Apollo has just been posted onto vimeo. 
The 5-minute film follows Dee as she comes home to her New York apartment to find a drunk fire fighter with a knife in his hand and her dog, Apollo, bleeding on the floor. 
It is begins with an evocative opening shot, followed by a hypnotic sequence in a car. 
It is a compelling work – acting and technically solid. It’s well worth your time!
Monthly Archives: August 2013
Another “Bad Side” film
I have written the first draft of a second Bad Side script. It follows Dee on the train with Apollo north out of the city.
The train inches past the soot and cables, the decrepit buildings, twisted rust jutting out, bottles and shards, an animal skull on an electrical box, and then is on a bridge. DEE wraps her hand, stiff and fat, in a sweatshirt. The conductor approaches, his hat pushed forward; he is older with a thin face and empty eyes.
CONDUCTOR: Ticket?
DEE: I gave it to the other guy, the one before you.
CONDUCTOR (Looking at Dee’s cleavage): Where’s your receipt?
DEE: I must have thrown it away.
CONDUCTOR: Which is it? You threw it away or you gave it to the other guy?
DEE pulls her dress out from her legs. There is a stain on the waist. It looks like blood.
DEE: I didn’t think I needed it.
CONDUCTOR: Where are you going?
DEE: Providence.
CONDUCTOR: Got on at Penn? (He looks down the aisle and then back at DEE) I have to write you up,
DEE: What does that mean?
CONDUCTOR (Opening his ticket book): What’s your name?
DEE (Pulling a hoodie from her bag): Crystal Sinclair.
There is a long pause as CONDUCTOR writes out the slip and then hands it to DEE.
CONDUCTOR: You mail it back to the address at the bottom.
DEE: Mail it?
CONDUCTOR: The fine.
DEE: Can I get a water from you?
CONDUCTOR (Leaving): The cart will be through.
Bernardo at Hank’s Saloon in Brooklyn
Bernardo played its first-ever gig at Hank’s Saloon in Brooklyn last night, thanks in part to Bill Murray on a bicycle.
Hank’s Saloon’s facilities
Lead man, Mike Deminico, walked into the bar a couple of weeks back, inquiring into playing at the venue, and received an indifferent response and email address. Somewhat miffed, Deminico considered abandoning the enterprise when Bill Murray bicycled past and returned Deminico’s greeting. 
His resolve buoyed, Deminico got in touch with the manager and was on stage shortly thereafter.
Mike Deminico leads Bernardo at Hank’s Saloon.
The music of Bernardo is an unadulterated pleasure, straight ahead and wildly fun; the short 35-minute set was simply not enough. Deminico promises more in the months ahead.
Facebook: “Liking” technology above all else
My facebook subscription to NASA provides updates on space missions as well as remarkable photographs of the universe. 
NASA also posts photographs of our planet, including a recent shot of forest fires in Idaho. 
This photo has been ‘liked’ by over 2,212 people, to whom I posted the following comment: Facebook is weird. Why would you ‘like’ these images? The electronic world just makes everyone further and further from what is actually real.
Moose Mellios replied: You can appreciate the technology of an image without liking the subject.
I posted a reply – That is what I mean; we are distancing ourselves from the subject – but I get the feeling that Moose, and many others in facebook world, just won’t get the point.
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Nothing
I am nothing, a shadow. Less than that. I am negative, never here. There was moment, a thought, and it is gone, badly spent. There is only hollowness. It is bad. I think it is better to not have been. I cannot move. I cannot speak. I sit and wait. And think about nothing.
The Stone Eggs of Djupivigor, Iceland
Sigurdur Gudmundsson’s stone egg sculpture, an homage to bird species from the area, looks out over the bay in Djupivigor, Iceland. 
Although initially intriguing, the polished rocks come across as sad, almost pathetic, juxtaposed against the dominating landscape. 
The topography of Iceland is a tough act to follow.
Thorbergur Thordarson’s Memories of Iceland: The Stones Speak
Thorbergur Thordarson is one of Iceland’s great writers. Sadly, little of his work has been translated into English, and what little has seems only to be available in Iceland. His autobiography, The Stones Speak, recounts his childhood in the hamlet of Hali at the turn of the 20th century, detailing the tiniest aspects, including every person, animal, building and room of his young life, as well as his profoundly personal relationship with the land and rocks. 
Many things in this landscape had names that made you stop and think and stirred your emotions. There was a story behind them, but it had usually been forgotten. This is why thinking about them was always just as exciting at the end, as in the beginning. (191) 
I enjoyed listening and talking to rocks when I came up to them, and sometimes I pressed my ear to them and listened to hear if they were telling me something. For me it was quite natural to think that you could hear voices from them and understand their thoughts if you just listened hard enough and were astute enough to understand. (239) 
Is it possible that the rock has really stood there for a thousand years? Just think! To stand in the same position for a thousand years! What an eternity is the life of a rock. (251)
Words VII: Lithe
I haven’t posted a word in months. I forgot that it was one of my themes. Lithe is a great word not only because of its meaning (supple, graceful) but because of its sound. It is one of the few English words that sounds like what it means. That said, it is too often lazily used as synonym for flexible and young.
Zoltar’s Fortune Machine on Coney Island
I went to Coney Island recently and was impelled to extract my fortune from the Zoltar machine. 
It read: You are strong believer in fate. You feel that you have no control over your destiny. Fortunately you are destined to be very happy indeed. You’ve had some trouble mostly caused by inconsideration of others. But fate will be kind to you and you can expect your life to run on a smoother pattern. You are somewhat irresponsible and that has caused you some hardships. You have a neat and tidy nature and can’t tolerate slovenliness around you. Since you demand this of yourself and others, you will always live in a tidy atmosphere. 
All of this is true but for the “strong belief in fate”, although the fact that I went to the Zoltar machine in the first place, thought about the card it produced and then posted it here might imply otherwise.
Hallgrimskirkja in Reykjavik, Iceland
Hallgrimskirkja – or Halgrimur Church – sits on a hill overlooking Reykjavik, Iceland. 
Views atop the church afford a 360-degree perspective of the sprawling city. 
However the 15-meter tall organ is the greatest attraction. 
Organists frequently practice their craft, providing makeshift concerts and a magnificent means to contemplation.