Recent Films

On a more happy note, I've seen a couple films since my last post.

Heat was excellent. It breaks away from the cliché cop vs. robber plot lines and makes it's own. There are several scenes that really spoke to me, particularly ones between Pacino and his wife. A lot of little details will be very helpful in The Quietside. The infamous shootout scene was perhaps the best shootout I've scene in a film, period. Definitely worth a watch.

I'd heard quite a few things about Taxi Driver. It was DeNiro's big break, and I can see why. The term psychopath is not to be used lightly. Though I didn't really like the ebb and flow of the film (pacing), it does what it set out to do well--screw with your head, screw with what you think is logical and sane. I'd actually call it slightly disturbing. Not a new favorite of mine, but I understand it's importance. It's just one you need to see for yourself.

Yes, I saw this. Yes, I enjoyed it. Is it an emmy award winner? Definitely not. Did it have a plot? Not really. But it achieved what I wanted it to--a in your face, macho-man 80's flashback to action movies like Commando and Rambo. It's also pretty fucking funny. Not a new classic, but a fun one to watch with your friends.

It's been too long...again.

Well, I'm back at school. I can't say I'm thrilled with myself. I wrote a total of 3 pages over the summer (not including the work for the local paper) and read two books. Not enough. Not at all.
Look, I know getting busy makes it hard to do the things you love, because if you're doing the things you love, you wouldn't feel busy. I'm extremely busy right now. Between moving 500 miles down to school to finalizing my internship to the 6 classes I'm taking this semester, I'm literally swamped. But that's still not an excuse for me.
I need to find time. I'll make sure to keep track of how I do it. I know once I do--once I get back into the Quietside, back into Cruise, back into my imagination, I'll be much happier.

Success!

Tonight was a good night. I managed to finish my last article for the newspaper I'm working at, relieving a huge stress. More importantly, though, I joined Goodreads and started reading again! Woohoo! Hopefully Goodreads will work like this blog is, except for reading. Now it just comes down to keeping it up and not being the 40 year-old single-and-lonely man who maxes his credit card on a treadmill from QVC on January 2nd in hopes of holding true to his resolution of loosing weight over the next year only to use the treadmill once. So yeah. Here's to sticking with it.

This won't be me, I swear. Or at least I'll never wear a shirt over a shirt like that.

Wasting Time

Lately I've been having a difficult time managing, well, my time. I've been busy working and writing for my local paper, sure, but there's still a lot of time that gets thrown away doing worthless things. Sure, we all have to have some down time, but I enjoy writing, so why am I not doing it? Well, the answer to that is simple. I'm not writing because I'm not writing.
Wait what? Yes, I wrote that correctly. Since I have a knack for planning and crafting stories but never writing them, a large pile of ideas has simply overwhelmed me enough that I avoid writing. It's taken me awhile to realize this, but this blog has helped.

Well...I might be dramatizing it a little bit... 

So what's the first step? Well, I'm taking a shot in the dark, but I'm going to start reading instead of doing the worthless things (video games and youtube, mainly). I have a whole shelf of books that I've bought or come into possession of that I've deemed "must-reads," thinking I'll learn something from them. Well, thing is, I haven't read hardly any of them. My thought is by reading, at least I'm being productive and shooting towards my goal of writing several hours a day, like I started doing last semester while taking a class on novel writing.
Of course, reading isn't writing. I'm going to eventually just have to force myself to sit down and do it, even against the large pile of concepts, ideas, plots, partially written short stories--you get it. Reading should get me in the "mood" to write, so that I won't have to force myself to do something I enjoy.
A lot of this mess will be solved by this time next week, when I'm completely done with work for the summer. I've given myself time to collect my thoughts before heading back to school after what will probably go down as one of the worst summers of my life.
Which leads me in another direction--writing comes hard if your own life isn't in check. It's pretty hard to write about an emotionally scarred police officer when you yourself don't have a grip on things. Sometimes it helps convey the mood--especially in poetry--but sometimes it really hinders your ability to "become" your character. A great example of this is The Quietside. It's first person, so I'm completely Cole when I'm writing. Or I should be. If issues in my life keep seeping through, Cole gets pushed to the side (which he really doesn't like) and will not act himself, which leads to a failing and illogical story.

So true.

Basically, I've discovered writing is a lot like running. It may appear to depend on skill, practice, and performance (aka quality of the writing) but it's about 90% mental. You could have the best physical body (or prose) in the world, but if your mind isn't there backing it up, you might as well sit it out. The mind is capable of anything. ANYTHING. I just need to tell myself I can write for several hours each day, and I will.
Note: For those of you who don't know me, I ran for about 10 years of my life in middle school, high school and a little bit in college before I hurt my ankle--I haven't been able to talk myself into starting again for more than a week or two.
This is why I started this blog. I need somewhere to talk myself through things.
These next two or three weeks will set the tone for this next year. I hope they're productive.

The Emmy Goes To...

I know I haven't posted for awhile, but I've been extremely busy with work--all three jobs--and watching the Olympics. I want to work on Cruise and start writing The Quietside again, but I just don't have time. So I hope this quick review makes up for it.

I watched Take Shelter again on Thursday. What a great example of a drama. The pacing is perfect, the tension is always strong, the directing is great, and the results of decisions the characters make are able to create an emotional response--fear, sadness, pity--with ease. Most importantly, the acting is top notch, especially from Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain. While it doesn't have the action most people look for nowadays, the power of the drama keeps you glued to the screen. For once, the dvd cover doesn't lie--this should be a new American classic. A must watch. If you're still on the edge, go watch the trailer. After that, if you're still unsure, watch this scene (keeping in mind that there are spoilers and that this tension has been building for quite some time, so you might not fully feel the power behind it) and you'll be sold. One of the greatest scenes I have ever seen in a film, period.

I've let my employers know that I'll be getting done on the 12th, so the couple weeks before school will be packed with posts and work.