Hard but unfair…

I saw Hancock yesterday. Well, the movie is not really bad but it’s not good either. It’s good fun but on an overall level somethings just isn’t right. Thing is I kinda felt that there was missing something which had to be there but got thrown out during the development process.

I haven’t read any of the screenplays but I’m pretty sure that there must have been a pre suit version of that movie that rocked. The things that are there are not bad but the interesting parts are missing. There are several problems and I would like to address two them.

1. The missing villain. Seriously a Superhero movie without a villain, what’s the point.

2. What’s the point of a backstory/mythology if you’re not using it.

Thing is both problems can be solved with the help of each other. Sure my movie would be a lot different but let me try.

Thing is we have this mythology about these gods/angels/… and we have the backstory about Hancock. First of all I want to see some of the mythology. Give me just five minutes of superheroaction in Persia or Grecce or wherever and I’m happy.
You can show Hancock and Theron’s charakter together because the moment she sees him in the movie you know something’s up there. I don’t know they could defeat an army or battle other gods (some of them must be bad, they could tie them together and wait until they die of old age or so). I would use this ancient action scene as an intro that leads into the current beginning of the movie. Hancock drunk and alone.

From here I would let the movie run its course until the part where Hancocks amnesia is explained. Why not create a villain at this point. Another god who fights Hancock until they both end up almost dead and with memory loss and now wait for my spark of genius. The movie establishes that Mary (theron) and Hancock are made for each other. They love each other but their powers fade when they’re together. That means that she has to leave him to save him. But what with the other god let him die? Well thing is they’re only three of the left and he lost his memory. What’s the best way to control him? Exactly move in with him and start a family. Yeah, you read right I just turned Jason Bateman into a Supervillain.

Thing is this would lead to a great climax. Ray and Hancock learn the truth and take it from there. In the end I wouldn’t kill Ray and I think making him a real badass villain would be wrong. He’s not a bad guy, there must have been reasons why he did the things he did but I think the movie would benefit from these changes.

Sure the whole thing needs some tweeks and the ending needs some serious work but who cares now, too late.

What do you think my version or the “suit” version?

It is time for a post about my summer holidays. Since the title is not very original you can probably guess where I spent it. Yes, Berlin. I visited a friend who’s studying there and we had a really great time. I did the necessary sightseeing and I also graced the Berlin nightlife with my presence.

The trip was great and Berlin is a great city with many things to discover. I really liked the Pergamon Museum. This museum is what I call a “jaw dropper”. They had the Ishtar Gate on display which was really impressive.

The other thing I really enjoyed was a salsa club were women hat free entrance. Boy, that was a sight to see.
we had a great time in there and I managed to boost my self-esteem (not that it was necessary) but with so many beautiful woman around you get a little carried away and I have to admit that I really enjoyed the anonymity of a big city like Berlin. I even was courageous aka. drunk enough to pick up to women at once. Maybe pick up is the wrong expression, but I really did walk up to two pretty ladies and introduced myself with a great line (I’m going to share the line once I used it enough) I and I managed to get a nice smile out of them.

The rest is not to be shared.

Anyway, I really liked the city and the trip as a whole was great. Only downside, the euro was kinda high which made the trip kinda feel expensive but after a few days here that feelings gone. Things really cost a lot here.

It took me a few days to relax but now I’m full of energy again and I’m actually looking forward to the month ahead. I have my exams in November and December and I have to start preparing for them and school starts in four weeks. I decided to postpone the big “The Passion of the Geek” rewrite. After my liz paper I felt too empty t work on it and now I have to focus on the exams and my job. I think that in January I should be able to work on my creative projects and I really hope that I can bring “TPOTG” to the next level.

So that’s it for now. Stay tuned.
Greg

I just cleaned my harddrive and found the first to Winny movies. They weren’t on YouTube yet so i corrected that. Have fun with all three Winny movies.

Winny’s first Adventure

Winny’s Football Adventure

T-Winny

A friend pointed out to me, that my posting frequency has potential for improvement. I guess he’s right. There’s only one problem, I don’t have a lot to talk about. Writing is slow. My day job keeps me busy and my exams are approaching fast. I could share my life lessons but frankly I kinda feel bad to give out advice I’m not sure about. Of course there some universal truths I gathered over the last quarter century (damn I’m old) but I’m pretty sure you’ve made them yourself.

Sure there’s the “My Wisdom” sidebar where I unleash all my wit and knowledge upon the world but even there I’m kinda slow. I’m gonna try to come up with some new ideas that will improve your life. I guess the “My Wisdom” section has potential to become the foundation of my religion I always wanted to found. But then, founding a religion is so 20th century so I guess I wont succeed there either.

I could post about movies but honestly I’m not a movie critic. I tried once but It’s not my thing. I love watching them, obviously and there are things that really bug me on certain movies (the fridge in Indy comes to mind) but I’m not the guy to talk about other peoples mistake. I like to talk about the good stuff. In August I’m going to teach a film course to students and so far I have a great time looking for great scenes to show them. I’m really looking forward to teach students about the art of movies and I hope at least one of them appreciates the scenes I picked.

So that’s it. Well, there’s one last thing: Check out the new Sigur Ros CD. The title is too complicated to type but the music is great. The new Coldplay album is also worth its price.

Greg

One of the best, if not the best duel scene ever.

Variations on a classic scene.

My favourite scene of my favourite movie.

I don’t like summer. Well of course there are some upsides (half naked women being the only one that comes to mind) but generally summer sucks. There is always this huge sporting event that gets televised on every station and there’s the weather. I can take one hot day on a beach with the women from above but after a day I would like to be able to get some work done without feeling like a frog in a microwave. It’s just too hot to think coherently and get work done. I have study for my final exams and I have to plan for the next school-year but with these temperatures that make Venus seem like Antarctica it’s nearly impossible to concentrate let alone do something useful. I can barely watch a movie without sweating. That’s just not right. Global warming is an arsehole.

I prefer winter. Sure, no half naked women but as a teacher of underaged girls that’s a good thing, trust me it is. Looking back at my school-time the girls in our class must have been prudes or Amish or something like that, but that’s not the point. Winter is so much nicer than summer. There’s snow, or at least there should be (Damn you Global warming) and the nights are longer and the temperatures are much more accommodating to my workload. In winter I get things done, in summer, not so much.

I know what you’re thinking, life’s not about working. You’re right but right now I’m kinda in the situation where I have to get things done in order to get time off. One other reason why I love winter is the thought that once I reach the next winter I’m basically a free man. By Christmas I should have my University degree which basically means that I get to cross a big chunk of time consuming work of the to do list. Sure after that other things might get on that list but not until summer. I hate summer.

You can see now why I’m a winter person.
Greg

Greetings my friends.

I’m tired. Really tired. It has been a month since i finished my paper but since then I managed to waste all my time. I’m just too tired to do something. I played around with garageband a little but other than that I’m just tired. I can’t remember a time I was this tired but boy it really sucks.

It’s not a depression. I feel great. Fact is, I think I never felt better my whole life (I’m gonna tell you someday, promise, but not now) but I guess feeling happy doesn’t compensate the amount of “tiredness” (isn’t that a great word?) of two month of non stop writing an academic paper and a job as a part time teacher.

So that’s it for now. I just wanted to tell you that I’m tired but happy. I think there should be a word for this condition. I think gonna try tirpy. Sounds good. I’ feel tirpy….

Seems I’m going nuts too… better stop now before I’m really embarrassing myself.

Stay tuned for more silly words.
Greg

Let’s talk politics and science fiction. It came to me today during an episode of Deep Space Nine, Hillary never had a chance. Star Trek has always been a show (…or used to be) that pushed boundaries. The famous kiss between Kirk and Uhura comes to mind and today while watching the DS9 episode “Far beyond the Stars“, an episode that dealt with racism, I realised that Star Trek first centred a show around a black captain before they gave that job to a woman.

I have to admit I never liked Janeway and DS9 is the better show than Voyager but you have to wonder if there’s a significance in the choice the people behind Star Trek made. There a lot of strong female characters in Star Trek and on DS9 but it took four shows until a woman took the helm of a ship. What does that mean for the current presidential race. Well, nothing I think but it’s a nice coincidence that Star Trek bet on the right horse who would “take the helm” first.

I joined the dark side … not that dark side. As some of you know I took a job as a substitute teacher last summer. I quite liked (or actually still like) some aspects of the job, correcting exams not being one of them and when the school asked me if I’d like to return next year I accepted the offer. That basically means at least one more year as a member of the dark side of the classroom.

Thing is, one thing I learned in the past year, even though some teachers appear to be evil, they are generally not Sith lords. Most of them like their job (at least some aspects of it) and their students (…) and generally like to teach. Teaching is a really great job, of course there are times when the students unleash hell but even then there’s at least a few students who give you the feeling that they want to learn something.

But enough, I don’t want to talk too much about teaching after all it’s only a small part of my life (a time consuming one, but it also pays the bills). I wanted to give you an update on the other part of my life … my non existent career as a writer. I started to rework the “Passion of the Geek”. I had some new ideas and there are some things that I don’t like anymore. right know I hope that I can finish the new draft by the end of summer (hopefully august).

But there are other things I would like to work on. One of them is the “Untitled Whiteworms Feature Animation Film”. I’m not going to give much you details about it at this time. I thought about the project for a long time and I have some ideas I want to explore further. The thing is, that this movie is supposed to get Whiteworms Animation Studios off the ground. This means that I not only have to come up with the best possible story, I also have to make sure that the thing is doable on a tight budget. I watch most of the animation movies on the market and I know what works and what doesn’t work but the problem is, that the whole Whiteworms operations is kinda late. There are too much animation movies around, hopefully this situation changes but this movie needs to be as great as possible in order to make sure that the Whiteworms dram comes true.

The other thing I’m thinking about is my first novel. I feel that I have to write something a little more cerebral than I usually do with my screenplays and tv concepts. I started to work on a fantasy novel, but it turned out that I approached it too cinematically. I decided to focus on a small story with only a few characters. I’m not thinking about releasing it right know, I’m just really into the idea of writing something that isn’t just entertainment. Time will tell if I’m going to succeed.

So that’s it for now. I also have to finish the blog, there are still some things missing here but I don’t know when I’m gonna have time for it. But the important part is, that I get to post more often.

Best wishes,
Greg

It’s done. Finished. I’ done. Finished. Over the last five months I had to write my final paper. I had a strict deadline and I managed to finish the paper a day early. Well, finish is probably not the right word. For lack of a better term, I abandoned my paper. I’m pretty sure there are things I overlooked, but that’s part of the deal. There’s always a phrase you could improve but at the end of the day, the paper doesn’t get better, it just gets different.

Even though the paper was about a historic topic, I’m a history mayor, writing it felt a lot like writing a screenplay and there were even times when I thought about turning the events into a movie but I managed to restrain the screenwriter in me.

Okay, I just wanted to et this off my chest. I’ve got time now to get the blog really running. I still have to do a few under the hood things and there are a of pages missing. So stay tuned.

Greg