It has been four months since I have been at my job in Alaska. As you know, I have been sidelined with a horrendous broken ankle. But - I have been released to return to my job in balmy Prudhoe Bay and will be returning on Wednesday. *sigh*
Well, it is a good thing on many levels. Being off work for so long gets me to feeling uneasy, especially in this uncertain economy. And, it's a cherry gig. So that is one check-off in the plus column. Another thing, I can actually concentrate enough to write, edit, and revise Stubborn. Because there's not another damn thing to do up there after hours. Another check-off. I look forward to completing my revision in the upcoming two weeks on-shift.
Hard pressed to come up with a third. I noticed the airfare up there and back has increased by $250 since the last time I purchased a ticket. Damn! But there's this silly little thing: to continue getting envelopes with windows in them I must return to work. Silly little niggling thing. Off I go.
Oh - here's the first scene of Stubborn sans dialogue for your review:
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Well...damn!
Today I talked with the Friend of Wonderful Sister. The Friend has managed to take a bunch of incongruous, wobbly movie clips and turn them into a fab-u-lous first scene for Stubborn. I mean it. Complete with a beautiful soundtrack. I will include it in another post - when I can morph a ".wmv" into a ".mov" because I have a Mac and Friend has sent it in PC format. Mac and PC appear to be mortal enemies...
And here's the well, damn! part of it: He saw the takes for what they were. Here are his words: "This is the first scene, isn't it? And she's (he knew it was a woman!) come back to where it all began - hasn't she? Well...damn!
Wonderful sister had talked to Friend but never gave away anything about the plot of Stubborn. And Friend saw it for what it was - an intro into a life experience of (what turns out to be) a remarkable woman. Well...damn!
Friend is a friend indeed. Although he is between jobs, Friend would not accept a dime from me. He said he had already been recompensed by Wonderful Sister - a gift of chocolate-covered strawberries. His favorite.
So, Stubborn is moving along, faithful reader. In increasingly mysterious ways.
And here's the well, damn! part of it: He saw the takes for what they were. Here are his words: "This is the first scene, isn't it? And she's (he knew it was a woman!) come back to where it all began - hasn't she? Well...damn!
Wonderful sister had talked to Friend but never gave away anything about the plot of Stubborn. And Friend saw it for what it was - an intro into a life experience of (what turns out to be) a remarkable woman. Well...damn!
Friend is a friend indeed. Although he is between jobs, Friend would not accept a dime from me. He said he had already been recompensed by Wonderful Sister - a gift of chocolate-covered strawberries. His favorite.
So, Stubborn is moving along, faithful reader. In increasingly mysterious ways.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
The Gate to Success Creaks Open a Bit
From the last posting one can surmise that I am completely lacking in moviemaking skills.
From The New Oxford Dictionary:
moviemaker |ˈmo͞ovēˌmākər| noun
a person who makes motion pictures; a filmmaker.
Anyone read a reference to my name in the moviemaker definition? Such as: see Delilah. Nah, me either.
Enter Wonderful Sister. Who has a friend that is a professional photographer and sidelines as a movie editor! He is going to help! Hurrah!
Wonderful Sister sent me a copy of his latest publishing and it is fabulous. So - the Gate has creaked open just a bit more.
When I get Act I, Scene I for Stubborn, faithful reader, I will post it.
PS - I don't know what's up with the weird font sizing or indents on this post. Maybe one can surmise I am as talented at blogging as I am is being a moviemaker.
From The New Oxford Dictionary:
moviemaker |ˈmo͞ovēˌmākər| noun
a person who makes motion pictures; a filmmaker.
Anyone read a reference to my name in the moviemaker definition? Such as: see Delilah. Nah, me either.
Enter Wonderful Sister. Who has a friend that is a professional photographer and sidelines as a movie editor! He is going to help! Hurrah!
Wonderful Sister sent me a copy of his latest publishing and it is fabulous. So - the Gate has creaked open just a bit more.
When I get Act I, Scene I for Stubborn, faithful reader, I will post it.
PS - I don't know what's up with the weird font sizing or indents on this post. Maybe one can surmise I am as talented at blogging as I am is being a moviemaker.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
You Get What You Pay For
Soooo, faithful reader, I got to work with a vengeance today on taking several short movie clips and turning them into a scene, Act I, Scene I, for Stubborn. Five minutes into the iMovie program I wanted to rip my eyeballs right out of their sockets. User friendly? Not hardly. Intuitive? Not on this planet. Confirms my suspicion that Steve Jobs was an intermediary for an alien intelligence. iMovie probably makes perfect sense on whatever planet these ET's inhabit.
Going online, I downloaded the user's manual for iMovie and then printed it. Forty-six pages of absolutely nothing useful. Not easily deterred, I got on the Apple website and discovered there was a free workshop today at 4:00 for iMovie at a nearby Mac store! Hurrah! ...or so I thought.
You get what you pay for. I paid nothing and that is what I gleaned from the workshop. Oh, waitaminute, I learned that the iMovie 08 software loaded on my little MacBook is as useless as tits on a boar hog and to do the scene correctly I really, rilly need the iMovie11 software. Which comes with a hefty price. Joy!
What a zoo that store was. Tomorrow the new iPhone can be purchased and - cripes! - I don't know what all those hordes of people hoped to glean by milling around in the store a day early. Neither did they. But they were there, sure enough, just like flies on a mule turd on a hot summer's day.
At 4:00 the workshop started, with me and another bewildered iMovie-er. At 4:15 two other goobers showed up, a guy and his wife. The instructor felt he needed to start over. So a one-hour class is going to be shortened by nearly half because the latecomer morons do not know how to tell time.
This ever happen to you? You get in a class with other people and someone invariably needs to show the other attendees just how damn smart he is, in fact, way smarter than the instructor. And if you don't believe him, just ask! The latecomer goober felt it was his duty in life to stand over my shoulder and tell me just how silly and inept I was for not knowing how iMovie worked. While his wife snickered at me.
Kept telling myself: Be Good. Be Good or Be Gone. I opted for the latter.
You get what you pay for.
And another axiom (courtesy of me): If it was easy to get a screenplay turned into a movie, everyone would be at the Academy Awards.
Going online, I downloaded the user's manual for iMovie and then printed it. Forty-six pages of absolutely nothing useful. Not easily deterred, I got on the Apple website and discovered there was a free workshop today at 4:00 for iMovie at a nearby Mac store! Hurrah! ...or so I thought.
You get what you pay for. I paid nothing and that is what I gleaned from the workshop. Oh, waitaminute, I learned that the iMovie 08 software loaded on my little MacBook is as useless as tits on a boar hog and to do the scene correctly I really, rilly need the iMovie11 software. Which comes with a hefty price. Joy!
What a zoo that store was. Tomorrow the new iPhone can be purchased and - cripes! - I don't know what all those hordes of people hoped to glean by milling around in the store a day early. Neither did they. But they were there, sure enough, just like flies on a mule turd on a hot summer's day.
At 4:00 the workshop started, with me and another bewildered iMovie-er. At 4:15 two other goobers showed up, a guy and his wife. The instructor felt he needed to start over. So a one-hour class is going to be shortened by nearly half because the latecomer morons do not know how to tell time.
This ever happen to you? You get in a class with other people and someone invariably needs to show the other attendees just how damn smart he is, in fact, way smarter than the instructor. And if you don't believe him, just ask! The latecomer goober felt it was his duty in life to stand over my shoulder and tell me just how silly and inept I was for not knowing how iMovie worked. While his wife snickered at me.
Kept telling myself: Be Good. Be Good or Be Gone. I opted for the latter.
You get what you pay for.
And another axiom (courtesy of me): If it was easy to get a screenplay turned into a movie, everyone would be at the Academy Awards.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Late, Ever Late
No excuses, faithful reader. I have been remiss. No update for last Sunday as usual.
We've returned from a visit to my folks' house in Tennessee. Surreptitiously, and also quite sneakily we visited my grandmother's house to film a scene for Stubborn. It's my intention to have her farmhouse to be a part of the actual movie. It is perfect.
The reason being for the film shoot, even though we are not filmmakers in any sense of the word, according to my ever-fee-exacting lawyer we need to have at least one scene filmed prior to the end of this year so we can be 'grandfathered' in to a very attractive investment opportunity for - duh - potential investors.
So here it is - in its uncut status. There are several mini-scenes that need to be cut and pasted into one final scene. When I get the scene doctored I will present it to you, faithful reader.
Thank you Steve Jobs! For having the film editing application installed on my little MacBook at no charge.
And thank you, Steve Jobs. You knew you could not fail.
We've returned from a visit to my folks' house in Tennessee. Surreptitiously, and also quite sneakily we visited my grandmother's house to film a scene for Stubborn. It's my intention to have her farmhouse to be a part of the actual movie. It is perfect.
The reason being for the film shoot, even though we are not filmmakers in any sense of the word, according to my ever-fee-exacting lawyer we need to have at least one scene filmed prior to the end of this year so we can be 'grandfathered' in to a very attractive investment opportunity for - duh - potential investors.
So here it is - in its uncut status. There are several mini-scenes that need to be cut and pasted into one final scene. When I get the scene doctored I will present it to you, faithful reader.
Thank you Steve Jobs! For having the film editing application installed on my little MacBook at no charge.
And thank you, Steve Jobs. You knew you could not fail.
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