Want a free audiobook?

If you go to www.audible.com they are offering a two week free trial and with that trial you can download anything you like. I got Robert Mckee's Story, which is a 6 hour audiobook for free. If you don't want to be a member just cancel the trial and it will never cost you anything. Thought i would pass it along!

How NOT to write a screenplay!

On my second read of this. Very well written and helpful. Highly suggest for anyone trying to or has already written a screenplay!

Amazon.com Review
How Not to Write a Screenplay is an invaluable addition to any aspiring screenwriter's shelf--and you'd best make the shelf within arm's reach of the computer. Author Dean Martin Flinn, an experienced script reader, details the common rookie mistakes that drive script readers crazy. Flinn makes no pretense of being able to teach anyone how to write the next Great American Film--or for that matter the next Stupid Summer Blockbuster. Instead he offers information that will help keep the novice screenwriter's opus from being immediately tossed on the trash pile (arguably a more valuable service). As Flinn says in his introduction, if you follow the advice in this book, "you may not write a particularly good screenplay, but you won't write a bad one." Flinn offers practical advice on formatting, such as the proper form for a slugline and where to set your margins, and more general rules of thumb on giving the actors room to interpret their roles and avoiding dictating camera angles to the director (who will ignore them anyway). The second half of the book deals with content, also in a remarkably pragmatic way--structure, pacing, plot resolution, and dialogue that really stink are all handily dealt with. Flinn illustrates almost all his points with excerpts from screenplays both good and bad (names have been changed to protect the guilty), giving the reader concrete examples of the difference between poorly and well-structured scenes. Not sucking is an unusual goal for a screenwriting manual, but any script reader will agree it is a noble one. --Ali Davis

Neverwhere: 4 Reviews

Where to begin. Ok, so have you ever read a great book and then found it was also made into a TV mini-series? Then later learned it was turned into a comic book? No, well I did with Neil Gaiman’s Neverwehere.

Considered a legend in the comic world, Gaiman is one of those writers who is easily liked because his work is both unique and entertaining. He has this uncanny ability to easily blend fantasy into reality in a way that almost seems like it could actually happen - no matter how strange his stories may seem. This is definitely the case with Neverwhere. I would go into describing the plot for you, but I’ll just post this explanation from Wiki instead…

Richard Mayhew, a Scot living in London, encounters an injured girl named Door on the street one night. Despite his fiancée's protests he decides to help her, but that unfortunately also means that he suddenly ceases to exist for regular people and becomes real only to the denizens of 'London Below', whose inhabitants are generally invisible and non-existent to the people of 'London Above'. He loses his house, his job and nearly his mind as he travels London Below in an attempt to make sense out of it all, find a way back, and helps Door survive as she is hunted down by hired assassins.

Got all that? After finishing the novel I searched around online for more info and found out that it was adapted into a TV mini-series and later into a comic book.

My initial thought was, “How much of the book are they going to cut out and make up for the mini-series?” (Something I really hate. Especially when the source material is so good.) I was surprised to find out just the opposite. Gaiman originally wrote the story for TV and later developed it into a novel. The comic came along later probably because of Gaiman’s ties to comic community. Anyway, after having really enjoyed the novel I decided to check out the mini-series.

Unlike most movies/TV shows that are developed from books Neverwhere the mini-series is very faithful to the original material – a little too faithful. Even though it follows the text exactly (word for word in fact) I felt it lacked the heart & personality that came across to me in the novel. It’s a hit or miss with these things I guess. I found myself really bored with the TV series and wishing the episodes would just hurry up and end so I could get the whole thing over with. It didn’t help that the production for the show was really low budget and now looks very dated – it has this bad 90’s music video vibe to it. After the second episode I didn’t see how it could improve, but finished it anyway because I enjoyed the book so much. I honestly feel that if I hadn’t read the book then I would probably have stopped watching the TV series after its second episode, but I’m a Neil Gaiman fan and felt it my duty to honor his work with my attention.

The comic book is another story. Seeing as how they’re almost the same medium, the comic runs pretty closel to the novel, but adds a few twists to the story and takes different paths with the order of how it’s told - something I didn’t mind and actually felt right to me. It was a good read and visually the artwork is pretty solid, but it still didn’t stick with me like the novel did. Of course, this is why books are so appealing in the first place. They allow you (the reader) to be a sort of all-in-one set designer, casting agent, and sound engineer to the movie that plays in your mind.

The interesting thing with all of this is how the characters were visually represented each time I went through the story. I mean of course you can’t argue with how something looks in a film or comic book, but with a book you’re the one in charge. You get to decide how the characters and environment should look. So as I went through Neverwhere for the third time I began to realize just how differently people perceive the same thing. Take a look at the four main characters for an example of this.

Richard

Ok, not bad. Pretty similar, mildly different. Acceptable. Let’s see the next characther...


Door

Here's where things start to get different. The TV version looks like my sister circa 1989 and the comic book version looks like some kind of Goth reject. She’s described as being pixie-like. To me, Kristen Bell has that going for her naturally. Why paint her face up or give her huge bangs? (Then again, there’s always an image of K. Bell stuck in head so I’m kind of biased.) Whatever I’ll go with it. Now check this out...


Hunter

What? In the TV show she looks like a dude! At least my version makes her out to be woman. Finally, the comic book version... I don’t know. You’re guess is as good as mine. Now onto the biggest WTF...


The Marquis de Cabras

Is that Theo from The Cobsy Show? I always wondered what happened to him. My version isn’t all that cool, but the comic book took it a step further and literally made him black.


Overall Review: Read the book, check out the comic if you want, but skip the mini-series.

A Short History of Progress

Ever wonder why history seems to repeat itself? Why the same types of wars and atrocities continue to occur throughout time? Or have you recently found yourself thinking about how badly our planet is messed up and how far we may go to destroy it even more? If so, check out Ronald Wright’s A Short History of Progress. Mixing historical facts with plane old common sense, Wright sheds light on how far we have come as a society and how much we’ve ruined to get here today. It’s a great book (and a pretty quick read) that will leave you both amazed and horrified about human civilization.

Read the Amazon Review here.

Stephen King "On Writing" Book Review

It's no secret to most of the people that know me that i am a huge stephen king fan. So naturally when i wanted to start writing movie scripts i got a copy of "On Writing."

It's a non fiction book about the craft of writing. I have never read a non fiction that was so captivating. I found it hard to put down. It was both very inspiration and extremely informative and at the same time charming. The first 1/3 of the book is basically an autobiography that is painfully truthful and heartfelt. The rest is a teaching lesson from the master himself and no matter what you write i am sure you can learn quite a bit from this small book. It's only 288 pages but it's packed full of great information that i sure can help you. Highly suggest picking up a copy!

The Laughing Jesus

I highly recommend this book and challenge you to give it a read!


Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, authors of The Jesus Mysteries and Jesus and the Lost Goddess, return with a powerful indictment of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic fundamentalism and a passionate reinterpretation of Gnostic spirituality. According to Freke and Gandy, religiously inspired acts of violence, such as the attacks on 9/11, are nothing new. They are the continuation of a long and bloody history of brutality caused by mistaking bizarre old books for the Word of God. The time has come to end religious intolerance and wake up to oneness by rediscovering the Gnostic way of transforming oneself and the world.


Review
“The Laughing Jesus is a manifesto for Gnostic mysticism. Freke and Gandy’s exposition of Gnostic enlightenment is lucid and accessible; their critique of Literalist religion is damningly severe.” —Robert M. Price, professor of scriptural studies, Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, and editor of The Journal of Higher Criticism

“The Laughing Jesus is a daring and thought-provoking book. Read it and nothing that you thought about the great monotheistic religions will ever look quite the same again.” —Graham Hancock, author of Fingerprints of the Gods

“The Laughing Jesus should be considered not merely a good read, although it is, but also a matter of burning urgency, for this is one of the most important books that has emerged in this infant millennium.” —Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Reinventing Medicine and Healing Words"

You Can Be Happy No Matter What

This book has helped me out quite and bit and i have given a copy to many people i know in my life so i thought i would share it with you all. I know the title sounds corny but the book is packed with knowledge of psychology and the human mind. It's an inexpensive and fairly short book, but it is worth it's weight in gold! Dr. Carlson reveals a profound breakthrough in human psychology. He shows that happiness has nothing to do with forces beyond our control, and, in fact, our natural state is contentment. With this simple and practical guide, Dr. Carlson shows us how to be happy now, before we solve our problems!

Here is a random review i found on amazon. So if you are not taking my word for it take a random persons!

"Ever felt like depression and negativitity were swamping all the happiness out of your life? Then read this book before you turn to Prozac. When I first found this book, back in 1997, I instantly recognized myself in Dr. Carlson's descriptions of the way thoughts can play through one's head and cause you to act in reactionary, emotional ways when one is experiencing what he calls a "low mood." He teaches readers, though, through a step by step process, how to return once again, to a state of "healthy psychological functioning." This book is NOT another "positive thinking" book. No, it is one of the most profound little books you'll ever pick up. It teaches you how to recognize "low moods" and to avoid action during low moods. It shows how to return to "normal functioning." After reading the book version several times a year for the last couple of years, I recently bought a two-tape audio version of this book, which is read by the author, and allows me to review the book's key principles whenever I feel a low mood setting in for too long. Not just a book. A great mental health tool."

Stuff White People Like

I usually think it's stupid to blog about another blog but i felt like i had to about this one. http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/ is a great blog that is written by Christian Lander. Visit the site and you will see just how genious it is. He also made a physical book out of his blog posts i believe. Here an example post...

#106 Facebook

Social Networking sites have been embraced by white people since their inception. Because these sites use profile pages, white people can more efficiently judge friends and future friends on their taste in film, books, music, and inspirational quotes. Advanced level white people, fearful of being judged on their tastes from last week, will often only list one or two ironic things as their favorites. For example under music they would simply list “P.M. Dawn” or under films they would choose only Armageddon. In both cases these ironic answers serve as protective shields from the harsh gaze of other white people.
However, it is important to remember that the “where” is often as important as the “who” when it comes to social networking. As noted in earlier posts, white people are obsessed with being in the right neighborhood and the Internet is no exception.
In the early days, white people joined a social networking service called Friendster where they could connect with old friends and make new ones. Eventually, white people started to notice more and more of their friends on MySpace, so they closed their Friendster accounts and migrated to the new service. It was like living in a neighborhood that was pretty good but kind of far away, so you might have to miss out on a few parties. Needless to say, this was unacceptable.
For a brief period of time, MySpace was the site where everyone kept their profile and managed their friendships. But soon, the service began to attract fake profiles, the wrong kind of white people, and struggling musicians. In real world terms, these three developments would be equivalent to a check cashing store, a TGIFridays, and a housing project. All which strike fear in the hearts of white people.
White people were nervous but had nowhere else to go. Then Facebook came along and offered advanced privacy settings, closed networks, and a clean interface. In respective real world terms, these features are analogous to an apartment or house with a security system/doorman, an alumni dinner, and a homeowners association that protects the aesthetics of the neighborhood. In spite of these advances, some white people still clung to their old MySpace accounts. That was until they learned that Facebook started, like so many things beloved by white people, at Harvard.
Within a matter of months, MySpace had gone from a virtual utopia to Digital Detroit, where only minorities and indie bands remain.
If you plan on befriending white people, it is essential that you join them in the digital suburbs and open a Facebook account immediately. It’s also a good idea to make up a story about how someone from high school sent you a friend request and after accepting you discovered that they were fat and unsuccessful. White people love these stories.