Wasn't I writing a play at some point?

So Opera is a TOUCH harder than I had anticipated, and trying to sync my music ideas with my story without making the whole thing cluttered and disorganized seemed too much like work. So I pulled out an old unfinished script for a short 2 act play, and...now this is remarkable...actually finished it. I cracked a beer in celebration. Of course, I was gonna do that anyway, but who cares.

So I'll be workshopping it with some friends and editing this and that, (kinda hard, since I always think my first draft is a masterpiece), then I'll take it to whoever runs the Fringe and get it put on. Seriously, if some of the tripe I saw last year made it into the Off Broadway, then this script should have no problems getting in. So come on down to the Fringe and see my (hopefully) first stage play, "Anemone."

Hell, maybe it'll actually turn out good.

Well, these days...

So my weekend is Monday/Tuesday, and I work early on both Saturday/Sunday, so rough translation is that I've been living like a hermit with either work or home being my summer getaways. Living at home is getting worse, (such a HUGE surprise,) with good-ol' daddy flying off the handle at everything from eating a grapefruit crooked to replacing a light bulb with a 60 watt instead of an 80 watt. I'm spending more and more time away from home, either working out or just leaving to do some arbitrary errand to get away from the madhouse. My feet are sore from walking on eggshells morning to night, (10 points for clever analogy.)

On the plus side, I've got full time, am making 850 a paycheck, and Thomas is back in the city. Good times are sure to follow. Needed a summer project, so I'm working on an opera for no good reason. I think the story is solid, and I've finished the first scene, music and all. Took me close to 3 weeks though, so I may need some help if I want to get this thing finished inside of 4 months. Still planning on doing classics critic, but I need a gimmick. I'll think of something.

Takin a vacation from July 18-23. Debating weather to have a 5 day hottub party and keg'r for like 40 people or go on a road trip to BC with a few friends and a video camera. I'd LIKE to do the keg'r hottub party, but honestly I don't trust people anymore. I'm about 60% sure I'd waste like $800 and have almost nobody show up. I'll make a facebook interest group for the hell of it, but people are lame these days.

Time to go write the libretto for scene three. Get to have some fun writing the lecherous gardener "spreading his seed" and "trimming the bush." God, I'm so clever.

A Plea

A generation is defined by how they are remembered. Defined by their actions, by their ideas, and by the records that they leave behind. So I ask all free thinking people of our generation to consider the record we leave behind in our intellectual mediums. In our books, in our articles, in our art, and in our film. If we allow this current trend of lowbrow pandering to baser impulses and superficial visceral pleasures, how will we be remembered. The basis of all intellectual medium must be the projection and exploration of an idea. I look upon the expanse of art, book, and film of the modern age as a desert where a proud oasis once stood; the land now choked with corporate shill productions and shameless trend panderers, starving our intellect and killing our spirit. And when our descendants look back on the desert we left them, how will they judge us? They will view themselves as the offspring of childish imbeciles. They will mock us. And if we allow the politically correct liberals and the morally uptight conservatives to continue to siphon the messages and ideas from our books and films, and replace them with banal clichés and listless pandering banter, then our generation is fully deserving of their mockery. Do away with the Twilights and the Sex and the City's. Ignore the Michael Bay's and the Tim Burtons who try distract from an abhorrent lack of talent and vision with deplorable excesses of action and meaningless deviant character design. Let us wipe the "teen drama" and the "chick flick" and the "romantic comedy" from the face of our minds. Let us replace the 10 minute chase scene with a moving dialogue. Let us replace the falsified threesome with a long awaited embrace. Let us forsake the stream of profanity for the truly profound. Above all else, let us reclaim our entitlement to create a few memorable, enduring gems rather than a mountain of uninspired slag.

Film is dead, for now.

Well, due to conflicting schedules and a time crunch, the movie will not make it to the USSU film fest. But I'm gonna be buying a camera in a few weeks, (more like months >__>) to hopefully finish it on my terms and on my time.

Anyway, with that nonsense out of the way, I'm getting ready to start my vlog reviews. Question: should I do Casablanca, (aka a good movie review) or a BAD movie as a review?

Spehar, out.

Day One: Done. Now for the Hard Part

Well, we filmed roughly HALF the short film yesterday, with the bonus that we now have some tangible work on camera done. It gives me a feeling of being past the point of no return, and contrary to what someone might think, it's actually quite liberating and relieving. It's as if a some greater force has reached down and said "No backing out now, wuss. Come hell or high water, you are FINISHING this movie." 1001 thanks to Mike for filming this, and putting up with the oddity of the script and filming sequence. I'm not sure if it's him having faith in the script, or me as a director/writer, or if he's just helping out a friend. In any case, I'm glad he's on board. Hell, without him, we don't even have a ship to be ON board.

So now we need to film 6 more scenes in 3 different locations. I'm hoping to shoot it all, minus the party scene which is gonna take 8 people, in one day. Monday. Shit, I've gotta go make some phone calls. Update later!

Short Film has LIFE!!

Well, the humble idea for a short film I conceived roughly five months ago has not only suddenly found itself a use, but also a future.

Along with longtime friend John S., the paranoid, twisted story of Ned has a very good chance of not only making it to the camera, but also the screen.

John and I came up with this idea, (along with some inspiration-aiding idea bouncing from Cuylar C.), and all it took was one evening of a sit down writing session to conceive the five minute film debut of Michael Spehar, (not counting the gem of the film industry, Island Man).

The script is complete barring a final discussion with my writing partner, and the always talented Michael D. will be assisting us with the cinematography, editing, and production roles. And yes, he's getting paid for it.

All that remains is to hammer out a filming schedule and con a few would-be actors to sacrifice an afternoon of their time for a minute of screen time. Shouldn't be hard...I hope.

As a side note, I just finished composing a few background songs after plunking around on my piano for an hour. We'll have to see what happens with my little six-bar tunes once Jeff E. and a little computer composition get underway. In short, this short film, (born of a lack of conversation around a Grainfields breakfast table,) is set to take off. Hopefully we don't crash and burn immediately after take off. Update in two days.

Film due in nine days as of tomorrow. Seven scenes, four locations, seven actors/actresses, and one camera. Let the fun begin.

Upcoming Movie Critic Section

So I'm gonna start doing a bi-weekly video section where I review movies that are said to be "classics." That is to say "films which have such undying appeal and immaculate story/acting that they have and will continue to stand the test of time and shall inspire generations to come" That is to say "high expectations." And we all know where high expectations get you COUGHavatarCOUGH.

So we're looking at reviews for films like Citizen Kane, A Streetcar Named Desire, the Godfather, Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, and It's a Wonderful Life. If you have any classic films you want to see reviewed by a highly opinionated, cynical, jaded 20 year old who enjoys his thesaurus too much for his own good, then let me know in the comments. They can be old or new, color or black and white, but they have to be considered classics. If you don't know what a classic is, then either read the beginning of this post or go to Wikipedia, you uncouth brigand.

Hello, world.

Well, if you've come to this site, then you clearly have too much free time and wish to see me debase myself for the internet public. Well, I'm nothing if not pragmatic! Here's gonna be some Vlogs, Blogs, and skits that I film and find the time/will to edit and post. So enough of that, go do something productive while I come up with something clever to post. Go on, Shoo.