My pal Brice Kennedy, lately of BLACK MASS/THE DA VINCI CURSE fame, writes about his adventures on a Hollywood movie set here.
Some might remember that the Saturday Night Live skit "Lazy Sunday" spawned the "Lazy Muncie" 'net phenom, a midwest rap response straight outta my hometown; but now two more Muncie dudes, stationed in Iraq, bring out "Lazy Ramadi." Keep your heads down, Munsonians!
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Friday, May 19, 2006
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
At The Keyboard
Somebody wants to run a 14 Day Screenplay Contest, similiar to the 48 Hour Film Project or 24 Hour Comic Day or National Novel Writing Month or what have you. Hmmmm. I think I wrote BLACK MASS/THE DA VINCI CURSE in 21 days. I rewrote PETER ROTTENTAIL in about three days. Could I do something in 14? I would only have to speed up by one third. I shudder to think.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Happy Mother's Day!
I'm flat on my back sick for Mother's Day, giving my wife one of her worst special days ever. But here are five songs that remind me of her, in honor of the day:
Day After Day, Badfinger
Summer Rain, Johnny Rivers
Boys of Summer, Don Henley
Mull of Kintyre, Wings
You've Got A Friend, James Taylor
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Day After Day, Badfinger
Summer Rain, Johnny Rivers
Boys of Summer, Don Henley
Mull of Kintyre, Wings
You've Got A Friend, James Taylor
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
The Return of the Outcast Swords
My brother reminded me that I had promised to spend a percentage of my earnings from each check I get from freelance writing on something entirely worthless and fun. Though the casual reader might assume that I get paid in vast drifting dunes of cocaine I actually sometimes get checks, and got one the other day for a project from last year. So I bought this, which I had been eyeing for some time. Don't know if and when I'll ever get to play it, but am interested in reading it.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Sex Machine Keep On Turnin'
When I first started getting into the microcinema world Allen Richards' b-independent.com was THE place to go. Now he reviews SEX MACHINE here.
"Monsters at Play" romps a bit over SEX MACHINE here.
Both links courtesy of my pal Christopher Sharpe's updates here.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
"Monsters at Play" romps a bit over SEX MACHINE here.
Both links courtesy of my pal Christopher Sharpe's updates here.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Gimme Five
Now that stings a bit! Ken VanSant gets a love tap from a demon-possessed priest in an FX shot from THE DA VINCI CURSE, formerly known as BLACK MASS.
Monday, May 01, 2006
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.
"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.
Friday, April 28, 2006
From the Mailbag
The best letter of 2006 to date, from a loyal reader...
Hey, John! While I was doing some sort of drudgery at work, I came up with a great idea. My idea involves you writing and directing the low budget movie of your dreams and somehow you cast me in a role and the film becomes a big smash! Critics and the public embrace it and you are the newest form of hottness! Soon you make more movies while my role generates some mild, cult-like buzz that gets me cast in other independent movies. Soon I'm asked to do some voiceover work for a pilot on Adult Swim. The pilot doesn't get picked up, but one of the suits likes my stuff and I do guest shots on other shows. Soon I land the fourth banana part on a substandard sitcom (ala According to Jim or Yes, Dear) that nobody really watches, but it surprisingly lasts four years. Of course, I invest my sitcom money wisely and I'm rich! Not Bill Gates rich, but Estelle Getty rich! And when people ask who do I owe it all to, I would choke up a bit and say "John Oak Dalton!". Then I had to go to lunch.
Give me a yell at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Hey, John! While I was doing some sort of drudgery at work, I came up with a great idea. My idea involves you writing and directing the low budget movie of your dreams and somehow you cast me in a role and the film becomes a big smash! Critics and the public embrace it and you are the newest form of hottness! Soon you make more movies while my role generates some mild, cult-like buzz that gets me cast in other independent movies. Soon I'm asked to do some voiceover work for a pilot on Adult Swim. The pilot doesn't get picked up, but one of the suits likes my stuff and I do guest shots on other shows. Soon I land the fourth banana part on a substandard sitcom (ala According to Jim or Yes, Dear) that nobody really watches, but it surprisingly lasts four years. Of course, I invest my sitcom money wisely and I'm rich! Not Bill Gates rich, but Estelle Getty rich! And when people ask who do I owe it all to, I would choke up a bit and say "John Oak Dalton!". Then I had to go to lunch.
Give me a yell at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
50 Cent Reading List
The other day I mentioned small pleasures in life. Today our local library was having a book sale. Scrounging all the coins in my car seats and my desk at work I had five dollars even. And here is what I found for that:
John O'Hara, Appointment in Samarra
Irish Murdoch, A Severed Head
Carson McCullers, The Member of the Wedding
Raymond Carver, Short Cuts
Joseph Gangemi, Inamorata
Umberto Eco, Baudolino
Richard Russo, Empire Falls
Walker Percy, The Second Coming
Willa Cather, My Mortal Enemy
Flannery O'Connor, The Complete Stories
It is a cold and rainy spring night, but I can see warm summer nights of reading ahead. Some days that is enough.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
John O'Hara, Appointment in Samarra
Irish Murdoch, A Severed Head
Carson McCullers, The Member of the Wedding
Raymond Carver, Short Cuts
Joseph Gangemi, Inamorata
Umberto Eco, Baudolino
Richard Russo, Empire Falls
Walker Percy, The Second Coming
Willa Cather, My Mortal Enemy
Flannery O'Connor, The Complete Stories
It is a cold and rainy spring night, but I can see warm summer nights of reading ahead. Some days that is enough.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Bigfoot Sightings
I know this goes against my loyal readers' view of me as a rugged Hemingwayesque scriptwriter, but sometimes when my wife is out of town I have trouble sleeping at night. As it was Saturday night at 1 a.m., and I was surfing the channels. There was some sort of paintball competition and a minor league arena football game out of Fort Wayne and a great wave of informercials.
Then I came across the opening minutes of a bigfoot movie on Sci-Fi Channel with Lance Hendrickson. I settled down to analyze it next to my own bigfoot movie, which has a special place in my heart because although it was not my first sale it was the first to the shelf. I rather dispassionately tried to analyze this new bigfoot movie's rickety plug-and-play construction and mapped out the beats.
I am allowed to do this while I am alone, but not in the company of my family, who get angry when I set the entire course of events in front of them and, like a b-movie Nostradamus, they come true one by one. Most recently my teenaged daughter flew into a rage when I singled out the killer in "Cry Wolf" in the very first shot she appeared in in the movie.
At any rate, I watched it unfold until "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" came on, which I enjoy but I promptly fell asleep watching. I think my mind was at ease, because I could tell myself that my bigfoot movie was better, with or without Lance Henrickson. The world is full of small consolations. My bigfoot movie was better, so I slept like a lamb.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Then I came across the opening minutes of a bigfoot movie on Sci-Fi Channel with Lance Hendrickson. I settled down to analyze it next to my own bigfoot movie, which has a special place in my heart because although it was not my first sale it was the first to the shelf. I rather dispassionately tried to analyze this new bigfoot movie's rickety plug-and-play construction and mapped out the beats.
I am allowed to do this while I am alone, but not in the company of my family, who get angry when I set the entire course of events in front of them and, like a b-movie Nostradamus, they come true one by one. Most recently my teenaged daughter flew into a rage when I singled out the killer in "Cry Wolf" in the very first shot she appeared in in the movie.
At any rate, I watched it unfold until "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" came on, which I enjoy but I promptly fell asleep watching. I think my mind was at ease, because I could tell myself that my bigfoot movie was better, with or without Lance Henrickson. The world is full of small consolations. My bigfoot movie was better, so I slept like a lamb.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
The Roof is on Fire
I've always thought Micro-Film Magazine was pretty cool. Now I think it's even cooler.
Now, from the mailbag, and frequent reader Jason:
Do people make any money with these movies? Or are they about in the same boat as microcinema film makers, as in they do it more as a hobby and hope to either break even or just have people watch their stuff?I guess I need to become more involved in the scene, because at this point I am interested as hell in finding out how the biz works, but have no idea who to talk to. There are very few people that I know that ‘work’ it like a business. Most of them just have it as a very expensive and oft stressful hobby.
Jason, there are a lot of ways to approach this question. Of course people would like to make money. Cash money is good, though a good sandwich and some bikini photos of a b-movie starlet or two ain't bad either. Sometimes trade-outs can work to your advantage, trading your services in exchange for "future considerations" (as they say in baseball) on a project you might want to do; then everybody benefits from getting experience and gets projects out there.
There are enough distribution horror stories told by directors and director horror stories told by writers and writer horror stories told by everybody else to indicate that it can be hard for everybody to get a nice slice of the pie, if indeed there is ever any pie to slice up. When you look at how many failed projects are out there I think you have to acknowledge that regardless of how much money you made at some point it is important to have something that exists, and to perhaps use it to leverage into something else that you can do better with.
I believe that in the last five years I have worked on about a dozen screenplays that were in various stages of development and production, in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter and on and on, and today five of them exist where you can actually see them; and most would recognize that that's a pretty good batting percentage.
I have a day job, so I can't speak to how to make it a fulltime job exactly, and it seems like a lot of people I know doing it have other jobs on the side, writers who either own property or teach and directors who do corporate work and actors who work at Old Navy and so on. You do have to treat it like a business and not a hobby as hobbyists do not move forward in the business, professionals do. And no matter how big or small your project you should conduct yourself as a professional; there is no such thing as "just" a little b-movie or a "quickie" movie. Everything takes time and effort and work, even "quickies," and if you are going to be involved in them you should try to do the best you can and make them worth your time. If you try to phone it in, fans will smell it. I think it helps if you promise yourself that you will always do work that you're proud of; no matter how the final project turns out.
I wish you luck! If it's your dream, as it has been mine, all you can do is keep moving forward and hoping for the best, and waiting for that lightning strike.
The mailbox remains open at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Now, from the mailbag, and frequent reader Jason:
Do people make any money with these movies? Or are they about in the same boat as microcinema film makers, as in they do it more as a hobby and hope to either break even or just have people watch their stuff?I guess I need to become more involved in the scene, because at this point I am interested as hell in finding out how the biz works, but have no idea who to talk to. There are very few people that I know that ‘work’ it like a business. Most of them just have it as a very expensive and oft stressful hobby.
Jason, there are a lot of ways to approach this question. Of course people would like to make money. Cash money is good, though a good sandwich and some bikini photos of a b-movie starlet or two ain't bad either. Sometimes trade-outs can work to your advantage, trading your services in exchange for "future considerations" (as they say in baseball) on a project you might want to do; then everybody benefits from getting experience and gets projects out there.
There are enough distribution horror stories told by directors and director horror stories told by writers and writer horror stories told by everybody else to indicate that it can be hard for everybody to get a nice slice of the pie, if indeed there is ever any pie to slice up. When you look at how many failed projects are out there I think you have to acknowledge that regardless of how much money you made at some point it is important to have something that exists, and to perhaps use it to leverage into something else that you can do better with.
I believe that in the last five years I have worked on about a dozen screenplays that were in various stages of development and production, in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter and on and on, and today five of them exist where you can actually see them; and most would recognize that that's a pretty good batting percentage.
I have a day job, so I can't speak to how to make it a fulltime job exactly, and it seems like a lot of people I know doing it have other jobs on the side, writers who either own property or teach and directors who do corporate work and actors who work at Old Navy and so on. You do have to treat it like a business and not a hobby as hobbyists do not move forward in the business, professionals do. And no matter how big or small your project you should conduct yourself as a professional; there is no such thing as "just" a little b-movie or a "quickie" movie. Everything takes time and effort and work, even "quickies," and if you are going to be involved in them you should try to do the best you can and make them worth your time. If you try to phone it in, fans will smell it. I think it helps if you promise yourself that you will always do work that you're proud of; no matter how the final project turns out.
I wish you luck! If it's your dream, as it has been mine, all you can do is keep moving forward and hoping for the best, and waiting for that lightning strike.
The mailbox remains open at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Monday, April 17, 2006
The O Face
The "Arrow in the Head" website reviews Christopher Sharpe's SEX MACHINE here, and draws comparisons to oral sex. Even I didn't enjoy the movie that much, guys. Thanks to my pal Trent at the comic book shop who first tipped me off to this link.
Two students with not a lot of good ideas for interview topics asked to videotape me for a class project. One of the first things they asked me was what some of my favorite bad movies were. Bad movies? Is that what Scorsese and Spielberg and all those guys get asked right off the jump? I wonder. So I told them the truth--"Triumph of the Will" is the worst movie ever made, as it shows how powerful the medium is as an instrument of evil. I think they wanted to hear "Plan 9." Oh well, there are no such things as easy A's with me.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Two students with not a lot of good ideas for interview topics asked to videotape me for a class project. One of the first things they asked me was what some of my favorite bad movies were. Bad movies? Is that what Scorsese and Spielberg and all those guys get asked right off the jump? I wonder. So I told them the truth--"Triumph of the Will" is the worst movie ever made, as it shows how powerful the medium is as an instrument of evil. I think they wanted to hear "Plan 9." Oh well, there are no such things as easy A's with me.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Friday, April 14, 2006
What's The Buzz?
We had our usual Easter tradition of watching "Jesus Christ Superstar" during the season and more and more I realize what a cool movie it is. There is no greater avatar of 70s badass cinema than seeing Carl Anderson's Judas coming down on that crane in his white jumpsuit with the fringe sleeves. Even though he runs kinda funny, I think he would still put a beat-down on Samuel Jackson's Julius from "Pulp Fiction." Though Julius would be like, "Thirty pieces of silver? I don't even roll out for less than fifty."
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Mo' Reviews
Reviews are coming in for SEX MACHINE; here are some links, courtesy Christopher Sharpe:
Creature Corner seemed to like it.
The review at Mondo Schlocko included what will probably be my epitaph: Dalton is better known whether good or bad to many as being a screenwriter for the Polonia Brothers.
And SEX MACHINE will be making its festival debut at the DeadCenter Film Festival in Oklahoma in June.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Creature Corner seemed to like it.
The review at Mondo Schlocko included what will probably be my epitaph: Dalton is better known whether good or bad to many as being a screenwriter for the Polonia Brothers.
And SEX MACHINE will be making its festival debut at the DeadCenter Film Festival in Oklahoma in June.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Monday, April 03, 2006
DST Plus One
Today I surfed the a.m. radio in the car on the way home to catch baseball's opening day. Bush threw out the first pitch at the Reds game but didn't hit any WMDs. Nonetheless the Cubs dropped a bomb on the Reds as expected. I welcome baseball season because I've always enjoyed writing while having a baseball game on the TV or radio (and players names end up creeping into my scripts, like Galaragga and Sheets and Klesko and so on). There's something peaceful about the rythyms of baseball that eases my mind for writing.
I had taped the first few episodes of the Doctor Who relaunch currently playing on Sci Fi, and finally caught up with them, and now have this to report: it is fun and cool, almost a distillation of everything that was ever good in it, perhaps strangely enough as good as you remember it being before you watch them again and realize that spaceship was really a soap dispenser on a piece of string. No wonder it's been a big hit in England all over again. Definitely worth looking for.
Overheard at a diner on Saturday: "How can somebody tell us it's three o'clock when we all know it's two o'clock?"
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
I had taped the first few episodes of the Doctor Who relaunch currently playing on Sci Fi, and finally caught up with them, and now have this to report: it is fun and cool, almost a distillation of everything that was ever good in it, perhaps strangely enough as good as you remember it being before you watch them again and realize that spaceship was really a soap dispenser on a piece of string. No wonder it's been a big hit in England all over again. Definitely worth looking for.
Overheard at a diner on Saturday: "How can somebody tell us it's three o'clock when we all know it's two o'clock?"
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Spring Forward, I Guess...
In day job news, we spent seemingly half the day trying to change everything for the impending change to DST here in Indiana. Almost nobody seems to know anything about how this is supposed to happen. It was worse than prepping for freaking Y2K. The rest of the world wonders why Indiana doesn't have DST, but we Hoosiers wonder why everybody else bothers. I guess at 2 a.m. Sunday we'll figure out why. Have you ever noticed on your Windows preferences Indiana has its own dropdown choice? Now, no more. At least we still have John Cougar Mellencamp, David Letterman, and Garfield that we can call our own.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Word Cloud
This is a "Word Cloud" that distills the essence of your blog into a block of text. My soul laid bare.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
The Da Vinci Curse...
...is what "Black Mass" has been renamed for release by Cine Excel. You can see the trailer here, which features some dancing girls I didn't see on the set in Pennsylvania, lots of shooting and explosions, Jon McBride getting shocked with some CGI, and (for all of the reviewers who have dreamed of this sight) a shot of me getting machine-gunned in the face.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
The MySpace Chronicles
Loyal readers know of me discovering my teenaged daughter on MySpace and secretly reading her blog there. One nice side benefit is I can read all of her friend's blogs too. It's like looking under your kid's bed and finding their diary, and the diaries of all of their friends. Young readers, let me tell you, there's not a parent on Earth who sees anything wrong with this. Let this be a warning. Once I was young and shaggy-haired and wearing my "The Who Maximum R&B" t-shirt with pride, thinking I would never be buzz-haired and wearing a tie; but guess, what, here I am, and one day you will be too.
At any rate, I was outed the other day when I got an email on MySpace from my own daughter, and the heading said, and I am not making this up: "UMMMM OMG." I had found her, thinking she would never find me. I have what I consider a professional MySpace page that basically just has a link back to here. I didn't think of it in the same category as a teenager's MySpace account, but there you go. We had a nice Afterschool Special talk about the dangers of giving out too much info on the 'net and then all was right with the world. She even asked me to be her "friend."
But naturally I had to say no, as I can't have people who like movies like "Peter Rottentail" and "Sex Machine" and "Black Mass" around my teenaged daughter. These worlds must forever be apart. Even in my own house, when my daughter saw me wearing my mint-new "Sex Machine" t-shirt courtesty of Christopher Sharpe and said "Ohmigod, that is soooo wrong."
But a bad byproduct of all of this family openness is that my status as Porn King is revived anew at my daughter's high school (though perhaps has never truly died out, as the Black Mass/Black Ass controversy recently showed). I got a sudden influx of friends requests from my daughter's teenaged guy friends, which surprised me until I looked a little closer at my own Friends list and saw a few b-movie people with handles like French Kitty and SuperHeidi and AssMonkey that probably sparked the imaginations of a few tender teenaged minds. Again I had to say no; it's just a good rule of thumb that adult men should not be friends with teenaged boys over the Internet. Even if they know people who call themselves Assmonkey.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
At any rate, I was outed the other day when I got an email on MySpace from my own daughter, and the heading said, and I am not making this up: "UMMMM OMG." I had found her, thinking she would never find me. I have what I consider a professional MySpace page that basically just has a link back to here. I didn't think of it in the same category as a teenager's MySpace account, but there you go. We had a nice Afterschool Special talk about the dangers of giving out too much info on the 'net and then all was right with the world. She even asked me to be her "friend."
But naturally I had to say no, as I can't have people who like movies like "Peter Rottentail" and "Sex Machine" and "Black Mass" around my teenaged daughter. These worlds must forever be apart. Even in my own house, when my daughter saw me wearing my mint-new "Sex Machine" t-shirt courtesty of Christopher Sharpe and said "Ohmigod, that is soooo wrong."
But a bad byproduct of all of this family openness is that my status as Porn King is revived anew at my daughter's high school (though perhaps has never truly died out, as the Black Mass/Black Ass controversy recently showed). I got a sudden influx of friends requests from my daughter's teenaged guy friends, which surprised me until I looked a little closer at my own Friends list and saw a few b-movie people with handles like French Kitty and SuperHeidi and AssMonkey that probably sparked the imaginations of a few tender teenaged minds. Again I had to say no; it's just a good rule of thumb that adult men should not be friends with teenaged boys over the Internet. Even if they know people who call themselves Assmonkey.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Canadian Bigfoot News
Today I got a call from my pal Jon McBride, excited about AMONG US debuting on the Space Channel, Canada's version of the Sci-Fi Channel, this afternoon. We're both eager to see how it plays, as I'm sure Bigfoot sightings are as common as hockey fights up there. Jon supposed that by Monday morning we would either have a new legion of Canadian Polonia Brothers fans, or Canada would be declaring war on the U.S. Any Canadian readers of this humble blog know for certain? Give me a yell at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
From the AP Wire...
The reviews are starting to come in for Christopher Sharpe's Sex Machine:
MY TEENAGED DAUGHTER: "I don't think Mom would want me watching this."
MY WIFE: "How come all of your movies have shower scenes in them?"
More reviews coming!
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
MY TEENAGED DAUGHTER: "I don't think Mom would want me watching this."
MY WIFE: "How come all of your movies have shower scenes in them?"
More reviews coming!
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
The Killers and The Spoilers
In the new town where I work I have finally found some good BBQ, a place to get liver and onions, and got my library card. All is restored to the world.
I love listening to old time radio on my long commutes every day and just found a fresh trove of old "Gunsmoke" radio shows. I forgot how hardcore it was. The one I listened to yesterday had Marshall Matt Dillon getting trapped in a remote cabin during a blizzard with a couple of hardcases holding a woman hostage. After they beat her up, Dillon tricks one into shotgunning the other, then pitchforks the remaining man. After he and the woman huddle by the fire, and a convenient music bridge, a more expansive Matt Dillon is asked by the woman if he is married. Of course, he is married to his job. So the woman decides to move to town and buy some pretty dresses and get set up in a saloon. "It won't be any worse than what I been through," says she.
I don't care if this was recorded fifty years ago. Matt Dillon still rules!
I love listening to old time radio on my long commutes every day and just found a fresh trove of old "Gunsmoke" radio shows. I forgot how hardcore it was. The one I listened to yesterday had Marshall Matt Dillon getting trapped in a remote cabin during a blizzard with a couple of hardcases holding a woman hostage. After they beat her up, Dillon tricks one into shotgunning the other, then pitchforks the remaining man. After he and the woman huddle by the fire, and a convenient music bridge, a more expansive Matt Dillon is asked by the woman if he is married. Of course, he is married to his job. So the woman decides to move to town and buy some pretty dresses and get set up in a saloon. "It won't be any worse than what I been through," says she.
I don't care if this was recorded fifty years ago. Matt Dillon still rules!
Friday, March 10, 2006
Shot in the Heart
I wrote SEX MACHINE director Christopher Sharpe an email about my thoughts on his new movie (none of which I will include here as they are awash with spoilers) and got a nice email back from D.P. Shogo, who offhandedly revealed that he never read the script. Well, that's the glamorous life of a screenwriter for ya; somewhere between the craft services guy and the fluffer. So it goes.
Check out Christopher Sharpe's site for cooler updates about the movie.
Give me a yell at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Check out Christopher Sharpe's site for cooler updates about the movie.
Give me a yell at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
The Sun Shines Brighter
Loyal reader Dave wants to know, via email:
So please, if you could hook a brother up...how do I get a
copy of "Sex Machine"?
For one thing, you're starting at the bottom. Asking a screenwriter for a hookup is like trying to sleep your way to stardom by starting with the carpark attendant at MGM studios.
Second, I just got my copy today, and I'm hanging onto it for dear life!
My first, one word impression: Awesome.
My second, two word impression: Effin awesome!
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
So please, if you could hook a brother up...how do I get a
copy of "Sex Machine"?
For one thing, you're starting at the bottom. Asking a screenwriter for a hookup is like trying to sleep your way to stardom by starting with the carpark attendant at MGM studios.
Second, I just got my copy today, and I'm hanging onto it for dear life!
My first, one word impression: Awesome.
My second, two word impression: Effin awesome!
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Helen Wheels
Last week my wife and I watched a Paul McCartney special on PBS, and I haven't stopped thinking about it because it was both beautiful and horrible. He came strolling into a pretty junky-looking Abbey Road studio and started fooling around with a bunch of old four-track stuff and old instruments. It reminded me of a peppier version of Johnny Cash's "American Recordings." It was haunting and striking and not what I thought Paul McCartney would be doing right now. But it kind of shocked me into thinking that a lot of time has past. I think my sane childhood sort of died the day John Lennon died, my freshman year of high school, and that show reminded me of that.
Today my wife left to visit a sick friend and I did a lot of the bad things that I do when my wife is gone, like watch "Hellraiser" marathons on Sci-Fi and eat big bowls of ice cream and drowse on the sofa. When I was drowsing I had the most vivid memory of being a teenager driving home from my first rock concert. My best friend and I were dating two best friends and everything seemed fine. Later he would work for a major conservative political figure and his girlfriend would become a professional dominatrix. I'm not exactly sure what my old high school girlfriend is doing but it's probably not as funny a story as the other two. We were driving home from Adam Ant in Indianapolis and my girlfriend and I were dozing shoulder to shoulder in the back seat, while my best friend and his girlfriend murmured in the front seat, hoping it wouldn't rain as the windshield wipers were broke in my pal's old VW bug. They were talking about stuff that was important to us then, like was the song "Iran so far away" or "I ran so far away" and was Klaatu really the Beatles. It was a warm night, and the road seemed to stretch on forever.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
Today my wife left to visit a sick friend and I did a lot of the bad things that I do when my wife is gone, like watch "Hellraiser" marathons on Sci-Fi and eat big bowls of ice cream and drowse on the sofa. When I was drowsing I had the most vivid memory of being a teenager driving home from my first rock concert. My best friend and I were dating two best friends and everything seemed fine. Later he would work for a major conservative political figure and his girlfriend would become a professional dominatrix. I'm not exactly sure what my old high school girlfriend is doing but it's probably not as funny a story as the other two. We were driving home from Adam Ant in Indianapolis and my girlfriend and I were dozing shoulder to shoulder in the back seat, while my best friend and his girlfriend murmured in the front seat, hoping it wouldn't rain as the windshield wipers were broke in my pal's old VW bug. They were talking about stuff that was important to us then, like was the song "Iran so far away" or "I ran so far away" and was Klaatu really the Beatles. It was a warm night, and the road seemed to stretch on forever.
Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.
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