Color My Missives

I recently busted out the new camera while sitting with buds Seaton and Johnalynn at a Brooklyn bar on Comedy night. An hour later, Seaton took the mic and absolutely killed. People always complain that when comedy isn’t good, it’s unbearable. This was unbearable for completely the opposite reason — my stomach hurt afterwards.

What I most like about a good joke is how economical it is with story — setup and punchline must necessarily be rid of all extraneous elements. Only what is funny is left in. We storytellers could learn much from studying the technique of comedy writing.

So these last couple months have been a wicked ride in film. I’ve been directing a little something: a short, some commercials. And editing some of that stuff too. More to come in a minute. And my screenplay was just accepted into a prestigious film market. In the meantime there have been meetings and camera purchases, allegations and recriminations. All in a day’s work.

The short is called, Their Eyes Were Watching Gummy Bears. There will be laughs and tears. Soon, I promise.

These two kids were riding across from me on the train today. One had their dad’s iPhone, the other was playing a game on the iPad. How some people refuse to regard that device as a game-changer baffles the mind.

update:
A day later I overheard the following on an elevator:

one of my kid’s first words was iPad. Or sometimes he says iPodtouch.

Years ago I was pegged as a “details guy” by a friend, a declaration I did not dispute at the time. These days, “top-level thinkers,” and “big picture” people abound in my work. It’s all true. I don’t mind one bit. Part of what makes me happy every morning is seeing the smiling teddy bear on top of my coffee.

When your landlord’s cell phone is disconnected and his land line’s answering machine is constantly full, it doesn’t hurt to pick up a few trade skills: carpentry, plumbing, electrical, and now locksmithing. Yusuke and I mined our parallel ever-growing heaps of non-working tech to find the perfect screw to fix the deadbolt on the front door. It was either that or put on the old “pretend your lock is actually working” performance every day for the benefit of the hallway.

The winning screw came from the PCI card at top right. The computer that formerly housed the card is like a time machine. I might boot it up once every couple years. Mainly it’s there to show me what my desktop looked like back in 2003. The part of me that’s fighting against the pack rat part is only half ashamed of the part that’s proud of fixing the lock. That’s got to be worth a pile of broken cameras. Right?