Ain't nobody home...

Just catching up on some fellow students' posting on the UCLA blackboard. I've had some comments from someone regarding my treatment, quizzing that it showed lots of action, of what was happening on screen, but she didn't get the characterization. I wanted to reply, well, thanks, that's the point of a treatment! Cinema is action, not people looking in the mirror at their tattoo's and thinking maybe they won't kill themselves today. I tried to be more constructive than that...

And our great leader was AWOL again for a while, and he's since come back and still not commented on my posts or even replied to a direct email. His biggest contribution thus far has been to continually apologize for his absence..but he's a working writer, director...blah, blah - Alan, I don't give a fuck - the first time you apologized, you said you didn't want to short change anyone. Well, you have. The frustration is more that I'm not sure if all unit courses are like this, or just this one? Should I continue or not? That, dear reader is the question.

I've just read that brain function decreases after you're 27! And memory is shot after 37, but at least you won't remember how clever you used to be. Though, your ability to collect general information increases until you're about 60, which is probably why pensioners wander about B&Q spouting nonsense to anyone is earshot. At 37, I just can't remember why I'm in B&Q to begin with...

4.48 to sleepville

I made a cardinal mistake of eating a couple of biscuits to mark a small acheivement of the day late in the evening, and now they're killing me via acid reflux. It's 4.51 and the birds are enjoying an early morning chorus and I've just heard what sounded like two gun shots - let's hope it isn't a farmer on a killing spree, emulating yet more shootings in the news - within hours very similar events taking place in Germany and the US.

Anyway, I earlier posted my Act 1 scene-by-scene overview. I had a little moment of revelation at the end of the act, which made me feel I acheived something. Not on any grand scale of course...no cancer's cured, no peace for mankind but a little personal writing moment, and that's enough for a Wednesday evening.

I also emailed our illustrious professor with a complaint of why my week 4 masterwork had not been commented on, when others have had their revisions commented on...we await his answer dear reader.

Time to try more sleep - the birds may fancy singing but I need some sleep. Let's hope there's been an amnesty on acid reflux and gunplay!

Goodnight and good luck.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Mini Cooper

I've just read that Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood's latest film will be his last acting role. The reviews have been almost universally positive. I saw the film this week and I rated it 6 out of 10, though my girlfriend, fidgeting throughout, scored it a lowly 3, if only because of Clint's growling. It would have been a much better film, if not for the stage-school acting of the rest of the cast. Clint, despite his age, still holds a great physical presence on screen, and knows that screen acting is about less, not more. And all because everyone wanted his 1972 Ford Gran Torino! Grrrr....hands off my Mini Cooper, punk.

Dark Fire sale

I recently wrote to guitarist magazine ranting about the newly released Dark Fire guitar from the Gibson guitar company, which was reviewed in March 2009 issue. I thought it was worth repeating here in case the editors deem my angry ramblings as unsuitable for print. History in this case will not here my comments on this guitar, and I think history will be the worse for it, so here it is.

Good lord, what a hideous contrivance Gibson has seen fit to let loose on the guitar world. The most powerful guitar ever, you posed? Well that may be...it may boast many features, such as robotic tuning, piezo pickups and pickup switching system that sounds as user-friendly as barbed wire, but does anybody out there want all this on a single guitar? I'm no technophile, so the silicon chips aren't my main gripe with this guitar.  I know, I know, looks are all in the eye of the beholder, but Gibson should hold their heads in shame, as the Dark Fire is hideous. Fine, you have the heritage of a core brand like the Les Paul, so you keep that classic shape, but to then meld, what looks like a chinese lacquer cabinet with bits of fake carbon fibre, and possibly the worst fret inlays I've seen in my life, the question I pose to you Gibson is, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? If you want it to be cutting-edge and futuristic, look toward Yamaha (like the ABX A2M Bass in the same issue) and Parker, or even Apple for design cues. I guarantee that in the guitar encyclopedia's of the future, this will be listed as another of Gibson's failed attempts to fuse vintage and modern. Stick all the gadgets in a Les Paul Standard if that's what you want, rather than trying so hard to be modern, because what you end up with is something that fails on both fronts and appeals to neither buyer.

If the future is reading this, I was right wasn't I, nobody wanted the bloody thing...