Showing posts with label Screen Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Screen Writing. Show all posts

Non-Verbal Communication

Being the only white person on the 720 Express does not feel awkward or strange. In fact I feel uncomfortable when whitey's show up cause they look either mad (crazy and/or upset) or like a tourist. Being among minorities also lets helps me gain more attention from the lovely Latino, Asian and Negro ladies. No joke, there are some really gorgeous women who ride the bus. It's hard to believe, but the ratio is quite high; like 1 hottie for every 7 or 9 lumpies. All it takes is the bus to hit one bump and I can chivalrously reach out and steady the closest woman.

She turns and discovers a boyish white person with an abnormally good looks. The curves of his cycling helmet accentuate his bushy sideburns.


Anyways I did see something beautiful today on the bus. It did involve a pretty lady but that's besides the point. On the bus if an senior citizen gets on you give up your seat, its just common courtesy. Now sometimes because there are so many people on you can't see who is three feet away from you and the elderly have to stand. So I'm bobbing up and down keeping my balance listening to Electric Funeral by Black Sabbath and I notice a heart warming display of the human connection. A lady in her 30's is sitting peacefully and notices a woman in her mid 50's wearily holding on the the rail after a long days work. Not a word was spoken but the conversation went exactly like this...

Lady:Mam, here have my seat
Woman: No, no it's ok you sit you've had a long day
Lady: So have you sister, come and sit I'll be fine my stop is just in a little bit
Woman: Are you sure? I don't want to impose
Lady: Please I insist
Woman: Thank you dear


70-90% of what we say in communicated non-verbally. Seeing a symphony of eyebrows, cheeks, lips, eyes, forehead and hands gesturing and flowing was captivating.

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Keeping that in mind as a writer you have to watch in your minds eye to see an actor play out the witty dialogue that your writing. If you don't you end up being heavy handed and including too many parentheticals that piss off directors and makes you look like you can't handle criticism. Playing the scene out in your head takes place a hundred times while your writing and can be overwhelming for most writers. Stopping is not an option cause if you stop then you may lose your train of thought. Losing your momentum is a scary proposition for any writer.

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Music of the Day is Sigur Ros. Sigur Ros is a band best enjoyed with headphones after dinner. I love the song Glosoli http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doc1eqstMQQ if you can watch and listen to this without getting goosebumps you don't have any creativity. Show of the week is Mad Men on AMC. Check it.

I don't know about you but I'm voting for Paris Hilton '08

Proof Of Concept


Anyone who knows me, knows that I enjoy the dairy product called milk. I consume a gallon of milk a week. I eat cookies with milk, I eat cereal with milk, I like to eat fruit with milk and I love chocolate milk. But sometimes I wonder who was the first person to look at a cows udder and then wonder what the contents of that rubber glove looking sack on the belly of a heifer would taste like. Just watching a calf suckle from its mother is jarring, never mind the whole milking process. Or for that matter chicken eggs. Watching a chicken lay an egg does not send hunger pangs racing through my body, far from it. But God in His wisdom whispered in Adams ear that it was ok to harvest these ingredients. That's the only way I could see it working. There is simply no other logical explanation. No human being upon witnessing a chicken lay an egg would then subsequently want to boil it in water and eat the coagulated insides.

Today I was blessed with an internship at a literary management firm. So I read scripts and write a review of them; whether they are good or bad, marketable or not. It's non-paying but the work load is light and the experience is priceless. I'll make a lot of good contacts and have a good shot at getting a job within the company down the road.

The down and upside is that I'll be reading some of the most god-awful pieces of literary vomit ever to be put into a word document. The few synopses I read today were simply blather. Most were so poorly written that I didn't know what was happening. Others were trying to be serious but came off as hilarious (a drama in the vein of Friday, but more serious....set in, get this... Rhode Island).

Music of the past few days has been ELO most notably 10538 Overture. It's an amazing song. No movie of the week since I've been catching up on House. Everyone should watch the new Top Gear with the Nissan GT-R race through Japan.