Good idea for a product, bad idea for a price!

These aren't not a bad idea at all, especially for cyclists. I would NEVER (unlike other idiots I pass) cycle while wearing headphones. Something like this would be ideal, and I hardly think the volume would disturb anyone.

But $130 US for a teeny pair of amplified speakers? F no. Where's my soldering iron?

There are a million screenplays in the naked city...

Every time I go to my local coffee shop to write, I'm surrounded by a sea of laptops and netbooks, many with open Word or Final Draft documents containing those unmistakable text "shapes" known collectively as a screenplay: wide blocks of description, narrow blocks of dialogue. From a distance it looks like Tetris being played by someone who has no idea what the object of the game is.

Similarly, I'm fairly certain that these screenplays are being written by people who have no clue how to tell an original story. Here's my guess of how these hundreds of screenplays living on hard drives across the city break down:

• 30%: 30 Rock spec scripts (most, presumably, not even close to the show's high standard of comedy)
• 9%: rewrites of films that have already been made. Yes, believe it or not, there is a sub-genre of "writer" that insists on rewriting scripts of films they didn't like. I know of someone who, and I quote from his blog, "I spent a few years in geek hell compulsively re-writing this movie [Star Wars: The Phantom Menace], literally, and no good came of it.' (Well, duh!)
• 30%: sci-fi/superhero movies
• 20%: horror/slasher/supernatural movies
• 10%: teen sex comedy movies
• 1%: solid, original scripts

Being involved with a comedy troupe, I'm always running into Creative Types writing The Next Big Thing. Once they find out I'm a writer and that I have worked as an editor, they're relentless in their pursuit of feedback. Free, of course, because to them my time isn't worth anything.

Well, Creative Types, the answer is "No". No, I won't read your Zombie Batman vs. Vampire Spider-Man script! No, don't send me your pitch for the next Star Trek series... What? Cloverfield vs. Aliens?! You do realize that "Cloverfield" refers to an area of Central Park and isn't the name of the monster, don't you? And you? You're writing a movie about people who fall in love over Twitter?

Listen, just forget I said anything, and I'll try not make eye contact with you while you're out writing your Masterpiece. Deal?

Cinema Death Watch, part I

I realise a lot proposed remakes and reboots and sequels never get made, but there are still piles that do.

The latest? A remake of Fame, this update starring Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neurwith. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for seeing Bebe getting her dance on--she's an oustanding dancer--but still... this just has to go on the Cinema Death Watch list. It can't be good, can it? The original was a touchy-feely piece of dreck; the spin-off TV series even more so.

I'm reminded of the old Saturday Night Live parody of the Fame song, sung as "Same! I sing the same song forever..."

Blech.

Fascinating.... ?

http://www.jawsphobia.blogspot.com/

I [heart] Moleskine

Been investing a fair bit of time getting GTD up and running on a Moleskine. GTD isn't the most intuitive system but as I start to work with it I find it works a treat.

Anyone else out there managing their lives an a low-tech analogue format? I'd love to hear about your systems.

District 9

Caption: "If you just sign here, we'll be sure to over-render you in the sequel, just like we did for the Transformers."

District 9 is the first film with CGI characters interacting with real actors that didn't leave me thinking "nice CGI. What else you got?" There are no CGI fireants or gophers or Cyberkings kicking the shit out of Victorian London or confusing Trans-form-o-bots here. Instead we get Prawns, a race of human-like aliens rendered perfectly. They are even more enjoyable to watch because they're in there in service of a compelling story. Just try not get excited about the robot rig at end of the film, exquistely designed, and rendered by someone who obviously understands how machines work.

That this is a relatively low-budget film will surely make the Big Players take notice. I've always said if I had a $150 million dollars, I'd make seven or eight of these little films, not one big mess, a la Spider-Man 3. I doubt it, but perhaps the revolution has begun. Of course I'll eat my words when Neil Blomkamp is given $200 million to make District 10 or Halo.

Wow x2

Seen: The Godfather and The Godfather Part II on the big screen at the good old Bloor Cinema. Excellent films, with so many classic moments and lines. Easy to see where The Sopranos took their inspiration from.

Best line: "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."

Tuesday chuckle.

The circle of no life

Credit: http://gizmodo.com/5329594/the-circle-of-no-life

Seen: Not Good nor Bad

Caption: Johnny Depp sez... "Where's my backstory? Three lousy sentences? Guess I'll just shoot the gun some more, huh?"


Public Enemies directed by Michael Mann. It was great to look at, but the characters had no resonance. I needed more behind the characters of John Dillinger and F.B.I. agent Melvin Purvis. Though jam-packed with great actors, this long film felt slight.

And there was real, jolt-you-out-of-the-story moment... In a nightclub, singing (quite beautifully) is none other than Diana Krall. How can you not help but think "out of place?" If they wanted Krall on the soundtrack, they should have had another actress lip sync the nightclub singing. A very strange casting choice.