June 30, 2004

Six Days and Counting...

Although by the time you all read this, it will be a little closer, at this
moment it's only six days until my 10-year high school reunion. I gotta
admit, I'm pretty psyched about the whole thing. I'm not making the money I hoped I would by now, but I'm satisfied with the current direction of my life. I mean, I could still be working at Subway...

My old buddy Mike and I will road trip down to scenic St. Marys, Georgia on Friday morning and come back up the following Monday. Since its 4th of July weekend, I'll even get see the fireworks display on the waterfront. Hopefully, the festivities won't get cancelled by a terror alert.

Speaking of terror alerts, I saw Fahrenheit 911 yesterday afternoon. I
enjoyed the film, but of course I think the present Administration is full of shit. Fact is, I doubt this movie will sway many voters. If you think Bush is a moron who's in it for the money, you'll love it. If you're a god-fearing, America-loving Conservative you'll think Michael Moore is an insufferable bastard. Either way, I encourage you to see the movie, because if it pisses off that many people, it's worth the price of the ticket. By the way, there was a sheriff's deputy at our viewing, so let me know if there was one at yours. I wonder if it was a national thing or just a southern thing. You know how we like to mix politics and firearms down here.

City of Heroes

I usually don't get wrapped up in video games and besides the Madden football series I lose my interest in them pretty quickly. Either they're too difficult, too kid-oriented, or just too repetitive. However, I recently started playing City of Heroes and it kicks total ass. If you happen to play it, I'm on the Virtue server and go by the name Over Charge. So if you happen to bump into me say hi.  I was hoping to get the name Short Circuit, since my character is ridiculously tiny, but some asshole beat me to it. Anyway, you basically run around and beat up villains and complete various missions. It's not much different from the rest of the games like it, but the kicker is you have a lot of control over the look and powers of your character. You get to create your own superhero! Who doesn't think that rocks?

Anyway, I've spent a lot of time playing it but at least I don't get weird déjà vu feelings like I did when I played Grand Theft Auto III. There were times the thought actually popped into my head to carjack someone and go joyriding. I assume that's not normal. Look at me (see top of page), I have a face for the 11 o'clock news.

Speaking of committing a crime, a group of my summer campers last week made a movie about cheating couples. The group, which varied from ages 10-13, decided that would be the film they did as part of the Video Production camp. In the movie, one boy and three girls swap out holding hands on each other to indicate their devious lifestyle. A chase ensues and blah blah blah... Now there's nothing criminal in the kids filming the movie, but because we are
having a showing on July 8th for all the parents, I may quickly find myself in the unemployment line.  So, if you know of any job openings coming up, I'm willing to relocate for the right price. I'm serious.

SubWorld

I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to read the Buddies script and give me feedback , but I realized after the fact that most people don't have the time to just sit down and read a 120 page script. So, I decided I would give you our second script in easily digestible chunks. It's copy written as well, so don't get any ideas. Plus, if it got nothing, I can just drop a part of the script and call it a week. I wrote this one with some valuable assistance from Ryan. It's called Subworld.

INT: BAR - LATE EVENING

The bar is dark and smoky with some rock anthems playing in the background. Seated at a table are a group of 20-something-year-olds drinking a variety of beer and mixed drinks. The crew consists of JACOB, 23, a cynical and bitter college student wearing blue jeans and a plain white t-shirt; BRYAN, 24, a slacker college student wearing a pair of heavily ripped up shorts and a NOFX hooded sweatshirt; DODGE, 22, a tall and thin college student wearing an un-tucked fraternity t-shirt and jeans; CANDICE, 22, a cute and slender college student; and SAMANTHA, 21, a big fun-spirited young woman.   

JACOB
Wasn't Fight Club fucking amazing?

DODGE
Yeah, a lot better than I thought it would be.

BRYAN
Of course it was, I mean I know it had Brad Pitt and all, but you gotta admit that he is a kick ass actor.

DODGE
I don't know...

SAMANTHA
He was pretty good in Legends of the Fall.

JACOB
That's so typical.

SAMANTHA
What is?

JACOB
(Mockingly) "He was pretty good in Legends of the Fall."

CANDICE
Like you're not being a typical guy right now.

BRYAN
Setting low standards and barely meeting them daily, that's my motto.

DODGE
You know he was pretty good in that movie with the X-Files guy.

CANDICE
Oh yeah...Kalifornia I think.

JACOB
Nope. I'm sorry, that movie is wretched.

BRYAN
I thought you liked Kalifornia.

JACOB
Can't stand it. Every time Juliette Lewis opened her mouth I thought I was going to vomit.

BRYAN
That's right, I remember now..."Early".

JACOB
Just shut up man.

SAMANTHA
So who needs another drink?

BRYAN
I do.

JACOB
I suppose I could go for another.

CANDICE
What time do you guys have to be at the store tomorrow?

JACOB
Five I think. I can't wait to graduate and get a better, higher paying job.

DODGE
Well I think we do pretty well for ourselves with the company bonuses and all.

CANDICE
What company bonuses?

Jacob and Bryan stare fearfully at Dodge.

DODGE
(Stammering) Well you know...uh...

BRYAN
(Covering) The trades and stuff.

JACOB
(Following) Yeah, that's a bonus. Have any of you guys seen Chad? I thought him and Heather were gonna hang out with us tonight.

BRYAN
You know them, he's probably boring her with Tennessee jokes while she's watching Ally McBeal.

Samantha returns to the table with more alcohol.

SAMANTHA
So what are we talking about now?

BRYAN
Just some lame work stuff.

SAMANTHA
I'm glad I don't work with you guys.

DODGE
I don't know, it's not so bad.


CUT TO:

More next time...


Ok, my job is done here. I'll see you next week with tales from my reunion and another installment of SubWorld. As always, you can email me at jacsv76@hotmail.com or harass me in the forums. Take care and have a good week.

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