A friend once told me during a drunken talk session that the secret to being a good writer is to do it like Ray Bradbury: As soon as you get up, sit there and write whatever pops into your head. Bradbury apparently wrote Farenheit 451, Something Wicked this Way Comes, and The Veldt this way.
I can't argue with that. So as I write this, I haven't done a single thing with my day yet, except get up to take the morning piss.
I'll leave in a minute to procure some of the holy colombian brown bean--mixed with unhealthy levels of cream and brown suger--but for the moment, I'm just writing.
Thus explaining the UHF style writing incoherence, if you're wondering. Good grammer and proper spelling prowess goes out the window this early. (Ray Bradbury also rewrote his stuff several times, which I don't have time to do today. But I understand the vitalness of getting that mental VIBE down on paper. Or a forum. Therefore...here we go.)
I'm going to share a secret with you. It is known that I am a geek. I have a shitload of comics, books, movies and sometimes computer paraphnalia at my house, in my car, and most importantly IN MY HEAD at all times. I can tell which issue of Uncanny X-men was the one where Rogue nearly killed Wolverine with the kiss at the Pentagon (#168) or what Clark Kent's social security number is (787-53-2121, in Action Comics 237). I know Joe Lansdale writes the best action sequences in the world, but George R. R. Martin probably has the stranglehold on writing about medievil politcal intrigue, and in the world of erotica the name Nancy Svenning means you're going to pop a chubby reading her stuff unless you're impotent...
And I know movies. I've seen movies that range in quality from the sublime to the simply hideous. And I've loved them all.
I've been wanting to go to a film festival recently, something like Quentin Tarantino's annual show in Austin, where he shows genre movies from ages past in themed night theatre binges...where you can drink beer and eat blue cheeseburgers while watching Walking Tall or Dawn of the Dead in a surround sound holocaust of brutal imagery. In such an envirement, I would thrive.
But I Cannot. Those film festivals are all far away, and I am stuck doing some of the most intense work of my life on this fucking house.
So, when I am not working, I have begun having my own film festivals...culled not from Immaculate 35mm prints like Quentin, but from the back lots of Hastings Entertainment.
I had a job where I repaired video tapes, and then watched them to make sure they're working.
You're not supposed to watch the WHOLE movie, just fast forward, check, fast forward, check...blah blah blah.
I watch the WHOLE movie. Fuck it, it's compensation for the shit pay.
So in a given week, I probably watched twenty movies I had never seen. When I'm working on the house, I watch another twenty, because I go to the store and stock up on 49 cent rentals, and then have them going while I paint, chalk, chop, sand, hammer, pry and tamper.
This week was John Wayne Week.
You can, if you so choose, watch every John Wayne movie ever made for about fifteen dollars at the local video superstore. This is what I've been doing. This is why I'm going somewhat nuts.
Last night I watched "The Alamo", "Warwagon", "The Chism Trail", and "Rooster Cogburn" while I was working. I suppose I should say half-watched--I WAS working, after all.
Listening to the Duke pontificate while you're doing basic carpentry is soothing on some level I had never imagined. I felt more like an American during those moments than I have ever felt in my entire life. When I got my first truck, and my Dad helped me wax it while we were listening to the Beach Boys, I was an American THEN...but it doesn't have the cultural memory injection that having John Wayne give a "This is it boys, The Point of No Return" Pep Talk to you while you're hammering down 4-inch stud nails does...
So. All day with the Duke. A christmas tradition in some parts of the country, and I can see why. John Wayne was THE American Way for us. He was everything that was STRONG and VITAL about our country. He was our BEST ATTITUDES, up on the Screen.
Listen sometime to the speech Wayne gives about the Meaning of the Word Repulbic in "The Alamo." or, In the same movie, the speech he gives about Finally having a Cause worth Fighting for. These are the things that are at the Core of America...
John Wayne hit that shit in a way nobody could...If you were a bad guy needing to be taken down a peg or two--he'd KNOCK YOUR ASS OUT. If you were a damsel in need of some help--HE'D HELP YA, DAMNED IF HE WOULDN'T. Need a man to stand with ya to the end--WHEN THE CHIPS'RE DOWN, I'LL BE THERE, PILGRIM.
In real life, John Wayne wasn't like this. Although it's been said repeatedly that Wayne was the same person off screen as On Screen...Well, he said some really racist shit in his famous Playboy interview...so that kinda dulls his image...
He atoned for it. Asked for forgiveness, in Public. Said he was Sorry for what he'd said. I dunno. That sounds like maybe he meant it.
....
The thing I was going to talk about originally was that Last Night I had a Brain-Movie, and It starred John Wayne. That is to say: I saw so much of John Wayne over the last few days that I fucking dreamed a Movie with Him In it when I went to sleep.
A John Wayne Brain-movie. Friends: There was a mixture of Every Western, Every Action Movie, and Every Juicy bit of Dialogue I have ever seen in that.
Roland of the Dark Tower was Mixed with "The Wild Bunch" and "The Magnificent Seven".
Shakespearean Overtones of Tragedy, comedy. A message amongst the story of cosmic import.
I could go on and on, but this movie even had a fucking title, in my dream.
"Gone Home"
Jesus. It sounds utterly ridiculous, doesn't it? It is.
But it was the coolest dream I have had in my entire life. I was MOVED by it. I was CRYING from it. I was hoping against hope that the Hero would win the day against the impossible odds, Get the Girl, and ride off into the Technicolor Sunset.
It was Fucking Great.
But I'm not going to write about that, because my dreams are just dreams. And all it means is that I watched too many John Wayne Movies yesterday.
But you know something?
I'm doing the same today.
[ June 30, 2002, 23:37: Message edited by: Thoughtchopper ]
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
The best way to trigger fucked up dreams is to go to sleep at 4:30 am, have your alarm go off at 7:30 am, ignore it and miss class, and then sink back into a delerious state where all kinds of weird shit happens and you wake up in a cold sweat at noon with the sun streaming in the windows.
That was my second year at university.
Posted by Thoughtchopper (Member # 480) on :
Once I tried to quit smoking with those nicotine patches. The instructions explicitly tell you to take it off before you go to sleep. I didn't.
The Dreams, you see, are Life Like Vivid. If you have a nightmare, you're doomed.
If you have a good dream, you'll be smiling for days.
So it's 50-50.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Gold star.
You should read Jonathan Lethem's "Girl In Landscape." John Wayne is in that. Sort of.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
An entire thread devoted to crappy acting and fucked-up dreams. This should prove to be... something.
Posted by Thoughtchopper (Member # 480) on :
I aim to please.
Posted by Nim Pim (Member # 205) on :
I am to praft.
"the Meaning of the Word Repulbic"
Damned if I know.
I like "Hatari" very much, if not only for Henry Mancini's brass bands, this time mixed with african tribal sometimes. You mustn't miss "Hatari".
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
Big thumbs up for The Seachers...
Thoughty, you should seriously consider writing your movie down. For the longest time I figured if it was important that I'd remember. Well now I don't, so I try to write them all down. My very best story ideas have come from dreams. Besides, I'd love to see a script for your John Wayne movie.
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
"The Alamo", "Warwagon", "The Chisolm Trail", and "Rooster Cogburn" are not his best films, by a long shot.
See: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Red River, The Searchers, Rio Bravo, Stagecoach, and They Were Expendable (a WWII PT boat movie, maybe the best movie made during the war). A lot of his best movies deal with the theme of men who are needed to make and save societies but cannot live in them. Shane was like this too.
If you want to see some other great westerns check out some of the collaborations between Jimmy Stewart and Anthony Mann: Winchester '73, the Naked Spur, The Man From Laramie
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
Hmmm... I wish I could contribute to this thread on the subject of John Wayne, but I cannot. I must admit that I have never seen one of his movies. The only times I have seen him act is that recent beer commercial where he plays a general and his guest role as himself on I Love Lucy.
Now if you want to talk about screwed up dreams, I can contribute to that...
Posted by Thoughtchopper (Member # 480) on :
It's funny, actually. I'm watching "The Man Who shot Liberty Valance" right now.
It's pretty good, so far.
And, if anyone cares, I am going to write the script based on my dream. I did a three page treatment of it yesterday after work.
It ain't gonna be a John Wayne movie, though. Pilgrim.
Posted by Professor Chaos (Member # 621) on :
Sometimes dreams do present things that can serve as good bases for a script or whatnot. I once dreamed the entire climax of a script. I didn't know anything except who did what to whom at the very end. Didn't know their names, their motivations, or whether it should be a movie or play. But I wrote it down and went back to it and fleshed it out. Then I added and built around the climax and completed the story.
It can't hurt to write down what seems like a good idea at the time. If it seems less than brilliant later on, then dump it, but sometimes your subconcious offers a good basis to start from. No harm in writing it down.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Jay is a big western fan. He should appear out of the shadows with some thoughts.
Posted by Snay (Member # 411) on :
Jay has, sadly, left us. Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Not entirely. And I still owe him a lengthy e-mail. But he is among the elite cadre of Flare-people with old ladies. Ridin' the hawg!
Posted by Nim Pim (Member # 205) on :
I only got two hours sleep this morning, it's unnerving to dream while awake. "What the? Where the hell did that come from? I don't care about raspberry jam and lightbulbs, damnit!"
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
I have two types of dreams. Some are the usual fear- and anxiety-based dreams of failing examinations, not being prepared for class, etc, and feature me as the main character. Those are usually not a lot of fun. The other type of dreams are in the form of movies. I don't appear in these at all. They aren't first-person, like the fear dreams, but are just like watching movies on a screen. They have changes in camera angles and occassionally a soundtrack. These dreams feature people (famous actors) who are not me, and in fact, usually have nothing at all to do with me. The dreams are also sensually limited, meaning they have sound and vision but never smell or touch. I guess I watch too many movies.
Does anyone else have dreams like this?
By the way, you only remember dreams if you wake during them, so eat spicy/greasy food or have a full bladder so that your sleep is more likely to be disturbed.
Posted by Thoughtchopper (Member # 480) on :
quote: eat spicy/greasy food or have a full bladder so that your sleep is more likely to be disturbed.
There's a winning strategy for you. I don't want to remember my dreams that badly...
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