Thursday, August 30, 2007

Erin Takes the Shortline

So I'm off to NYC tomorrow. I'm nearly all packed (except for the stuff that I have to wear/use tonight, like my pajamas and my toothbrush. I'll be going off to work in just over a half an hour.

Hannah Takes The Stairs was only supposed to play at the IFC Center through Wednesday, but they held it over for the next few days. They are showing it tomorrow night @ 10:05. I'm hoping to go to see it along with Quiet City, which will hopefully have director Aaron Katz on hand.

I'm so giddy. I feel like I used to feel like the days before I went down to New York in college. TCM is on, and I soooo wish they were playing some cheesy '60s movie (the type they used to play on nights like this). The Buster Keaton marathon they have on right now is doing just fine for me, though.

I'm bringing my laptop down, so hopefully I'll have a chance to blog while I'm down there. I'm opening up the comments section indefinitely.

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Saturday, August 25, 2007

I HATE My Job

Yesterday, I realized I'd had it. I don't want to work in customer service anymore. I was daydreaming about writing a paper on a "little things" aesthetic. That began the persistent thought that it was time for me to go back to school. Maybe all this research I have doing about Aristotle, Plato, and Mythology is a subtle way of telling me that it's time to start seriously thinking about finding a profession I like. Or something.

I'm hoping I'll find a clear and more defined answer when I go down to the city at the end of the week. Also, I want to get my driving finalized before I go down there, so maybe that will help, too. All I know is that I can't dismiss my feelings about my job anymore.

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Saturday, August 18, 2007

I am Not a Consumer

"An art form is the manifestation of a huge preference for one mode of experience. Asked what kind of music he liked, Mozart said: 'No music. Artists are not consumers."

- Marshall McLuhan,
Counterblast, 1969.


Since I first got Netflix almost five years ago, I've had all the movies that I want at my disposal. I still have my subscription, but I'm starting to feel like their are other things I can be doing besides re-arranging my queue and watching movies at night to make sure I can get them back so I can get another one. I guess now I'm ready to create rather than consume, per the McLuhan quote above.

Speaking of needing "other things to do", I'm still trying to get my driving lessons set up. My representative's supervisor still hasn't approved my voucher yet, and it been nearly two weeks. I've never dealt with a state agency that is so awful in doing things in a timely fashion. I'd really like to get this set up, because I'd like to start working on the rest of my plan. I'm also hoping that my trip to New York in a couple of weeks will help me figure out those plans as well.

Earlier today, I was up at my sister's house. She's a music teacher, and she was showing me how George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization works. I've been trying to find some new ways to approach writing for myself, and being a jazz fan, I was hoping that his improvisational approach could provide me with some clues on how to...well, I don't know.

But I had an epiphany. All this reading of books and copying of articles have been a way to figure out what methods work for me, rather than the "one size fits all" that's in most screenwriting books. Perhaps I don't need to write a book critiquing other people's methods! What I need to be doing is devising a viable method for myself! However, as I have said previously, my efforts will provide me with a background with which to explain my methods.

Finally, I watched High School Musical 2 last night. Not too bad, but I think I would've liked it more without all the commercial breaks. Seriously. It was like ten minutes of movie followed by twelve minutes of commercials and buffers featuring the cast at their director's house. Couldn't they wait until afterward to show what happened behind the scenes.

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Thursday, August 16, 2007

Where's Serge?

I've to put myself on a fast from reading books, because I have to get this show finished. I have a lot of books on loan from the library, and ones that I ordered from Amazon.com that I haven't read yet. It sucks, because I want to get them read, but I also have to have my priorities.

Today was my last visit to the Warren Hunting Smith Library. I haven't been banned or anything, but the students are coming back, and I'm not going to have the same peace and quiet I've had most of the summer. I may go back now and again, but I won't be going on a regular basis, as I have for the past two and a half months. Besides, I think I've taken care of what I've needed to take care of.

Tomorrow night is the premiere of High School Musical 2, and I'm trying to find my Serge Gainsbourg CD. I have the cover, where is it? I am going through serious withdrawal right now...

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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Now I Have It

Last night at work, for reasons I don't know, I began listing the items I will need to include in the budget for my movie. Actually, earlier in the day, I was reading this article, and in particular, the sidebar by Joe Swanberg. It cost him only $2K to do Kissing on the Mouth, minus the transfer to DigiBeta (and a few other expenses).

When I made Are You From Bingo?, I tried to keep those other expenses in mind--namely, the festival submission fees. Of course, it didn't get into any festivals at that time. But whatever. Here's the list of things I came up with:


    Camera Rental
    Food
    Batteries
    Tapes
    DigiBeta/HD Transfer
    Gaffer Tape (?)
    First Aid
    Festival Fees
    Soundtrack Expenses
    External HD


This budget is not final. I'm sure I'll think of other things as I go along. I don't even have a script yet, but I do have ideas...

In other news, I watched Inland Empire tonight. I fell asleep about a 1/2 hour or so into the movie, but up until then, it was good. At nearly three hours, I thought it dragged on. I can understand firsthand not wanting to be comprimising, but this movie should have been split into two parts, a la Kill Bill. I liked the closing credits, which had the cast dancing to Nina Simone's "Sinner Man". That was awesome.

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Monday, August 13, 2007

Erin takes the Greyhound

I apologize for not blogging the past couple of weeks. I've been working on my show--and working out. In addition, I've also been copying and reading like crazy.

For weeks, I've had plans to work on something--what, I'm not so sure, but that it would criticize some aspect of the movie business. For awhile, I was thinking screenwriting gurus. Now, I'm not quite sure. Whatever it was that I was going to write, I'm not ready to write it. It would take time, energy, stability, and knowledge that I do not yet have. Besides, when it comes time for me to make my movie, I'll be able to structure it anyway I want to. I'll be in charge of the material, not some producer or studio head. Or another director.

One thing I may still have in the pipeline is an essay on mumblecore. My goal for the essay is to take the works of Bujalski, Swanberg, Katz, Duplass, Russo-Young et al and contrast it with how the rest of the movie world works. Right now, I have some quotes that illustrate "the other side" of the equation. I still have yet to see a few of those movies, and I still need to get all the interviews with the directors in one spot. However, unlike the project I was mentioning in the previous paragraph, I do think that writing this essay is a goal within reach. The big question is...where will it be published?

Speaking of "mumblecore", I discovered that Hannah Takes the Stairs is opening at the IFC Center in New York on August 22. I really hope it's still playing by the time I arrive August 31. Here is the trailer for the movie:


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