Delusions of Grandeur & Smell Memories

Jul 22

Florida, Batman and other things

I’ve been on the Gulf of Mexico:

I saw The Dark Knight at a midnight screening in Florida. The theater used digital projectors. I hadn’t seen a digitaly projected movie in a theater yet. I don’t know how I feel about digital projection in theaters yet.

Anyway, the movie was a lot of fun. The Joker was good everyone was pretty much good. I didn’t like the way Joker was just left hanging at the end. It made me feel like Nolan wanted to go a different way with the Joker but couldn’t after Ledger’s death. I wanted more of the Joker. There were some weird transitions between scenes that didn’t feel right. For instance, we see the scene where 2 important governmet officials are killed and the we have all this momentum and it all falls apart with two guys talking in a room or something, I can’t remember. But between scenes, there were no transitions and it made it dfficult to focus. And why bring back Scarecrow for one scene? I felt like Two-Face diserved more time to develop.

Synedoche, New York might be picked up Sony Pictures Classics.

and

Christian Bale was arrested in London…for some reason?

Jul 11

Vacation

We found an apartment near the Addison brown line and we’re going to Destin, Florida tomorrow.

Jul 10

Paul Thomas Anderson loves Hollywood

I recently watched an interview with P.T. Anderson from around the time Punch-Drunk Love was opening around the world.

P.T.A. said that, “Hollywood is a tremendous place to work it’s a very very fair and forward place, really…It’s easy to work there [Hollywood]…”

See the video here.

Jul 02

[video]

Jul 01

I've been writing a script for 3 years...maybe 20 years

I’m starting to take some real time to write my movie.

It’s called (tentatively) Love Teeth.

Once it’s done……..what do I do with it?……

Oh yeah……

We make a movie.

Simultaneously, Father Wrote the Play by Leeland Greenmess is being written.

Jun 30

P.S. concerning Wall-E

I haven’t seen Short Circuit or Short Circuit 2…and I don’t plan on seeing the supposed re-make due to come out in 2010…but I think, after reading bits of the Short Circuit script and several synopsis, I can say it didn’t really have anything special to say even though Number 5 (the protagonist robot) could speak lines of dialogue.

But I have seen Star Wars…and there are robots (and androids) in that movie too…and I’ve seen The Terminator…aaaaand Blade Runner and 2001: A Space Odyssey (an homage to HAL 9000 is shamelessly presented in Wall-E)…I’ve seen Lost in Space and Transformers and Robocop…and I’ve even seen Robots (2005).

And I can tell you Wall-E is the easiest robot to like out of all those. I don’t feel as though Wall-E has done anything innovative as far as robot characters or story arc structure but he has made a leap forward in the world of children’s films. He has exposed some sense of danger and reality in the context of a kid’s film. And maybe the parents sitting next their kids will feel something as well.

At the drive-in and somebody stole a joke from Woody Allen

I saw Wall-E and it was really great. I haven’t seen any post-apocalyptic movie as good as Wall-E...The only things that bothered be were the Apple references. To tell you the truth, I haven’t seen very many post-apocalyptic movies because they’re worn out. I don’t really care about them. They’re not very interesting. Wall-E was beautiful and it was conscious. And I find it terribly disturbing that reviewers are saying that it might be too gloomy and depressing for kids. Yes. It does have some scary things in it and it has some desperation but why deprive children of some reality? Jesus Christ! Have not you seen Bambi? Besides, you get a happy ending with Wall-E. I’ve only been to the theater twice this summer and Wall-E has brought me hope for the rest of the summer.

I saw the first 30 minutes of Get Smart. I was able to see them steal a joke from Woody Allen’s Star Dust Memories…the one about existentialism…and I saw Bill Murray in a tree…like…inside of a tree…and then we left.

The way movies are promoted; you feel guilty not going to see them…I wish that wouldn’t be the case.

Jun 27

Letterman (cont.)

Mary-Kate went to Bonnaroo this year….she said it was in Nashville…when I went to Bonnaroo, I remember it being in Manchester, Tennessee…

…David and Paul makes it alright for the world to giggle and smile at 60+ year old men flirting with 22 year olds…..what the fuck….somebody fast forwarded the tape and now we’re watching part of a segment/skit….weird…..I can’t believe I’m ticker-taping the fucking David Letterman show…Jim Gaffigan is next…he’s pretty funny….he’ll probably talk about hot pockets….instead of reading this, go watch that Rolling Stones documentary…Gimme Shelter

Jun 26

Letterman

I’m watching David Letterman…Marry-Kate Olsen is one of the guests…so is Jim Gaffigan…………I’m so excited

Jun 25

Girls/Boys with communist leaders on their shirts and/or handbags

Mao shirt

I don’t know why I see skinny-nicotine sick 20 somethings in t-shirts with Stalin or Lenin or Mao on them. What are they trying to say to me?

Warhol printed Mao portraits. How come?

I don’t care what it means politically. I don’t care about that. I just mean…what does it mean when we put these images on ourselves? I don’t know. Does it make these people more human and less scary? Were they scary at all? What’s scary about a man who wants the best for people…oh…wait a minute. Kids wear Che shirts a lot, too. No. I mean kids who live in the fucking American suburbs wear Che shirts. Che led a revolution, I guess, and then he was killed.

What if I went up and asked why the girl/boy had Stalin or Lenin or Mao on their shirt? What would they say?

I don’t get it.

20 somethings are the most boring people in the world.

Jun 24

“That JC Penney commercial, which featured two teens practicing for a naked romp in the basement? The one that won a prize at the Cannes Lions Awards this weekend and spread quickly on the Web yesterday? It was an unauthorized fake, and executives at the department store are royally pissed. “It’s obviously inappropriate and nothing we would ever condone,” Penney’s chief marketing officer told the Wall Street Journal. “We’re very disappointed that our logo and brand position were used in that way.”
Because the spot is so well made, and because someone had to enter it it at Cannes, JC Penney is blaming its ad agency, Saatchi & Saatchi. The ad agency, in turn, is pointing the finger at production company, Epoch Films of New York, which is indeed the listed entrant. There is speculation “the video may have been filmed after hours by a producer at Epoch who was working on the Penney ads for Saatchi.” — Gawker

Jun 23

Please listen to this album. Feed the Animals by Girl Talk. OMG.

[video]

Jun 21

They didn't know they lived along the trail of tears

I saw two young siblings—a brother and a sister—sitting in a tipi that their dad had made earlier in the afternoon. And that afternoon it was humid and 100 degrees. It was now about the time of day for the earth to turn away from the sun and the mosquitoes were out in the wet air sucking on animals. The grass had dew on it.
They sat in their tipi drinking bright, surgery drinks and they were eating chips. They had flashlights and several books scattered around inside their tipi. The sleeping bags were still bundled in rolls and the pillows were stacked. There was also a bag of marshmallows, a bag of chocolate, and a box of graham crackers. The siblings hoped that their dad would be home soon so they could start a fire. Their mom was cleaning the house because it was Friday.
The sister plucked a dandelion from the grass and smeared the yellow flower onto her red her cheeks that made an orange make-up.
I want to look like an Indian, she said
The brother left the tipi and wandered into the family garden. He found bright, fat tomatoes almost busting from their skins. He also found some skinny peppers. He found a twig in the grass. The twig was moist and its bark was dark and peeling off. The brother went into the family home and took a bowl from one of the cabinets by standing on a chair. It was the same chair he had fallen from a few years ago—he fell on his mouth and killed one of his baby teeth. The tooth turned black and it had to be pulled out. His mom didn’t hear him in the house because she was running the vacuum cleaner upstairs. The same vacuum cleaner that hums a very sleepy tone and puts him to sleep if he listens for long enough.
The brother brought the bowl, the stick, the tomatoes, and the peppers into the tipi. He put his vegetables into the bowl and began squashing them with the stick
Do you want some salsa?
The two siblings ate the salsa with their hands. The salsa was so hot. They drank the rest of their surgery drinks to cool their mouths but their fingers were on fire so they ran to a puddle at the edge of the yard and rinsed their hands off next to the floating mosquito eggs.
When does dad get home?
I don’t know.
It became darker and now it got loud. The frogs and bugs sang at the same time but they didn’t over sing each other because then they wouldn’t be able to find mates. They had to take turns being loud. The lightning bugs glowed like they had low batteries and the moon was orange
Eventually their dad came home. He was dressed like a business man from the 50s and his hair looked wet. He approached his children while on his phone. His children jumped into his arms because he had a blue tooth on. It looked like he was talking to the brother and sister but he was only talking business into the blue tooth. The dad continued towards the tipi and made sure it was still structurally sound. He then walked to the family garage, still talking on his blue tooth. The brother and sister waited in the tipi.
Soon, the dad came back with a handful of wood and some lighter fluid. He dumped the pile of wood onto the wet grass near the mouth of the tipi, but not too near. He motioned to the brother and sister to stand back. The dad squirted a stream of lighter fluid onto the wood. The brother and sister didn’t know now whether he was talking on the phone or to himself. He then took a box of matches from his pleated pants pocket, scratched it against the box, and threw the flame onto the wood. The lighter fluid burned on the surface of the wood. The brother and sister clapped and cheered and the dad turned and walked back to the family house.
The brother went out into the dark yard with a flashlight to look for some roasting sticks. He found two that were just the right size. They were wet and peeling. Meanwhile, back at the tipi, the sister was opening the bag of marshmallows and chocolate and unboxing the graham crackers.
The two siblings made the most delicious smores they had ever tasted.
Do you want to read a scary story? The brother asked.
No. Tell me a scary story. The one about Old Man Joe. The sister said.
Okay. A long time ago, deep in the woods, an old man named Joe worked at a gravel pit. One day there was a fire at the plant and Joe got trapped and couldn’t escape. When the ambulance came to look for him, the body was nowhere to be found! But people say when they go deep into the woods, they see Old Man Joe with melted skin hanging from his body and face. They say he fishes in the lake for his food and that if you’re out fishing on a boat, he’ll swim under the boat and tip it over and try and drown you!
That’s such a scary story! The sister said.
I know. The brother said.
And the rest of the two siblings’ summer was a lot like this day and night. They only cared about their tipi and their scary stories. They didn’t know what their future summers were going to be like. The two siblings didn’t know that they would begin growing apart from one another. The brother would be seduced by a classmate at school and the sister would be seduced in much the same way. They would be enchanted by suburban romance inside malls and inside their parents’ cars. They would be married and moved away with children. And the siblings didn’t think about the time when their parents will die. And they couldn’t imagine being old and forgetting that one summer evening with the salsa and smores and a scary story.