Ga$ Price$
Mood:  cheeky
Now Playing: Matchbox 20's "3 AM"

sometimes all you need is a good laugh. check these out and have a good laugh. ;)

Curiouser and Curiouser
Mood:  quizzical
Now Playing: Flogging Molly's "Drunken Lullabies"

Day 32 of Scott's Unemployment.

it's times like this, in one's life, that makes you wonder what the grander scheme of life truly is. i've put my life in God's hands and within the past week and a half, i've made Jesus the lord of my life, which is a position He hasn't held in four or five years. i believe He has a plan for me and that He will reveal it to me, but after 32 days of not making any money, you do have to start wondering what He's got up His cosmic sleeve.

Kelly (the love of me life, sorry ladies) and i have our pre-marital counseling today. i'm about to head out the door and pick her up for it. the hour we spend with Dr Womack always ends up being the highlight of the week as we just love that man and we're both talkers and our favourite subject is us, so we're all winners!

for you comic lovers out there, i just finished Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert and it was absolutely the most satisfying comic i've read in a very, very long time (and i'm a Bendis fan!).

as far as my writings go, i finished my treatment for my adaptation of The Scarlet Pimpernel and i've begun finishing my treatment for a as-of-yet unnamed project about one man's search for redemption.

anyway, i'm off. please keep me in your prayers.

Belief -vs- Faith
Mood:  quizzical
Now Playing: Creed's "Torn"

is there a difference? between faith and belief, i mean.

faith is defined as "being able to believe in something we cannot see."

so by definition alone, faith is taking belief to the next level. anyone can believe in the incredible edible egg, you can see it, touch it, taste it, crack it, scramble it, and eat it. but not everyone can believe in an almighty God. few have seen Him, few have touched Him, heard Him, smelt Him or tasted Him.

maybe it's because i grew up as a Christian, but to me, faith is a watered down version of belief. faith doesn't require action, belief does. the difference between someone having faith in me and someone believing in me is astounding.

which brings me to realization that i've always had faith in God, but i'm not sure i've believed Him. or believed in Him. it was a very startling realization -- an epiphany, really.

that's the funny thing about epiphanies. epiphanies change the universe without moving a single hair. everything's changed but nothing's different.

Abraham believed in God. yes, he had incredible faith, but he believed in God. so when God told him to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham was willing to, despite the fact that it flew in the face of everything Abraham knew about God. God has never, ever, requested or demanded human sacrifices. but Abraham didn't question. he knew God. if God came to me and asked me to sacrifice my son, or my brother, i would probably pause and say, "this isn't one of the 27 fundamental beliefs of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, so this must be a trick or temptation from the devil."

because i've defined God by a religion. my religion. God isn't a religion. CS Lewis writes this really amazing theory and that is, every religion is actually a descendant of the original "religion," the theological beliefs of Adam, Eve, Noah, etc. this is why every religion, for example, has a flood story or a saviour story. each religion has aspects of the Truth and each has a unique and important view of salvation that really needs to be taken into account and not ignored, but so many times we get high and mighty with our own religion that we make sinners out of saints.

which, i know, is a very prickly subject for Christians, as we believe we have "the Way, the Truth, and the Life," and there's no way to Heaven but through Jesus. we just need to make sure to remember that and not cling to the Gospel of Limp Bizkit which is "my way or the highway." Christianity (or Seventh-Day Adventism) is missing things that Buddhism has, but it's important to note what Christianity has that Buddhism doesn't (using Buddhists purely as an example here).

my filter is the Bible.

wow. all this just because of a line in the movie (you must see) Serenity.

Life With a Big Screen
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Dropkick Murphy's "The Warrior's Code"

Day 19 of Scott's Unemployment.

i got a TV! i know, i know, i'm unemployed and should have other things on my mind, but my parents gave me the last of the money they owed me and i took it to Best Buy and bought a 27" TV with it. it makes me happy. now, after a long day of not going to work, i can curl up in the glowing warmth of the television's warming glow.

bought and beat Ultimate Spider-Man. if i didn't have such a kick-@$$ story and the option to play as Venom, i'd be a little disappointed. i really dig it, don't get me wrong, it gets an "A" as far as games go, but it has a few too many chases and the entire game is like Spider-Man 2 with an aesthetic overhaul (but props for using Bagley's artwork). it's the first Spider-Man game, i will say, that truly bring the comic book world to life.

working on some script treatments. three, to be exact. one's a romantic comedy, one's kind of a crime drama, and the other is rollicking period piece (don't want to give away too much just yet).

finished editing my demo reel a couple of nights ago. nice to see the whole thing put together. i actually have some pretty good work to show off. i'm kinda proud. ;)

i have to pick up Marshall from the dentist in about 30 minutes, then i'm gonna go home, pop in a movie, pop in some fish and chips (sorry, French Fries to you Yanks), and work on those pesky script treatments.

Favourite Simpsons Moment #648
Reverend Lovejoy: Homer, I'd like you to remember Matthew 7:26. "The foolish man who built his house upon the sand."
Homer: And you remember . . . Matthew . . . 21:17.
Reverend Lovejoy: "And he left them and went out of the city, into Bethany, and he lodged there?"
Homer: Yeah. Think about it.

Comic Book Art Appreciation Day
Mood:  suave
Now Playing: Alanis Morissette's "Spineless"

for those of you who forgot, Monday was National Talk Like a Pirate Day. i know, i know. you're kicking yourself. "argh! how could i forget that day?!"

so, to make up for your callousness, i have declared today National Comic Book Art Appreciation Day. because, as you might have picked up on, i'm a big fan of the comic book.

i could talk for hours and hours about what i love about these books, but today i want to focus on one thing: the art.

i've always been a visual learner and have always been a fan of visual story telling, so i'll be honest, it was the art that first pulled me into modern myths.

right now, my favourite artists (in no particular order) are Mark Bagley, Frank Miller, J Scott Campbell, John Romita Jr, Jim Lee, Andie Tong, JonBoy Meyers and Joe Pekar (though Joe isn't quite into comic books yet, he'll be there soon).

so here you are. i haven't collaged in a while, and i could tell you were going through collage withdrawl. i call it "Some of My Favourite Comic Book Panels, Covers, and General Comic Book Art."

it annoys/amuses me when non-comic people will pick up a comic, flip through it and make a remark akin to "is her superpower being able to fit in that suit?"

yes. i will admit now that girls in comics have (stereotypically) been very robust, buxom women. they've also been predominately white -- but less people mention that.

what most people fail to see is that all (most) of these superheroes are extreme ideals. check out the dudes. look at Superman. look at Batman. look at Spider-Man, Wolverine, Cyclops, any of 'em. they're friggin' huge! i bring this up to deflate the argument that these comics create unfair expectations in boys/men who read comics who then expect and demand women look/dress the same way. it's ridiculous. i've never met a comic dork who had that small of a grip on reality. plus, no comic dork reads Superman and says, "that's how i'm supposed to look."

the cool thing is that with the advent of "plus-sized models" has also come various sized superheroes. some are big, some are small, some are pimply, others freckled and wearing glasses.

so, to recap, they are stylized ideals (and i know even that will make some people unhappy). i just had to address that because it's what everyone talks about -- that isn't a comic fan. spend some time with a comic fan, or go visit a comic book forum (there's a great one at www.superherohype.com) and what you're likely to find is a lot of people who read these books and pick apart the minutia of the storytelling, kids who can quote twenty years of continuity, and others who compare various story lines to that of Sophocles.

but today we're talking about art.

most non-comic people, as soon as you mention "comic book," get a real cartoony image in their head, probably with a "thwack," "whack," "pow," "boom," "zap" or "ka-pow" attached to it. but comic art is so much more than that.

actually, sound effects ("KA-BLOOIE") are becoming more and more rare in comics and have been replaced by amazing art that tell the stories well enough you don't need onomatopoeia. you have comics that are completely painted by the likes of Alex Ross or David Mack.

these artists are truly talented people. people who can convey deep emotions in single panels of comics, even if the character is wearing a mask. i have a deep respect for them.

many times, when i've been thinking about a film, writing a film, directing a film, i've found myself going to back issues of Spider-Man or X-Men, going, "how did they do it?"

here's hoping this road of taking comic pencillers as serious artists continues to be traversed.

Woo-Hoo!! Job Interview!!
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: um . . . nothing, actually

Day 13 of Scott's Unemployment.

i had a job interview today at WTS (not WTF, as Marshall thought and we all got a good laugh out of) and it went really, really well. here's hoping something comes of it.

i've been spending my days reading and writing, mainly. movies have been playing in the background, but i've really tried to take this time to get caught up on books i've wanted to read and scripts i've been needing to write. i'm working on a treatment right now for a script that i think would make (if it were made) my favorite movie of all time. it has everything. adventure, romance, hubris, tragedy, comedy, some great action, and a really great underlying message.

peace, love and chicken grease!

Livin' La Vida Unemployed . . . duh . .
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Crystal Method's "She's My Pusher"

Day 10 of Scott's Unemployment.

i spent the morning calling every video production company in the area. seven-tenths of the video production houses in the greater Chattanooga area are no longer in service, or at least have phone numbers that have gone out of service since the yellow pages were published. but i got two good leads. Atomic Films is looking for a "non-linear film editor" and WTS is looking for a desktop publisher. i can do either.

or so i told them. i called Loren and said, "i told them i can do non-linear editing. can i? that's not Avid is it?" he just laughed and assured me that i can, in fact, edit non-linearly. in fact, it's the only editing i've ever learned how to do. it's simply digital editing. -whew- we shall see where, if anywhere, they lead.

keep me in your prayers and if you hear of anything opening, gimme a ring!

Unemployment Ain't All Bad
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Fuel's "Won't Back Down"

Day 2 of Scott's Unemployment.

actually, it isn't so bad so far. i've had two job interviews thus far and i've been able to sleep in. God made me a night owl, so being able to stay up till 1:30-2:00am reading, writing, watching movies and playing Xbox is absolutely wonderful.

i'm one chapter away from completing the controversial Batman tale "A Death in the Family," which chronicles the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin. it's amazing how gripping and gut-wrenching the story is, being a comic book and all.

i'm halfway through Chuck Palahniuk's "Lullaby," which is turning out to be a very interesting read. i'd rate it third out of the three books of Chuck's i've read, but it's still more enjoyable than a lot of books out there. this one is the most "novel" out of books. the others seemed to have more of a statement to make -- though i'm only halfway through, it might whip out a zinger here near the end, and that sounds like something Palahniuk would do.

next up? Palahniuk's "Choke" and Batman's "The Long Halloween."

i got to watch The Crying Game a couple of nights ago and i was actually impressed. it juggles so many different subjects, you'd think it would drop the ball on one of them, but not so. it deftly tackles the IRA, Inter-racial love and . . . well, another kind of love that I can't say without revealing a major spoiler. it was a tad slow at times, and until the ending, i thought it was a tad uneven, never being able to decide what kind of movie it wanted to be, but as the credits started to roll, it all made sense. ;)

it's only Day 2, but i've been thankful for the time i've had to myself. i've been able to do some soul-searching, brain-storming, and general life-planning.

The Times Are A-Changin'
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: Chris Rice's "Go Light Your World"

life can be so bizarre.

for example, 48 hours ago, i had three jobs i really enjoyed. i worked for Ripple Productions as a writer/director/producer and as head of film development. i worked at the Fertility Center as the head of Media Services. i taught Intro to Photography at Spalding Elementary. today i have one job. i'm still a teacher.

Wednesday evening i was notified that, as much as it breaks Ripple's heart, it simply could not afford to continue to pay my salary. this did not come as much of a surprise, as our last play was in May and it didn't bring in much money. i've been wondering for quite some time how Ripple could continue to my exhorbent salary, but didn't question or complain. i was saddened but not surprised and i honestly felt like this was God saying, "you're growing complacent. I need you over here, doing this instead." so i was actually excited by this change.

Thursday morning, however, brought about a more unexpected change. i ran into my boss (who shall remain nameless) in the parking as we headed into work. he was like, "hey, heard about Ripple. bummer." i said, "yeah, speaking of which, i need to have a pow-wow with you about that." we agreed on a 10am pow-wow. i go into his office and ask if the FCOC would be interested in bringing me on full-time as now i have my afternoons free. he looked at me blankly, i kid you not, and said, "well, actually, the agreement we had with Ripple was should they ever let you go, for whatever reason, we would do the same." i'm shocked. i'm being let go from one job because a completely different job couldn't afford to pay me anymore. not only is this job not interested in bringing me in full-time, they're not interested in keeping me on part-time. for, the only reason they gave me was, "'cos Ripple is letting you go." he then had the gall to say, "and you're getting married in three months. bummer man, bummer. i'll be praying for you."

this only confirms my life-long belief that you should not work for a Christian, as they opt to be concerned about your eternal well-being in lieu of treating you professionally. that's just been my experience.

as "bummed" as i am, i'm actually excited by what this means. due to the subject of my termination, i feel like this is God just moving me where He needs me, as opposed to actually being fired. i haven't been fired. i've just been hired by people who would like for me to continue doing my job for no money.

so. if you'd ever like to do anything, i have some free time on my hands.

Crash
Mood:  lucky
Now Playing: Sister Hazel's "Your Winter"

i watched the most amazing film last night. it's the kind of picture that deserves the title "film" (as opposed to some of the "movies" studios insist on releasing). it is all at once gripping, nostalgic, hilarious, sad, tragic, shocking, blunt, honest, inspiring, and exactly the kind of picture this society needs right now. it's called Crash, and you owe it to yourself to watch it. if you need star power to spice it up for you, it stars Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Brendan Frasier, Thandie Newton, Matt Dillon, Ludacris, and Ryan Phillipe. i don't remember the last film that made me cry, but this one had me in tears TWICE. please, stop reading this blog and go see this picture.