School kind of kicked my ass. So this is less a writing update as it is a personal update. But oh, well. Too bad.
What did Brad do for his weekend? Had his first pub crawl. That was fun, until we got to The Ranch. Way too fucking crowded in there. I don’t have claustrophobia, but I can relate to those that do. I get the same feeling in a building (and sometimes even outside) filled with people as I do when I’m underwater or on a tall building.
Anyway, I got ditched twice by my friend who came out with me (so afraid of not being liked by my friends from school, but Melissa seemed to like her right up until she left the first time). She seems quite incapable of having fun with someone who doesn’t drink. Which is unfortunate, because she was a good friend to have back when she actually wanted to spend time with me.
So, the Walk About Pub wasn’t too bad, except that they don’t support designated drivers like most other bars do. The Purple Onion was alright. Not as gay as Tanya said it was. Except that you have to pay to use the washroom. And then the Ranch. More attractive women than any of the other places (except that Walk About is upstairs, and you get a good vantage point of all the women walking by on the street).
Saturday, though. Saturday was a great day. I called my cousin, who was also going to the Matt Good concert, to see if he had a girl friend who liked Matt Good I could bring as a date. Turns out he had his tickets stolen, so I told him he could come with me. Had a great time. It was my first time seeing Matthew Good live, and he is just fucking brilliant. And quite humourous, too.
Crisis averted!
I had fun. And got two CDs signed, a picture with Matt, and a little something special for one of my sisters.
The Spades (the band that opened for Matt) were pretty good, too. Wasn’t sure what to expect, but I thoroughly enjoyed their performance.
All-in-all, 100% successful trip. Fuck am I rapid cycling. I’ve gone up and down five times already, just writing this post. Moods usually last a little longer than this, it’s bugging me.
I just pounded out seven and a bit pages. Unfortunately, I have done nothing since the last post, so my outline extends to about… twenty pages, max. I may have a couple ideas for scenes, but that’s no outline. I’ve yet to come up with a good antagonist (though Ben himself could be his own antagonist, in the “Man vs Himself” vein of things) aside from the government. That’s a little too general, although I know it will play a large part in the ending. I also need to come up with a conflict and resolution for the denouement, as that’s the part that always fucks me over.
Anyway, that’s it. Night.
Quite nicely, actually. I’ve got the order of the first four songs ready. Had to change the lyrics to one song to make it fit the situation it’s going to be in (fear not, however, as I’ve already decided it’s going to have a reprise later on with all of the original lyrics with the possible exception of the word “brother”). Got the beginnings of an outline, as well, and going to do a little work on the characters tomorrow (celtx has this nifty feature where you can add a character as an item, then enter age, description, motivation, etc.). And… yeah. That’s all for now.
And what is it about? Well, I’ll make it quick.
I was watching The 11th Hour tonight, and one particular line made me think of the Serj Tankian song Sky Is Falling. Which made me want to write the musical I toyed with writing before ScriptFrenzy just as much as the moment he began playing the song Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition during his concert in Edmonton.
For anyone who has no idea what musical I’m talking about, it’s about the successor to a non-violent political activist (who is assassinated at the beginning, with the main character filling his void) going from a protester at a college protest, to the leader of a movement to drastically change the government (a revolution of sorts).
Now, for the first draft, all save two characters will be named after people I know (just so I don’t have to spend hours perusing babynames.com, and to make it easier for me to see each character in my mind’s eye). Later drafts will, of course, have the names changed. If you’re curious, the two characters I don’t know would be someone completely made up (mostly for sexual/romantic tension), and a character based, somewhat, on Serj Tankian (thus the using his album as a title and basis for all the songs in the musical) and John Lennon. As for the others, one name only so some may be either flattered or pissed that I’m so horrible at names that I have to use theirs in stories: Ben, Gloria, Wing, Jessie, Hurley, Justin, Tim, Paddy, Ryan, and Patrick.
Anyway, that’s all for now. Good night, all.
One more thing, though. It’s fucking stupid that wordpress won’t let me have a single category called “writing and the process”, but rather splits it into “writing” and “and the process”.
Filed under: I am the boss of this blog, NaNoWriMo, Script Frenzy!, music, progress reports
As promised, the rest of the update I was too tired to write last night.
A final song was added to the soundtrack. Track 13: Alexisonfire – Charlie Sheen Vs. Henry Rollins
last.fm isn’t working, so I can’t post the link to the song’s page.
I finished at quarter to midnight last night. Just barely enough time to scramble it (lest it be pirated when I upload it for verification) and verify.
One thing I have to say about the experience this year. While I love using celtx, I was a little aggravated by its page counters. There’s an s on the end of that word because, technically, there are two…and a half. One is the one I used last year, so I trusted that one. The other is typeset, which was anywhere from one to three pages difference, plus or minus, from the first. The half comes from when you make a cover page, which adds a page to the typeset amount. I hope they fix this by next April, so I can get just one page count (plus the cover page).
Umm… what else? Nothing, methinks. Now I have to think of something to entertain my three readers for the next few months until NaNoWriMo starts.
100 pages. Just barely. I made it by the skin of my teeth, too. Thirteen minutes left to go. And now I have seven hours before I have to get up for school. Possibly more to report on tomorrow when I’ll actually be able to take the time to do so.
Filed under: Uncategorized
78 pages. I have one more day to get twenty two pages. Unfortunately, I have school on Thursday. Thus, unlike last year, I don’t exactly have until 11:50 tomorrow night to finish. Oh, well. Maybe I’ll get it, and if I don’t I think I’m already further than last year (and the fourth act is not quite so rushed).
Anyways, I have an idea for a scene in the final act. Though it may slow it down, and might have to be moved to earlier on in the story, but that’s fine. And… I think that’s it for now. Wish me luck for tomorrow.
… I may just have to bring a notebook to jot things down during lunch.
I put the wrong day number on yesterday’s post. Oh well.
70 pages. Which means I’m right back at where I was a while ago at ten pages behind. But I’m also back to five pages a day to finish on time again (it had gotten over six for a while there). Oh, how I love dialog heavy scenes. They really pad a script. Or… you know… anything one might write.
I also start school on Monday, so hopefully that means I’ll get three days of extra time to write.
Filed under: Script Frenzy!, actors, movies, progress reports, so much for daily
64 pages. Seven days left. It’s looking like I might not make it, but I’m optimistic.
Also, movies.
Holy fuck. I knew that it was going to be bad, but I’m a brand loyalty kind of guy. I loved the Alien franchise, and I loved the Predator franchise. I loved the AvP games. And then some idiot got the idea to hand the franchise over to some talentless hacks to write the movies. It was a complete waste of money. Luckily, I used a free rental, so it cost me nothing.
I wasn’t sure how good this one was going to be, given that is was written and filmed in the space of a summer haiatus, not to mention it’s an independent Canadian movie. But wow. I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in a long time. A few times, I literally laughed until I ran out of breath, then kept laughing. David Hewlett is awesome. I’ve still yet to listen to the commentary, but still. Very enjoyable. Unfortunately, Amazon.ca doesn’t sell it, but you can get it from Amazon.com. By the way, a quick synopsis, from the official site:
If you’ve never been good at anything in your life, why would murder be any different?
Patrick has always had a somewhat combative relationship with his little sister Marilyn. But when she brings home her new sci-fi-soap star fiancé Ryan, it’s all out war. When Patrick fails to drive a wedge between the happy couple, he reaches for sharper instruments. Every family has a few skeletons in the closet; A Dog’s Breakfast is the nightmarishly funny mess Patrick makes when he tries to add another to his.
A Dog’s Breakfast is a head smacking, bone breaking, fiancé bashing romp, with a family that just loves themselves to pieces.
Anyway, yes. That is all.
Sixty pages now. Ten pages behind. Now I need five pages a day to finish on time. Here’s hoping that I get to it when it comes down to crunch time.
Also, my head is kinda empty despite having watched a few new movies that I’ve wanted to throw up reviews for. Oh, well. Another time.
