movieguyjon

Outlines Suck, But Are Awesome

Posted on May 13, 2009 by movieguyjon Screenwriting 0

A problem I come across when screenwriting is the logistics of the plot. I have no problems placing two characters in a room and making them say cool things, but when it comes down to where things eventually end up, it becomes a different matter entirely. I’ve tried to help myself out a bit by doing the whole “outline” thing, but it always leaves me feeling like I haven’t made any progress whatsoever in my writing. Case in point, I’ve decided to take a step back and write out a step outline for a script I’m writing. I spent a few hours the other day writing what amounted to about 20 lines of outline.

How is THAT progress??

On the flip side of that, however, I now have a better idea of where I want my story to go.

Hrmm.

Jonathan is a VJ, Part 6

Posted on April 24, 2009 by movieguyjon Music Youtubes 0

Hey there, folks. I figured it was about that time again to scour the internet for some music videos that I enjoyed. Kind of a random assortment this month around, but I figured it was a pretty decent one at that and that you might get a kick out of the selection. If you haven’t heard of any of these bands, you might want to do yourself a favor and check them out STAT!!!

The New Pornographers – Mutiny, I Promise You

Writing and Re-Writing

Posted on April 7, 2009 by movieguyjon Film My Life Screenwriting 0

One of the frustrating things about my process is the part where I go back and change a bunch of shit and essentially rewrite my script from page one. It’s not like I actually want to do this, especially considering I have to get 100 or so pages done by the end of the month. What ends up happening is that I get ideas about what I wrote before and those ideas pester me until I do something about them. Case in point, day one and two for me for Script Frenzy. I wrote roughly four or five pages that were solid and took a break from it. As I went about doing other things, the need to change EVERYTHING surfaced and it was all I could think about.

I need to get a better writing process..

Not That Crazy

Posted on March 31, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather Music 0

The Magnetic Fields – Not That Crazy

[audio:notthatcrazy.mp3]

I built a ship with my own hands to take us to the moon,

I took a pen in my own hand and wrote you a hundred tunes.

Now I’m crazy for you but not that crazy.

If you couldn’t tell, I really like The Magnetic Fields. If I ever write an album, it will be because of Stephin Merritt.

Going Into a Script Frenzy

Posted on March 25, 2009 by movieguyjon My Life Screenwriting 9

For a writer, one of the biggest challenges is actually sitting down and facing off against the blank page, or screen if you’ve ditched your typewriter for a trendier, more electronic word processing unit! When I sit down to start writing, I find myself daunted by all the white space that occupies my screen. Once that happens, the motivation kind of deteriorates and then I get distracted by the various web services that call to me on a continual basis (thanks, Friendfeed, twitter, etc). In short, I don’t get a lot of writing done.

But I was pointed to an interesting site from John August’s blog that might just cure my Writer’s Block: Script Frenzy. Think, NaNoWriMo for screenplays. Within 30 days of April, everyone who signs up for the site will be writing toward a goal of 100 script pages. Sounds pretty neat, actually. So much so that I’ve signed up and am going to be participating this year. I’ve already come up with the story I’m going to write and am pretty much going to free style this script come April 1st.

If you’re into screenwriting even in the slightest, I’d suggest giving it a try. It will be a fun challenge, and you get 100 pages of…well…something that can be molded into your finest work ever, at least. If you do sign up, look me up. Movieguyjon, as usual!

Here’s some particulars about the script I plan on writing for Script Frenzy:

Title: Year of the Con
Genre: Comedy
Logline: Frustrated with the lackluster conventions in their area, four friends decide to create their own Super Con and turn it into the biggest event of the year.

You can keep up to date with my script via this blag or through my Script Frenzy profile. I plan on making my script profile on the site more complete by the end of the month.

Can’t wait!

What I’ve Been Up To

Posted on March 24, 2009 by movieguyjon Internets My Life Tech 0

Just so you don’t think I was yanking your chain the other day about being really really really (did I mention really?) busy, I thought I’d give you a little bit of an update about what I’ve been up to and do some general self-promotion. You’ve been hereby warned.

Things with Geek Troika Productions are going swimmingly! I still edit the podcast on a weekly basis and write little articles when I can. We just recorded our 20th episode last week, which is pretty exciting. Twenty freakin’ episodes, people! I never thought that we would last that long, or that we’d develop such an amazing rapport with each other. Now, my Mondays are spent waiting for the evening’s recording session, quite impatiently I might add. Mattie and Mike are awesome and recording just wouldn’t be the same without them.

Anyways, enough gushing…

To celebrate or 20th episode, we opened a merch store. It’s only got one item at the moment, but I’m drawing up new artwork and preparing logos to post later this week. I’m sure I’ll be pestering the lot of you about this later on in the week. So, if you have a little extra money to spare and want some pretty schweet schwag, go the Geek Troika Merch Store NOWZ and click “buy!” If not, well…..don’t. I just won’t like you anymore. Hrmphh.

As if that wasn’t enough, I went ahead and created a new podcast under the Geek Troika banner. Technicolor Commentary is podcast of young film school alumni making commentary tracks to replace the boring ones you find on your DVDs. We bitch about what’s on screen as well as provide insight based on our film school background. With me on this project is Tom and Graham, my co-hosts. When we’re not recording the commentary tracks, we’re busy writing up posts about films, television and media in general. Be sure and bookmark the site and add it to your RSS reader. TCC will be here for years to come!

Later on this year there will be some web series that Geek Troika Productions will be dishing out for your viewing pleasure. The first is Matsie Reads Her Spam, a web series about a girl named Matsie and her relationship with the spam that she collects in her inbox. I’ll update you more as it develops but just know that you’re in for a treat. Next will be an animated web series that my friend Tom thought up awhile back. I can’t really dish out too many details yet, but I will fill you in more as time goes on.

That about wraps it up for what I’ve been up to lately. When I’m not working on all of this, I’ve been working my butt off with contract gigs and making ends meet. It’s some kind of crazy, I tells ya.

Jonathan is a VJ, Part 5

Posted on March 23, 2009 by movieguyjon Music Youtubes 0

Hey guys! What’s the haps? Yeah, I’ve been quite the busy bee this past month or so with various forms of work. It’s been so crazy that I’ve pretty much neglected most of my blogs. But hey, I’m here now and posting, so that’s got to count for something. Right? RIGHT?!

Anypoo, it’s time for another music video session from yours truly. You’ll notice a few things different about this one. Namely, I’m not using MTVMusic anymore for my source of music videos. While the service showed promise, their API continued to suck and navigating the site was an extreme chore. Now, I’m just sticking with Youtube. Already, I’m happy I switched back. So, without further ado, I present five really awesome music videos from some artists I really enjoy!

Goldfrapp Caravan Girl

Jonathan is a VJ, Part 4

Posted on February 3, 2009 by movieguyjon Internets Music TV 2

It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these posts, and for that I apologize. School ended, and then I went on the big bad job hunt. In fact, I’m still on the big bad job hunt and have been bouncing around from contract job to contract job to help with the bills. But that’s beside the point. I’ve been lax in making a music video mix for you and for that I apologize. Let’s start February off on the right foot and get this show on the road!

RJD2 |MTV Music

I’d Like To Thank The Academy

Posted on January 28, 2009 by movieguyjon Comics Film Screenwriting 0

I had a rather large post written up in textedit about the Oscars and who I thought should win based off the nominations. Truth be told, I haven’t seen any of the films that were nominated this year, with the exception being Wall-E, Iron Man, and The Dark Knight. Therefore, I chucked the post in favor of a shorter one that I think will be just a wee bit more discussion worthy. See, I’ve noticed a lot of backlash about the snubbing of Gotham’s finest hero at the Oscars, and how it should have been nominated for Best Picture and yadda-yadda-yadda. “OMG, Chris Nolan should have been nominated for BEST DIRECTOR EVAR!”

Sigh.

Truth be told, I think The Dark Knight was nominated for everything it deserves. The only makeup worthy of note is the Joker’s. The only performance worthy of note is the Joker’s. There’s no art direction to speak of, and the directing is inconsistent throughout the film. The screenplay is nothing special, and feels particularly bloated with the Hong Kong sequence. Bruce Wayne was not the focus of the film, and because of that, it felt more like “The Joker” than “The Dark Knight.”

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed the hell out of The Dark Knight. It’s definitely a favorite of ’08. But Oscar worthy? Bitch plz!

Feel free to try and convince me otherwise, but I hold to the fact that Heath Ledger was the only AMAZING thing in that movie. The rest was WAY below the standard set by Batman Begins.

Fakin’ the Nut Allergy – A Rant

Posted on January 21, 2009 by movieguyjon Blather My Life Science 3

According to Joel Stein:

My nut allergy is a product of my white upbringing.
I can stop my anaphylactic shock with my mind.
My parents were yuppies.
Your parents are yuppies.
God hates retarded children.
Fat friends make you fat (He quoted a guy for this fact).
Nuts are good.
Durr.

Ok, the last few bullet points were me being silly, but I think you get where I’m coming from. It’s hard to take this opinion piece seriously when the writer didn’t really bother to make a “good” point. As someone who’s experienced anaphylactic shock numerous times growing up (most involving hospital visits), I hardly think that my nut allergy is a product of my parents worrying I could be allergic to things. In fact, it’s because they let me eat whatever the hell I wanted as a young’un that we discovered my little “aversion” to nuts.

While I can’t necessarily argue against certain illnesses and allergies being “all in the mind,” I can’t outright say that that’s the case either. I’ve met people who fit into both sides of the argument and it’s led me to believe that things like this CAN be in the mind and CAN actually exist. And sure, there’s yuppie paranoia and the issue of being “too clean” and “too healthy,” but people like me still do exist and our problems are real.

Am I crazy in finding this guy’s ramblings aggravatingly written?