Exclusive sketches of the main character officially titled “The Lost Boy”, from Curt Merlo.
Not only is great to see his amazing art, but his process is very interesting. Curt isn’t creating these sketches just to post, I have seen his desk-sized sketch pad where he is working out all these ideas. It’s amazing, beautiful and exciting. Spread the word.
A friend of my wife who stayed at my house this weekend, had a pin on her backpack that said, “Straight, but not Narrow.” I discovered this soon after I had made a comment about a friend calling them “gay” in an obviously offensive way.
SO…to make up for it I am showing that I show no favoritism here at electronicalifornia. I am posting a new numa numa video featuring a band called Mala fe singing their version of the song titled, “Pluma, Pluma Gay”. You can watch it here. Not only are they gay, but they are even latinos…from Canada of all places. So there. I am not racist or gayist.
Thanks to “the other one”, a reader of this blog that I don’t pay, for bringing this to my attention.
Click here to find the rest of the numa posts.
Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros, on Lady in The Water:
“This fell short of expectations,…We had difficulty with the press, and it may have been too sophisticated.”
For the press or for the viewing public?
“Babies are just plain smarter than we are, at least if being smart means being able to learn something new…. They think, draw conclusions, make predictions, look for explanations and even do experiments. In fact, scientists are successful precisely because they emulate what children do naturally.”
-Alison Gopnik
Lady in the Water received a 21% on rotten tomatoes. This would put it a little higher than Mariah Carey’s Glitter. The equivalent of being a fish filet w/cheese at McDonald’s. I saw the film last night. So the question is was this film a 21%? Well a look at the user reviews for the film tells a completely different story.
I can’t say it was the BEST movie I’ve ever seen. I laughed, I clapped, I cringed, and I even cried. Why then can someone call it “A flaky ego trip disguised as a fairy tale” or “a disjointed and mind-numbing story.”
Two reasons: one obvious and one not.
The obvious reason is he picks apart the role of the critic. This is an obvious and direct attack against those that want to tell filmmakers, artists, and storytellers the 5 w’s about their own crafts. The sad bit is critics are never doers or even thinkers. They are just sayers. They professionally say what they think. The point can be argued that they come from a solid standpoint. Well I am critical of that point.
The second one shows a split in society. Plebians vs. Patricians, the elite vs. the common man. This film was meant to be a child’s story (not that you should take your children because it is PG-13). I have spoken many times on the subject of simplicity. Arguably, the greatest humanitarian and thinker in the history of the world, knew the importance of simplicity when he commanded his followers to “be like children”. In this convoluted world that throws away common sense for complexity, even a child is robbed of their innocence. I saw a movie preview before the show that included a child being a servant of the devil and bringing back the ten plagues. I thought to myself, what is with the demonization of children? When have children ever started a war, spread disease, or wiped out entire races of people? Though the distinction of childlike and childish should be made. A good illustration of childish would be a movie critic who tears apart a film because he wants revenge for it attacking him. A good illustration of childlike would be my nephew in the car the other day. Oh you weren’t there? Ill tell you what happened. My nephew out of nowhere said. “Dad, why are they bombing peoples’ houses? His dad said, “I don’t know, that’s a good question”. My nephew responded, “They are hurting innocent people.” Though we could argue about the need for aggressive action in a fallen world, my nephew’s thought process was correct. What good does taking another’s life do? Who am I to decide who’s life is worth saving and who’s is worth taking? These are questions that have no real answer. A child keeps asking, a critic believes he knows the answer. That is the difference. This film asks some questions, tests some boundaries and it does a fun and beautiful job of it. Be a child again, prove the elitists wrong and go see this movie. I promise that you won’t be disappointed.
On a side note, funny as it sounds, this film seems to about subjects that the media would enjoy. It obviously attacks the current war and leadership of this nation and also calls for drastic changes in domestic and international policy in America. But I guess you can’t look past someone calling you a bad name. What a bunch of babies!
I am going to do something that is scary for any creative-type to do. Since I am not creative, I am going to share unfinished, unpolished, and un…good work. As you may know I have been working on a graphic novel with Curt Merlo. I did some writing last night for one of the opening scenes. I am posting it here for you to read. I would love feedback, but at the same time remember that this is about one page of 200 and that its a first rough draft (now I’m done talking it down so when you read it, you can say “no its great” and I can get my reason for existance from your heavily lauded praises).
Without further ado:
EXT. VALLEY - DAY
A herd of cattle can be seen grazing in a large grass pasture. In the distance, jagged blue mountains pierce the sky. A close up of the cattle shows one cow eating right behind another one. The cow drops a huge load right in the spot the other cow was just eating. The cow slowly lifts his head looking upset and turns away. Another small group of cows is seen eating. A low buzzing sound is heard as a fly passes over a cow. The cow tries to swat the fly with its tail, but misses. The buzz slowly increases until it is full bore. Suddenly a swift moving object splits the slow, stupid cattle. Dusts flies up around the unknown rider. His body crouched, his head low, he rides like he is fighting the rotation of the earth itself. His poncho flies behind him like a cape. His face is covered with a bandana but his intense and deliberately focused eyes can be seen. The rider is known to those who don’t know him, which is almost everyone, as THE LOST BOY. Seeing some sinister looking silhouettes in the distance, he pulls a wheelie on his modified dirt bike and comes down accelerating. He then slowly pulls two saddle rifles of his back and aims them straight into the face of the camera and though it would seem impossible whizzes past even faster. A shot rings out and the back bike tire explodes. Reacting quickly the Lost Boy hits the brakes on the bike and just before crashing, jumps off. He lands on his feet like an olympic long jumper, facing a group of five men, who suspiciously look like they knew he was coming back. Meanwhile the group of men, known as “THE GOOD OLD BOYS” are spending a regular afternoon working on their 1967 Chevy C-10, before the rider approaches. The leader, JOHNNY ROTTEN, is working on the engine with the hood up. Another SHEP, is working under the car on his back. BILLY, sitting in the back nursing a beer and a cigarette, begins to slowly stand, reaching for his gun.
BILLY
Johnny? I think someone’s coming.
Johnny pokes his out from under the hood straining to focus on a figure in the distance. Shep, a long skinny farm boy, wearing overalls and a train conductors cap over shaggy straw-like hair, slides out from underneath the truck.
SHEP
What is that?
BILLY
I don’t know, but it’s moving quicker than two frogs on a banjo.
SHEP
(looking at Billy)
What?
JOHNNY
Well I’ll be… (interrupted)
A shot rings out from behind them. It startles Billy and he drops the beer. ROD, a medium build redhead with handsome looks and a cocky smile, walks up from behind the truck carrying a buffalo rifle.
ROD
Yee-hoo, I think I got me a big one.
BILLY
(sarcastically)
Look pop, that man shot himself that squirrel, rightthenthere, isn’t he so tuff?
ROD
(to Billy)
Your next dipshit.
The dust clears in front of them and the figure of the Lost Boy stands holding two Winchester “yellowboy” rifles. The good ol boys step away from their spots on the truck and step forward, lining up in front of the figure.
To be continued…I hope to bring you updates from time to time and always remember to check curtmerlo.blogspot.com.
Carol of the Bells Mannheim Steamroller
Take My Hand Ben Harper
Dont Know Why Norah Jones
Superman Five for Fighting
Intuition Jewel
Landslide Dixie Chicks
Many Rivers To Cross Oleta Adams
Cry Out to Jesus Third Day
Tehnologic Daft Punk
The Firebird Suite Boston Symphony
The Best of Me The Starting Line
Time Marches On Dr John
Brick Ben Folds Five
An Improvisation on Canon D Robin Spielberg
Superstition Stevie Wonder
Wondering what this list means? Me too. iTunes new Just For You feature created it for me based on the music it thinks I would like.
i#### you don’t know me.*
*censored cause it wasn’t that funny and I got tired of reading it when I check my own blog 25 times a day.
I came up with practically this same idea when I was three*. Except mine involved sticking playskool people in my diaper. I believe I fit somewhere around the number 14, now known as the official measurement for the buttload. I also tried lighting my pee on fire (after it was on the ground of course).
Check out the website here. The best part is the different names for pee and poo they have listed under the main section.
*I don’t actually know how old I was. I said three but then changed it to baby and then changed it back to three and added this disclaimer so that no one can say “you had diapers when you were three?” because I do not know the common age for potty training, though it seems to me, that it is before three years of age.
Doug TenNapel, award winning creator of graphic novels: Creature Tech, Tommysaurus Rex, Earthboy Jacobus and his newest Iron West, has an exclusive on the Bush/Blair secret conversation.
Check it out at tennapel.com.
Also, check out Iron West. I actually just finished Creature Tech and Earthboy Jacobus. Doug mixes humor, action, and meaningful stories very well. This is all perfectly brought together by his great art.
I was at the drug store yesterday looking for something sweet and I found this. I almost threw up at the sight of it. The picture does not do it justice. It is at least as big as a McDonald’s quarter pounder. I instead opted for generic brand gummy worms. I knew better, but I guess I was in a moment of moral weakness. I actually purposely passed up red rasberry dollars at the low price of 99 cents. Im still realing from that decision…and my hands are still greasy from the gummy worms.
