafts, modern--the way the inner workings of the building are designed--big rooms? small rooms? no rooms? stairs? elevators? where are the elevators?--to the exterior facades--windows? lots of windows? big windows? no windows?<br />
<br />
Although these may be the broadest of broad strokes it is often time not having the broadest of broad strokes that fails us. These questions, these thoughts, create the foundation of our creation and if our foundation is not strong enough to build our metaphorical building on, it simply will not hold.<br />
<br />
The same is true for writing.<br />
<br />
<b>Who</b> is this story for? What is this story doing?<br />
<br />
The answers are a little less ambiguous, though. The first question is always <b>you</b>. You are the writer. You are the creator. You are the one putting yourself on the line, making yourself vulnerable and naked for all the world to see and criticize. If this story isn't completely tied to who you are, it will fall on its face.<br />
<br />
The second, the verb, is a little more ambiguous. This is up to you. This is where you make your mark. Just like every architect has certain mathematical and physical requirements in which he/she must design their building--the writer has certain limits in which to design our stories (especially screenwriting). DO NOT leave these boundaries or--once again--your building will fall on its face.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioJDFI13lzH8pAUFegtqGRW4tD17hIvc-FSnEKbNa8KCRhO2vntB1t8S0DWA0_PP__kwPImS1XHuvKrt7rvgc5c4xjFH_z3A5LjOpdNELeTj0RRP61JNYJEM-gZU_w9HXADD7cLPHyRgQ/s1600/IMG_9107.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioJDFI13lzH8pAUFegtqGRW4tD17hIvc-FSnEKbNa8KCRhO2vntB1t8S0DWA0_PP__kwPImS1XHuvKrt7rvgc5c4xjFH_z3A5LjOpdNELeTj0RRP61JNYJEM-gZU_w9HXADD7cLPHyRgQ/s320/IMG_9107.JPG" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Hancock Building isn't falling on its face any time soon.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Instead, find your creativity within the boundaries. Limitations--believe it or not--induce creativity. Challenges, confrontation, conflict (ALL OF WHICH ARE INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT TO NARRATIVE) are the ingredients for creativity. Tight deadlines, rules, bitchy producers--all of these push us to perform and create in ways we never thought we were capable of. Genius is 1% personal ambition 99% your interpretation of everything else. What this story does--essentially <i>what it is</i>--is determined by how you play within the rules and how well you're able to bend them without breaking them.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjMXJdWNshuFGjdLSCjdV7KPlTUB0cs3ctm-CPClh2BQZ9EU6vdUpFnyprZcGMIt2wrcOwousWZAoPCW-37hL0_nBSzJlqOuGgFEOMWqRCkE00TxeeNrRaopSb7J_ZAb3ETS3Rv6DSDOM/s1600/IMG_9184.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjMXJdWNshuFGjdLSCjdV7KPlTUB0cs3ctm-CPClh2BQZ9EU6vdUpFnyprZcGMIt2wrcOwousWZAoPCW-37hL0_nBSzJlqOuGgFEOMWqRCkE00TxeeNrRaopSb7J_ZAb3ETS3Rv6DSDOM/s320/IMG_9184.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Check the details. Creativity in the boundaries.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Same for architects. Architects can't defy gravity, if you're gonna have a staircase it better hold who ever is walking up it. It's how well they're able to make a functional staircase that separates them from the others. How does this staircase fit into the motifs that I've set in the broad strokes while still functioning as a staircase?<br />
<br />
If anybody says art has no rules--they're bullshitting you. Have you ever seen Picasso's early work? It's remarkably normal.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu8iO_4DVtKKfQ4Flur8AIuRmFaXunQjMKBIIZzAzBZRY5bC-0CiBn8J6MDZ-V2bRrAD1ZBa45G22vvzFBZ311xNOwZVpf9sL0p1zpwNSG657Sbu_gLKnzzFCn-L_3TZspWb8DPfCSSDY/s1600/7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu8iO_4DVtKKfQ4Flur8AIuRmFaXunQjMKBIIZzAzBZRY5bC-0CiBn8J6MDZ-V2bRrAD1ZBa45G22vvzFBZ311xNOwZVpf9sL0p1zpwNSG657Sbu_gLKnzzFCn-L_3TZspWb8DPfCSSDY/s320/7.jpg" width="215" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Picasso.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>And remarkably beautiful.<br />
<br />
In order for us to branch out to literary cubism we must first conquer the broad strokes. We must first prove our abilities to play within the rules--much like how Frank Lloyd Wright started out as an apprentice to Louis Sullivan and how Picasso started with his beautiful portraits. It took FLW years of work before he became the famous architect (and womanizing egomaniac) we know today.<br />
<br />
Like what Morgan Freeman said in<i> Shawshank Redemption</i>, "Time and pressure. Sometimes that's all a man needs."<br />
<br />
Mine the rules, give yourself some time, and add some pressure. That's really all you need.</div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-31163893605366027082011-03-01T09:38:00.000-08:002011-03-01T09:38:00.837-08:00My Big Three<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><b>1</b>. <i>The Adjustment Bureau</i><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrqGbk-OUi9vAzXIRk50AQRbci1Y5FsuzvZtuix1eT7M00VMnvmf5zM7K9JC1IFPdjX5QU4q1PmFypmhmUexcqOn5yKbYxRn8ykvx2ApyAqWYaGa_h2i6p4Fcm9MTbenkVQPrrsfWXoBk/s1600/adjustment-bureau-trailer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrqGbk-OUi9vAzXIRk50AQRbci1Y5FsuzvZtuix1eT7M00VMnvmf5zM7K9JC1IFPdjX5QU4q1PmFypmhmUexcqOn5yKbYxRn8ykvx2ApyAqWYaGa_h2i6p4Fcm9MTbenkVQPrrsfWXoBk/s320/adjustment-bureau-trailer.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Magic Fedoras. Beautiful Ballet Dancers. Fighting for Love.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><b>2</b>. <i>The Muppet Man</i><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ0aTmr59_9tFoXsKGlTY3l8H4bXN5_4ttzMIKBBgAPtDSpS51DAhAari2j9HE38iwQOke8MdNfDnThIjhEG7z2cxNOv62fKv70vqljaneC0vXN8Neim283kIc0IBvA52AjK2twhVIfAY/s1600/jim+henson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ0aTmr59_9tFoXsKGlTY3l8H4bXN5_4ttzMIKBBgAPtDSpS51DAhAari2j9HE38iwQOke8MdNfDnThIjhEG7z2cxNOv62fKv70vqljaneC0vXN8Neim283kIc0IBvA52AjK2twhVIfAY/s320/jim+henson.jpg" width="234" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>BFF</i>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<b>3</b>. <i>The Dogs of Babel</i><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLeviv-dsYCzdMV_HktJHZplI46HxCbxifArOeNFYFAjmE36XSRdEx4YBaDogwqy0NtPYywoRS7g0M-Red6A-tsyshKMNSghSPtq_NNbcr6kHqa-X7-3CZWDO6fbgsZB_cx4AlTXM0qIw/s1600/dogs-of-babel-book-cover-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLeviv-dsYCzdMV_HktJHZplI46HxCbxifArOeNFYFAjmE36XSRdEx4YBaDogwqy0NtPYywoRS7g0M-Red6A-tsyshKMNSghSPtq_NNbcr6kHqa-X7-3CZWDO6fbgsZB_cx4AlTXM0qIw/s320/dogs-of-babel-book-cover-01.jpg" width="215" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>What a dog would say if he could talk...</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>I've never thought about why these three have found their way so deeply into my heart. I guess I've been too concerned with trying to consume as many scripts as I can to stop and think about why I got chills at every major beat in <i>The Adjustment Bureau</i>, or at the end of <i>Muppet Man</i>, and during the climax of <i>Dogs of Babel.</i><br />
<br />
But, there are a couple things these stories have in common.<br />
<br />
<b>First</b>:<br />
<br />
Unrequited romance.<br />
<br />
Jim Henson, David Morris, and Paul Ransome are all going through some serious romantic issues.<br />
<br />
Jim Henson's work has driven him almost physically ill and pushed away the woman he's loved the most--causing him to suffer from incredible heartache.<br />
<br />
David Morris (<i>Adjustment Bureau</i>) is fighting to be with the woman who--for some inexplicable reason--he cares about more than anything else in this world, and he's fighting against incredible odds.<br />
<br />
Paul Ransome (<i>Dogs of Babel</i>) is a man on a mission to find closure for not only the crumbling of his marriage but the mysterious death of his wife. The only witness being their dog.<br />
<br />
Woody Allen once said that the only true romance is unrequited romance. Heartache is clearly the foundation of all these and is something that can drive grown men crazy. Just look at any country song out there.<br />
<br />
The other night I was watching Richard Pryor's <i>Live on the Sunset Strip</i>. In this routine he has a fifteen minute spiel about how men react to being heart broken. It was so true it was hilarious.<br />
<br />
"Men--we deal with heartbreak differently. Y'all woman you cry and shit. We just bottle it up like it don't hurt...then we walk in front of buses. "Aw, did you see that? That motherfucker just walked in front of a bus! 'Course he did. He was heartbroken. Motherfucker wouldn't have seen a 747."<br />
<br />
Call me a hopeless romantic--but heartache seems to be my specialty.<br />
<br />
<b>Second</b>:<br />
<br />
Fantasticism. I know. That's not a word. But, I think it's the best way to describe how all these stories go into the depths of something fantastical.<br />
<br />
In <i>The Muppet Man</i>--Jim Henson's story is paralleled by Kermit's as he goes through an alcoholic stupor and tries get Miss Piggy off the altar before she marries that annoying muppet who tries to be a comedian and laughs at his own jokes. I forget his name. Henson's story (it's a biopic) is constantly cameoed by the amazing characters he created and, subsequently, died for. It's an incredibly powerful way to tell the story of a creator, like Henson, through what he created. Not to mention how the beautiful songs ("I'm Going to go Back there Someday"!) he made are woven into his own personal story. I'm getting chills now just from reminiscing.<br />
<br />
<i>Adjustment Bureau</i>--I mean, come on. Do I really have to? I've been known to wear fedora hats when I go out. It's a great ice breaker for woman and the glue to my personal style. But, in this world, fedora hats have special powers. That's amazing. Let alone the sole idea that there is an entire bureau of people working to control the universe, to control our destinies to make sure that all goes according to plan. And, of course, Matt Damon is fighting against this and (SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!)...wins. Beautiful.<br />
<br />
<i>Dogs of Babel</i>--I love dogs. Everything about them. I've had them as far as I can remember and will have them for the rest of my life. This story is interspersed with little vignettes of how dogs have saved their owners lives. Of the unconditional love that dogs are famous for. Of their brilliant devotion, loyalty, and that fucking sixth sense for the ones they love that adds that ultimate mystique to them. Let alone the premise: A linguist seeks to teach his dog how to talk so he can learn what really happened to his recently deceased wife. Talking dogs have been around for a while (Pixar did an amazing job) but this is a whole other way of looking at it. I read this script almost immediately after I read the <i>Art of Racing in the Rain</i> and the two combined are extremely powerful.<br />
<br />
<b>Third</b>:<br />
<br />
Great Characters.<br />
<br />
<i>Muppet Man</i>--Jim Henson. Kermit the Frog. Rowlf the Dog. Miss Piggy. Swedish Chef. ANIMAL!. Not only are these brilliant characters but the way Christopher Weekes weaves them in his story is beautiful. The subtleties and specificities he uses to create these characters--to give them life--are touching.<br />
<br />
This goes for all the films.<br />
<br />
It's clear that the writers of these three movies not only love life, but have taken the time to sit and look at what really makes us tick. And they've found that it's not the overarching, massive, broad strokes of themes and ideas. It's the little shit. "All The Small Things" by Blink - 182 shit.<br />
<br />
There's a reason why two very popular statements are: The Devil's in the details AND God is in the details.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
We find the highest of happiness and lowest of pain in the details we see in life. When a certain someone looks at you in a different way--it can send you soaring or crashing depending on the context. But it's just a look. Or just a saying. Or the way someone responds to your text messages differently than usual. The small details of life are the glue that hold everything together. Find them. Use them. Write about them.<br />
<br />
Now that I think about this, the plot of <i>Dogs of Babel</i> is entirely built on subtleties. I'll let you read the script yourself, but when Paul Ransome finally opens his eyes and sees the beautiful details his wife left behind for him it's an incredible scene. Once again. Chills.<br />
<br />
After writing this something has occurred to me: Why haven't I used these in my stories yet?</div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-91017816093875543312011-02-23T18:45:00.000-08:002011-02-23T18:45:20.049-08:00Americana<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Every place has it. Whether it's ancient mythology, babylonian lore, or egyptian hieroglyphs, every culture has a history that may or may not be untrue. The million dollar question--which I will not attempt in answering--is why? But why is always a long and rambling tale, with no up or down or black or white. Instead I'm wondering about where. Where is America's folklore? It exists. But where is it in American film? In American literature?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUtlTzvcUVxYf0pCgcpGIlTf7Js2yIMWSu9Y9tXG5CgI9MIlwtMcA_m7f_6V3MxVr76UHK7JJB7fVdk-zhFUQ3J5BXAAJvNgoG6d9ZwvjdrD32zphzHcNxJCmEgi3S-AZ8vdr0SKBkVX0/s1600/The+Assassination+of+Jesse+James.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUtlTzvcUVxYf0pCgcpGIlTf7Js2yIMWSu9Y9tXG5CgI9MIlwtMcA_m7f_6V3MxVr76UHK7JJB7fVdk-zhFUQ3J5BXAAJvNgoG6d9ZwvjdrD32zphzHcNxJCmEgi3S-AZ8vdr0SKBkVX0/s320/The+Assassination+of+Jesse+James.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<i>The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford</i> was a good try. So was <i>Tall Tal</i>e--Hell, <i>Tall Tale</i> was probably the best try. But, I still feel like there's this massive pool of pure Americana Storytelling as weird as the moonshiners in the Smoky Mountains that needs to be tapped into.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP94JR492tWyynFxEBC-h1INDlJzfZ4px76B5tDzgHAPr7P3v4lYLsaCfKEiSk9KYnY_8v-SxTcsxROKJDXu381XRC1QkJZqQSteH41Eq08h4YFQKlu1La09EsIAJnFOZaSw8q8qNlvkc/s1600/tall-tale-the-unbelievable-adventures-of-pecos-bill--movie-poster-1020367960.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP94JR492tWyynFxEBC-h1INDlJzfZ4px76B5tDzgHAPr7P3v4lYLsaCfKEiSk9KYnY_8v-SxTcsxROKJDXu381XRC1QkJZqQSteH41Eq08h4YFQKlu1La09EsIAJnFOZaSw8q8qNlvkc/s320/tall-tale-the-unbelievable-adventures-of-pecos-bill--movie-poster-1020367960.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Our greatest writers have always written about America and American things but never Americana. Code heroes, drunkards, southern goths, Jay Gatsbys and Daisy Buchanans. We've explored the West with the likes of the OK Corral and John Wayne but this is all individualistic narratives based on modern times. I'm talking about the John Henrys, the Paul Bunyons, and whoever owns that Big Blue Cow. Is that what Blue Monday is? A Big Blue Cow? Plus, the greatest shows of all, carnivals! Medicine shows! Those were full of narrative.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj82-TOtNv9M7-3_Ef92g_Rz0B45jd8xWbfCUnItk0apRh8sm9yoAjtYF8LUyWxhAAwRpijCl7BoZMZLVMWQa0Ce9D_24YyIoRUBXsHbtZhvWoGLWDAUXsNiVwVd6ebhn6-ILRzIE5yC3w/s1600/avettbros.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj82-TOtNv9M7-3_Ef92g_Rz0B45jd8xWbfCUnItk0apRh8sm9yoAjtYF8LUyWxhAAwRpijCl7BoZMZLVMWQa0Ce9D_24YyIoRUBXsHbtZhvWoGLWDAUXsNiVwVd6ebhn6-ILRzIE5yC3w/s320/avettbros.jpg" width="255" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10px;"><i>Avett Brothers. More American than you.</i></span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
With the recent mainstream recognition of bands like The Avett Brothers and England's Mumford & Sons pumping "Americana" music into our homes during the Grammys--plus the rise of antiquity via the Hipsters--you would think that someone would have started exploring this. <i>Water for Elephants</i> is working it, but that's one book and one movie. But then again, sometimes that's all you need is one book and one movie.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8KGDutYU2OEmsnObG7PtH1t9xAYf3trWjuVDG40jw-HTZyM8LzBiHgOxQ_Gq-1q0Gqx-UUbW7DDi2VklMAajXDbJrBBsccsGNROREZpXQ8BdNTBAGMY7kvqGZYyzRZLBtcWQVCxo_-08/s1600/Water-for-Elephants-movie-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8KGDutYU2OEmsnObG7PtH1t9xAYf3trWjuVDG40jw-HTZyM8LzBiHgOxQ_Gq-1q0Gqx-UUbW7DDi2VklMAajXDbJrBBsccsGNROREZpXQ8BdNTBAGMY7kvqGZYyzRZLBtcWQVCxo_-08/s320/Water-for-Elephants-movie-poster.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
It seems as though we're so young, as a culture, that we care more for forging our own folklore with our generation (Bob Dylan...) but I think it's important that we look at what's already there. We all learned about Johnny Appleseed for a reason. Let's expand on it. Let's run with it and create a story, a narrative, an identity of Early America beyond what's already been pounded into our heads since grade school: Revolution, Slavery, Civil Rights.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-40269533423314626852011-02-12T14:47:00.000-08:002011-02-12T14:53:13.374-08:00They Don't Make 'em Like They Used To<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhUaOH5-qrZV6lL5lAMCBMmK10HziROi1D02hGpeiHh_aXapi5ftjb_3gZlt7QFpmtAVQ0PGPHc27N1ltXlN_B_U4bc2UJ06vsq24abo3e2pLNTKuXkUrnXuwhXx08Zx-sCKPvckiQGp0/s1600/DorothyMalone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhUaOH5-qrZV6lL5lAMCBMmK10HziROi1D02hGpeiHh_aXapi5ftjb_3gZlt7QFpmtAVQ0PGPHc27N1ltXlN_B_U4bc2UJ06vsq24abo3e2pLNTKuXkUrnXuwhXx08Zx-sCKPvckiQGp0/s320/DorothyMalone.jpg" width="249" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dorothy Malone from <i>Written on the Wind</i> fame.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Nope. They sure as Hell don't. The stars of now are extremely different than the stars of yore. How does a nation, a culture, go from idolizing Bogie and Bacall to Robert Downey Jr and Natalie Portman? I'm not knocking on those two in any way at all, it's just that...they're different. Very different. Although some might argue otherwise--to which I can understand, we haven't changed <i>that</i> much--but my point is they're different enough that when the two are compared there's a distance. A distance that isn't filled with the most positive of emotions. </div><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGWDjqNBkNYSmkDMslddABZY0zJQJ58UsB7RotCnhJUYRy5XrWKigIZTANtNsGFl3tN4Yh6PEcCx_jlTXAi0pD4z2b9XDSXOPq8mSrfg6B3vcAqYhm9oKDuCD2qBXQZNm1EYLcxtkafN4/s1600/5430990099_de1fb936c3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGWDjqNBkNYSmkDMslddABZY0zJQJ58UsB7RotCnhJUYRy5XrWKigIZTANtNsGFl3tN4Yh6PEcCx_jlTXAi0pD4z2b9XDSXOPq8mSrfg6B3vcAqYhm9oKDuCD2qBXQZNm1EYLcxtkafN4/s320/5430990099_de1fb936c3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">McQueen and Dunaway in <i>Thomas Crown Affair</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table> Our stars are defined off the screen by their on screen persona. Steve McQueen was the king of cool, confident, and sure. He solved crimes and robbed banks with complete faith that everything was going to be fine. He was a man of action, little words, and fast cars. We (men) envied his complete lack of insecurity, his stead fast self-assuredness. Women flocked to him for, what I can only guess are, the exact same reasons. He was a role model for boys on how to be a man.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjebJ8xyl7dsG7daSV70T3d4bBN7ERxcsqWXsMnsCOm9devRYMwi_Yl3HTOaijeZ_lCLRVcX4VEujURTbp0jnaDi0DjVaZ9giuk-BzUs3k7RAOKcPwpv_Dl9LlQAdbSM2YjdYOjNX2zklw/s1600/mcqueenACL12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjebJ8xyl7dsG7daSV70T3d4bBN7ERxcsqWXsMnsCOm9devRYMwi_Yl3HTOaijeZ_lCLRVcX4VEujURTbp0jnaDi0DjVaZ9giuk-BzUs3k7RAOKcPwpv_Dl9LlQAdbSM2YjdYOjNX2zklw/s320/mcqueenACL12.jpg" width="249" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No man has been able to wear a tux better than Steve McQueen.</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Faye Dunaway wasn't quite a man eater but wasn't Little Miss Innocent, either. Her persona was a wounded individual who had the determination to get over her past. She wasn't afraid to make herself vulnerable , as she did in the <i>Thomas Crown Affair</i> and with Jack Nicholson in <i>Chinatown. </i>Yet, amongst the vulnerability and history, she was also a very confident woman. She played strong female leads where she talked slowly and deeply, making sure every vowel and syllable was understood by this man that she was slowly giving herself to. She carried herself with determination, she walked as if every step meant something. And, man, was she gorgeous.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-qpfMUUsAELRVFjGqlLuiBd4ac2n1fehR6939Q5uazTTN8CZZPNhrbV3jHoNKOnfkeJAY1fMqycEbOa2hvJ2l18MtjlfHgtivbd48-S2R__HGq0TRqSqYbkSVmSfdMmDfPoPrFmnwRMY/s1600/tumblr_lf4uq2MYJO1qbfoleo1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-qpfMUUsAELRVFjGqlLuiBd4ac2n1fehR6939Q5uazTTN8CZZPNhrbV3jHoNKOnfkeJAY1fMqycEbOa2hvJ2l18MtjlfHgtivbd48-S2R__HGq0TRqSqYbkSVmSfdMmDfPoPrFmnwRMY/s320/tumblr_lf4uq2MYJO1qbfoleo1_500.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"If a man is being honest, I mean really honest, than everything he does is for the sake of women." --Jack</td></tr>
</tbody></table>But, a star's persona is also determined by their artistic output. Jack Nicholson has never not played a character who either A. Doesn't drink, B. Doesn't smoke, or C. Doesn't have some kind of history. Combine that with his off screen "antics" and we get our idea of Jack: A wild man. But his consistently brilliant performances add a level of complexity and respect. He knows what he's doing. He cares about what he's doing. And he's good at what he's doing. You can't not respect that.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidcgU0whyXDW3jTYWcMDd5b8YrQueBil-_Kb8JqPvh_HARtXPp7g4JWbdt3FUQkVBl715n_0j8LX9YWcA-TXDWWVu-QYlXfj-Sa0RYEX6ZJaDg-6RycVzOyRKDlYymsiBMYnRdGJoiPac/s1600/tumblr_lfwssnb2Pg1qbfoleo1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidcgU0whyXDW3jTYWcMDd5b8YrQueBil-_Kb8JqPvh_HARtXPp7g4JWbdt3FUQkVBl715n_0j8LX9YWcA-TXDWWVu-QYlXfj-Sa0RYEX6ZJaDg-6RycVzOyRKDlYymsiBMYnRdGJoiPac/s320/tumblr_lfwssnb2Pg1qbfoleo1_500.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Redford on the trail.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>But, without these <i>roles</i> that have been <i>written</i> for them, these stars wouldn't be who they are to us. Imagine if Nicholson and McQueen switched roles. Would it work? God, no. Imagine if Robert Redford was never Butch Cassidy. Would you still like him if he bought that massive ranch in the middle of no where or would it add a level of "weirdness"? He'd be kind of weird if he started off in a contemporary role without the previous first impression, of him in one of the best Westerns ever created.<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The writing of movies has changed. Screenwriters don't create Thomas Crown's any more. They don't create Travis Bickles or Sally Bowles. Instead our stars of today are more insecure, bitter, and angry at the way the world is. Our stars of today don't know what's going to happen tomorrow and sure as Hell don't know if it'll be good. Obviously, on a topical level, this can be blamed on the writers: why aren't we writing the characters of the greats? Why aren't we creating more romantic, charismatic, suave and secure characters to be blasted into the psyche's of today's youth? Why are we sitting here so pessimistic and bitter, self-indulgent and self-deprecating? </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjQIYeBcAy3yt3EUQlJQ-Dv7Vxa9WeO5O9UZpXQkYkSLH7KfCcpMCvtLJR2iCbA6jETWxrlP8kHlO3o6-C2q35c-WbTZ-Oxi-44D4QEet6OSgHLJT4kgfTm4SSfUKWQIppCwyoDKTHb1M/s1600/10103913aliza-minnelli-cabaret-posters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjQIYeBcAy3yt3EUQlJQ-Dv7Vxa9WeO5O9UZpXQkYkSLH7KfCcpMCvtLJR2iCbA6jETWxrlP8kHlO3o6-C2q35c-WbTZ-Oxi-44D4QEet6OSgHLJT4kgfTm4SSfUKWQIppCwyoDKTHb1M/s320/10103913aliza-minnelli-cabaret-posters.jpg" width="254" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Outdated? Maybe. But you can't beat talent. Show me a contemporary that can beat Minelli and I'll show you a liar.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">But, at the same time, is it just us? Or is it the world around us? The culture we live in? Nobody's watching <i>Cabaret</i> anymore for a reason. The mass public will fall asleep within the first twenty minutes of <i>The Shining</i>, not just because of our incredible ADD-like rate of consumption (as compared to previous generations) but also because of our lack of <i>empathy</i>. We can't sympathize with those types of characters anymore. They're out of touch, outdates, antiquated. They may <i>look</i> brilliant, and their fashion may be making a comeback, but who they're characters are--as complex and real as they may be--no longer appreciated in our film vernacular. Give me the Cobb's in <i>Inception; </i>the Joker's in the <i>Dark Knight. </i>I don't want no slow talking and fast driving Steve McQueen. I want somebody who is energetic, ambitious, and feels as psychologically fucked up as I do. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">That just makes Steve McQueen seem...<i>normal. </i>And that's as good as sin in this business. </div><div><br />
</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-37779420222877222362011-02-06T11:08:00.000-08:002011-02-06T11:08:31.651-08:00Kitchen Conversations<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Dialogue that should never make it into a screenplay or play--but is totally worthy of being written.<br />
<br />
INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT<br />
<br />
Four twenty-something dudes sit around a small table, grabbing handfulls of monkey bread as they talk. Two girls sit on their respective boyfriends' laps. A couple empty bottles line up like soldiers.<br />
<br />
BRYON. Dude, what if they evolved?<br />
KYLE. They can't evolve that quick.<br />
NATE. I don't know, I think they can.<br />
BRYON. Yeah, I mean, how would they know how to get the cheese and not get killed by the trap?<br />
MATT. Luck. Mouse traps have been around for a while. They gotta be doing something right.<br />
BRYON. Exactly, they've been around long enough that they evolved to know how to get by them.<br />
MATT. That's bullshit. You can't evolve that quickly or to man-made objects.<br />
NATE. Yes, you can.<br />
MATT. No, you can't! That's like a baby being born and instinctively knowing how to use the computer. Like, an infant just crawling up and typing away.<br />
KYLE. What if that actually did happen? Babies evolving to know how to use computers.<br />
MATT. Kids would start getting sexualized a lot earlier.<br />
NATE. Yeah, you'd have to kick the parental settings up a notch.<br />
MATT. I learned way too much way too early from the Internet.<br />
KYLE. That explains a lot.<br />
BRYON. Still, I think they evolved.<br />
KATE. I think you guys just need to clean your damn kitchen.<br />
LIZ. Or get better mouse traps.<br />
(Beat.)<br />
GUYS. Nah.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj0s3ZujOMduswDtwkH5X9AmE49B4M8X1Wp5taaEUyVM6Yd_MiXe-1OqIUc-6zLOEj3NQo_WSrivvnefxlGfHvbx51UN4qY_fmmU17O3-ctL5TDiJ_V4R4KtyvEo5MRxE_7nPqiIentuU/s1600/mouse+helmet+trap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj0s3ZujOMduswDtwkH5X9AmE49B4M8X1Wp5taaEUyVM6Yd_MiXe-1OqIUc-6zLOEj3NQo_WSrivvnefxlGfHvbx51UN4qY_fmmU17O3-ctL5TDiJ_V4R4KtyvEo5MRxE_7nPqiIentuU/s320/mouse+helmet+trap.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Evolution.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
</div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-90928265080307435562011-01-30T14:29:00.000-08:002011-01-30T14:29:49.422-08:00Musical Narrative<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">In Jay-Z’s memoirs <i>Decoded</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> he proclaims that in order to understand our history—who we are and where we’ve been—we must tell our story. Although he was citing the lack of hip-hop while he was growing up that he could relate, the idea still applies to all and has been around since “humans” have been.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC9PPD6Mqz9azQ0kTFWD7fAl0HNAKhdvsGWDgzRwcqcFPUtsDs2I_Fe6x1vpZFF-aiwNLwAnjcUyOFuouOdnRcXUPvye0iAOsBflfeZRZov0FLCdISUlA1P94XmKnzStQ6wMJnczc8C-M/s1600/jay_z_cover_decoded_rapradar.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC9PPD6Mqz9azQ0kTFWD7fAl0HNAKhdvsGWDgzRwcqcFPUtsDs2I_Fe6x1vpZFF-aiwNLwAnjcUyOFuouOdnRcXUPvye0iAOsBflfeZRZov0FLCdISUlA1P94XmKnzStQ6wMJnczc8C-M/s320/jay_z_cover_decoded_rapradar.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Ever since a clever and grieving Neandrathal got the idea to mark the place where someone whom he cared for died, we started the process of commemorating our lives. Of appreciating our existence. And, shortly thereafter, we started the process of making sense of this crazy world we're in with cave paintings and ancient myths about Stars, Gods, and the way things work. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But, for as long as we’ve had stories, maybe even longer, we’ve also had music and the two have been intrinsically combined. Symphonies are riddled with themes, motifs, and characters. It’s hard to deny the presence of a narrative when we hear the <i>Star Spangeled Banner</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In my experience, musicians have always been extremely good storytellers and the best musicians have always been the best storytellers. VH1 would agree. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Amongst the best storytellers have been country singers. Every country song tells a story. Every single one. Hell, if it doesn’t, than it ain’t country. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Lets take a look at the King of Country: George Strait.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD4GrmlTglwX2KNMw6AlUtvo2lKSTxZGelxS7F7AD3-ydC4upGX3p1FdHtQL97wihlMVBDj_9GLoW-GZR5yUyb86n9H2IjpbTwMqi7vD6yIatydnESupQTLJlHpCottwdmLw0wzUtyvQs/s1600/George%252BStrait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD4GrmlTglwX2KNMw6AlUtvo2lKSTxZGelxS7F7AD3-ydC4upGX3p1FdHtQL97wihlMVBDj_9GLoW-GZR5yUyb86n9H2IjpbTwMqi7vD6yIatydnESupQTLJlHpCottwdmLw0wzUtyvQs/s320/George%252BStrait.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Sometimes I feel like Jesse James/Just trying to make a name/Knowing nothing's gonna change who I am..."</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">George Strait recently released a song called “Breath You Take” off his album <i>Twang</i><span style="font-style: normal;">. The first verse goes:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">He looks up from second base, Dad’s up in the stands</div><div class="MsoNormal">He saw the hit, the run, the slide, there ain’t no bigger fan</div><div class="MsoNormal">In the parking lot after the game he said:</div><div class="MsoNormal">“ Dad, I thought you had a plane to catch.”</div><div class="MsoNormal">He smiled and said, “Yeah, son, I did.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">If that doesn’t melt your heart than you don’t have one. The song goes on to proclaim that life is not about “the breaths you take” but the “moments that take your breath away”. As well as document multiple moments in the father-son relationship as the son got older where the father is present for the most monumental moments in one’s life—like being a nine year old and stealing second, or being thirty and having your first son.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">On top of this but the way Geore Straight structures his music—the way the guitar plays a softly picked melody for the verses, and how the strings gently rise and fall during the chorus—play to what the song is about. It’s a marriage between the visual narrative and the auditory music. The best example of this in modern film is in Pixar films.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9zFUGrLqX50RIlh-ggh1dz0_qSnlyuxRbfMRjX2xKpmyY5pYJkJECLiTl5_vEkJ0p6r6ZlqKXvZoSyCYfpfPBE0f5PaHSYQlWKGDKeTOPB0p0Z380Vr-_sjd9iYJv7hOWI_f2TNK9pms/s1600/Pixar_animation_studios_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9zFUGrLqX50RIlh-ggh1dz0_qSnlyuxRbfMRjX2xKpmyY5pYJkJECLiTl5_vEkJ0p6r6ZlqKXvZoSyCYfpfPBE0f5PaHSYQlWKGDKeTOPB0p0Z380Vr-_sjd9iYJv7hOWI_f2TNK9pms/s320/Pixar_animation_studios_logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I make grown men cry.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">If it weren’t for Pixar’s music I wouldn’t have cried at the end of <i>Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo</i>, and <i>Up</i>. Granted, there stories are brilliantly told, touching on “real” issues the way George Strait can and turning them into excellently poised and crafted stories of the most innocent—yet important—aspects of living. But, the music, the soft piano and strings that float in and out of the scene that add such texture, such depth to what we’re watching that it’s inevitable to be overwhelmed with emotion.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">God damn Randy Newman with his soothingly soft yet rash voice and delicate piano melodies. There’s something about a man that has smoked and drank too much who still has the heart to tell these touching. It gets you every time. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">So, in conclusion, if you’re having trouble writing your script or play or whatever, think of your characters and the situations they’re in. Then think of what music they would listen to. Then use that to help guide you on your journey. </span><!--EndFragment--> </div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-60457233400884490782011-01-23T14:09:00.000-08:002011-01-23T14:09:55.265-08:00The Ikea Effect and Mysteries<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Ikea is all at once awesome and awful. They have a great selection of cheap, modern, furniture that somehow works well for its inexpensiveness. One of the best parts of Ikea, though, is their psychological advantage by utilizing a trick known as the <a href="http://hbr.org/web/2009/hbr-list/ikea-effect-when-labor-leads-to-love">"Ikea Effect"</a>.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcrb8skvzTa3h6dOXHOMDKxvovIL31-V0vO09wY1b-Jzqtxjk31xIaUDnJkATXzOXtNgzO2xx-LAiAIykcaOeGZQkE90c2gGQNrMYSm3qB6EBpqpVNePna66RJrT9LpJDgtYR6cxib_Cg/s1600/8-17-ikea+catalog1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcrb8skvzTa3h6dOXHOMDKxvovIL31-V0vO09wY1b-Jzqtxjk31xIaUDnJkATXzOXtNgzO2xx-LAiAIykcaOeGZQkE90c2gGQNrMYSm3qB6EBpqpVNePna66RJrT9LpJDgtYR6cxib_Cg/s320/8-17-ikea+catalog1.jpg" width="278" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Look at that beautiful wall/bookcase. You made that all by yourself.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>The Ikea Effect is, essentially, a way to get customers to enjoy your product by turning them into one of its creators. Basically, when you buy something from Ikea--lets say a bookcase--there is assembly required. You're not just purchasing some bookcase a bunch of Swedes made, you're buying an experience. You have a hand in how well this bookcase functions. You actually help <i>create</i> it. And, by doing so, you subconsciously start to like Ikea because there products make you feel good, they make you feel purposeful.<br />
<br />
You built a bookcase. You should be proud.<br />
<br />
But, at the same time, it can't be too hard. I remember being a kid and trying to put together those remote controlled cars that came with assembly required and getting so frustrated at the complexity that I gave up all interest in playing with it. Until my father put it together and I realized that I'm awful with mechanical things. The point is that with Ikea, a twelve year old could put together your book case, but a smart one. You don't want to cheapen the customer by making it too easy to put together. This will cause them to grow suspicious of the products validity.<br />
<br />
It's about moderation. How much do I make the customer work? This idea is similar in writing with the relationship between the author and the reader. When you're writing, or reading, there is a relationship between how much of the material is spelled out for you--no pun intended--and how much you have to work for. Some authors, just lay it all out there for you whereas others, like Dostoevsky, will make you work your way around excessive adjectives and descriptions. Others--like Hemingway, Weisel, and Carver--will make it seem like they're being very simple when they are actually very complex. This is like the Ikea effect. How much does the reader have to work?<br />
<br />
But, if you want to take that further, the writing of mysteries is incredibly close to the Ikea Effect.<br />
<br />
Lets take a look at <i>The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo</i>. The first in a trilogy, the book is extremely popular, definitely one of the most important books of the decade and the Swedish movies (I think there's a trend here...) are very well crafted. One of the reasons why the series' popularity has soared is because of the mystery itself. It's complex and full of taboos but it's also something that isn't too complex and convoluted that we can't understand it. In fact, once we find out in the end Who did what to Whom, and where So and So is, we get that "Ooohh!" feeling. Like, "How did I not see that earlier?"<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRu-AhuKVr7DLRelAk66_0pjVnyn8EIeV4yYXg5qWHed7keC77Acc9AMgAjReuUEsBoxgIabT82RtjtzUOaUqzqxpto7mfntZLnEdLssXwkHx17DweYaCLVWPLkC7nbLPCsd95iC8NmY4/s1600/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-movie-poster-1020482440.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRu-AhuKVr7DLRelAk66_0pjVnyn8EIeV4yYXg5qWHed7keC77Acc9AMgAjReuUEsBoxgIabT82RtjtzUOaUqzqxpto7mfntZLnEdLssXwkHx17DweYaCLVWPLkC7nbLPCsd95iC8NmY4/s320/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-movie-poster-1020482440.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Don't get too "hung up" on the wrong details.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>It's kind of like after trying to put together that book case for an hour you empty out the box and find that missing washer.<br />
<br />
The same effect occurs in Hitchcock films. There's always a big reveal at the end where our Insecure Male Hero explains everything to us causing us to feel smarter than how we were two hours ago.<br />
<br />
The best way to accomplish this effect is by taking something--an object, a character trait, something visual--and turn it into something very important for semi-complicated reasons. For example, the suits the heroine(s) wore in <i>Vertigo</i>. Or the biblical references in <i>The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo</i>. That way we can have something to hang on to, a rock to stand on (the idea of the "totem" in <i>Inception</i>), and trace it's way through the narrative.<br />
<br />
The development of the biblical references. The way the suits and the hair matched. It gives the viewer/reader a visual aid to concentrate on. Let's call it the Visual Source. Because it's visual, obviously, and is the source of the mystery itself. Like Anaconda Malt Liquor in <i>Black Dynamite</i>.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrJddCVQW-8EXLnCOqPQxwfMNSfd5To-HWmPwAEEn8qdudpLN48XjT0OSgmVkZdcfocKfypTbl9KjCWoWSNm7ayEXDeGsGTzuMMGpe-cSLDfwedVY5Y4XjBSU_uWwnz903hI0xI3Q8Ahc/s1600/kim-novak-as-judy-as-madeleine-in-vertigo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrJddCVQW-8EXLnCOqPQxwfMNSfd5To-HWmPwAEEn8qdudpLN48XjT0OSgmVkZdcfocKfypTbl9KjCWoWSNm7ayEXDeGsGTzuMMGpe-cSLDfwedVY5Y4XjBSU_uWwnz903hI0xI3Q8Ahc/s320/kim-novak-as-judy-as-madeleine-in-vertigo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Follow the suit. Follow the hair. Follow the mystery.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>This is NOT to be confused with the Maguffin. The Maguffin is something completely different; much more fundamental. The Visual Source can never be the Maguffin, but the Maguffin can be the Visual Source.<br />
<br />
If you follow all the fundamental's first--giving your characters something visual to work for, faults to work on that are tied with the visual goal, something to lose, and opposing forces with the same qualities--and then throw in a Visual Source that weaves its way through the narrative--then you got yourself a great story.</div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-51994316574496006212011-01-03T09:09:00.000-08:002011-01-03T09:17:01.733-08:00Rabbit Hole Coverage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNxUN7w7ftQx2bDdn18Wiyl1WGOTXpbSSNtrUQbOb8lIsW-7qRUNylI05wrlJzFy5Yh2Id_Y66aWGpEp6vyLkFLuiR2mb85siP4llep_Dczstap9l4JC-TDSvT0Wr7jLFhAUGjEvN_C48/s1600/eckhart+and+kidman+Rabit+Hole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNxUN7w7ftQx2bDdn18Wiyl1WGOTXpbSSNtrUQbOb8lIsW-7qRUNylI05wrlJzFy5Yh2Id_Y66aWGpEp6vyLkFLuiR2mb85siP4llep_Dczstap9l4JC-TDSvT0Wr7jLFhAUGjEvN_C48/s320/eckhart+and+kidman+Rabit+Hole.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><br />
</i></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Rabbit Hole</span> has been turned into a feature film starring Aaron Eckhart, Sandra Oh, and Nicole Kidman.</i> <i>It's</i> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq73A-tkJLw">trailer</a> <i>is</i> <i>online</i>. <i>David Lindsay-Abaire's play won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize.</i></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Title</b>: <i>Rabbit Hole</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Writer</b>: David Lindsay-Abaire</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Draft</b> <b>Date</b>: N/A <b>Pages</b>: 61 <b>Genre</b>: Drama</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Time</b> <b>Period</b>: Present <b>Location</b>: Suburbia</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Logline</b>: A suburban family deals with loss of a child and the arrival of another.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Act</b> <b>I</b>: The script starts out with IZZY recapping a story to her sister BECCA. Through excellent dialogue we learn that Izzy is pregnant and that Becca has lost a child, although the former not directly. The story continues to Becca and her husband HOWIE debating on how to get rid of, or not get rid of, their lost son Danny. This includes a monologue by the accidental killer, naive 17 year old JASON, who doesn’t appear until the second act. We also learn that Becca’s mother, NAT, has also lost a child—Art. Art is, obviously, Becca and Izzy’s brother. He was also a drug addict.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There is something to be said about the way Abaire introduces his characters. Izzy is introduced through a fight she got into in a bar. It’s a perfect story for her character—she’s someone who is not afraid to go to the heart of an issue. Becca’s response to the story is perfect for her’s—she’s a character of rules, of regulations, which form most of the conflict: everyone saying things against Becca's rules. Also, in this introductory scene, Becca is folding clothes for her lost son, Dan. She has baked very high end confections. This goes on throughout the story as Abaire shows us how settled into motherhood she was—she bakes well, folds well, and loves making homes. In fact, her love of things related to “home” form her major desire: to move. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Howie, her husband, is a very torn man. He seems to struggle with the patriarchal paradigm that dictates he must be the strong one, he must be the rock to get them through this. Although he is obviously hurting, it’s not until his private moments that he shows this. Until the second act.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Act</b> <b>II</b>: The second act starts with a reversal of the first act. Becca, grocery shopping with Nat, has gotten into a fight. She smacked a woman in the grocery store because of her lack of appreciation for her son. The retelling happens at the end of an open house where we meet Jason for the first time. The entrance of this source of tragedy propels Howie to finally unleash his emotions. Also, during this open house, Izzy informs Howie that they’ll never be able to sell the house if they don’t clean up Danny’s room, as it attracts too much attention to something so negative. Becca and Nat end up cleaning out Danny’s room which, naturally, brings up negative emotions from Becca; a scene that questions her commitment to her relationship with Howie, not on a fidelity level but something more emotional. And, without Howie knowing, Becca sees Jason, who provides the only out rightly optimistic look that we get in the play. The final scene is between Becca and Howie, one that ends on a high note, but a vague one.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Abaire does a great job creating symmetry between the two acts to show how our characters have changed. It’s clear by the end that our characters have gone through an arc but, whether or not it’s positive or negative is left ambiguous. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The nebulous ending is something that is justified in this case. This play functions more as a case study in grieving—how we all deal with it differently—and how it can affect our personal relationships, rather than a structured narrative. Abaire shows us how there’s no sense in investing so much in the future, like Becca did by becoming an incredible housewife, or by living so much in the past, like what Howie has been doing by holding on to whatever part of Danny he can. In fact, the best advice comes from the source of tragedy itself: Jason. When Jason informs Becca of the infinite opportunities for optimism to exist in our universe, it breathes fresh air into her. Also, when Howie skips his therapy group, and hears the news of how he and Becca are going out, together, to see people and exist in this world outside their house, he regains his composure, he regains his pride, as he and Becca decide to take life day by day. It seems Abaire is telling us that freedom from grief can be found by coming to peace with the source of tragedy and then moving on—one day at a time.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">As Abaire outlines in his notes "Rabbit Hole is not a tidy play." It's a hard play to swallow but this causes us to focus more on it's craftsmanship. It's clear that it's dialogue is incredibly placed and planned. This is a play that has been slaved over and it's reward has come in a well deserved Pulitzer Prize.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Writer</b>: Strong Recommend.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Script</b>: Strong Recommend.</div>Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-22888914710394539252010-12-23T18:59:00.000-08:002010-12-23T18:59:16.953-08:00True Grit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHIr0wjcxZQYcOYXpjGAaVemQUzD_T-iTuhR9njv4D-SeAwFc4yESGQnuI37mAU6cIk1Z1DwEI79qvF5Bl7UZeg-NlZ9RmBjHjm2GNs5aMlEjFzY_sREbGPcOWCxPX_VRzJ1oEHS7Y0aE/s1600/true_grit_m1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="230" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHIr0wjcxZQYcOYXpjGAaVemQUzD_T-iTuhR9njv4D-SeAwFc4yESGQnuI37mAU6cIk1Z1DwEI79qvF5Bl7UZeg-NlZ9RmBjHjm2GNs5aMlEjFzY_sREbGPcOWCxPX_VRzJ1oEHS7Y0aE/s320/true_grit_m1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
To no one's surprise, <i>True Grit</i> is a great movie. <br />
<br />
The Coen Brothers deliver a story in their typical fashion: confused and entertaining. <br />
<br />
The only things we know for sure is that Rooster Cogburn is an old, fat drunk who's still good at what he does. Maddie Ross is an insatiable little girl who knows her way around money. LeBoeuf is a Texas Ranger who starts uptight but, through Rooster's unconventional yet loveable ways, comes around in the end. Already that's a plethora of information compared to the Coen Brother's resume.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, <i>True Grit</i> is a rambling movie with long scenes of hilarious dialogue and a thin story line. But the characters presented--a Coen Brother specialty--are so well crafted and orchestrated within this "thin" narrative that we can't help but take a liking to them. Their dialogue entertaining enough and the acting good enough that we divulge ourselves almost completely into their stories.<br />
<br />
If anything The Coen Brothers' films are a tribute to how story is only 1/100th of the total picture. The score, editing, costume, acting, set design, and photography are all incredible feats of cinema. The story, basic enough to follow Screenwriting 101, gives us know tricks or twists--it just does. <br />
<br />
And <i>True Grit</i> does well.Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-48128028377266454202010-12-19T12:38:00.000-08:002010-12-19T12:53:56.697-08:00Love and Other Drugs<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEKuuXEiS7XeU8Q1DcoS0p7gEilGJ75p14g0Zkg-aBpB8GEDWexYzTfJ-yOnOFdf36SXJZgCP25hO11cS2bz67OWaFqIDDsA8fyU2NZ_sYXUd0KhXDpp9kAr-xAitBwNZjCFPx6lO1KKc/s1600/love-and-other-drugs-movie1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 178px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEKuuXEiS7XeU8Q1DcoS0p7gEilGJ75p14g0Zkg-aBpB8GEDWexYzTfJ-yOnOFdf36SXJZgCP25hO11cS2bz67OWaFqIDDsA8fyU2NZ_sYXUd0KhXDpp9kAr-xAitBwNZjCFPx6lO1KKc/s320/love-and-other-drugs-movie1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5552499225807662738" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Jake Gylenhaal and Anne Hathaway light up the screen.</span><br /><br />Technically speaking, <span style="font-style:italic;">Love and Other Drugs</span> shouldn't work. The script meanders and rambles--not seeming to have any point or purpose. Jamie and Maggie argue and bicker, letting their insecurities get the best of them. The story isn't really about the relationship but about the two characters getting over their shortcomings and faults. The relationship just happens to be there. <br /><br />But, surprisingly, it does work. The reasoning for this is the electric chemistry between Jake Gylenhaal and Anne Hathaway. Even in a petty romantic-comedy, Hathaway is incredible on screen. She completely fulfills Maggie Murdock to the point where we believe she is real. Everything about her is as tortured and beautiful as her character. Gylenhaal. does a great job playing the breezy Viagara sales rep. The way he carries himself--his posture and mannerisms, the way he sits and the way he stares--fill the tiny little details that make him loveable. The two of them on the screen are something that makes you laugh, smile, and gives you an excellent break from reality for two hours. <br /><br />The other way <span style="font-style:italic;">Love and Other Drug</span>s somehow works is that it is never boring. It's a movie that constantly entertains and stimulates. The characters it presents are so real and well-groomed (as far as development is concerned--though they are all very good looking people) that we are willing to sit and pay attention. This either shows the filmmakers' talents as entertainers or our willingness to suspend our disbelief. Either way, it's worth a view.Matt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1754605665595099745.post-63300234775910235042010-12-18T13:02:00.000-08:002010-12-19T12:38:35.852-08:00Horrible Bosses Coverage<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZUgJUI88STPyAQXwMvo5P8Bi5MvNQmdk9buEUJOR3lnAgHZFUJmWzfe2uZtMEFUDCUyKYf-tsMWB8uksvM2lNb_H7stmzpN-jRIfF6ovPCztnygTY5WBdwHt3H_nfzbSxU99ShHwkQMo/s1600/Horrible-Bosses-585x287.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 157px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZUgJUI88STPyAQXwMvo5P8Bi5MvNQmdk9buEUJOR3lnAgHZFUJmWzfe2uZtMEFUDCUyKYf-tsMWB8uksvM2lNb_H7stmzpN-jRIfF6ovPCztnygTY5WBdwHt3H_nfzbSxU99ShHwkQMo/s320/Horrible-Bosses-585x287.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5552131800157965986" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Horrible Bosses is currently in production by New Line Studios. It's starring Jason Bateman and Jennifer Anniston. It's gone through major revisions and has garnered the credits of two new writers. We'll see how this one turns out.<br /></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Title</span>: <span style="font-style:italic;">Horrible Bosses</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Writer</span>: Michael Markowitz<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Draft Date</span>: 7/5/2005 <span style="font-weight:bold;">Pages</span>: 111 <span style="font-weight:bold;">Genre</span>: Comedy<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Time Period</span>: Present <span style="font-weight:bold;">Location</span>: City<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Logline</span>: Three friends, working menial day jobs, plot to kill their bosses who continually find ways to ruin their lives.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Act I</span>: We are presented with three very likeable, very normal characters in NICK, DALE, and KURT. Nick and Kurt work boring office jobs and Dale works at the local Best Buy. All of them have “horrible” bosses, although the bosses are presented more as annoying than horrible. Kurt complains of his boss, PELLIT’s, repetitive speaking, which comes off the page as annoying and easily skipped. Nick complains of his boss, HARKEN’s, creepiness and strictness, he comes across as a threatening and competitive person but that does not, by any means, make him horrible. Dale’s boss, JULIA, is apparently a beautiful Best Buy manager who sexually confronts him in her office. Dale is not in a relationship but is pathetically in love with the Starbucks girl, NINA, as displayed by his inability to create a conversation with her. Ultimately, Dale has no reason to not take the bait from his hot boss—which is something that seems impossible at a Best Buy. <br /><br />The only character development we receive is of the aforementioned crush belonging to Dale and that Kurt, on the other hand, actually knows how to talk and sleep with women. Nick is attracted to the cute girl down the hall from his apartment, LISA, who immediately comes off as a difficult person during the firs interaction we see from them. <br /><br />The instigating event comes when Kurt proposes the idea of actually killing the bosses as they, for no concrete reason, let them ruin their lives. Dale lets this gestate until Julia walks in on Dale and Nina talking at the Starbucks and claims Dale for her. Nick is vehemently against it until he attempts to hook up with Lisa only to end up talking about Harken and ruins the moment. Once again, Dale is the only one who has an actual crazy boss—but not a horrible one. We don’t even see how Pellit affects Kurt’s life outside of the office besides giving him something to complain about. <br /><br />The first act is thirty pages of comedic situations through too many flashbacks of how the bosses are, supposedly, ruining the characters’ lives. Their reasons for plotting to kill are weak and unrealistic. They come across more as bored than vengeful.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Act II</span>: To start off, the three watch<span style="font-style:italic;"> C.S.I.</span> attempting to figure out how to not get caught killing people which only leads to dismay. They come up with the idea of hiring a hit man, Kurt thinks he knows where to find one. Kurt brings them to a dive bar where they meet COCKSUCKER JONES. Cocksucker is the baddest guy in town. After humiliating themselves and Cockscuker in their business meeting they finally leave agreeing that he charges way too much at $10,000 a head. Nick comes up with the idea of killing each other’s bosses, which gives themselves an alibi. Dale reminds us of how they borrowed this plot from the Hitchcock classic <span style="font-style:italic;">Strangers on a Train</span>. <br /><br />The first person they stake out is Pellit. They learn that Pellit likes comic books and contemporary European furniture. Kurt gains a new light on his boss. They move to Harken’s, where Nick learns of Harken’s worldliness. He too gains a new perspective on his boss. But, Harken shows up while Kurt and Nick are in his house. In a moment of panic Nick, who stole Pellit’s Blackberry, drops it in Harken’s room. The rest of the “stalking” is done in a montage where it becomes more and more clear that Kurt is attracted to Dale’s boss, Julia.<br /><br />Nick dropping the Blackberry, though, functions as the turning point in the second act and where the script finally starts to get interesting and not just comedic.<br /><br />Harken, already suspecting his younger and attractive wife of cheating on him, discovers Pellit’s Blackberry then goes forth and shoots him. In trying to flee the scene Kurt gets caught looking at Pellit’s body and the three are brought in and questioned by bad cop-bad cop SAMSON and HAGAN.<br /><br />All the action is wasted in the first and last ten pages of the act. We don’t see Julia at all in this act. This act it is just sitting in cars and watching, with the only source of entertainment coming from dialogue. This script needs more action. Also, Harken, who in the first act is depicted as being a little off his rocker, does not seem like someone who would just kill somebody. He’s presented more of a character that would take his time and figure out the situation without jumping to conclusions. This act shows that Markowitz’s doesn’t fully understand all of his characters. Its lack of action is also a display of the dreaded second act drag.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Act III</span>: Things finally get juicy. Trying to prove their innocence, the three go to Harken’s seeking a taped confession. They end up stumbling into a surprise party planned by his wife. Using work as a cover-up, the three stay. Kurt is wearing the wire under his shirt. Nick spots Harken going up to his room during the party, alone. He follows him upstairs thinking Kurt is behind him the whole time. Kurt has actually gone to seduce Harken’s younger and beautiful wife aptly named, Mrs. Harken. Nick gets the confession and ticks off Harken even more. Kurt gets laid and misses the entire confession. This plot point functions as a great source of conflict but makes no sense: If Harken is Nick’s boss, why was Kurt wearing the wire? Why wouldn’t Nick wear the wire? So far the three have proved themselves loveably stupid but not to this level. <br /><br />Panicked and upset, the three leave the party. Kurt confesses to another sexual mishap where he ended up being seduced by Dale’s nymphomaniac boss. While they’re hooking up, Julia puts herself in a masochistic contraption that ends up choking her to death. The vast majority of conflict and comedy in this script come from flashbacks—much like this important revelation that should have been done in present time. This script falls to another common mistake of overusing flashbacks. <br /><br />As they’re fleeing the scene they start to notice Harken following them. They try to pick up the speed to Dale’s house only to see Samson and Hagan entering the house with a warrant. They speed through the neighborhood. The high-speed chase ends when Nick’s On-Star representative chimes in about his blown taillight. Dale spills the beans to PAUL, the representative, and tells him the police after them as well. This causes Paul to stop the engine due to company policy. A Deus ex Machina for Harken. As the three try to flee their dysfunctional car, Harken ends up shooting them all but not killing them. The three stumble into the Dive Bar where Cocksucker Jones resides. Harken shoots at them and nearly hits Cocksucker. The bar lights up Harken and the three escape without repercussion. The act ends with the allusion of a sequel as Dale finally gets a date with Nina, the Starbucks lady, and the three sit their nursing their wounds ala <span style="font-style:italic;">Pineapple Express</span>.<br /><br />All in all, this script has very few things going for it but they are important things: it’s never boring, it’s funny, and it has a great idea. The structure may be poorly executed and the character development is definitely lacking, but these things can be fixed. My suggestions would be:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">A</span>. Make the bosses more “horrible” and less “annoying”. Right now their murders aren’t justified—just so happens they were all killed by accident—because they aren’t actually ruining the protagonists lives, they’re just letting them be ruined. <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">B</span>. Tell the story in a more linear structure. Flashbacks work for comedies but only sparingly. Very rarely should a story be told with as many flashbacks as Horrible Bosses has. <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">C</span>. More from the characters. What do they have to lose? It’s not like they have the greatest careers in the world. Even then they seem pretty content with their menial jobs. What happens if they don’t kill their bosses? Right now it looks like nothing. Put more at stake for each individual character and give them all legitimate reasons for trying to accomplish what they want to accomplish. These “horrible” bosses should be standing in the way of them and something that’s going to give them pure happiness. <br /><span style="font-style:italic;">a</span>. Nick should have somebody important to him needing him to get the job that Harken got. Thus giving him a reason to get rid of him. Whether it is for money or status—there needs to be mass pressure between him and a character close to him for that promotion.<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">b</span>. Dale should be dating Nina but Nina should also work in Best Buy. When Julia finds out about his and Nina’s relationship she goes crazy and sets up Dale, framing him to look like he’s cheating on Nina with her. Dale should be on the cusp of proposing to Nina, or on the cusp of marrying her. This framing should cause Nina to break up with him. This should cause Dale to seek revenge and to prove Julia wrong.<br /><span style="font-style:italic;">c</span>. Kurt should not be working an office job as Nick already is. Kurt should be a teacher who works under the worst principal ever. It should be his goal to not only stage his killing as an accident but to expose the teacher’s flaws—whether it be pedophilia or budget cuts, he should be subversively ruining the school which Kurt cares so passionately about. His role as the ladies man is completely fine.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Horrible Bosse</span>s has the potential to be a great action/comedy but right now its lack of development and structured story line are severely prohibiting this.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Script</span>: Needs Work/Weak Consider<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Writer</span>: PassMatt Ricketthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913327625787412891noreply@blogger.com0