Inside the Brain of E.C. Henry

Omega Man of the Internet

Yes, sadly I'm beginning to feel more and more like I'm a drying breed on the Internet; the omega man on the Internet -- for realsies Kim Kardashian!  A Mad Max of sorts who seams to have outlived my peers, my fellow pre-pro screenwriters of years gone by, who have left the blogosphere and gone into regions unknown.  They had places I used to visit on a regular basis.  Now abandoned sites.  

Ah the seasons of life.  Ah the seasons of pre-pro writers.  Why I am still here -- and they're not? 

I know; it's a hard, hard business to break in to.  It's a business where it's more about who you know then what you can deliver on paper.  And I guess after a while some people just have enough of that, and succumbed to their lower nature.

What really sucks is that even when you try, and coexist in this pre-pro screenwriter world, you find that most of your peers, people trying to do what you're trying to do, are total assholes, people that you don't wanna hang out with.  People you actually wanna avoid, like zombies from one of those George Romero movies, "28 Days Later", or "I Am Legend."  Sadly SOME parallels can be made them and some pre-pro screenwriters of today.  Overly opinionated.  Unable to cope with different ways of looking at thing if they don't EXACTLY mirror their own preferences.  And these are so-called, "creatives", people who should by nature be ready and willing to look at things from other point.  But as they are, they zombies, the modernday equivalent of the infected; people to be be avoided -- because by THEIR OWN INNER ABILITY TO DEAL WITH THEIR FRUSTRATIONS are are now reduced to being assholes.  The sad part is, like many zombies out there, they may not even realize that they are indeed assholes.  They're just going through the motions.  Going from place-to-place causing chaos.  The frustrations of the industry have changed them into the infected -- infected with asshole-itis!    

So how do I keep myself from becoming one those aforementioned assholes?  Well, for starters, I don't think too highly of myself.  I don't pretend to be the end all when it comes to writing.  Second of all, I don't take myself to seriously, and I try to have fun with life.  Thirdly, I want to mingle with others.  I've wanted this for-ever.  I dream of being part of a greater group of cool people.  Forth, I am open to other people's opinions -- even when they're different than mine.  And that's really an integral part of being a writer; possessing the ability to look at things from different perspective, how else do you write compelling heros and villains?!

I wish the blogsosphere was more alive with cool people who are into writing and feature films like I am.  God knows I've been looking for that haven.  Still haven't found it.  Rather I feel more and more alone.  More and more like the lone hero in a sea of DICKS!  I wish I had nicer to say about my fellow pre-pro writers, but they need to be better people than they are.  They need to be deserving of being called cool.   Cool people do cool things.  They act act cool.  They are cool.  Be cool. 

 

The creative landscape I find myself in is a nasty one.  Maybe it's a sign of the time.  People tainted with mean and rudeness as a byproduct of their own sense of failure, I dunnow.  But venturing out into it many times I feel like one of those heroes from a post-apocalyptic movies: "Omega Man," "Planet of the Apes", "I Am Legend", "28 Days Later," or "The Road Warrior".  When the sad truth all along is, all I wanna find is a couple survivors out there.  A clan of "safe" people I can share a writer's journey with.

And so the search goes on...  In a dangerous, difficult landscape, where terrors unfathonable can lunge out of the next building alleyway you pass by...

 

 

Worst Memorial Day Weekend -- Ever!!!

Hope y'all out there in cyberspace had a better Memorial Day Weekend then I did.  This was by far the worst Memorial Day Weekend I've ever had. 

Everything went south for me on Saturday, and I've been pissed-off ever since. 

What happened was, I was resolved to try to fix the antennae at our house on over the weekend.  I told my mom about this and she went on and on and on about how I shouldn't do that because my brother was recovering from a upper-throat/stomach surgery and she didn't want the worry.  I TRIED to explain to my mom that I only have so much time to deal with improvement issues around the house.  She made me promise I wouldn't go up on the roof, so I didn't. 

BUT I did decide to go to the hardware store and try to buy a few thing I thought I'd need to remount a new antenna up on our roof.  Unfortunately I drive a small Toyota Corolla.  I TRIED to use my dad's Dodge Ram, but he let the battery go dead, and is doing NOTHING to fix the problem.  My aunt offered to let me use her car, which is slightly bigger than mine.  I decided to do that because one of the items I was going to buy was 3/4" EMT pipe, which comes in 6' sticks.  Her car had a little more room, so I took her up on her offer.

Unfortunately, when I was buying diesel to mow our lawn, when I tried to open her hatchback the entire plastic assembly around the handle came off.  Seriously.  The handle is supported by this plastic piece which is bolted to the metal frame of the door, and about 5, 1/4" bolt were snapped off the plastic assembly.  Piss-poor construction.  Everything but the handle cable came off.  I thought it was partially stuck.  Anyway the whole damn thing broke on me, and was just dangling there by the tail light wires and the hatch door handle cable.  By the grace of God I was able to detach the tail light cables from the now dangling back piece -- at the gas station, so I could put it in her car and take it home.

When I got home my mom went off on me how she didn't need this, and that I had to pay for all the repairs.  Then my fuckin' aunt went off about how you're supposed to hit the unlock key twice to release the back hatch.  What kind of horseshit is that?!?  I almost completely lost it on both of them.  BUT I've been staying away from them.  Yep, I'm very pissed right now.  Don't wanna see either one of them.  And I don't want to hear ANYTHING either of them has to say right now. 

YES, I am going to do the right thing and pay for the damage to my aunt's car.  I might be able to fix this myself, but I really don't have the time to order the parts, then monkey around with it.  And besides, if a pro does it, I'm off the hook for future repairs, and as you probably guess I don't wanna hafta deal with aunt again. 

NO, I am never going to borrow a goddamn thing from my aunt ever again.  I'm pissed at her.  Pissed at her cheap-ass vehicle.  Pissed that I tried tried to help out around the house and things went this wrong.  Pissed that I have to deal with this situation. 

I haven't been this angry in a long time.  When I get angry, and I mean real angry, I don't like to be around people.  I'm not sure how long I'm going to be angry, but this rage inside of me hasn't left left, and I'm not sure when it will. 

So, sorry about NOT posting a content-based post, but after reading this, I think you'll understand where I'm coming from.

- a very pissed-off, E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

P.S. "The Commune II" is coming along nicely.  That'll probably be the next script I complete.  I'm going to start giving it preferential treatment as the main script I work from now on.  Yes, I will still work on the others intermittently.  But right now I'm itching to start writing actual script lines in Final Draft, and full scenes are starting to come to me.  IF I can finish "The Commune II" by the end of summer, I'll be happy.  Wow, some light at the end of the tunnel.  Happiness, it's only one completed script away, right?  That is until I complete this script, it doesn't sell like all the others, and then it's on the next script...

P.S.S. Haven't given up on the faith.  Wish everything was as easy as this:

Yahshua (Jesus) and E.C. Henry.   

Star Trek: Into Darkness; Best Movie of 2013 so far

Just got back from the ol' Bonney Lake Multiplex where I just saw the best movie of 2013 -- by a long shot.  I LOVED the story of "Star Trek: Into the Darkness."  The ablility to have established characters have their moments, and at the same time create a thought provoking story.  Man some good stuff on display here.  And the guys who brought it to us deserve some love.  So here goes...

J.J. Abrams: director/producer

Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci: Writer/producer

 

And don't forget, Damon Lindelof: Writer/producer  

 

 "Star Trek: Into the Darkness"on a scale of 1 -10, with 10 being the highest, ranks a solid 9.5 to me, and that's saying A LOT because I'm pretty hard on movies.  But this movie EXCEEDED my expectations -- by a lot!  Good job to all involved.  Hope you get some OSCARlove in February of 2014, you deserve it!

Don't really feel the need to dissect "Star Trek: Into Darkness" other than to promote as the best movie of 2013 I've seen so far.  And these four men: J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Damon Lindelof; are the brain-trust that put this gem together, so I feel the need to give them some love.  Who says pre-pros can't laud established pros in the industry?!  Bullshit!  Writers appreciate good stories when they read them or see them.  I'm definitelynot above acknowledging when someone has created something memorable, and in my opinion "Star Trek: Into the Darkness" is memorable.

So keep making movie boyz, and keep makin' 'em like the last one ya did -- not like the "Prometheus" misfire, a-hem, Mr. Lindelof. 

Plot Development: It's About Making a Million Different Discoveries

Hi-ho, E.C. Henry here again.  And in today's post I'm going to discuss plot development.  Specifically plot development as pertains to creating new stories for the screen. 

"It's about making a million different discoveries"

Does that make any sense to you?  Well, I am going to try to explain.

First and foremost, most good plots don't come over night.  Sure writers DO experience moments of breakthroughs, where new scene ideas, characters and places where problems get solved, BUT writing is tricky beast.  It takes time.  And it takes perseverance.  You have to be prepared to be stuck from time to time, yet still have the determination to press through those stop points.

It's about making a million different discoveries -- and patching them together to comprise a COMPLETE story 

Be content if you make 1-2 breakthroughs a day.  Write them down on a notepad, index card or piece of paper.  Every breakthrough you make brings you that much closer to the coveted completed story. 

So what is a breakthrough?  It's discovering a new scene.  It can be finding what's missing in a scene that you need to have.  It's knowing your characters more: what makes them tick.  And it's A LOT more than the simplistic beginning of, "What does your character what?"  Every time I hear that, I just wanna puke.  Why?  Because that's like the single most simplistic thing you can ever ask of a character.  In real life EVERYONE is more complex than that.  Any "good" writer needs to go WAAAY beyond that simplistic axiom. 

When drafting up a newstory it's okay to just spend an hour or so working on new stuff then stopping.  Think about the points your blocked with.  Write down the last step you do know and clearly state why you're blocked.  Maybe write down a couple "possible" get-arounds this block. 

Rome wasn't built in a day, neither will your screenplay.  So don't sweat it if it takes a while to finish the "story" end of your script.  Before I write a word in Final Draft I like to have my story's beated out.  I like to know what's in ACT I, what's in ACT II, what's in ACT III, and what my ending will be.  I do not like the prospect of discovering as a write, that's to scary, too risky.  

Outlines are a great crutch.

Don't be embarrassed to admit you need a crutch.  I'm not.  You got that right, E.C. Henry LIKES outlines.  E.C. Henry LIKES index cards.  E.C. Henry LIKES character bios.  ANYTHING that gives you added confidence going into the writing phase of a script should be encouraged.  

So have I ever went into a script before it's beated out all the way?  Yes, I have.  I have worked on stories, got blocked, NOT had an answer going in, and wrote up to that block, then suddenly found that I had a way through that block just when I needed it.  But I hated doing that.  I don't like pressure when I write.  I like to know where I'm going, and how I'm going to go through that.  Doesn't that seem less stessfull to you?  It does to me, and that's my preferred way of writing: now what your going to write ahead of time.  You can ALWAYS deviate off an outline, but at least the outline is there to PROVE that you have at least one way through the story. 

It's about making a million different discoveries

Really it is.  If it all comes to you at once, God bless you, son; consider yourself blessed.  But for me I find plot construction is a matter of repeated exposure to the same thing.  That's why I keep a slush folder of all my projects.  Its my storage bin of all the gold nugget discoveries I make along the way.  Don't have enough gold to merit a trip to the bank, well-p guess it's time to keep mining then.  Find more gold, make more discoveries, give the process more time to play itself out.  And when I find enough gold, guess what?  It's time to go to the bank and cash that it, in the form a story that's worthy of being told.  That's E.C. Henry's ultimate prize: a story that's worth being told, and enjoyed by others.

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

P.S. I wrote this post on my 2nd of two sick days off work.  Feeling a little better now, starting to eat again and get my strength back.

P.S.S. Took my own advice today too.  Did an hour and half with "The Commune II" and made a couple gold nugget discoveries.  Not done yet either, going to crack open other projects and see what other "discoveries" I can make.  Repeated exposure to the same thing does wonders on story development...

Tips on Writing Movie Sequels

Hello again!  Your friendly neighborhood writer-man is a it again.  My neighborhood being Bonney Lake, Washingon, that is.  And today kids we're going to take a serious look at what makes, and what breaks a sequel from being considered either a "good" followup to previously released movie or a "disappointment" from a previously released movie that was deemed good enough by those with the power to do so to make a sequel to the original.

"Luke, I am your father."

No doubt about an icon line LONG remembered and seared into the psyche of most movie-going enthusiast.  And guess what -- that line was uttered in a sequel to maybe the most iconic movie ever made, "Star Wars" (1977: George Lucas).  And the amazing thing is that its' sequel, "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980: George Lucas) ranks as MY top sequel of all-time.  Sure there's some competition there.  But for how great "Star Wars" was, and then to follow that up with a movie, that for my money was even better that the original.  That deserves a shout-out.  Great job George Lucas, 30 + years later people are STILL loving those two classics.

Is George Lucas the only film-maker to accomplish this feat?  No.  I submit for your consideration James Camereon's "Aliens" (1986) which was sequel to Ridley Scott's "Alien" (1979).  Remember "big momma"?  Big momma didn't take to well when Ellen Ripley torched all her face-hugger's to be.  Now if you have a momma like this --

You might wanna seriously consider running away and not coming back!

Okay so enough the the intro prep work.  Lets dive into the the sequel and see what ol' E.C. has to say.

Key Guidlines to consider when writing a sequel:

1. Give them the same only different.  Sounds like your talking out of both sides of your mouth, but their is some truth in that.  Realize their is a reason the sequel's being made in the first place -- people liked the previous movie.  So, you need the sequel to be comparable to the original, in needs to flow out of the original almoast like a continuation of the story.

Consider "Halloween II" (1981), a sequel to a movie that scared the shit out me when I was a boy, "Halloween" (1978).  "Halloween II" is continuation of the story, Michael Myers is still after Laurie Strode -- even after she's admitted to the local hospital.  Do psychopaths have any restraint?!  I guess not.  Where "Halloween II" fails is that it places to much of the story on the chase; Michael Myers chasing Laurie Strode about the hospital.  Now the chase in the original is a classic.  But "Halloween II" chase is a misfire.  Why.  Not enough new elements are added to make the story stand out; it's just a long chance that ater a while gets boring.  The creators of "Halloween II" needed more plot points and other drama to draw off rather than just Michael Myers' chase.  Point: they weren't different enough and eventually the audience got bored, and you find that's the case with MANY of the horror sequels. 

2. The added burden of how to creatively deal with characters that audience already knows.  When an audience watches a movie they discover the characters over the body of that movie.  That establishes who these characters are.  A sequel faces the difficulty of how do deal with characters with established patterns that the audience already knows about. 

How do you deal with that?

Well, "Star Wars" dealt with that masterfully, in the first "Star Wars" movie you think that Leah and Luke looked like they were an item.  But in "The Empire Strikes Back" you find that Leah is slowly bonding to Han Solo, and they're at the beginning stages of a romance, THEN you get the added kicker of Luke finding out that Darth Vader is his father.  

Expanding the relationships and maybe adding in new characters.  Like Indiana Jones' father in "Indinana Jones and the Last Crusade."  Or how Renne Russo's character in "Leathal Weapon III" (1992) breathes some fresh life into Mel Gibson's Riggs character. 

3. Create new worlds for the characters of the original movie to have adventures in.  Clearly that's what George Lucas did with "The Empire Strikes Back," and that's a hallmark with every "Star Wars" movie that came out afterwards.  Hoth, Dagaba, Genosis, the lava planet where Annakin and Obi One dueled it out.  In all the Indiana Jones movies take place at different spots on the globe.

So whats the antithesis of this?  "The Matrix" two sequels.  The original "The Matrix" introduced us to this stylized, cool computer world where people had mind-bending abilities.  And people were now being harnessed for electricity.   Did either of the sequels introduce any new mind blowing, high concepts to get the audience thinking?  Maybe this belongs in the next tip below, but I think the sequels to "The Matrix" ultimately failed because they didn't have the excitement of the original where we're discovering this fasinating yet horrifying world.  Rather, we're left with gymics like Neo fighting not one, not two, but 50 Agent Smiths.  Agent Smith was a hit in the first Matrix so won't fifty of him make for an even bigger hit!  Dude, it's childish rationale like that, that ultimately dooms a concept heavy franchise. 

4. Go deeper into the world of the original movie, explore and expand on it.  The sequel to "Planet of the Apes" was "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" (1970), and in that movie we get to see how a different sect of inhabitants dealt with the aftermath of a nucklear exchange: these humans found one of the remaining bombs and proceeded to worship it, and make it the center of their lives. 

"Aliens" also implored the technique.  "Aliens" went deeper into the world of the zenomorph, and introduced us all to "big momma" and how an alien colony works.

5. Same style gags in a different format.  Most comedy/action comedy sequels implore this: "Weekend at Bernies II", "The Naked Gun II", "The Pirates of the Caribean II," and "Transformers".  If it was funny and charming the first time, audiences will find it funny and charming from now into forever, right?  Big risk.  YES, I think the audiences bought Jack Sparrows recurring antics, hook line and sinker, but "Weekend at Bernies II", shit got old watching two guys to give off the appearance that they're dead boss was still alive.  Same gags in a different format is risky.  Eventually the audience will get bored with this manipulation.

Okay, well-p that about wraps up this post.  Hope I've given you a few things to think about.  Writing a sequel IS a tricky beast, and in many ways writing a sequel is harder than writing an original story, as a the first in a series sets up audience expectations and lays out who the characters are.  Good sequels expand the complexity and relationships of those characters, and introduce new characters and worlds.  Bad sequels follow the original too closely, and don't introduce enough new material to keep the audience's attention from waining. 

 - E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

 P.S. I am currently working on a sequel of my own to a spec. I wrote a couple of years ago which is entitled "The Commune."  Of all the new specs. I'm working on this one is coming to me the easiest.  And it has lots of new characters, and a fresh world to explore...  Like its predecessor "The Commune II" will have some very dark elements to it YET on another level "The Commune II" will also have a very "Death Proof": (2007, Quentin Tarantino) vibe to it in spots.  The plot's about 60 % there, character work about 70 % there.

Someone in the Industry once advised me against writing sequels to my spec. scripts, but I say until you're willing to pay me, I'm going to write whatever I want and follow my heart wherever that leads. 

P.S.S.  Sorry I didn't post this on Sunday, I got sick.  So sick that in fact I had to go to the doctors today.  Now I got tomorrow off too, doctor's orders.  So guess what -- I'm going to try to write the whole day.  We'll see how that goes.  Right now, I'm just real weak from not eating for two days.  Doctor says it is either food poisoning or a virus.

 

 

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Happy Birthday George Lucas!

2013 Movies -- so Far, and a Look to the Future

So how has ol' 2013 been for you at the ol' Cineplex this year?  If you're anything like me, you're underwhelmed.  Last weekend I paid to see two movies, "The Great Gatsby" and "Mud."  

The Great Gatsby (2013).  Never read "The Great Gatsby" book, heard it was a "classic" by those "in the know."  But after watching the 2013 release of "The Great Gatsby" it is not a classic to me, and after watching the movie I am not even remotely interested in reading the book.  

My biggest problem with the "Gatsby" film I saw was that I felt the drama was highly contrived: none of the characters seamed like real people.  Toby McGuire's character needed A LOT of work.  He seamed to exist JUST to form a friendship with Gatsby.  What about the rest of his life?  Did he have one?!  Dude, we're talking serious disconnect from reality here, and it stuck with me throughout the movie.  When your characters in a drama do not appear real or believable it torpedoes the drama.  And that's the biggest misfire with 2013's "Gatsby"; I didn't believe many of the main characters could be functioning people in real life. 

Mud.   RIPE with characters that I thought were real and the southern scenery on the Mississippi delta worked for me.  "Mud", however, failed to deliver in the drama department.  Too much of the movie went too slow for too long a period of time.  Sure it was somewhat believable, but it was also highly boring.  Almost all of Act II of "Mud" is a complete dud.  Sure "Mud" picks up at the end, but it is too little, too late; this story needed more tension in the middle.  

What I really liked about "Mud" was the character arc of the central character, Ellis; who is played by actor Tye Sheridan.  Ellis is young teenager just starting to discover girls, and form his own opinions on how boy-girl relationships work.  A great twist in all this is that Ellis' mother wants a divorce from Ellis' father and wants to move off the Missippi River into to town.  

Ellis' plight nearly singlehandly rescues "Mud" -- the movie that is.  Unfortunately the title character, Mud, played by Matthew McConaughey isn't interesting enough to propel the film to a higher level, nor is Reece Witherspoon's "Juniper" character, who does little else other than wait in a hotel room waiting for Mud's next move. 

I wish Hollywood made more movies like "Mud" -- only better.  They were on the right track; "Mud" just needed better execution at the story, plot point level. 

Oblivion.  Love the plane Tom Cruise's character flew on his missions, that was the highlight of the movie for me.  "Oblivion" had some cool ideas in it, but ultimately just having the alien be a red eye camera is pretty bad, as the aliens came and in this show are sucking away our oceans.  Why, prey tell, if the alien is a red eye camera?  Hmm...   As you can tell, I can't get passed that.

The Wizard of Oz (2013).  So-so, maybe slightly more on the bad side of so-so, then the good side of so-so.  James Franco did fine, as did Michelle Williams.  But the bad witches were, for my money, weren't very interesting.  And this "Oz" never captured the same whimiscal enchantment of the original.  And the talking monkey buddy of James Franco's Oz was abysmal.  No humor, adds NOTHING interesting.  Very ill-concieved character.  The monkey butler in 2013's Oz may have been the worst conceived, buddy character in a movie EVER.  YES, that thing was THAT bad!!  

Iron Man 3.  Liked the chemistry between Tony Starks and Pepper Potts.  And the action scenes with Iron Man's arm flying arround then going to Tony'sbody was really cool.  Good imagination on display there.  Unfortunatly the ill-concieved bad guys torpedo this film.  Do you remember the Lizard from "The Amazing Spider-man?"  The Lizard, through obvious CGI special affects, was able to regrow and lose his arm.  Well for reason unknown the man bad guy in "Iron Man 3" can do the same thing.   But this version of hokey on display in "Iron Man 3" is ever worse than what happened on "The Amazing Spider-man."  Sorry Shane Black, you can't pull stunts like that and not think that some members of the audience are going to question it.  Point: spend more time developing LOGICAL bad guys.  Though the Mandrain as a front for the ultimate bad guy of the "Iron Man 3" was a pretty cool idea -- and it worked.

2013 Scorecard: 1.0 - 10

"Oblivion":  6.0

"Mud": 5.5

"Iron Man 3": 5.3

"Wizzard of Oz": 4.0

"The Great Gatsby (2013)": 2.0

Looking ahead to the future, I don't see any new moives coming out in 2013 which excites me.  Maybe Richard Curtis' "About Time", but that's not due out until November of 2013.  "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" is filming now, and that sounds promising, so maybe we'll have something in 2014 to look forward to.  J.J. Abrams is working on a new "Star Wars" movie for Disney, and that should be good -- but that's at least 2 years away, as they're not even filming it right now; "Star Wars Episode VII" is development. 

Where's the rom-com genre right now?  Good question.  Seams to be taking the year off!  WTF?!?  Too bad someone can pen a good one, maybe try to build off the success of "Silver Linings Playbook" which came in at the tail end of 2012 and was a good, romantic comedy. 

Wish someone would discover me.  I have written some great romantic comedies...  Sigh.  Ah, the angst of living in obscurity. 

I had meant to post this earlier in the week, but the day job thing has been very heavy and taxing this week.  The goal remains the same: one big content post over the weekend, one smaller post during the week. 

E.C. the writer update.  Still plugging along with the 6 stories in development.  I try to work on a story a day for at least 1 hour.  Gathering a lot of material.  Roughing out the plots of 5 new stories, and reacquainting myself with what I hope to be my opus, the epic fantasy novel and correspoding two movies that will come of it.  Got 6 cork boards which are filling with index cards.  And creatively I'm in a nice place now bouncing back and forth between plot and character development as I flush out those 5 new stories.

Tomorrow I hope to work post a big contest post on sequels, as one of my new stories is a sequel off a story I wrote a couple years ago which is entitled, "The Commune."  Not going to go into the details of that sequel, but what I am going to do is go into the trick and traps of writing a sequel of a previous movie.  

Praiser or Perfomer?

Praiser or performer, which do you prefer?  The opening image is Celine Dion, who is definitely a performer.

So why am I getting at?  Well-p in this week's post I thought I dissect a little into the difference between being a performer and being praiser.

Performers get in front of people and show-off their God-given abilities, which are usually enhanced by other special affects.  A performer merely wants to you to recognize their efforts in a performance.  

Praisers, on the other hand, have their focus on giving their audience an opportunity to worship the Lord as a body of believers.  

I really like the artists who lend their shows to worship the Lord, and bring others into praising Jesus.  Me or He?  Hint, chose the He, with the He being Jesus Christ.

The older I get the more and more just want to worship the Lord.  I'll try to explain this the best I can.  Their is a yearn in my heart for Jesus Christ.  More so, their is yearning in my heart that is growing that wants to praise Him and see others growing in Christ and praising Him too.  And it's not like I'm some kind of Christian dynamo.  I'm not.  I've never even spoken in tongues. 

But one thing I have experienced is the joy that comes from being a PART of a greater of greater worship service which bestows love and affection for the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

I guess I'm still basking in the glow of that Chris Tomlin concert at the Key Arena that I went to a couple of weeks ago.  

"I come alive,

Come alive,

When you breathe on me"

Actual lyrics from Chris Tomlin's "Awake My Soul"song on his "Burning Lights" CD, which is a praise and worship CD that I'm really getting into.  And you know what's really cool about this song, "Awake My Soul" is that it's grounded in scripture, Old Testament scripture at that; Ezekiel 37: 1-14.

Now not every praise and worship song has to be grounded in scripture.  But it sure helps!!

I love praise music.  And, YES, I do enjoy an artist who is capable of giving a top-notch performance.  But something I'm learning is that not all the people with the best voices make the best praisers.  HUGE fan of Steve Perry.  That guy has been blessed with a wonderful voice.  But does he use his gifting to bring honor and praise to the Lord?  No.  I've listened to Steve Perry's music, and his appeal is one of the flesh.  Most of the guy's music is about a relationship with a girl, not one extolling those listening to him to deepen their commitment to the living God, the Lord God of Israel.

Even in Christian circles I've found that some of the most gifted singers: Chistine Dente of "Out of the Gray", Kevin Max of dcTalk fame, now with Audio Adrenalin, and Michael English, who enjoyed a real flourish of success in the early 1990s.  Lots of vocal tallent among those three, but strangely enough their vocal talent didn't not translate into them being elite worship leaders of the Lord.

One real cool side-bar note about Michael English.  Though he ended up really torpedoeing his career when an affair of his went viral and public, one of his songs, "In Christ Alone" was sited by Frank Reich, back-up quarterback of the Buffalo Bills when Frank Reich lead the Bills on the biggest playoff comeback in the history of the NFL, on January, 3, 1993.

 

Some performers actually grow during the course of their careers, and transition from performers to praisers.  Case and point: Michael W.Smith.  My mom bought one of his latest CDs where he sings at one point with singers from Yuganda, and throughout this CD his songs are geared to worship Christ.  But for YEARS earlier I bought his CDs and found an occasional praise song, but most of Michael W. Smith's songs were more soft, Chistian pop.  Not that I'm bad-mouthing the guy, but soft, Christian pop is different then when a lead singer leads worship over a body of people.

Worshiping Jesus is where it's at.  I love it when an artist will take a step back and let the people use their music to commune with God.  

Do you believe in the power of corporate worship?

I do.  It's powerful.  When you see 14,000 people all up and on their feet, hands in the air, telling Jesus that they love Him.  It does something to you; it warms your soul.  And that's NOT something that a mere performance by a performer is capable of doing -- regardless of how talented they are music or vocally.   

The strange thing is some artist try to blur that line.  U2 and Sting come to mind.  But if your focus is on portraying yourself as some modern-day messiah, and not honoring the true messiah, Jesus, your focus is off.  U2 and Sting are capable of giving great performances, but unless they honor Jesus they fall short on the ultimate honor of giving the people an experience with the true Living God.  

Music.  It can be devicive.  And I don't JUST listen to praise music.  I can appreciate a good performance.  And I love artistic excellence.  But the older I get the more and more I value praise over performance.  I love artists who are willing to step back, and let the people take over and use their music to tell the TriuneGod how much they love Him.  Their's something unique and special about that.  

Right now, for my money, the best praise and worship act going is Chris Tomlin.  Ten years ago it was Darlene Zschech, who really struck a chord with her worship song, "Shout to the Lord":

  

I love praise music.  It does something to your soul.  It invites the light of Holy Spirit to inhabit you, and it brightens your outlook on EVERYTHING.  True, we can't live on this cloud-9 experience every moment here on Earth, but praise music prepares you for eternity. 

Listen and sing along with praise music and suddenly spending an eternity praising Jesus won't seam so bad.  I've heard some non-believers scoff at praise music, but what they fail to realize is that when you're born-again, you WANT to praise the Lord.  When the Holy Spirit's indwelling you it's not burdensome to praise the Lord. 

I love the Lord, and Chris Tomlin's "Burning Lights" CD is the best CD I have right now.  I love it.  Actual lyrics from Chris Tomlin's song "White Flag":

"We lift the cross,

Lift it high,

Lift it high,

We lift the cross,

Lift it high,

Lift it high,"

 

I wish more people had a personal relationship with Jesus.  A vibrant life with God goes way beyond the inner happenings of a church building.  I often wonder what people would be like if they had the indwelling of the Holy Spirit leading and guiding them, instead of living a life apart from God. 

Chosing or rejecting Christ matters.  If you're a non-believer, you may scoff at this, but it's true.  The bible talks about that.  I just hope the Lord starts a work in your heart so that you WANT to believe in Him, and that you WANT to praise Him. 

Praiser or performer?  I chose praiser.  I love worshipping the Lord with a band of people willing to lift up the cross, lift it high, lift it high.  And when you praise Jesus the struggles down here on Earth seam to lessen, and the distance between Heaven and Earth doesn't seam so far away.  In fact in the rapture of praise, Heaven touches Earth.  Believe it.  I do.

Jawas Analogy to Handling Script Critisism, and Star Wars Toys of Old

I like the Jawas approach to dealing with issues.  They are tinkers who cobble things together and try to sell their wares and make the most of their wasteland experience.

Is there anything we, pre-pro screenwriters can learn from the Jawas example?  You bet there is!

The first lesson we can learn from the Jawas is the lesson of shutting the fuck up when someone says something doesn't work, and try to come up with a way to make it work.  In the Star Wars saga you never hear the Jaws bitch and moan about something not working, rather they just haul it off, and work on it until it does work.

The second lesson we can learn from the Jawas is the ability to reverse engineer.  If something doesn't work, tear it down into pieces.  See if the pieceswork.  Then reassemble.  And look, there's a Jawa right now, doing just that!  Point: play your cards right -- and you could be that Jawa!!

The third lesson we can learn from the Jawas is the proper use of their blasters.  Jawas don't fire on their customers.  No, rather, Jawas just fire on droids to momentarily disable them, then haul them off so they can work on them.  OR maybe to fend off a pesky Tusken Raider.  Point: Jawas don't fire at their fellow Jawas; pre-pro screenwriters shouldn't fire at their fellow pre-pro screenwriter.  Lean how to be a man.  Take some criticism -- and keep your blaster holstered!  So in essence Jawas use their blasters to feed their passion for droids, so that theme is as pertains to writers taking criticm is use your words to the one critiquing your work and blast the script not your fellow man.  

For those not too bright on the ol' uptake.  Here's a little analogy breakdown.  Jawas = pre-pro writers and those commenting on scripts, and droids = the actual scripts themselves.   

I LOVE Star Wars.  When I was growing up as a kid, I used to get a lot of the toys the first three movies in that series generated.  And I remember how special it was in the late 70s to get a Star Wars figure.  I can still remember the time me and my brother sat in a car with our two cousins and compared the Star Wars figures each of us had: a Luke Skywalker, a Storm Trooper, a C3P0, and a Princess Leah.  The C-3PO figure was probably the coolest of them all, as he was all golden and shiny and his details were amazing.   And in my memory I can still remember how my cousins used to always get the latest and greatest Star Wars stuff, and me and my brother always seamed to be a step behind them. 

The Star Wars toys of the late 70s and early 80s was very imaginative and ground-breaking for its time.  Do you remember the Darth Vader figure that came with a removable cape, and a light saber that you could push in and out?  I do.  I remember the X-wing fighter who's wings actually x-ed out.  And the grand puba of them all was the Millennium Falcon, which had a movable gun turent.  I remember I got my Millennium Falcon when I was living in Anchorage Alaska after the 2nd movie in the series, "The Empire Strikes Back" came out. 

Some 3o years later the entire toy franchise has been played out.  But nobody did it better than those who made the first series of Star Wars toys from about 1978 - 1982.  After about 1983, when the "Return of the Jedi" came out, I noticed the quality, and imagination behind those toys went.  Down.  The fuckin'.  Tubes!!  I think the toymaker changed, as the ways the figures moved, and their looks got hoakier, and the special extras: like the Jawa's actual fabric outer coat, the movable light saber, and the removable capes, were no more.  Later generation toys got cheaper and stupider.  The youth of today don't even have better toys than I did 30 years ago.  It's sad when you think about it.  So much for old adage that everything gets better over time, and with better technology.  Not always true, just look at the de-evolution of the Star Wars toys over time. 

 But one of my biggest joys with the whole Star Wars figurine toys were the separate adventures I'd have with them.  I'd recast ALL the figures, and make-up my own worlds with Boba Fett, IG-88: the tall robot who came with two guns; Luke and Leah, Darth Vader, the Tusken Raider, Greedo, Bosk, exec.   Most of the time I'd redraw the line of good guys and bad guys to a shoot 'em up showdown. 

Truth be told, I played with these toys until I was about 20 years old.  The worlds kept getting more and more vivid, as the older I got the greater the collection of creatures I had to inhabit my new stories and battles grew into an army of their own. 

All-in-all I feel a little weird with me playing with Star Wars figures for as long as I did.  It seams kinda girlish to me.  Did then.  Still does now.  Little girls play with dolls.  Aren't boys supposed to play with dump trucks, build forts, and get in water balloon fights?  But then again I wasn't your typical kid.  My dad moved our family from Illinois to Alaska when I was 11, and from 11 on, I was kind of an outsider living in the sticks with few friends and looking for ways to entertain myself. 

So I've kinda kept my Star Wars figure playing silent, until now!  Now at age 43 soon to be 44, I no longer give a fuck if people rip me for fashioning my own adventures out of the Star Wars figurines of old.  And in retrospect, I now see the fruit of what came of my hours of entertaining myself in these separate worlds I crafted out of the figurine toys from Star Wars, Battle Star Gallactica, the Planet of the Apes, Buck Rodgers, and Tron.  

So what became of my massive collection of Star Wars toys?  Most of 'em just wore out.  Every once in a while one will show up.  Can't really sell them because they're not in vintage condition.  Left to my brother, all these toys would be saved, but I'm not of that mindset.  A few will remain, but most will end up finding their way to the landfill. 

Looking back it's kinda weird to see the things that helped shape you into the person you are now.  The early Star Wars toys definitely help shape a young, impressionable, pre-E.C., into the E.C. Henry that is very much alive and kicking today.