Real Talk: It’s All About the Joke, Please Get Over Yourself
Ya’ll seem to like it when I talk about stuff. So I’m talking about more stuff to help ya’ll know me better as a filmmaker and a human being as well. Hopefully I can help some of you guys out as well. I’m certainly helping my own damn self.
Anyway, I just wanted to talk about writing things that are funny and just how I feel about it. When you’re like me and have a gift for making people laugh (sometimes for the very wrong reasons) it’s your responsibility, or rather becomes your responsibility to keep those quality laughs coming. Everyone does it differently Some do sock puppets, others smash fruit (I still don’t get it) and others like me make you try and laugh at things you really shouldn’t.
The last is what I truly excel at and it’s not really a crowded field. I can tell you why right now.
We live in a society these days where we don’t fight our own fights and think that everyone is out to get us. It’s like the Cold War but instead of fighting the USSR, we’re fighting invisible enemies within ourselves caused by what WE think is right or wrong… but in the grand sense of things, it’s just not the damn case at all.
As a writer, you always have to remember what you write isn’t always who you are. Just fucking think about that notion for a second. All these great directors and writers.
What if Quinton Tarantino was exactly the guy he is in his movies? Besides being a badass motherfucker who hates Nazis (I mean, that’s a song we can all dance to. Fuck Nazis.) I’m not about to sit there, pick out something offensive about the guy based on what I saw, then judge his entire life which I can tell you right now is much more awesome than mine is right now. I’m sure he’s a super chill dude. You really have to be to make movies or else you’ll end up killing yourself. Shit is stressful.
I bring all this up because those of you who know me personality or follow my work at all know the type of shit I write. It’s unapologetic, honest and really out there. It really makes you dig deep into that evil spot we all have and just make it cackle. It’s a really cleansing feeling to laugh at a good Anne Frank or Holocaust joke, you should all try it sometime. There are some really good ones out there.
All too often though, I get the person who’s all like.
Then talk about how they’re offended as if it gives them some sort of magical rights. In reality it’s nothing but a bunch of bitching. What’s next? Name calling? An internet petition I’m serious, it’s like high school never ended. Still have to deal with this bullshit.
If you’re writing things and doing things JUST to offend people, that’s wrong and really trollish on a whole different level. Don’t know who does those types of things unless there’s something seriously wrong with them mentally.
Like the title says, it’s all about the joke. Anything I say is from a place of humor. Even if there’s truth to it, end of the day, it’s just a joke. Nothing more. It doesn’t hurt anybody. And once you start the joke, see it through to the end. You apparently thought it was funny enough to start, man up and finish it.
That beings me to the most important rule… this goes for people reading or watching what you wrote as well.
IF YOU LAUGH, IT’S FUNNY… AND YOU CAN’T GET MAD.
“Shut up: You Laughed.” is the company motto don’t you know.
So don’t go and judge anyone just based on what they write. If you must, engage them in a rational adult conversation, maybe they’ll see where you’re coming from. I personally always try and talk it out if someone feels upset in any way and basically tell them what I just said. It’s not necessarily how I feel, I’m not a Nazi, Nazis were made to be made fun of. Black jokes are hilarious because they’re based on truth. Jews like money, that’s just a fact that happens to be fucking hilarious if used in context.
Whatever I write I’ll defend. That’s about it. Anyone who writes should feel the same way.
Everything Else: The Warrior’s Path… This is high level stuff we’re doing.
Filming has begun… and I wanted to share a little clip with you guys. It’s far from complete. But I wanted to show you guys the tune we got going here.
Check out this rough scene on the great hipster video uploading site.
It Truly IS the way. When it Works…
Well, I totally have my music games covered at all times. From Pump, to DDR, to Rock Band. I’ve been playing quite a bit as of late getting in the mindset for said movie.
But I was surprised to see that Snoop Leon’s (I still can’t get used to that name) rhyhem game was out. So natually I had to scoop it up.
If you’ve ever played Elite Beat Agents or even downloaded OSU!. You know what’s up. Match buttons to the beat. Move the stick a little. You’ll build up meter to do a super move and you must get there before your opponent does. Simple as that.
There we go. That actually looked pretty fun didn’t it? Because it fucking is. And at 10 bucks for a new music game, you can’t go wrong right?
Here are the things I liked.
-It’s Snoop.
-It’s cheap.
-It’s fresh and original.
-It’s Snoop.
What I didn’t Like…
-The story is the worst thing
-That I wasn’t high while playing this. It would be the best fucking thing ever.
-The fact that that game glitches a lot and will fail to load the inputs That’s right, a music game that will randomly not load prompts. That’s a serious problem if you’re going for scores like me.
-The game will randomly drop your inputs like Marvel 3 does. I highly doubt this was done on purpose. If it was, then bravo.
-Frame rate issues.
-Did I mention how DUMB the story was. As a filmmaker, I was cringing at the writing and editing that went into the story. Quite frankly, they could have left the story out all together and just purely made it about a fighting tournament or something. That would have been pretty cool. Instead, we’re stuck hearing the story of America Jones.
-Where the fuck are my F-Words at? I know they were trying to get a Teen rating to sell more copies. But come on guys, it’s Snoop. Old school Snoop. I know an M-Rating might not sell what you want. But I’m still waiting for that M-Rated music game.
All and all, it’s 10 bucks. Check it.
REAL TALK: Suicide and Such
As much as I love to talk about movies and all matter of funny stuff on this site (when I get the chance to actually do it that is. Movie and all) But I wanted to talk about something I really don’t discuss too often, and that’s on the subject of suicide.
Yeah, way to be a downer Joe. I’m sorry but it’s some stuff I’ve wanted to say for a while
But it’s just something that hits real close to home with me for two reasons. Well three. One of them is just an opinion.
First off isn’t really so serious. It’s just what I see a lot in film making at least at the lower independent levels. There’s a ton of indie dramatic shorts out there. But A LOT of them just end up with the main character committing suicide. I’m not saying those filmmakers shouldn’t end their characters in such a manner. I mean it’s their world and they can do what they want. But the problem I see is that they’re not taking the time to actually dig into that person’s reason for suicide. When a human being commits suicide, most often than not, they do it alone and away from people. That, and they usually don’t talk about killing themselves RIGHT BEFORE the fact. That always got on my nerves. Really the writer and or director go for the cheap payoff of killing off the character and generating feels that way. I just always felt it was cheap and really cheapens the very idea of suicide for those that don’t have to deal with it.
This is part of the reason why I do the comedies I do. They’re loud and silly. They have a special place in the realm of films that tie you up and force you to feel things. Yes it works, but like I said, it cheapens the idea and is just used as a magical mcguffin for emotion.
Why I feel this way is simple. Here are the two reasons.
1st off. There was my friend Airman First Class Jim Walsh. We spent many a day playing DDR and other arrow stomp. But more importantly we discussed our problems with one another and always helped each other out. I knew him for 9 really good years. But our conversations turned darker when he went to the Air Force Academy (quite an honor) He had issues dealing, plus medication. I spent a good deal of time some days talking to him, and cheer him up. He would always end up cheering me up too. But I got that call that he passed away and I couldn’t help be feel like I could have done more to help. And quite frankly I could have. This bothered me for quite some time. I think it always will. We all could have done a lot more him.
That leads me to reason number three, which is myself. What me and Jim had in common is the fact that we both tried to kill ourselves while in military. I was just lucky that I survived my attempt. However, that’s not the end of it. The whole memory and idea stays with you. No matter how okay you say you are. It’s really some crap and you’ll be dealing with for a really long time.
I guess what I’m getting at is you really can’t deal with this type of thing alone. If you know someone who’s really on some hard times and may have mentioned the suicide thing before, just take some time to talk to him and check up on him. I never really had that. So even after my attempt, I always felt alone. I still actually still feel that today. I really wish I could have found a support group or something but I believe it’s a little too late for such a thing. Don’t take it lately, it’s a serious matter and should be handled accordingly and with love or else you’ll have a buttload of problems down the line. I have problems trusting people and building relationships and even just being around groups of people. Suicide, even when unsuccessful causes real problems.
Keep an eye on the people around you. Give them all the love you can give them. Because I’m sure they deserve it.
Now, back to fun things.
Review: At Stake: Vampire Solutions
There’s been a lot of talk about vampires in the past couple of yes. From True Blood, to that lame Disney Channel series… to Twilight. But the question is always around… who deals with these vampires in real world scenarios? That’s where At Stake: Vampire Solutions comes in.
This is a documentary style film (Think Blair Witch with a better camera… and acting.) focusing on the day to day operations of the AS:VS crew as they take their modified paintball guns full of glass marbles, and kill hoards of vamps terrorizing the town. Ending is one of the most insane vampire mosh pits I’ve seen in a while. Didn’t really think vampires really attacked in large groups but then again I was quite surprised so it did it’s job.
I’m usually not into the documentary style movie… unless it’s Christopher Guest. He just gets it. But here, it’s used to really get inside the heads of these rather radical human beings. They really remind me of the people I used to work with at the grocery store… only with weapons and shit.
I think I may have spoiled too much. The story is relatively simple so there’s nothing much to say… other than it’s a documentary gone horribly wrong.
It’s something fucking original. Give it a watch, it’s damn short. Quite frankly I would love to see a series on this thing. But who knows what the future is gonna bring from this one. Watch it and enjoy.
If you’re not convinced. Go ahead and watch the trailer.
Then go watch it on demand, or get yourself a Blu-Ray like I watched. Sound was crisp as hell on the Blu-Ray though. Didn’t get the DVD to compare, but I’m sure it sounds just as good.
Hell yes, we’re back. And here’s the future.
Hey guys. It’s been a hard life. But I’m here to talk about what the fuck we’re going to do next.
1. Youtube
If you haven’t checked out the Youtube yet do so. We have plenty of gaming related stuff. Mostly Marvel 3 stuff but we have other things too. We intend to have some Let’s plays sometime soon as well. Just let us know what we should do.
Also, you’ll see some shorts or some other nice things as well. You’ll also get our features as well. Why not use Vimeo? We’re not a bunch of fucking hipsters here.
2. Everything Else: The Warriors Path
Yes, this is the last part of the series. It’s been fun but we have bigger and better things ahead of us. The will be casting notices and whatnot very soon as I lock down these main roles. Everyone seems to be loving the new script thus far and I couldn’t be more proud. Nothing but high hopes and good things for this movie.
3. Dating for the Realistically Challenged
This is he I’ve been working on for quite some time. What do we get when we combine the mentally I’ll with speed dating? The result is just all kinds of fucked up… To say the very least. This will be shot Ina single day during the summer. And it will be quite sick.
4. A Hint of Cherry
I have been working on this off and on for the past couple of years. Its about vampires with some really questionable tastes. Hopefully we will have this filmed soon as well.
5. Dat Journalism
I’m jumping back into reviews. Gaming, movies, etc. I will also be doing con coverage starting with C2E2 next month. I will also be at Anime Midwest and GenCon Indy this year. If you see me around, shoot me a holler.
Its going to be an awesome year. Let’s rock.
Well, the movie is out. Before you go and watch… Let’s see what I learned.
Production started in August… of 2011… and now the movie is finally coming out more or less.
I’ll have a Youtube link for you guys as soon as I get back.
I just wanted to go over everything that happened and why the hell it took a year and a half other than the 4 months of turnaround with the first movie. I can tell you why. Personal problems.
In general I like to keep my lost tempers and anger strictly in a private setting. That’s why you haven’t seen any (really) angry posts and a lot of woe-is-me bullshit. Because blowing it up and making a scene will really help no one, especially. But there are just some cases where it’s just too funny to keep it to yourself and I’ll get to that.
First off it was back in January of last year. I had people over from New Years (I got a pretty nice setup, so it was really the place to be.) But long story short, one of my actors ending up having sex with my art director’s girlfriend… in my house. Yet he got all mad at me. It made no damn sense and everyone ended up mad at me. Sucks doing the right thing sometimes but whatever. I’d do the same thing again for any of my friends.
Secondly, it was my DP Josh. It was a weird relationship. We had worked together before and it was great. He came to me and said he thought we could do even better this time. How can I really deny that type of enthusiasm right? But when I make a movie, and as my actors and the like know. I like to have a particular type of relationship with my actors. While they work with you, they’re your family and should be treated as such with the utmost respect, even if you don’t get it back.
He really didn’t see things the way I saw it. I never want to put them in a bad spot. I need them to be 100% for me or not at all. Thus why I’m open to communication at all times during the day. He frequently argued with me about these things. But that’s the deal with me in those one on one arguments. You’re gonna lose to me every single time. EVERY SINGLE TIME. He realized this after about the 10th time and decided to drag everyone else into it and I was all like “hell no”. That’s when I decided to fire him. He didn’t take it well and took some footage with him. You’ll notice the movie gets really shaky at times. That’s why. We’re missing about 20 minutes of movie that would have made things make a hell of a lot more sense. We also lost 2 characters in the process. Three actually since I couldn’t fit Barrett’s scene in there anymore.
He was surprised at what I did and said he thought I was “Nice guy”. That’s also why initially pretty cold and mean to everyone. Because nice guys tend to get screwed over all the time. This is no exception.
And lastly it was just me. It’s all a bunch of judgment calls really. I shouldn’t have lost my temper with Josh, but that stuff had to happen if I wanted to get this done. And everyone just needs to expect a little less nice me the next time around. Just because. Not just to be mean but because more needs to happen. If you’re not 100 percent with me I got no time. Simple as that. I work too hard for absolutely nothing to not get the cooperation I actually work for and deserve.
But I’m actually going to stop this now and try and collect myself before screening tonight.
