Take this Screen!!!

All I see is black. Thick, un-margined black.

So I decided to turn my computer on, and what'd I find? Script...writing...software? Who the fuck plays this type of an evil joke on an unsuspecting person? Apparently I did. Sadly, the humor was lost on me.

I've had this ability- kinda like a super power in a really bad comic- to waste days and days reading other peoples scripts and then turning on God.

God, if you're not privy, is a slim, pale, caring beauty. One that understands my needs and comforts me through the good and the bad, and even the pathetic syntax that spouts from my mouth and fingertips. God know's when I'm neglecting, or when I'm being neglected. But God's message is clear- "Find me and I shall comfort you through the darkness, make work for your idle hands, and I will not freeze before you get to save your game."

It's nice of God to do these things for me. And come with an assortment of games at only 59.99 US. God even comes with a remote control, two controllers, and a 20G hardrive. Where would I be without God?


The easy answer would be "getting laid, dipshit." Silly girlfriend with crystal clear answers. Silly.

The truth is that I'd be here, on my computer, writing the Greatest Story Ever told- AKA- my new spec. And so, under threat from aforementioned Silly Girl that if I didn't do so she'd throw God out the window, I am. Slowly. Too slowly.

Act I has started with a bang, and like a Gypsy with your wallet; I can already see the finish line. Too bad I've got gimpy knees and hate running.

Months of procrastinating under the guise of actual 'paid work' I've decided it's time to at least hobble along. But I've given myself a deadline. Oct. 10th. And with God whispering sweet nothings in my ear, this seems unlikely. I've written scripts faster before, but this one deserves my time. At least not in between shifts of my new Bishop- NHL 07. How do you all get away from distractions? Kids, kittens, games, wikipedia, orinformational websites? What are your great ways to block the outside world, besides just turning off the TV?

Rise of the ....CCortex?

CCortex is planned to complete a 20-billion neuron simulation of the Human Cortex and peripheral systems, on a cluster of 500 computers - the largest neural network created to date. Different versions of the simulation have been running since June 2003 on the company data center.

Artificial Development intends CCortex to be a state-of-the-art simulation of the human brain. With 20 billion neurons and 20 trillion connections, CCortex will be up to 10 000 times larger than any previous attempt to replicate, partially or completely, primary characteristics of Human Intelligence, and could be the first neural system to achieve a level of complexity rivaling that of the mammalian brain. According to AD, CCortex will be able to 'replicate' "pattern recognition, verbal and visual communication, knowledge acquisition, and conscious-approximate decision-making capabilities."

CCortex aims to mimic the structure of the human brain with a layered distribution of neural nets and detailed interconnections, and is planned to closely emulate specialized regions of the Human Cortex, Corpus Callosum, Anterior Commissure, Amygdala and Hippocampus. The simulation is planned to provide feedback and limited interaction with reduced, simplified functional versions of other nervous and sensory systems such as the Brainstem, Thalamus, Cerebellum, Retina and auditory processing systems.

CCortex is intended to perform a number of tasks previously unavailable to traditional computing by recreating the complexity and functionality of those cortical regions that are most likely responsible for processing higher-level functions of human intelligence.


Anyone else thinking...

Over Ocean, And Behind Closed Doors

Lou Ye

I have not seen this film. I hope to...but I may never realize that hope. And so it would seem- neither will Lou Ye. He faces a ban for the next 5 years.

Here's the article:

Lou Ye In better times, I hope more to come.

Chinese authorities have banned the film director Lou Ye from making films for five years because he failed to seek permission from them before his latest work, set against the backdrop of the Tiananmen uprising, was screened at the Cannes film festival.

Mr Lou's film Summer Palace is to be confiscated and income from it seized, the Xinhua news agency reported. The film impressed audiences when it was shown in the main competition for the Palme d'Or this May, but already troubles were rumbling with China's state administration of radio, film and television. The censors denied the film approval as Cannes opened, and members of the production team flew back to Beijing during the festival to negotiate with officials.

Later in the festival a number of Chinese journalists covering Cannes were summoned back early to Beijing.

The epic-scale film charts an intense love affair that begins at Beijing University in 1989, against the turbulent, exultant backdrop of the Tiananmen Square protests - using chilling archive news footage of tanks rolling in to the square. But the euphoria of both the protests and the love affair quickly fades, and the story follows the characters as they split up and pursue their different paths.

The portrayal of the optimism and idealism of the protests sharply contradicts the official version of the events as counter-revolutionary riots. And, in a culture where showing sex in art is strictly off limits, the film contains at least eight explicit though tender sex scenes.

Mr Lou has had brushes with the authorities before; he suffered a two-year ban from film-making after his thriller-like, Shanghai-set Souzhou River (2000). At Cannes, he said that to "make sure that the film can be released in China ... I would agree to remove any scene they want." But such is the quantity of provocative material in the work that it seems unlikely that would be possible.

As for the Tiananmen Square scenes, he said: "The action does not just concern 1989, it covers 1989 to 2003. 1989 is just one year in that period ... during shooting, I always forget about this kind of issue, of what's banned and what's not. Now it's become a personal issue and I will have to find a way of improving my way of working."


This is the Article

Sad state of affairs to be sure, but not uncommon.

"I'm a TOOL"

With a little flicker on the iPod, winamp, cd player, record spinning thingymagig- a lot of writers find themselves tapping out to tunes they've grown up with or recently found. I'm no different, I suppose. I often find setting and tone within the music I choose.

And then sometimes it's just fun to rock the fuck out.

This past two weeks, I've been in Vegas and Washington for my one and only Vacation this year (some would say that's lucky)- I went down to the gorge and watched TOOL. For those that don't know them- they're an industrial metal or a prog-metal band depending on your classification. Not everyones cup of tea.

But man, oh man...oh man...

If for one night in my life God ripped off the ceiling and asked me to join him for a few hours- it would probably equate to this concert. 25000-30000 people in the open Gorge near Quincy Washinton, surrounded by vineyards...feeling the earth quake with every strum.

It didn't get me thinking about writing some thunderous powerful story. It just made me realize that people on top of thier games have the ability to come, conquer, and leave you breathless.

This is what my scripts need to be.

I'm going to go drown myself in a pool of self-doubt now.