I blame my Dad

Dear Friend,

Would you believe that for awhile, particularly when I was in middle school and beginning high school, I was convinced that any movie made before I was born wasn't worth my time? And heaven forbid it wasn't in color! I'm sorry to admit that, yes, I was that foolish at one time. (I didn't even think about the fact that all those Disney movies I loved so much were made before I was even thought of, illogical thing that I was.)
My Dad has always been a fan of movies, old or new, and I think he probably prefers films to television.  He was a big influence for me to give old movies a shot. Dad always has a copy of a fairly recent Leonard Maltin movie book. I've been known to just flip through those books at random, just to read a quick plot synopsis and on occasion a cast list. Dad's also got a pretty sizable collection of DVDs on hand (though not as big as mine...), being a fan of the $5 or $1 DVD bins in supermarkets.  He sometimes finds some gems in there, amazingly enough.  He introduced me to the Marx Brothers who I found hilarious, despite the lack of hue on the screen. 
But I think the most encouraging part my Dad has played in my becoming a fan of classic films is that he's almost always willing to watch a movie with me.  Sure, there are movies that are decidedly "Mom and Me" movies, like romantic comedies, but most of the other films I want to see whether an animated family film, exciting sci-fi, or critically acclaimed classic or more recently silent slapstick I know that if I want to watch with someone else, Dad will most likely be up for it. 
So, now that I'm a hopeless fan of classic films, who literally turns on the Turner Classic Movies channel every single day, I can blame my Dad.  Or should that be Thank my Dad?

Unexplainable Attraction

Dear Friend,
Some people don't photograph well.  This is, for the most part, an established fact. No matter who you ask, they will probably admit that some people are not done a justice with a simple picture.  There have been theories that these people lose some of their visual appeal because unlike a normal human being with two eyes, cameras only have one "eye" or focal point, and therefore lose perspective and depth.  This, therefore, is the missing "something" that renders a relatively attractive person plain or unattractive in a photograph. 

I don't exactly agree with that theory. If that were the case, a video filmed by a camera with only one lens would also fail to capture their attraction.
I'm more inclined to say that part of what makes a person attractive is more than their mere looks.  Movement and action combine with looks to make a person beautiful.  Yes, there are some absolutely stunning and beautiful people who look amazing in a still photograph, there's no argument to that.  Some people, though, are absolutely brilliant to see when they move and a still picture will never be able to capture that quality. 

I've had this theory for years, but never took time to think about it until recently.  I have three examples. The men I will write about in this entry are all very interesting to watch, but I don't think that photographs do them justice.

A little bit more?

Dear Friend,
I've got the weirdest desire to write a screenplay.  Not just any screenplay, either, no I have a desire to write a musical! Let's face it, if I'm going to write a screenplay, I may as well write something fun, ridiculous and altogether absurd.  If there is any sort of scripted program more fun, ridiculous and absurd than a musical then I don't know what it is.  The logic is sound!

I'm not the sort of writer who does "screenplays." I write stories, with description, proper (as far as I can get it) grammar, and I use quotation marks to denote speech.  I don't even have any desire to anyone to produce a screenplay that I write. Mostly I want to do it because I want to be able to say that I have.  I'd write it, never edit it and share it with friends. 

The same people who run National Novel Writing Month each November also run Script Frenzy each April.  While I have taken part in "NaNoWriMo" as they call it (won two years in a row, baby!) I haven't ever considered doing Script Frenzy before.  It's possible that I was not able to come up with a plot idea for Script Frenzy so "soon" after concentrating on a novel length plot in November, but it's also possible that I just didn't want to write a script. 

That all changed, however, when I realized that every song I love is pretty strongly associated with a story in my head.  My mental music videos could easily all be meshed into a single plot-line with some creative thinking on my part.  Combine this with my love for old movie musicals and an idea seed is planted in the fertile ground of my mind. 

So, will I abandon all inhibitions and settle down to write 100 pages of screenplay next month?  I can't decide yet.  I've been having a rough time of it emotionally this past week, and honestly I was going to try to do something in my life other than sit down with my laptop, making clacking noises with my fingers on the keyboard.  I just still don't really know how to do that.  Still, when meeting new people they inevitably ask you what you do, and rather than staring blankly at them, making them very uncomfortable I could instead tell them I'm writing a movie script, and then let it drop into the conversation that I've written two novels.  The sad thing is that the next question would be if I've had anything published, and the answer is decidedly no.  But hey, I'm working on it, right? That's got to count for something.