Cause I’m dead if I find what I’m looking for: Joshua Tree

Joshua Tree isn’t my favourite U2 album. Boy is. But it has a song on it that means as much to me in my thirties as it did when I was a teenager. It’s like the Teen International Anthem (and just as cheesy.)

It’s like the Karoo. You can see forever. And there’s nothing.

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.  When I thought I had, I always turned out to be wrong. So now I assume I haven’t and, when I remember, I keep looking.

The danger of film school is, well… film school. You get so obsessed with making films that you forget that you need to keep experiencing life, keeping your eyes fresh, so that you can make films worth watching. At least that’s the theory – I may have just been skiving off from writing my thesis feature screenplay when I signed up for this day hike. And I don’t know yet whether any of the images I absorbed or stories I imagined will come to anything. But here, for the record, are a few of them.

If you’re trying to find what you’re looking for, Joshua Tree is a bad place to lose it. No water, spiky plants, hot hot heat, peyote… and it’s damn easy to get lost. Luckily that’s exactly what most of us need in a world jam packed with useless instructions.

At the base of Ryan’s Peak, people are encouraged to post haikus about their experiences. I nearly posted my favourite one, but it’s not related. Still here it is: Haikus are awesome / But sometimes make no sense / Refrigerator

OPEN HOUSE: Stunning views! A fixer-upper on prime real estate, surrounded by nature. Very private.

“Partially furnished.”

So… old burned out car. a tree. Some sand. So what?

Look closer. There’s a glove lying on the ground. What the hell is that doing there? Is it connected to the next photo?

… and if the glove IS connected to this photo… doesn’t that hurt?

The only thing still working here is the brakes. This is one of three cars we found abandoned in a 2 mile stretch of desert. Nearby to the house. And a broken wind-mill. And a failed mine. There’s a story in there somewhere.

Here is where Worth Bagly bit the dust at the hands of W. F. Keys May 1947.

“Desert rose, dreamed I saw a desert rose / dressed all in ribbons and bows / like the silence she called to me”

I didn’t quite make it up. I refused to take a hand-up – I’m like that with rocks. But I did discover something. If you put your ear to the rocks, it’s dead quiet inside them.

That’s not the only new thing. I saw my first blue jay (the bird) and my first chipmunk. I thought chipmunks were a made-up animal. Turns out they’re little grey things.

Isn’t that beautiful?

Anyhow. Against all odds, I wound up in Joshua Tree – a place I never thought I’d visit.

I’d forgotten how good walking was for my head. On the drive home, I dozed off in a state of semi-conscious bliss and coming home, solved a problem with a script that had been driving me insane for weeks.

And along the way, another story.

Not even in the town of Joshua Tree but about 3 miles outside it, stranded in the middle of nowhere… Sushi? It’s closed. And for sale. But someone thought they could persuade the people of Joshua Tree to eat Sushi. Someone had a dream. It’s like Salmon Eating in the Inland Empire. Just as crazy and beautiful.

I wonder if this is the secret of great artists – continuing the exploration and the journey. Now all I need is the great art to go with it right?

America’s political confusions

I find myself confused today, about America. Surely by now, they must know what’s right and wrong? But no, they’re human too.

The Anti-War people. They’re not going to oppose the war, per se – that would never wash. They have to paint it as selfish or they’d be mauled. America has become more conservative in many ways than in was in the 60s (when it comes to this issue, not race, or gender, or sexual orientation.)

This means someone’s son or daughter is over there, dying for the cause of… please remind me what it is, cause it sure as hell isn’t freedom. It’s not me who’s being disrespectful here. It’s the person asking someone to give their life for no good reason.

 

The pro-war people. Do they seem to have more expensive banners – or am I imagining things?

A car in the expensive film school I go to’s parking lot. I thought, being left wing, that “Miss me yet” was sarcastic. Turns out it’s pro-bush. Ridiculous.

But I guess if you go ski in the aspens and your parents bought your car for you, you would be a republican.

Oh, and this is the same car. The guy is also anti-gay – unless he’s a pro-gay scout fan. I remember being forced to learn Die Stem at Brownies in South Africa. Whites only brownies. The Scouts should be ashamed of their history, but weirdly are not. If homophobia is timeless… I have no words.

 

Kasra Shokravi’s pictures of beautiful Tehran

People here in the USA just see Iran as this Bogeyman. Remember, when you argue that Israel is right to want to initiate war, that this is what you are bombing. A place with real people in it. With beautiful people in it. It’s not right to say “it’s worth it” as if the value of 10 people killed could be weighed against the value of a theoretical 200 saved.  I have never been so recently sickened as I was when someone I thought of as a friend argued that the USA, in the greater scheme of things, saved lives by nuking Japan. Highly unlikely that this is true.

A G-Cleff – a musical symbol I sometimes still draw kinda squonk. Music, somewhat universal if you allow for the misunderstanding of quarter tones, has always driven cultural revolutions. Alienate the kids who drew this by killing their famalies, and it’ll drive them against you too.

Kasra says this writing says: “Kamiar” and “Maziar”. They’re names. Probably a couple of neighborhood kids.

I want to go there. Don’t mind covering my head. Just don’t want to have to duck and cover.

I’m not a fan of any kind of fundamentalism, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, or Atheist or anythingist. I don’t believe in stoning a Woman to death because the Bible, Q’oran or Bahagava’d G’ita says to do it. I would never kill people. NEVER. This is because, unlike most people, I’m not some kind of selective psychopath who believes war is necessary, and that killing is noble because of some theoretical life saved.

I’m no fan of Iran’s policies towards women, or even the rest of the world. I don’t think Iranian people will change their minds about your political opinions because you bomb them though.

That’s not how it works.

Vendetta: Misogynist women who manipulate men using sex and say “I’m not a feminist…”

I’ve waited a long time to write this blog, because, well, because I’ve always known I was too angry to write it safely in the past. Now, I feel I’m ready because I’ve recently risen above what would have been some of my old-school knee-jerk responses to the bitches in question. The Bitches? But aren’t I a feminist? Sure I am. That’s exactly why I make a special case for certain girls: a special case for casting them out of my professional circle of trust, forever.

Very very easy – and all too common.

There’s a certain type of woman I’ve had the misfortune to work with a few times. They remind me of this world traveler type, a mutual friend of my Mom and my Dad’s, who stayed in our house once when we were away. We came back from holiday, exhausted after hitch hiking for two days, to find our home a complete mess. My mother took it up with her. I was in the room as they shouted at each other, each giving as good as they got. Both crazy women, screaming. Nasty stuff. Then… my dad walked in. This woman instantly turned on the waterworks, acting like my Mom had attacked her cruelly. Next thing? My dad was comforting the bitch – even though he was just as angry with her when we first arrived. My mother stood there, flabbergasted, staring.

I’ve had numerous colleagues like this. They generally sucked up to the male boss to get the job, then sucked up to him to keep it. They tended to ignore the women in meetings and flirt like mad with the guys. Call them on it? I tried a few times. They cried a few times. Guess who got burned?  These are intelligent women. I got burned. I got burned, bad.

Lately I’ve had to deal with it at film school with one person, who only works cooperatively with male directors, and who flirts with the professors. She sat next to one professor all semester (a particularly insecure and egotistical little overgrown boy of a man) and actually played with his hair, during classes. I bet she got an A. She boasted to me about how she was a another professor’s “favorite” to me in an almost threatening manner after causing huge trouble for me on both occasions we worked together. Who knows what effect that had. Another person she worked with, who used to be friendly, doesn’t smile at me anymore. And you should hear what she told me about what he said about other people on his crew. It’s not like he should be trusting her!

I thought perhaps I was angrily imagining just what I wanted to see. Then She came into a class recently and told the professor “You are my favourite professor. You are the best ever.” You should have seen him smile. They still exchange little flirty comments in every class. She expresses her cute, helpless confusion every now and then, earning a loving chuckle from him. She’s pretty. She’s clever. She’s talented.

And she’s lazy.

Don’t get me wrong, the men who play this game are just as pathetic and just as much to blame – not less so because with no exceptions, they’re the source of the problem.  These girls are all, in my experience, wealthy daughters of powerful fathers who were busy a lot of the time, earning money. Instead of being real fathers, they just gave their daughters whatever they asked for. You can tell these girls grew up with servants, with pocket money, and with the knowledge that they’d never want for cash.  They are either designer hippies or brand whores. They waltz right in and buy the exact car they want, brand new. When you tell them they can’t have what they want right now, they give you a look that says “If you tried that where I’m from… my Daddy would kill you.” And he would. Every time the little darling cried, she got just what she wanted. And every time she cries, she still does.

Just an illustration, pinched from sparklife.com.

The less cute girls, or the girls with morals, or the girls who pay their own way? Well, we don’t have to rely on the sympathy of men to get our work done. Of course, our success doesn’t flatter these insecure men, because they didn’t give it to us. They are so insecure that they like the ass-lickers more. And so they ask us to befriend the backstabbing chicks. And they accuse us of “jealousy” if we don’t girl it up with them. Jealous? Seriously, I fail to see what we should be envying here. These girls are are pathetic. Their actions degrade our professional ethics. They’re playing the stereotype we are longing to escape. They turn our stomachs. They roll our eyes. They insult us to the core.

We shouldn’t have to put up with and hire the kind of insufferable little brown-nosers who make a joke of feminism, of hard work, and of pride. We shouldn’t have to respect the men whose egos perpetuate this bullshit. But sadly, we do have to. Because the men who buy their crap are still our bosses.

…and I’m done for now.

Birthday Girl – the movie

We made a movie. Another short movie. A whole bunch of people exist who didn’t exist before. It makes me feel like a god. A small flawed god, but a god.

Birthday Girl is an ensemble cast comedy about how every person has an inner brat just waiting to come out, for our own reasons. And that’s why I haven’t blogged in a while. I’ve been OBSESSED. And at last it’s a wrap.

It was amazing. I had so much fun making this film that I almost don’t care how it turns out. I remember someone else saying that and now I get it. Except of course, I will work that post production until I nearly die and my Editor and Sound Designer wish I would.

Despite a crazy schedule, five kids on set one day, lots of learning on legalities and cake flying around, it was a great set, thanks in no small part to Carol, our host, who was also the best caterer ever. So hiring her again! Also my amazing A.D. Alyxandra Press, who kept her cool despite the set turning into a virtual swimming pool in summer, and Max, my tempestuous and passionate D.P. The Amazing Amy Shirly did us proud on the production design and set dressing front. I was so happy to have Dan Risk (from Indio, CA) as Gaffer, Nate Lertpreechapakdee (from Formaldehyde) as Key Grip and Jules Paholio (from my future) as 1st AC. I love cines. Special mention also to assistant producer Mady Muy, who did an amazing job as UPM and kept the set a happy place, and to Danni Zhao, who produced.

It’s over to my editor Paul Danforth and Sound Designer and recorder Sherry Xie now.

What is she building in there…? A speedrail slider!

I have a confession. I should have been a guy. My best memories of my dad from when I was a kid are all about the smell of sawdust. He tended to be stressed and grumpy in that garage, but he let me help, he taught me how to use a circle saw and a screwdriver and fit things together, and he bought me my first and only set of power-tools (they were stolen out of a friend’s garage when I stored them there after my 2nd big breakup.) He also made me my first crib, my first rocking chair, my double bed, my pencil case and various salt bowels – all out of cherry pine. I always think of him when I smell sawdust. And he’s not even dead.

He recently helped me improve on an Indymogul build for a rain machine, which I used in a movie. It worked out really well, and I thought of him a lot as I woke up this morning and set about making my own slider / speedrail for a directing project I have to shoot and edit by next week (or one of my personal heroes, Prof. Martha Coolidge is gonna give me her disappointed-in-you look. I don’t want that to happen.)

I know there are better, and quieter ways, to build a slider. I went this way because I wanted swivel wheels on the cart, so that when I need to do circular movements I can make that happen with just a flat surface or maybe a circle slider, if I can figure out how to build one. No luck so far finding something that curves and could act as track.

Thanks to Pete Vanderpluym for stapling the rail (cheap plastic edging from Home Depot) to the pine planks (also home depot) as well as for recessing and drilling a bolt hole and making me some starter-screw-holes. I secured the rest with duct tape and then screwed it together once I’d tested the placing, using a leatherman. The whole thing could have been done with hand tools… I just skipped that pain cause I could.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

This movie is like Napoleon Dynamite for adults, for people with pasts and hearts. Angst, joy, beauty, courage and despair. Two hours of pure experience.

If it were a book you’d stay up all night under the covers with a flashlight to read it. It’s likely to open a few old wounds. And make you laugh – at least, I heard other people laughing. Mostly, it’s really very moving. Imagine if Garden State had more concrete stories behind the connection between the characters? I guess whether you laugh or cry in that movie depends on your state of mind. In any case, the performances carry the story, carry the performances. Emma Watson (yes, the baby from Harry Potter) needs to star in Black Swan II, Ezra Miller makes a potentially silly role shine out, and Logan Lerman is full of still water that runs deep.

Some quotes:

Charlie: Right now we are alive and in this moment I swear we are infinite.

Charlie: I really wanna be a writer but I don’t know what I’d write about.
Sam: You can write about us.
Patrick: Call it ‘The slut and the falcon’ make us solve crimes

Sam: Why do I and everyone I love pick people who treat us like we’re nothing?
Charlie: We accept the love we think we deserve.

Patrick: Be aggressive Passive aggressive

Bill: You know they say if you make one friend on your first day you’ll do good.
Charlie: If my English teacher is the only friend I make today, that’ll be sorta depressing.

I know a lot of people nowadays only go and see a film in the cinema if it’s a spectacle – if shit explodes or you enter an alternate universe. The fact is that in the simplest of character driven stories, shit explodes (if only your heart) and you enter an alternate universe. I felt much more lost in the world of this movie than I did in that of Skyfall. Bond is fun in a camp kind of way, but don’t ask me to “connect to the characters”. We all know he’s going to live and we all know it doesn’t really matter whether the chicks he fucks make it or not.

The thing about going to the cinema alone, which I do a lot, is that you are locked in, committed. The lights are off and so is your phone. The screen is the world. And yet, you’re not alone. If you cry, nobody can see you yet you’re not completely (completely) alone. If they closed all the cinemas I’d have to start regular therapy. And I bet the popcorn would suck.

Killer online election viral’s from USA 2012

I just wrote an article for News24 about the funny viral videos out there. Here I’ve embedded them for your viewing pleasure! If you know any that make fun of Obama and are funny please post the link in the comments. I looked and couldn’t find any… Do Republicans just not make funny videos?

Kid crying because she’s so sick of “Bronco” and Mitt fighting. Hilarious.

Kids react to election coverage on TV. Some really astute comments. Also nobody knows what the electoral college is. Which is good because if they did, they’d start crying.

Mitt Romney Style

Homer Simpson Votes!

My first time – the Lena Dunham version.

My first time – the original Russian version for Putin’s campaign.

The only funny anti-Obama video I could find. Thanks, NRA.

An American classic in Indio, CA

I’m in a motel. My dream motel. It’s all ground floor. It has a sign that makes you wonder if you’ll catch something.  As we drove up I wondered why the Yelp reviews were so good. Maybe it had gone downhill? I was already pre-booked and worried that the two actors I was putting up would think I’d cut corners on their accommodation.

But appearances aren’t everything, and the actors knew this before I did. This place’s tatty exterior hides an oasis of small town romance. The reception is truly 24 hour,  it’s a lovely family business, friendly and personal, with cricketing trophies belonging to the Indian owner and coffee made fresh at 4am if you need it. The rooms are amazing for the price: firm beds, clean, new showers, space and quality furniture.

Would you stay here? I always wonder what goes on, and what the stories are behind, the cars parked in lots of places with signs like this one. It’s neither in a city, not is it at the center of it. And the letters seem to have given up and fallen over. But don’t judge yet…

A classic straight off the a Tarantino movie set.

But take a look inside. And wow! Staying here and an amazing meal at Macario’s Bar and Grill has reminded me how I love to travel and made me want to get in my car and go explore more of America.

My actors and I are staying the night to prep for an early start on the final shoot day for “Indio, CA” tomorrow.

Fuel Freedom – Oil Addiction is killing America

My selection of the best videos from the Fuel Freedom campaign competition. Fuel Freedom is an organization that advocates the use of flex fuels (alternatives to regular gas) to break the oil monopoly. More info at Fuelfreedom.org.

The short one with the cute girl in it

This is mine. We made it in a weekend to get it done by the original deadline of 18 June. Pretty proud of what we managed to do in that time. It focuses on the per-person consumption of oil (directly or indirectly, though transport and excluding frying oil).

The one with the cute dogs in it

This is actually the solo work of the guy who shot mine (see above). He’s one of the best Cinematographers at the school.
 

The arty one with the drugs in it

One of the most talented directors at Chapman, Rochan Redelinghuys, made this one.

The others I thought worked, worked, but were mostly the standard info-graphic driven fare – informative, sure, but more powerpoint presentations than films. I have an aversion to those history channel doccies with the drawings and the old guys talking about stuff. One exception was a video shot in various locations worldwide, but I’m not sure the maker has the rights the footage he used… it’s grey area for me. Sure, being on film is great. Then again, Americans can sue but Africans and Indians and anyone with brown skin is fair game in cameraland it seems. Still, a good ad.

Anyhow, back to the point: While I acknowledge that continuing to heat up the planet in new and cheaper ways isn’t the solution to our problem globally, and wasting less and buying local will also have a positive effect, I still feel that breaking the dependency on oil will have good consequences politically, and open up the energy market to more competition, which will give the oil people less political control and allow America and other big consumers to make better political decisions. Also, other sources are just cleaner than oil is.

So if you liked my video, share it please, and help me win this. I need the money to fund my next short film and pay my crew for this one!