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Tuesday, March 18, 2008 11:46 PM My life to live; your life to love. A few days ago I said that there was something big coming this way; and its true. On Saturday I got my first digital camera EVER. I have resisted since the dawn of time, but in the journey of writing this script and the mental preparation for putting this movie together, I realized that the capturing of images - the incessant training of your eye to note the images/visions available at all times - is as crucial to storytelling as the construction of a narrative or growth of characters, et al. With that in mind I have decided to post pictures on my blog, related to images that I believe help me realize the visions of my upcoming OPUS. What better place to start than my room? Here goes, influential images from my room:        Isn't it easy to get excited for my big ol' movie? Doesn't anyone want to hang in my room? More photo-gs - even from the outside world - to come? Later skaters? -Eugene Archive July 2007 Thursday, March 13, 2008 6:41 PM DearestFriends, I've been working very hard in my mind recently to create a situation where I can have steady access to the web and thus become an active member of the web community. I think this is important for a whole host of [secret] reasons. If it happens, and I hope it will, then we will be communicating a lot more frequently. I also realized another secret bit of information that I hope to share with you in the coming days. For now, please enjoy the following two stories, both related to LA carincidences; one you may have heard before, the other is a brand new occurence. 1) Can you believe 14 feet away from the residence of the people who sold me my beautiful champagne exterior, burgundy interior, 1990 Honda Accord with a power sunroof, power windows, power tape player (with sick ass volume knob which you click up or down to raise or lower the volume) and a power spoiler, lives the one and only SARAH BLAKELY CARTWRIGHT family? Yes, it is true, that both the folks with a beautiful red-headed child who sold me my whip and the Cartwrights of Carroll Cartwright fame chose the same block in Mount Washington, out of all the places they could have lived in Los Angeles County; in some uncanny way I chose them. Recently Carroll and I watched Nicholas Ray's Party Girl (currently unavailable on DVD or VHS) at the LACMA. Not only was I the youngest person there, but in fact Carroll was the second youngest. It was a Tuesday Matinee, folks! They sure don't make 'em like they used to. PARTY GIRL to be seen, immediately. Soon afterwards Carroll treated me to an excellent lunch at a historical eatery. Helluva Guy! 2) After dancing with some very nice people last Sunday at the local dance hall, one of them invited me to go see her perform with her bandmates the following night, at a house of sin and morally obliterating red decor. I arrived immediately after they finished their set. Standard. I persistently attempted to befriend them and their compatriots after the performance, and through sheer perseverance I think I did, if only for a little while. One place they went to, and I followed them to, was to the outside of this bar venue to. After a little while I proceeded to ask my new friend, Theresa, about a very interesting looking, civilian-converted, ex-copcar. It had double sideview mirrors and that classic All American souped-up worker car look (Chevy Impala, Ford something or other, et al. + SOUPED UP). I confirmed through its back license plate that it in fact was no longer active and did not retain any of the official police privilleges it once possessed. [Between this point and the next night, I did some more wonderful dancing, ran into Kat of beat-up-bar fame, Cassie who I then and there discovered was supposed to live with me (a revelation for us both) and Ali McCarthy, Caroline McCarthy's sister.] 24 hours later, I parked my car outside of Michael Shifflett's house, as we were amped up and ready to eat Russian food and work on our secret project. I did a sweet job of parallel parking, the car behind me had its blinky-caution lights on and no one was in it. Lo and Behold, OF COURSE, it was the civilian-come-copcar from the night before. I never did get to see who the owner was, but I was convinced this car was the very same. I waited for about two minutes, and just as I was about to head in, resigned to never know the truth, out comes a mustachioed young man headed for this car, a face and mustache I recognized as one I had seen the night before. "Hey man. Hey, you remember me? You know me? Yea, we met last night. I knew this was your car. I knew this was the same fucking car from last night man." We both smiled, his smile was hairier than mine. I walked into Michaels house and we ate битки. I was on glod nine -- riding a magic carpet, an ESP blanket. SCREENPLAY FOR ALL TIME IS ON ITS WAY, and more exciting news. Godd eve - troppers. If yr in my neck of the woods. Come see about me. Love Eugene. Archive July 2007 Tuesday, February 12, 2008 4:56 PM Quellcome to my Uproarious Pigpen: It is easy to skip time AND become completely retroactive with the prowliness of technology. We are all looking out for predators and our eyes want to believe what the brain says is good. Brain in this case is short for heart and soul. Happy Valentine's Day. Ring in February right. Between the Lunar Eclipse on the 20th and the loopy LEAPINESS that is the 29th, explore your INNER dimensions, by fasting for nine days. There was supposed to be a beautiful synchronicity, but we cannot all make Johannes de Silentio flabbergasted and proud --- if faith does not do itself any justice and I can't take value to a face and vice versa, then synchronized activity cannot be -- for that we need faith, blind trust. No one wants to be permanently blind. Stamps, both virtual and 3D-real, can be permanent. Today after the movies, it was very sunny and so I sat down on the curb, against the wall and just went blind for a little bit. But then I got back up and saw all the yuppies looking at me -- the way they look at another yuppie when they don't understand his behavior. Like when two pigs doubletake on a third one who starts to dance really well or something. Be well. BTW/HFS The greatest and most revolutionary screenplay in the history of movies is on its way. Everyone be massive PUMPED. I know I am. warm thougts in my heart - for you. you pearl of a girl. you gem of men. you end of friends. -Eugene Archive July 2007 Friday, December 28, 2007 1:12 PM Long time, no? Recently I've jumped in the peaceful cold ocean. And so I've come to see you, in the form of me; maybe to spill out some observation and information, like urine into the sea. Yesterday I saw "There Will Be Blood," Paul Thomas Anderson's new film. At film's end the first thing which came into my skull - probably because it is directly related to the nature of the ending and the tone of the last 15 minutes - was that this was all very Stanley Kubrick. What you could call a cold and grim coda, maybe a more extreme and visceral version of what has come in the 2+ hours before, was pure Kubrick; from the central characterization which had become so heartless it bordered on caricatured and comical to the abrupt violence with a hilarious weighty statement, cut to black OVER -- this is pure Kubrick. And not in a bad way. Paul Thomas Anderson is a great filmmaker, very possibly the best one working in America - precisely because he can make things that work, that are just emotionally and aesthetically and cinematically functional and fulfilling work for him in new and fresh and sick ways. The homage/influence identification game is maybe not fun and I always ignored the comparisons of Scorsese (Boogie Nights) and Altman (Magnolia) because they were obvious and in no way contributed to enjoyment or discontent with the film - they were mere shoulder shrug observations. And maybe this Kubrick note is a shoulder shrug as well, but I just haven't seen it written anywhere and it makes sense; reminded me of an interview Anderson had on Charlie Rose in 1999, discussing how he convinced Tom Cruise to do Magnolia, when he visited him on the Eyes Wide Shut set, in awe of Kubrick, feeling privilleged to be on that set. So that's that. Other notable thing for me was the surprising effectiveness of the score, by Radiohead guitarist. I had heard some pos things about it, but was skeptical. In the theater, my skepticism was made undeniably stupid - this score is just laugh-inducingly special. That is, you laugh at how awesome and amazing it is, when it does things which are just totally on the level and exciting. Of note: its ability to anticipate moments of tension that are about to take place in the film, but that the viewer cannot foresee yet. This is a seemingly simple idea, which has not been explored or exploited too much yet. That is, coming up with a scene's composition with specific knowledge of what will soon be on screen. You have to hear it to see it to understand it; the oil derrick explosion scene stands out most prominently in my mind (also reminds me of the amazing scores running throughout some mid-century Japanese films, specifically Teshigahara). [Maybe this paragraph should have been first] Recently something wonderful has happened in my life. I got a gig doing a bit of PA/Grip work on a new film being directed by Agnes Varda; a few days later I was asked by the producer to assist Mlle. Varda with some more low-key filming. So for two days, we two drove around, messed around, filmed around, ate around, ran around, lazy susaned around, interviewed around, photoed around and funned around all around town. Besides being a wonderful filmmaker (keys: IN THE PROCESS OF -- completely enthusiatic, energetic, experimentative, compassionate with roaming frame eye and open capture ear// POST PROCESS -- movies with great rhythms & complete not bullshit characters & the looks of a formal organism with soul), she has entered my world as an inspirational friend. I feel comfortable saying we are friends, because for those two days we really were. Many friends of mine are heroes, people that I befriend because I think they are great from a distance and am enticed by the possibility of falling in love with them close to me, for inspiration and exchange. I like to think this is the sort of love story and relationship I have with many of my closest friends, seeking out their companionship because I admire the fuck out of them. However, usually these things are in the realm of social possibility; never has anything like this taken place with someone whom I have admired from a distance -- whose work I have seen and thought great. I guess the real treat here, has to do with never imagining that such a distance admired world would cross with my own. The fact that it has, and that the nerves I had the night before working, were completely dispelled by her generosity and work-fun perfectionism, make me feel good and gold about myself. A way that Los Ang, has made me feel very little of as of yet --- good and gold about the world and its possbilities (check), about myself (much rarer). The specifics of what we did were all great and all available for storage in my memory soul and not necessarily for the interweb texts, so it is sufficeful for me to just say out hear: Agnes, THANK YOU. Same haircut for 40+ years; a luminary. Jon Mandabach and I recently went through some journalism and I realized my movie, which I believed myself to be close to finished writing is in fact very far away from finished writing with, but the news' arrival as a wake up call is great and makes me say to self, be done with this by your father's birthday, Eugene. Hope to hear from me soon. Hope you are all well my friends; your soulvalue carries on day and night, far and near. I'll see you in my dreams and on the streets. -Eugene Archive July 2007 Monday, October 8, 2007 4:31 PM Hello Close and Far; mine: Los Angeles Premiere of some moving pictures by me, taking place TOMORROW. I am excited that quality people will be in charge of showing it and that it will be in the same space where I myself have viewed some excellent films, most salient in my mind would have to be "The Honeymoon Killers." here is the info: 1830 Sunset Blvd roof. (90026) 3 dollars 9 pm - october 9, 2007 bring a jacket it gets cold. my movies probably around 930. very good very great. and of course after this Sundance and Cannes are mere inevitabilities. much slove and sblood. -Eugene K. Archive July 2007 Tuesday, October 2, 2007 4:23 PM Hello My Gut Fwends and Generation Xers: There are a lot of things I hear a lot. It's as if people read the same internet post officialy unstale for a 14-day period and just keep going through with those same words and sentiments during that allotted timespan, until everyone knows it's been said too much - by them and others - and so have to stop. There are probably certain theories about conversational scripting that pre-date the sort of large-scale extraphysical communities that are possible today, but I'm not sure what they are; luckily my instincts tell me you know what I'm talking about. One thing that I hear a lot in regards to me; what everybody's asking that is is is is is si is is is sis sis isis sis si is HOW DO YOU LIKE LOS ANGELES? It's very hard to respond in personflesh with a straight answer that will actually feel authentic and express an opinion or judgment you haven't been able to make yet; one that will probably be perpetually morphing and evolving and informed in different ways by different experiences in different moments. Much easier to write something like that down when you know a date and time stamp will be attached to the statement. Well I feel great about LA. There's just enough {of IT] to be so much and so little simultaneously. Depending on how you feel at a given time you can be so far or so close to wherever you want to be. Alone and Together become flexible...it is a bit like plexiglass. You have this barrrier of protection from bugs or wind or robbers but then you know if you really want you can bend the thing, almost bend your way through the thing and get outside of it and be with the wind and the bugs and the robbers and be the wind or a bug or a robber. This is the land of milk and honey. But as long as you can get a car this is also the land of the free. To feel good all you have to be is the brave. And the sad truth is that in all concentric circulations of people who have reached the base layer of understanding; where comprehension, action, fun and creation have merely gotten under way and nothing more {although it sure as heck seems like a lot}, in that place, where many of us seem to reside indefinitely, 'Courage' is the most underrated value of all. The cynicism of self-aggrandizement and alienation and the taught skepticism of a question-question-answer mentality leads to a critical and unflattering view of something like 'Courage .' It is placed into a sentimental or falsely glorified context where it must then be ripped down like the ugly ubiquitous flyer for that really talentless band you hate, that's got the press and PR bandwagon making them the new old catsup packets on streets. But 'Courage' exists outside of an anti-intellectual context, outside of a brute force or John Wayne environment. It definitely exists in our daily lives and feeling tapped into its power allows anyone to overcome the pre-wired fears of our existence, the culturally induced fears of daily life. It is true that fear can be a man's best friend. It is a much easier best friend to make than courage. But the comparative rewards...well. I am really so happy to live in the home of the brave. One day I hope it won't have to be a sublet and that I will sleep on a real mattress instead of the air one, until then I know that "courage" will come and go at a combination of my whims and Fortuna's; it us up to me alone to exploit those periods. You too are and will be in a similar set of circumstances. Right now I am and so The Video/Music Art Project is about a third way through its preliminary phase; The Screenplay is going crazy exciting - almost turning into something....you can touch [wraparound]; and reading, writing, movie-viewing, image-making is going splendidly. I hope my friends and all loving people out there are doing as well as I am at this point; and I hope I can come into contact with them as soon as possible. Reasons will be constructed, contact will be made and the bridges of life will expand like Lacombe to Mandeville to New Orleans. There are so many Madison Counties in this country. You'll ultimately have to read the book or watch the movie to find out which one is so famerous. See you around. In my dreams and on the streets. -Eugene Archive July 2007 Tuesday, August 7, 2007 8:58 PM Friends/Fellow World Members: After driving through the Southern zone of the United States of America I have arrived in Los Angeles, California. 15 days gained towards eternity. For Americans: We have a truly beautiful country. For Non-Americans: Americans have a truly beautiful country. I can't comment on states above a certain parallel but the Southern USA from Georgia and South Carolina to New Mexico, Arizona and California are some of the most variable and enthralling land-experiences available to man. As always talking to as many people as possible turns out to be an unbelievably engaging and rewarding way to spend one's time. Music - much of which was provided by Dan Gutierrez or the Goodwilled Salvation Armies of this land - is also integral to the well rounded funterpretation of this country. Galaxie 500, Grandmaster Flash with Melle Mel et al. and Hank Williams proved to be endlessly full. "How they like you in Hollywood? Well Frankie and the Boys said I done real good." Come see about me in Los Angeles /// Come see about my movie projects: presently, in 3 months and in 1 year. Many nice big juicy projects lined up for all of these times. Join the projects the way many others have in the past: get in touch with me so that our time and love and energy can be smashed up and gashed up and productive. Wonderful. For internet search purposes my name is and always will be... -Eugene Kotlyarenko Archive July 2007 |
