AAAAND it's less than blue book

The best version of truth in advertising.

I'll Stay Forever

While I can see these guys being a bunch of douche nozzles tipping 8% in an IHOP, the song is indisputably way cooler than me.

Stay Away From The Foos

Still in the lounge at the Racine Comfort Inn, while Longwave read their press clippings comparing them to a cross between Radiohead and The Strokes...


They happen to see the four dudes at the foosball table and reconsider the skinny pants.

Taking a Leak

In back of the Racine Comfort Inn. Earning their bar band cred, The Whore Moans take a drunken leak on the dumpster.

Obeying standard urination protocol, they keep their eyes leveled straight ahead...


Until they realize the wrecked old fucker next to them is pissing directly on their leg.



And laughing about it.

C'est Beau

More socialist rooftop music from Air France.

air france - no excuses songs
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Into The Dish Room

And back at the Racine Comfort Inn lounge, Dawn Of The Dead push back from their table...



And stroll -- all bass lines and synthesizer -- into the steam of the dish room to bum a smoke from ...



And a light from...

What A New Day Looks Like

I know this isn't politically correct, but I think the visual disparity is both historic and poignant.





Wow.   Jawlines.

Holy, Er, Loveliness

I know all the words to Holy Fuck's "Lovely Allen" and, no, I don't know why the first twenty seconds are blank.

Goddamn Right

Three years ago I would have given you even money that Cheney would find a way to impose martial law and November 4, 2008 wouldn't happen.

So, given that...

A Nice Piece of Set

Back to the screenwriting stuff. Remember that? More precisely, back to set pieces. Remember those? And I apologize in advance, because apparently most people have an inherent understanding of set pieces, where as I think (now at least) the term is often misused.

So, I want to refine what I talked about before. In short, I said there are organic set pieces which serve the characters and the story, and there are moronic ones which are simply noise and commotion intended to be trailer moments.

But now my feeling is this: I was accepting a flawed definition of "set piece". Even more, I think it's an undernourished definition that a lot of people accept without really thinking about it.

Here's why (at least for comedies and character driven pieces): While most set pieces do make for trailer moments, trailer moments are by no means set pieces. It's not a tidy, reciprocal exchange. My mistake was looking at all the bright, shiny, noisy, orchestrated moments in trailers and assuming they were set pieces simply because... they were in trailers.

Because for comedies and character driven pieces, the set piece is something an actor is going to pull off, rather than the CGI designer or the stunt team.

And the reason I think the distinction is important is because -- while I'm never going to tell a studio exec they're mistakenly conflating the two -- it's probably valuable to keep an awareness of the dynamic in my back pocket.

So, let's tear it all down and go back to the origination of the term. Originally, a "set piece" was a physical component of a play that was so crucial to the story that it was/is articulated in the initial description of the set. All other props can be mentioned as they occur in the play, but set pieces were/are the critical pieces that a set designer and reader need to know about up front.

I'm not saying that's how the term is used in screenplays, but it's useful to understand how the original term applies to screenplays: When done right, set pieces are moments crucial to the telling of the story. Whether they are moments that change a character's worldview, or moments that change the course of the story, or moments that surprise the characters, they are the moments the actor is going to pull off.

And to take it a step further, I'd say they are the moments you are writing towards. The moments that -- when you first sit down to tackle a screenplay -- they're the ones you can't wait to get to, because all of what goes before or comes after hangs on these set pieces.

Identify those moments (character transition, change of worldview, audience reveal, etc.), buff them out so you aren't underselling them, and you'll have memorable (and legitimate) character based set pieces.

Even Better Than Ezra

Ezra Furman and The Harpoons. You'll have to hit play after the advert (I know, what is this, 2006?)

Coolest New Song Ever

Okay, so Kate Bush was piloting a day-glo sleigh full of munchkins over the happiest rainbow ever. No, really.

Passion Pit's Sleepyhead.



And the live version sounds shockingly good, too.

From The Bottom Of The Glass

Back to the lounge at the Racine Comfort Inn, where indie bands stare into their Maker's Mark and catch the irrefutable reflection of their own DNA.

Such as it is for Northern Portrait...




...as the whiskey beads away from the ice in their glass and the letters begin to appear... T... R... A...

Back To Racine

Into the lounge, past the dark corner, over to the happy hour buffet at the Comfort Inn.

As The Shout Out Louds reach for the last fried mozzarella stick...

(no it's not a real video, shut up and listen)



... A familiar pale hand appears, scooping up the deep fried synthetic log.

Public Service Announcement

Do not date this man. Three and half years later he'll still think you're just trying to make him jealous.

Another Tearful Reunion

And in another corner of the lounge in the Racine Comfort Inn, Gaslight Anthem's celebratory toasts are interrupted...



... by the gaunt stranger at the bar.

Domestic Affairs

Good to see we've got the illegal immigration problem on the run.

"The drop reflects the weakness of the economy, particularly the sectors that employ undocumented workers like construction," said Harley Shaiken, a professor at UC Berkeley specializing in labor issues, said there are a number of powerful forces reducing the numbers of undocumented immigrants. "People are less likely to risk everything to get here if they can't get a job."

Because, you know, how many squatters do you see in burning buildings.

Tearful Reunion

It will probably happen in the lounge of the Racine Comfort Inn. The Rumble Strips, on their first American tour, will walk in. And there, in a dark corner of the bar, the band will see them. And they'll know instantly. No words will be necessary.

The Rumble Strips...

The Rumble Strips - Girls and Boys in Love