Francesco Agresti is an abstract painter, teacher of fine arts and a generous donor to my Kickstarter campaign in the fall. I recently sat down with him to discuss his work and his life. Filmmakers can learn from the experience of artists in other fields. We all go through the same difficulties and [...]
Archive for the ‘Off Topic’ Category
May 17th, 2010 - 2:26 am § in Off Topic
Avatar or Antichrist?
I wrote this in response to a debate going around about shortening attention spans and the death of art by commerce. I saw Trash Humpers by Hamony Korine on Friday in a packed, adoring theater at the Nuart. It is a film shot on VHS with no plot that involves, among other things, characters in [...][...]
March 9th, 2010 - 12:45 pm § in Off Topic
Trailer for Every Oscar Winning Movie Ever
Surprisingly high production value for a trailer for the hollywood equivalent of the hero’s journey.[...]
January 24th, 2010 - 3:02 am § in Off Topic
Prospero Without His Magic
This poem by Jack Gilbert says a lot about the difference between art and craft. He keeps the valley like this with his heart. By paying attention, being capable, remembering. Otherwise, there would be flies as big as dogs in the vineyard, cows made entirely of maggots, cruelty with machinery and ca[...]
January 15th, 2010 - 1:45 pm § in Off Topic, Screenwriting
Salem and Jamestown
While watching There Will Be Blood this week I was reminded of the introduction to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, which I read in December. Miller discusses two conflicting impulses in early colonial America, represented by the cities of Jamestown and Salem. He describes this difference in one [...]
December 20th, 2009 - 1:21 am § in Off Topic
Sunday
The Michigan winter reminded me of this poem I wrote in Berlin. I would walk along the Spree river every day to my little office (75 euros a month!) where I wrote my first screenplay. It was coal heated, and at that price, terribly romantic. The sun is out today. Sidelong shadows on the frozen [...][...]
September 6th, 2009 - 11:14 pm § in Off Topic
Steve Jobs at Stanford
Found this interesting and inspiring:[...]
September 3rd, 2009 - 9:59 pm § in Off Topic
Permalink Restructuring: The Post is There, Just Search
Hello Everyone, I have restructured the permalinks on my site to make them more user and search engine friendly. This may result (I have done some work to prevent this) in your search saying a post is not found. Things will redirect themselves soon, but until then please use the search bar that migh[...]
August 19th, 2009 - 4:37 am § in Off Topic
Leaving Berlin
On my last Saturday night I met two American girls who were staying with a friend. When I asked them how they came to Berlin, one of them told me the following story: I was dating this drug dealer and after we broke up I took too much PCP and wandered around the city (New [...][...]
August 17th, 2009 - 11:25 am § in Off Topic
Straubinger Volksfest
I was here for two days this weekend: There was a lot of lederhosen (which I also wore), bavarian German which I can’t understand, and drinking from one-liter glasses of beer. It was an appropriately American goodbye to Germany. For a little while I thought she was holding a piece of chicken i[...]