» Fringe Blog – Writing on Film, Culture, and Things on the Fringe http://www.fringeblog.com The fringe is where the real resides, where substance and style are made one. Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:46:54 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Brooks http://www.fringeblog.com/2007/06/brooks/ http://www.fringeblog.com/2007/06/brooks/#comments Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:32:38 +0000 jelewis8 http://www.fringeblog.com/2007/06/brooks/ I don’t know much about photography. But I do have a roommate who is pretty big into it. He recently, he applied to Brooks, a fairly well known photography school in Santa Barbara, CA, and for the past few months has worked weekends on photo shoots for Little League sports photo sessions, or Girl Scout troop gigs, or Little Miss Sunshine competitions. I may have made up the last thing, though it would make sense given the direction I’m about to take this topic.
Joe (my roommate) informed me that he was hired without a background check. Now thankfully, Joe is not a pedophile or a predator, although he does appear to have the characteristics of a hobo or otherwise indigent person at times, especially when covered with leaves, dirt, and oil as part of a character immersion thing (in preparation to shoot a death scene in a wonderfully cheap short film, The Canal, written and directed by yours truly). That is not to say hobos and homeless folk are pederasts. They are truly not; most, if not all of them, are content to shuffle along aimlessly, collect and recycle cans and bottles, and not shower.
However, according to Joe, it wouldn’t be that difficult for a child predator with genuine photographic talent to be thrust into a life where they have full access and right to shoot kids, all in the name of these wonderful little photo sessions. It’s the perfect environment for a lurker to ensconse himself in. All the better if he is good at photography. After all, Joe didn’t get hired because he looked like a hobo. He got hired because he brushed his hair and beard, put on a clean pair of underwear and pants, and showed up with a Nikon SLR camera. Nikons are impressive, and the fact that he had an SLR and not a digital camera was quite impressive to the recruiter, who signed him without a moment’s pause or consideration.
I don’t want to give any ideas to any predators who might happen to read my blog. I’m going to encourage Joe to encourage his employer to start running background checks on their photographers. I’m just saying.

]]> http://www.fringeblog.com/2007/06/brooks/feed/ 1 NorCal Part Deux http://www.fringeblog.com/2006/09/norcal-part-deux/ http://www.fringeblog.com/2006/09/norcal-part-deux/#comments Thu, 21 Sep 2006 05:27:24 +0000 jelewis8 http://www.fringeblog.com/2006/09/norcal-part-deux/ Whenever it seems like I’m getting ahead in my work, I remember that the blog hasn’t been updated, and then my Inadequacy Meter does something like a red line rev, the mercury shoots through the crack in the casing, and I feel the cold dread that you get whenever you handle liquid metal without protection. Or that might just be disappointment. So I scramble to come up with something that’s mildly witty and interesting, though it comes across as barely functional English narrative neither noteworthy or particularly insightful in form or fashion.
But at least I fill the page up, right? I don’t know why I keep forgetting it’s not the concessions that bring people to sports arenas. Why do I persist in serving cotton candy and wimpy beer on my blog? These are mysteries to be contemplated, best by philosophers of the future who read and suddenly, the questions of why civilization failed will not seem so unanswerable. There are clues, scattered about on every blog.
My continuing adventures in the Northern California region, which, seems like it’s the freak cousin of Southern California–the relative that everyone sort of acknowledges in half-tone whispers of regret and embarrassment. If only Oregon and Mexico hadn’t slept together. Northern California seems to lack the settled and laidback surfer sense of Southern California, and it overcompensates by trying too hard to be cultured in a sophisticated, we-make-and-sell-wine-what-do-you-do sort of manner. To a southern California resident, it comes across like the professor who wears the big bow tie and tries to fit in at frat parties. Dude, we may be stoned, but we’re not fooled by the rocks you got. C’mon!
Saturday night we grilled hamburgers and cooked silver corn and onions and peppers and then reclined en masse in front of the god-like twelve foot rectangular projection screen to watch Bad Boys…in HD…so it was like I’d never seen it before! Picture so clear you can see Martin Lawrence’s future arrest record in full-on Michael “Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder” Bay mode.
Sleeping in was great. Waking up at eight. Not so much. But lately, that is sleeping in, so it averages out, and since I opted out of the morning church service, I got to take in a leisurely morning of chatting with Emily and reading. The churchgoers returned and we all spent the rest of the morning eating cinnamon buns and talking about theology, including the history of the popes. We’re a wild bunch, we are.
Based on an evangelical acquaintance’s recommendation, we pile into the car and drive to Vacaville, which is home to a jazz fest and wine tasting. We arrive, only to find that the word jazz had been replaced by fey-southern rock and wine referred to lemonade. Derek and I found ourselves walking around town looking for an ATM, which, we were assured before leaving, there would be in abundance, since the fest was sponsored by a bank. Though if I had been more lucid, I might have questioned whether ATMs would be wheeled out en masse for the gathering to stave off any possible lack of cash flow.
After some debate, we decided we were having more fun insulting the town than enjoying the lamentable festivities, and so made our way to Suisan, which is not the town where Bruce Lee grew up. I knew what you all were thinking. We dined for late lunch at the Athenian, a Greek bistro on the water, where we repasted and discussed the shallowness of today’s culture (Entry–See: blogs, fringe) and whether one of us could get away with murder. As I said before, we’re a wild bunch.
After the delicious (and cheap!) food, Mike and I grabbed ice cream and we wandered along the canal, observing the two hobo-like men who were attempting to bring a stranded RC boat back into dock using a fishing line. (They were unsuccessful over a forty minute period, and at the time of our departure, had failed to retrieve the craft.) Tanika and I created a plot for a novel which may in fact be the single greatest political thriller of all time. I now have a Nanowrimo project. We headed back in the westering sun, said our goodbyes, and made our way back to Los Angeles.
Was it good for you? Leave comments as appropriate.

]]> http://www.fringeblog.com/2006/09/norcal-part-deux/feed/ 0 John Waters World http://www.fringeblog.com/2006/09/john-waters-world/ http://www.fringeblog.com/2006/09/john-waters-world/#comments Fri, 01 Sep 2006 16:46:53 +0000 jelewis8 http://www.fringeblog.com/2006/09/john-waters-world/ I have, I suppose, my first official pitch meeting today at 1PM, which is not to say I’m confused about whether today is in fact the correct date for the meeting–I have gone through one rescheduling already, so my confidence in the date and time are pretty near the temperatures of a supernova’s initial .02 nanoseconds of explosive insistence that the rest of the universe look at it. Look at me, I’m a freakin’ supernova. I’m a raging ball of atomic death, borne from substances that make fire seem like the stuff they dump on the Rockies every year. Have some freakin’ respect. (I don’t know why I made my supernova like Robert De Niro, but that’s blogging for you.)
I use “I suppose” in the sense that I am under the apprehension that this is actually a pitch meeting. It might be a facial calisthenics exercise session for the agent I’m pitching to. Maybe he needs a laugh. Maybe it’s remodelling week down at 24/7 and he’s desperate for some aerobic and cardiovascular stimulation. This could be the cheapest gym session I’ve ever paid for. Don’t worry, I’m not paying to see him. That’d be therapy, and I haven’t arrived at the conclusion that I’m an Anonymous in need of a Twelve Step Program. But gas ain’t free. It ain’t even cheap. It is a quality fire starter. I’m not necessarily going for success here–just trying to avoid being turned into a live-action wicker man.
But I’m actually positive, buoyant even. I have a sore throat, which I intend on telling him straight out. That’ll limit my talking time, which almost always works in my favour. Next I will pitch him the basic premise, which naturally I won’t be telling you, because my blog is searchable, and Hollywood has ears like a freakin’ marmot. This 30 second premise pitch will be enough to sell him on the concept, leading to champagne tumblers and chorus girls and an amazing rendition of “You’re In The Money!” I will then spend the next six months churning out a script that I think is worth about $.04 at the recycling center. The agent and I will hammer out ideas, developing ad nauseum, until finally he calls me up and gives me the John Dear bit, only without the sympathy votes. He’s moving on to someone who isn’t an artistic fraud and who actually seems to want a positive bank balance.
But hey, in Bizarro World, the script is actually seventeen midgets who’ve concocted an insurance scam involving hobos, dead cats, and a 1978 Harley, and the pitch is actually me getting drunk at a St. Patty’s Day party in Des Moines. And the agent…well, he’s a corpulent John Waters looking for the next anorexic Divine. So really, when you break it down that way, things aren’t so bad at all.
Since I am still trying to finalize said pitch (read: start), I’m going to cut this blog entry short. But I just thought of something. I suppose this might be the beginning of a Hollywood-esque bent to some entries. I have threatened such things before, but this is the first time I’ve ever been within handshaking distance of real life representation. There are no certainties beyond the fact that it’s going to take me almost an hour to get to the agent’s office, so my time is short. The blog, however, she remains.
Sundance beckons too. Oh, so much to do. So few midgets with insurance scams…

]]> http://www.fringeblog.com/2006/09/john-waters-world/feed/ 2 Desperate and Lost http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/10/desperate-and-lost/ http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/10/desperate-and-lost/#comments Fri, 14 Oct 2005 23:55:07 +0000 jelewis8 http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/10/desperate-and-lost/ I’m almost ashamed to admit this, but I watched the Desperate Housewives pilot episode last night. Even worse, I enjoyed it. I don’t know if there’s anything more humiliating than admitting to watching and liking a souped up soap opera, but I have to let go of my pride for the sake of the show. The show must go on, and I must go on watching it.
What stinks is that I now have to throw out my idea for a television pilot, which I had begun writing. It was to be a soap opera parody, strewn with genre conventions like sensational and bizarre plot twists, sex encounters as common as houseflies, murder, coverups, breakups, hangups, and all the other great things that make soaps lather like they do; the catch? Satire would rule the roost. I’m not divulging plot details in the hope that I can resurrect this eight years down the road. After all, Hollywood needs good, recycled ideas.
Needless to say, DH is similar to what I had structured, though characters and plot are different. Still, I doubt my idea could be pitched now with DH ruling the ratings.
To balance things out, I also encountered the pilot episode of Lost, the $100 million brainchild of supergenius J.J. Abrams. It was like watching a newly minted X-Files set on a tropical island. I was amazed, and easily captivated. It’s pretty easy to see why it won a few Emmys. Few things are as scintillating as a good mystery, and it’s been a while since television had such enticing mysteries. Lost and Desperate Housewives seem to fill the void pretty well.
It’s worth noting that I had pretty much sworn off television, having endured the slow breakdown and dissolution of my beloved X-Files a few years ago. I prefer to watch television from the comfort of a DVD, which is sort of like expensive Tivo. I own the first three seasons of X-Files on DVD and it’s great to be able to pop one of the twenty-one discs in from time to time to enjoy a good episode. Or two or three. There were a lot of good ones those first few seasons. In my television celibacy, I have made a point not to indulge in fact-finding missions regarding the shows I knew I would want to watch eventually (like Lost). So it is with absolutely no clue that I embark on the journey. It’s great to be in this position. Many people who have watched Lost from its first episode on tv would like to be in my shoes.
I imagine I’ll buy Lost at some point. I’m not sure I can bring myself to buy DH; having that in my collection would be a bit much for me to bear.
It’s going to be a fairly busy weekend for me, as I am going to be finishing up the soundtrack to Red State and getting ready to finalize the film. I’ll be flying to the East Coast for the Richmond premiere. More on that trip next week. Until then, have a great weekend.

]]> http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/10/desperate-and-lost/feed/ 4 Poetry For the Insomniac http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/09/poetry-for-the-insomniac/ http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/09/poetry-for-the-insomniac/#comments Tue, 27 Sep 2005 11:41:55 +0000 jelewis8 http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/09/poetry-for-the-insomniac/ I can’t sleep. I don’t know why. I overslept this (yesterday) morning by an hour, waking up at nine instead of eight. Maybe that’s the culprit.
I find times like these to be the best for inspiration, especially in the poetry department. I often can bang a couple out that may or may not reflect my current mood at the time. My latest, entitled Elemental, is a less than serious musing on some institutions or values (or institutional values, for that matter) that we hold dear, and some things that I, as an individual and an artiste (yes, ar-teest) think about from time to time, including the muse that keeps me awake and writing poetry when I should be in bed dreaming of interpolitical power plays between my roommates and I (as I dreamt the other night). Elemental is less about the real or even the metareal, but rather the scope of such seemingly untouchable qualities, marrying them to real or imagined situations that 1) defy expectation and 2) cause a slight upward twitch in your mouth muscles, causing what might be considered a smile.
Because it’s funny that the City has indigestion. I mean, right?
Of course, it’s all very stream of consciousness and has no real bearing on metered poetry, except the barest hint of a rhyme here and there, and some measure of purpose in verse/line separation. Perhaps Van der Leun can do a bit of editing on it, as he has in the past. Editing my poetry is not one of my strong suits. Once it’s out, it rarely is examined more than once for spelling and grammar and for the most part, I’m confident of its purpose, if not its success. I’m a rare species, a poet with no sense of parting. I don’t miss the words I write, I don’t dwell on them, and I don’t expect any return from their departure from my mind. It is, to me, merely an end to a means, that which only authors and artists and madmen can understand.
Interesting fact #1: I was an English major in college. True. Once I figured out Computer Science was the devil, I briefly flirted with Graphic Design, had an affair with Interdisciplinary Studies when Graphic Design decided not to go out with me (it was a rebound relationship), and then English came along, and I never looked back. Well, there was the ongoing fling with Communications, but that was more of a friendship thing. We never were intimate.
Interesting fact #2: I never took a poetry class. Weird, huh? In fact, as an English major, I think I took fewer English classes than most everyone else. Naturally, we all were expected to take a minimum amount to receive the degree, but I was interested in a wide variety of subjects. What classes weren’t part of my “bare necessities” degree were focused outward, on music and art, on history, and the occasional communications class that I found tedious and wretchedly simple (which is why I did so poorly in them!).
So my training in poetry is pretty much nil. Which makes me about as qualified to write it as the next guy. Naturally, this also puts my poetry in the same pedantic category as everyone else. After all, who doesn’t write poetry? I think it’s safe to say I’ll never be Seamus Heaney. Then again, no one is Seamus Heaney except for Seamus Heaney. And even he isn’t Seamus Heaney on a bad day.
Well, it’s 1:40. I’ve been out here twenty minutes, I’ve written a poem and this stupid essay. I’m going to go back to bed and try and wake up at eight. Waking up at nine is so Senior year of college.

]]> http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/09/poetry-for-the-insomniac/feed/ 1 By the By… http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/08/by-the-by/ http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/08/by-the-by/#comments Thu, 04 Aug 2005 09:54:04 +0000 jelewis8 http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/08/by-the-by/ …if my posts seem terse of late, I’m posting on borrowed time, and thusly have to sacrifice wit and expressiveness for the sake of getting anything online at all. Hopefully, with pictures to post in the coming weeks, this adventure will become more complete.
Thanks for bearing with me. I don’t know when I’ll be able to post next. Hopefully the next few days will offer the opportunity. Until then…

]]> http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/08/by-the-by/feed/ 0 Airing Laundry http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/03/airing-laundry/ http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/03/airing-laundry/#comments Wed, 16 Mar 2005 00:28:45 +0000 jelewis8 http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/03/airing-laundry/ It’s laundry time again. Happens every week, like college frat parties. And I came to the realization this morning, as I was dumping an armful of dirties into my hamper that I keep stowed in the closet…I hate doing laundry. I don’t know why, but I have a visceral, almost primal hatred of the whole practice. I think, if I could, I would never wear the same clothes twice unless I had someone else doing my laundry for me. I’m deadly serious, though it makes my brain hurt to say it, since I’d just as soon have a maid or a launderer as I’d have a tractor trailer run over my groin. So what’s the big deal? What’s with my aversion to this totally honourable domestic art? After all, clean laundry is next to bodily hygiene in the “godliness” department, at least according to old folk wisdom. And with machines these days, you barely have to sort. It’s not as if I am washing it by hand down by a stream with a washboard and a bar of soap. So why do I hate it so much? It’s not as if I really spend a lot of time doing it.
Oh well. So I’ll get to it eventually. For now, I get to ponder the ineffable questions whilst stroking Ru-Ru and considering the sunny, chilly outdoors.
I watched Million Dollar Baby again last night, and I came to the realization that it is the Shawshank Redemption of boxing movies. In that Morgan Freeman plays the old, wise narrator. If he’s got any other roles in him besides that or the old, wise police detective who befriends Ashley Judd, I look forward to seeing them. Unleashed looks like it could be good, though Freeman seems unable to shake the casting couch for gentlemen who’ve seen a lot of the bad in the world but who’ve got an eye for redemption and reconciliation, and a knack for befriending the underdogs of his gritty, melancholy film lives. Oh well. He does wonders with this same role over and over, and I’m glad he won an Oscar for MDB.
Speaking of Oscars, here’s a short animation that won an Oscar in 1989. It’s called “Balance”, and is, according to the Wolfgang and Christophe Lauenstein. website, “a depiction of the absurdity of doomsday politics”. Watch it and then come back.
Slightly creepy, with none of Tim Burton’s arm-waving, kid-scaring charm. But leave it to a critic to reduce this to a singular metaphor. Okay, perhaps its not a coincidence that there are five clay men (or perhaps straw men covered with clay?) as well as five MAJOR nations on the UN Security Council, each with a kind of unwary, shaky allegiance to the balance of worldly power. Yes, I’m aware I just made enemies with readers from Argentina, Benin, Brazil, Denmark, Greece, Japan, Phillipines, Romania (Romania? –Ed.), United Republic of Tanzania, and Algeria, but let’s face it, these aren’t the nations that will lead us into a battle with SkyNet.
But come on, a short film like this has about as many interpretations as a cat has whiskers. You’d have to be a modern graduate of English (oops!) to be able to reduce it to the catch-me meaning for all art produced after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Not everything is about global power, political allegiances, or the games nations, parties, and politicians play with lives and policies. Though it often seems so, based on the amount of air time US elections receive.
I was struck by this film for another reason entirely. It seems to be representative of a zero-sum game, a situation in which the “participant’s gain (or loss) is exactly balanced by the losses (or gains) of the other participant(s).” Oddly enough, my newest short film is entitled “Zero Sum”, and is, in part, about one character’s zero-sum situation with himself. Part spiritual exercise, part meta-reality, part message-oriented, my film explores what happens when a character finds himself in an illogical construct of sameness, in which there is no entance or exit, and yet where physical laws such as hunger and thirst are as valid as the metaphysical impossibility with which he is confronted. Translated, the question of “what is life” is merely a subset of the larger issue of “What are you doing with YOUR life?”
I dunno. Maybe I’m just full of myself and think the story and resulting film raise issues that are philosophically cool and hip and more than mildly intellectually stimulating. I hope not. I’d like to claim it as simply an escape story, but I’m afraid I’d be lying if I didn’t have metaphorical intentions with “Zero Sum”. It’s due to be completed no later than March 25, and, should it be accepted into the Progeny Film Festival, will have its local premiere on April 16 at the Lyric Theatre in downtown Blacksburg. I’m trying, in my limited spare time, to put up a small website before its release. I’ll link to it once it’s completed, and may even have a short trailer to post.
All that to say, I was pleased to see “Balance” and think of my short film tackling similar issues, though more oriented toward the spiritual rather than the political or the social. It tells me that despite my still limited vocabulary and cultural identification, I’m making headway and have come to at least some understanding of what might make people turn their heads a bit and ponder.
It’s time for me to go take care of my dreaded domestic duties and *sigh* stuff my clothes into the machine. One more week. One more week until I gotta do it again.
Maybe that should be the subject of my next film…Oh yeah, new LA photos are up…

]]> http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/03/airing-laundry/feed/ 3 Best Documentary Short Subject http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/02/best-documentary-short-subject/ http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/02/best-documentary-short-subject/#comments Mon, 28 Feb 2005 05:35:13 +0000 jelewis8 http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/02/best-documentary-short-subject/ Natalie Portman continues to wear tissue paper like it’s friggin’ burlap.
Best Documentary Short Subject: I don’t know much about the category, so I’ll leave it alone…
No I’m not. That guy is red, but it may be the lighting. I hate to be elitist, but this guy needs to wrap up. Good. You had your day in the sun, buddy.

]]> http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/02/best-documentary-short-subject/feed/ 0 Best Original Song http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/02/best-original-song/ http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/02/best-original-song/#comments Mon, 28 Feb 2005 04:02:23 +0000 jelewis8 http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/02/best-original-song/ Winner for Best Original Song. I didn’t “do” this one, and don’t especially care about it. But Beyonce is pretty cute. Nice choirboys too…(I keed, I keed)
No, I’m not Catholic.
I don’t know what she’s singing, but it’s pretty.

]]> http://www.fringeblog.com/2005/02/best-original-song/feed/ 0 The Return of MST3K? http://www.fringeblog.com/2004/01/the-return-of-mst3k/ http://www.fringeblog.com/2004/01/the-return-of-mst3k/#comments Mon, 19 Jan 2004 22:00:15 +0000 jelewis8 http://www.fringeblog.com/2004/01/the-return-of-mst3k/ Check out this article to read about the Mstie Crew at the San Francisco Sketch Fest 2004.
It’s got a lot of cool little bits, including a RealAudio clip of Kevin Murphy dogging some 2003 movies.
At the end (very interesting, this), they intimate that MST3K may return in one form or another in a couple of years.

Finally, the Sklar brothers asked Mike, Kevin and Bill if there was a chance that MST3K would ever return. “I’m sure it will,” said Kevin. “Look at Star Trek. I think after it’s gone for a few years, people will want it to come back. But I don’t know in what form it will be.”
Added Bill, “In a way, it’s a good thing the show’s ending its run on Sci-Fi. After watching the same episodes being repeated for the eighteenth time, it’s worn out its welcome. Give the show a little rest, and eventually people will want to see it return.”

Interesting indeed. One can hope.

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