Bloody Gaping Wound

new writin's

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 01:09:00 +0000

Ok, so I seem to have lept over the intended Ebertfest posts with that last entry. I promise I will return to them shortly.

Mainly, that last post -- and to an extent, this one -- are elaborate tests of my new mobile blogging software on my phone. If you haven't noticed, I'm in something of a posting explosion. I don't think I've posted this many posts in a row since when I first opened this blog.

Perhaps, just perhaps, some of them will have something of substance to say soon.

untitled poem

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:19:00 +0000

i rant
sometimes the pretty
girls will seem to me
a strange thing and
foreign entirely, stumbling
in to find their sugar
and coffee, left brown
and black, espresso crema,
settling quickly,
a quickly diminished art.
mocha colored blood
and burnt fingers that
crept too close to the
steam wand,
no matter.caffiene is the world's happiest drug
and those without it are
left far behind.

ebertfest, in transit

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 23:46:00 +0000

I'm not really in transit at this point, but I've not yet seen any movies. Apocolypse Now Redux starts in about an hour, so I suppose this first post is simply me checking in.

Also, does anyone else think there should be more movies set along rivers? Apoc Now, Aguirre: Wrath of God, and a couple other really good flicks out there. I love the juxtaposition of man's feral nature vs nature's unyieldingness. Something about that really strikes me somewhere primal.

Click the title of this post to check out streaming video of the panels I'll be helping film!

testing, testing, 1, 2, 3....

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:27:00 +0000

Trying out my new mobile blogger platform. Not necessarily something to churn out huge posts, but something to help me get back into blogging more the next couple months.

Here's hoping it works!

a curious moment

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:53:00 +0000

So I just remembered this strange moment I had a few years back.

I was at college, and was in my fedora-wearing-stage. Also, I rode my bike everywhere.

It was late at night, and I was trying to find a party. Or something-- maybe I was trying to find the way home.

And I suddenly found myself in a terrible neighborhood. Poor, and the sort that typically you don't want to find yourself in after dark.

As I'm riding, a group of young black men -- I'd say about 6 or 7 of them -- appear on a doorstep off in the distance. Here I am on my bike, and I'm not the sort of person who goes, "Oh, black men. How menacing." But knowing that the area was not the sort of area one would want to find oneself in, if just speaking statistically, I started to speed up.

And then I heard it.

"Duh, duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh...."

Menacing. And then I realized the fedora on my head. And me, skinny skinny me, riding my awkward looking bike in the dark. ""Duh duh duh duh duh duh DUH!!!

"Inspector Gadget!!!"

They were all singing the Inspector Gadget theme song.

I've been having a lot of days like this lately.

the ending, or how not to know it

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:52:00 +0000

If you've been following this blog for a while -- or more likely, you've talked to me at any length -- you probably know I've been working on a script for a good long time; a lot longer than any script should feasibly take. This is due to many reasons: constant evolution of the story line, changes in presentation, and a general change in who I am that is reflected in my storytelling voice. Simply put, I'm not the same person who started with this idea.

This could be a good thing; I would be confident in saying that I'm a stronger person with a more highly developed view of ideas and principles. I've gone through my own share of personal battles, demons, and triumphs, and these have all had their own impact on what I'm writing.

Of course, any reasonable screenwriter would tell you that you shouldn't spend the sort of time on a singular script that you'd change so much between the beginning pages and the ending ones that you're over-arching ideas become entirely new ones. That's not good business; how could you ever expect to put out consistent product when your assembly line is constantly being redesigned?

So here I am, about 3 or 4 years after starting this project, and I'm finally at a point where I can foresee an ending coming to the writing of it. My problem now is in what that ending will be.

As a writer, I've been primarily plot-based, narrative based. This goes against good story-telling concepts of writing around a "character based" story; the most basic distillation of this idea coming down to the story evolving naturally from the characters.

I’ve never been one to entirely agree with that: modern story telling is the sort where the "hook" is what gets people, the hook being the gimmick or essence of the plot: the high-concept. I've evolved enough as a writer beyond "teens get transported to the future as adults" stories that I've been accused of some of my plots being a bit too far from the high-concept. A couple of friends have gone so far as to accuse me of not being interested in stories if I can't put in my own thoughts on the nature of man, mortality, morality, or society in them.

However, I still believe that plot is what people come for, and plot can say a lot. I think this is because I’m so immersed with genre entertainment – horror, sci-fi, comedy – that when it comes to my own work, even outside of “genre” work, I like that consistency that having a “point” to the story can provide.

My problem is a real one: I'm writing a story for which I have no ending. As a writer whose prior work all revolved around the story's outline and structure being completely thought out beforehand, this scares me and excites me all at once. I'm trying to understand what I'm writing about, but, as I just mentioned, I'm prone to getting high-minded about concepts. Unfortunately, I'm not always the best one to understand them.

That's why I write, though. I'm trying to understand these ideas. I'm struggling with them. I wonder if my ending will suffer if I'm not entirely certain of what's going to happen while I'm writing everything else. So much of writing is like weaving just the right sort of quilt so that, by the end, there's a singular thread through it all. It’s interesting to me to see how many recent television shows have dealt with this same issue, to varying degrees of success: Battlestar Galactica, The Shield, and soon, Lost. Can you write an ending to a show like this that ties everything together without an ending planned at stage one? Alternatively, do you have to know at all where you’re going to end up at to avoid leaving the reader or viewer feeling “cheated”?

I’m not sure if I can pull it off. Honestly, I’m proud of the work I’ve put in to this script thus far, but with all that I’m put down in Acts 1 and 2, how do I follow up with Act 3 without leaving the viewer/reader with something of a let down? I like the way the Coen brothers left No Country for Old Men – they denied you the pleasure of seeing the final shoot out. Or the ending of There Will Be Blood, which has Day-Lewis’s character face Dano’s in the ultimate display of their insanity. I like to see that audiences were pretty divided in their appraisals of both those endings: two amazing movies that ended very decisively not where anyone wanted them to end.

And here’s the thing: Audiences expect you to end your movie in very specific ways. I’m not even talking about the “happy ending” fallacy. The idea that “all Hollywood wants is happy endings” hasn’t really been true since the sixties; works with strong vision have rarely struggled much with getting dark endings out there. Usually, the "happy ending" is happily supplied by the writer’s themselves, and that’s because the movie’s evolution demands a different sort of ending.

No, I’m not afraid to kill my main character(s). For this sort of work, though, I think that’d be predictable, yawn-inducing stuff. It needs to be different, and end in a way that would be as individualistic as the rest of the film that precedes it.

But you try coming up with something that’s never been thought of before. It’s not kid’s play, that’s for sure. Outlines are the typical remedy, but I've outlined to death. Now its a matter of having something naturally evolve from those final pages, and trust my characters and my intuition to where things are supposed to be -- and hope that whatever sort of "writer's gut" I might have points me in the right direction.

So here I am, just pressing forward with what I know, struggling without an ending. Typical, huh?

Goals.

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:38:00 +0000

Goals For Life:
1. Eat more.
2. Read more.
3. Write more.
4. Work out a bit.

Seems so simple. Why can't I get this down??

img via zazzle. I wants me this, hint hint.

"I don't want to just change someone's life. I want to revolutionize it."

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 06:33:00 +0000

So you may have noticed that I've changed the place up a bit. Probably not, considering the only visitors I ever get here are people looking for "blodey porn." But that's OK. At least, it's OK so long as you're not searching for blodey porn. The rest of you: you're not finding it here. Perverts.

So it's a new coat of paint to hopefully bring some new life to this place. It has been a long time since the last real series of posts. Hell, I've never been terribly good at this blog; I've had much better consistency with one or two others. But I've kept this one around probably longer than all the others, save for an old Geocities site that only got the occasional update.

I can't say what it is I'm bringing back, honestly. Or maybe that is it precisely: honesty. I like to write and we all experience troubles in life, so maybe the two things will cross over from time to time here. More likely I'll continue to use the place for snarky comments.

I've never really commented on the title of BGW; when it existed as primarily my commentary of films -- horror in particular -- it sort of seemed self-explanatory. But it was always also a bit of a rip on the whole bloody-heart-on-the-sleeve of so many blog posts out there, my own included. So hopefully I'll keep that in mind before I post anything too excruciatingly personal next time. I'm in the midst of what I'm considering a period of personal improvement -- at least, during the times I'm not watching Lost, damn you, Alfonso. So perhaps some of that will show up here as well. I can't be sure.

But if you're out there and it's been a while, I'm glad to see you again. If this is your first time, settle in and get comfy, and I promise I'll try to keep my comments about your mom to myself.

rain on the horizon, sun on my face

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:30:00 +0000

"Like rainclouds you hold me up. Like water. Like earth. Like blood. Like the lilies of the field. Like sunlight. Like pavement. Like the birds above us."

(picture via flickr / A guy with A camera)

Conversations in the Past

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:23:00 +0000

Here's an old conversation I had, at my last job, with my coworker Malcolm. I found this on a piece of paper I had scribbled it onto moments after the conversation took place, so I'm relatively certain on its accuracy. Imagine that this is my way of saying, "Sorry, Interwebs, I've been gone a real long time. I'm coming back, though. I promise."
---

Malcolm: "OK, Kevin. I have a question for you."
Kevin: "Okay."
Malcolm: "Say you come home to your apartment. You're tired. You've had a long day."
Kevin: "Okay."
Malcolm: "And you walk in, and there, sitting on your couch, is a life sized Pillsbury Dough Boy, jacking off."
Kevin: (Blink.) "The Pillsbury Dough Boy."
Malcolm: "Yeah."
Kevin: "Let me ask you: How many times did your parents drop you head first. Have you ever blown up lots of balloons until you passed out?"
Malcolm: "What? No. For real, what would you do?"
Kevin: "I'd probably chock it up to the acid I was taking."
Malcolm: "Naw, man. You're not on acid. Dough Boy is there."
Kevin: "Seriously man, what the fuck?? Is this what you think about all day? I mean, that's fucked up. I don't even want to get in on the Freudian analysis of that shit. I mean, that is some psycho-sexual fucked up shit."
Malcolm: "So you won't answer?"
Kevin: "What the fuck? No! No, I won't answer. There's no basis in reality there. There's no 'there' there. That's like asking what I'd do if I walked in on the Hamburger Helper glove felating someone. No! I won't answer."
(Beat. Malcolm is quiet for a minute. Then:)
Malcolm: "So what would you do if you walked in on the Hamburger Helper glove felating someone?"

End scene. Look for this in an upcoming script. Or not.

A Late Night Snack

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:21:00 +0000

I almost mistyped that and wrote "A Late Night Snake." That would be the arty porn version of this post.

So hey! Its been a while. Long time without any legitimate posting -- I'm not sure if that's an indicator of how insane or boring my life has been. Too busy and living a wild lifestyle to have the time to post, or having absolutely nothing worthwhile to talk about? I'll let you decide that one, dear non-existent reader.

But in the immediate present, I'm dreading waking up because it's snowing outside, and Lord knows I'll be the one called to shovel or snowplow. Last year, this happened when I tried to snowplow:
OK, not quite. But close. Seriously, it can be fun going down the road with a giant battering ram on the front of your way-over-powered truck, but damn; don't let me do it.

But my nights have been filed with late-night writing/computer art-ing until unreasonable hours, a few hours of sleep, and then hopefully either work or the search for a new job. Occasionally I find time to make myself ridiculously over-extravagant late night snacks, such as the fondue and fruit concoction I made below at 2:30 AM:

I'm going to be shitting blood for the next month after eating all that fruit, but damn is it tasty. I even got the beer with an orange in it to go with.

In final news, I'm putting the finishing touches on Donut Shop; hopefully I'll have a trailer up here in the next couple weeks. Hooray for finishing things you've started!

Lincoln '08

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:48:00 +0000

a conversation with my boss

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:42:00 +0000

Boss: You have pneumonia?? What are you doing in here?

Me: I'm broke.

Boss: Are you crazy??

Me: No. Like I said, Broke.

...Thus informing me that I probably am suited to living as a broke ass artist.

expectations

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 07:52:00 +0000

Don't tell me I've done something well.

It'll just make me self-conscious of what I've done or how I've done it, and I'll inevitably screw it up.

I can do it.

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 09:02:00 +0000

Just watch me.

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:28:00 +0000

Daily Horoscope for Gemini:

It's difficult for you to stay focused on work today as your 5th and 11th Houses of Love are hot and bothered. There may be an element of surprise as unpredictable Uranus is drawn into the action and it's hard for you to know which way to respond. Instead of allowing your work to suffer because of your social proclivities, turn your chores into a game and then play for keeps.

Well hot damn.

samurai sickness

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:38:00 +0000

Nothing makes me feel better when I'm sick that putting the PJ's on, wrapping up in several blankets on the couch, and watching Samurai movies.

I don't know why this is. It just is.

boom de yada

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:10:00 +0000

This made me smile.

via xkcd

to you, where ever you may be

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:07:00 +0000

Take me down, little Susie, take me down,
I know you think you're the queen of the underground.
And you can send me dead flowers every morning
Send me dead flowers by the mail
Send me dead flowers to my wedding
And I wont forget to put roses on your grave.
(rolling stones) // local h cover

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:16:00 +0000

--- listen: there's a hell
of a good universe next door; let's go.

e.e. cummings

fighting the man since 1984

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:48:00 +0000

Here's to 24 being better than 23.

Smarmy Bastard Was Right. Fucker.

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Fri, 23 May 2008 04:22:00 +0000

Me: "Internet bloggers piss me off."

Him: "Aren't you an internet blogger?"

Me: "Fuck you."

Him: "I bet you're going to go home and blog about this, aren't you?"

MORE MORE MORE

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Fri, 23 May 2008 01:27:00 +0000

Yes. He will be returning. End of June.

Billy will be back...

things that make me want to knife a motherfucker

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:04:00 +0000

(as separated by case numbers)

#10221
At the mall, in the movies section, I ask a stockboy, "Excuse me, do you have Hitchcock's North by Northwest?" (and yes, I was that polite)
Long pause, and blank look.
Stockboy: "Um... Is that a movie?"

#10222
Mall security on Segways

#25420
Malcolm, the guy who works next to me, proclaiming "Alien sucked! That movie was so boring! Alien vs Predator was a much better movie!"

And no, he wasn't saying it just to fuck with me -- he meant it.

#18921
When certain serial TV shows (say... Battlestar Galactica) have commercials claiming that "ALL WILL BE REVEALED!" for the following episode... and when you watch that episode, absolutely nothing is revealed, let alone "all."

#19233
Hipsters with their fucking pussy Belle and Sebastian-esq bands and their "oh, its so sensitive!" and "Its so beautiful and moving" bullshit. Fuckers.

Rock and Reel - The Movies and Music Show

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin) — Mon, 12 May 2008 08:16:00 +0000

Hey! Go check out the latest episode of Rock and Reel!

This week we cover The Ruins, a horror movie. The catch is that we can't really tell you more than its about tourists who get killed at some ruins in Mexico without ruining it for you.

Then its time for Knock Off Theatre, featuring my review of The Transmorphers.

Then we cover the latest CD of The Breeders, and follow it up with a mix tape of music featuring bands whose members have the same last names.

Its a pretty solid episode, I think. Check it!

http://rocknreel.blogspot.com/