Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

Wow… Watched this for the first time last night on Netflix

So much heart

And the Animation was Mind Blowing

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Fare Ye Well Game Of Thrones

Last Night Was A Rough Episode Of Game Of Thrones SPOILER ALERT – Mainly Because I Feel The Writers Basically Destroyed Daenerys Character… She Was Upset, Yes… Mad? I Don’t Think So… And Even Mad Wouldn’t Have Worked For Me… After The Bells Rang She Should Have Gone Right After The Queen, Not The People… Anyway, That Said, I Know People Are Upset, But All And All It’s Been A Great Series, And I Thank You HBO And All Involved… All And All It’s Truly Been A Gift Gift.

Amazing

Dear Me

In 1975 I wanted to be a Baseball Player (Pitcher), but my parents divorced, and we lived in a remote canyon, so I was pretty sure my mom would never be able to get me to Little League practice.

So I let that dream go, though my mom says I only ever mentioned Baseball once to her a as a kid.

I was shy, and soft spoken, so I didn’t talk much, other than to my brother who was 15 months younger than me.

In 1977, my brother, mom and I saw the Original Star Wars in the theatre…

From that day forward, I wanted to be a Filmmaker.

Then came The Empire Strikes Back (1980), the best sequel ever, which firmly cemented the notion of Film Making in my mind/heart.

Twenty two years after the Original Star Wars, I stepped away from a successful Corporate America Job, moved near my bro in Oregon, bought a video camera, and started working on Experimental Film Projects.

It wasn’t until that time, that I realized I also wanted to Write my Films.

After 7 months of messen around/writing/filming, I moved back to Southern California, and was back working in a cubical, but for half the money I was making before.

In my spare time I wrote a Teleplay (Screenplay for television) of a Sci-Fi Mini Series that I hoped to submit to the Sci-Fi Channel.

Also, as a Film Making exercise, I created mini sets, and Filmed Action Figure versions of some of the initial Scenes.

In 2002 I moved back to Oregon to work on Short Films with my bro, to submit into Film Festivals.

To my dismay, he had no time to do this.

Then out of frustration I wrote a 5 minute Short Film, and Filmed it in an hour and a half…

…Edited it, and Submitted it to a Film Festival in New York.

It got in.

Forgive the rough quality, it was Shot in Hi-8, then converted to Digital…

…and, like I say, was Shot in only an hour and a half.

Also that year, I Wrote a First Draft of a Feature Length Screenplay, with hopes of selling it someday, and using the money to Produce my own projects.

It was called ‘White Jade’

In September of 2002, I flew with my Dad to New York, and saw my Short Film on the Big Screen (It was actually like a half sized screen, lol).

It was at that moment I thought to myself, “I’m a Filmmaker”.

Sadly 3 months later, I ended up in the hospital with a health issue, and decided to step away from Film.

That didn’t last long, in the following year I moved to Arizona to stay with my Step Bro this time, and started to Write & gather some people who would work on what would be my Second Film (This one would be an hour long).

Sadly, I went through some trauma related to my health issues, and needed to move back to Southern California to live with my Mom and her boyfriend.

There I suffered extreme anxiety from the trauma, so didn’t go out much.

But I did pick up my White Jade Screenplay, and poured hundreds of hours into it.

Then in 2004 I Wrote Query Letters for it, and Submitted to Writing Agents, in hopes that they might read it, and Represent me.

Sadly, no response.

That year I also started some other Screenplays, but White Jade is the only one I Edited hundreds of hours, to create a finished product.

In 2005 I took a break from Dream Chasing, and wasn’t really leaving the house.

In 2006 I started a job outside the house, and would be there for 6 months.

During that time I hired a Comic Book Artist (Student) to Draw some Scenes from White Jade, so that should the opportunity arise, I’d have some visuals to show potential Producers.

 

I was so impressed by the Art, that I decided to try and make White Jade into a Comic Book, and hired the same Artist to Draw me the First 8 Pages of the Comic Book.

 

Including Covers for Issue 1, & 2.

 

I then Submitted the Comic Book Pages and Cover #1 to Dark Horse Comics, and a few other Independent Comic Book Companies (I didn’t try for Marvel, or DC, figured they were more Main Stream), to no avail.

I then had a severe anxiety attack while I was out, and had to leave the job.

From 2006-2011 I played a whole lot of World of Warcraft, lol

Which was great, and gave me a break from pursuing my dreams, as well as an opportunity to heal a bit emotionally from the trauma.

Wasn’t really leaving the house during 2007-2010.

In 2010, I moved out for a year and a half, and started going out again.

In 2011 I moved back home to my Moms’, and decided to Create a Writing Blog… This was the Blog.

When I started this Blog my hope was to get in the habit of Writing everyday, by shooting for an average of 600 Words per day, which wasn’t all that much.

It worked, I actually averaged somewhere around 1,200+ Words per day for a year and a half, and created a boat load of Poems, Blog Stories, a Couple Novellas & a Fantasy Novel.

In 2012, I Self Published some Poems, a ‘Partial Comic Book’ (The White Jade Pages), and my First Novella, “I Died Once”.

In late 2012 I wrote the Second Novella in the Series “Mady’s Storm”, but didn’t end up getting it Edited, and Self Published until 2015.

Also in 2012 I Wrote/Finished my First Fantasy Novel, “Chess With Agatha”, and hired an Editor.

After it was Edited, I still didn’t feel it was ready to Self Publish, so I sat it aside.

In 2013 slowed down on my Writing.

In 2015 I was missing Film Making, and still not leaving the house, ended up for the fun of it Filming a ‘Mock’ Trailer for White Jade.

I was so inspired by it, that I decided to break the Screenplay up into 16 Episodes, and Produce a 16 Part Web Series.

I also started to leave the house at this time.

The Pre-Production would last 8 to 10 Months…

(Sword Training Above).

During that time I poured hundreds and hundred of hours into Pre-Production

(Rehearsal Above)

(First Filmed Scene, which would have had Visual Effects added to enhance)

And even Filmed a couple Scenes from Episode 7 & 10 (Early), which was when the Actor was available.

(Second Filmed Scene, which also would have been enhanced by Visual Effects)

Everything was going really well, but sadly, I went through some personal things, coupled with a bad anxiety attack, and stopped going out again.

I kept working on Pre-Production, but after several months of not going out, I decided to bring the Production to a halt.

Wanting to put myself at ease, I returned to an old Hobby of mine from the 80’s 90’s, Dungeons & Dragons.

Something I’ve always been passionate about, and also an excellent tool for sharpening your Writing/Character/Character Development/Storytelling Skills.

But I did it for sheer pleasure.

But being who I am, I spent the next 6 months creating Conent, and even thought about Self Publishing some of it.

But I decided against it.

I now sit in a place, where I play a lot of Dungeons & Dragons, do some Writing on here, and miss Film Making.

Something that I ran into when I was doing Rehearsals for White Jade was, I came to the realization that I may have a ‘Fear of Success’ (Some have fear of failure, some have fear of success).

What I mean by that is, after I finished a really good White Jade Rehearsal, it hit me that if we do actually Produce the Episodes, and it has any kind of success/following etc., that it would all rest on me to keep it going…

…that all involved would rely on me to keep it going.

And all the fun etc. that they had with it, would be on me.

It shook me.

I never realized I had any kind of fear in regards to this.

Part of it may have to do with I hate pressure… The other part may have to do with I’d been through so much anxiety stuff, I feared the responsibility of it would stress me out.

Then there’s the other part which is, basically, I have no idea why I was worried, and/or why I worry.

I’m very happy with all of my creations, and yes I’d love to make a living, and just create create create, doing what I love…

…connecting and inspiring people, which has always been my main hope.

But at this point, I’m just not sure I’m up to it…

…up to success.

Up to the emotional trials.

Time will tell I guess.

Nuff Said,

Thanks for Listening/Reading

DarkJade-

Bradley Cooper (Spoiler Alert)

 

What It Says

After I posted this, I realized ‘wow’, I’d always assumed Rami Malek (From Bohemian Rhapsody) was going to win.

But though I loved Rami, I think I actually have to give it to Bradley.

Though Rami will likely win… We shall see.

Why I Became A Filmmaker

Bohemian Rhapsody… In Review

Let me just start by saying, Freddy Mercury is my favorite all time singer… Followed by David Bowie, and Steve Perry

Also, Rami Malek does deserve the Oscar for his portrayal as Freddy

That said, my Review

************************************

Anticipation; I admit, I was looking more forward to this Film than I have about a Film in a long time.

One of the vibes I got through the whole of the Film, was that of a Tribute Film… Kind of a Film for the Fans

Which is cool, but it was a bit different than what I expected

Directing; As beautiful as this Film was, I did find myself feeling that it kind of focused on the Highlights of his career. Like I say, a Tribute Film, but I was actually more interested in some of the nuts and bolts…

I will say this though, this Film is worth seeing alone for the ending, which is basically a recreation of most of the Live Aid Concert Performance that Queen did… Which I always thought was one of the best performances of anyone, ever

Acting;

Rami Malek; Brilliant… I already like Rami from Mr. Robot

I will say, and this has more to do with the Directing, and/or Writing I think, that I didn’t find myself ‘liking’ Freddy the way that he was portrayed in this Film

In the ending scenes, and performance, I caught glimpses of it

In my experience of Freddy, he’s one of the most passionate, amazing humans that has ever walked the earth. I feel the Film focused more on, like I say, his Career Highlights, and odd persona.

And though Rami was brilliant, I really do feel that it was the Directing, and/or Writing that fell short on capturing how amazing he was, beyond the music.

Not perfect, just vibrant.

Rating; In the end, it left me wanting to see it again… In case any subconscious expectations had snuck in. I really liked this Film, but he is one of my all time favorite people, so I would have liked, ‘liking’ him more by the end, and during actually. But if nothing else, see it for the final Live Aid Concert scenes.

4.25 Stars Out of 5