So who wants to, ehrm, you know, practise … ?
Month: February 2008
The dreams I still have
Today 2 years ago I stepped on a plane with a bag full of clothes and a bag full of dreams.. Most of the clothes have been replaced.
But not quite …
Not quite.
Rain from my brain
I am struck by a severe (blog) writers block (and wondering who is interested in reading all this crap shit stuff anyway), so a couple of notes and then I am off.
When I took this picture 2 days ago (without having an umbrella at hand but not minding the rain) I focussed on the reflections on the pavement, I am annoyed now that I did manage to cut off the top of the umbrella on the left.
Some words about the Oscars:
I was very pleased to see Marion Cotillard winning the Oscar for best actress. La Vie En Rose was one of the best films I have seen in 2007 and she is to blame for that. Fantastic performance.
I was also pleased to see Juno win best Screen Play. Appreciating films like Juno with an Oscar is encouraging, Juno has been made on a low budget, and it proves that it can be done: making a great film on a low budget. Have you seen it yet?
I don’t share the hype about No Country and have not seen There Will Be Blood (not in the mood for a film like that).
Some short film reviews:
- The Bucket List, even though a bit too Hollywoody in some places is wonderfully uplifting, despite the fate of it’s two main men. Jack Nicholson is funny. And, as you know, I love actors who can act with their eyebrow. Jack is a master.
- I thought Jumper was crap. Hayden Christensen doesn’t have any on screen charisma, and the story was so bad I left the cinema before it was finished. Only high point in this film is Jamie Bell.
- Be Kind Rewind. I so looked forward to this one, the trailer looked great, Jack Black is spot on for the role, and I love Mos Def. And I loved, loved, loved Michael Gondry’s The Science of Sleep. Be Kind Rewind has a great premise, and the parts where they “swede” existing films is great, but the story was messy and unfortunately I have to say that overall I didn’t like it very much.
March is going to be a train travel month. With film shoots (for work that is) planned in places like Oliver Lucas’ Shropshire (I strangely look forward to that, even though the man is a made up character in a play!) , Exeter (a visit to England’s beautiful Devon and close to south Coast at last) and Edinburgh (mmm yeah talk Scottish to me). I will try to plan the shoots in a way so I can stay over for the weekend and see bits of the country. Not the least because I desperately need a holiday as my head is on the edge of exploding.
More about this soon.
I only make jokes to distract myself
Let’s start this week quietly.
With a song about me. And you.
I can’t quite figure out if this is a hopeful song or just a realistic one.
But it is one of the most beautiful songs I know, and I have played it nearly all weekend while sitting in cafes trying to figure out how to get the two people in my script together.
And it is the song I’m going to play for my boyfriend.
When I’ve, y’know: met him. (Shamelessly inspired by @pauldwaite)
Sound no longer available …
So what song are you going to play for your boyfriend/girlfriend, when you’ve, you know, met him/her?
From the truth, from the truth.
(Zero 7 – Distractions)
Lap men
Sometimes I just love Amazon. Just when my heart was about to ache for more Dan, this book dropped in the mailbox. And it is such a great read, especially when you have seen the film as many times as I have. It is a lot of fun to read but it is also excellent screen writing study material.
I’ll have Dan on my lap in the tube, and Billy on my lap when at home.
I think I am covered on the men front.
And in case you were wondering, that white package in the right top corner? I know you are dying to know what’s in there. It’s not drugs I can tell you, not the type of drugs you can get on the streets anyway. It’s another kind of drugs. I’ll tell you what kind of in a couple of days.
I am seriously hungry for pancakes now.
Yo Yo Yiggady Yo – or the ups and downs of a film maker
I hate long posts on blogs, I seldom read them, they put me off. But I know that I too often write them myself. There is a lot to say, but I will keep it as short as possible. I promise. There is some bad news and there is some, erhm, news.
Kevin Spacey in Speed the Plow, Old Vic – London – review – or not
Kevin Spacey and Jeff Goldblum both star in this 90 minutes-performance-without-a-break (toilet before you go in) American play called Speed the Plow.
When I sat down in the Old Vic and the curtain opened and Kevin Spacey stepped into the light I thought:
“Wow, you lucky bastard. Here you are, living in London, that amazing city, sitting in this wonderful theatre, and one of your very favourite actors is performing right there in front of you. You should consider yourself very lucky.”
And trust me, I do. I sometimes wish I had a remote control (something like this, but in real life) so I could pause and freeze frame the world around me and stay in the moment for a while, just looking around, taking it in.
I have a date with
Kevin (Lost in) Spacey. Oh and Jeff Goldblum (who has pretty lanky legs)
I hope your day is full of love, actually and free of commercial Bullshit.
Mind your brain
Should I be worried about the fact that I have been trying to touch out with my home keys in stead of my Oyster card the last two days, while leaving the tube station?
I didn’t know I was looking for love
I swear. True, and I am quite sure, ever lasting love.
From the moment I decided I wanted him, truly and utterly wanted him, until the moment where he actually sat down on my lap, I guess only a few hours went. I met him, had a very brief talk with him and that was enough. He swept me off my feet. Completely. I invited him to join me on my cafe visit. We have spend all afternoon together and pages full of script were written without any effort.
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Back on Planet Earth
This is just a short post to say that I am back on Earth. I think. Travelling in space messes up your mind. But here is a short list of things I have to say today (will write proper posts soon, I promise):
- It’s day 42 today. Use it wisely. I know I will.
- It is exactly 2 years ago I set foot in London for a week of preparation for the big move a week after. In that week:
Cafe, Dick and Jane, Bill the Cat, Underworld Evolution in a London Cinema, and I learned how not to be a Londoner (this goes all much better now). - I finished my second 60 seconds action packed feature film yesterday. It has been extremely hard work and it is a miracle that we could still find things to laugh about while things were at their worst. I know you want to see it, but we can’t show it just yet – it has been entered into a competition (which will end in March) and we might send it in to some one minute film festivals too. The thing is that publishing it on the web might spoil our chances of getting into some festivals, so please be patient.
- We will soon publish the poster and some stills and a teaser trailer and write about how we have made this film on a zero budget. Stay tuned.
- Today is the first day where I don’t have to think about finishing the film. I am having the day off to catch up on my writing. I am in big trouble, I haven’t had any time to work on my feature script and it needs to be handed in latest Wednesday evening. The work I need to do on it can’t possibly be done in that short a time. So I am still very stressed and very busy to give it my best shot. The thing is that being locked up in an editing studio for a long period, I just want to get out and enjoy the lovely London weather. In stead I have to be disciplined and lock my self up in my room to write.
I have decided something, as my red laptop is lovely, it is simply too big and heavy to drag around to cafes. I want to be able to write in cafes and have my eye on a Apple Macbook. Not the least because Windows Vista is pissing me off beyond reason, and also because it’s such a beautiful designed machine, and I am sure we will be happily ever after. And Final Draft will run on it nicely.
- Films: Juno is fantastic, go see it. Definitely Maybe is OK, but don’t let the “From the makers of Love, Actually and Bridget Jones” fool you, it is far from that good.
SO expect some irregular and messy posts until somewhere after the weekend.
After next weekend my life should be back to normal. Well not too normal I hope, that would be too boring.
I hope you are all well out there.
The Girl In The Cafe – on tour
The answer is no. Too much Bill is a contradictio in terminus.
I was going to write a one line post today:
“The only successful marriage I had was me and my work.”
Because I really don’t have much of a life at the moment. I am juggling between finishing our short film (we spend the whole weekend on it again – except for the 3 hour Pirate break – but we are getting there), rewriting my script and then there is my full time job. We are clinging on to the fact that the deadline for the short is the 11th of February, we will probably fall into hibernation for a week or two after that – but after that we will slowly get our life back.
As a result the energy to write lively blog posts is fairly low at the moment, I apologize.
Good I remembered that I have 2 reviews of The Girl In The Cafe that were due to be posted. So go and read them, one is from Laura in London, the other one from Marcello in Dubai.
A big Thank you to both of them for placing another marker on the map.
Would you like to join ?
Read more about TGITC on tour here, and sign up.
Everyone is welcome.
Love can’t change
what’s wrong in the world.
But it’s a start.
Yo ho yo ho
You owe me your soul…
When you are reading this, we are in the cinema.
And we are watching, are you ready for this: Pirates of the Caribbean – At World’s End
And I can hear you think: What?? No!
No! No! NO! NO!! This can’t be true. Not that film again. You have seen it 15 times in the cinema already. You got the DVD! I thought we were passed this!
Yeah, well I am kind of not.
It’s all around
About taking a break, writing, Dan, script troubles, the Isle of Man and OK, there is a tiny bit of B. too.