From IMDb Pro: "An unauthorized production of Bram Stoker's work with enough preserved to recognize, but enough changed to be legal (names changed to protect the innocent?). Count Orlok's move to Bremen brings the plague traceable to his dealings with the realtor Thomas Hutter, and the Count's obsession with Hutter's wife, Ellen the only one with the power to end the evil. - Summary written by Denise Stickel

Directed by F.W. Murnau.

Yes, the entire 1 hour and 24 minute and 19 second film! Thanks Google Video!! I'm sure no one will watch the whole thing. It's just darned cool that it's available.

One of biggest things about writing fiction is problem solving. How does this event or story item come in to being? Does it make sense being there? Even though the story structure has been laid out fairly thoroughly I find myself having to backtrack a lot and deal with problems that crop up as things take shape.

It's really a sales job. If the writer doesn't buy the story neither will his readers or viewers. Ensuring an airtight plot without spending the entire screenplay on exposition isn't exactly an easy task. No wonder some people just throw in the towel and take the "who cares about plot?" route. It sure would make life a lot easier.

Being committed to walking that fine line of having the story move along smoothly without becoming bogged down in the drudgery of details is something to remind one's self of daily. Many times I've watched a film and said, "I could write something better than that". Trying to put one's money where one's huge mouth helps a braggart to realize why more people don't do it. Its hard work. Did I mention that writing is hard work? Well it is.

Still the hardest part is actually typing that first sentence of the day. Ugh! The old ego doesn't want to do it. If the actually gets finished, all those negative thoughts, especially the "I'll never finish" one will be null and void.

Then what will become of me? Will the world implode?

The smallest, most trivial things are often a distraction:

"What's that? Oh a news item about sardines. Better read that before I start writing today."

"Darn my toenails need clipping. Perhaps dull hedge trimmers would do the job before I start writing. That means going out to the garage, which means getting dressed, which means having to take a shower... which will require... What was it I was going to do?"

You all know what I mean. Don't you? Probably not. I know I'm insane. The men with the butterfly nets are waiting outside. You'll find me hiding in the broom closet with the swiffer in my hand. Ta ta for now.

I had to do it... Brokeback of the Dead? Come on. It's got my favourite zombie in it. His name is Bub and you'll see him in George A Romero's Day of the Dead. My MSN messenger address is bubzombie[at]hotmail.com if you'd like to shoot the breeze btw. ;)

Another four pages of script today. I'm amazed every day at how much fun I'm having. I thought hard work was supposed to be "hard". I guess its alright that I'm actually enjoying myself. I don't care if its not okay. I'm going to have fun anyway. It seems to get easier every day. I look forward to sitting down in front of the computer and learning about what happens next. Even though I have the story structure worked out from beginning to end it's interesting to see these characters come to life on the page as I add some meat to the bones. Another cool part of writing is what I loved about movies and reading to begin with - escape. I look at art as a peek into real parallel worlds already in existence. Its up to the artist, be it painter, filmmaker or sculptor to tap into that world and report on his or her experience of that world for others to see and enjoy.

I heard from the PM for 49th and Main, the show I applied to be Producer's Assistant on, and they've gone with someone who has more experience with script clearance. Here's a brief article form BBC on clearances and why they're necessary. That's fine. I'm happy that I made the contacts I did. I will definitely use them.

I applied for another of these gigs today. This one is a little more up my alley as it is for that of a Director's Assistant. I've already sent my résumé and a snazzy note expressing my interest in the job. Looks as though there's some travel involved. That could be fun. I'll keep you posted. We could really use the money right now (I'm still waiting for a cheque from Smallville. I called today. Apparently its in the mail. LOL!) and I'd love to gain some experience with an established director.

Oh and apparently someone from Paramount Pictures advertising firm has taken note of my blog and emailed me wanting to send me promotional materials for the upcoming hilarious looking Nacho Libre (doesn't that mean free cheese?) starring the whacky Jack Black and directed by Jared Hess of Napolean Dynamite fame. Cool! I'll take some free stuff and write about it. No problemmo!

Anyhoo, that's it for today. More tomorrow.

Sorry if this seems at all self serving to any of you. Honestly, it is. It helps to keep me working and honest.

CBC Arts: 'Gunsmoke' actor Dennis Weaver dies
I remember him most from shows like McCloud and especially Gentle Ben. He was 81.



Darren McGavin of Kolchak the Nightstalker and A Christmas Story fame has also passed away at 83. "Bumpasses!!!" McGavin is seen above with Don Knotts who also died this past weekend in a scene from Disney's Hot Lead and Cold Feet (much like Carol's beloved Apple Dumpling Gang). He also starred with Knotts in another of those Disney films I remember so fondly called No Deposit, No Return.

This completes the weird triumvirate of elderly actors shuffling off this mortal coil. It's been a sad few days for people who loved these actors. They did leave us with so much.

Nope. Not a joke. Just a really nice story found whilst surfing. Like it says, I just had to share. Methinks there's a movie here. It smacks of Rain Man and Forrest Gump.

An oldie but a goodie. Still very pertinent. OMG these guys are nerds.

ABC News: Actor Don Knotts Dies at 81
Good-bye Mr Furley. We'll miss those colourful suits and funky cravats.

Doesn't seem like I did a lot today, only adding one page. However I had a revelation in the shower that strengthened the main character a lot and required the reworking and polishing of a few of the earlier scenes. Reads much tighter now.

I also had to cut my writing day short as I had a job interview for a 6 week gig as a producer's assistant with Dan Schlanger and his ultra-nice production manager Ian Wayne. I'd be working doing clearance and script stuff on a soap being shot at the CBC studios as well as being Dan's right hand. Not sure if I'll get the gig or not, but the interview went well. I'd like the gig as it's only temporary and will give me more experience in producing, not mention a little dough.

Regardless of the outcome I have another contact in the industry. He was interested when I told him I was writing horror movies and told me I seem like the type who needs to be creative. That's a nice compliment from someone in his position. He said he likes to help people especially those breaking in. I think I'll take him up on that.

It's Dad's 68th birthday today. Dad is pictured here with his prize hole in one trophy. He got it after golfing for only a few years. Nicely done.

He and Mom are off to Myrtle Beach for 5 days of relaxation and some golf. Then its on to the usual spot in Florida at Panama City Beach in the panhandle for a month. Nice! You guys deserve the great time I know you're having. Love you and drive safe.

Financial management for a a lot of people means simply debt management, so we'll talk quite a bit about that here too.

Simply (although not always easy) the best way to manage your debt problems is by paying them down. Remember those nasty student credit cards burned huge holes in your pocket all those years ago? How can you forget? You still owe on them. It was so bad for us at one point I even thought I would have to refinance my house. What are some ways you can free up some money without refinancing your mortgage?

A lot of people are constantly asking their advisors when to refinance. My answer... don't. Not the way they want you too.

Another four pages today. It just seems to be coming out of me now. I could just keep going but a part of me wants to take a break every few pages. Kind of like savouring the moment. Or maybe I'm afraid of what will happen after I'm done. I get so far ahead of myself sometimes. Anyway, I'm just doing it.

I've also had some great ideas about marketing the short on the web and other fundraising ideas to help get the full feature made. No Telefilm isn't one of them. There are no french speaking beavers in touques or maple syrup drinking Mounties in canoes in this film. At least not yet. I was think more along the lines of cool merchandising. Stuff like hats, t-shirts, keychains and mousepads. That kind of stuff. I'll explain more as I get closer to launch the site for the short, but that's quite far way right now.

Any words of encouragement are welcome right now. Other people's positivity does help if even just a little. However, I'm realizing that it's only from within and my belief in good orderly direction that I can find the will to action on this one.

We can thank Bull for this one. I know I've posted a lot of these parodies, but they are some funny stuff. I hope this is the last of the Brokeback ones. I'm kind of tired of them. However, I couldn't pass up the Spongebob homo references. Sorry. ;)

I haven't posted in this category for a long time. So I'll refresh you on what it's here for. "Zone 63" is the working title of one of the feature length screenplays that I'm writing. I say one of because lately I've had this bizarre flood of film ideas through which a number of other projects have come into being and required some attention. In other words I got completely distracted by this head, constantly spinning like a blender, that I have. Curse or gift it's all mine so one must make the best of it.

Thankfully, I have a wife who loves me and looks out for me. A few weeks ago Carol bought me a book by The Artist's Way author Julia Cameron who's work she truly enjoys. The book, called Walking in This World, of course, sat unopened on the arm of the sofa for a week. As Carol is reading and doing the exercises in the book herself she came across a chapter that she felt pertinent to my current dilemma. She bookmarked it brought the book into my office and said, "you should read this." I didn't. For a week or so this book sat nagging me on my desk as I felt worse and worse. Yesterday, completely at sea and unable to see any horizon for all the fog in my head I picked it up.

dresskevin.com - I didn't know what to wear, so I made a website.

Check it out! You can help Kevin dress for work by voting on what you believe he should wear. Too bad there aren't any tutus. I'd have him wearng one of those, diving flippers for shoes, rainbow toes socks and a sombrero every day.

This cheered me up a bit too... Cheney's got a gun (v3)

Fukitol - The Official Site. I'm feeling rather out of sorts lately. That helps.

This is as it should have been. Thanks Carol.

Hooray for whoever put this one together. Gay midget scientology dwarf is creepy.

Surprise...

You're An Angry Drunk

Ever wake up with sore knuckles and a black eye? Thought so.

A heads up on a cool looking movie from Chud.com. I must see Special. This movie looks great. Right up my alley. Bennett and I were talking about just such an idea on Monday.

Here's the synopsis:

LES FRANKEN (Michael Rapaport) leads a painfully unremarkable life as a metermaid until he enrolls in a drug study for an experimental anti-depressant. An unexpected side effect of the drug convinces Les he is developing special powers and must quit his job to answer his new calling in life... Superhero.

A very select group of people in life are truly gifted. Special is a movie about everyone else.

Check out the trailer.

I hate Valentine's Day. I am the Valentines Grinch. It's a stupid made up consumer centered, guilt endorsing holiday. Appears I'm not the only one who feels this way. This site, My Black Valentine, is right up my alley. You get a chance to shoot Valentine's Day crap. Hooray for shotguns and creativity.

CBC Arts: 'Jaws' author Peter Benchley dies at 65

da dum da dum da dum da dum da dum da dum da dum da da dead!

And World of Warcraft nerds to use their weird characters to make videos for songs about pr0n on the interweb...

With all of the conflict in the world toady I think I'd like to read the book Clash of Civilizations as metioned at Wikipedia. Has anyone else read this?

40-metre profanity spotted from space | The Register

I guess the writer had nothing better to say. I really like the Google Maps version the best.

Thanks to my new friend Mark from HNR Carol and I got to go and see the Vancouver premiere of Final Destination 3 at Cinemark Tinseltown last evening.

James Wong, writer and director of the first in this series of three, has returned to take another stab at scaring horror fans to the box office after being shut out of terrible Final Destination 2 by Newline. Aside from cashing in on the success of the first film (or two), the whole point of making a sequel is to top one’s self creatively. In some respects he succeeded but in others, namely the writing of the piece, the film falls far short.

TheMovieBlog pointed out that there's plans for a film starring and directed by Bruce Campbell himself in which he is mistaken for his Evil Dead trilogy character Ash. Check out the the post from Campbell's own website explaining the film.

They Call Him Bruce...

They Call Me Bruce is being produced by Dark Horse Indie, the new joint venture production company created by Dark Horse Entertainment and Image Entertainment. Popular actor and Oregon resident Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead, Army of Darkness) is set to star and direct. He will also produce the project with another Oregon resident, Dark Horse president Mike Richardson.

They Call Me Bruce is the tale of a small town set upon by demons after a group of teen-agers unwittingly unleash an ancient curse. Campbell, playing himself, is kidnapped off the set of a B horror movie and, despite his protestations that he's just an actor, is forced to play the role of his heroic movie character in order to save the town. Mark Verheiden (The Mask, TimeCop) is writing the screenplay. Production is scheduled for early 2006 in southern Oregon.

I emailed him today and asked him if I can be an extra or something crazy.

My letter to him:

Dear Bruce,
Big fan here. Love all your stuff. Would love a gig as an extra in your upcoming film, They Call Me Bruce. I will transport from Vancouver BC and feed and house myself. If you don't feel like paying me, don't. If you would like to kick me feel free. I've been and AD and a PA before so I'm used to being kicked (Hey I could play one in the movie). Here's my IMDb profile (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2024582/) just to show how hard I like to be kicked. :)

Sincerely,
Mike Browne - Zombie Freak

You scored as Bomb. Your death will be by bombing. You will probably be an innocent bystander, not doing anything wrong and not a person who was targeted at, just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Bomb 67% Natural Causes 67% Suicide 60% Posion 53% Cut Throat 53% Disappear 47% Gunshot 40% Disease 27% Drowning 27% Eaten 20% Stabbed 20% Suffocated 20% Accident 13% How Will You Die?? created with QuizFarm.com

Hey! Hang on a minute. Natural causes tied for death by bombing. I'll take that. Thank you very much.

Of course...


Thanks to borther Phil aka Crumb the Barbarian for this one.

Oh and don't forget Super Bowl XL Commercials on Google Video. Brought to you by Mike Browne, mindless consumer corporate zombie automaton.

I was just looking at the Mohammed Image Archive. Some of the cartoons are pretty offensive. I can see why people get upset, but I don't get how a drawing warrants burning an embassy to the ground.

I like the Filibuster Cartoons response to recent events:

Moosh is definitely not a Socially Conscious Companion. She's too selfish. She's currently whining for treats outside my office door. Why? Apparently after you poop on the way to the mailbox you deserve a cookie. Perhaps one of the collar tags on the site would help her to remember she's not the only one on the planet who's hard done by.

Tired of mega corporations like Starbucks and Tim Horton's monopolizing your daily caffeine intake? I am. Enough of this crap. I'm in search of a better cup of coffee.

A good way to find it is via Delocator.ca. All you have to do is enter a postal code to locate a non-corporate café near you. If the one you go to isn't there you can add it to save the coffee lives of others.

It was a great year for movies. People who did a bang up job are going to win this year and I'm happy!

I know I've bitched a lot about the Oscars before. Honestly it has been mostly out of envy and partly out of arrogance. This year I'm going to try to be a little nicer (right). Anyway, below are the categories, a brief intro by me, their nominees and my picks (that is if I've seen enough to pick). In green will be who I think will actually win. In red will be who I would like to see win if my opinion differs. Okay so, here goes...

Best Motion Picture of the Year

We've actually seen every one of these movies so I'm not just talking out of my ass in this category. All of these stand out. One question though. Where is Sin City? LOL! I wish.

Brokeback Mountain - Diana Ossana, James Schamus
Capote - Caroline Baron, William Vince, Michael Ohoven
Crash - Paul Haggis, Cathy Schulman
Good Night, and Good Luck. - Grant Heslov
Munich - Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Barry Mendel

Don't get me wrong, Brokeback Mountain was a good film (no I'm not a homophobe it just wasn't the best), but Goodnight and Good Luck was far more timely and moving. I would even pick Crash and Capote before Brokeback. Munich, although worth watching, so-so.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

Quite a race this year for best actor. All of these guys took risks for these roles and my hat is off to every one of them. My pick is the same as who will win. Even though I think that Joaquin Pheonix should get a silver plated Oscar for his portrayal of Johnny Cash in Walk the Line. Hell the guy did his own singing and did it well. However, Jamie Foxx won for Ray last year so there will be no Oscars for men playing dead singers this year. Hold on. Did Truman Capote ever sing?

Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote
Terrence Howard for Hustle & Flow
Heath Ledger for Brokeback Mountain
Joaquin Phoenix for Walk the Line
David Strathairn for Good Night, and Good Luck.

Up yours Russell Crowe you arrogant phone throwing S.O.B. I guees you messed up.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

We're in trouble here. I've only seen Walk the Line, but have heard Felicity Huffman's performance in Transamerica was brilliant. I'll go safe and stick with what I've seen and the bulk of the previous awards in this category.

Judi Dench for Mrs. Henderson Presents
Felicity Huffman for Transamerica
Keira Knightley for Pride & Prejudice
Charlize Theron for North Country
Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line

More after the jump

Funny stuff! As an aside it looks like YouTube is following GoogleVideo's lead with the add to site option. Cool!

I've been wondering what to feed folks for Superbowl. Thanks to Scar for pointing out this link to The Sneeze - Steve Don't Eat It. However I don't think we'll be eating anything on this absolutely disgusting list any time soon. If you're at all queezy you have been warned. I'm still wretching.

I think we'll stick with chips, pretzels and pop. Yes Bennett, there will be a pie too.

Carol and I just watched the director's cut of Donnie Darko the other night. I had seen the theatrical release a couple of times, but this cut made a great film even greater. Wow! I've watched it twice already in the past few days. Once just the film and once with director's commentary with Richard Kelly and his pal, the acerbic director of Clerks and Dogma Kevin Smith (who has his own blog). There's so much here I'll have to watch it some more.

Donnie Darko is either a story about a boy with schizophrenia, "possibilities" (as the director said), that of a time travelling superhero who makes the ultimate sacrifice to save his loved ones or a combination of all three. You'll have to watch it to find out for yourself. If it doesn't make sense to you upon first watching watch it again. Check out the Cellar Door website after you watch the film.

It didn't do so well upon it's original release which was about a month after September 11, 2001 most likely because its not the lightest of stories and is a real thinking person's film. No one was ready to think about anything else heavy at that time. Now, almost five years later, people like myself are rediscovering this film with enthusiasm.

Director Richard Kelly expanded on the Donnie Darko story adding some brilliant visual and sound design elements as well as a few extra moments of scenes that didn't make the theatrical cut. Well worth a watch. I now count it as one of my favourite all time films.

Buy Donnie Darko