Time Passes

It’s amazing how quickly time can pass when you are not paying attention.  Life gets in the way of the best laid plans.  Between work, the prospect of going back to school, and a new food based blog, I’ve been seriously lacking in my efforts to finish Superman. 

Combine that with the fact that David Goyer and Chris Nolan have taken the helm of the ship and are sailing off into the sparkling sunset, makes for a very frustrated Nick.  I think I’ve said it before, every time I get to a point where I think I have a good story laid out and am about to start writing, someone comes along and a new project is born.  Well you know what?  Every single time I stop, egos get in the way and the project train heads down the wrong track into a fiery pile of angry babies. 

 

This time I’m going to finish.  I don’t care if they get their movie made, it’s time mine makes it to paper.  I want to see my story, even if only in my head.  I want others to see my story too. 

Though when it really comes down to it, I’m excited about Nolan and Goyer.  I think it’s a combination that could make for a very interesting take on the Superman franchise.  I hold my glass of eggnog to you gentlemen and with with childlike anticipation to see where the train derails. 

Times UP

So the plan was to have a script in hand by today.  Well today is almost over and there is not a script in my hand.  As a matter of fact, I haven't done a damn thing in the last week, why?  Vacation. As much as I wanted to work on the script, I just haven't had time.  Why is it people are always so busy on vacation, you need a vacation from your vacation to recover.  Oh well, so now what?  Well it's a new year in about an hour and 20 minutes, so maybe by the end of next year I'll have a script? 

I've definatly got my work cut out for me, but this doesn't end here.  I will come back renewed and get a script done.  Maybe I won't be setting any deadlines, but just say it's time to get the script finished.  I should set a deadline, but then again, that didn't work out so well for me this time.  Maybe I'm so stubborn, when someone tells me to do something, I prove to them I don't have to, did I do the same thing to myself?  Or am I just lazy?  Both most likely.  Time to break the habits, it's going to be a year of change.  I say that every year, but honestly, this year feels different.  Time will tell, but it's time to make some changes. 

Is there going to be a Superman in this Superman Movie?

Can you have a Superman movie without a Superman?  If so, then great headway was made on the script tonight.  I have read a lot of posts stating we do not need another origin story, but I disagree.  This is a retelling, it goes along with the comics to an extent, but adapted to fit the giant screen at your nearest cineplex. 
This is all about the inbetween, the stuff you haven't seen before, which means before he gets his suit.  We'll have a Supersuit be the end of the movie, but do you think it's too radical of an idea to have almost an entire movie sans secret identity?

Walk the Pattern Into Chaos

It happens every time.  I make a lot of noise, make big plans, just to watch the deadline fly by in a crash and burn.  I am no where near having my script finished, only have about half of the story complete and that can probably be ripped to shreds with all the holes that need filling.  My interest has wandered, other projects come to mind.  Just tonight I found myself reading about Ghostbusters 3, and wondering about the possibilities and what I would do on a new script. 
I lay in bed trying to focus, trying intently to think about my script, the story that I'm currently working on, Superman.  It needs to be finished.  It needs the attention that I want to pay, just can't seem to find the motivation.  I'm passionate about the story, I love the ideas in the script, so what is stopping me?  Same thing that has b een stopping me for the last 15 years, so how do I change that?  What is going to make this time any different? 
When motivation weins it's time for a new push.  Only one way to motivate me and that is to just not lose any more focus.  Think about the big picture, the scenes that just get me excited to "see" this movie.  120 pages is all it takes and I'll have one hell of a script. 

Smallville and the Man of Tomorrow

I’ve been watching Smallville again from the beginning.  It’s nice to watch because now my girlfriend has gotten into the show as well and she’s hooked.  We are trying to get her up to speed again, but it gives me the opportunity to watch the show from a fresh perspective. 

***** SPOILERS, well maybe, but just in case you haven’t seen the show, take care in continuing *****

Smallville starts off Clark’s freshman year, he’s fast and strong, but as for the rest of his powers, they are MIA, which is fine by me.  The whole premise of Smallville was how did Superman become the man he is.  What was his world like before his big move to Metropolis? 

I wasn’t sure how I felt about the show when I first started watching it, I mean, “Meteor Infected” supervillains each week, same formulaic show one after each other.  Then after I thought about it for a while, I realized it’s not a bad idea.  It kinda follows the comics, in a way, and it’s a new medium, a new story.  It happened with Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, each telling of the story was different because it has to be.  The story has to change to fit whatever device is being used to tell it.  I mean, how boring would it be to watch a movie directly translated from a book?

Wait, was I going to make a point here?  RIGHT!  Smallville, I said once before that the intro no longer fits the show.  It’s new moody broody take on the Man of Steel is a long ways away from the Light hearted jovial goings on of his youth.  Even visually, it’s just a dark show now.  Ok, points were made before, so why this entry?

It’s not really about What’s happening in the show, but what is NOT happening in the show that is bugging me.  This season, though I do like the episodes, bother me, as did last season.  I couldn’t quite put my finger on it until I realized Clark isn’t changing.  Nothing new is happening with him and he seems to be at a standstill.  Ok, so he left everyone and went to the Fortress for an episode or two, but he’s right back where he started, still not able to fly, still helping people in his ridiculously stupid black suit.  First the Blur, now this?  You guys have a problem with the blue tights?

I want to see Superman.  The show has been stuck in Smallville, stuck in the premise of the show from 10 years ago, the show has change, accept it, embrace it, move FORWARD.  Hell, change the name of the show even, do something radical to breathe new life into a dead and well beaten horse.  I liked the show cause as it was starting to be the same thing, they added something to it, now it seems all they are adding are more characters.  I don’t watch the show to see Hawkman or the Green Arrow, I watch the show because I am a fan of Superman.  I like the addition of other characters, but not to the expense of the reason I enjoy the show in the first place. 

From this point, can you even turn Clark into Superman?  Have you taken it so far away from the mythos of the character that there can be no return?  Stop toying with the Glasses and put them on already!  No one is going to suddenly see Clark in glasses and accept that he isn’t this guy without glasses they have been looking at all these years who now appears to have \super powers.

Smallville is over, I don’t want to see the show end, I want to see the show evolve.  Enough with the Blur, it’s time for Superman. 

More and more and more

I know I should be sitting here working on my outline, with a few breakthroughs I made last night, it should re-energize me to get the damn thing finished, but it’s hard damn work. I spent the evening with a couple good friends of mine playing the New Super Mario Brothers and laughing my ass off. That game is certainly prime for hilarity.

So this weekend was another media overload weekend. Unfortunately that does NOT include The Superman: Secret Origins comic. I didn’t realize it was coming out this last week, so I guess I’ll just have to wait until Monday.

So, like I was saying, media overload. I bought a couple games, a bunch of TV shows and movies on DVD, yeah I went shopping on Black Friday for myself. I even bought a new keyboard and Windows 7. SO MUCH STUFF! I need to calm things down a bit. Why is it I always sabotage myself with new crap when I have work to do?!

Ok, so instead of doing the responsible thing and working on the script tonight, I will watch another episode of either Supernatural or the new show I just bought, Farscape. Been looking for that for a while, finally found the entire series on DVD for cheaper than they used to have one season. As much as I want to watch the rest of Farscape, Supernatural is going to win out as it’s already in the DVD player.

Don't blink or it's going to be Christmas

So how did it come to be the closing days of November already? Seriously, I'm freaking out here as I have a TON of work to do and now it appears only about a month left to do it. Why a month? DEADLINES PEOPLE! I gave myself to the end of the year to finish the first draft of this first Superman script and I have to get it finished before Christmas as I'm going with my girlfriend to Montana to visit her family.

Ok, so here goes a new push, I have done my research, I have studied my comics and I have a LOT of material to digest. Life has been very complicated lately as happens for everyone, but does everyone have a keyboard that sticks? I'm not sure if I just type too fast for the keyboard or what, but several of the keys don't want to respond unless I push straight down, that makes typing rather difficult as I either have to type very hard, or make sure to have a very good spell check. Wait, did I just get sidetracked AGAIN?

Ok, so where was I? Right, FINISH MY OUTLINE! I can get a script written in the span of a week if push came to shove, but I would really rather have at least a couple. So that puts me at 5 weeks to finish my outline, go over the edits for the outline and write the script. Normally I get about half way through a script and realize where my plot holes are, what just outright isn't going to work and I can go back to the outline, make the changes, completely break the entire story and spend the next year ignoring the whole project because I just don't want to think about the details that I missed the first dozen times around.

Ugh, that's what this project is all about. It's not necessarily about having a perfect script the first time around, but a script. Something I can look at and say, yeah, that's pretty damn good, needs a bit of work, but it's complete. You can't have a final draft if you don't have a first draft.