Another Master Dies

Michelangelo Antonioni
1912-2007

A Master Dies

Ingmar Bergman
1918-2007

Legacy

We've been having a conversation with our son about expressing your true self with your friends this afternoon. How the real cool kids are the kids that really love the things that they're into, rather than adjusting their taste according to peer pressure. He wanted to write a letter to a kid from his class that moved away. We were talking about the things we've been doing this summer that he's enjoyed to include in the letter. We listed berry picking and going to the farmer's market, among other things. He had a little panic that his friend wouldn't think those things were cool. I told him not to assume that, especially if he really liked doing things that might be perceived as being dorky. Our son is not a dork. He may stink at baseball, be a really good reader and love video games, but he's not a dork. He loves music and drawing. He can hear a song once and sing it His simple drawings evoke complete worlds. He's very excitable and sensitive. Some of his friends that are already little social fascists tell him he's annoying. I reassured him that being emotional isn't always easy for others to understand, but it has many benefits. I related that I was the same as he, and that as much as I've had trouble with it in life, it makes me the storyteller and person that I am. His response was amazing: he raised his fist in the air and shouted: We're related!

Folk Wisdom 029

There is no total answer.

The Master Says 205

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

Winston Churchill

Taking It Easy

As a parent there's a certain level of stress about Summer that's akin to Christmas. A pressure to make it special. At the playground parents ask each other how the summer is going, adding a tentative, "Planning any trips?"
Our summer trip is in the bathroom we just had remodeled. Which looks beautiful, but cost three times what we were told and took half the summer to complete. It's actually not complete. To get a toilet seat that is isn't oak but has metal hinges, you must special order it and wait four to six weeks. So to use the commode in the interim, you must be comfortable with a decidedly non-American mode of direct contact with porcelain. I've lived in Mexico and spent a lot of time in Japan, so it's not a big deal. For now.
In spite of no big summer vacation on the horizon, I'm having a wonderful summer. In addition to spending a lot of time with the family, I'm doing a lot of hiking, walking and bicycling. Hikes in the Gorge and Forest park. Walks downtown for appointements or weekday matinees at Fox Tower Cinemas, up to Mt Tabor and along the Esplanade. I've been cycling the Spring Water Corridor and up Mt Tabor. We spent two and half hours in Laurelhurst Park yesterday. Maisie played in the kiddie poolfully clothed the entire time. While June toddled around the play structure and played with a friend's baby, before falling asleep in a swing. Henry made some puppets at the crafts table with his friends. I chatted with an old friend that I knew from fifth grade through high school and hadn't seen since. She recognized me and it was good to be nostalgic for grade school friends. Her son is nine and made friends with Henry without an introduction. A thing to smile about.
We had a simple barbecue the other night and spent an evening at Oaks Park earlier in the week. There's also a small but wonderful farmer's market near our house on Thursdays where we eat, buy food and listen to music while chatting with people from the neighborhood.
I'm not doing much else. Some very limited, but efficient work on finishing projects. Like getting a shot of Joey for Made Crooked before he moves to New York in a few days. We did that against a green screen in the park yesterday. Ive been reading a few books about the filmmaking of Woody Allen and Bertolucci.
I rented my camera to an indie movie for a month, which is allowing me the time to relax and enjoy the summer. I think it's important for the kids to experience the whole family having a moderately lazy summer. Moreover, I'll be forty in three weeks and I feel as if I deserve to experience that milestone with some quiet perspective and serenity.

¡Viva!
Signore Direttore

The Master Says 204

There really has to be a feeling of wanting to learn that's more important than wanting to succeed.

John Cassavetes

Good Ol Craigslist

I really want to respond to some of these postings and ask these people what in the fuck they're thinking.
This first one is in basic violation of a lot of SEC regulations. Quite a public offering.

"FourTwenty film seeks funding ASAP!!!! estimated at $23,000
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1042884/

If interested email me for budget/executive summary"

And this one is just ridiculous:

"LEADING ACTOR ROLE FOR FEATURE FILM IN VANCOUVER


Hi, We are looking for a volunteer male actor of age 20-27 to play the main character in an upcoming feature film. We plan to start shooting soon, so we need responses back as soon as possible.

THE CHARACTER

A mid twenties burn out kid who is somewhat of a misenthrope. He takes alot of abuse from work and everyone else, but also somehow manages to get by and have a good time whenever, but sometimes has a mean streek. He looks like more a regular guy and not so pretty.

WHAT WERE LOOKING FOR

Someone who can demonstrate facial emotion well (Fear,shock, surprise, etc.)
Someone who can be relied on, and is fun to work on.

ABOUT the film

The film will be shot independintly and guirilla style.

Please send a resume with a picture

It would be a good idea to attach your phone number so we may contact you if interested.

As a plus, please give a quick run down of your film interest."

I recently posted in the gigs section (the place to post for non-paying stuff) in need of a post-sound guy, explaining that we have no money. I met a guy that did a great job on the sound and music for Klepto and was happy to do it. I met another guy with an amazing resume that is interested in helping with Made Crooked. And I got an angry response from a guy telling me I was an exploitative jerk for asking people with specialized skills to consider helping with my no-budget projects. That I should realize people need to make money for their work. I checked the guy out and found that he does a podcast having to do with music or record collecting. I can't imagine he makes any money doing that. Which is fine, but why is it okay for him to do this community oriented thing with his spare time while not okay for me to invite people to get involved in my small community of filmmakers. Hopefully he's reporting the FourTwenty guys to the SEC and hassling the Vancouver wannabes about their spelling, but he's probably using his downtime searching the non-paying crew gigs section for paying gigs and sending angry replies.

Amused,
Signore Direttore

The Master Says 203

We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.

Lloyd Alexander

The Master Says 202

When you wish to instruct, be brief; that men's minds take in quickly what you say, learn its lesson, and retain it faithfully. Every word that is unnecessary only pours over the side of a brimming mind.

Cicero

The Master Says 201

Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Master Says 200

There is no beginning, there is no end, there is only the infinite passion of life.

Federico Fellini

(The Master Says 001 Reprise)

The Master Says 199

I have many stories and it would be fine for me if films became a way of life.... unfortunately there is still a kind of barrier of glass to break... I said glass because behind it everything moves as if in another world, one passes into it and then turns back out, it is always like this.

Bernardo Bertolucci

L'chai-im

I failed to speak up at David's bon voyage/anniversaire last night. I have some lame excuses as to why I didn't raise a glass in his honor, but I truly wish I would have paid him the respect.
Here's a belated toast:

To you David,
For teaching me, pushing me, learning from me, supporting me, scaring me, offending me, listening to me, praising me, judging me, trusting me, not trusting me, depending on me, confronting me and loving me.
You believe in me more than I do in myself. Sometimes I wish you would knock it off and fear the worst as I try to persist in doing. It seems there's no chance in that, which forces me to keep showing up.
I know you're not surprised my toast for you has a lot to do with me. Let me close by saying this about you David -- No matter what I think or say about you, it won't change your determination to pursue excellence in everything that you do.

¡L'chai-im!
Signore Direttore

The Master Says 198

If you're going to shoot. Shoot. Don't talk.

Tuco (Eli Wallach)
in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Un poem 003

In Search of Mystery

How I wanted to escape far
from Rome, without saying anything
to my family or to the other people
who greeted me along my way,
something can be seen moving
on the cheeks and in the eyes
of a mother -- how the seated figure
of a happy and dark-haired youth
shines and glows
in a photograph!

Forgive me if you know how to love the unworthiness
of your son, I intend to suffer
out loud, to make myself heard.

Bernardo Bertolucci

The Master Says 197

You must always leave a door open on the set through which an unexpected visitor may enter. That is cinema!

Jean Renoir

The Master Says 196

Style is something that's extremely important, but it must grow naturally out of who and what you are and what the material calls for. It cannot be superimposed.

William Friedkin

The Master Says 195

The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.

Philip Roth

The Master Says 194

If you're too worried and too controlling of the gesture, then you're not gonna be addressing your intuitive side, your subconscious, you'll only be able to do what your conscious mind tells you to do. You're going to be bound by psychology and meaning, not gonna be experiencing the stuff experientially.

Willem Dafoe