Inside the Brain of E.C. Henry

Are Today's Cartoon Movies Catored More for the Adults of Today or Children?

Okay, so yesterday I finally did something right.  With me hungover as all fuck, little Obo came over, first at 10 a.m. to originally to wake me up, then at 11:30 again to re-wake me up.  He was insistant that I "spend the day with him", so I shook off the fact I was hungover as all fuck, bucked up and delivered--as good uncle's do!

Yes, I did give up drinking--for a week and a half, but working in 90+ degree heat basically lumping freight as fast as humanly possible FINALLY wore me down got me back into drinking again...  I'll cool it, starting now, and hopefully won't drink any more booze for a while, but after Thursday I really needed a drink.

Anyway, now THAT confessional is through let's get into the crux of this post.  So Obo really wanted to watch Pixar's "Inside Out" (2015: voices of Amy Poehler, Phyliss Smith, Richard Kind).  And as we've already established I am no longer the drunk bum, but now trying to be a good uncle sooo... we went and saw this movie.

Going into this movie I bought Obo a big bucket of popcorn, Junior Mints and a medium Coke, which we both shared.  Going into this movie I expressed worry that sitting through an entire movie might be too much for Brycen to endure, as he's only 7 years old, and when he's at the house he's all over the place running around.  But Obo was able to sit through the whole movie.  Didn't fidgit.  Was just stone cold silently eatting popcorn, his Junior Mints and sipping on the Coke occassionally.  He did sit through the whole movie, BUT he didn't laugh ONCE.  About 1/3 of the way into the movie, I asked this 7 year old if he liked the movie or not, and he said he thought it was "weird".  Later at about 2/3 of the way through "Inside Out", I asked Obo if he liked the movie, and he told me he wanted to go and not even finish the movie.  Thankfully, I presisted and MADE him sit through to the end of the movie.

So was Obo in th e minority?  And by that I mean the only little kid who didn't laugh during "Inside Out"?  No.   NONE of the little kids in the Bonney Lake Multiplex laughed.  None of them.  The adults did though!  Yes, the adults laughed A LOT during this movie, "Inside Out".  And this was a real head scratcher for me for the better part of day, untill I came to an epifany of the human condition.  

So what is "Inside Out" about?  

Glad you asked.  This movie has the.  MOST.  APPROPRIATE.  AND MOVING.  STORY. That I can remember seeing at movie in the longest time.  This movie is all about how a little girl changes as the result of a traumatic movie to a new city.  Its theme deals with how a little kid's emotions help them deal with traumatic changes in their lives.  I cannont say enough of how impressed I am with Pixar and Disney for taking on this kind of universally appealing story and them, and expressing it in a comedic and dramatic way at the same time.

That said, NONE of the little kids laughed while this show was playing, and for the better part of a day, that bothered me a lot, because I really liked this movie.

So why did I, the adult like this movie so much?  Well, that's easy.  I just loved the GENIOUS way that Pixar explored how our emotions actually work together to help us get through life.  Riley, the cartoon girl heroine in this story, has her world ripped appart when her father moves their family from Minnesota to San Fransisco.  The story, however, spends most of its time inside of Riley's head where four emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyliss Smith from NBC's "The Office"), Digust and Anger work an Starship Enterprise-esque console which oversees Riley's life.  Memories are handled there.  And the lead emotion, Joy, wants all of Riley's memories to be golden and happy ones.  Unfortunately, with Riley's world changing more and more sadness creeps in, which worries all the emotions that work the console.  

This movie is just genious.  The storehouses of marble memories, the theme parks which represent Riley's word: family, goof time, friendship, and values.  As the story progesses the emotion of Sadness touches more and more things of Riley's core memories and this worries Joy and sets her on a oddessy quest through the rest of the world which shapes Riley's mental outlook.  

Maybe I'm not explaining it right, but this movie is just GENIOUS.  It goes inside a child's head and attempts to expain some coping skills in a humorus way.  I just love how Phyllis Smith's Sadness character becomes intrical to helping Riley get through this traumatic time.  You wanna see genious storytelling, it's here folks.  Don't judge the package.  Go see this movie.  Trust me, I think adults will be moved by this movie, MAYBE more than the kids.  I laughed a lot in this movie.  It is exceptional.  I'd give this movie a solid 9.0 out of 10.  Best movie I've seen so far in 2015.

So how do I justify this against the kids rather mute, rote handling of this movie?  

It took me a day, but now I know:

Children watch movies and most progams in learning mode

Wanna see kids laugh?  Let them play outside together, where their zest for life naturally manifests.

Children are in a near constant state of learning.  Watch them watching TV an they tend to be silent.  Why?  Because they're watching, observing and learning.

Now I asked Obo after the movie what this "Inside Out" was all about, and he said it was about emotions.  This seven year old then proceeded to inact Anger, and beat against me and laugh.  This recent graduate of the 1st grade HAD already processed this movie and now was ready to play with what he had seen in his own unique way.  

I told him my honest impression of this movie, and then he parroted me and said he liked the movie too.  Uncle had done right, taken his nephew to the movies, shown him some preferential treatment and now Obo was mimicking me.  

So think about my epihpany when you watch movies with children.  Their silence may not mean they didn't like the movie.  It may just mean their really watching the movie, annnddd learning!  Silence may not mean everything is going over the kid's heads either.  During the movie I heard a little girl across the isle acurately stating what was going on in the movie.  Just no laughing.  

Kids are not adults.  They process things in a different way than adults do.  I'm now a HUGE fan of Pixar.  This gem of a movie sold me on them.  They are good people and they know how to handle kid relatable subjects, make them fun for adults to sit through, and most improtantly help developing minds process challenging circumstances in a safe place--their movie!

Before I end this rave.  Lemme just give a special shout-out to Phyliss Smith.  GREAT job casting her in the role of Sadness.  There was something about her voice that got me.  By the end of the movie that character had me eatting out of the palm of her hand.  

Anywho, adult or child, go see Disney/Pixar's "Inside Out" this is an OUTSTANDING movie that is worth the price of admission, and be you adult or child will give you something to think about long after this movie is over.  

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

P.S. Over this past weekend I did go out to see "Ted 2" (2015: Seth McFarlene, Mark Wahlberg, Amanda Seyfried), will post on that in a later post.

P.S.S. Had a real cool character ephany for the epic fantasy novel I'm editing this past week.  Will be posting something about that soon.

What to Make of Amy Schumer

I didn't even know who Amy Schumer was untill I saw a trailer for her and new upcoming feature comedy movie, "Trainwreck" (2015: staring Amy Schumer and Bill Hader) playing before the pretty much forgetable movie, "Aloha" (2015: staring Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone, writen and directed by Cameron Crowe)  From the outside looking in, NOT knowing very much about Judd Apatow's latest movie, it LOOKS to me to be a romantic comedy where Amy Schumer's character is the main heoine with some "issues" that keep her from living happily ever after.

Being as though I LOVE romantic comedies and have been waiting for YEARS for the genre as whole to re-gain some traction and become popuplar again, I am hoping against all hopes that somehow an Apatow/Schumer combo produces something great that sparks the genre.  Hey, an Apatow/Carrell combo ten years ago produced one the greatest rom-com's of all-time (in my humble opinion) with "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" (2005: staring Steve Carrell and Catherine Keener).

"The 40-Year-Old Virgin" launched Steve Carrell's career into the realms of superstardom.  10 years later is the same about to happen for Amy Schumer?  Hmmm...  Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd--all of whom were launched into movie star super-stardom AFTER working with Judd Apatow.  So is the same about to happen for Amy Schumer?

That's the million dollar question.  Speaking of which, who is Amy Schumer anyway?

Well-p, JUST this last week I watched Amy's current comedy "Inside Amy Schumer", which has been running as a half-hour comedy series on the Comedy cable TV network since 2013.  I got to watch two back episodes that were running back-to-back one night after work.  Some of what I saw was BRILLIANT!  Straight-up great.  Some of what I saw made me change the channel.  First the good, the overall format of her show is a winner.  Amy stars in skits, then breaks away for cut-ins of her stand-up comedy act, then she interviews people, and her lead in off a commerical break were we see a series of quick-shots of her mannerisms the zoom in on the face and eyes is really a winning format.  Now, I'll be honest with when Jerry Seinfield started his 1/2 iconic TV show "Seinfield" with portions of his stand-up comedy act I, HATED, IT!  But from what I saw Amy's worked much better.  And Amy's acting on the skits I saw was funny and comedic.  The interviews with fellow comedians were very good, however, and tend to drift into crass, sexual talk banter that at one point got to be too much for me and I had to turn it off.  I really don't wanna hear comedian's opinions about having "golden showers".  And later I watched Amy interview people on the streets where she showed them a series of ink blot pictures and tried to lead to the laugh they all looked like a female's genitalia.  Gross.  Start getting that crass I tune out, Holmes.

So is Amy Schumer funny?  Jury's still out on that.  Hopefully, I'll get to see more of her in the future and make a more well founded opinion.

So do I hope Amy Schumer is Hollywood's next emerging star?  Sure could use her bolstering the ranks of the rom-com...  Yes, but it's a tentative, yes.  

If she continues to flaunt gross sexual stuff, I can't really get behind her and be a cheerleader for her.  I just can't.  If she wants to be a pioneer and "broaden" people's sexual minds in a gross and crass fasion, I can't back her.

But I really haven't seen enough of Amy Schumer to make a definative declaration about her.  I wish her God's best, and HOPE she finds success, as from the look of her bio (which I provided earlier with the Wikepidia link) Amy Schumer has put in her time and should be poised to break-out in a big way.

Looks-wise I think Amy Schumer has what it takes to be the next big thing in all things rom-com.  She's got a good figure, chunky cheeks which seam to indicate at some point in her past she was heavy-set.  BUT I think Amy can doll-up enough to pulloff a sexy shade that all rom-com heroines need to be able to show they have.  And all the years she's put in doing skits on her 1/2 hour cable show, and time on stage doing stand-up SHOULD make for a well-rounded comedy dynamo ready to entertain the masses.  We'll see...

But writing a feature length comedy that none other than the GREAT Judd Apatow is directing is a herculean accomplishment.  So tip of the hat to you on that one, Amy Schumer you scooped ol' E.C. Henry; as getting Judd Apatow to do a comedy oriented script of mine has been a dream of mine for years.  

Am I jealous of Amy Schumer's success?  No!  Again, look at her bio, she's put in the time, it's nice to see her get a chance to succeed.  Again, I wish her nothing but God's best.

What to make of Amy Schumer?  Verdict's still out, but I can't wait to see "Trainwreck" when it's out in the theatres in wide release on July 15, 2015.  Will definatly see that the weekend it's out.  So those clowns at the Bonney Lake Multiplex better make sure it's on their slate that weekend, otherwise they'll be hell to pay!!  

So in closing love going out from E.C. Henry to both Amy Schumer and Judd Apatow, I hope your movie is a big hit, and I'm hoping that Amy Schumer ditches the overt-sexual stuff and becomes the next big thing in the rom-com genre.  I was thinking of classifying this post under my "Issues In Rom-Com Movies" series, but with my overall opinion of Amy Schumer still so raw and unfounded, I decided against that.  Still got big hopes that someday Taylor Swift takes the plunge and does a rom-com, but right now I gotta support this amazing, emerging talent that is Amy Schumer who is the toast of his post.  Sorry for not putting your name in gold Amy, but you gotta earn that, and in my book Taylor Swift already has.

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

P.S. I'm doing well with NOT drinking alchol.  Actually went to Red Robin today and DID NOT order a beer or a mixed drink.  

P.S.S. Doing better with the whole editing the epic fantasy novel editing too.  It's just slow. But at least now I'm doing better with the slow progress, I realized why it's so slow; I keep adding new things, making everything better.

A Writer's Resiliency

When you set out to write something, it's not always going to go well.  Sometimes you have to fight through the hard times.  I'm going through one of those hard times now, though it's a much different in feel than other past, hard times I've felt.

What I'm getting at is that I very disappointed in myself for not achieving a greater tangible and boastable progress in editting my novel over a trip to Long Beach, WA that was supposed to be a place where I really made some good progress.  I'm talking 1-2 chapters of next-draft finnished quality work.  Didn't happen.  I found myslef spending hours on paragraphs being just as slow on the road as I was at home.

It took me some time to come to some measure of peace with this, and I'm still not all the way there.  

I'm at a dangerous place right now.  The place where I'm so mad at myself that I could really get derailed.  Thankfully, I got back right into writing when I got home on Saturday, put in 2 hours more on the Prolog and that's when I found myself writing slow again like I was at the hotel, and that actually brightened my mood.  

Unfortunately, on Sunday night I got drunk again while watching the NBA Finals.  Then on Monday my head felt like a tipped over snow globe.  Not a good feeling.  

I'm so sick of alochol right now, there aren't words for that.  And with that comes more self-loathing as I realize, I'm my own worst enemy.  Binge drinking is doing just like an older uncle of mine told me it would do: it makes you dull.  Dull's your sences.

I gotta get my sences sharper.  Some people might more crassly put it, "Get your shit together."  Irregaurdless I gotta get more emersed in my story, slash, take it to the next level,  And in order to to do that I know I've got kick the bottle, which in my case isn't even really a bottle, but one beer that turns into several.

Somewhere down the line I picked up the sticking thinking at alchol loosens your inhabitions up and frees you to be a more fun-loving person.  I think a lot of this rationale comes from jealosy of other people's greater social life, and a misguided belief that by drinking somehow I'm more like them, more accepted by them.

Now I say, FUCK.  THAT!  

I'm so sick the after aftects of alchol their really are no words.  I don't like the way alcohold snow globes my head and keeps me from achieving a greater articulation of my story.  

Fuck, do you have any idea how much work I have in front of me to bring this story to a level of completion that I'm happy with?  I need to be cranking out 10 polished pages a day, not three or four paragraphs!!  At the rate I'm going now this story won't be done for a couple years.  I wanna finish it by next summer!  

I honestly don't know if I can turn it up enough to finsh this epic fantasy story by next summer.  Right now that doesn't look achievable.  But I gotta try harder, and I gotta make more tangible progress.

I really don't have any good excuses for dilly dallying arround.  I live at home with my parents.  They don't expect much of me.  Yes, I do have to do a day job.  But even with that I have palns in mind that will minimize it's affect, and besides who am I kidding I just proved to myself that not mentally strong or disciplined enough right now to be trusted to write all-day, all by myself with succobing to booze, which then throws the whole writing cycle into the mud and boggs everything down.  

This machine needs to start running cleaner.  I feel like I'm a gasonine engine that has clogged fuel injectors.  I think I need to turn into a body ninja.  Yeah, try to wean my dependance on alchol by working out more and becoming a body ninja.  

So what's next?  

Resiliency.

I keep working on editing the novel, and give myself a break not worry about page counts and shit like that.  I just need to keep going, and as I keep going work on some issues which I know are affecting my productivity.  

So in a couple hours from now I go back to the day job.  Yawn.  I could give a fuck less about it.  But durring breaks I'm going to continue to red-line edit chapters.  Then after work do what I can to avoid have a beer, maybe type past red-line edits, or hit the weights for a little while and watch "The Tonight Show" starring Jimmy Fallon.

I gotta work on my self image too.  With my past failures at vaccation, I gotta start liking myself again.  Working out should help with that.

Well, that's all for now.  

Sincerly, a writer on the mend (or at least I hope...), a resilient, 

E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA 

Vaccation Aborted: Just Not Feeling It

Chimpy could done a better job writing these past three day than I did.

I tried really I did.  Was jumping around in a couple different spot on the epic fantasy novel.  But I never felt that rush of inspiration.  Never got to that special place where what I was writing felt invigorating.  

Let me be honest.  Going on a vaccation by yourself SUCKS!  The first night I was here I sat in bar and watched a Richard Gere lookalike have a romantic late night dinner with his ugly as fuck wife, girlfriend or whatever she was.  Not fun.  We're not made life to live life alone, not even the most die-hard, best writer you can imagine.  But what do you do when dig yourself into a hole?  You endure and hope at some point things turn around at some point and get better.  

I gave it go.  Spent LOTS of time alone in hotel room trying to find IT.  What's "it"?  It is that elusive place where a writer is in the zone: highly productive (churning out lots of pages) and creative.  I did write a lot of new stuff, but it never took off and made me wanna write, and write, and write some more.  No, all the stuff I tried felt more like a grind.  Okay, so a lot of that was self-inflincted.  I felt hungover almost the whole time I was here.  Didn't follow my own advice, knocked off early on Wendsday and Thursday to drink and once that started my writing really wasn't very good.  BUT in another sence that's a good.  I don't wanna be a "good" writer when I'm buzzed or outright drunk.  That's not me.

So what is me?  Me is fucked-up.  I gotta make some changes.  I think I need to get on a more regular exercise schedule and put a greater emphasis on that.  Also, I'm getting very burned out on alchol.  Not enjoying it like I used to, and REALLY HATE how I feel the next after I've drunk too much.  

I do love the beach.  Man, if I was rich I'd have a place on the ocean.  Preferably Santa Monica, which I still remember fondly from a few years ago.  

So as of tomorrow morning I'm aborting the rest of this vaccation on the beach, and going home.  Maybe I'll find some better vibes in familar confines, I don't know.  But what I do know is that I'm too immature to maximize the freedom of having a totally open schedule and try to be productive in getting that epic fantasy novel done.  

So the new plan is, wake-up, maybe do a little more writing, take one last jog on the beach to relax my body for the long ride home, then go home.  Don't hafta be back at work untill Tuesday so I still have a couple more days to try to get things going again in a better, more positive direction.

I'm just so dissappointed in myself right now.  It's not like I didn't get anything done.  I did.  It just wasn't enough, and I didn't get to point where the story came alive and just flowed.  

Maybe before the story comes alive, I need to come alive.  I'm such a hopeless case.  So many things in my life I just don't like:

• My job: sure it pays well, but I don't GIVE A FUCK about it.  
• Church: I go out of oblgation.  It's very easy for me to get judgemental about, and I NEVER want to get involved with what they're doing.  But I'm a Christian, so I gotta go to chruch.
• My eyes.  I need to get back the glint of life in them again.  Right now they just seam dull.  Excercise and better diet with more vegitables and fruits in it should help with that.
• How slow it is when I listen to my story using Dragon Naturally Speaking to line-edit.
• My social life, or lack thereof.   

So I'm down.  Don't know when I'll be back up.  Sometimes it all seams so hopeless.  You're not supposed to feel like I feel right now when you're on vaccation.

Well, at least Chimpy feels loved!

Well, at Least Chimpy is With Me on my 46th Birthday

Gotta have at least ONE friend to share your birthday with you, right?  Well, I'm happy to say I do have one.  His name's Chimpy and to prove I took a picture of him with my new Samsung Galaxy 5, figured out how to e-mail a couple pictures off my phone to myself so I could use Chimpy's pictures in this blog post.  Did it all bordline drunk too, so please give me credit for that!  (In case you didn't know Chimpy was the star of 2 of spec. scripts I wrote, "Give It Up for Chimpy" and "Love, Music, and Monkeys"; and I got this doll from one of lady's who attends a prayer meeting with my mother as result of her hearing the gist of what I was doing.  Just a little history update)

Made it here to Long Beach, Washingon yesterday okay with ONE caveat; the 6 corkboards I had in the back seat for index carding out several spec. scripts I've had on heart to do accidentily rubbed on by backseats armest and chipped some paint.  FUCK!  

Sometimes you just can't win.  I put pair of running shorts on the corners to avoid this, but on route down from Bonney Lake to Long Beach, WA they fell down, and gone was my support.

So how was my first day of writting?  Not so good.  Was very sluggish in the morning and had a hard time "getting into it" so I bounced arround half hour here/ one and half hours there kind of thing: worked on chapter 14's reverese beat sheet.  Did some re-writing in chapter 13, and did some work on the Prolog via. Dragon Natural Speaking.  And lastly started to re-read chapter 15 which I printed out along with the rest of the story late last night after I came home from work.

Did start drinking about 1 p.m., and found that, yes, that did really hinder my writing.  Will try to TOTALLY not drink any alchol untill I'm ready to go out to dinner, then FUCK YEAH I'm drinking, but I'll try to do that to in moderation: 2 drinks max then call it a night.

So what is the place like where I'm staying...  Glad you asked, I'll let Chimpy show ya:

It's the Adrift, Inn, and its night-and-day, more nice then where I stayed last year when I came out to Long Beach for a "writer's retreat".  Free ice, and free coffee.  Hit 'em up for 4 cups today, tomorrow with me resolved NOT to drink any booze untill arround 6-7 p.m. could be like 10 cups!  Got a crappy view of the tundra, BUT the hotel is RIGHT on the beach so anytime I wanna go out there and get refreshed I can.  Totally get why so many writers get a place on beach and write from there, there's something soul refreshing about being next to the beach...  

Learned something today.  I can't read my story sheets out on the turf and definately shouldn't bring my labtop out there.  Why?  Too windy.  I tried doing red-line edits outside on the beach and it was just too much wind even on a relativley calm day.  

So what's the plan for tomorrow?  Write... write... and write some more!!  Should be more productive tomorrow even if I'm a little hungover.  Wanna finish the red-line edits on chapter 14 and finish typing in the changes on chapter 13.  Got lots of plans and alternative things to do if I'm still "not feeling it".  For starters I got ALL my notes down here with me.  Need to go back through them and let them work their magic, which is sparking me to wanna write more.  

I'm not a very efficent person.  I tend to lollygag and make a lot of excuses.  I just need to get in the grove again.  Hopefully over the next two days I'll find that groove.   Saturday and Sunday are still up in the air.  Not sure if I'm going to go to Crater Lake, Oregon or not.  Going to wait untill Friday night to make that determination.

Till then, it's write on for me!

Hope all's going well in your world.  Will TRY to post again tomorrow, as I definatley need to communicate with someone--who's not a monkey doll named Chimpy!  

Talk to you tommorrow.

Love, a marginally drunk,

E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA.

P.S. Today, June 10, was my 46th birthday!  Yay!!  Time to take another swig of Heinekken.

P.S.S.  While at the beach on getting my buzz on earlier this afternoon I actually did cartwheel into an incoming wave.  Wish I would have someone else on hand to get a picture of that, I'm such a weird-o, but a hammy kind of weird-o in a weird-o kind of way.

That Which Sets You Free

What frees you up creatively?   

A few days ago I had an amazing day of writing, I actually re-wrote a scene that was working (in my opinion) and I made it a little less sucky.  YAY!  I know, a little less suck.  Sure could use that in my epic fantasy novel right now.  

It's so wierd how I can re-read one chapter and find it sooo bad, then read the next and find, hey, it's not so bad MAYBE I can pull this off.  Chapter 13: needs MAJOR work.  Chapter 14: not so bad...

Why is that?  

I'm about the worst writer you're ever going to run into.  I'm slow.  I miss-spell a lot of stuff.  I'm not good with people.  And I'm a borderline alcoholic.  Well, actually, I was an alcholic many years ago, and now I starting to feel myslelf drift back down that path and it's definately bringing my writing and productivity down.

I guess ONE of my solutions to getting free to write more is give up beer and hard alchol.  It's just SOOO easy of a trap for me to fall in.  I find that when I drink it really sets me back creatively.  When I'm hungover I CAN'T think creatively.  Line edit, yes.  But even then my work done when hungover is typically unispired and ripe to be changed later.

O-kay, I'm slowly coming arround to the belief I need a hiatus away from alchol for an extended period of time.  Maybe even on this upcoming vaccation.

Vacation.  Whaaat!  What brought that on?  Well, as I've moaned about on many occasions I DON'T feel very secure in my employment.  Because of this I haven't been taking ANY time off.  Kept the maxium + past my seniority date in May.  As a result of which I ended up losing 98 hours of vaccation.  The company wasn't willing to re-emburse me OR grant me an extention to use it.  The union wouldn't help me either so I lost 98 hours I feel I was rightfully entitled to be compesated for. 

Our union contract is set to expire in September.  As such I'm seeing the company stockpile parts.  This had led me to the belief the company is going to play serious hardball in September and seek to break the union, and get rid of lots of people.  The honest truth is, I 'm suprised I'm stll there.  I figured I would have been fired a long time ago, but I wasn't.  Now I wanna use almoast all of my vaccation before the union contract expires.  

Even with the loss of 98 hours of vaccation I still have the maximum I can carry, 220 hours on the books.  Starting on Tuesday I'm taking 1 week off: Tuesday through next Monday: 40 hours, 5 days.  Gunna head down to the coast for some writing.  And with my new epiphany I think I'm going to try to go this one alchol free.  Not sure if I can pull this off or not, but I think I should try.  One week focusing on editing the novel, maybe working on the script adaptation, and maybe work on some other stories I've carded up for movies that aren't quite there yet. 

Okay, so enougth of the downer stuff: alchol and the day job. Time to flip the switch, and see what I'm made of.  And guess what, I think I'm gonna like what I find...

Gunna bring my running gear to the beach.  The plan for the "vaccation" week is to be productive writing wise, work-out: either by running or hitting the weights at the motel; and eat well--without succombing to the easy crutch of alchol or chewing tobacoo.  Think I may breakaway and give myself a day or two to checkout Crater Lake in Oregon.  Always been currious about that place, maybe now's the time to scratch that itch.

I'm not going into the vaccation thinking that this is going to be the "last push" that lands me with a completed novel.  I'm not that naive.  I just wanna make some progess that I'm proud of.  Be able to hold my head up high and look back on what I did and be proud.  I just wanna be able to look myself in the mirror and be proud again.  

Fuck, I'm to be 46 years old on June 10, and I haven't "made it yet", have no friends to even go on cool vaccations with, no girlfriend. Yeah sure I have a job--for now--but even that is tenuous.  But dreams and ambtions.  Got lot's of that, Holmes!  

So when I do go on this week-long vaccation you can expect a lot of posts from me.  Don't know for sure what I'll be posting, but I can only write creatively for so long, and since I'm going to be alone I know I'm going to get lonely which is going to make me wanna chat on the internet to make-up for my unmet social needs.  Yeah, that and pouring more of myself into the novel, into the ground-breaking, very cool characters that I have in this story.  I lie to you not when I say this, my favorite character that I have ever come up with is in this epic fantasy story.  No, he's not the main character, BUT he is the Hans Solo type in the 3rd love story that takes place in the story.  He is so cool.  I'm so glad God gave him to me to discover.  

My life isn't all bad, just mostly bad.  Probably 80% bad.  

But that's just the regular life I know. NOT the upcoming vaccation I have to look forward too.  

Besides the booze I know I need to draw closer to God again.  I used to have a better heart than I have today.  So what is the key to having a better, less cynical heart, one that loves people more freely and doesn't judge other people.

Six days on the road or alone in hotel.  Boy, did I ever fuck-up in life.  The crazy thing is my 7-year-old nephew idolizes me.  Don't worry, I'm doing everything in my power to ensure he doesn't end up like me.  Always trying to encourage him to have a girlfirend and lots of friends.  The crazy thing is, he has such an imagination, like me.  Always thinking of "fighting bad guys" and stuff like that.  Sure hope he doesn't turn out like me.  Will do everyhing in my power to ensure doesn't.  I'm hoping for better things for him.

Creativity, Writing, and God--that's what sets me free.  And that's what I hope to be pursing starting this Tuesday when I start my week long vaccation to the southwest Washington coast and beyond...

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

P.S. the side-bar page link to my epic fantasy novel is up and it works if you're curious and wanna look at that. 

Ranking the Best Movies of All-Time

So what makes for a great movie?  

For me the reasons are varried.  A movie can excell in many different ways that propels them to legenday status in my mind.  When I go to see a movie I look for excellence.  Not in any one, specific area, but just excellence in the general.

Over the years I've watched a lot of moives that I like   And as you should know by now if you've read a good cross sampling of my previous posts I have a natural bend and like of the romantic comedy genre.  But I like a lot of other genre's too.  So let's get into it and take a look at the top of the top movies.  Movies that E.C. Henry would rank either a 9 or a 10, on a scale of 0-10 with 10 being the highest.

E.C. Henry's Top Movies of All-Time:

1. "Saving Private Ryan" (1997: directed by Steven Speilberg, staring Tom Hanks).  Rating: 10.0  Justification: GREAT war scenes Allies vs. the Nazi's first on D-day, then in the battle to hold the town in France down from an incoming German army.   Loved the soldier-to-soldier interaction, not only from the leads but also from the OUTSTANDING supporting characters: Barry Peppers, Edward Burns, Adam Goldberg and Jeremy Davis who played Corporal Upham.  Strange thing about this movie: it really has no identiable, one antagonist; rather it's just a bunch of no-name Nazis.
2. "Aliens" (1986: directed by James Cameron, staring Sigorney Weaver).  Rating: 10.0 Justifciation: What a follow-up to the "Alien" (1979), GREAT sci-fi imagination on display.  The choice to have armed marines explore a routed colony and stumblle into a hive of aliens was geniuous.  And to top it all off, like "Saving Private Ryan" you have an awesome assemblance of supporting characters who are interesting and believable.
3. "The Terminator" (1984: directed by James Cameron, staring Arnold Swartzenegger) Rating: 10.0 Justification: More wild sci-fi imagination on display--only this sci-fi holds a dark edge which it retains to the end credidts.  Loved the shoot 'em up scene in the police department, and I loved all the scenes where Reece remembers what his life was like in the bombed out furture where humanity fights agaist the machines.  
4. "The Patriot" (2000: directed by Rolan Emmrich, staring Mel Gibson) Rating: 10.0 Justification: This movie struck a great ballance between history and a family's struggle to survive through a chaotic time.  Great collection of bad guys, and Benjamin Martin's sons and daughters all struck a chord with me.
5. "Forest Gump" (1994: directed by Robert Zemekis, staring Tom Hanks) Rating: 10.0  Justiciation: Wow, what a blend a simpletons life through highlights in history in the 60s and 70s--and it has a sweetheart romance in too that totally works.  This is a great, timeless movie.   
6. "Halloween" (1978: directed by John Carpenter, staring Jamie Lee Curtis) Rating: 9.5  Justifcation: Scariest movie ever made, and years later after re-watching it many times I still find myself marveling over how strong the first part of the story is: where Michael Myers is stalking Laurie Strode after she visits his parents old house which her mother is trying to sell.  The only real knock I have against this film is the poor acting by Laurie Strode's high school friends.  
7. "The Matrix" (1999: directed by the Wachkowksi brothers, staring Keau Reeves) Rating: 9.5  Justification: Very dark, yet cool high concept: a dark secret whose far reaching affect gets BRILLIANTLY discovered over time.  The fight scenes were interesting but not nearly as interesting as humanity being reduced to batteries to fuel a race of machines.  Some good plot points turn the movie too, like when one of the Nebucandezzar's crew turns on them and mades a deal with the machines to sell them out.  
8. "Dan in Real Life" (2007: directed by Peter Hedges, staring Steve Carell)  Rating: 9.5  Justification: GREAT acting by the leads: Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche.  Then a great wild-card performance by Emily Blunt.  And two of Dan's daughters in movie really got to me.  Throw in a few shots of the beautiful, east coast sea shore, and you got me; a can't miss favorite.
9. "Planet of the Apes" (1968: directed by Franklin J. Shaffner, staring Charleton Heston).  Rating: 9.5  Justification: Great world building and MASTERFUL revealing of horrific situations through a characters point of view.  The scarecrows.  The hunt in the cornfields.  The chase of Taylor through Ape city where at one point he runs into a stuffed figure of someone who used to a crewmate with him on a starcraft!  This movie have had the best world building of any movie in the history of cinema, and that doesn't escape my notice.  Only real drawback: stilted lines of dialog spoken by Taylor's fellow astronaughts, that could have been done beter.
10. "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980: directed by Irvin Kershner, staring Mark Hamill) Rating: 9.5  Justification: Wow what a sequel!  Loved the battle for the rebel station in  Hoth, thought Darth Vader reviewing the bounty hunters was interesting, and the light saber duel between Luke and Dath Vader was fun to watch.  
11. "While You Were Sleeping" (1995: directed by John Turtletaub, staring Sandra Bullock) Rating: 9.5  Justification: Nice blend of humor and romance in blue collar family dynamic.  Great assortment of villians: Joey Fusco Jr., Ashley Bartlett Bacon, and Peter Callahan. 
12. "Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance" (2014: directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritto) Rating: 9.0  Justifcation: delicious exchanges of dialog between characters.  Loved the quirkey drumbeat, and off-centeredness of Riggan Thompson's lapses in and out of fantasy.  
13. "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" (2002: directed by Donald Petrie, staring Matthew McConahuey) Rating: 9.0  Justification: The GREAT perfomances turned in by the stars of this rom-com.  Kate Hudson really does well with the comedy accent and knows when to ham it up, and when to lay off.  This rom-com also has a great supporting cast highlighed by Babe Newerth's protral as Andie Anderson's boss.
14. "The Road Warrior" (1981: directed by George Miller, staring Mel Gibson) Rating: 9.0  Justification: I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic movies that have an edge to them--and this one does.  Great job with the chase scenes, and there's just enough character develoment and arc to be interesting enough for that not to be a detriment to this film.  The Humungus is an interesting master villian.  And the car chases are interesting too.  Only drawback: some of the lighting changes while the car chases are in process.  This unnerved me and was hard for me to look past, eventhough I can sympathize why they happened.
15. "Pan's Labyrinth" (2006: directed by Guillermo Del Torro, staring Ivana Baquero) Rating: 9.0.  Justification: Wow, what an interesting blend of dark fantasy meets historical revolution.  Too bad it all done in a foreign language...  Still, this story ROCKS.  I mean the writers of this masterpiece are GENIOUSES!  To have bad guys ranging from a desperate, Facist war commander desperately trying to ward off the locals, to the a fantasy man who eats people, to the devil himself!  This movie is all over the place, and yet it is grounded in a little girl's balanace beam act of navigating her way through real life treachery and otherwoldly treachery.  Genious!  Can't say enough about the high concept, creative level of this movie.  It's off the charts.  
16. "48 Hrs" (1982: directed by Walter Hill, staring Nick Nolte) Rating: 9.0  Justification: Nice blend of good cop/bad cop meets an associate he has a hard time relating too in Eddie Murphy's character.  Really liked the mean-spirited bad guys too, and how they always seamed to come out one step ahead of Cates untill the vey end.  
17. "Spider-man" (2002: directed by Sam Raimi, staring Toby McGuire) Rating: 9.0  Justification: Really like the take these fillmakers had on bringing the "Green Goblin" to life.  Willam Dafoe was AWESOME as the scientist Norman Osborn who goes too far to save his beloved company.  Not so sold on Kirsten Durst, thought a sexier lead would have been a nice improvement here.

So there you have it, my top ranked movies of all-time that score at least a 9.0.  Agree or disagree, you know where the comment section is, AND you can always e-mail me.

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

P.S. Sometime this week I hope to have up a separate page highlight my novel editing progress.  I'm going to do this on a by chapter basis.  So stay tuned to see how it turns out.