In honor of Daniel, a list — the first of many, building a memory tree. A resume of sorts. Tonight: music:

1987-89
Well Dressed Dead

1989-90(?)
Tequila Mockingbird

1991 (?)
The Haints (w/ Greg Martin and Stephanie Martin — no relation)
score for Dead Air

1993
Constantine and Strachan
Shades of Vertigo

1994
Changes?
Guitar, etc., on Barbie Williamson’s Harbinger

1995
Fischerelle (live guitarist; lead guitar on “I Believed You”)

1995-96
No More Heroes

1996
Daniel Farris’ Drown on WMSU compilation (bass, rhythm guitar)

1998-99
Frames Per Second

1999
Crimson Stain Mystery (w/ Caitlin Kiernan and Daniel Farris)

1999-2001
Full Moon Blanket
live sound engineer for Lunasect
score for Crewless Productions The Seven Year Switch

2001
Lunasect (live guitarist; acoustic guitar on “How to Disappear Completely” from the Radiohead tribute album)

2002
Lunasect – Points of Departure (“3:47 A.M. — The Stairwell”; guitar on “All I Am is a Lie”)

More to follow…

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Criticism is one of the most important things in an artist’s world, and one of the most painful. Perhaps this is telling of a more sweeping statement?

If you care about someone, and perhaps more succinctly, their ability to create (in whatever medium), it is important to tell the truth. This is not to say that everything that pops into your head should escape your lips; things can be left out. Tact should be exercised. But when an opinion is requested, it should be granted, no matter how unpleasing. Cover it in whatever sexy lingerie you wish, but make sure that the garters don’t cover the scars.

The truth hurts, but that makes it no less necessary.

One method of growth for a creator is to improve on weakness. Said weakness can be self-discovered, if one is fortunate enough to be objective; usually, it can only be pointed out by outsiders, preferably outsiders with inside knowledge. By ignoring deficits, by allowing others to continue unaware of deficits, a disservice is performed to the creator, the creation, and the audience at large.

Often, the best critics are the worst at receiving criticism.

Criticism, even in its most constructive form, is patently subjective, but the trick is in ignoring that long enough to give the harsh words their due attention.

It is frustrating as hell to have a work ripped to shreds by an outsider, no matter how experienced or informed. But I have to imagine that it would be even more frustrating to continue down a pointless path, only to find later that the journey could have been prevented miles back by a few simple words.

Nothing out of the ordinary today. School, work, comics, drinks, bed.

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Internal clock status: broken.

Once again, Mother Nature threatens snow and ice, the teasing bitch. Of course, there will be plenty of crystals piled up on the stairwell outside in the morning, but nothing that a little salt and a windshield scraper won’t fix. Damn it.

Returning to Montevallo is always strange. I expect a huge rush of nostalgia, and end up with a feeling of deja vu instead. This time was no different; aside from the shoot in the Mass Comm building (which I had never entered until tonight), it was like being home — if home is a place that you sometimes wish you had never been, that is.

The shoot went well. Chuck Hartsell is a frighteningly funny guy — the Michael Bolton gag that will end up in the movie is a well-done light moment, which I hear that the script badly needs. Not that there are no funny moments — the dialogue was written with some in mind — but it’s not a comedy. I can’t write that. What I write is black and gloom — and I do that well. I guess that it is good that Chance and Chuck are lightening it up a bit — it would make great press (bad in the long run, I’m sure) to have people killing themselves at showings.

“Feel Good Movie of the Year,” indeed.

Directing is not my cup of tea. But neither is giving up control of my script.

Argh.

Must remember to put Jeanie (?) in the credits. Thanks go to her for the hassle-free use of the studio. Nice girl.

I need some salt in my life.

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Three days to remember, and so little time in which to do it.

Saturday: uneventful. Overslept, showered, worked, joined up with Daniel for more sushi. Shitty service, decent food, horrible mix of soy and wasabe. No more back-to-back midnight sushis.

Sunday: slept horribly, visited parents, bought Dream Theater’s new disc and the new Nine Inch Nails DVD (still unwatched). Super Bowl party — in which the long-awaited fried chicken was consumed (damned fine — thanks, Wade), sleep was nearly had, and the game was more exciting than the commercials. People came, people went. James’ haircut actually looks respectable.

Today — a return to nothing. Work, school, blah.

The A+ certification should be a breeze. It’ll require a little studying, refreshing on networks and basic electronics, but nothing big. Aiming for beginning of March, if that’s feasible.

Tomorrow’s the first shooting for MOON. I said that last post. Tomorrow night, I’ll say something different. Or not.

Caitlin Kiernan and I should be getting together soon to do some music of some sort. That should be fun, and hopefully completely unexpected, results-wise. I’d like to have something weird and wicked come out of that.

And now, to use the rest of my energy on the new column. Or maybe on a humor piece. Or maybe nothing at all.

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Tired, but no longer hungry…

I should learn from today that messing with my internal schedule — not sleepwise, but eating, specifically — is a bad idea.

Met with Darin, Jessica, Jeff, and Shane from the Birmingham Weekly to discuss the local music special project. I think it is a great idea, one I am fully behind and proud to be a part of. Plenty of lead time to get it done right. Should turn out quite well, and hopefully compensation will be satisfactory to all involved. The website idea seems to be shot — they found someone that would work for trade. I’m leaning toward thinking that you get what you pay for, but that’s probably just sour grapes on my part.

Speaking of which… Lunasect as a trio sounds empty. I still think it’s a mistake — as I’ve now told all three members — to try and reproduce the lush textured album onstage. They need to decide what resources they will use, and arrange the music according to that. But is that sour grapes? I like to think that I’ve got a reasonable amount of objectivity to the situation, but who can say for sure?

A good night at Chang’s — good money, but tiring. I am worn out, though the midnight Sukura run did me some good. That was sushi as it should be — no wait for a table, quick sit and serve at the “bar”, in and out in under 45 minutes. With a stomach full of crab sticks, I add…

Tuesday night is on for the first shooting of MOON. Ed, Chance, Chuck and I will head to Montevallo — ah, the icky and not-so-icky memories — to film the TV section of the script. Bronnie seems excited about the idea — it’s flattering, that people are interested (much less excited) about my project.

Yay….

To sleep.

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Website redux in progress. Please excuse the glorious mess…

A reasonably uneventful day — the typical Wednesday, with dull class punctuated by dull work. Tired today, which made things nearly unbearably slow on all fronts.

Comics are the usual lot this week, though I find that I’m not terribly excited about anything in the batch, with the exception of DK2 — Frank Miller makes comics fun again, and in a ridiculously big way — without sacrifcing any meaning at all. Quite the contrary — large amounts of commentary running through this series. I was hesitant, but I have to say that I dig it. At any rate, new reviews are up at revolutionsf, or will be once Shane posts ’em. The writing for that eluded me tonight — I just don’t feel on at the moment.

TIN CUP is an entertaining film, though a bit on the slow paced side. Could’ve used a bit more editing, in my humble opinion. Rene Russo is absolutely gorgeous — though I prefer her in the LETHAL WEAPON type roles more, from the actress standpoint. Her character in TIN CUP seemed like it was written for Susan Sarandon (which, I should add, Russo still pulled off well). Costner in one of his better roles.

Listened over the phone as James talked to his future stepson today — what a strange thing to hear. The little brother that I remember picking on and playing with is going to be a father[figure] before me. More power to him, in some ways — I just don’t know that I’m ready yet, and I hope he is. Tina’s a great girl — James, it would appear, has finally broken free of the dangerous girl trap. And earlier than I managed, too…

Ed Easter came by to pick up the script for MOON tonight. He seems excited, and I’m glad. Ed is a talent, and I’m glad to have him on board. With him, David, and Mom, there’s no reason that the acting in MOON shouldn’t be phenomenal. Now I just have to hope that I’m up to acting and directing it, and that the technical ends work out okay. But’s that a worry for a later time.

Melissa and I discussed briefly the role that the actor and the director play in bringing out a good performance — while I agree with her that the actor bears responsibility for the part, the director can certainly stop the action and make adjustments where necessary. For thought: would ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES have been better received if Costner’s accent hadn’t fluctuated from bad British to American, but instead remained American throughout? I would argue that it would have, if only because suspension of disbelief would have been easier.

My sleep schedule is badly out of whack, and it’s my own damned fault. And I don’t feel like correcting it right now.

Ridiculous spring day, for the third in a row. It was nice, admittedly, with the wonderful pain of reminscence, but I’m not ready for that yet. Give me until March, or preferably April. Let me enjoy the cold, and give me snow, while you’re at it. I would say that’s not too much to ask, but I am in Birmingham…

Jhonen Vasquez is a beautifully demented creator. I must work with him on a black comedy one day. Or perhaps a musical. Like JESUS CHRIST, SUPERSTAR, only with dolls and paint.

To do tomorrow: ignore horoscope, pretend to still care about FRIENDS, and pet Cassidy more.

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So this is how it begins.

I’m keeping this for me, as a reminder of what came before. This is not for you, which excuses me from doing a recap of my 30 + years; that’s good, because I don’t want to let the present past get bogged down in the distant past. At least, not yet.

Besides, you if you’re really interested, you can read on. Perhaps eventually you’ll find what you’re looking for.

GOODNIGHT, MOON is now two months away from filming. In the meantime, the script gets tweaked, the actors get prepared, and the technical angles get washed across my brain over and over. I’m afraid I may over think this; then again, perhaps that’s better than not giving it enough thought?

Writing is at a standstill — and that’s part of the intent of this journal thing, to stay in touch with words and what it feels like to put them down and out there. I suppose the next thing on the agenda is to finish TWO RIVERS, the screenplay about David / Jonas and myself. At this point, though, I’ve got too much that I want to put in, most of which doesn’t belong. And of course, not enough time to let myself get sucked in to the story like I’d prefer. After that — who knows? The AI concept needs to find its way out of the stone in which it exists, but as I said to Daniel, I only get one shot at getting it right. And it’s a good idea, one that deserves to be right.

The BEAUTY OF DISTANCE music is on hold, as well. I don’t want to force anything (and there’s no need, since it’s a soundtrack for an unfilmed movie), and I want to save any ideas for MOON, since it comes first. Should something come, it will, but no rush. And really, as I’m no longer playing with Lunasect live, there’s no real urgency to pick up an instrument. This is, of course, a good and a bad thing — I won’t get tired of playing night after night, but I’m less apt to play at all… Though I will try to make a conscious effort to avoid that pitfall.

In less meaningful hours, watched KISS OF THE DRAGON (stylish Besson goodness, with Jet Li and Bridget Fonda, who are both fun to watch for different reasons) and ROCK STAR (which I expected too much from, though playing “spot the musician” was fun for five minutes). Picked up King Diamond’s ABIGAIL II, which I fear will be a regret (especially after the latest Dream Theater disc(s) and the deconstructed Nine Inch Nails disc). Gave Dan the videotape of the GCW show at Five Points (from 1/25); hopefully, he’ll dig that.

Which reminds me again that I need to find a workaround for the audio capture issue that prevents me from putting together a GCW documentary.

But not now, because it is late.

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