BOX Principal Photography Begins on FRIDAY!

www.indiegogo.com/box

Hello great friends,

Keeping you updated and also, this is our last plea for the final truth:

Principal photography begins on Friday and this movie is going to cost $25,000.

We have little time left to raise cash on IndieGoGo, so this is what we are suggesting to everyone we’ve been badgering, requesting from, looking deep into their eyes and wallets:

GIVE

and/or  

POST THIS LINK anywhere you can:  www.indiegogo.com/box

and then/or

Never read another one of my blog posts again?

Going to raise 9,000 more American greenbacks before Wednesday.

We can do it. (Or we can go get jobs at Chase Manhattan Bank--)

So here we are. Humbly asking you.  One little more time.  Give, Post, Block, Repeat.

www.indiegogo.com/box

__________________________________________________________

And now, The BOX NEWS:

First of all, the little town of Highland Falls has gotten into the movie madness and they are going to put on their parking meter socks so we can have a load of free street parking at our warehouse.

It’s cute there.

But even better, we have an amazing cast for BOX and here they are: 

Marsha Dietlein Bennett, Dylan Chalfy, Lou Liberatore, Mink Stole and Alfred Damm

See the wonderful faces of these great talents, here:

http://boxthemovie.wordpress.com/2012/04/28/box-the-cast-7/

_________________________________________________________________

134 of you, to be exact, have already donated to the making of BOX, along with our Corporate Angel, SONY. We are so grateful.  Thank you so much!

And now for Camera news:

With much aid from our extremely talented Director of photography, we have acquired the use of the SONY F65 camera! Along with a camera package (lenses, etc.), that requires a truck to haul the many cases. Our DP is so respected and admired that she and Sony have partnered and Sony will be using footage from BOX to promote this camera, along with making a behind-the-scenes movie of the making-of-the-movie. We are one of the earliest short films to be given this opportunity. Mr. M. Night Shyamalan is shooting his current feature film on the Sony F65 right now. Increased depth of field and many new features will make the Sony F65 the industry standard for digital movie making. (Until something else comes along, one imagines…)

http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/show-highend/resource.solutions.bbsccms-assets-show-highend-F65.shtml

This movie got kinda buzzy and we could not scrimp on staff nor design…and we are not. The top notch crew is working for peanuts. But those allergens add up…25,000 dollars worth of them to be exact.

www.indiegogo.com/box

  

Our Story

BOX is a short film about people craving intimacy. How they suffer when intimacy is lost. How they succeed when they live inside of it. And how, possibly, the ones who are good at it can help the ones who are not so good.

Zak and Paula are married but they barely understand each other.  Zak has an appointment with Peter, a man in a gender neutral outfit, who attempts to help him.

Helen works with Peter to help Zak find his way and lends her special magic to all she encounters. Will Helen and Peter’s simple gift of a Box  reveal a new way forward for Paula? Maybe…

All in eleven minutes at three locations. (A kitchen, a warehouse and a beautiful Seventeenth Century Dutch Stone Farmhouse on Five Acres with a pond and gardens.)

www.indiegogo.com/box

A shout of gratitude to Mink Stole of John Waters fame and Lou Liberatore from the original Broadway cast of Burn This who are playing Helen and Peter. To our leads, Marsha Dietlein Bennett and Dylan Chalfy, who are playing Paula and Zak, a wildly talented pair. To extremely talented newcomer, Andreas Damm. To Jendra Jarnagin, our wonderful Director of Photography, Sony darling, whose work can be seen in the above video. Chrissy Conant, installation artist and painter, will be our production designer. Micah Bloomberg, the fantastic Indie Film Sound King (Frozen River, Martha Marcy May Marlene) has joined our crew. Mark Repasky, editor at large at Showtime, will pull it all together in post. As Associate Producer, Rebecca Israel is going to keep us all on track the days of the shoot, the first week of May along with Co-Producer Matthew Weiner and Assistant Director, Darren Bartlett.  And, you! We want you to be a part of this process.

This budget will cover:

Five Actors

CoProducer

Associate Producer

Assistant Director

Director of Photography

First Assistant Camera

Second Assistant Camera

Sound

Gaffer (lights)

Grip (muscle)

Swing (Gaffer and Grip helper)

3 PA’s

Production Designer

Two Set Dressers/Props

Wardrobe

Casting Director

Rental space for Casting

Sets-Props

Hair-Makeup

Script Supervisor

D.I.T. (Digital management)

Hard Drives

Transportation (Passenger Van, Cube truck)

Steadicam

Equipment rental

Food

Editor

Sound Mixer

Insurance

DVD copies

And SOME festival fees 

(Feel free to use this list to make your own movie!)

Everyone involved is a full career level professional who is joining this project based on the script and on us.

Movies can’t make themselves. Come in. Get Close. Open your Box.

May you have everything you desire.

Thanks,

Chris and Don

CONTRIBUTE HERE:

www.indiegogo.com/box

or POST this Link:

www.indiegogo.com/box

www.indiegogo.com/box

www.boxthemovie.wordpress.com

www.facebook.com/boxthemovie

www.twitter.com/boxthemovie

ANDREAS DAMM JOINS BOX

http://boxthemovie.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/welcome-andreas-damm-as-alfred-in-box-4/

WHO is IN the BOX?

To Mink Stole and Lou Liberatore, just add:

http://boxthemovie.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/dylan-chalfy-stars-in-box/

http://boxthemovie.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/marsha-dietlein-bennett-stars-in-box/

And one kid, almost chosen,

And you have the CAST of BOX.

Ten Days Left---I know, I know. Dig Deep BOX

http://boxthemovie.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/last-call-heading-toward-19k-free-state-of-the-art-sony-camera/

SIZE MATTERS

Check out this link.

I knew we were all living on the quantum foam---I just didn't realize how small it was.

Get down to it!

The Scale of the Universe

And then go in the opposite direction.

Who needs marijuana after something like this?

Physics. Poetry. Your days before the birth canal. Your nights of worry.

Eh.

The Scale of the Universe

Friends: We're getting there. Jump on. Contribute. Link. Help. FREE NEW SONY CAM!

www.indiegogo.com/box 

Hello great friends,

So many of you have been so generous, it is rather ridiculous. THANK YOU! 113 of you, to be exact, have donated to the making of Box, along with our Corporate Angel, SONY. We are so grateful.

OUR COSTS have ballooned to 19K because of some great news. We have acquired from Sony the use of the SONY F65 camera! And a camera package (lenses, etc.). It’s kinda nuts-lucky. Our Director of Photography is so respected and admired, that she and Sony have partnered and Sony will be using footage from BOX to promote this camera. We are one of the earliest short films to be given this opportunity. Mr. M. Night Shyamalan is shooting his current feature film on the Sony F65 right now. Increased depth of field and many new features will make the Sony F65 the industry standard for digital movie making. (Until something else comes along, one imagines…)

http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/show-highend/resource.solutions.bbsccms-assets-show-highend-F65.shtml

So, we can’t scrimp on staff and design…and we are not. The crew is top notch and everyone is working for peanuts. But those allergens add up…and it has become clear, with our actualized budget, that we need 19,000 dollars worth of those peanuts. 

We are two weeks away from closing out this successful campaign, but we still need help getting there.

Many of you have contributed already. So thank you again! Perhaps you would consider forwarding this email to a few fun friends or post this link on one of your many cool social sites:

www.indiegogo.com/box

Or send another five bucks.

Some of you are feeling the pinch of these silly economic times…and we totally get it and we thank you for being so positive and supportive in your enthusiasm for our movie. Would you please post this link on one of your many cool social sites?

www.indiegogo.com/box

And those of you who have considered contributing but have not gotten around to it yet, please jump on and push us toward that 19K mark. We need you!

Is this link getting repetitive? :

www.indiegogo.com/box

Our Story

BOX is a short film about people craving intimacy. How they suffer when intimacy is lost. How they succeed when they live inside of it. And how, possibly, the ones who are good at it can help the ones who are not so good.

Zak and Paula are married but they barely understand each other.  Zak has an appointment with Peter, a man in a gender neutral outfit, who attempts to help him.

Helen works with Peter to help Zak find his way and lends her special magic to all she encounters. Will Helen and Peter’s simple gift of a Box  reveal a new way forward for Paula? Maybe…

All in eleven minutes at three locations. (A kitchen, a warehouse and a beautiful Seventeenth Century Dutch Stone Farmhouse on Five Acres with a pond and gardens.)

What We Need & What You Get

OUR GOAL

 is to shoot this movie with great artistic integrity. To that end, we are surrounding ourselves with professional talent of the highest caliber, from actors to the director of photography. To pay everyone, down to the newest PA who has just arrived in town. To submit to festivals. And to develop and produce more films with intelligence and sensitivity.

Short movies do not get made by studios. They get made by people like you. By people like us. We need your help. 

We have a full crew and the beginnings of a great cast. A shout of gratitude to Mink Stole of John Waters fame and Lou Liberatore from the original Broadway cast of Burn This (with John Malkovich and Joan Allen), who are playing Helen and Peter. To Cindi Rush, casting director, who is working on offers to name talent for Zak and Paula. To Jendra Jarnagin, our wonderful Director of Photography, Sony darling, whose work can be seen in the above video. Chrissy Conant, installation artist and painter, will be our production designer. Micah Bloomberg, the fantastic Indie Film Sound King (Frozen River, Martha Marcy May Marlene) has joined our crew. Mark Repasky, editor at large at Showtime, will pull it all together in post. As Associate Producer, Rebecca Israel is going to keep us all on track the days of the shoot, the first week of May. And, you! We want you to be a part of this process.

This budget will cover:

Five Actors

Associate Producer

Assistant Director

Director of Photography

First Assistant Camera

Second Assistant Camera

Sound

Gaffer (lights)

Grip (muscle)

Swing (Gaffer and Grip helper)

2 PA’s

Production Designer

Set Dresser and Props

Wardrobe

Casting Director

Rental space for Casting

Sets-Props

Hair-Makeup

Script Supervisor

D.I.T. (Digital management)

Hard Drives

Transportation (Passenger Van, Cube truck)

Steadicam

Equipment rental

Food

Editor

Sound Mixer

Insurance

DVD copies

And SOME festival fees 

(Feel free to use this list to make your own movie!)

Everyone involved is a full career level professional who is joining this project based on the script and on us. Your money will be stretched, paying 1970s fees (the golden age of cinema) for a present day movie.

Movies can’t make themselves. Come in. Get Close. Open your Box.

May you have everything you desire.

Thanks,

Chris and Don

CONTRIBUTE HERE:

www.indiegogo.com/box

or POST this Link:

www.indiegogo.com/box

www.boxthemovie.wordpress.com

www.facebook.com/boxthemovie

www.twitter.com/boxthemovie

Funny Pages: Park Slope, Thursday Night. Another Great Reason to Visit Brooklyn

 Thursday April 19, 2012, 8PM

Brooklyn Reading Works presents 

Funny Pages 

A Night of Humor

Curated by Marian Fontana

At the Old Stone House                                             

Author Marian Fontana knows funny and she is bringing together a great group of comic writers for this night of hilarity with Don Cummings, Blair Fell, Ellen Ferguson, Billy Frolick, Gianna Messina & Marian Fontana

 . 

BIOS OF THE PERFORMERS:

DON CUMMINGS' critically acclaimed plays have been produced on both coasts: His play, The Fat of the Land was a semifinalist for the Kaufman & Hart Award for new American comedy. A Good Smoke was a semifinalist for the Eugene O'Neill theater conference. It had a reading at The Public Theater in New York starring Meryl Streep and Debra Monk and has been optioned for Broadway. Piss Play is about Minorities so it's Really Important was produced in the Summer Cringe Festival of 2009 where it received the Golden Pineapple award for best play. His latest play, Live Work Space, opens soon in Los Angeles. His collection of nonfiction essays are loosely held together in his yet-to-be-published memoir, Open Trench, named after his blog. He has acted in a lot of plays and been on a lot of sitcoms and writes movies and TV shows. Mr. Cummings is a graduate of Tufts University, The Neighborhood Playhouse and a member of The Dramatists Guild and the Ensemble Studio Theater Writer's Unit.   www.doncummings.net

I WILL BE READING  "The Front Row"---a story about choosing the wrong best friends out of convenience.


BLAIR FELL has written for the television series Queer As Folk, and the emmy-award winning Public Television show California Connected. His plays Naked Will, The Tragic and Horrible Life of the Singing Nun, From The Hip, Bargains and Blood, The Ballad of Little Girl Jesus et al have been performed around the world and have received numerous
awards.  He has written charity and award show speeches for hundreds of celebrities, as well as the GLAAD Awards, Vimeo Awards and The Trevor Project.  Along with writing for a number of pop culture websites, he writes a fiction blog called subwaysaints.com and the web series Burninghabits.com. His work can also be seen on blairfell.com.

ELLEN FERGUSON writes the "Diversity in the News" column for McSweeney's, and her nonfiction has also been published in Diversity Prep, Publisher's Weekly, and SPY.  Her McSweeney's column has been widely reprinted online.  Her poetry can be found online on identitytheory and the Brooklyn Reading Works, and in print in Long Island Quarterly.  Before she started teaching English, Satire and Nonfiction in New Jersey and New Hampshire, she worked at The New Yorker Magazine and SPY.

MARIAN FONTANA has been a writer and performer for over 20 years. Her articles have appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and most recently in the Guardian and on  Salon.com. Her memoir, A Widows Walk published in 2005 by Simon and Schuster, was chosen as the Top Ten Great Reads of 2005 by People magazine and the Washington Post's Book Raves of 2005. She most recently completedher second memoir, The Middle of the Bed.   Her essays have appeared in the anthologies Money Changes Everything and The Time of My Life for Random House. She is currently collaborating on a musical.

BILLY FROLICK'S screenwriting credits include DreamWorks Animation's MADAGASCAR.  He has written for The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times and Salon.com, and is the author of four book-length parodies, including The Ditches of Edison County, a national bestseller.

GIANNA MESSINA is a writer, producer and comedian who got her start as a baby model. Her work has appeared in  Dossier and Atlanta Style & Design magazine. She has performed stand-up at the Punchline in Atlanta and at the Metropolitan Room in New York and co-hosted the No Rules radio show with comedian Stu Levine. She is a graduate of Syracuse University Crouse College of Art and the High School for the Performing Arts where she majored in Drama. Gianna lives with her cat Clementine in Brooklyn in order to be closer to good bread and cannoli. She is gluten-free intolerant, enjoys the 3rdperson format of biographies and blogging on giannamessina.com.

 EXPERIENCE Brooklyn Reading Works, the reading series that has been called "The best place to chase fiction with a bit of history" by Conde Nast Traveler.  "Once a month you can hear writers discuss themes ranging from "Make Mine a Double" - on women and  drinking -  to books by war veterans." 

BRW is a great night out for anyone who wants to be entertained and enlightened by acclaimed and emerging authors, and meet others who enjoy the same. 

A $5 donation includes refreshments and wine. 

The Old Stone House

336 Third Street

Between Fifth and Fourth Avenues

Park Slope, Brooklyn NY  11215

Due to construction in the park, enter from the Fourth Avenue side of the house. 

Seminar

Seminar, the play by Theresa Rebeck, that I finally went to see---is trite but well acted and funny at times.

It is both a screed against the vanity of writers and a celebration of their spirit.

There is not much going on in this play. But I do like the use of language.

A choice was made to not hear any of the writing being talked about. Too bad. So much could have been written on the written-but-never-read pages that would have revealed character.

I think this play wants to be profound. However, it has the soul of a sitcom.

On the other hand, it is intelligent enough to be better than a lot of other things we are forced to sit through in midtown.

Jeff Goldblum is good. So are Jerry O’Connell, Justin Long, Zoe Lister-Jones and Hettienne Park.

Sam Gold directs it very clearly and very well.

Scene transitions were weak. Not dark enough and the actors were not still enough for the comic quick lights up bumps to work.

In the end, there is a happy ending.  Too bad. It gets so soft, one realizes there was nothing hard there to begin with, even though it pretended to be so.

A bunny in tarantula’s clothing.

Of course, I’m jealous. But isn’t the root of all criticism competition?

I want to sauerkraut wrestle with Theresa Rebeck. But I’d let her win. Because she’s a girl.  (I think she’d get this joke…)

Funded but yet not...

http://boxthemovie.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/funded-but-yet-not-7/

Jesus Christ Superstar

We saw it.

We loved it.

We watched him die and then rise from the dead.

Singing the whole time.

Look---

It was the night before Easter and all through the house

Not a savior was stirring, I just have to grouse,

The eggs were not dyed, nor was ham in the air,

We went and got twofers, at the booth in Times Square…

I’ll stop now because it is 3AM and I have to drag my tired lapsed ass to bed.

(Can something that never really was be lapsed?)

Okay, I have to drag my familial historical Catholic ass to bed.

But before I do, let me say this—

These wacky talented Canadians, via La Jolla Playhouse, directed by Des McAnuff, most of them making their Broadway debuts, were frigging fabulous.

The set was like the inside of a black and silver Motorola Android phone. Big on the Superstar part. Jesus countdown news crawling across a horizontal crawler (in lights, you know, like news)…fun as hell. (As heaven?)

Jesus played it all caged animal-like.

Judas was played by the understudy. Amazing voice.

Jesus, too---amazing singer.

Mary M, not as well.

I loved this music as a kid and I still do. It’s modern chords, with rock music and it’s sort of nasty good crucifixion fun.

As Joan Didion penned, “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”

At the end of the play, the words of the Gospels, lit up, crawled all over the set, moving across so you could almost read them, filling the walls. Like, this Jesus death set the tongue waggers on fire. It was powerful, moving. Not just for the Gospels but because, fundamentally, people must write and say so much stuff in order to craft their way out of the madness.

But moving away from Joan and Jesus, really---it’s about the music. Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber (Who once asked a friend, “Why do people take an immediate dislike to me?” and the friend answered, “Because it saves time.”)—Sir A.L.W., in my opinion, wrote his best music here, mostly because the chords here are closer and the rhythm structures more contrapuntal than in anything else he has put together.

Jesus be damned, I like a good rock opera. Ann Margaret rolling in beans, what-have-you…

Go.

 http://www.superstaronbroadway.com/

Tis the Season to Eat Brisket, Fa la la la la la la la la

May your Easters, Passovers, Full Moons, Tulip Worshiping Days be full of color and surprising shenanigans.

I, for one, am not eating peeps nor waiting around for Easter Bunnies. Though we are going to a Seder where the dress code is "barnyard animal attire."

Thank goodness I have a closet full of moo-moos.

May Christ rise over your house and drop a bucket of money on it.

And remember: though there are a myriad of belief systems, they all boil down to one thing:  Brisket.

Except for the Islamic Peoples. But that could change.

ONCE

We saw ONCE tonight.

http://oncemusical.com/

Deal is, we love the movie. The simplicity. And they did not muck it up beyond atrocious. Though, they did change the “Girl” role into a plucky pixie savior in a much more obvious way than the movie did. Like Santorum, the powers-that-be mucked with the integrity of the woman more than the man.

Remember when you used to say, “I loved the book. The movie wasn’t as good?”

Now it’s, “I loved the movie. But I didn’t like the musical as much.”

The play grew on me by the middle of Act II. It’s always fantastic to hear extremely talented musicians musish.

The actors on stage played all the instruments, and well. Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti as the leads were lovely, if not really in any way that hot for each other.

The new musical arrangements worked well for a live audience. I did not enjoy the silly dancing here and there…part River Dance, part Spring Awakening.

Is it worth seeing? I don’t know…  It’s slow. Maybe a little too slow. I actually would not have minded the slowness had the director and writers brought out more of the true dilemma of these two…which would be real vulnerability in a tough world and the tough situation they have with each other, not being available for relationship while falling in love. The writers (producers?) forced gag lines into the first act, pandering to the audience, which did not help to develop the tone they needed to make this truly effective. Sad, that.

There were some really bad jokes about potatoes and other Irishy stuff. Too bad. Wasn't needed at all.

But I don’t go to musicals for the play or for the acting, both of which are often cartoonish. It’s about the music. And in this case, the music is pretty superb so I am glad I went.

And since I am 3/8 Irish, I feel these sorts of things in a real way. At least I feel about 3/8 of it.

Ultimately, the movie was better. But you knew that even before you started reading this.

Topic of Discussion

Big Oil is neither Big nor Oil.

Discuss.

Greetings from Pleasant Florida

Words Heard

While standing under these Cherry Blossoms in the park, I heard this from a nasal-strong woman power-walker telling her friend in a triumphant and dismissive tone:

His enhanced earnings are going to be phenomenal, so he's not suffering. 

They're Everywhere

Winter is back. But that Mini-mid-March-Spring left its mark in non-fruiting pear trees all over the city.

Enjoy this one from Central Park.

A Goat Visitation

Friday Night, we went for a walk and someone was walking their goat. They were entering Central Park at Columbus Circle. The goat had a leash, but at this point it was off-leash.

It makes sense to bring your goat into the park when you are in midtown. I mostly wondered where they came from. Queens? And they took the subway in?

The goat was very calm. Since I do love goats, I was very happy.

We Have FILLED the BOX: But Do Keep With Us

Read the News at www.Boxthemovie.Wordpress.com

BOX: 89% funded, but we seem to have Stalled

SO if you are READING this....maybe click the LINK Below...

Have a Nice Day. From the Bottom Up.

With Gratitude and Curiosity.

www.indiegogo.com/box

Early and Lovely

Check out All Our Contributors' Great Businesses and Things They Sell

Friends,

BOX has been funded 86% in just under two weeks. Thank you all for contributing.

www.indiegogo.com/box


You can check out all the great things our contributors are up to: buy a book, buy some art, get a web site designed, eat in Australia, have a video shot in Denver, figure out your brand, see a play, get your kids coached in Acting, all of it!


www.boxthemovie.wordpress.com

www.facebook.com/boxthemovie

www.twitter.com/boxthemovie

www.indiegogo.com/box 

Spring List

Sometimes, you want to get all clever when you blog, grab onto an attitude and then “go for it.”

I have noticed in my, yes, seven years of blogging (it feels like seven months, but then, I have no concept of time) that people relate more to the things that are less thought out and more to the stuff that is off the cuff.

Of course, it’s because people are DYING for honesty of any kind. And honesty happens more frequently when you are not so well thought out.

With that introduction, I bring you one of my “lists” that really has no need for introduction.

1)      As much as I like warm days in late winter, I prefer it when the temperature is 48 degrees and it’s a little misty. It feels fresh, like Paris, and the light is so good. More of that cool mist, please.

2)      As we are raising money for our indie short, BOX, I cannot believe how quickly and generously people have jumped up and jumped in. I am so grateful. Money may not be love---and it sure is, partially, time---but really, it’s faith. I am so honored that people have faith in what we are doing. Thank you.

      http://www.indiegogo.com/box

3)      And now, I feel highly responsible to use those dollars wisely. So I don’t sleep. But this is not to push around any bad feelings. I never sleep. Until I do.

4)      I love the daffodils in Central Park. Not only because they are a jaunty yellow, but also because of their impermanence and their yearly reappearance.

5)      I never had children and I simply don’t care.

6)      I mean it.

7)      Jesus Christ Superstar is back on Broadway. I remember hearing that album for the first time. My father got it for free from some General Motors work thing. I loved it. The dissonance and exuberance. I can’t wait to see it again. I played certain songs over and over. My high school choir teacher was the original Mary Magdalene with Ben Vereen when it started in Philadelphia. She says she quit the play because she wanted to be a teacher. ___________  Fill in that blank. I was at a wedding ceremony once at the Hotel Bel-Air. Ben Vereen officiated.

8)      I love my husband. But that’s only because he’s so loveable.

9)      Come on Ugandan Episcopalians! Do something else!

10)   I wonder why Conservatives are so regressive in the name of fiscal austerity and personal morality. Poor dears. I understand not wanting to waste money. I understand doing the right thing.  So why did we spend all that money invading countries and killing all those people? And for the first time in history, lowered taxes instead of raising them while we did the killing?

Only Fifty Days Left

http://www.indiegogo.com/box

An Epidemic of Bald Vaginas

So this is what I found out tonight.

The young girls today are keeping it all shaved, all the way, all the time, down in their natural area.

I was surprised to learn this.  Not so much because I thought it was weird, but because it seems that I was the last one to know.

Trends are funny. I mean, I have had the same nest of hair (shrinking) and tattoo free body since the Sixties. I know, I know, hard to believe I've been around since then...but if you can't admit to a little bit o' the Johnson administration in your life, and you are a blog reader of mine, then you are probably lying.

But back to these vaginas. I would like to know---is it more about shaving or more about waxing?

And is it something that is smart to do so you can tell more what it is you are navigating into, a kind of practical practice? Or is it simply a sexy-visual thing?

Perhaps both?

God bless the vaginas. Whatever state they are in.

BOX: 35% Funded

http://www.indiegogo.com/box

FRIENDS

We are 35% funded in just 1 Week.

Thank you.

♥

http://www.facebook.com/boxthemovie

http://boxthemovie.wordpress.com

http://www.twitter.com/boxthemovie

POST, please:

http://www.indiegogo.com/box

Box News

FRIENDS!  We have reached 12% of our goal in just two days. Exciting? Yes.
Check out all the latest news at our links below.

And Remember: Donation BOX is open 24 hours/Day at  www.indiegogo.com/box.

Have a good weekend.

:)
Don

www.indiegogo.com/box

www.boxthemovie.wordpress.com

www.facebook.com/boxthemovie

www.twitter.com/boxthemovie

BOX: Join Us

Read All About it Here

BOX

Box: Open It

Coming Soon.

Someone Told Me

I am having a reading of A Good Smoke, once more, in New York for producers, etc. on Thursday.

An actor in the cast sent me an email telling me my play reminded him of the following poem.

I was flattered.

I am very glad that my play, after much noodling, still reminds someone of poetry.

I do like this poem.



                          POEM ENDING WITH A LINE
                                         FROM DANTE
                 
                      Snow coming in parallel to the street,
     a cab spinning its tires (a rising whine
     like a domestic argument, and then
     the words get said that never get forgot),

     slush and backed-up runoff waters at each
     corner, clogged buses smelling of wet wool . . .
         The acrid anger of the homeless swells
     like wet rice.  This slop is where I live, bitch,

     a sogged panhandler shrieks to whom it may
     concern.  None who can hear him stall or turn,
     there's someone's misery in all we earn.
     But like a burr in a dog's coat his rage

     has borrowed legs.  We bring it home.  It lives
     like kin among the angers of the house,
             and has the same sad zinc taste in the mouth:
     And I have told you this to make you grieve.

                                                                     – WILLIAM MATTHEWS

Wardrobe Choices

What are you wearing on Super Tuesday?

I think I’ll put on my cross-gender, carbon neutral, socialist leaning condom dress brought to you by Obamacare with a pouch for higher learning.

Think of it This Way

Okay right wing people of New Hampshire and beyond, who want to take away marriage rights from gay people…

You just think it’s wrong, like it’s all new and all wrong and all scary so you preach tradition.

And tradition is against same sexes together.

But:

Think of men together as a conservative old timey thing. Like Rome. And Greece.

I know how you love the past. You just have to go further back.

Corinthian columns. Togas. Young men with muscles. Surely, you can see the appeal?

He's Actually for Real

Every time he opens his mouth, my flabber is so gasted, it almost tickles.

I don’t know why I think he’s so funny. Could it be a defense mechanism on my part?

Of course it is.

He is the candidate that so many people deserve. He is not a cynic, this Santorum. He is not actually manipulating. He believes the insanity that is drooling out of his mouth.

Apparently, he hates smart people. Hell, I hate smart people, too…mostly because they are often not so creative. But I would rather have a smart person running the government than a peculiar moron who wants to destroy the government except for the one little piece that would force women to accept all sperm packages delivered into their God given American vaginas.

How this man could be in a primary for anything at all is completely shocking.

But still, I find him entertaining. He’s that completely out of touch guy who believes he understands it all. Running on ego and the fumes of Christ, he gives voice to all the others who are doing the same.

I guess it comes down to superstition and using the wombs of women as the ballast to keep the fairy tales floating that makes me chuckle in wonderment.

I’m not paying attention too closely because I imagine my chuckling would turn to rage.

I must dismiss this man as an ignorant rabble rouser.

But then, I’m a coastal elite. I actually use a fork, believe in education and presume that women are not all Christian baby machines.

Okay, the chuckling is over and I have found my true anger.

Santorum, go the frack back to central Pennsylvania. The shale is calling.

Come On, Boys!

Flowers are blooming…in fact, daffodils have been poking up out of the ground since late January in places.

This is truly confusing.

But it was a very mild winter and that was nice.

What concern me are the pollens of May.

(And that, to me, concerns sounds like the correct verb in that sentence.)

And all they want to do is Frack?

You can’t Frack your way out of this.

But apparently, you can’t renewable your way out of this either.

So then what?

I was looking at a Terra Chips bag tonight—of course, the settling of contents inside (right, settling…the filling) was about one-third the size of the bag. So I’m getting disgusted by this big foil-y, plastic-y bag and all I could think was, “Do we really need to continue to go to war for the petroleum and to pollute like giant mad dogs so this company can make such huge bags?”

Youth—come on. You can at least do this. Insist on smaller packaging.

I ask the youth because, you know, they have more at stake here…and more energy to make it happen.

Boys with big packages, yes. Chips in big packages, no.

Paris and Alexander Payne

Coincidentally, we watched Paris, Je t’aime, on Friday night, within a two day reach of Alexander Payne winning best adapted screenplay Oscar for The Descendants and the French movie, The Artist, which sort of Oscar sweptish.

Paris, Je t’aime, for those who do not know and for those who need to be reminded, is a collection of short films by various connu (known) film makers, about love in Paris. Falling in or out of love, but mostly in. The last short in the series is by Alexander Payne called 14^th Arrondissement.

In this short, Margo Martindale, a working Denver woman goes to Paris on a short trip and practices her French. She falls in love with Paris and it falls in love with her. In the most basic way. It is exceptionally moving. Payne is one of the few writers-filmmakers today who dares to believe that human beings with their truthful emotions are interesting.

You can You Tube/Google 14^th Arrondissement and find a bad copy of the six minute short which is certainly one way to defy copyright laws. Better still, you could enjoy it on a Netflix DVD in its intended paid-for glory by putting Paris, Je t’aime in your queue.

I enjoy the Oscars. But I really like simple people for what they do and how they are. Because it’s all so joyful and all so sad all at once. And the team of Payne-Martindale gets this, fully.

No Surprise

Maryland, thank you.

A fine state you are in.

Santorum…you are the candidate so many people deserve.

Women on the Right:  Thank you for noticing. Ricky is a madman who wants control over your sex organs. Keep waking up.

As Israel keeps building in the West Bank: Who will out-baby the other side? The Orthodox Jews or the Palestinians?  I imagine impregnations within one month of giving birth. A population war. The ultimate cannon, controlled by men: The birth canal.

The end of February often feels like spring. February has a horrible reputation. But really, it is January--the cruelest month.

Bullets Over Broadway is the perfect source material for a Broadway musical.

I never have rice pudding in the house.

Love Her or Hate Her

She’s brave.

We saw Biophilia tonight. I was happy Bjork included songs from Vespertine, which are more approachable.

But, truly, this was something else. I love the Icelandic girl choir. The chords are tight and discordant and ethereal.

Bjork sings like no one else.

And the graphics and the strange instruments added to the other worldly fun.

Plus, the harp.

It is inspiring to see and hear something this unique. Some of the songs are transcendent. A few are annoying.

But hell---nothing’s ever perfect.

More Proof

Another reason to hate that miserable California. Who would ever want to live there?

The clip please:

Have a Great Long Weekend

Heading West.

Happy VD

We celebrated Valentine’s Day early this year, two days early, on a Sunday, doing what we often do. The small things.

We slept late, ate goat cheese-parsley-olive omelets, called our parents, took a five mile walk in very cold Central Park, sat on a park bench during a hard ten minute snowfall, came home, old movie clip of a train going through a tunnel, ate roast pork, watched Downton Abbey and called it one of the best days of our lives.

We’re married and middle aged. And all the ambition, singularity of purpose and hubris of youth, though propelling, is nothing compared with spending a perfectly simple day with the one you solidly love.

Happy Valentine’s Day to my husband, Adam. I’m glad you're mine.

Questions

Do you perhaps think that all this autism is the beginning of the extinction of mankind?

Or, do you believe it’s been around in about these proportions for a long time and for the people at the low end of the spectrum, it’s not even autism, but really just another way of being?

Lastly, did you dislike Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, the movie, as much as I did?

The Love and Humility of Two Women

Representative Maureen Walsh speaks about love. In the face of love, she understands we are all equal. She is humbled by it. She wants to share it. She does not make a show of it. She is not angry. She is accepting. Acceptance wins the game. Always.



Madonna in the superbowl. Now, one could get snarky and talk about her shiny mask of a face. Or her minor hunchbackish aura. Her jaw line troubles. Her stilted moves. But one won’t. I do mention them in passing because no matter how much money she spends, we can all tell that her skeleton and muscle underneath are not what they used to be. She knows it, too. You can feel her humility. It hurts. And it hurts. She also seems resigned, somewhat, to Madonna-formerly-known-as-Madonna. But her need for love, to be part of it all, in lyrics and in action, is still there.

When I was a young Communist in the 80s, I found her very upsetting. All things material, girl or otherwise, decay. I looked forward to her decline. I preferred Cyndi Lauper. But Madonna was a material lesson for me. We certainly did not know each other and let’s face it---she had big plans. And I had a calendar full of summer stock auditions…

I think Madonna is on the brink of making fun of the old Madonna. She’s smart so she sort of has to. She’s a solid comedian. She was great when she guested on Will & Grace. My vote? Give Madonna a sitcom. It’s the gracious thing to do. I bet she would humbly accept it. I’m happy to write it. Any takers?

The Numbers are Sort of In

Reports say that adults under thirty-five years of age favor gay marriage by a whopping 70%.

I do not know how large a sample they used or where this sample was taken. Perhaps 70 youthful people at Bennington and then 30 working stiffs nearby in Troy?

It doesn’t matter the exact number. All polls are biased, if not directly, than by unknown variables.

But it is safe to say this. Young people are mostly completely fine with gay marriage. Thank the mainstream media (note: mainstream) and Hollywood. I wink. ;)

But if your media is mainstream and everyone is watching what Hollywood makes (and let’s face it, more of it is made in Burbank and Studio City) then honeys, that IS the culture you are living in. The people make the culture? The culture makes the people? I choose the first.

These yelpings from the religious right are the sounds of dying dogs. They know a hard gay is gonna fall, is actually falling, in the best way. They cannot stop the youthful idea of equality from taking over. Besides, young people have such a huge job ahead of them---to save the country and the world---the last thing they have the energy for is to be hateful toward their friends, relatives and roommates.

So thank you young people, for being young and seeing clearly.

To the old and the silly, it’s a new world order:

It’s here. It’s queer. Get used to it.

We don’t bite. Unless you want us to.

Thank You 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

Lets's drag this sucker up to Kennedy.

The Gay Men and Lesbian Divide

As gay men grow up and get over their trauma of being gay and as the society becomes more tolerant, accepting, and even celebratory of gay men (especially in the better cities), it becomes clear to gay men that, “Hell, it’s good to be a man, in a world of liberal men, where it is still a man’s world and you can be friends with women but sort of know that yes, it’s all about the men and so the world gets heady and powerful, strong and sexy—a parade of testosterone and sinew.”

But what if you are a lesbian? You get over your trauma. Or let’s say you don’t have trauma but “made a choice” or however you have become a lesbian, and you integrate into the adult world, even in one of our better cities, and you see, clearly, that it is still a man’s world. What would you want to do in order to feel like it was all about being a woman and all about being powerful, too? Because that looks pretty damn good to you. You’d want to separate.

So though there is often this joke about lesbian separatists, it sort of makes sense. As a gay man, if you are in the mood on any given day, you can fully ignore women and just march along and feel like your tribe (men, in general) is running everything. You can’t do that as a woman. And if you do, it will take a huge amount of aggression and denial and strange internal rule changing to get that done. Or a move to the woods.

I do not know if this post is at all compassionate. I mean it to be. But I also know that I am being condemning of lesbians in our culture who try to separate while remaining upright, walking among men.

I do not know what the answer is. I want lesbians to be powerful. I want women, in general, to be powerful. I want it all to be equal (as long as it really is equal). But it never gets there. And I just wonder if this is always going to be this way as long as we are physical beings and men remain physically stronger than women, with their muscles and their height, with their external genitalia hanging out, claiming space, as if it is their birthright. No matter how you slice it.

Superbowl and Beyond

In an alternate universe, there was a Superbowl played today. I hear my hometown won. I heard screaming outside. While at a restaurant, I saw some halftime Madonna up on the screen. She never tires of playing dress-up. Does she really feel it?

We watched SMASH tonight, the new show about getting a musical up and running. It’s bold strokes. But that seems to work. It is well shot and well acted. The neighborhood is right here. I switched to the satire of 30 Rock. I like to laugh.

This winter has been extremely mild. I do not mind. But I have to say, I hope we get some really cold days and I hope we get a decent snow storm. I remember winters like this as a kid. They sort of slid by without much action. I remember most of the late 1970’s as barely wintry winters. Not that I do not believe in global warming or anything.

I have committed to writing more frequently. It is necessary.

I have committed to exercising more regularly. It makes me feel more plausible.

Even though blogging for the blog of it is so very 2006, I seem to continue. Is it because I cannot let go of something once my paws are all over it? I don’t know. But micro-thoughts on Facebook and Twitter are best served up pithy, and I am often without pith.

Kale.

With Gratitude

Thank you Washington.
Wake up California.

All Mitt and a Bag of Chips

Now that Mittens has beaten up the Newt, you have to wonder, why does Newt want to continue? Is he a masochist? Or just running on ego?

It must be brain chemistry in some way. Some hit of something that is wanted. It certainly cannot be from anything rational.

But then, who am I to prognosticate? Or even attempt to spell that word?

Something could happen for Newt.

I have not been watching the debates, getting my couch cushion ready for the real one between Obama and who I assume will be that Dog-in-a-luggage-caddy-on-the-roof man.

I still find Obama to be very attractive, a rock star if you will. Mitt is all dry cleaners and hair spray and being-separate-from-the-self, except when it comes to greed.

I don’t hate greed, exactly. It’s pretty much the only reasonable response in a capitalist society where you must choose between being the hammer or the anvil.

Oh that.

I have tried to stay away from hammers and anvils…to gather enough wealth to get out of the fight. To take some higher road. I think I have failed in gathering enough wealth, but have succeeded in staying out of the meanest fights. But the reverse of that, as usual, might be true, too.

We often say what we wish we were and try to pass it off as the truth. I’m often putting a -1 in front of my thoughts and then ask myself, “Try that one on.”

So, trying on Mitt because I would never think to. He does not feel like a leader. He does not inspire anything in me. He reminds me of that guy walking through the airport in a mountain state who you have absolutely nothing in common with, whose pants are too tight in the thighs and too billowy in the calves, who is kind of physically overbearing and bullying, who would mow you down with his wheely bag if you got between him and a bag of jalapeno chips he had his eye on.

Of course, I could be projecting.

Godspell Haiku

My second viewing
Jesus stars on Showtime’s Weeds
Good songs live, a joy.

Dems and Pubs and Creativity

Someone I am related to once said to me about gay marriage, “It just ain’t right.”

He eventually got over it.

He is a Republican.

But that’s not my point, sort of.

Things change, is my bigger point. And all that change comes from creativity.

What is so striking to me is when a gaggle of good Americans sits down to watch the Superbowl this weekend, they will feel as if everything is right in the world, that this game has always been and always will be, that this “Just is right.”

But football was invented.

The commercials are truly creative.

The mistaken exposed nipple incident inspired much creativity.

Everything comes up and is new.

If you are a Democrat, you often go with that flow. If you are a Republican, it lights up your fear center and you are terrified. They’ve done map brain studies.

It is hard to face what is new. It ultimately means that all that you know will expire. Nothing “is right.” It emerges, it changes, it falls down, it is replaced.

Some forms of government and religion have had some staying power. But these, too, will continue to change.

And there is nothing you can do to turn back the clock. And if you do succeed in turning back the clock, it will not last long.

The Constitution was just the beginning. Then there were amendments. There will be more. And maybe one day, a redo.

Fuck a Little, Walk and Talk a Lot

There was a study. I read it on the Google and I simply can’t Google another thing so I am not going to find the link.

But it went something like this. They gave a lot of people pager-like things and then would randomly beep them. At that moment, the beepee would mark down what they were doing and how happy they were on a scale. After a year, this was all tallied up.

The happiest people were those having sex.

The second happiest were those who were walking and talking with friends.

Then, talking with friends.

The list went on and on.

At the bottom were things like domestic arguments, parking tickets, doctor visits, etc.

Not many surprises. But like most things in life, it is the number two position that can be harnessed to one’s advantage and indulged in regularly with not too much fear of someone taking it away from you: walking with friends. (And since the number one position cannot be indulged in for hours and days at a time, en principe, it cannot be chosen as frequently and is therefore useful in the extreme but not in the quotidian.)

I was with my friend, Todd, today walking and talking in the park. He posted a pic of us on FB. I got to talking about this study I remembered because it was such a nice day and walking and talking with a friend was proving to be, as usual, an enormous mood elevator.

And then I thought this—It’s just because we are monkeys on the plains with our bro’ monkeys, looking around for prospects. It just feels normal. This action reduces stress and elevates humor.

So much of what makes us happy is simple animal behavior. Being a simple animal is difficult for religionists and intellectuals to stomach. The middle class gets to it, at times, but it can often lack grace.

You know it when you feel it. Sometimes people will eat entire bags of red vines or scream at others all day long in search of altering their brain chemistry into joy.

Being a calm animal on the move, balanced with other safe calm animals, in nature, makes mortality seem less horrific, with the sunlight and trees allowing you to know it’s all forever.

The Human Condition Never Ends Haiku

So many people--
China gives us iPads
Slavery all year.

Hooray for Good Things

Huge congratulations to my friends Tecia E. and John. H. for working on The Surrogate, which was a huge smashola at Sundance.

This is such great news. I can’t wait to see it.

Tecia is a world class script supervisor and John is always great in everything. And then there’s Helen Hunt, who I am glad to see is taking on a big sexy role. She has so often been cast as the angry brittle one. It was high time for this warm leap.

Keep up the great work you talented wonders.

Mother China

It strikes me again and again that China, with its one party system, can decide what to do, do it and then do it some more.

As long as China subsidizes what it needs for material gain, we will always lose.

And we cannot stop them from doing what they are doing.

Some say it is getting more expensive to do business in China. How much more? Enough to bring manufacturing to Michigan and Ohio?

So here’s a mash up. In order for our aggressively capitalist U.S.A. to be competitive, it needs to go socialist on business development in order to truly compete.

While China acts as one nation of over a billion people, we are almost 400 million divided by ideological internecine fisticuffs—most of it in the form of obstructionist passive aggression by Republicans in the House and the Senate.

Stop your bullshit. You want something to focus on? Look at China.

If it’s so important to you to get your dopamine on by winning “the fight,” pick a different fucking fight.

Time to Laugh

The strange thing about recession is that thoughts become simpler. People are very much in survival mode which means there is not as much time for leisure, creativity and new ideas.

There is also less humor. It is easier to goof when the larder is full.

I would rather be rich and funny than poor and serious.

Feeling it Young

By the time I was four years old I knew something was up, that it was very important and unique and that somehow it was beautiful.

Not to be hokey or anything, but it was the understanding that I was alive and that other people were alive and the earth was really interesting and strangely, I could look at all these other people living, creatures that they were, and I was one of them. I was inside one of these creatures and it was me. I imagine this was the first moment of a bit of consciousness.

I liked that feeling and still do. It makes you very aware and it increases your connectedness to nature and to calm, deep joy. It can also make you feel very separate if other people are not noticing, “the miracle,” or harshing you about it, I say sort of in awe and sort of embarrassingly with a bit of tongue in the cheek (my tongue).

I am not religious, but I was thinking today, since death is the ultimate destination, the ultimate outcome of every story, that no matter how you slice it, this death idea figures quite large in our lives, in our identities, in our fears, in our time tables. No wonder people have built up big things around it. Institutions with architecture, even. Death is so powerful. It always wins. So let them be religious (and perhaps quiet about it so they can notice it all?) When I accept death, I feel very calm. When I do not, I thrash.

My hands have become lizardy. At times, I look at my waist and I think, “How different am I, really, than a gorilla who has been let loose for a long weekend in the Krispy Kreme warehouse?”

But even those things do not matter so much.

(Upon rereading, I noticed that I typed waste instead of waist. Another good reading of that sentence.)

I haven’t changed much since I was four. I often want to get back to the granite rocks with the schist sparkles, in this copse of trees on the edge of the property line of my house where I first sat with these ideas, alone. I was happy to do nothing but sit and be aware of what was around me. To know this was a rare event. (Even if there are zillions of other living creatures in the universe, it is still mathematically rare that there are human mammals and even more mathematically rare, still, that you are actually one of those beasts.) I felt like I was getting away with something, sitting there, not doing anything but noticing. I did not want to get caught doing that. I felt afraid that it was wrong. But deeper, I knew it was the greatest, most enjoyable thing. Perhaps I felt that it was wrong to feel so good, like when you first discover masturbation or chocolate mousse. Then you grow up and people insist on all these other stories, with guns and tits and pecking orders and wins and losses and so many other items. You hang onto them for dear life. But really, it’s just the awareness that lasts.

You can do it all. The action and the awareness. It’s just kind of tiring. But I have also been thinking lately, maybe it's okay to be tired.