1. Pick up a camera (preferably a video camera- that will make the next steps much more worthwhile).

2. Turn the camera on (this is an old industry trick that isn’t usually passed on to novices).

3. Put the viewfinder up to your eye. 

4. Put something in front of the camera (a person would be a good choice).

5. Bark orders at it. 

6. Tell it to recite difficult lines that you’ve written. 

7. Hope that you didn’t put a plant in front of the camera. 

8. When it doesn’t do what you want call it a “talking prop.” It loves that. 

9. Edit your movie with either a computer or scissors and duct tape (it may or may not make a difference).

10. Show your movie to a trusted friend or family member and ask for honest feedback.

11. Swear to never speak to that friend or family member again.

12. Schedule a screening at your house- invite everyone you know.

13. Charge for the popcorn.

14. After it’s over, bask in the uncomfortable silence.

15. Kick everyone out of your house. Be sure to remind them that you are an auteur.

16. Begin work on you next project. 

17. Be glad you charged for the popcorn.

Had a great conversation with eds3 today about faith.  As he has admitted in his blog, he has trouble with faith- he says he has none, but I don't believe that's the case; I just think he can't get out of his own way. 

What it comes down to, for me, is where do you get your truth from?  When your five year old asks you why it's wrong for a man stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family, how do you answer him?  Are the man's actions justified?  Would I do the same to feed my family?  Yes.  But just because I have an understandable, justifiable reason doesn't mean that it becomes right.  Stealing is still wrong, not just because the law says so, but because the Bible says so.  For me and my house, that is where we get our truth. 

Where do you get your truth?  When the hour's dark and you're faced with things unspeakable, where do you find hope? 

Spring break is great.  Sunny skies, days of leisure, March Madness.  Of course, I have to work, not that that's anything new.  The last break i got at Spring Break was my Senior year in high school and that's only because I moved to a new town and couldn't find a part time job.  I'm not complaining, I'm glad to have a job, espcially in our current economic climate, but today was b-eau-tif-ul and I had to spend it in a windowless cubicle working on quality programs and bills of materials and stuff eaqually exciting. 

Looking forward to this weekend.  The wife and I have a little getaway.  Just counting down the days. 
 

Watchmen has been given credit (or blame, depending on your perspective) along with The Dark Knight Returns for bring about the ‘Grim & Gritty anti hero’ to comic books in the 1980’s. Alan Moore even apologized at one point for getting the ball rolling, but in truth, there are no anti-heroes in Watchmen, or heroes for that matter. Some characters perform heroic acts, but none of them embody a hero. That was kind of the point of Watchmen, part of what made it different. What if ordinary, flawed people in our ordinary, flawed world put on costumes and tried to make the world a better place? 

Another thing that made it ground breaking was it was one of the first mainstream ‘adult’ comic book full of violence, foul language and sex. Finally, here was a comic that wasn’t afraid of the Comics Code Authority, wasn’t afraid to use the full potential of the comics medium to tell a mature story for a mature audience. (as a side note, Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing was the first DC comic to not regularly carry the CCA seal of approval. It seems that they don’t like necrophilia and incest)

And that’s really what makes Watchmen the classic it is, because it utilizes the tools unique to the comic book medium to their fullest potential. The story is a solid murder mystery with great characters and dialog, but it’s all at the service of public service message that says; “listen up world- this is how great comic books/ graphic novels/ sequential art can be.” I’m quite sure that Alan Moore intended Watchmen to be the beginning of the conversation, not the end. But after Watchmen, comics went back to slugfests and heroines with big breasts and issues of pin ups with dialog, and we, the reader, the collector, were all to eager to lap it up. There have been bright spots along the way. Sandman. Bone. Maybe Y the Last Man. I’m sure my good friend eds3 would pitch for something by Bendis. But in the last twenty plus years we haven’t seen another Watchmen- or did I miss it? (and the first person that says Kingdom Come gets strangled). 

But I digress. 

It’s been well documented how detailed and meticulous Alan Moore made his scripts, using three and four hand written pages to describe the action for a single comic page to ensure that the juxtaposition of words and images was followed to the T. To Dave Gibbon’s credit, he didn’t let his ego get in the way and was still able to bring his own artistic voice to the work.

It’s this very thing that makes Watchmen great and unique that cannot be translated to the screen. I thought the very idea was folly, why set yourself up for failure? Even the best Watchmen movie would not, could not compare. Like reading Classics Illustrated adaptation of Hamlet- sure the story’s there, but can it ever compare to a live performance? 

And this is the issue I had with the movie. The pacing, the way Moore and Gibbons made us experience time, the way each issue was a stepping stone to the next, the wonderful nuanced subtleties that made the comic almost lyrical are gone. Laurie’s big reveal on Mars is heavy handed compared to the comic. Moore’s use of the television media at Veidt’s endgame is reduced to an unsatisfying state of the union. Dan’s resonate line at the end of issue one falls flat. 

To their credit, the filmmakers obviously loved the story and every effort was made to bring the page to life. The world of Watchmen looks great, the special effects are fantastic. The actors do a fine job playing their parts. I was particularly impressed with Jackie Lee Haley’s Rorschach- he came as close to nailing it as anybody ever will. I had more problems with Veidt and Laurie- they seemed less sympathetic here. 

I did not expect the sub plots to make it on screen. Even in a three hour movie there was barely space for a glimpse. But the way that all the subplots converge at the end of the comic is powerful and horribly, horribly beautiful. 

Speaking of the end, I knew that it would be problematic, to say the least, and I thought that the motion picture substitute was adequate and tidy, although I don’t see why they couldn’t have stuck with the source material. Uglier? Sure. More disturbing? Absolutely. Better? Probably. 

But how does it stand up as a movie? If I had never read the comic, would I enjoy the film? Yes, I think so. It’s well made, entertaining. But this was my other problem with this movie being made- who is it being made for? Comic book movies are usually targeted to 12 to 13 year olds and hold the promise, if successful, of sequels.   Watchmen appeals to none of that. I am still amazed that this movie was made at all. 

So, in summary, I liked it, but all it did was make me want to read the comic again. The movie was like an appetizer, the novel, the main course. 

Let me help you out. When a movie is rated R, it means it’s got mature themes and maybe violence and nudity and foul language. In the case of Watchmen, it was all three. Oh, and it’s just a hair under three hours long. Probably not the family movie that you want to being your 7 year old son and your three year old daughter to.  I’m just saying.  Not judging or anything, but I think you should be fined $500 bucks a kid for exposing them to stuff that they shouldn’t have to deal with for years just so you can see a movie on opening weekend and can’t find a sitter.  Were you really surprised that your daughter got restless at the 130 minute mark?  Really?  You didn’t see this coming?  If I see Bolt or Monsters Versus Aliens, I expect to have fussing children in the theater.  Hey, as a courtesy to the rest of us who came to this rated R move to see a rated R movie, LEAVE THE KIDS AT HOME!  

-Now we know why Wolverine doesn’t have a sidekick. 

-I guess Grant Morrison is writing Wolverine now.

-This is why they don’t let Hugh Jackman into brainstorming meetings anymore.

-I thought that Jemas was fired from Marvel?

-Brodie is peeing all over himself.

-Weapon X my ass. 

Image courtesy of Comicmix.