Got To Move To The Trick Of The Beat

I have read almost 200 pages of The Girl Who Played With Fire this week, so the contest is well underway (scroll down for details). Lots of good book ideas have been submitted via email and by posting below. As the contest ends when I am finished reading this book, and the book is about 500 pages, I figure you have another week or so to enter. I am trying not to read the prize while eating or sitting on the toilet for the contest's sake.

For those who can't believe I passed on going to GenCon, the world's premiere D&D event, to talk about social media at a conference will find photographic proof here and here as well as further evidence here. As a dude who got an electric typewriter to go to college in 1984, forsaking his manual one, I still have a lot to learn, but it was nice to be asked to talk and be amongst the young hipsters who will one day snatch my job from me and leave me broken on the side of the information superhighway.

Plenty going on; until later I am at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

The Curse It Is Cast

My blogging has slowed down to a trickle of late, though I have been able to keep up with Twitter at a mere 140 characters at a time (and if you aren't on Twitter with me, Oprah, President Obama, Ashton Kutcher, John Mayer, and millions of others, why aren't you?).  I've also done okay keeping up on my reading.  

Perhaps the sluggish blogging was the letdown from reaching 1,000 posts at about the same time as my fifth anniversary of this humble site (which, scarily, is something close to a post every other day for the last half-decade, for loyal readers and poor mathematicians).  

Perhaps it was also the long winter, breaking a filling and getting a root canal, breaking the root canal, hosting the Chamber of Commerce at the office, then changing jobs, getting the flu (hopefully it wasn't the damn swine flu), having my wife get the flu (ditto), presenting at a conference, the end of a semester teaching video production, and a few other events I am forgetting as things are a bit blurry around the edges at present.

What else could have kept me from blogging about Watchmen, a cinema event I have waited for for several decades? 

Astoundingly, I find myself, while googling away, in the humble minority amongst fanboys in my unstinting praise for this film.  Why comic book fans have not marched upon Hollywood and pledged unyielding fealty to Zack Snyder I have no idea.

For a graphic novel long thought to be unfilmable, so much was there, including dialogue and even shots framed right from the comics.  Great casting and a reverent rendition.  The use of music and the idea to keep it in its 80s time frame were sure-handed.  The DVD release of extras, done practically concurrently, was innovative.   The opening gave me chills.  I think they actually improved the ending.  I honestly don't know, unless it was made into an HBO miniseries of something, how it could have been done any better, or by anybody else, or at any other time in the last twenty years or so.

My dream of Watchmen was realized.  My dream for the other milestone graphic novel of that era, The Dark Knight, may never come to pass, as too much time has marched by, and with it my fantasy of Clint Eastwood or Michael Douglas playing Batman and Arnold himself playing Superman, and wouldn't that have been a cool movie?

But one little thing about Watchmen scratched at the back of my mind.

At the end of the book (twenty year old SPOILER), asked to tarnish his curious code of honor to prevent the world spinning into Armageddon, the vigilante Rorschach utters the immortal line:

"Joking, of course."

A tagline for every disenfranchised comic book-reading, Star Trek-watching, D&D-playing dude of that era, and one my friends and I would utter when our own curious codes would be challenged or questioned.

"Joking, of course."

A line for the ages, missing from the definitive unfilmable film--which is why I must only give Watchmen a nine and a half.

Who's ready to go see Star Trek?

Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Bigfoot Stole My Six-Pack (Part Two)

It appears to be Monster Week here at the blog, as my hometown of Muncie, Indiana gets dragged into the latest Bigfoot hoax. Naturally, I am getting some stray google hits because of my Bigfoot movie AMONG US, currently enjoying a run on the Canadian cable channel SPACE-TV (thanks, my northern brothers). For the record, that movie actually takes place in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, where the Polonia Brothers are from, though I did put in a little shout-out for my wife's family in Tell City, Indiana. For old times' sake, here is a link to "Bigfoot Stole My Sixpack," a video made from the song that runs under the closing credits.

I finally found a picture of me from BlogIndiana 2008 that wasn't of the back of my head. I suspect they actually wanted a picture of my stylin' friend Scooby and I was just standing next to him.

It seems like Twittering was all the rage at the conference, so I'm going to check it out for a few weeks. You can see fresh stuff from me in the sidebar.

In other tech news, some smarter people than me have been weighing in on my comments about grassroots DV on the Microcinema Scene message board here.

I was down with a migraine yesterday and feeling the aftershocks today. Curiously, I almost always have a burst of creativity after. Which is good, as I am knuckling down on a rewrite of a sci-fi script I wrote under a non-disclosure last year, which should soak up this weekend.

Until later, I am at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

1,825 Days Later

I once had the idea that when I got to my 5th anniversary on this blog I would have reached 1,000 posts and would have back-tagged all of my previous posts and have some wise words to share. Three strikes, and here I am. I have posted 964 times, which if my math isn't too shaky means I have posted an average of almost every other day for five years. I never knew I had that much to talk about. And loyal readers know I probably didn't.

But a lot of stuff has happened in five years. Both of my kids are grown and out of the house, I had a significant job change after sixteen years, my movies finally started coming out to a DVD shelf near you, and a lot more.

Five years ago AMONG US was in the can but had yet to be released, I was working in fits and starts on THE PAYBACK MAN for director Ivan Rogers, had just polished RAZORTEETH and was starting on DEMONS ON A DEAD END STREET, the fourth script in a four-feature package with Polonia Brothers Entertainment/Intercoast.

I had just got back from GenCon 03 in Indianapolis and was enthused about CrossGen Comics. I was reading WAR MEMORIALS by Clint McCown, THE SMILE ON THE FACE OF THE TIGER by Loren Estleman, and THE GANGSTER WE WERE ALL LOOKING FOR by Le Thi Diem Thuy.

I was just starting on the Microcinema Scene website with Jason Santo and Gary Lummp, which is still going today under Christopher Sharpe's tutelage, who I would one day work with on SEX MACHINE (and I think landing that rewrite job was directly correlated to Chris having read this blog). I was excited about two microcinema features I had just seen, HARDCORE POISONED EYES and HALL OF MIRRORS. Thinking on this today, these are still two of the best microcinema features ever.

My mom was freshly retired, my dad was yet to be diagnosed with cancer. The thing that strikes me the most when I read back over the old posts is that a good friend, prolific b-movie director John Polonia (who I collaborated with on several scripts), was still alive. He died suddenly this year and took a lot of good future projects with him.

I wish I could remember why I started blogging, who I read early on or who egged me on to start up. All that is lost in the dustbins of history. But it is interesting how much it all has grown and changed. I just got back from a blogging/social media conference in Indianapolis Sunday, and it doesn't seem that long ago that one of my students was showing me what email was.

Thanks to literally tens of thousands of readers (and I would have never thought I would be typing that) who have peeked in over the years; unless it was just my brother logging in from tens of thousands of IP addresses around the country, then thanks to him alone. If you'd like to stroll back in time, check me out in the Wayback Machine here.

Give me a yell at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Live from Silicorn Valley

I just got back from Blogindiana 2008, Indiana's first blogging and social media conference, held at IUPUI in Indianapolis. Although loyal readers know I spent a number of years in IT, I have been out for a while and since it basically moves in dog years I had some catching up to do. A lot of other dudes have blogged about this, posted photos and the like (I found one picture of my back here), but I will add a few humble words (and I would post my own pictures, but I dropped my camera on the concrete at the company picnic, the storm over which has yet to subside at home).
It was quite a good conference with many compelling speakers, a neat facility and a good lunch, with the extra benefit of bumping into some old some old pals. My wife found it funny that I came home Saturday night and spent another hour surfing the web looking at the blogs of the people I had just met, but that's how we bloggers roll.
I learned a lot about Web 2.0, web analytics, social media platforms, and a lot more that puts me at the edge of a migraine to think about, but even more importantly is figuring out how to apply some of these ideas to the next-generation distribution model for movies, TV, and the like that I have been percolating on all summer. One thing I decided to knuckle down and try for a month or so is Twitter (see sidebar), which seemed to be the tech du jour at the conference. It was funny to see people sitting around chatting amiably while a vast wave of snark was unspooling on a Twitter wall being projected onto the wall in the main conference room. For the first time in my life I had a sense what it would be like to have the mind-reading superpower and know what people were really thinking.
The other thing that struck me funny was how lo-fi the goodie bag was; all pens and pencils and notepads, not a mouse pad or thumb drive among them. It gives me hope for our humble "legacy technologies," and the lonely boy who proudly trooped off the Ball State University in 1984 with his new electric typewriter. The older and somewhat wiser version held his tongue during discussions of citizen journalism, as he knows that it has existed for many years: as public access television, his day job. But it is interesting to see the new two-way model that Web 2.0 stands for, and to follow where it may be going.
Until later, catch me at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

At A Tombstone Bar In A Juke-Joint Car

I keep surfing around at my favorite blogs wondering when certain people are going to update, and then I realized that I am one of those people. I don't have that much of an excuse, except I have spent a lot of time keeping the puppy from pooping on the carpet. And my daughter had a birthday, and my wife was gone at a writer's retreat in southern Indiana last week which wasn't that restful because the National Guard was sandbagging all around them against flooding, and work has been busy. So until I can get a breath, go here to see some behind-the-scenes shots from MENTAL SCARS.

We are going to visit some friends who recently relocated to San Diego, and I happened to find out that it is the same week as San Diego Comic Con, so naturally I am going to go over there for a day while I'm in the neighborhood. My wife 110% does not believe I did not know this before we booked the plane tickets, but I really didn't. Check out Con reports in July!

By the way, I have now meta-tagged all of my posts through December 2005 (the premiere of SEX MACHINE), which is a much harder task than you would think, especially since I have gotten into the annoying habit of giving my posts cryptic titles. It's hard to believe I have been blogging almost five years so I have a lot more to tag, but I will keep hammering away.

Give me a yell at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

There Will Always Be A Space In My Parking Lot

My friend Brice Kennedy has the last word on John Polonia here.

Although I have been glad to provide all of these links it is sad that it had to be done at all. I still have been getting a steady stream of hits for people looking for information about John, from many fans and friends, I'm sure.

What is strange is that the second biggest influx of hits have been people seeking Goran Visnjic and Maura Tierney sightings, which my wife had both of in Chicago this past year, wandering onto the set of "ER."

While I'm getting meta I thought I would mention that I am starting to label all of my posts (see sidebar) for easier searching of my site, because after almost a thousand posts in around five years even I have lost track of all that has coming flying out of my behind. Especially since I have had what is now evident to me an annoying tendency to title posts after whatever music I happen to be listening to at that time. I have all of 2008 and 2007 done, but bear with me as I work back through the calendar.

In the meantime, I got a lot of reading done during my worldly travels of the last month or so. You can check out more here.

Until later, I'm at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Or Savant of Some Kind...

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Toast and Marmalade for Tea

I thought I would take a moment and answer a few questions posted at my blog.

Longtime reader and independent cartoonist Tom writes, have you any thoughts on Muncie's new film festival? The start of something good or an one hit wonder? (And thanks for the comics, Tom!)

I thought my hometown's film festival was a good idea, but they should be brave enough to show only the independent work from Indiana instead of feeling they have to couple each work with a more famous mainstream work with Indiana ties, like HOOSIERS. Film festivals at that level should represent work not available anywhere else, especially not down the road at Blockbuster. Or maybe I'm just sour because nobody invited me. How many scripts does a brother have to sell to get a shout-out from his own hometown?

Mad pulp bastard Bill writes, I remember the Cougar and the whole of the Atlas line of super stars...

I do more than remember, thanks to ebay and studious attention to quarter bins at comic book shows I have quite a lot of them. And some of them ain't bad, especially DEMON HUNTER, THE HANDS OF THE DRAGON, and WULF THE BARBARIAN--athought two of those three only lasted one issue! An awesome site here.

Filmmaker Pete writes, Seven scripts in one year?!?!? Are you kidding me? My goal has always been to write one feature script a year. And that's a chore! How do you do it? Write a blog entry about that. I would love to hear your process.Also, what are the titles of the scripts... just curious.

You have to develop discipline enough to keep distractions at bay, like comics, TV, and Colts games (or in your case, Bucs games) and stop listening to that little voice in your head that tells you nobody cares but you and nothing will ever happen with the project and nobody will ever read your work. Although creativity is important, there is a lot of craft involved ; there are plenty of creative people in the world who can't stop playing XBox long enough to get the work done. And there is a lot of butt to chair involved.

That being said, it was my busiest year since I started really chasing freelancing in 2000 A.D. and I'm not sure that feat could be repeated.

This year was great for me in that I took '06 off because of a change of job and some family issues and I didn't know if I had been away too long. But right away I did SPLINTERHEAD and NEW JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH for Polonia Brothers Entertainment, a rewrite of the bigfoot movie PRIMAL which I believe came out from Automatic Media (though it came out without my rewrite), a rewrite of a serial killer movie MENTAL SCARS for producer Richard Myles, supernatural thriller URAMESHIYA (GHOST SCREAM) for New Zealand director Amit Tripuraneni (though we are still rewriting), and two projects I did on a nondisclosure that hopefully one day I can talk about, a sci-fi and a war movie.

Old gaming pal Barticus Rex writes: You can't drift from The Shield. Seriously. And check out Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother on CBS Monday nights.

Thanks for the leads. I hate missing THE SHIELD but it is too hard-core for my wife's delicate sensibilities. That's what DVD box sets are for, I guess.

New reader Brian writes, Law and Order:CI is still good. A better switch to USA.

This turned out to be true! I didn't realize this had even happened, so I found it and started watching it. It looks a little less glossy but, in my mind, is better than SVU (or as we call it in my house, SUV) right now.

Thanks for the feedback! Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Feel Sunshine Sparkle Pink and Blue

I take the bandages off of my thumb tonight, which is good because I need to finish up a few scenes for GHOST SCREAM this weekend. Still hurts a bit to type, though.

In the meantime, somebody found my site by googling boring facts about john dalton and when a squid is frightened, it turns red and Jeremy Mark Bolt needs to quit sticking out his stomach. I can promise the first but I'm not sure about the others.

Are these guys the future?

I love this kind of stuff. And this.

Give me a yell at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Badasssss Song

Writes my brother:

hey john. just read your blog re japanese release. all i gotta say is:

"PREPONDERANT BADNESS"

i love it. i'm not sure if that should be the name of a biography,
album, or maybe an 80's rapper. or all of the above.

I did not attend the mock car crash at the school Friday, where my daughter portrayed the kid getting mock-killed on prom night. Ironically, the drunk driver was portrayed by the kid who took her to prom last year. My wife decided to go, though, and said the worst moment was the zipping of the body bag, but the funniest was that her hair smelled like McDonald's french fries, being that her head was liberally splashed with ketchup on what was a warm day. Apparently some kids real-cried. It might have been worth it, as a father, to go and see if any boys looked teary-eyed, to be able to gauge future boyfriends.

The current boyfriend, who lives some distance away, stayed over after prom at the request of his parents, who didn't want him driving at four in the morning. I said that was fine, as long as he slept in the guest bedroom and I slept on the floor outside the door with a rope tied around my ankle and the other end tied around his.

Working on a rewrite of a new secret project.

Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Wildflower

A trailer for RAZORTEETH has popped up on YouTube here. Somebody needs to get this shit in hand. Half my career's up there.

If I could get all meta for a moment, when I rebuilt my blog I lost track of my stats counter. But it was still there in the background, ticking away. I caught up to it the other day and learned that I had more than SIXTEEN THOUSAND unique visitors last year. I didn't know I knew that many people; unless my brother is going around to a lot of different terminals to check site updates. Anyway, thanks for all that, and I will try to be more interesting.

Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Googled

I try to google my own name every few weeks or so. Sound vain or crazy? That's how I find stuff like this, and would never know about prose like the following:

"Razorteeth" is a very bad movie. And yet…I just couldn't take my eyes off it.

And this text from a blog called, simply and with little pretense, the Dalton Blog:

The screenwriter midwestern for the Dalton of the oak of the John hung within on roleplaying comic and the more cultivation that of geekpop the ninth circle of if cloud of word of March the 2006 of yours blog in a text block my knot place spirit sended from John Oak Dalton the PM pleasant MySpace and secretly to read to its ramblings lateral one of the blog of a girl of the sviluppatore of fotoricettore in the place of proceeding 2006 of the Ireland for blog personal better in the blog Irish first-ever assigns the ballot here of for the blog Irish assigns if you obtain the kia of January of 2006 in Alabama under my short comment within from goff stan as you have read it you ask how many and the information on the munchkin of Anitta you can subscribe to to syndicated the feeding of sees if to install a Blog for the boy it improved the Dalton things that mine my per diem 2006 of cadence of proceeding of life listen to online time of the srl that it is caterine vauban knows who to guilt for its Evil.

Sort of like if Virginia Wolfe and Tom Pynchon had a kid who wrote a blog.

Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.

Word Cloud

This is a "Word Cloud" that distills the essence of your blog into a block of text. My soul laid bare.