Let’s Talk About Spoilers (Spoiler-Free… mostly)

Recently, a couple of friends and I got together for some socializing. The centerpiece of the evening was a showing of Se7en. To the amazement of C and myself, J had previously announced that he had never seen the movie- which is just a couple of years away from being able to order its first beer- and had no idea WHAT’S IN THE BOX!!!

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…I Had a Vision, and There Before Me Was a Man Made of Red…

Holy cow! I just watched Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s episode “The Magical Place” (season 1, episode 11; air date January 7, 2014)- and I need to talk about this! If you’ve already seen the episode, read on. If not, go watch it and come back. Seriously- don’t let me ruin anything for you. We’ll wait…

OK- you’ve been warned- SPOILERS and some geekdom ahead…

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Honey- I Shrunk the Superhero!

Hot off the presses! News sources reported yesterday that Paul Rudd is the star of one of the movies in the Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Who does Brian Fantana’s alter ego portray? Wait for it… wait for it…

Ant-Man!

Wait- where’s everyone going? Come back…

Just like Marvel’s announcement of the title (and villain) for the Avengers sequel, I’d assume that many non-geeks are saying- huh? There’s really a superhero called Ant-Man? Yes, Virginia, Ant-Man is real. Pull up a seat- let’s talk.

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…And Now For Something Completely Different (for me, at least)

Over the summer, I met one of my wife’s high school friends and his partner (whom I will refer to as G for the ease of narration). His partner, I was delighted to learn, writes on the West Coast and is in the process of developing a movie script. I was fascinated and it took everything I had to start yammering on about my dream of writing, this blog, the attendant self-discovery, blah blah blah, yawn, sigh, etc.

Karma smiled on me that evening as a very small high school reunion commenced at a local restaurant. G and I were the only two people in the group not from the high school so we ended up chatting for most of the night.  Bless his heart, G put up with my (what I assume must have been) exhaustive, noob questions. He was incredibly generous sharing his experiences and observations and even listened to my elevator speech pitch of the story idea I’ve shared a glimpse at here.

As I shared the story, G pointed out that it sounded like it could work as a TV series. (Yes- that is about a million mile jump between where my writing is today and “TV series”.) But- that got me thinking- what would telling a story in a script be like? I’ve written a couple of short stories (and looked back at them pretty critically) but have never written in the style of a script. What would that be like?

This afternoon, after dropping the Noodle and the Goon off at a birthday party, I ended up with a couple of hours to kill. I opened my digital scratchbook (have you tried the Evernote app? two thumbs up here…) and started poking at some of the notes for The Third String. In one of those “light bulb” moments, I realized that maybe it would be interesting to try writing a story as a script. So that’s what I did this afternoon.

I’m still working on it- and have to decide if a voiceover narration would work. (From the first word I wrote in that story, I heard this proper British voice providing a narrative for the story. Think The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. No idea yet if that makes sense or is obnoxious.)

In any event, I feel invigorated in a way that nothing other than writing provides. I’m grateful for the direction from G and the rush that feeding this creative spark brings.

I wonder where this could go…

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Chapter 85: In Which My Blog Expands Ever-So-Slightly

If you’ve read the entries in my Open Notebook, you know that I began sharing my writing via this blog to cultivate that tiny creative spark inside me that still lives. While I am my target audience, as my tagline indicates, I do admit to the occasional bit of vanity when I know that someone else reads my stuff.

I am excited-like-my-niece-at-a-Twilight-release-party to share that my humble little creation- this blog- now shares a reciprocal link with a website that I read daily- Popehat. I realize that in the grand scheme of the Interwebz this is not a reality-shaking event. But it is to me.

As an aside, I’d point out that the site shares many of my libertarian perspectives. I consistently come down on the same side of the argument that most of the site’s posts do. And in any case, it’s just cool to see my website linked to theirs. 

I’d also like to point out that the left sidebar of my website now includes a “Blogroll” section. Please take a moment to check out that site. Support the creators that keep the content flowing through these tubes. Popehat is my first reciprocal link and, as such, will always share a special place in my heart. However- as I’ve already shared with Ken- I will not blog about ponies

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