Something

This is one of those journal entries that starts out as a blank page in front of me, knowing there was something profound or funny or deep that I wanted to write EARLIER, but of course I can't for the life of me remember what the heck that was now. And then I realized, I just want to write something. I'm listening to the list of songs I'm planning for my movie, and I have a few minutes, and I'm feeling inspired but reluctant for some reason, to write something.

So I'll write about the music. The songs came at me rapid-fire, pow-pow-pow, just like that, and they are all PERFECT. The irony is these are songs that have been around for a while: Toto's "Africa", The Alan Parsons Project's "Eye In the Sky", the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive", and the kicker for me was Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" - the lyrics to that song fit so perfectly with how those of us in the production departments all over the country feel about coming to work, it's almost proverbial.

And for the love scene? Well, "Africa" is one of them, but far more profoundly to me is the Pointer Sisters' "Automatic": that was written for my movie, I'm sure of it:

Look what you're doin' to me
I'm utterly at your whim
All of my defenses down
Your camera looks through me
With it's X-ray vision
And all systems run aground

All I can manage to push from my lips is a stream of absurdities
Every word I intended to speak winds up locked in the circuitry

No way to control it
It's totally automatic
Whenever you're around
I'm walkin' blindfolded
Completely automatic
All of my systems go down, down, down, down

Automatic

What is this madness
That makes my motor run
My legs too weak too stand
I go from sadness
To exhilaration
Like a robot at your command

My hands perspire and shake like a leaf, up and down goes my temperature
I summon doctors to get some relief but they tell me there is no cure

They tell me,

No way to control it
It's totally automatic
Whenever you're around
I'm walkin' blindfolded
Completely automatic
All of my systems go down, down, down, down

Seriously ... this song was written for my movie! What better way to describe how a person on the techie side of the biz (production) falls in love?

A surprise find for me recently is Joe Satriani's "Flying in a Blue Dream", because the music in that song is so perfect for the mood I'm trying to convey ... there is nothing worse than getting the "blue screen of death", especially in our line of work. And believe me, it happens, way too often. We've built our whole industry on computers and digital signals now; the blue screen of death is far more significant because the stakes are much higher now. For all of us.

Well, perhaps I'm being too melodramatic. But then what good is a movie without drama???

I can't wait to start marketing the movie. That is going to be the fun part. Shooting the movie is the part I'm least looking forward to. I hate shooting; it's always a disagreeable venture. I hope I get to edit it. I want to edit it; but I'm not very talented or knowledgeable with that stuff, so I may have to recruit somebody to do that part. But we'll see, there's still time.

Time. I would like to have this done in 12 months. I think I can do it.

Casting the characters ... wheeee!!! I can't wait to do that part too.

There was something else I wanted to jot down here ... that escapes me just now. Well, I made some more notes yesterday. Didn't write actual dialogue, however I got to just do nothing but focus on my movie and make notes. I'm trying to figure out the flow of action ... admittedly that part is not coming so easily. I can tell it's there; I'm just having trouble connecting the dots. It will come to me in a rush of inspiration one day and that is how I'll figure it out.

Oh, I remember what I wanted to say: the week before last was so profound for me, the week starting Feb. 22, 2009. It kind of had it's beginnings the week before from reading Felicia Day's blog. But I never could have imagined what it would turn into. I swear I'm a different person because of those events (Hugh Jackman hosting the magnificent 81st Emmy Awards on Sunday; LeWar on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday; Conan O'Brien visiting my place of work on Friday). I just hope I can keep up this energy long enough to see my project through to completion.

Something tells me I don't think that will be a problem this time.