Riding The Bus Part 2

Last night we cracked open the rough outline we wrote at the last writing retreat and began beating out scene after scene. Basically saying what happens in each scene, dialogue is usually the last thing you write in screenplays, but not so with us. As scenes are beat out they come to life and a half-thought turns into a fully living scene with depth and jokes in moments. I'm partial to movies, to screenplays so I'm heavily biased when I say that this is the best thing we've ever written. We burned through act one, setting up what an Alderman is, what they do, and who the main characters are. The opening montage of Ed doing the Aldermanic duty is ridiculous. The setup of Jason Challenger (still a dorm R.A. at twenty-five) consists of him continuously getting shoved into the recycling center sending aluminum cans cascading over him into the hallway. Physical humor, list humor, quiet humor, verbal humor, so far it really runs the gamut and the story is told fast & furious.

The work we did last night led us up to act 2 in which a whole new set of characters is set up, the opposition, Dinnerbansky & Ross, Gretchen Ross-Stephenson, Ted, Skip, Skip Jr., Gillian, Vaughn Bach, and more. The moment we have this small potatoes family in the small potatoes neighborhood and their small potatoes life completely set up we cut to a world 180 degrees from where we just came from, cut to the enormous D&R Building with "Lapdance" by N*E*R*D* (just like when you cut to the Fisk building in Daredevil and that song kicks in) and Ted walks down the hall booming up from his feet to see this corporate monster and all he controls. And then, my favorite thing to write in the world - Ted jokes.

We'll never be able to afford Lapdance, but the sentiment is right on.

See you tomorrow.

Stephen Colbert is a comedy God.

I dread not having cable for missing The Daily Show. It's almost worth the money just for that. I wouldn't have gotten through last year without The Daily Show. And now to add insult to injury there's The Colbert Report, which takes the best four minutes of the Daily Show and expands it to a half hour. I can't catch it because I don't have cable but occasionally I find posts of segments online. Hope it adds a laugh to your day.

"My father's father was a goat-ball licker."

adw

Listen how angry Bill O'Reilly is.

Bill is so angry. Just livid, out of control, so offended, so pissed off that he's just not gonna take it anymore, he's been pushed and pushed and pushed and today's the day he takes a stand. What is he this mad about? The media, because it's so liberal and nobody ever takes a stand against it, so he's just not going to take it anymore tonight. This is so weird to listen to because there's so much going on, the spoken intent versus the real intent plus some actual deep-seeded personal defects in there too, perhaps a dash of dissapproving father, a smidge of self-resentment at the loss of an honest and person concept of his self, and even a shouting-at-the-wall-in-the-mental-hospital-activity-room real-world insanity going on too.

I'd be pissed off at the media too with all their reporting of crimes.

But it is Bill's right to say that that cause the terrorists to hate us...as we are told 65 Billion times over the last four years. Anything repeated that much has got to be true, right gang?

The President had this to say :(he actually did),

"Look, I don't know how many U.S. senators there are that like NASCAR. (Laughter.) I view that as a pretty good sign, to have a United States senator who follows NASCAR (anybody here like anal?). It means he's down to earth (read: stupid. He doesn't walk around Washington with a lot of airs like some of them do (what? "airs" Are we in a Tennessee Williams play? How conservative do they want to get? Have some respect and spare colloquilism, kay?. He's a common-sense man who understands the values of the people. And that's why I'm proud that he invited me to come, and by the way, it took me no time to say yes.

These are serious times in which we live, and it requires serious, experienced (?)people to deal with the problems that we're confronted with. And the biggest problem we got is we're still at war. I wish I could report to you we weren't at war(it even READS disingenuous), but there's an enemy that still lurks that wants to do harm to the United States of America. And they want to do us harm because we stand squarely for freedom and democracy (y'okay)and we're not going to change(it's true, the terrorists main demand is that we change where we stand on freedom and democracy, that's really what they're all about ). You see, they can't stand the fact -- (applause) -- they can't stand the fact that we allow people to worship freely, or to speak their mind in the public square, or to print articles the way they want to print them in America. They have a different view of the world ("airs?"). They've got this vision of darkness that stifles dissent and stifles the freedoms that many of us take for granted."

Makes you want to fly an airliner into a building doesn't it?

Sundance '06 Announcements pt. 2: Well fuck

Heaven's Fall didn't get in. Don't know about Eden Court, but I'm assuming that Paul submitted for competition, which was announced today, so it doesn't look good there either. He may not have submitted for competition though, so we'll know definiteively tomorrow. That, of course, doesn't mean neither will get distribution, they both will, just not at Sundance. Next up, Berlin, Toronto, The AFM, THE WORLD!!!!!!

I feel like smoking.

Thanksgiving Wrapup

Kids punch a lot more than I think we were allowed to. And hard. I'm not sure what they get out of punching so hard. Just over and over and over. Thanksgiving has become, simply, a bunch of kids. All the Uncles are too old to play with them and all the fathers are too worn out. That leaves me to play with the kids for hours and hours and hours and hours. I got punched a lot. Every Uncle who passed the continuing war between me and the toddlers said "boy you're gonna be sore tomorrow." To my 32 year-old-credit I was not.

Your tax dollars at work.

Why did the White House hire MZM, a “defense and intelligence firm,” to buy office furniture for the White House?

I thought the Republicans hate the redistribution of wealth. Depends on how white the recipient is.

Ohio

I finally got solicited from Africa

Who hasn't heard of this scam yet? How much of the African GDP consists of money made off this scam?

This comes from mrcharlesray017za@hotmail.com (don't you hate when hotmail already has a mrcharlesray017 and you have to add a "za" at the end? It just depersonalizes your whole email address.


From Mr.Charles Raymond
#25 Mbete close,
Port Elizabeth.
Republic of South Africa
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

(TRANSFER OF ($ 26,000.000.00 USD}
{ TWENTY SIX MILLION DOLLARS)


Dear , (this was left blank, and yet my email address is my full name)

Warmest greetings to you.I want to solicit your attention to transfer to
overseas (26,000,000.00 USD) twenty six million United States Dollars from a
Bank in Africa. I also want to ask you to quietly (quietly?) look for a reliable and
honest person who will be capable and fit to provide either an existing bank
account or to set up a new Bank a/c immediately to receive this money, even
an empty a/c can serve to receive this money, as long as you will remain
honest to me till the end of this important business trusting in you and
believing that you will never let me down either now or in future.

I am Mr.Charles Raymond , the Auditor General of a bank in Africa, during
the course of our auditing I discovered a floating fund in an account opened
in the bank in 1990 and since 1993 nobody has operated on this account
again.After going through some old files in the records, I discovered that
the owner of the account died without a [heir] hence the money is floating
and if I do not remit this money out urgently it will be forfeited for
nothing.The owner of this account is Mr. howard Sweeney, a foreigner and a
miner.

He made millions of dollars before he died misteriously (Aren't misterious deaths like air in Africa?).Since 1993 no other
person knows about this account or any thing concerning it (except for everyone in America with a hotmail account). My investigation
proved to me that the account has no other beneficiary and that Mr. Howard
Sweeney until his death was the manager Sweeney Coy.(pty). SA.

We will start the first transfer with six million dollars[$6,000,000.00] (yeah, because the irs would never look at that transaction suspiciously. "No seriously, my grandpa sent it in my Christmas card") upon
successful transaction without any disappoint from your side, we shall
re-apply for the payment of the remaining amount to your account. The amount
involved is (USD 26M) twenty six million United States Dollars, I want to
first transfer $6,000,000.00 [Six million United States Dollars]from this
money into a safe foreigners account abroad before the rest, but I don't
know any foreigner.

I am only contacting you as a foreigner because this money cannot be
approved to a local person here without a valid foreign international
passport, but can only be approved to any foreigner with valid international
passport or drivers license and foreign a/c because the money is in US
dollars and the former owner of the a/c, Mr. Howard Sweeney was a foreigner
too, [and the money can only be approved into a foreign a/c].

I need your full co-operation to make this work fine ( "work fine" is that anything like "working goodly") because the management
is ready to approve this payment to any foreigner who has correct
information of this account, which I will give to you, upon your positive
response and once I am convinced that you are capable and will meet up with
instruction of a key bank official who is deeply involved with me in this
business.

I need your strong assurance that you will never, never let me
down.So,please reply urgently so that I will inform you the next step to
take . Send also your private telephone and fax number including the full
details of the account to be used for the deposit and about yourself. With
my influence and the position of the bank official, we can transfer this
money to any foreigner's reliable account which you can provide with
assurance that this money will be intact pending my physical arrival in your
country for sharing. Does this mean he's going to need to crash at my place?

I will apply for annual leave to get visa immediately I hear from you that
you are ready to act and receive this fund in your account. I will use my
position and influence to obtain all legal approvals for onward transfer of
this money to your account with appropriate clearance from the relevant
ministries and foreign exchange departments.

At the conclusion of this business, you will be given 35% of the total
amount, 60% will be for me, while 5% will be for expenses both parties might
have incurred during the process of transferring. (See! That's where they getcha! I knew this was a screwjob, 5%!? Where do these fuckers get off? DEALKILLER!)

I look forward to your reply soonest through my email address.

Sincerely,
Mr.Charles Raymond

N/B: DO NOT FORGET TO ADD YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBERS.

Hearts & Minds

So wait, one week ago anyone who suggested we should have an exit plan is an enemy emoboldener and this week the Republicans have an exit plan which looks a whole lot like the one submitted by the party of no ideas last week? What the fuck is going on? Their base must just hear the most outrageous blustery and name-calling comments (I feel the Republican base is largely people with a bully complex) and nothing else, nor do they care for any form of democracy.

So now they have an exit plan but last week the plan was the uber-vague "stay the course" whatever that means. I like how "the course" has no definition and the "mission" in the talking point of "completing the mission" has no definition either. John Murtha submits a very complex and detailed document outlining a very workable withdrawl and they offer instead "the course." It doesn't make any sense because it's not supposed to, It's bluster, It's bullying, It's pure politics. But to help all of us out who hold such terrorist emboldening ideas like "open debate" a video popped up that defined what "the course" is. This was perpetuated by a Scary.">private security company. Because privatization always works. Right? Unless you're in a hurricane prone area...or just simply most people.

Sundance '06 Announcements

It's kind of like Christmas Eve. A film I helped raise the financing for, Heavens Fall, and a film that Schadenfreude starred in, Eden Court have been submitted to Sundance, announcements in the three major categories come over the next three days. Will I have to learn to ski? I'll know sometime over the next three days. How great a year will next year be? I suppose the proper answer is "Great, no matter what." But I would love to have a reason to go to Sundance. Okay, back to work.

Chapters 3, 4, 5 in Syd Field

Okay, here I divert from Field's kind opinion on Character and Plot Generation. In my opinion, he can't possibly be good at this. I would rather take a shaker of salt in the eye than write a friggin character biography from birth to the Aldermanic Elections. Fuck that. In my opinion the fun and active way of character building is to pay attention to each choice your character makes (sort of like in improv), those choices define who he/she is, all future choices are made with the previous choices as givens. I prefer to write the bold choice (especially in comedy where those choices are often jokes - see Raising Arizona) and then figure out what sort of person would make that choice, action creating character as opposed to a complete character biography before the character has even ventured and opinion or had a problem. Fuck all that. Yawn. Seriously, fucking YAWN! I'd rather find the joke (actions and choices), and then figure out who acts like that, who decides like that, who talks like that?

The thing he does nail, though only in a few sentences as opposed to the pages dedicated to writing a character biography, is that this is only an initial foray into figuring this out, and it will take 60 pages to do it. Then, with your character and traits firmly in mind, you go back and rewrite the sections you wrote while you were still fuzzy on the character. I agree, except that in the realm of character choices, those early choices may be way off as you continue to create the character.

I advocate "sideways" writing; not from beginning to end (fucking YAWN!), but rather jumping back and forth generating plot and character and playing both off each other as each new idea dictates. Does that make sense? Well, I don't have time to make it make sense, but that is the essence of my poorly-imparted certainty.

Syd advocates the biography for one of two reasons: He's so good at teaching structure that he never gave that much thought to how you generate characters and plots and fell back on the old standby, the biography. Or, he believes it works. I think it's the latter because earlier her chalks up creative generation to God-given talent, which is SUPER bullshit.

I really hate the myth that creativity is a God-given talent. I think it was created by self-important people who want the world to think there's something special about them and only them. There is SO nothing special about the most creative among us except that they worked damn hard all the time, for years, to achieve a singular goal, and narrowed their focus so that only the ideas and images that fed into that goal and bolstered their achievement of that goal would make it through, creating a foundation on which they could build and even greater understanding of that goal. Did that make any sense? It's akin to how some claim to "create their own reality." In my world I am a screenwriter, only the ideas that make me a screenwriter make it through, no credence is given to the idea that I might not be, even though that may be absolutely true, but if I continue, for years and years of studying under the assumption that I'm a screenwriter, what will be true? Exactly. God-given? Try me-given.

Now how come all the other Field detractors never say that?

Uh-Oh

This could blow up huge. Rumor has it that there's a PDB dated September 21, 2001 responding to questions on Iraq's link to 9-11. The answer was a firm "no" with evidence against. They won't turn it over to the Senate Intelligence Committee because it's classified, like the identities of CIA Operatives. It's odd what is chosen to be sacred by these guys, wait, did I say odd...I meant obvious.

When pressed in the upcoming months to release it, they will become belligerent, maybe ridiculously belligerent if it's that bad, making the standard claims about Democrats playing politics and how the release of this document will embolden our enemies. Remember the last time they freaked out that much about the release of a PDB? I believe that was playing politiics and endangering the troops and emboldening our enemies too. It also made them look like assholes.

And while I'm being psychic, after they are shamed and forced to release the document and it makes them look like the bastards they are...they'll claim they never said Iraq had connections to Al-Quaeda. AND 39% OF THE COUNTRY WILL BUY IT!

Scheme Hatching

Just got back from Midway and am enjoying a few relaxing hours before a long relaxing drive. Had the weirdest thing happen. They're enforcing some new policy and you have to have a land-line phone to rent a car, which I've been doing for years now, I'm pretty loyal to Enterprise. So I was kind of pissed, mostly because the controversy started when I answered that no, the phone number he stated was not my home phone, I could have lied, saving hours of time. So they had to drive me to 4800 South Pulaski to get a truck, a big Durango Bush-Voter Motherfucker. So that's what I'm driving to Ohio, a big Durango Bush-Voter Motherfucker. I'm first going to visit Jim McWilliams in Oxford, OH. Jim is the funniest man on Earth and the only way I can describe our long friendship is "scheme hatching", we never plot the end of the world, but we do fill our time.



The first scheme we will have to hatch is to Bushify my truck with a trip to Odd Lots for cheap Yellow Ribbon magnets cast off from a past more patriotic week long gone by. Plus that phrase doesn't get used nearly enough, "scheme hatching." When's the last time anyone reading this hatched a good scheme. Well it's a long weekend, HATCH ONE!

(as I write this I am watching the end of Prom Night. You ever have Halloween pass you by and Netflix keeps sending you horror movies until like Christmas? Really? Me too. In my mind I have redubbed Prom Night "Halloween III: Prom Night." It stars Jamie Lee Curtis and seems like a perfectly valid continuation of the tale. Laurie Strode has to go to Prom doesn't she? Michael Myers didn't die did he? The real Halloween III sucked didn't it?)



Anyway.

Great thing about driving is it's a good time to get caught up on my commentary tracks. What the fuck does that mean? A little insight: I love commentary tracks, back when I heard about these things called laserdiscs which were like big movie CD's. I remember hearing that these laserdiscs (which cost like a billion dollars) had "extras" on them, making-of's and commentary tracks in which the director (the fucking director?!?!? I thought) talks to you about the movie while you watch the movie. I couldn't believe such a thing existed, why would so many multinational corporations go to all the trouble and expense to entertain and educate just me? But I never thought I'd be able to hear one, ever, until DVD became available.

(OH SHIT! I forgot about the kids head rolling down the aisle at the end. AWESOME! Right as they're about to name the prom king the murderer cuts his head off and it rolls down the aisle and comes to a stop neck-stump-down (don't they always land that way?) In front of a horrified crowd. What a great movie. What's even greater is that I almost typed "horrified reunion crowd" because the whole cast is so old they totally look like they're attending a ten-year.)

So I listen to commentaries, and liberal talk radio, and The Battlestar Galactica soundtrack.

And I work on screenplay ideas and sketches. As I brush up on my screenwriting skills by reading Syd Field and reading scripts I need an outlet for immediate practical analysis, i.e. writing. What's great is, none of the tips and tricks apply to Ed Bus (yet) because that's so far along as an idea goes. So to funnel my thoughts on the craft as it applies to generating ideas I started a long overdue screenplay. So I'm back at it x2.

So I'll spend a lot of the trip talking to myself. I spend a lot of life talking to myself.

(YES! How great is that? Jamie Lee Curtis is fighting the killer (who is killing the grown-up kids who all harbor a secret - they all killed a someone when they were young) to the main disco song. The theme of the prom is "Disco Inferno", which is awesome, and they earlier did an elaborate disco scene to a disco song who's chorus repeats "Prom Night...everything is allright...Prom Night" in a Thelma Houston-esque way. So they're fighting on the disco floor with an axe while this song plays. Which is awesome.)

Jamie Lee kills Michael Myers again.

I think I'm going to leave in a couple hours. I might be fun to do the bulk of the driving before sunrise, never done that before. If you see a big Durango Bush-Voter Motherfucker drive by at 4am, that's me getting an early start, because I support the troops and don't cut and run and colors don't bleed and Marines never do.

Poor Jean Schmidt and all tellers of the unexamined political opinion

Poor misguided souls. In the last election, and the mid-term before it things were so easy for the Republicans. Elections was easy. It was made easy through a vast infrastructure which included what standard opinions to have in regards to abortion and christ and the war, the standard opinions to have when contrary arguments are raised (talking points), and what manner to deliver it in and when (attack always the constant enemy). Now this doesn't leave a whole lot of leeway for, oh, say, a personality? or, say, an opinion? And this is how so many of them made their way into the House and Senate. But they're not real people, they're human bullet-points, which is fine if you're in any average year in the congress, but not in 2005.. Poor Jean Schmidt was one of those people that won her election against an Iraq II war vet, and how could a dumbass beat an Iraqi Veteran? By simply painting by Republican numbers. Hat's off to Rove that you can stamp the tactic on any numbnuts and have them win an electio...obviously. But, much like Bush, now you actually have to govern, and much like Bush it's real lonely when people stop paying credence to the usual attack-dog bullshit on a dime, and it turns out you showed up at the party dressed like the Cookie Monster and it turns out it wasn't a costume party. Sorry Jean, they have a scorched-earth policy and you were only as useful to them as the claim that America is with them because they gained seats in the election. They're adept at chewing people up and spitting them out. You're an acceptable loss, just like the troops. Now you know.

There's a very fun law of unintended consequences at play here. They got their war (they win!) now they have to face Democratic Iraq Vets in elections for the next 20 years (they lose). They won a bunch of seats in the House and Senate, earning that "political capital" (they win!), but all the new people are Jean Schmidts, one termers who will face Fightin' Dems next election. And finally, Jean Schmidt won (they win!) and now Hackett will win a seat in the SENATE instead of the House (oopsie).

I think the Republicans have awoken a sleeping giant, the Democratic Party.














OH MY GOD! I can't believe I didn't blog this before, CAN YOU BELIEVE, CAN YOU FUCKING BELIEVE, that George Bush is so desperate for a leg to stand on that he read a comment from John Kerry on Veteran's Day to defend himself. It's been said that they're only good when they have an enemy (which is why they insist on creating them as often as possible including the LIBERAL MENACE! and the AL-QADA under your bed) and since George defeated the great American threat known as John Kerry in November he hasn't had much to talk about. That's been said a lot, but how crazy is it that he's so desperate for the tactic of one year ago that he reads a John Kerry quote on Veterans Day to the troops!

Riding The Bus Part 1...again

A while back, before the blogs we used to have columns on the site, and we woudl write the columns every week...or two...or month...or two. Anyway. One of my old columns was called Riding The Bus, documenting our march to make the Ed Bus feature film, but mostly it offered backstory on Ed Bus and all the ways we had used him onstage, and the mythology that had been built up. This is long before there was a radio show or a two-part Ed Bus Episode.

I believe that last two episodes of our show air this weekend on WBEZ and they are two of our best, "Schadenfreude Es Muy Loco" and "*61", great shows, some of our best work, indicative of how far we went in two years. In two years we built up quite a mythology which could be summed up in three distinct social circles: Ed Bus, Phudi Mart, and Dinnerbansky & Ross. These form what we call "The Loser Trilogy."

Next Wednesday we will head in a new direction for Schadenfreude, the big screen, and we have decided as our first screenplay to do Ed Bus. I'm partial to Phudi because I'm determined to pass the lowest-budget script past as many noses as possible so that we can lobby to produce it. The lower the budget, the less they feel they have riding on it, the more power they "may" give newcomers. Having a stellar reel of your previous films would help in that bid too, but we'll get to that, this is a many pronged plan.

The choice of Ed Bus is obvious. The heavy lifeting is done, the events that drive the lives of the characters involved are right there in bright neon. Act 1 ends when Ed finds out that after 30-35 years he actually has an opponent, Act 2: the ramifications of this in the leadup to the election, plus the Rocky 4-esque tension of the formidable opponent. Act 3: election day. The easiest scripts to write have some form of "ticking bomb". Better screenwriters are able to convey this ticking bomb in a less literal way, putting this unraveling tension in the head and actions of the characters with nary an asteroid or volcano threatening earth, but it's nice to have the ticking bomb of the election to help guide this story. Plus the plethora of secondary characters creates a great world for it to take place in.

So the assignments for the week were for everyone to read "Screenplay" by Syd Field and read three of the following screenplays, Rushmore, Go, Chinatown (for structure), Raising Arizona, Panic Room (for structure), Galaxy Quest, Big Lebowski, or Swingers (who's first scene begins in the coffee shop I blogged from two weeks ago).

And I don't want to hear any naysaying bullshit about Syd Field. I began reading "Screenplay" for the first time in 13 years yesterday and it's still an invaluable resource. Much of the criticism of of Field is leveled at page 9 without any thought to the amazing analysis of drama in the other 247 pages. His analysis of action creating character and character creating action is so concise and dead-on. I love it. I plan to read it over and over and not let another 13 years lapse while I struggle to tell stories without him. The main argument is that none of the "really good" movies follow this structure. Bullshit. Memento, for all it's flipping and floppping of how events are told, follows this formula, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, they all follow this formula to some degree. Has Tarantino or Chris Nolan ever read this, i can't say, did they lay out their structure in this cold way? I don't know. Do their works follow the formula in the end? Yes. It is an art. It is still hard to write a good screenplay, and if you write your screenplay by rote as layed out in the book it will still not necessarily be good. The question is, in 2005 is it more iconoclasitc to follow Syd Field, or dismiss it?

I'll check in with my analysis of the scripts and more Syd Field as we march to Ride The Bus...again, for the first time.

Has anyone seen this?

Has anyone seen this? I saw it advertised on the El. As someone who doesn't own a car, but sometimes needs one, I think this is kind of interesting. It's like having rental cars randomly placed all over the city and you can walk up to random cars and drive them, park them and leave them forever. Such a weird and handy concept.

I hate not blogging for a day.

So I thought I'd post a nice article I just read. Some guy named Tom Engelhardt, who writes for his own website. I've been breathing a sigh of relief as I watch the fake walls on the fakely powerful Bush Administration collapse. Build them with stronger material next time, I guess. This article makes me realize that the only thing that has allowed us to dodge this fakely popular Republican Empire bullet is their own hubris. This has literally turned to Greek tragedy, they really thought they were invinceable, that even Democracy wouldn't stand in their way. Which is what pissed us off for all those years, they seemed to revel in how egregious their offenses could be and they seemed to roll with joy at so easily getting away with it and watching half this country get offended. People like that, of course, deserve a nice quick descent into hell.

Although I almost feel sorry for Bush. Now THAT's liberal. But he was carried around on the shoulders of people who coudl give a shit about him, who were only interested in his symbolic parentage; they surrounded him, spoke for him, gave him words to speak, emotions to have, policies to be passionate about, photo ops to make him look like the boy King we were told he was, even threw elections for him, and then... His fake friends all dissappeared, the hallways are echoey, Cheney's no longer around, and Rumsfeld is now claiming he was never for the invasion. Anyway, here's an article that outlines the light at the end of the tunnel. And for those of you who don't read, The Daily Show has some moving images for you.

Losing the Fear Factor: How the Bush Administration Got Spooked
By Tom Engelhardt
TomDispatch.com

Sunday 20 November 2005

It's finally Wizard of Oz time in America. You know - that moment when the curtains are pulled back, the fearsome-looking wizard wreathed in all that billowing smoke turns out to be some pitiful little guy, and everybody looks around sheepishly, wondering why they acted as they did for so long.

Starting on September 11, 2001 - with a monstrous helping hand from Osama bin Laden - the Bush administration played the fear card with unbelievable effectiveness. For years, with its companion "war on terror," it trumped every other card in the American political deck. With an absurd system for color-coding dangers to Americans, the President, Vice President, and the highest officials in this land were able to paint the media a "high" incendiary orange and the Democrats an "elevated" bright yellow, functionally sidelining them.

How stunningly in recent weeks the landscape has altered - almost like your basic hurricane sweeping through some unprotected and unprepared city. Now, to their amazement, Bush administration officials find themselves thrust through the equivalent of a Star-Trekkian wormhole into an anti-universe where everything that once worked for them seems to work against them. As always, in the face of domestic challenge, they have responded by attacking - a tactic that was effective for years. The President, Vice President, National Security Adviser, and others have ramped up their assaults, functionally accusing Democratic critics of little short of treason - of essentially undermining American forces in the field, if not offering aid and comfort to the enemy. On his recent trip to Asia, the President put it almost as bluntly as his Vice President did at home: "As our troops fight a ruthless enemy determined to destroy our way of life, they deserve to know that their elected leaders who voted to send them into war continue to stand behind them." The Democrats were, he said over and over, "irresponsible" in their attacks. Dick Cheney called them spineless "opportunists" peddling dishonestly for political advantage.

But instead of watching the Democrats fall silent under assault as they have for years, they unexpectedly found themselves facing a roiling oppositional hubbub threatening the unity of their own congressional party. In his sudden, heartfelt attack on Bush administration Iraq plans ("a flawed policy wrapped in illusion") and his call for a six-month timetable for American troop withdrawal, Democratic congressional hawk John Murtha took on the Republicans over their attacks more directly than any mainstream Democrat has ever done. ("I like guys who've never been there that criticize us who've been there. I like that. I like guys who got five deferments and never been there and send people to war, and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done. I resent the fact, on Veterans Day, he [Bush] criticized Democrats for criticizing them.") Perhaps more important, as an ex-Marine and decorated Vietnam veteran clearly speaking for a military constituency (and possibility some Pentagon brass), he gave far milder and more "liberal" Democrats cover.

For the first time since the war in Iraq began, "tipping points," constantly announced in Iraq but never quite in sight, have headed for home. Dan Bartlett, counselor to the President and drafter of recent Presidential attacks on the Democrats, told David Sanger of the New York Times that "Bush's decision to fight back… arose after he became concerned the [Iraq] debate was now at a tipping point"; while Howard Fineman of Newsweek dubbed Murtha himself a "one-man tipping point."

Something indeed did seem to tip, for when the White House and associates took Murtha on, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, and other Democrats leaped aggressively to his defense. In fact, something quite unimaginable even a few days earlier occurred. When Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt of Ohio, the most junior member of the House, accused Murtha (via an unnamed Marine colonel supposedly from her district) of being a coward, Democratic Representative Harold Ford from Tennessee "charged across the chamber's center aisle to the Republican side screaming that Ms. Schmidts's attack had been unwarranted. 'You guys are pathetic!' yelled Representative Martin Meehan, Democrat of Massachusetts. 'Pathetic.'"

There could, however, be no greater sign of a politically changed landscape than the decision of former President Bill Clinton (who practically had himself adopted into the Bush family over the last year) to tell a group of Arab students in Dubai only two-and-a-half years late that the Iraqi invasion was a "big mistake." Since he is undoubtedly a stalking horse for his wife, that great, cautious ship-of-nonstate, the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, should soon turn its prow ever so slowly to catch the oppositional winds.)

If you want to wet an index finger yourself and hoist it airwards to see which way the winds are blowing, then just check out how the media has been framing in headlines the recent spate of administration attacks. Headline writing is a curious in-house craft - and well worth following. Changing headline language is a good signal that something's up. When the President attacks, it's now commonly said that he's "lashing out" - an image of emotional disarray distinctly at odds with the once powerful sense of the Bush administration as the most disciplined White House on record and of the President and Vice President as resolutely unflappable. Here's just a small sampling:

The Miami Herald, "President lashes out at critics of Iraq war"; the Associated Press, Cheney Latest to Lash Out at Critics; the Buffalo News, Bush lashes out at war critics; even the Voice of America, Bush Lashes Out at Political Opponents Over Iraq Accusations.

In other headlines last week, the administration was presented in post-Oz style as beleaguered, under siege, and powerless to control its own fate: The Associated Press, for example, headlined a recent Jennifer Loven piece, Iraq War Criticism Stalks Bush Overseas; the New York Times, a David Sanger report, Iraq Dogs President as He Crosses Asia to Promote Trade; and CNN headlined the Murtha events, A hawk rattles GOP's cage.

The language used in such recent press accounts was no less revealing. Sanger, for example, began his piece this way:

"President Bush may have come to Asia determined to show leaders here that his agenda is far broader than Iraq and terrorism, but at every stop, and every day, Mr. Bush and his aides have been fighting a rearguard action to justify how the United States got into Iraq and how to get out."

While Loven launched hers with, "His war policies under siege at home…," attributing the siege atmosphere and the Bush "counterattack" to "the president's newly aggressive war critics."

Lashing out, stalked, dogged, under siege, counterattacking, fighting a rearguard action - let's not just attribute this to "newly aggressive war critics." It's a long-coming shift in the zeitgeist, as evident in the media as in the halls of Congress.

On Thursday, for instance, ABC prime-time TV news, which led with a story on the President "lashing out" at critics, then offered a long, up-close-and-personal segment in which a teary-eyed Murtha spoke of the war-wounded he's regularly visited at hospitals and the fraudulence of administration policy. That same night, another prime-time news broadcast turned the President's claim that the Democrats were "irresponsible" in their criticisms into a montage of Bush repeatedly saying "irresponsible" in different poses - so many times in a row, in fact, that the segment could easily have come from a sharp opening sequence on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show.

None of this would have been possible even weeks ago in a country where it was once gospel that you don't attack a president while he's representing the United States abroad. That's why, in the Watergate era, Richard Nixon had such a propensity for trips overseas and undoubtedly why our stay-at-home President's handlers decided to turn him into a Latin American and Asian globetrotter. The question is: How did this happen? What changed the zeitgeist and where are we heading?

Poll-Driven Politics

Polls are, it might be said, what's left of American democracy. Privately run, often for profit or advantage, they nonetheless are as close as we come these days - actual elections being what they are - to the expression of democratic opinion, serially, week after week. Everyone who matters in and out of Washington and in the media reads them as if life itself were at stake. They drive behavior and politics. Fear, too, is a poll-driven phenomenon. Not surprisingly then, it was the moment late last spring when presidential approval ratings fell decisively below the 50% mark and looked to be heading for 40%, that the White House took anxious note and so, no less important, did a previously cowed media. Somewhere in that period, the fear factor, right in the administration's hands, was transformed into a feeling fearful factor. As I've written elsewhere, faced with the mother of a dead soldier on their doorstep, all the President's men blinked and the Camp Casey fiasco followed. Soon after, before hurricane Cindy could even blow out of town, hurricane Katrina blew in and the President's ratings headed for freefall. In just the last month, they look as if they had been shoved over a small cliff, dipping in the latest Harris and Wall Street Journal polls to an almost unheard of 34% (only five points above Richard Nixon's at his Watergate nadir).

The poll numbers which once gave the administration's fear factor meaning have simply evaporated - as have any figures which might indicate that this administration is capable of staunching its own wounds. Emboldening media and political opposition in Washington, such figures give Murtha-like cover to behavior that not long ago would have been unthinkable. A record 60% of Americans surveyed in the most recent USA Today poll, including one in four Republicans, said "the war wasn't 'worth it.' One in five Republicans said the invasion of Iraq was a mistake." Those who felt things were "going well" for the country as a whole dropped nine percentage points in a month.

Democrats long ago fled the ranks of presidential supporters, as more recently have independents; now moderate Republicans are beginning to peel away too. According to Tom Raum of the Associated Press,"[Bush's] approval on handling Iraq fell from 87 percent among all Republicans in November 2004 to 78 percent this month. Among Republican women, from 88 percent a year ago to 73 percent now. Among independents, approval on Iraq fell from 49 percent in November 2004 to 33 percent now." If you want a figure that, from the administration's viewpoint, offers a frightening glimpse into a possible future, consider the 79% of Americans who believe I. Lewis Libby's indictment is "of importance to the nation"; this, despite Republican claims that the grounds for indicting were insignificant, and a new Libby defense fund made up of Republican high-rollers and assorted neocons.

In other words, replace the still emotionally charged issues of the war in Iraq and the President's actions, where, at 34%-40%, a bedrock base of support remains more or less intact, with a less charged ethics-in-government issue and that vaunted Rock of Gibraltar shatters. This is the previously inconceivable future so many Republican politicians suddenly fear.

Just for the heck of it, throw in another factor - "intensity" - and you have an even more volatile picture, given the lack of positive, potentially mobilizing news on the domestic and foreign horizons. E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post suggests that the polling figures are even worse than they look because intensity of feeling on the war issue is now "on the side of the war's opponents." He adds:

"The findings on the strength of feelings about the war were matched by the intensity of feelings about Bush himself: Only 20 percent of those surveyed said they strongly approved of the overall job Bush was doing, while 47 percent strongly disapproved. A president who has always played to his base finds that his base is steadily shrinking."

In other words, doubt and demoralization are setting in - a political rot that can do untold damage. Given how many independents and moderate Republicans who once supported the war have changed their minds, the scathing attacks on Democrats for mind-changing on the war may not prove a winning strategy either. They may, as Raum comments, "backfire on Republicans."

But here's a question: Can we trace Bush's polling near-collapse to its origins anywhere? In the latest issue of Foreign Affairs magazine under the eerie title, "The Iraq Syndrome" (subscription only), John Mueller, an expert on how wars affect presidencies, offers a canny, cool-eyed interpretation of changing American opinion on Iraq. He tracks polling data on the three sustained wars - Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq - the U.S. has fought in the last half-century-plus where we took more than 300 casualties.

All three show approximately the same polling pattern: broad enthusiasm at the outset, a relatively quick and steep falloff in support, followed by steady erosion thereafter from which no long-term presidential recovery seems possible (certainly not via heightened rhetoric). In all three wars, as support fell, pro-withdrawal sentiment rose. Though some experts link this pattern to an American "defeat-phobia," Mueller points out that, in cases like Lebanon in the Reagan years and Somalia in the Clinton era, Americans have been quite capable of swallowing withdrawal and defeat (of a sort) without making the presidents involved pay any significant political cost.

The crucial factor in loss of support for each of these wars, Mueller insists, is a growing casualty list and not just any casualties either - only American ones. (The fact that "vastly more" Iraqis have died than all the victims of "all international terrorists in all of history" matters little, he observes, in American popular judgments on the war.) What makes Iraq stand out in this list of three "is how much more quickly support has eroded in the case of Iraq. By early 2005, when combat deaths were around 1,500, the percentage of respondents who considered the Iraq war a mistake - over half - was about the same as the percentage who considered the war in Vietnam a mistake at the time of the 1968 Tet offensive, when nearly 20,000 soldiers had already died."

If Mueller's right, then the steady drip of American casualties - many less dead and many more wounded than in Korea and Vietnam, in part because of improved medical care and triage techniques - has seeped deeply into American consciousness. This seems so, despite the administration's careful attempt to keep returning bodies and individual funerals out of sight and so out of mind; despite the fact that the American dead - 60 soldiers in the first 19 days of October - have largely been kept off the front-pages of American papers and photos of dead Americans off television (where dead Iraqis can regularly be seen). Short of massive draw-downs of American forces in Iraq, there is no casualty end in sight for this administration; and drawing down ground forces (while substituting air power for them), as Richard Nixon learned in his "Vietnamization" program, only solves a home-front problem at the cost of creating staggering problems on the war front.

For an administration still fighting "withdrawal" with all its strength, this may prove a problem with no exit - further casualties acting as a motor propelling the unhappiness that changes more minds and pushes falling polling figures ever downward, propelling unease about the country which only leads to escalating casualty figures of another kind - those growing defections from the ranks of your core political supporters.

When Agendas Go Bump in the Night

To put the present crisis in some perspective, you could say that two central agendas of the Bush administration proved to be in conflict, although for years this was less than evident (even to the players involved). There was the long-planned neoconservative drive to invade Iraq and, through that act, begin to remake the Middle East. The neocons were backed in this by Vice President Cheney and his crew in the vice-presidential office as well as allied figures like John Bolton, Stephen Hadley, and (some of the time) Donald Rumsfeld, none of whom were necessarily neocons. The motives this disparate group held for remaking the region in their image ranged from the urge to establish a planetary, militarily enforced Pax Americana and/or an urge to control the oil heartlands of the planet to a desire - from the Likudniks in the administration - to secure the region for an ascendant Sharonista Israel.

Whatever the overlapping motivations, at the heart of this policy lay an urge to unleash a Constitutionally unfettered "war president" on the world. (Torture was a crucial issue in all of this largely because, once established as an essential tool of the war on terror, it would be proof beyond a shadow of a doubt that George Bush's presidency had been freed of all restraints.) Put into full effect on March 20, 2003, when the "war on terror" melded into an invasion of Iraq, the policy was meant to place in the President's hands every global lever of power that mattered for all time.

It now seems far clearer that the endless fallout from the fatal decision to invade Iraq is eating away at another agenda entirely, one that emerged from the domestic political wing of this administration - from Karl Rove, Andrew Card, Tom DeLay and their ilk. This was the Republican desire to nail down the country as a purely red (as in red-meat) Republican land. The vetting of the K-Street lobbying crowd, the increasing control over the flow of corporate dollars into politics, the gerrymandering of congressional districts to create an election-proof House of Representatives, the mobilization of a religious base dedicated to an endless set of culture wars, the ushering in of a right-wing Supreme Court, and so many other activities were all meant to create an impregnable Republican Party in control of every lever of power in our country into an endless future.

The unfettered, imperial President and the unfettered, imperial Republican Party were joined at the hip by the attacks of September 11, 2001, which led to both the "war on terror" abroad and the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Department domestically. Had the Bush administration pursued both agendas, minus an invasion of Iraq, the two might have remained joined far longer. The crucial invasion decision, made almost immediately by the neocon war party backed by the President, was supported by White House Chief of Staff Andrew (""From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August") Card and Karl ("the architect") Rove, both of whom believed that a good war, well promoted and correctly wielded domestically, might drive a Republican agenda to eternal domination in America. None of them expected that it would prove to be the wedge driven between the two agendas.

The first hint of this was caught perfectly in a classic headline: On May 2, 2003, George Bush co-piloted an Air Force jet onto the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln (carefully kept thirty miles out of its San Diego homeport so that the President could have his "top gun" photo op instead of climbing a gangplank like any normal being). Following this "historic landing," he stepped up to an on-deck podium where, under a White House banner that read "Mission Accomplished," he declared that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." This was clearly meant to be the stunning start of the President's campaign for reelection in 2004, a classic piece of Rovian image manipulation and a nail in the coffin of the Democratic Party. And so it seemed to most at the time.

But if you revisit the CNN story about the landing and speech, headlined "Bush calls end to 'major combat,'" it's hard now not to note the subhead lurking just under it: U.S. Central Command: Seven hurt in Fallujah grenade attack. Seven wounded American soldiers - that really says it all. The photo-op that was meant for the reelection campaign was already being undermined by another story; two policies yoked together were already pulling in different directions. Our present moment was already being born, unnoticed but in plain sight.

Now both agendas are in disarray with no help whatsoever on the horizon. Imagine, for instance, that the South Koreans timed the announcement of the withdrawal of the first of their troops from (Kurdish) northern Iraq for the moment the President arrived in their country. Imagine that Tony Blair's people are now said to be perfecting total withdrawal plans for next year, and that the President recently may have had to slap down the top American general in Iraq for suggesting withdrawal (or at least drawdown) plans of his own. Imagine that various European nations are now investigating (or in the case of an Italian court charging) American agents in the war on terror with crimes. Imagine that the President, who often insisted Saddam had been overthrown to rid Iraq of its torture chambers ("the torture chambers and the secret police are gone forever") and to end the reign of a "murderous tyrant who… used chemical weapons to kill thousands of people," now faces a "tip-of-the-iceberg" torture scandal in Iraq involving the people we've brought to power and another spreading scandal about the American use of a chemical-like weapon, white phosphorous, on civilians in the city of Fallujah. Imagine that we proved less capable than Saddam of delivering basics like electricity and potable water to the people of Iraq, that we squandered billions of taxpayer dollars in "reconstruction" funds there, and that we face an insurgency which continues to grow and spread in opposition to a shabby elected government all but in league with the Iranians. Imagine that the President's Iraq War is now devouring his presidency and that it can only get worse.

The Middle East is a sea of political gasoline just waiting for the odd administration match or two; American foreign policy is in a kind of disarray for which even the final days of Vietnam offer no comparison; while at home, the DeLay, Frist, Libby, and Abramoff scandals (and associated indictments) can only grow and spread. Special Counsel Fitzgerald has just announced his decision to empanel a new grand jury, sure to drive the Plame scandal ever deeper and higher into the administration and ever closer to the 2006 elections or possibly beyond. It would be easy to go on, but you get the idea.

It is a truism of American politics that voters are almost never driven to the polls by foreign policy. In this case, however, the war in Iraq has chased the President and his men ever since he landed on that carrier deck. How little he knew what he was asking for when, in a moment of bravado, he said of the Iraqi insurgents, "Bring 'em on." He just barely beat the erosive effects of his war to the polls in November 2004. Now, it continues to eat inexorably into the heartland of Republican political domination. Even Republican discipline in Congress - without the Hammer's hammer - has disintegrated under the heat of the war. As Chris Nelson wrote recently in his Washington insider's newsletter, The Nelson Report:

"The stunning swiftness of the bipartisan Congressional collapse of support for the Administration's conduct of the war in Iraq, and by extension the entire anti-terrorism effort, is such that it has not been fully appreciated by the 'leadership' of either party. That's the real meaning of a Senate vote which Republicans tried to spin into a victory for the President, because they avoided the Democrat's amendment to set performance-based withdrawal deadlines."

Now, the war threatens to crack open the Republican base and chase the dream of a single-party Republican political future - only recently so close - right off the map. No wonder the Democrats have just come out swinging (sort of). The political shock and awe the administration so regularly deployed after Sept. 11, 2001 no longer works. The Democrats suddenly have discovered that - no thanks to them - the American people are somewhere else and they have little to fear from George Bush or Dick Cheney. No Presidential "counterattack," no "lashing out," no set of speeches or new agenda (to be announced in the 2006 State of the Union Address or anywhere else) is likely to change any of this for the better for this President. Fear is no longer on the Bush administration's side. No wonder they're now afraid - very, very afraid.

Attention soundtrack obsessives: Bear McCreary's the real deal.

Don't know if there are any soundtrack obsessives out there, but I am a recovering addict, haven't actually bought a musical score to a movie in many years but there were some years in college where ALL I listened to were musical scores. Top non-John Williams scores of all time (nobody doesn't like Star Wars, Jaws, Superman, & Raiders): Aliens, Terminator 2, Crimson Tide, The Rock, Speed, Alien 3, all the Batmans (even the shitty ones had pretty good scores), Predator, The Professional. So that's how my tastes run, and for anybody else out there who's a soundtrack fan, you need to pick up Bear McCreary's Battlestar Galactica. It was given to my by a friend of the group, I completely forget who, and it is fucking great. Very Aliens/Terminator/Predator type action score, but so good. I've listened to it ten times since I got it, it's completely my new writing music, it almost makes me want to write so I can put on the score. SO good. Go over to his site and sample some of his music, and DEFINITELY check out the Battlestar Trailers, so good. Such a great show.

Fun with astute truisms from the past that comment on the present

"This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector." - Plato

"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." - U.S. President James Madison ... More beneath the fold...

"Terrorism is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death". - Adolph Hitler

"Why of course the people don't want war ... But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship ... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." - Hermann Goering, Nazi leader.

"The easiest way to gain control of a population is to carry out acts of terror. [The public] will clamor for such laws if their personal security is threatened". - Josef Stalin

Who I Am.

Amongst the monumental events of my youth are a couple obvious factors forming my personality, Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, by very closely behind that was Superman and Superman II. Much like the posters told me I would believe, I did believe a man could fly. I became obsessed with the image of heroism, who Superman was, and what he could do. Not too much later in life I learned who Richard Donner was and what it was that he could do. In fact I was only able to realize what I loved about the Lukes, Hans and Indys of those movies after Superman had brought what I love to a flashpoint of clarity. Combined with who George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were and what they did, my personality was formed, and that's who I am today and why I will one day create similarly moving moving images. Everything I loved about movies as a kid forms what I love about them today, and all of it is summed up in the tales of Superheroes. I am obsessed with tales of Superheroism and the last few years from X-Men 1 to Electra have been bliss. These are tales of legends, of Gods who walk. But no God who walks is greater than Superman, and nobody has directed the Gods who walk the way Brian Singer has. These are the factors that add up to create my excitement about Superman Returns, no figure has delivered what I love about the movies more than Superman, and no director has had such a clear grasp of what that is more than Bryan Singer, who's was similarly formed by Richard Donner's 1978 epic.

I say this all because the teaser for Superman Returns is now online and I am breathless. I am a kid again, and that is the greatest feeling that a director can impart. I get all the other messages, I get Cassavetes, I get Herzog, The French New Wave, The New German Cinema. I get it, but it's power doesn't move me that way this trailer does. This is a very exciting time, for a number of reasons, but one of them is feeling exactly as I did in 1980 waiting for the lights to go down and for Superman II to begin, because I believe a man can fly.

Good Night, and Good Luck

I finally began my Oscar push last night by seeing Good Night, Good Luck with David Strathairn. Wow. George Clooney is a good director and he picks such great subject matter. I'm obsessed with the McCarthy Era, always have been it always fascinated me the way that power was abused through fear...I never imagined I would live through a similar era, but I guess when people in the 50's looked back on the Red Scare of the twenties they never imagined that THEY would live through a similar era, it's amazing how the tactic won't die. But Murrow eloquently spoke truth to power and it's obvious the movie was made to implore the media to please do the same in 2005. The interesting thing is that unlike the 50's or the 20's when the media wouldn't speak truth to power, they did it out of silence (speaking out was suspect of communist leanings), the media in 2005 actively aids and abets the government in their tactics, see Judy Miller, or (breaking news) Bob Fucking Woodward..

David Strathairn is rumored to be nominated for Best Actor, the movie for best picture, but then so is Jarhead. So in the pure politics of the Oscars basically The Academy will be asked to vote for a declaration that we're not going to take it anymore, that we all need to take a stand against the terrorism of the state...or...support the troops. Fucking Sam Mendes, must you muddle this argument?

David Strathairn is great, he really captures Murrow and Murrow's voice. Did you know that David once wore my shoes?

Funny story.

Last year I worked on a movie that starred David Strathairn. I used to have this odd pair of shoes, I've never seen any like them, they were trail hiking shoes held together with bungees instead of shoelaces, so not only did they never need to be tied, but they were easy to slip on and off and were very comfortable.

When I walked onto the set I was face to face with David (who I am a huge fan of because of "Sneakers", one of the greatest, most underrated films ever, GREAT script). I looked down and saw that he was wearing the same shoes.

"Nice shoes." I said. David looked down, saw that I was wearing them too.
"I know they're comfortable aren't they?"

That was about it between me and Dave. But on the last night of one of the principal players filming we held a goodbye party complete with roller-skating. Everybody took their shoes off and threw them in a pile. At the end of the night I put my shoes back on and they were very loose, thus my assessment that David Strathairn wears size 12's, or at least keeps his bungees looser than I do. For the next few days I tried to track David down, ultimately just leaving his shoes in his trailer. I got mine back two months later when the crew came back.

Not a great story. But a story nonetheless.

Later the production would be hit by Hurricane Ivan and plywood boards needed to be cut and placed on 60 72 year-old-windows of the historic building we were shooting. The grips and electric crew set about the task with their tools and skycranes, and so did David. Not a lot of actors would cut boards and prepare a town for a hurricane.

I hope he wins Best Actor, he's a hell of a guy, he's put in his time, and he's great in the movie. Go Dave.

Good Night, and Good Luck.

New V For Vendetta Poster

Suh-weet!

The Daily Show

They make it all better don't they? Not the way a majority in the Senate might, or the way that a Non-complete-fucking-idiot in the White House might, but better is good in these ridiculous times. Just ridiculous. It hurts to think in 2005. I was just talking about Bush with my boss and we had to hush our tones when the Republican walked into the room, because we somehow hold the radical view. Very painful living under this enemy-creation-factory that is the Bush Administration. Love America and hate your neighbors, or at least suspect them for they may be "they."

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Be careful, that's what they look like when they're about to attack. Don't look them straight in the eyes. The North American Appointee can be vicious is confronted with opposition viewpoints.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Right now she seems to be perceiving us as a threat to future shoe buying and paid speakin-gigs. Please stand back. They can be especially vicious if cornered.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

This looks like one of the meaner ones.

You don't have to be a dick about it.

Just read that Spider-Man 3 is shooting.

Interesting story. I once worked in the Sears Tower until the World Trade Center was exploded and then I took the day off, only to find a voicemail two days later from the President telling us not to leave the building, that we were going to work the rest of the day. That was a bad call. But this story took place somewhere between there and when I got fired.

I used to take the Brown line in the morning formt he Quincy stop. So this one morning I got to the el and my movie sense started tingling. Anybody can tell a movie is shooting if there's big honey-wagons that announce the presence of Oceans 12 but this one day there were no honey-wagons or grip cart, but there was a weird sense in the air. The person standing at the sidewalk entrance to the platform had the feel of a production assistant, but there were not trucks, no c-stands, no evidence of a shoot. I got to the top landing and there was another p.a.-like person, and he had a walkie! Aha! It is a film shoot...but where the fuck are the trucks? Then I got up on the platform and these were not commuters, they stank of extras, BUT WHERE THE HELL WAS THE CREW!! I stood there a while wondering what was going on. I've been on a lot of shoots and while I'm still enamored by being on set and want to do it for the rest of my life I like to act like I'm more above it than the commoner, that I'm obsesses out of career aspiration rather than common gawking. But, finally I ask one of the "communters" what's going on.

"We're shooting a movie."
"What movie"
"Spider-Man 2"
"You know, you don't have to be a dick about it, I was just asking" ...was what I almost said under the assumption that that was the biggest "fuck you" response from Mr. Indie extra on a movie with no camera or crew. Probably an ER guy. Why don't you just say "The Matrix 2" asshole.

A) Spider-Man 2 was not shooting, It was two years from being in theatres.
B) Spider-Man 2 was not shooting in Chicago.
C) A $180 million film was not shooting with no cameras or crew, but only two guys with walkies.

Cut to two years later as I watch Spider-Man fight Dr. Octopus on a Chicago El passing teh Quincy stop.

Funny story, but not as funny as the one where I got fired.

Clerks 2 news

Oh, counting the days. By the way if you're not checking on the Clerks 2 site you're missing out on some preemo work-avoidance fun. They put up video journals of the production every couple of days. Brian Singer's been doing the same thing on the making of Superman, and I'm completely addicted to those production journals. Check them out for the best two movies of 2006.

Simple Pleasures: The perfectly toasted toast.

Look at that toast. It's perfect. It's perfectly toasted. Not too dark, not too white. That's a skill, and it's a simple pleasure. Riding that line between sucking all the moisture out of a perfectly good piece of bread (key ingredient in toast) into the black hole of crustiness and being too white to technically be toasted. When toast comes out perfect it brings a smile to my face, a very simple pleasure. If you don't get it right there's not going back. You have to start over again. Perfect toast means I can get on with my day.

So I raise a glass, a toast if you will, to toast.

Toast is also a great word. It's fun to say. Toast.

Blues Brothers is perfectly underplayed movie and one of my favorite tiny jokes in the movie is Elwood's obsession with toast. He's always got bread on him and while purchasing the instruments from Ray Charles he seeks out a toaster to make some toast. In the diner he orders toast in opposition to Jake's four fried chicken. "How often's the train go by?" "So often you won't even notice" is delivered while Elwood prepares toast on a bunsen burner.

Toast.

Short-Haired Chick Friday!: Natalie Redux

Natalie's hair remains short, and she remains very cute. I came across a photoset of her speaking at some liberal cause in Philadelphia.



What's hotter than a short-haired chick? A short haired chick in jeans, what's hotter than that? A short-haired chick in jeans and Chuck Taylors who passionate about a liberal cause.



Hotter than that? A short-haired chick and George Lucas.



Go Natalie go.

The Complete, and I mean, COMPLETE films of Werner Herzog pt. 2

It's not over yet, when last we left Werner he was recovering from the herculean effort to make FITZCARRALDO, in which he lived in the rain forest for months surrounded by warring natives and supervised the towing of a 1920's riverboat up and over a peruvian mountain. The film is nothing short of a masterpiece, and of course, it stars Klaus Kinski, which I am completely in love with. We all fell in love with Klaus, and amzing actor with a presence few actors can achieve. He is riveting like nobody else in Aguirre and Nosferatu (what a fucking masterpiece that is). It's been stated that Kinski made over 100 films, but only his five collaborations with Herzog are widely known and achieved international acclaim. Herzog has made 50 films, and only his five collaborations with Kinski and Stroszek received international acclaim.

Tonight begins with his final collaboration with Kinski, COBRA VERDE, and then we head into nothing but documentaries until Sunday night. So intense was the ordeal to make FITZCARRALDO that Herzog only made documentaries for ten years, which few people know, much less have seen. Luckily, Chris Sienko is on the case.

Please, if you have no interest in Herzog or Kinski, just do yourself the favor of renting Aguirre or Nosferatu. You will not be dissapointed.

I will be blogging throughout the weekend if you're interesting in UP-TO-THE-MINUTE information on decade-old movies.

L.A. Wrapup, Josh, Jill, Ike, Frank & Mike

Great trip. LIke Chicago in L.A.

Cool news!

Schadenfreude has been syndicated in Alaska, yes we can be heard in Russia.

More people are noticing us since Justin just did a great little interview with the folks at PRX.

But don't stop there, check out our NATIONWIDE reviews.

The radio show lives!

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! I AM TAKING PLEASURE IN YOUR PAIN! WE ARE LAUGHING!!!

So with the revelation of the secret CIA prisons by the Washington Post the Republicans got serious about the leaking of information, not in an effort to show that NOW they're serious about leaks after having Ashcroft brush the Plame investigation under the rug until the CIA demanded a special counsel. No, they blustered on this one under the assumption the a Democrat did it. If only Blustering could fuel SUV's. COuld I get a Rightousness-fueled Prius. $200 Billion could create that don't you think? Read this, then read the punchline.

November 8, 2005

Honorable Peter Hoekstra
Chairman
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Honorable Pat Roberts
Chairman
Select Committee on Intelligence
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairman Hoekstra and Chairman Roberts:

We request that you immediately initiate a joint investigation into the possible release of classified information to the media alleging that the United States government may be detaining and interrogating terrorists at undisclosed locations abroad. As you know, if accurate, such an egregious disclosure could have long-term and far-reaching damaging and dangerous consequences, and will imperil our efforts to protect the American people and our homeland from terrorist attacks.

The purpose of your investigation will be to determine the following: was the information provided to the media classified and accurate?; who leaked this information and under what authority?; and, what is the actual and potential damage done to the national security of the United States and our partners in the Global War on Terror? We will consider other changes to this mandate based on your recommendations.

Any information that you obtain on this matter that may implicate possible violations of law should be referred to the Department of Justice for appropriate action.

We expect that you will move expeditiously to complete this inquiry and that you will provide us with periodic updates. We are hopeful that you will be able to accomplish this task in a bipartisan manner given general agreement that intelligence matters should not be politicized. Either way, however, your inquiry shall proceed.

The leaking of classified information by employees of the United States government appears to have increased in recent years, establishing a dangerous trend that, if not addressed swiftly and firmly, likely will worsen. The unauthorized release of classified information is serious and threatens our nation's security. It also puts the lives of many Americans and the security of our nation at risk.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

William H. Frist, M.D.

Majority Leader

U.S. Senate

J. Dennis Hastert
Speaker
U.S. House of Representatives

And then...

CNN's Ed Henry: "Trent Lott stunned reporters by declaring that this subject was actualy discussed at a Senate Republican luncheon, Republican senators only, last tuesday the day before the story ran in the Washington Post. Lott noted that Vice President Cheney was also in the room for that discussion and Lott said point blank "a lot of it came out of that room last tuesday, pointing to the room where the lunch was held in the capitol." He added of senators "we can't keep our mouths shut." He added about the vice president, "He was up here last wek and talked up here in that room right there in a roomful of nothing but senators and every word that was said in there went right to the newspaper." He said he believes when all is said and done it may wind up as an ethics investigation of a Republican senator, maybe a Republican staffer as well. Senator Frist's office not commenting on this development. The Washington Post not commenting either."

"WE ARE LAUGHING!!! And it's continuing, and then slowing down a little, but there's still a good spirit. It's getting less. There's a little chuckle... and it's done."

"You really wreck moments when you do that, Ron."

Always an exciting day

When you're a live-action superhero nut like I am there's an anticipation for the first release of any photo's of the people you know an love in the 2D world of comics or cartoons as real live people. The best feeling when finally seeing these movies is the feeling that you are seeing that person brought to life. The very first shot of Wolverine fighting in the cage in X-Men 1 was an amazing moment because all I could say is "That's fucking Wolverine." When I saw the Hulk, that was the fucking Hulk. So 6 months ago the revealed that Thomas Haden Church had been cast in Spider-Man 3, but who would he play. The rumor became pretty solid that he would be playing Sandman.



And now, finally, we get to see him in our world. I love this moment. Always an exciting day. Ladies and Gentlemen I bring you a living and breathing Sandman who walks in the same world as you or I.



I know it's just a guy in a green shirt. But for me this is very exciting.

Shane Black needs your help!!

Okay, I just read this plea for audience for Kiss Kiss Bang Bang on Aint It Cool News. I'm a HUGE Shane Black fan, you know Shane Black, the writer who in 1987 made headlines for getting paid a Million Bucks for his script for Lethal Weapon, which is one of the better movies ever - "We got him because I shot him in the leg, I didn't fill him full of holes and try to jump off a building with him." "Hey that's no fair, the building guy lived." He followed that up with the even more brilliant The Last Boyscout - "You're nobody." "Shh, don't tell anyone.", and followed that up with the poorly produced, but brilliantly written Long Kiss Goodnight - "I would've been here earlier but I had to think up that Ham on Rye line." And Shane Black is even more well known for a small cameo role in Predator "So I said to my wife 'Geez you got a big pussy, Geez you got a big pussy', she said why did you say that twice, I said I didn't."

I've been waiting for his next project for nine years, and now it's out, it's called Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and it's also directed by him. I've been busy, but very excited to see it, and now it's dying on the vine, so I'm going to see it this weekend and if anybody out there is up for a good action comedy this weekend, give Shane Black his props, I'd like to see his directing career continue. And if it's not your style, buy a ticket anyway and then walk into Saw II, they never check to make sure you went to the right movie anyway.

Watch out now...

The Complete, and I mean, COMPLETE films of Werner Herzog

Okay, landed from L.A., got up bright and early the next morning to teach a terrific class to our terrific students, took a martial arts class and now I’m over at Chris Sienko’s for the Stiff-Legged film festival III: The Complete, and I mean, COMPLETE films of Werner Herzog. The stiff-lgged fests are great events. I hate to miss a second of them. Festival One showed every single Robert Altman film from first to most-recent in chronological order from 7pm Friday night to 11pm Sunday night for three weekends with only 8 hours off at a time. EVERY SINGLE FILM. Familiar with Altman because you’ve seen The Player? Try Countdown, try Quintet, try A Cold Day in The Park, Images, H.E.A.L.T.H. or Three Women? Festival Two showed every single Cassavetes film including Too Late Blues and Big Trouble.

I come in late on the second day having missed: SHORTS I, SIGNS OF LIFE, SHORTS II, EVEN DWARFS STARTED SMALL, LAND OF SILENCE & DARKNESS, FATE MORGANA, AGUIRRE: THE WRATH OF GOD, and The ECSTACY OF WOODCARVER STEINER.

I had already seen AGUIRRE and consider to be one of the most powerful films of all time. The last five minutes in which the scariest man on earth, Klaus Kinski, gives the scariest speech ever, blew me out of the theatre when I was in my German Film class at Miami. At the key moment in the speech when he says “I am Aguirre: The Wrath of God.” He looks right into the camera, easily the most powerful moment I’ve ever seen in a movie.

5:30 – The last 15 minutes of THE ENIGMA OF KASPAR HAUSER

Well he certainly is an Enigma to me, I’ll have to watch the whole movie. Chris says this is the breakout hit of the festival, that’s saying a lot. That means this is the Nashville of this festival.

5:45 – NOBODY WANTS TO PLAY WITH ME

A short film in German with Italian subtitles. From what I gether nobody wants to play with this one kid, and then he and a girl take a walk and then the kids do want to play with him. Only from the completist obsession of Chris Sienko.

6:00 - HOW MUCH WOOD COULD A WOODCHUCK CHUCK
A documentary on auction barkers in America. Summary: They talk really fast.

It’s interesting that this focus on the Amish and Cattle Auctions was made a by a total German. Herzog’s obsession with the America Midwest is fascinating in the way that Wenders obsession with it is. It’s SO foreign to them that they notice so much that we take for granted. This completely reminds me of Errol Morris’ Gates of Heaven and Vernon, FL by focusing on such and obscure subgroup of American culture and it’s own insulated dramas. When I found out that Werner Herzog eats his shoe (in which for twenty minutes Werner Herzog does literarally that) was a bet he lost with Errol Morris; I always thought it was odd that Errol Morris and Herzog were friends. The guy who made Thin Blue Line and the guy who made Aguirre, what could they have to talk about? Now having seen this doc, it all makes sense.

7:00 - HEART OF GLASS



This movie beings with a gorgeous montage of environment, very patient, then it slowly brings in the characters, but treats them as a part of the scenery by going from silent person scene to silent person scene, some of them with hilarious results. The two men staring each other at the bar is hilarious. The comic timing of these droll and ironic German New Wave films is brilliant. So patient.

Amazing. These are like movies from another planet. Such weird, dour, straight-faced humor. This village of glass blowers has lost a villager, her was th only one who knew how to blow Ruby glass and did not leave the recipe behind. So far the film has been a succession of very quiet images that last forever. He’s said he wanted to lull the watcher to prepare them for a slow film, but all of the German New Wave lulls their watchers like this, and not just in the beginning, but throughout. Is the opening of Heart of Glass any different than the ending to Aguirre or taking the ship up the hill in Fitzarraldo or the travel on the ski lift in Stroszek, or the opening sequence of Fassbinders Beware A Holy Whore? That’s what’s great about the German New Wave, that patience.

2nd montage of scenery. GORGEOUS!!!!! Just fucking gorgeous. The still imagery just continutes and continues. Okay I take back my earlier statements a little, he clearly is lulling us.

Now as the town becomes increasingly desperate, they are discussin the comparison of the blood red glass to the lifeblood of this town. Nice symbolism beee-yotch.

Glass blowing is fascinating and beautiful, his attention to exploring the subject is very interesting coming right off of a documentary on Auction Callers. Nowe we’re into and other fascinating analysis of another profession. The echniques and the playing with the molten glass, and blowing glass. Wow.Slowly by slowly this man just twisted and torned and clipped and prodded and tuned and prodded and turned and twisted and clipped this piece of glass and hypnotically a glass horse was produced. Wow.

This film needs to go fuck itself. Too good. The sequence of all the people in the vast room making insane noises and uncomfortable laughts and then the scene in the bar with the man playing the hurdy gurdy while and man sits and stares in the middle of the bar. An atmosphere unlike any film. Then again I could say the same of almost any Herzog film.

Well that film just simply ended. Wow. I don’t care. Nothing happened and I don’t care. I think I just summed up the entire German New Wave.

9:00 – LA SOUFRIRE

A documentary, Werner travels to an island about to be destroyed by a volcano and makes a tone poem on the last days of this empty and evacuated town. Werner once again (Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo) subjects his film crew to certain death, what a dick.

9:45 – STROSZEK



I first saw this on my Senior year of College, pushed on me by the brilliant tastes of Andy Marko who monitored my Senior Project. The Mass Comm crew at Miami was astoundingly eclectic and brilliant and turned me onto many great films.

WE ARE LAUGHING! Stroszek is getting out of prison and one of the other prisoners has a going away gift for him, he lights a fart for him, such a hilarious non-sequitor that’s handled with complete casualness. So odd.

In Stroszek, the brilliantly deadpan innocent Bruno S. plays Bruno Stroszek who meets a prostitute and travels with her from Germany to Wisconsin where Herzog’s camera becomes fascinated with the depressing Midwest.

Bruno S., the actor, was a street musician with a very difficult past of abuse and birth to a prostitute mother that Herzog discovered and put him him in THE ENIGMA OF KASPAR HAUSER. Such an innocent Andy Kaufman face. Consistent with the tone of Herzog, Bruno S. is a perfect deadpan actor for Herzog.

SPOILER ALERT

In the most depressing ending ever. Stroszek, having moved to Wisconsin, he has his trailer repossessed, his girl moves to Vancouver with a bunch of truckers she blew for money, his father is arrested for robbing a barber, and Stroszek takes a giant frozen turkey and shotgun on a ski lift and kills himself. This is followed by a full two minutes of a tapdancing chicken to harmonica and some blues howler in one of the craziest and most memorable endings ever.

Immediately after, Chris replayed the lit fart scene with A-B repeat selected on his DVD player, playing the scene over and over and over. I haven’t laughed that hard in a while.

It’s not that the guy lights his fart, it’s that is such a random moment. He says “I have a surprise for you before you leave”, lights a fart and then hugs Stroszek goodbye.



Too tired to blog, so I'll sum up.

NOSFERATU: Four words: Klaus Kinski as Dracula.

WOYCZEK: I forget, so late. The opening is great though.

Distinctive

Shit, Johnny Knoxville just walked by. Finally a celebrity sighting I can buy into. Evidently Eva Longoria was sitting next to us in the diner yesterday, but I don't know what an Eva Longoria is, but Knoxville, I know a Knoxville when I see one. The diner in the hotel is a pretty hip place, very celebrity laden. Rumor has it William Macy eats here every Sunday with his kids, Sofia Coppola holds a lot of meetings here and Kate just came back from the bathroom to say that Buster from Arrested Development is currently in the diner.



Fun. Random choice of place to stay and it turns out the be the hip hovel.

Speaking of celebrity sightings. The Schadenfreude show was the nexus of everyone who's anyone or perhaps it was anyone who's everyone. TV's Ike Bainholtz, TV's Josh Meyers, TV's Gillian Vigman, TV's Jill Benjamin were in the house as was Bart Kias' House's Bart Kias. Steve and Erik from Broken Lizard came out and couldn't have been nicer, they're working on a new movie called Beerfest and were enjoying hitting a show in the calm before the storm of production. All in all very good night in the very hip and Chicago-esque Las Filas. We've marveled at how non-L.A. this area of Las Filas feels with a bunch of Wicker Parky and Bucktowney bars. Every single person here has told us "don't get spoiled, this is an anomaly."

The showcase went well, but just a great night with great firends beyond that. I think for the first time in our non-careers we just didn't care, we cared about getting laughs, but that's all we cared about. I know it's overstated that you should "just have fun" during high pressure shows, but for the first time ever we literally did that, we just had fun, and it was, and we made our friends laugh, and that became our only mission. We were the first act, we came out for our first bit, an old sketch that pits a Hipster vs. A Meathead as they vie to be the first to claim the new neighborhood bar for their own, and as the first joke hit we could see the front row filled with all our L.A. friends. Ike, Gillian, Josh, and Jill Benjamin. They all have very distincitve laughs and as they started laughing it was our only mission to keep THOSE laughs coming. Hearing Ike & Gillian laugh is it's own drug.

Best joke of the night:
Justin: I.D. please.
Kate: How long's this bar been here?
Justin: About 15 minutes.
Kate: What's this place called?
Justin: "Place." We were going to call it "New Orleans Superdome Gang Rape"...but you just can't call a club that anymore.

Well the hard part's over, now we just need to wrangle any meetings we can while we're here and then track down our buddies for another drink tonight and missions will have been accomplished.

Props out to Ray Delphinas for enjoying being a Short-Haired chick of the week fan!

And here's our David Lynch hotel.



Seems like a good enough place to get hooked on heroin.

Sitting in the lobby of the Best Western in The Hollywood Hills

We've touched down in L.A. in the Hollywood Hills, home of the Upright Citizens Brigade L.A. There's a wonderful Lebowski-esque diner in our hotel called Diner 101 or something like that. We've been to L.A. a few times, but this is the coolest neighborhood we've stayed in, it might be the ONLY neighborhood we've stayed in. The previous trips we stayed in places that seemed to be next to major throughfares which didn't seem to constitute a "neighborhood." Where we are seems to be the Wicker Park of L.A. based on the hipster demo in Diner 101. I think they're all screenwriters.

The Hotel, in the words of Justin, is very Mulholland Drive, not the drive, the movie. A sort of sad, deadend for old Marilyn Monroes. You can imagine an aging starlet or Ed Wood living out their last days for $20 a day in a joint like this. This is actually $200 a day, but you could imagine a $20 a day version of this, eeeeeeeasily.

Justin's got two meetings today and as it turns out they are 25 minutes in two different directions from where we are, we're thinking of asking a friend for a ride to avoid a couple $50 cab rides, but it's kind of like asking a friend for a ride to Deerfield. Then again, maybe rides are taken to Deerfield every day in L.A.

We're calling all our friends right now and trying to get them out to our show tomorrow night. Bart Kias in the hizz, Matt Lenhart in the hizz, Ryan Anglin in the hizz, Ike Barinholtz in the hizz, Gillian Vigman in the hizz. I would like to get David Sachs in the hizz, but the number I had for his old hizz is no longer working, I think he changed hiz number when he moved to a new hizz.

Not much to update, but I found the hotspot in the lobby and couldn't pass up the opportuity to post that I'm in the lobby of a hotel in L.A.