Inside the Brain of E.C. Henry

Page 1 of Dilly of a Duckling's Dally

Hope to have the whole script ready to show soon, but for now there's the first page as it exists in the script.  Having a blast writing this.

Dilly of a Duckling's Dally

Genre:  Animated Comedy 

Logline:  Abandoned by his flock at a state park that has predators that want to eat him, Dillard is forced to find a new living arrangement on account of the ornery nature of this newborn duckling.  

 

So whaddya think? 

Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Let me know in the comments.  Thanks,

Ranking the 2022 Academy Awards, Best Picture Nominations

1. Avatar: the Way of Water; 7.5
2. Top Gun: Maverick; 6.0
3. Everything Everywhere All at Once; (projected) 5.0
4. The Banshees of Inisherin; (projected). 4.5
5. All Quiet on the Western Front; 3.5
6. Women Talking; 3.0
7. Elvis; (projected) 2.5
8. The Fablemans; (projected) 1.5
9. Tár; 1.0
10. Triangle of Sadness; 0.5

I actually posted this earlier over at Scriptshadow.  Thought it was fitting to post my list of how E.C. Henry ranks what the Academy of Motion Pictures decided was the finalists for best movie of the year.  

Other movies of note that I thought the Oscars should have considered include: Redeeming Love at 8.25, Prey; (projected) at 7.0, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent at 6.0, Don't Worry Darling; (projected) at 5.0, and Babylon; (projected) at 4.5.

(Projected) means I haven't seen these movies yet, but I've still rated them anyway based on what I epect them to be based on their trailers, what I've read about them, and word-of-mouth.  I am making a push this week to see all the Academy nominated best movies of 2022 this week.  So far that's been Tár and Triangle of Sadness; both of which where VERY BAD films, imo.  

I'll be updating this list throughout the week up to the 2023 Oscars which is this upcoming Sunday.  Overall it feels more and more like the Oscars are becoming less special, as movies in general are loosing their appeal.  That said, every once in a while you "discover" a film like --

Which would have WON for best picture of 2022 if I was the lone one casting the votes.  And it's these movies that catch you by surprise that are keeping my interest in movies these days.  Sure isn't the main releases.  Sure the Way of Water was good, but it wasn't GREAT, and an unforgettable theater experience.  Been a while since I've been in the theater and been wowed.  Here's to hoping those days come back again. 

Tár (2022); Movies that Move Me: Volume XI

So was  this   --

My reaction to seeing the Cate Blanchette headlined movie Tár (2022)?  

Hardly. 

Though I did go into watching it last night with fairly high expectations.  One of the scripts on my "docket" to write was actually a story about a downcast composer who was suicidal and in need of a life jump.  It would have been a low budget drama.  Not that I went into my viewing of Cate Blanchette and Todd Field's dark drama thinking it would mirror what I'd been toying with mentally, but it did deal with the same kind of atmosphere: the practicing and composing of classical music.

Next Sunday Tár is up for Six Oscars.  The funny thing is I think it should only be given ONE:

Winner in 2014 for lead actress in Blue Jasmine

After viewing this movie --

In its entirety, I must admit Cate Blanchette didn't disappoint, this 2 1/2 hour MOVIE did.  

I don't think I've had such a disconnect where I thought the lead was so strong in a movie, yet was unable to carry to movie in the 53 year history of me watching movies.  

For my $$ it was OBVIOUS that Scott Field's Tár was trying to be the 2022 version of Black Swan (2010: staring Natalie Portman) or Whiplash (2014: Miles Teller vs. J.K. Simmons).  Both of which deal artists having issues in the performing arts.  Now, I adored Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, and LIKED Damien Chazelle's Whiplash movie, but my reaction was decided the Titanic-has-sunk for Todd Field's Tár,  as I would rate it a 1 out of 10!  Yeah, I was pretty pissed by what I was watching -- and it wasn't Cate Blanchette's fault!  It was the screenwriter's!  That and the director who should have known better.

Story-wise this is the story of Lydia Tár's fall from grace from being a conductor and instructor to college conductor trainees, after she kicks a female trainee out of her mentorship, and trainee takes it hard and begins to spiral downward until at last the trainee commit's suicide and Lydia's role in her fall merit's court case and further inspection of Lydia's treatment of other people by a governing body of her classical music peers.

On the surface this sounds like the PERFECT VEHICLE for an actress to show off her acting chops in a low-budget, dark drama.  The seeds are there for a compelling plot that builds to good cinematic creshendo and ending.  Scott Field, however, made some huge mistakes at the screenwriting decision making level that doom this story.  Doom it to the point that not even Cate Blanchette in all of her acting prowess can bail out. 

The dynamic duo of the movie Tár: Todd Field & Cate Blancehtte

Okay, so what did E.C. Henry find so offensive about this movie?  Let me site the reason.  They are few, BUT they mean everything.

1. There is a repeated beat where Lydia Tár wakes up in the middle of the night drawn to an irritating noise in the house.  Suspense builds... it's a ticking clock in a cabinet drawer that upset her and that takes 5 minutes of screen time!  Then Lydia wakes up to an obnoxious refrigerator door.  Opening it to find -- nothing!  Not even an expired jar of mayonniase!  Yet another waste to time, and failure to deliver on an evocative scene in a low-budget movie that desperately needs scenes that deliver.
2. There are scenes of Lydia comforting her lesbian lover's child in the middle of the night.  I guess this is Todd's way of trying to humanize an otherwise cold character in Lydia Tár.  Problem with EVERY SCENE that Petra (the lesbian lover's little daughter) is in is BORING.  AS.  FUCK!  Your supporting characters need to contribute to evocative scenes, and that's never the case with Petra/Tár.  Problem with all that is, these scenes are really dull -- even for a low-budget drama.  In a low-budget drama it's on the screenwriter and director to take these familiar beat and do something FUN with them.  That's never done in Tár, and that's directly to the fault of Todd Fields, with minor assist to the actress who plays Petra, who does NOTHING to command the screen when she's on, thus never elevating the pressure on Blanchette to perform and BE the movie.
3. The set-up and payoff of the mentoree who went of the rails was piss poor.  Honest to God THIS is the central conflict of the movie, and yet I still don't know what this girl did to push Lydia away.  A homosexual relationship is hinted at, but not confirmed nor fully denied.   When your central conflict involves a character that the screenwriter decides to keep outside the movie, you're taking a HUGE RISK.  In the case of this movie, I think some sense of who this girl was by showing her on screen, not just hinted at through 3rd party conversation and innuendo.  Maybe not early, but definitely show who this failed menoreee was the ACT II breakpoint.  For a low-budget drama there were scenes that were not shot that really needed to be there.  Maybe this a call to the need for other writers to contribute to a given project.  Maybe what we're seeing here is blind-spot by Todd Field.  Too late now, the movies shot and been released.  But trust me there are some scene that needed to be in this movie that never made to the script.  Not good.  Not good at the block level, screenwriting, outline form. 
4. This film is built to entertain the narrowest of audiences: those familiar and who have an affinity for the life of those immeshed in classical music.  In banter with her peers the great love of past musicians and composers is gone over, and over, and over.  Having never studied this stuff, I didn't know who most of these people were.  Todd Field should have taken better steps to help his audience through this world.  WAYYY to much assumption for how the classical music world in Berlin functions is ASSUMED to be known by the audience.  After a while I gave up on trying to understand this world.  This was big miss by the screenwriter and director as it is HIS JOB to bring the audience into a foreign world to them, and entertain them.  Black Swan did this.  Whiplash did too... 
5.  The counter-story being felt by Lydia's assistant, Franesca; was a disappointment.  The first 2/3 of Tar features mentorship between Lydia and her assistant Francesca.  At the end it becomes apparent that Franesca has had enough of Lydia's ways and abruptly leaves.  This is totally believable, yet not resolved well at all in the movie.  I think the Lydia/Franesca relationship is the most important of the whole movie.  Yet in the last third off it, Francesca is no more and Lydia is left to fend for herself as her demise snowballs.  Imo you needed 2 to 3 scenes with Franesca in them in ACT III, and the audience ends up getting none.  This is a big failure by Todd Field, imo.  

In the end you have this fascinating character, Lydia Tár, in this movie of a world that most people aren't going to know anything about; that the screenwriter and director ultimately disappointed with because of the scene choices made at the script level.

Tár (2022) is a script-level fail movie.  To read it's up for best original screenplay of the year is a laugher for me, because that's where this movie dies.  Tár should have been this year's Black Swan, or this year's Whiplash.  Alas, it was not.  It needed other writers to put in what Todd Field missed.

Keeping the Paper Companies Employed

E.C. Henry uses A LOT of  this :
Welcome to the world of editing works of fiction.  Shit doesn't improve by itself people!  No, it's people like E.C. Henry that keep --

The paper companies in business.

Working at a distribution warehouse is a close second to keeping the paper companies in business (hehehehe)  NOT the kind of place you want to work if you're bent on going "green".  Lotta wasted paper.   Printers working overtime to cranking out all manners of useless reports that should have been kept digitally instead to made into copies that get put in folders that are also made of pulp!  

Still, as wasteful as I think I am at times.  I love a hard copied script.  Before I left for Tennessee I had to burn abut 200 I had made over the years, and it broke my heart.

Another beneficiary of my writing career is the INK companies.  Cheapest cartridge for my Canon Pixma printer is like $25 bucks -- and I have FIVE of them inside my color printer.  I can easy spend over $300 bucks without batting an eye at Office Depot on ink.  Sorry Dunder Mifflin, but you don't have any brick and mortar stores in the local Kingsport, Tennessee metro area.

So being a writer gets expensive.  Even pens these days are spendy.  But what's a writer with pages to edit to do?  My eyes can only stand so many hours of looking at computer screen before they need a break.  And that's where the paper alternative comes in handy.  

I do a lot of edits on hard copies while at the day job during breaks and at lunch.  Yeah, I'm THAT dedicated.  That and my co-workers conversations rarely hold my interest.  I like making new stories.  They like video games and drinking alcohol.  Hmmm.  See the disconnect?  

And so I edit on, using more paper, buying more ink cartridges, because that's what writer's do -- they keep the paper companies employed!

 

Screenwriting Chef Tales from the Kitchen

So just how comparable is writing a screenplay to being a chef preparing a meal?

Pretty favorable, as I hope to extrapolate on in this post.  

Truth be told I'm not much of chef.  Was never trained to cook.  On the occasions I do cook it's always off someone else's recipe.  And I'm VERY GRATEFUL that there are many who proceeded me who combined foods in a pleasurable way that makes eating them a delight.  To date the most ambitious things I've attempted to cook/make is manicotti (cheese stuffed pasta) and lemon meringue pie.  Manicotti was made by following instructions off a Barilla pasta box, lemon meringue pie off an on-line recipe to a men's bible study.  So it's not like I'm a Gordon Ramsey or Guy Fierie.

Offering the audience a plate of food this guy doesn't seem so intimidating, does he? Meet  Gordon Ramsey  of Hell's Kitchen fame

First thing to point out is that I like GOOD food: tastes good and is showcased in professional manner.  No, you don't hafta always eat a five-star restaurant to appreciate a meal that's given to you with some level of pride in their work and flare.  McDonald's ain't got no creme brulees, remember?

Though I don't cook very often I have done it many times in the past, and when I do, do it -- I want it done right!  That's right, even when I do something like prepare a meal to eat, I want it look good in presentation, and taste the way it's supposed to.  

Typical dinner made by E.C. Henry: Hardly!  But I do give it my best.

This carries over into my writing life.  Trust me I know I have holes in my game.  I'm a pretty bad speller.  I was struck down and forced to go to a remedial English class when I attended a community college that was below 100 level.   The flowery part of creative writing seldomly comes easy to me.  YET despite these oftentimes glaring weaknesses I persist in this creative writing endeavor.  Why?

Because playing in the kitchen is fun!

That's right I said it, writing creatively can be compared to go to the kitchen and trying to have fun while you make a meal.  This begs the question, can playing in the kitchen ever be fun?  Maybe not if you envision yourself being hounded by an asshole like Gordon Ramsey while you're trying your hand at that's for sure!

But if you take a step back, breathe, and realize that in one's own kitchen or before one's own personal computer; it's just you, the raw ingredients --and vision that you're trying to achieve.  A good meal if you're cooking.  A good story if you're writing.   They're not so different in creation after all.

Checklist: good meal to good story comparison:

1. Good ingredients.  In cooking you need good meat, and the appropriate spices.  In screenwriting you need good plot points, characters, and scenes.
2. They need the right mix.  In cooking you need to make sure you don't use too much or too little sugar, vanilla, salt, and milk.  In screenwriting you need scenes that play off each other the right way.
3.  Cooked to perfection.  In cooking got make sure what comes out of the oven or is grilled on stove isn't under-cooked or burnt.  In screenwriting you need an edited script where the individual scenes are edited to perfection; it's that balance where the scene is a good as a writer can make it which stays neither too long (over-baked) nor found to be lacking and in need of further rewrites or to be outright deleted (under-baked)
4. Presentation matters.  In cooking balanced meals are celebrated.  Even with something as simple as breakfast.  Gotta have a main dish like pancakes, an omelette or even a bowl of cereal which is then accented by a cup of orange juice and a breakfast meat to round it out.  In screenwriting how your text appears on the page matter and you've gotta take great pride in that or you shouldn't bother anyone with reading your stuff.  Presentation in terms of following proper screenwriting conventions, not having the raw page look bad or the same.  For me these days I include a dosing of lit expression " icing ", but that is not the end-all of how I grade out my own writing and how I want it to look on the page.  There's also brevity, and flow to consider.  

These days I'm grinding through my latest spec. script, which will be about a duckling's journey and character arc after his family leaves him behind in a park as they partake in their southern migration.  Been in the kitchen on this one since December of 2022, when I committed to this story and really started working on it in earnest.  Three months is a long time to be "in the kitchen" and not have a first draft of a story completed. 

There is one key way writing is NOT like cooking, and that's in how you can erase mistakes.  In cooking once a dish is the oven and started to cook, there's no time left to try to fix it, EXCEPT maybe after it's out of the over cover up your screw up with icing or gravy or something exterior food covering.  In the batter stage sometimes it's possible to change the mix depending on the error made.  If taste something in batter and it's not to your like sometimes you can more sugar or milk to change the taste or consistency.  But in screenwriting ALL is editable.  Even after a story is quote, unquote "finished", a given author can always reopen the digital document and change things to his or her liking.  

Ahh putting the finishing touches on  creme brulee ; my favorite off all deserts.  BUT it must be served hot, and with a good Scotch!  The screenwriting equivalent of this is when a writer is doing final edits on his script and he or she KNOWS that it's going to be good; the writer is happy with their prose and thinks the story is well-constructed.  

 

Update: Monday, February 27, 2023; Finished the 1st draft of Ducky Goes on Holiday at 4:00 p.m. EST!  Yay, to this worthwhile, milestone event!

Iconic Couples; Exploring Issues in Rom-com Movies: Volume 73

Favorite power couple of all-time: Tim McGraw and Faith Hill

For a while I thought the romantic comedy genre was dead.  Seems like it's been nearly 10 years since the last good one with Amy Schumer's brief run in doing Trainwreck (2015), and then I Feel Pretty (2018).  Then someone at Scriptshadow cued me that the streaming service have been generating new, romantic comedy content.  But not for the big screen.  Not for theatrical releases.  

At this point I don't know if the genre will rebound or not.  Heck, I don't know if theaters will survive.  That said romance will never really die, because it's a component of life.  A more satisfied life.  So the human, latent need for rom-com material will always be there; as I see it.  It's just a matter of where people will have to go to have that itch scratched.    

One of the ways romance continues to live on is on the cover of magazines.  Every time I grocery shot at Ingles in Colonial Heights, TN; I see magazines that continue to highlight the romantic escapades of today's and yesteryear's celebrities.

As for me, I've never really followed any "power couples".  Being a Taylor Swift fan I remember being on-line and seeing pictures of her with her beau's through the years.  Gotta be hard to have your love life on parade for people to comment on, but then again she has profited off that quite a bit.  

When I saw these two musical acts had collided and come together -- I thought it would be for forever; they looked GREAT together!

Perhaps the funniest "power couple" development has been the emergence of Pete Davidson as a heart throb for likes of Kim Kardashian and Emily Ratajakowski.  Pete Davidson is no Brad Pitt, whose love life has in past times had the likes of Gwenth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, and Angelina Jolie at his side.  Not bad huh?  Now in his late 50s I just read that Brad has a new girl in his life and that he's expecting to be a father.  Recently even Quentin Tarantino got married and had a child.  

Pete's gettin' busy with a hottie and that's not even Kim nor Emily!!  

So we will have some celebrity rumblings of romance, foibles and the like.  So the seeds of the romantic comedy are still afoot.  

Renee Zellwegger/Kenny Chesney, Gwenith Paltrow/Chis Martin from the music group "Coldplay", Michael Douglas/Catherine Zeta-Jones.  Heck even Steven Speilberg/Kate Capshaw, Kevin Kline/Phoebe Cates... ... Okay, now with last one, I can't help but add because I remember from the 1980s how Phoebe Cates burst onto the scene with her brief, but remembered role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982):

Phoebe Cates in her prime.  

So how much do celebrity couples inspire modern romances?  I'm not sure.  I think people are naturally curious about that, as evident by their time seen on magazine covers.  As I close in on age 54, myself; I think about romance less and less; figuring that ship is no longer boardible.  Still, the heart and mind remain alive and kicking long after you pass your romantic expiration date.  A generation comes... and a generation goes... And with it new romantic pairings and possibilities emerge.  It's just amazing how some people are so blessed in this area.  And how others of us, like me, just wander in the romanceless desert of life, devoid of love; yet always seeing it from afar...

John Cougar Mellancamp/Meg Ryan

 

 

 

When God Chooses a Hottie to Save His People

This is Shannon Bream of Fox News fame.  Of all the women on planet Earth you would be hard pressed to find one as beautiful and nice as she is.  And not only that, but Shannon's an author too -- and it's a godly book no less!  "The Women of the Bible Speak: The Wisdom of 16 Women and Their Lessons for Today".  If interested you can buy the book here.  I fell in love with Shannon watching Fox News.  It's like getting your news delivered by Meg Ryan.  Still, I know she's married...

#allthegoodonesaretaken

Snap!  But now that's we've got this kicked off.  Time for my hot take, and it's this:

Hot woman can be used by God.

The bible is an amazing book.  In God's word, many years ago while the nation of Israel was under the rule of the Persians, there came a time where God delivered His people through a beauty pageant winner.  I'm not kidding.  It's in the book of Esther in the Old Testament.   

I read the book three times recently in preparation for this post.  And the gist of the plot is that a Jew in bondage overcame her circumstances by winning a beauty pageant and agreeing to the queen of a Persian king, Ahasuerus or Xerexes who rained as king of Persia from 486 B.C. through 464 B.C.. 

At the start of his reign king Ahasuerus has a beautiful queen named Vashti.  She was so beautiful that Asasuerus wanted to show her off after he and his friends had been drinking, but Vashti refused!  This led to king cutting Vashti off and a nation-wide search for beautiful virgins was made to replace Vashti.  

This led to Esther's rise to preeminence, as she was ultimately chosen to replace Vashti, but while doing so at the insistence of her Jewish caregiver, Mordecai, who took her as his own daughter.  Esther was beautiful in form and face.  Yet once she was queen, Queen Ester faced one whopper of situation.  For one her king's closest confidants was conspiring to wipe-out all the Jewish people in the kingdom of Persia, all because ONE man of Jewish descent refused to bow before him in his presence.  Haman wasn't even king, yet he was so filled with ego and pride that he wanted the whole nation to wiped-out on account of ONE MAN's refusal to bow before.

Thankfully the beautiful Esther didn't turn her back on her people.  But rather she listened to her adopted father and made a proper entreaty before King Ahasuerus that exposed Haman dire treachery.  King Ahasuerus listened to his hottie wife, and the once he knew about Haman's treachery had him hung in gallows that Haman had built to hang Mordecai, Esther 7:10.  

I'm not a fan of torture.  Even of the most vile people.  Still, I'm glad that hotties like --

Exist.  Okay, the hottie I just posted isn't Esther either, BUT she is the first person I thought of when I started thinking what Esther may have looked like in real life.  Aishah Hasnie is her name.  And she, like Shannon Bream works at Fox News!  All the hot, smart and politically savvy women work there. 

Aishah Hasnie is Pakistani beauty follows the Muslim faith -- at least from what I've read.  But I'm not prejudice.  A beauty is a beauty no matter where they come from and all honest I think the real Esther from the bible looked a lot more like Aishah Hasnie than she did did Shannon Bream.

So many thing to appreciate about Esther's CHARACTER.  That's right, not only was Esther beautiful on the outside as is recorded in Esther 2:7; but this lady PROVED she was beautiful on the inside by the choices she made a critical time in Israel's history.

• Esther didn't turn her back on her heritage even when when was living the high life.
• Esther listened to advice and acted on it. 
• The story of Esther proves that adopted parents can have a success story through the children they raise.  Mordecai took on Esther after her parents died and raised her.  Then, even when Esther was a mature woman, she respected her adopted father and did right by him. 
• Esther was willing to use her God given gifts.  What if Esther never competed in the king's competition?  Her's was occupied people, after all, and Vashti was gawked at for her beauty.  Esther had to know this treatment would probably extend to her, but she endered it anyway. 
• Esther learned the proper ways and practices to be of royalty and how to approach the king.  She actively thought and didn't just rely on her outer beauty to carry her.  Esther had a brain -- and she used it the preservation of God's people.

From the story of Esther and Mordecai the Jewish people now celebrate the feast of Purim.  See Esther 9: 21-22.  On the 14th and 15 day of the Jewish month of Adar the Jewish people are to celebrate with feasting and rejoicing when God delivered them from a treacherous scheme to annihilate God's people while they were being disciplined already by another nation. 

This post was born of discussion that me and my mother had about the rapture.  We got to speculating and though MAYBE the rapture of the church could happen THIS Purim season, which in 2023 is being celebrated by the Jewish people March 8th and 9th.  Purim 2023

Nobody knows the day or hour that Jesus will come from his bride, the church.  BUT things down here on Earth keep getting darker, and the government of today is more led by the devil than it is led by the Lord. 

Many years ago God went so far as to state the EXACT borders that He wanted His people Israel to have.   

Genesis 15:18,  Exodus 23: 31. 

The Christian God does distinguish between people groups.  And the ultimate Lordship of all the people and nations is under the triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  

Lots is issues to sort through in this corrupted word.  Thank you Jesus we have the word of God to help make sense of it all, and guide us to where we should be on the issues.  Always seek to be one of Jesus's sheep that He calls to be at His right side.  God does differentiate between people...

Matthew 25: 32-33 (Jesus speaking) "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them one another, as the sheperd separates the sheep from the goats' and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left."

In the end, God's word is good and worthy to be studied and praised.  So glad that God uses many different ways to save.  Sometimes even a well-placed hottie gets her name called to do a work in His name.  To God be the glory!

Freezing Florida

I just got back from a two week vacation in the state of Florida over the Christmas and New Year's holiday, and found it for the most part to be FREEZING!  

Most beaches in Pensacola look like this:

White sand beaches.

At my mom's insistence we (me, her, my brother, his wife, two kids and their dog) went on a Florida vacation that had us first housed in Pensacola on the far western extreme of the panhandle, then over at Pacific Coast which is about 35 miles south of Jacksonville. 

The weather started turning the day we left Tennessee.  Day two in Pensacola it was below zero -- even in the middle of the day!  Found out the hard way that the windows in Florida aren't insulated very well.  Felt a cold draft coming from a bedroom window so severe that it made me feel like that window was open.  Yeah, I get it, Florida is a warm weather state, but we saw Pensacola in record low temperatures.  Still, cold or not, my mom and brother found amble time to look for seashells.  Me, I'm not really into that.  I can look for shells for a little while, but it's not my jam. 

Thankfully we left Penacola after six days, and traveled east.  We stayed at "Cinnamon Beach" in Palm Coast. 

That beach had a lot of dead reefs and was dark brown like the color cinnamon, hence the name: Cinnamon Beach.  Lot of hurricane beach access damage there with about half of the pier access damaged and not usable.  Beach access at Cinnamon Beach was supposed to look like this --

But these peers were usually damaged at the stair access to the beach.  We saw some fences pushed over and some palm trees knocked over from hurricane damage earlier in 2022. 

To be completely honest, I wasn't in the vacationing spirit during this trip.  The highlight of Pensacola was seeing a lemon tree -- that still had lemons on it in on at the house we were renting there.  Did try one of the lemons off the tree and found it bland.  Went through the state of Alabama and found the entire experience forgettable. 

I tried to convince my mom NOT to go on this vacation, but she was insistent.  She thinks that the U.S. economy is going to crash, and when it does people aren't be going anywhere!  I tend to believe along those lines, but I'm a little more optimistic about the future than she is; though we're both looking forward to the rapture of the church and being with Jesus.  Mom thinks this may happen at this year's Jewish feast of Purim in early March.  Purim is feast the Jews celebrate when queen Ester helped expose a plot by a man in power who wanted to eliminate the Jews.  This happened about 500 B.C.  Anyway, as things in the world continue to worsten me and Sweet Pea continue to keep our gaze above.  This year the feast of Purim happens in early March.

On our trip I did see three gators in the wild.  All where in northeast Florida.  One was at a golf course pond.  Another was at waste water pond off the highway.  A third was on a log at Silver Springs National Park.  Saw lots of alligators at the St. Augustine Zoological Park.  I thought with the colder weather (low 70s at the time) the gators would be more active, but they weren't.  Most of them just were laying around, or swimming lazily in their water exhibits.  Surprisingly it was the TURTLES that were out and about putting on a show for the tourists. 

Did gets SOME writing in during this trip, but not a lot.  Started the script for Ducky Goes on Holiday on New Years morning.  Before that I did beef up the outline and did some important character work.  Still not expecting Ducky Goes on Holiday to be done until March.  Think I have 11 song and dance numbers planned for this animated script.  Still have some research to do.  And since this is my first kids oriented script, there's that inexperience to consider too.

Did avoid drinking alcohol this trip, but was awfully tempted a couple of times.  Especially at condominium complex in Palm Coast.  They had a bar there that served Pina Coladas and I really wanted one!  But the streak is intact, 5 months since I last had alcohol.  Though I no longer want to abstain, for the family I'm going to--for now!  But sometime soon, I'm going to drink again.  Yeah, I'll always have alcoholic tendencies, but I've proven I to myself I can refrain and stop if I have too.  The AA life simply isn't for me.  Staying sober to be in their favor isn't much of a motivator.  Still, for now I'm playing that game as it makes my mom happy; and also since my brother and sister-in-law have given up drinking.  The other consideration is their 14-year-old son, Brycen; who is seriously immature and at at delicate state in his life.  Still, a beer at Buffalo Wild Wings sounds like Heaven.

Tomorrow it's back to work for me.  Time to crank-up a lot of stuff.  Like maybe a 2nd job...  Get a new cap on a tooth in the back.  Work on the lawnmower.  Pick-up the yard.  Make sure my chainsaw is running and in good order.  Straighten up and maintain our firepit area.  Build a new retention wall.  Re-painting the family table.  Getting a new financial plan.  Getting some service done on my Subaru.  Already three days into 2023, and life keeps chugging along.  Sorry I didn't include pictures from the trip.  I did take a few.  It's just nothing stood out.  This was more of a relaxing tour of the southeast just during a record-setting cold spell. 

Kaya Jones on PragerU: Heros Among Us; Volume I

Hey, I FINALLY found something new from Kaya Jones.  Thought I'd lost her after I left Twitter and Facebook following the 2020 election.

Typepad wont let me post it, but here's the link for a video she made depicting her story: Kaya Jones speaks, December 2022

At one point Kaya was involved with Antonio Sabato Jr. and Nikk Tezzekker trying to launch a conservative movie studio.  So glad to just verify that this GEM of a woman is still alive. 

This prompted me to start a new series entitled, "Heros Among Us".

You may feel like America is head off the edge of cliff.  Heck just TODAY congress was peppering the bankruptcy file CEO of FTX with question about how millions of user both in the U.S. and abroad were defrauded out of BILLIONS of dollars.  Needless to say you wont be seeing --

Bet this picture doesn't make you smile now, Maxine...

In this series as featured person such as Kaya Jones is.

Gotta wonder how far down the rabbit hole cyryptocurrency and donations to the Democratic Party go.  Ponzi scheme, and bad business practices in one thing, illegally lining the pockets of politician is another.  

Okay enough of the bad people, as this new series is supposed to shed some light on the good guys (and girls).  

HUGE fan of Kaya Jones.  Love with with looks, brains, and some wit.  She's got it all!  So glad she still at telling he story and fighting the good fight in these trying times.  

Kaya as I remember her when she was lending her support for Antonio Sabato Jr. and Nixx Tezzekker.  Anyway, the word needs more women like Kaya Jones.  I know, I for one, look forward to wherever the creative life takes her!

Gino Smith: 2022 NFL Most Improved Player

Never thought I'd be saying this, but the biggest surprise of the 2022 NFL season has got to be the play of the Seattle Seahawks' Geno Smith.  Even in the pre-season most people were more intreaged by Drew Lock than they were Gino, even tough Gino had been Russell Wilson's back-up for the past three years. 

But the fact was prior to this year, Gino really hadn't done much to inspire confidence that he was good enough to be the Seattle Seahawks starting quarterback.  Sure, he was a starter for the New York Jets back in 2013-14, but was benched there; and then bounced around the league before landing in Seattle only to be a bench warmer under the reliable and successful, Russell Wilson.

But Russell wanted out of Seattle, and eventually John Schneider found a good trade partner in the Denver Broncos.  The Broncos were looking for what they thought would be the final piece that pushed them over the top so they could complete against the likes of the Kansas City Chiefs and the Chargers who were showing promise with Justin Herbert as their quarterback.  

For Russell Wilson the Seahawks got two number one picks, two number picks, a 5th round pick, QB Drew Lock, TE Noah Fant, and DE Shelby Harris.  

The funny part is, this year the Denver Broncos have really struggled with Russell starting all but one of their games up till now compiling a 3-8 record so far which included an opening week loss of 16-17 on Monday Night Football where Russell Wilson made his return to Seattle -- only now as an opponent.  

What's happened so far is nothing short of miraculous.  Remember E.C.'s pre-season predictions?  Well, in them I picked my beloved Seahawks to finish at 3-14, while the Broncos were supposed to be much better at 7-10; both in last place in their respected divisions.  

With Gino and Russell the starters on the respective teams it is fair to compare their 2022 statistics so far so this is how they stack up:

Games played: 

Russell Wilson: 11

Gino Smith: 12

Completions/Attempts/%:

Russell Wilson: 215 / 358 / 60.1%

Gino Smith: 285 / 392 / 72.7%

Passing Yards: 

Russell Wilson: 2,558

Gino Smith: 3,169

Touchdowns / Interceptions:

Russell Wilson: 8 / 5

Gino Smith: 22 / 6

Sacks:

Russell Wilson: 37

Gino Smith: 31

Rushing Yards (Attempts / Yards / Average per rush / longest rush / rushing TD / fumbles):

Russell Wilson: 37 rushing attempts / 158 yards / 4.3 rushing average / 1 TD / 2 fumbles

Gino Smith: 52 rushing attempts / 243 yards / 4.7 rushing average / 1 TD / 3 fumbles

I thought Denver was supposed to be an offensive juggernaut this year?!  But if you compare their stats this year Gino Smith is CLEARLY the better quarterback.  Towards the end of Russell's tenure in Seattle I soured on him.  But I still thought he was a better quarterback than Gino was/is.  Now, I'm not so sure.

One thing is for sure, Gino Smith throws a better slant route than Russell Wilson ever has.  Check this clip from last week.  The throw that won the game against the L.A. Rams in the last minute.  Gino Smith to D.K. Metcaff:

Don't know how the 2022 season will turn out, but so far so good.  The 2022 Seattle Seahawks have been wayyy more competitive than I thought they would be.  They are one of the pleasant surprises in the NFL this year -- and the play of Gino Smith is one of the primary drivers of their success.  

The E.C. 500

This is my 500th post -- can you believe it?  Started wayyy back in 2011 and from February 11, 2011 through November 28. 2022 done 500 posts.

Would like to say over that time I've collected quite the following; but, alas, that has not been the case.  To date I've had 94,254 page views.  And 364 comments. 

Not bad...

Kidding.  That's PITIFUL.  Definitely not the winning car breaking the ticker-tape at the end of the INDY 500.

Still, I keep at it which begs the question, why?

I view this blog as my personal space, where I get to air my opinions.  Since I have ambitions of making movies of the screenplays I've written, and one day completing my epic fantasy series; my creative endeavors dominate what I post here.

This blog really started at a different site, Living the Romantic Comedy which was run and hosted by the one and only, Billy Mernit.  I used to post and respond there a lot back when Billy's site was more active.  I JUST found the site, it looks as though Billy has consolidated that under a bio website.  I think I last searched for that a couple years ago and couldn't find it.  Anyway, back when I used to attend the Screenwriting Expos I attended one of the rom-com classes Billy Mernit hosted -- and even gave him a shirt!  The guy is a library and wealth of info on that.  He fell out of favor with me me when the subject of Bob Dylan came up, and he took a stance that I wasn't on-board with. 

Still, no sense dregging up the past, it's just the IDEA for hosting a blog of my own came from him and the GREAT blogsite that Billy Mernit had constructed.

For a while I did my own rom-com posts under the Exploring Issue in Rom-Com Movies sub-heading...  But eventually you run out of thing to talk about on that subject.  I got up to 70 posts, with the last entry so far in the series entitled, In the Ring.  That post from May of 2020 was in celebration of me realizing that as I was editing So Go Back and Get Her, I was participating and adding to the lore of the romantic comedy genre, which is still my movie genre of them all.  See Billy Mernit, after all these years we still have something in common! 

Not saying the Exploring Issues in Rom-Com Movies series is over; it's just, let's face it, there hasn't been a lot to say about romantic comedies for a long time.  I did try to push Taylor Swift to get involved with my romantic comedies, and maybe even The Commune series, but alas, I was never able to make a connection.  I recently read Taylor is going to be doing an Era's concert tour in 2023, and recently she's had a couple minor movie roles of her own in Cat (2019). and Amsterdam (2022).  So Hollywood and the queen of pop have met.  I figure she can now get movie scripts with roles anytime she wants from anyone she want, which leaves me out in the dark as per usuge.

Over the past 12 years I've reviewed a few movies that I liked under the Movies that Move Me banner.  But for the most part, I haven't felt the unction to make this a main focus, as I'm more of a content creator than a content evaluator.  Now over at Scriptshadow there are lots of users there who really get down and dirty when it comes to movie reviews and the history of cinema issue, but that's really not my jam.  I can interface in a limited basis in that, but it's farrr from a passion of mine.  That said, if I find a movie I do like, like: Birdman (or the Virtue of Ignorance) [2014 -- can you believe it's been nearly 10 years since that movie cam out?], Planet of the Apes (1968), or Aliens (1986); then I could go on and on about what the filmmaker did right, for I love those three movies.  Therein like the rub; love v.s. indifference.  Most movies don't rub me as great movies so I don't spend a lot time trying to dissect them.  Last GREAT movie I saw was Redeeming Love, and, yes, that movie did make entry #10 in the Movies that Move Me series. 

One thing I was curious about was my posting history over the years, so I thought it would be cool to summarize my progress so over the years.  So now going backwards from now to the beginning, here's my blog post totals:

• 2022: 20
• 2021: 22
• 2020: 17
• 2019: 16
• 2018: 23
• 2017: 27
• 2016: 55
• 2015: 73
• 2014: 75
• 2013: 78
• 2012: 48
• 2011: 46

What Riggan Thompson is saying here is, E.C.'s written 500 blog posts, people!

So what can you make of those numbers?  Hmmm.   Probably the "normal" curve to be expected from someone in my situation: an enthusiast who writes with the dream of one day making it big and seeing my work produced for mass consumption.  At first the blog was new to me, then I got in grove and had an active series I was pursuing: Exploring Issues in Rom-Com Movies; then I ran out of things to say on that so the numbers dropped off.  Moreso, the more posts you make the less territory you have left to talk about so that factors into it to.  But recently I started post a little more.

Over the course of these 12 years a lot has happened: First, I noticed a lot of blogs that I used to follow got abandoned.  This is understandable due to the tough nature it is to make a sale.  I used to frequent a bunch of fellow screenwriters, they were all pre-pros like me, but after a while they stopped blogging.  During my blog time the romantic comedy genre really petered out.  Now were in outright time where the whole studio movie system may go under.  Woke ideology and the Democrat party to blame for these ills.  So sad we have a political party in the Democrats that does NOTHING for the American people and our prosperity.  Till that changes I thing are just going to go from worse to worse.  Also along my tenure was the rise of Amy Schumer.  And then of course the China flu which wracked American society and was used as ploy by the Democrats to tighten their aurthortarian grip on political power, the elections, and free speech.  Finally, in the summer of 2022, there was me at breaking point where I had to confront my own excesses and deal with the fact I'm an alcoholic.    

We are in dark times.  I hope that the Lord uses me for His glory in whatever capacity that takes.  The truth, is at the end of the day, I'm a Christian.  And I'm His.  Can't forget that, the most important part:  belonging to God .  That brings me great joy.  Hopefully, that reflects in my posts.  Christian first, author and content creator second.  At the end of the year I'm slated to explore the American southeast with my mom, brother his wife and two kids: Florida part III+ Georgia and Alabama.  Still have my eye on the rapture too.  Really getting into the book of Exodus and the parallel's between what was happening then, and the upcoming rapture of the church.

Spoilers: the wokers are going to get their wish, and when God's people are taken from their midst they're going to get to live through the stuff written in the book of Revelation.  Abortion, gender confusion, loss of freedoms, corrupting U.S. elections, Ponzi schemes.  Democrats -- THAT is your legacy.  So sad, because God isn't going to judge favorably on any of the things that wokers and Democrats are striving to achieve.    

Better to be on the right side of Jesus, than on the right side of (a Democrat) corrupted history 

Still, I don't know when events will take place.  So like Jesus instructed the seven churches in Revelation this is a time to hold on to what you have and contend for the faith the best you can.  Realize the times we're in; and that in reality all we're waiting for is for the Holy Father to tell his Son that it's time to get His bride (the church).  So get some oil in your lamps, and be listening for Lord's call.  The time is short, but in the end, God is good.

To infinity (501 posts) and beyond!

 E.C. Henry  from  Kingsport, TN