No more excuses

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about a lot of my creative endeavors that I'm involved in and thought it might be interesting to once in a while throw some thoughts and feelings out there and see what happens. Nothing will be off limits. So here goes.

For a while now I've been feeling like I've whatever I create it doesn't seem like I do it fast enough or as much as I would like. I think this is a normal feeling for anyone that creates in any artistic field( art,writing,sculpting,etc) and especially if the person doing the creating has any kind of motivation or drive to not only better their own work on a creative level but to become more prolific. More and more I try and surround myself with different books,cds and whatever else I can think of to help put me into that "zone" we all need to be in to do our best work. The problem with wanting to be in this "zone" is that when we are not there it's an easy excuse for us to just throw up our hands and say" Ah, too bad, I'm not in the mood to work". In fact this zone that I'm talking about happens once in a while for me and if i just sat back and waited to be in the mood or in the zone, I'd never get any type of work done on any creative level.

I hope you can indulge me for a while longer and let me explain a few things about what got me thinking about all of this and what it has lead me to believe.

It started quite a few years ago, while my buddy Jay and I were talking to an artist by the name of Brian Stelfreeze at a Con in Montreal around 1999( give or take), who by the way is an awesome artist and incredibly well spoken and giving of his time despite being so incredibly talented. I think we spent at least an hour talking to him about artwork,panel composition,lighting and working in this magical zone that I keep referring to in this Blog.

Talking to Mr. Stelfreeze for as long as we did I have to say when we were finished I felt like I had absorbed at least a few years worth of art classes from the man and felt like my brain was on fire as everything I had just heard was seeping into the membrane of my subconscious to become part of my creative nature. In any creative endeavor we ALL plateau and stagnate, therefore it's up to each and everyone of us to push ourselves past these sticking points and continue to push our creative boundaries. This is something that is easily said but until you reach a point where you can't seem to get anything done for whatever reason,it doesn't matter what,why,who or how. The point being is that we have to continually adapt how we work to our environment around us and hopefully be flexible and wise enough to embrace change so that we may continue to evolve to another level. It's the artistic equivalent of growing pains and it always hurts.

It always hurts..... Right there are 3 words that we as human beings would love to try and avoid but the sad truth of the matter is that life in general is never easy and no matter what plans we make life will hurt you,humble you and put you on your knees and leave you there if you let it. This applies to anything you can think of in our life on a daily basis. Creative types in general are usually one step removed from being either a genius or a nut job or God forbid a hack. We all have a lot to deal with on a daily basis,internally as well as externally and the you have to factor in life and all of it's "surprises" that it keeps in store for us at any given time. In other words we are fighting a battle and in order to make any headway we can't sit back and say "well gee,I'm not in the zone today so I'll do fuck all", this of course is the easy way and would make the most sense to most humans.
I'm here to say though that this way of thinking is the easiest road to mediocrity and eventually the death of your creative energies. So what do you do?

This is where the answer becomes quite clear if we just stop and think for a minute. In school we were taught at an early age to follow a schedule,the same for high school, our first summer job and eventually our first real job,so why not our creative passion? If You don't set aside the time to create, who will? Do you have magical elves that show up at night and create what you need? I know I'm being an asshole right now but this is important and just like an intervention where no one wants to hear shit that's fucking up their life, it's important and necessary to listen.
Set aside a certain amount of time each day and make it your religion to get that amount of time done in whatever creative venture you aspire to achieve and JUST DO IT.
No excuses.
No more wasting time.

This is a call to arms. Life is not stagnant,why should we be? Find your muse,no mater where that bastard is hiding,even if it's under the bed with the dust bunnies,grab him?her and slap the fuck out of them and put them back to work. I know at first this will seem alien and hard but once you have established your commitment to your craft and have begun honing your tools and are putting in the time needed to create, all of a sudden you have no excuses.

I think you also have to be honest with yourself about a lot of things. The first and foremost being: am I doing as much as I can? Can I create more? Do I waste too much time on things that are a byproduct of our society? Television,movies,etc,etc?

As human beings it's very easy for us to get comfortable on many levels and forget what we need to do,at least until it's after the fact and by then time has passed and it may be too late. To me it's never too late. Only if you're dead,then it's too late. As long as you have a breath in your body there is no excuse.

Now, go out and create something.

Rich.

More pics from Walking Dead tv show.

Hi and welcome back.

For the last little while my enthusiasm for the Walking Dead TV show has been constantly building. I have to admit I didn't think it was a good idea to have it be a tv series but the more time I've spent thinking about it, the more it makes sense. This Blog is a continuation of the one just before dealing with the adaptation of comics to film but this time around I wanted to talk about how much more sense it makes to do a tv series instead of a movie.

Now I know some people are groaning right now but just stop and think about it for a minute. How much more sense does it make for a long running comic to be adapted as a tv series for a network like AMC? A lot actually. Almost everytime a comic is adapted to film so many things have to be changed for the movie but if it was made for a tv series there could be a progression that most times have to be rushed in a 2 hour film. Especially if the character or story has a very long past or storyline. Take for example Walking Dead, to me from everything I've been seeing this series is being handled in the right way to please not just the hardcore fans but the neophyte viewers as well.

The face of television has been changing over the years and while I have limited my tv viewing to a minimum that doesn't mean there isn't good solid shows to check out. On the contrary my personal short list is actually quite long(go figure): The Wire, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, Rome, Band of Brothers, The Pacific, Heroes, Lost, Masters Of Horror, Fringe, The Unit, The Sopranos, Nip/Tuck, Spatacus and these are just off the top of my head.

Having Walking Dead also in good hands with Frank Darabont definitely helps. Darabont is a director who has handled every single project with absolute class despite the differeing subject matter that he has dealt with in the past. I think if the producers really pay attention and research the source material and stay true to said sourse material, I think things will pay off very well for them in the long run.

Fans can be loyal,they can also be very brutal when they feel that something they love isn't be treated respectfully and I believe they have good reason to be this way. Okay some people take things a bit far but think what happens if the producers and all involved if they do the characters and storyline following the timeline set forth in the comics. It could be a veritable goldmine of stories and shows for each series to pursue every season.

I think Walking Dead will set a new standard of how things could be done in the future as far as adapting properties for the small screen. Providing it becomes popular enough. So far though I have to admit all of the teaser images and photos have got me looking forward to the Fall TV season.

Just some more things to think about in the ever changing face of how things could be done in the future with adapting comics to screen adaptations.

Rich.

RED posters and my opinion on comics to movie adaptations.

Hello everyone and thanks for stopping by to check out my little Blog. I always try to find things of interest to show and talk about every week. I try also to vary the subject matter to keep things interesting.

This week has seen the final versions of the posters for the movie entitled RED which is based on a Warren Ellis miniseries that he did for Wildstorm comics a while ago.

Even though the posters are very cool,they definitely show that the movie is an ensemble piece.Granted there are some very cool actors in this movie but the final version of this flick is very different from the original comic it was based on.

Personally I didn't think that they would adapt the story very faithfully considering that it was about a retired government hit man that becomes a liability simply because he knows too much and is still alive,much to the chagrin of his new superiors that want to have no witnesses that can implicate them in a huge bloody cover up.

Right there is where things get bloody and a cluster fuck happens. What was supposed to be a easy hit for some black ops agents who had no idea that their target despite being retired is not a soft target, being in retirement for a while now. Willis' character in the comic rubs them out and goes on a rampage taking out anyone involved with trying to have him retired permanently.

It's dark,bloody,not very funny and you get a real sense of doom permeating the comic as the story builds to it's climax.

The trailer so far is very far removed form the original comic. The trailer shows a lot of humour,albeit a bit on the dark side but still the tone has changed. Throw in a bunch of characters that were never in the original story,turning this not into a personal revenger but more of a "let's get back together and wreak havoc on the bastards that are trying to kill all of us." kinda flick. It could end up being a fun movie but I don't expect anything more than that.

Guaranteed to justify a bigger budget they had to throw in a lot of A-Lister's to make this movie a can't lose affair for cinema goers and studios alike. Especially these days where the studio heads are very nervous when it comes to big name actors carrying a flick just on the strength of their names or it being yet another sequel. If it's a new franchise watch out because the field seems to be wide open and no one can predict what will tank at the box office and what won't.

I personally would have liked RED filmed on a very small budget with Ed Harris in the lead role and keeping the tone and story identical to the comic. I think it would have been an awesome movie and maybe surprised a lot of people that have never read the original comic. I know,I know, a lot of people say that you have to change the story when you're turning a comic into a movie but just take a look at Sin City,History of Violence,300 or the Crow with Brandon Lee and right there is a very strong argument to be faithful to the source material and you can still have a hit movie.

Another example is this year's Kick ASS: I enjoyed it immensely and it made money,which I think surprised a lot of people BUT it didn't do a huge amount of cash as it was an unknown concept with very unknown actors in principal roles. I mean apart from Nic Cage who everyone knows and seems to be in almost every superhero based franchise that is being made these days. Still a lot of big movies have tanked at the Box Office and even actors like Tom Cruise have had flops this summer.





More and more comics are being adapted into movies and with little to no respect for the original subject matter the final product is usually a disaster and as far as I can see if this trend continues it will only hurt future comic based projects that might be adapted for movies.

I really do hope Hollywood wakes up and realizes that by disrespecting the source material you not only alienate the fans of the comic but end up with a crappy washed out version of what the movie could have been. Catwoman anyone?
I think this way of thinking has made DC's movies flops for the last few years at least until Christopher Nolan showed up and jumped started Batman. This has been the exception rather than the rule of thumb.

Marvel on the other hand has been getting more and more involved with the final product and by doing so they have scored big hits like Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton and this year Iron Man 2 with a whole bunch in the pipeline to come very soon.


Maybe I should be thinking like Alan Moore who has said that once his stuff has been sold to be made into a movie he removes himself creatively and figuratively from being involved with the final product. To me it sounds like selling your child to the highest bidder and then turning your back on helping to make sure it's taken care of properly.

It feels like very soon there will be a breaking point and a lot of cool ideas will never get made into movies because they are not viable "hits" in the eyes of the producers or the studios. I hope I'm wrong and things don't become worse and all we are left with as movie goers are spoon fed pablum that put us into intellectual comas or something much worse devoid of imagination.

Rich.

Hi and thanks for stopping by to check out my Blog .

This weekend the biggest thing that has been talked about amongst a few of my friends at work has been whether or not the new Conan movie will be good or even watchable. To be honest I was a bit dismayed that Jason Momosa was chosen to be Conan. I had the usual thoughts about "How dare they try and replace Arnold" but let's face it with original ideas dwindling in Hollywood it's inevitable that this would happen.

I'm happy to say that so far with all of the images I've seen so far from the set via various sites that Jason looks as close to Conan as possible and with the studio going for an "R" rating this could be a good sign for revitalising the franchise and for fans of the comic and novels as well.There will also be a lot of nudity and as we all know the 2nd Conan film with Arnold was a major disappointment and I personally don't think this new film could be any worse.
I know a lot of people will be upset with me for saying the above statement but the 2nd flick did start to stray into a cheesy side of the franchise that a lot of people would rather it not return to.

The thing that a lot of people don't get about the first Conan film is that Oliver Stone wrote it and while it did stray from the Howard stories I still felt it gave a certain credibility to the movie that other adaptations didn't have. Yes I know Arnold was at the beginning of his acting career and had a HUGE accent BUT there's very few movies that could deliver the insanity that Conan delivered way back when. Okay so it's not as crazy as it used to be because a lot of time has passed since it was first filmed.It's been what almost 20 years now?

Now let's hope this new film can generate this type of awe for a world,time and characters that have had a place in the hearts of fans for over 50 years.
I honestly don't want to get my hopes up, but with
each new image I see I can't help but be a little
excited. I'm also happy to say that Momosa does look pretty good so far and I also read somewhere that he's about 6 feet 4 inches tall. That would actually make him taller than Arnold who's 6feet 2 inches in height. The question is does Jason have the charisma to command the screen for at least 90 minutes? I have never watched or followed the Stargate tv series in which he acted in and have no idea but I want to give the guy a chance.
You'll notice all of the photos I included for my Blog and I hope as more photos become available online that it continues to build the enthusiasm for the actor playing Conan and the movie itself.
I had also read that Rose McGowan was going to be in it playing some kind of evil half/witch
and that I'm looking forward to seeing exactly how big her role will be. I'm hoping she's in it quite a bit. Yup I'm a sucker for Rose McGowan,have been, always will be.Sue me.

I know there's supposed to be pit fighting scenes in the movie and I'm hoping for messy,violent and brutal fights.
I'm thinking that we should all try and keep an open mind and wait and see how the film turns out before we start bashing it left and right. There is one thing that has always bothered me about the movie version is that if you read the books, Howard describes Conan as having a lot of scars all over his body and face due to all of the battles he has been in and survived during the course of his life.

Awhile back I saw the storyboards that Neal Adams did for the first Conan movie with Arnold that was never used during the filming. It was an opening sequence that would roll before the credits began and man I'd love to see this movie start up with an opening scene like that. Basically it showed a group of men that came into a camp after dark and killed everyone there brutally and then afterwards they begin to clean their weapons and relax. A huge shadowy figure drops down from the trees and destroys them and shows just how fearsome battles were in those times. Afterwards when the battle is over only then do we see the face of Conan and then the credits would roll. Man this type of opening would not only shut up a lot of people but would be the coolest opening of a Conan movie ever filmed.
The fan boy in me wants it to be a totally kick ass movie and I hope it turns out that way, i really do.
For now we all have to wait until it's finished.

Later.

Rich.