MAGDALENA'S BRAIN proposed artwork

So Heretic is forwarding some comps for the DVD sleeve design of MAGDALENA'S BRAIN and I thought I'd post a couple representative images. There are several more examples they gave, which are variations of the general tone/themes you see here.

We are definitely favoring one of these, think one is OK, really don't like another, and fucking hate one.

See if you can guess.

Game 6

A couple of weeks ago, I claimed that a piece of video featuring a guy juggling to the Beatles "Golden Slumbers" was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen.

It was. 'Til now.

It seems some new guy out there took an 8-bit Nintendo system, the game RBI Baseball, and the original radio broadcast of the 1986 World Series, and re-created the final half inning of that series' infamous game 6. The Buckner Game.

See it here.

Takaski Miike's IMPRINT

So a number of months ago, Showtime decided to put the kibosh on the television debut of Takashi Miike's IMPRINT, the maverick director's entry for the 13-part MASTERS OF HORROR series. Series creator Mick Garris claimed the segment was one of the most extreme things he had ever seen. Sure, Miike is a known whackjob, but presumably the episode had a script, and presumably the script was approved by someone at some point. What was all the fuss about?

Now, I certainly understand Showtime's position. As I've stated earlier, they are a corporation and serve a public interest. An interest that, if maintained, results in lots of money. If they cheese off their public, they lose money. So if they feared the episode would scare people into cancelling subscriptions, or put off viewers who may be considering subscribers, then they reserve the right to not air it.

Was their fear warranted?

I don't know... maybe. Probably not, though. I couldn't imagine that the fallout, if any, would've amounted to more than a late page mention in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

Ulitimately, the story was pretty silly, dealing with an American (hilariously hamming it up by Billy Drago who seemed to be channeling the dude that played Dr. Doom in Roger Corman's FANTASTIC FOUR MOVIE) who is returning to Japan to claim his love, a prostitute who had ended up on some weird island filled with riff-raff.

He meets up a with a nastily-scarred prostitute who tells a tale concerning Drago's mistress. Her story is steeped in deception, changing from one moment to the next for some reason. The ultimate truth is revealed... and then it gets pretty silly.

Now, the controversy stems, I imagine, from two different elements of the story. The first is an abortion sub-plot; the second, a doozy of a torture scene.

The abortion sub-plot is pretty ugly; dealing with the scarred hooker's memories as a child as she accompanied her mom to her mom's job -- which is aborting fetuses. Some of these are shown pretty graphically.

The torture scene is also pretty unsettling -- a three to four minute sequence that had me holding my remote control to my forehead, letting is dip into my line of sight every now and again. It was bloody awful. Nothing I intend to see again. I do have to admit, though, that there was a beauty to the repellant nature of the scene. It was staged elegantly and quietly.

I have to say that the entirety of the episode was either repellant or silly, though; if I owned a cable company, maybe I would have thought twice about airing it, too... though I'm sure I'da let it fly. The fact remains that the show is called MASTERS OF HORROR and it aired at 10:00 at night. They don't seem to have any qualms with airing things like WRONG TURN and the new TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. Both pretty repellant themselves.

I was sorely hoping for an hour of transgression with this one. Something that would make me fear for what was going to happen next. I mean, yeah.. the torture sequence was interesting, but it struck me as empty in the context of the story.

So why was I watching it? Why should I watch it?

Just to see Billy Drago flailing his arms all over the place like some damn fool?

I guess that did kinda make it worth it.

Ambition, talent and luck... (oh my)

To be successful in any venture, activity or vocation... the above three things are vital. In an earlier post, I wondered what the percentages were. Well, I've found the answer:

Ambition: 65%
Talent: 30%
Luck: 5 %

Actually.. I made that up. But I suspect I'm close.

I'm a writer & producer: professionally, in the corporate video world; amateur-ally, in the film world. And I live every day wanting to improve myself through my work (a telling statement that I'll just leave alone right now). With this question, this thing about percentages, comes a couple of secondary questions:

-Can any of the above three equal 0%
-How many of these can we control?

So... can any of the above equal zero? I maintain (with a slight qualifier on luck) they cannot. Some may say that Michael Bay (ARMAGEDDON, THE ROCK, PEARL HARBOR, THE ISLAND) is a talentless hack. He's not. Bay may not be an artist, but he knows what he's doing. To be successful one needs some talent.

Ambition? Absolutely. You cannot have zero ambition and be a successful filmmaker. Don't try arguing the point.

Luck? That one's arguable. Planets have to align somewhere down the line to get a project made. Somehow luck has to play a factor, right? Common sense tells me it does, but what the hell do I know. Also, since this is the only one we can't control (answering the second question), let's just agree it doesn't matter that much.

That leaves:

Talent

You either have it or you don't, some may say. I don't. Filmmaking is a craft, and as such can be learned. Sure, it's a heck of a lot easier if you have some splashes of genius in your noggin, but without it -- though you may never elevate the form past your own abilities/desires... or ambition to "learn"-- you can still craft a perfectly serviceable, perhaps even successful, film.

Ambition

This is the big one. You absolutely, without doubt, need ambition. Need it, need it, need it. If you have Fellini with no ambition, you have no 8 1/2. Gotta, gotta, gotta have it. You need to wake up every morning, and go to bed every night with that ambition in tact. You can't let it run your life, but you need to find that balance in your life in order to maintain it.

Anyway.

Luck... you may need a smidgen. Certainly don't count on it.
Talent... it makes things easier, and you need to develop SOME.
Ambition... lots. Oh, yeah... lots.

Just had to get that off my chest.

Thank God

I checked all my cards, and they came up clean. You can never be too careful.

South Park & Miike...

Though the last two episodes have been a little muddled in terms of their targeted "messages", the ambition and sheer storytelling has been wonderful. Dealing with the issues of first amendment rights regarding images of Muhammad, the small mindedness/fear/responsibility of television networks, and the meta-level-ness of Trey Parker's and Matt Stone's own feelings on Comedy Central's decision to pre-empt/censor episodes of their show, South Park has never been more relevant.

And that relevance, aided with 6 day production schedules for creation of each new South Park, has never been more impressive. Outside of LOST, SP is the only show I make every effort to catch.

That's my own South Park character creation above. Do you own at here.

******************************************

Regarding Miike, I just caught up with IZO, and also just got my hands on his MASTERS OF HORROR episode, IMPRINT. IZO was certainly a trip. Ultimately, it wore me down to the point of disinterest; I was certainly entranced for a while, but its structure was just a little too bonkers.

I'm really looking forward to IMPRINT, though it's notorius reputation has most likely set me up for a fall.

Roger Corman saved my life...

... granted, in a rather roundabout way. But he nonetheless played a vital role in my career.

First things, though. Today is Corman's 80 birthday. To celebrate it, fellow blogger and Video Watchdog/Watchblog entrepeneur Tim Lucas has organized a "Blog-A-Thon" to commemorate the man. Check out his site, with links to all of the contributing bloggers here.

Here's my little bit. I'll make it short.

About 15 years ago, my friend Mark Sikes decided to leave Western MA (where I still reside) and head for Hollywood. With about $10,000 cash, and with no place/plans once he arrived, he set out shortly after the holidays.

And he got a job. As a cashier. At an arcade. Where he struggled for a year, giving out quarters, miserable I'm sure.

But he pounded, you know? He went from production company to production company looking for that break.

And guess where he found it.

Corman took on Mark as an unpaid intern. He answered phones, and I suspect (though he never admitted it to me) got coffee. Unpaid, he worked at Concorde/New Horizons for another year, still dishing out quarters at the arcade, but maybe not so miserable now.

After some time, Corman started paying him. First as an assistant casting director, then as an apprentice editor... then finally as a lead casting director. Which is what he still does today (though not for Corman); Mark is now a freelance casting director, workshop runner, showcase put-ter-on-er, and all around success.

Mark is responsible for the cast in Tobe Hooper's MORTUARY and THE TOOLBOX MURDERS, for Lisa Kudrow in IN THE HEAT OF PASSION II: UNFAITHFUL, for Fred Dryer and Ron Perlman in SHAKEDOWN, and for Amy Shelton-White in MAGDALENA'S BRAIN.

That last one's mine.

When we were casting MAG'S BRAIN 2 years ago and found ourselves coming up short in the Western MA acting scene for our title character. I contacted Mark for a little help. Two weeks later, we had 48 actresses on tape, reading our sides. Two years later, Heretic Films has picked up our movie, and it's coming out on DVD on July 25.

Thanks to Roger Corman.

That's me in Corman's office, by the way. Visiting Mark a few years ago, he snuck me into Roger's sanctuary and snapped this picture of me behind his desk.

Those things on the wall behind me? They're Academy Award Nomination certificates.

Glowing Screen Blog

I've decided to transfer the updates/news items on MAGDALENA'S BRAIN to a blog format, rather than on the Glowing Screen website. The primary decision was so that I could do the updates myself.

Click on over here to check it out.

Sunday musings...

What I'm Reading

---"The City and the Stars" by Arthur C. Clarke.

I've always loved Clarke, devoting an impressive shelf in my racks for his works. My favorite (as is many peoples) is "Childhood's End", but I'm quite enjoying this book. The story's bold premise (dealing with immortality, organized religion and the very elements that makes Man human) takes place a billion years in our future.

I've always bristled at the attention given certain contemporary works that take a futurist route in their storytelling. Many props are given to films like I, ROBOT, A.I., and MINORITY REPORT for the fact that they hired a think tank to mold ideas about the time period in which the movies are based. And though the results are sometimes interesting (I loved the virtual keyboard and the daffy "ball" contraption in MINORITY), we just have to look back at Clarke's prolific output for some really high thinking.

His far flung future is bursting with fabulous extrapolations... and he thought this stuff up in 1952!

Great read.

--- "Choke" by Chuck Palahniuk.

I've been a fan since I picked up "Haunted", which had me very quickly backtracking his catalog. My favorite is probably "Fight Club", but "Choke" was wonderful reading. His perspective is unique, and in many ways shared by myself -- though, unlike me he can articulate his thoughts into sometimes profound words. His take on addiction, prevalent in most if not all of his works, is side-splittingly funny and depressingly spot-on.

If all you know of Chuck is the film version of "Fight Club", pick up something else by the man.

---"The Book of Renfield" by Tim Lucas

I enjoyed "Throat Sprockets" enough, but found his latest novel pretty unreadable. My interest in the book was based more on the author than the subject, and I suspect that hurt me. I know little of the various film and literary incarnations of Renfield, and found myself wholly uninterested in Lucas' take. Also, the unfriendly structure did nothing to suck me into his world. I love Lucas' work as a historian & journalist. I really liked his first novel. This one... not so much.

--- "All-Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder" by Frank Miller and Jim Lee

The first issue had me worried -- the last thing I was interested in was a ponderous re-telling of Dick Grayson's rise to superhero-dom. Subsequent issue have grabbed me, though. Miller is now responsible for Batman's single greatest dialogue stream:

"What, are you dense? Are you retarded or something? Who the hell do you think I am? I'm the goddamn Batman."

What I'm Watching

--- A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

I finally caught up with Cronenberg's latest, and while I don't think it ranks in his top two or three, it's certainly one of the best films from the past year. I don't think enough has been acknowledged about Cronenberg's ability to elevate actors to career roles. Let's take a quick look:

James Woods in VIDEODROME
Christopher Walken in THE DEAD ZONE
Jeff Goldblum in THE FLY
Jeremy Irons in DEAD RINGERS
Peter Weller in NAKED LUNCH
James Spader in CRASH
Ralph Fiennes in SPIDER
Viggo Mortensen in A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

If I was an actor, I'd be begging my agent to get me a meeting with Cronenberg for MAPS TO THE STARS.

--- "Lost"

The only drama I currently watch on television. After skipping all but the last episode of season one, I am incontravertibly, unabashedly, uncharacteristically hooked. I haven't made time to watch an hour of TV since the first season of THE WEST WING. Although...

--- "My Name is Earl" & "The Office"

... I guess this may count. These two shows add up to 44 minutes of Thursday evening bliss. Outside of South Park, the only half hour comedies I have watched in years.

What Else I'm Doing

-Writing my screenplay, LEAH'S DAD, about a vaccine that has been administered to most children for the past 30 years which turns out to have fatal side effects. The result is two generations of people who know within a week or so of when they are going to die. It makes for a scary world.

-Cleaning up my lawn. Snow came early last year and cut my fall clean up short.

-Finding myself buying too many DVDs. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, JOHN CARPENTER'S CIGARETTE BURNS, KING KONG, and for some reason, BASEKETBALL, in the last week.

-Washing my hands of MAGDALENA'S BRAIN. See post below.

-Enjoying Howard Stern on Sirius satellite radio. The show's never been better.

-Reading my following blogs:
Steve Bissette: Myrant
Tim Lucas: Video Watchblog
G. Michael Dobbs: Out of the Inkwell

Be sure to check out Bissette's blog for a sweet little write up on me, my movies, and my blog. Thanks, boy.