Arnold Schwarzenegger has a blunt message for Nazis (better sound)

Weighed, Measured, and Found Crazy

The bad guy Count Adhemar in A Knight's Tale says to the hero William, "You have been weighed. You have been measured. You have been found wanting." Naturally, in the end, William's friends turn these words against Adhemar. The scene resonates with me due to my own insecurity and my long held ambition to make a mark as a writer and movie director. There are a couple of faces that spring to mind as being the sort of disgusting self-styled snob who would go so far as to try to mentally sabotage those of us who have specific goals to achieve. ```````````````````````````````````````````````` Someone running a screenwriting group ostensibly for writers to read and comment on each other's works in progress might be motivated primarily by the need to be the focus and the decider, perhaps pushing what might be called the dogma of Syd Field and Robert McKee format even in a culture where many different storytelling styles might be aching to get exposure and might not survive adaptation into the presumptive blockbuster streamlining. I can say that I have more memory of abuse from those communities than useful feedback. If anything, time can be wasted following the alternate rabbit holes of random opinions given without focused consideration. The preference is for feedback to come from people whose own work you admire and who will look at a draft as indicating what it is you care about and from that how well you are serving that concern. I made the mistake of being candid about my night job, due to the need to travel there after each monthly meeting instead of joining the rest or the writers for a beer. I had a security guard job. If someone chooses to look down on that, they ignore the fact that it did allow me to read screenplays and give considered notes on them. In the realm of sharing notes with strangers, online outlets like Zoetrope.com and Triggerstreet.com were somewhat useful and at least you could tell something about the reviewer by the willingness to rite more than 200 words and the specific relevance to the manuscript at hand. Nothing against the study of Syd Field's Screenwriter's Notebook for example or Story by Robert McKee and various other books about writing but these should be part of a Recommended Reading list and not sources for generic go-to comments to pass off as thoughtful coverage. ```````````````````````````````````````````````` If someone is a toxic person, even though they might appear to believe in the most humane left-wing ideology their fascist heart can be exposed by the tactic of attacking the individual speaker and assigning a pathology to them instead of engaging the arguments with logic and without the expectation that your "facebook friend" is the enemy. Even if it is disguised as a teachable moment, that can tend to be so crass that it is a slap in the face. ```````````````````````````````````````````````` The tricky trap is that there are some who believe or push the principle wherein the mental instability or trauma of a small percentage of those reading or following must set the tone and limitations of what can be said and how it can be said for fear of "triggering" them. While we all might have compassion for someone's trauma, this has escalated to the level of the victim as ruler. If one makes any complaint, he or she will be accused of "playing victim," yet complaints often do have to be conveyed one way or another. If someone has legitimate claim to vulnerability or victimhood, however, it is not a workable situation to stifle and censor all thought that fails to placate that person. ```````````````````````````````````````````````` I don't find it necessary to name names. If someone wants to be an idiot and say that I have spoken out about his/her actions, that is out of my hands. But the principles are more important than the personalities. ```````````````````````````````````````````````` Someone asked for volunteers for a project in her back yard. I responded with an e-mail and mentioned I have a camera I can bring. This was agreed. I was to document. I happened to bring two cameras, the second one being capable of shooting tape for an hour unbroken. So while walking around documenting the volunteer work, I allowed this person to frame up each or three camera positions - each one running an hour - that might be used as part of a demonstration. So I spent some time over there. As essential as the three hour-long shots might have been, there had been no effort to secure this for the project outside of my randomly showing up. As well thought out as the presentation might have been, this person then was not able to firewire onto a capture card of the computers on hand. Documentation of the volunteers on my other camera was easily imported. But I left my camera overnight so more attempts could be made to capture video. When that failed, I returned to pick up my larger camera and I spent another four hours trying to capture and also burn discs. Two discs went fine, but the third shot had some glitches and I wanted to know if I should persist. I e-mailed that there were two discs that turned out but not in full 1080 HD, only DVD quality. I also sent via Facebook a similar message and uploaded sped-up files of all three shots to indicate what was done, noting that at high speed I could be seen waddling around fast and that might be a distraction. I got NO RESPONSE as to the next step from this genius. Do I drop off the two good discs or try to get something out of the third? I had discovered that my camera playback/record heads needed cleaning if I was to record anything again. I looked into taking it in to Canon in Mississauga to get the lens cleaned and heads cleaned. (Turned out that exercise was horrible because Canon workers there won't make money from cleaning lenses or heads, only for a deposit over $300.) Time passed as no phone calls, e-mails, nor Facebook messages were answered. I did my distracting and anxiety-filled back and forth with Canon and their techs trying to scam me. And before I knew it, I was hearing indirectly that the presentation that had been planned never happened. I had gotten through by phone only to be told my timing was strange. I did not press to find out what this meant, and only then did I learn the thing was a bust. I had no indication as to whether I was expected to do more than I had. I had not spend five hours at a semi-friend's place and four more at mine working on that as a prank. There is only one communication style that is worth anything when you have deadlines and specific things that need to be done: Direct, clear communication with a specific intention. There is nothing between the lines in a non-response. There is only disrespect and perhaps madness. ```````````````````````````````````````````````` Ove the course of a year, my only communication to this person was two supportive notes (along with other people) on Facebook threads. One was about being small after being big for a while, and I said, "You are big." The other was about the Netflix series Sense 8 the Wackowskis did. I commented like someone else that even if their content might seem to message-driven and can be a bit much they know how to direct. Finally, a crazy falling out happened (if there was anything to fall out) because I commented on a linked blog that was factually weak. It was complaining about "the male gaze" driving movies and in its three cited examples it included Fifty Shades of Grey and neglected to mention that its director Sam Taylor-Johnson was a woman and that the novelist who had control over the project was also female. It also jumped through hoops with diagrams trying to prove that the geometry of the framing in Mad Max: Fury Road forced the movie to be more respectful to women.... neglecting to mention that Imperiator Furiosa and the whole movie was the product of writer-director George Miller and his 70 year-old male gaze. If you like the heroine of that flick, thank her maker. ```````````````````````````````````````````````` It did not help that a guy I had unfriended a year previous for abuse chimed in for some virtue signaling to throw shade on the ignorant sexist (me). The only lesson I learned from that back and forth and the following morning was as follows: If your Facebook account is beeping whenever someone posts, don't procrastinate about disabling that function. Don't let others and their random input drive your day. Also, make your point and then leave any conversation. There is a tactic some use in which they widen the scope of a discussion beyond the specific item for which you have an opinion. The wider the umbrella, the more disrespectful it is to clarity and the finer points. By the end of it, you can end up with your name all over the page and people seeing remarks out of context. This is baiting. The imbecile who chimed in also lured me to address side-issues and then the next day deleted his own remarks and left mine hanging without context. My own direct message to the owner of the page asking what was really going on was not answered. So I could see the value of my remarks: nothing. I deleted each of my posts. When the owner of the page realized this, there was a manic attempt to paraphrase the discussion with multiple highlights of my name - again to restore the vulnerability of my name being all over the page and this time with less context. I could have sent a printscreen or frame grab to Facebook with a complaint of harassment. That might have been the wise course of action. Instead, the person unfriended me. ```````````````````````````````````````````````` There was some back and forth in Personal Messages trying to get to the bottom of it all, and finding only spin and a completely false recollection of something from 15 years prior. Of the project, the only mention was one of being grateful for my help, although it is doubtful how that could be anything more than ironic. I was told this person likes me but that on Facebook I was a terrible person and a troll. I began to correct the errant memory that had been referred to from the year 2000, and got back a rambling and hyper mess of words telling me not to communicate again. My only response was to go a step further than unfriend and actually block this individual, which I should have done to my shade-thrower the year before. ```````````````````````````````````````````````` I have posted commentary tracks to a few of my short films on youtube, and I started with one for the short that was mentioned from 2000. The sound quality and picture were both murky once I posted it, so I took another stab at it. But because the first version included an allusion to this individual walking from the location, I got indirect feedback on it. The first time around, I had a prop - a VHS tape - and I mentioned something scandalous the self-righteous protester shot which had aired on TV. I had nothing to show from it, but I flipped up the tape guard and pointed at the half-inch tape and said, "There's the nude shot" or something to that effect. The second time, I could not find the tape prop so I let it go. I got an automated e-mail in an account that only a few people knew, advising that am instagram account had supposedly been started by me and that my name was something other than my own. There was a picture of a little boy on the fake account and some message like "I have a podcast." ```````````````````````````````````````````````` When some people get indirect they can be very creepy. I also received a mess of Facebook friend-requests from accounts that seemed fake, like a little girl I did not recognize whose parents I did not know and that was filled with professional-looking photos. Many fake accounts were like dating ads. I had to actually block some so that they would not automatically follow me. I was told that both my troll and this person I had recently blocked were conspiring together to send me these annoyances and also going after the page for my planned film. So their attacks did have quite a great deal of bashing me by name. I know that it caused one friend to stop replying to me (on matters unrelated) and his wife to unfriend and block me. I can only imagine the range of evil slander that has been spread - and over what? If I could anticipate that sort of enemy being killed, I am not sure that I would make an effort to stop that. I look forward to the obituaries of even that mundane level of adversary. ```````````````````````````````````````````````` My generation was raised on Norman Lear, Princess Leia, Mary Tyler-Moore, the Bionic Woman and Murphy Brown. Yet, we are likely to be called sexist for not being excited about the 2016 Paul Feig version of Ghostbusters. There are people who will "other" you and shun you for disagreeing with a sub-issue despite genuinely holding many of the same values. No matter how it is spun, it really may just come down to assholes in sheep's clothing. And mad, mad, mad vindictive jerks cloaked in the flag of decency.

Latest edit of The Fashion

The Fashion from William La Rochelle on Vimeo.

What the Health on Netflix

Wow. Now I have to avoid eating meat for sure. Even white meat. Apparently diabetes comes from that more than from sugar or carbs. My mom recommended watching this Netflix doc. Pretty persuasive. Check it out. Youtube's version won't let it embed, but here is the link to copy-paste https://youtu.be/y_Y5-u5u1DQ

fireworks

Commentary Track for Big Babies

Han Solo, Kevin Smith, Collider, and Cinema versus Fads

The target audience for movies may be those 15 to 35, and supposedly mostly males. But even though there have been advances in cinema, there is no calmative reserve of cinematic knowledge built up and shared with each generation of filmmakers. One might expect that the wealth of movie-making experimentation has added up to something for which there is a consensus, but somehow it is controversial for one to say that the director most fluent in screen grammar is Mr. Steven Spielberg. There is what might be considered a "punk" sensibility that could include the Dogme '95 fad, as well as The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity, where actually having a vision as to camera placement and sequence of shots becomes irrelevant. Some will call this "cutting edge" and others will call it hackery, an effective way to disguise having no observable talent in directing the attention of the audience. *************************************************************************************** One battlefield for this argument may be the firing of Lord and Miller as directors of the young Han Solo movie at the behest of co-writer Lawrence Kasdan and producer Kathleen Kennedy of Lucasfilm. Various youtubers and other outlets on the internet have played up the issue of youth versus the old guard in a fit of age-ism. Josh Trank was the first head scratcher of a choice to direct a Star Wars stand-alone film, because his one breakthrough film was a mostly hand-held quazi-documentary style film Chronicle with a strong script by Max Landis; it seemed odd that this would stand as evidence that he fit the Star Wars groove. Then his reported uncommunicative behavior on Fantastic Four led to his dismissal from the Lucasfilm gig. Some fans breathed a sign of relief, even though the directing of Fantastic Four - taken on its own merit, apart from fan expectations of the content - is reassuring and steady for the most part and not ramshackle. His breakthrough had been a viral short called A stabbing at Leia's 22nd Birthday, so that must have put him on Lucasfilm's radar. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^********************************* The youth versus old guard spin is false. Watch the 22 Jump Street making of extras and you see the loose approach of Miller and Lord. This agitated me when they got the gig. Kasdan is the draw and the reassurance. If he conceded to those directors, his name would be a false label. If he removed his name and that of his son, it would hurt Kennedy and Lucasfilm unjustly. Recruiting a Josh Trank or Miller/Lord is marketing. Having Kasdan is creative DNA. If you have handed in a great script (one worth shooting), and the apparent writing is the one effort through which you will be judged, you want directors who DIRECT THE AUDIENCE with appropriate shot choices that bring it to life. To that end, the visual stylists should be at the top of the list, not those who are mainly known for shooting generic coverage recording improv. THAT should be the issue. I like the actors in a Christopher Guest movie or Anchorman and I laugh at those, and even the Jump Street movies are amusing, but that isn't cinema. Some people feel if a movie is Star Wars or super heroes or action adventure or horror it is trash -- but on the contrary that is where the BEST directors are NEEDED. They aren't needed for hand-held weepy social issue movies which will get awards for choice of subject matter anyway. If you are worried about not enough women or two many whites, put Iranian director Ana Lily Armirpour on a Star Wars. She has the right attitude. She prefers Zemeckis over Jarmush, and that bodes well. If a director or actor can't have faith in a screenplay, their priorities may be out of whack. There DOES have to be a side to take in this. Kennedy and Kasdan want to make a Star Wars movie, not a 22 Jump Street in Star Wars drag. ###################################################################################### There is no such thing as fun for the whole family. Especially the larger the family. When that family fills an entire hall, or has a large internet reach, there tends to be compromise. There is no such thing as truth for the whole family, at least the honest conveyance of it, using the same principles. Larger the family, the more watered down or obligatory-positive it may have to be. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// As a fan of pre-podcast Kevin Smith, I hate to use him as an example even if it makes a point but ultimately there may even be people on Collider panels and other loud, gesticulating youtubers I do like and listen to despite my pet peeves. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Are people clicking on the latest blog or v-log or discussion to glean some sort of information, or merely to feed the algorithms affirmative data? Insert loud, high-energy greeting here, followed by personal updates on anyone involved as if it is necessary to know their personal habits and not merely to pad the running time and create a false rapport with the viewer. ****************************************************************** There have been a few times when I felt waves of utter falseness from the youtube facade of Kevin Smith. 1/ He fully embraced the GhostBros canard and the Sony-inflated stats on how many detractors rejected the 2016 Ghostbusters remake merely out of sexism. 2/ When some advanced screenings for Wonder Women were promoted as being just for female fans, Kevin jumped on the band wagon of scolding male fans who supposedly complained of being excluded. 3/ When Chris Lord and Phil Miller were fired by Lucasfilm from the Han Solo movie, Kevin and his co-host Mark totally missed the point and spent most of the segment praising those directors. Maybe being an insider and not wanting to lose a job or alienate those directly involved counts against being blunt. An internet presence is not just an end to itself but a platform of cross promotion. So maybe it would not be savvy to say that Paul Feig was naive in thinking the continuity of Ghostbusters would not matter and that hitting re-set would be just fine, and maybe there was half a second where some kids on twitter had their complaints artificially elevated and inflated by a marketing bot before the fast majority of us fanboys found out way to the opening weekend of Wonder Woman and got in just fine. And maybe there are people who value the choice of post-modern directors who are more about letting actors interject alternate variations on a script. ************************************************************************************************************** Maybe Lawrence Kasdan and writers in general should just accept the arbitrary vision of directors who bring to the table merely a willingness to goof on the material and riff on it rather than take it as read and get down to visualizing it and knowing how to use the frame to direct our attention withing the content that has been provided. Maybe Kevin has more of a kinship for a Feig or the Lord and Miller approach, which appears to be awfully loose as shown in behind the scenes DVD extras for 22 Jump Street. Mark had a funny line where he said, "Maybe there is a world where Lawence Kasdan is the draw getting people pumped for the Han movie." D'ya think?!!! The Kasdan hand in it is the only draw for me. When I heard Lord and Miller had been chosen as directors, of course I thought they must have to appease the ageist internet as if the "new" way to "direct" a movie is what we all need. If it is Jump Street in Star Wars drag, it will be a disaster. And we all knew that from the... jump. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ It is one thing for a director to recognize a flawed script and help guide it, but quite another for the director to have nothing much to offer other than input on the script. Because once THE definitive screenplay is done and approved by all, the team is going to need an actual director to do the directing. Someone might be a presence that puts an improv motor-mouth actor at ease, but it should be called what it is. There are some fun-loving sets full of writers posing as actors instead of bringing to life a fine-tuned script. Riffing and joke-o-rama sessions don't engage the heart and give it flight, let alone embellish a galaxy far, far away. ************************************************************************************************************** A Lord and Miller or a Paul Feig will keep getting work as long as people like them and maintain friendship with them. But it won't be prompted by their stellar instincts of how to present a scene. My GOD! Is Star Wars an entry-level job? Or Ghostbusters? What if Paul Verhoven directed a Han Solo movie? It would be properly storyborded by his own hand and every shot would count. Why isn't there more discussion and appreciation for the actual DIRECTING? ************************************************************************************************************** When people say a director is a "genius," look at who is saying it. An actor who gets to improvise or make up the script completely or just wander wherever he/she wants and lets the camera catch up may consider the director a genius. "He says nothing," they typically say of "actor's directors." A cinematographer who is essentially a de facto co-director conceiving many of the shots will consider the director a genius for having not intruded actual direction. The writer who sees the complete script verbatim brought to live with no ideas from the director will sing the praises of the director. The director who is actually the producer and makes all the calls and raises the money and gets distribution deals is the kind of director a producer might be delighted to honor by adding their own name as producer to be along for the ride. That's the one area where the director with little or no talent might have to do something: to do the producer's job. But in most all other areas, the less creativity the director contributes, the more his or her reputation as a co-operative genius well liked by others will be secured. ************************************************************************************************************** This of course doesn't help those of us who are writer-directors who like to storyboard everything and know the movie we are setting out to make. We might get stuck having to take on the other jobs because we are "difficult." ************************************************************************************************************** Great to learn trickles of information that the star of Han Solo Alden Ehrenreich was the first to complain about the directors going off the rails with their "vision" which included "Ace Ventura" wacky directing, which indeed sounds like a career-killer. This takes Kennedy and Kasdan off of the hotseat as top-down bosses. It also supports the view many of us have (okay, a small minority of us) that Miller/Lord is a far cry from the Cohen Brothers or even Farrelly brothers in terms of expressing an artistic voice to cherish, nurture and protect. It is odd to see that the imdb page already has Rob Howard listed ALONE as the director of the Han film, regardless of who shot first. *************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!