Where Is Page Two???
Uhm, yeah, about that…
Two things have gotten in my way. First, I choked. I’ve probably thrown away more than a dozen attempts at the second page of my comic-book. I rationalized that I was throwing them away because I was having trouble finding a pencil lead that was hard enough that I could erase the underdrawing easily yet soft enough not to scar the page. That’s actually true, as far as it goes. But the real reason I threw out all those pages is that I’ve been afraid that what I was drawing wasn’t good enough. Having admitted this to myself, I now see that the only logical course of action is to resolve not to throw away the piece of artboard taped to my drawing table at this moment, but instead to finish it and post the results online no matter what.
Second, some of you may be aware that I have sleep apnea. It’s a condition characterized by brief periods where one’s breathing slows or stops entirely during sleep. I’m using what’s called a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device to treat it, and the results until now have been inconsistent at best. I was fitted with a CPAP mask today that I hope will make a difference. Being chronically sleep-deprived means it takes me longer to do everything, and conversely when I’m well-rested I’m more productive.
So, the bottom line: no more do-overs, and hopefully I’ll have some better nights’ sleep to help me along. I’ll post the penciled page right here in this blog as soon as it’s done.
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Blah, blah, blah. I have seen the pages you threw away and they were lousy. There were no cats. How many times do I have to tell you no one will want to look at it if there are no cats in the story? Stupid human.
Speaking of stupid, I can’t believe you brought those two intruders into my house. They are not even afraid of me anymore!!! They have no respect.
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:47 am
Is CPAP the one that looks kinda like a fighter pilot’s mask? Uhg.
I had a friend back around ‘92 who wore an early model of those things for much the same reason you have to. It was the one that held a tube (if I remember correctly how he described it) in or just above his mouth and kept the air pressure going with a small fan. He used to say that the thing was almost, but not quite, as bad as not using one. The odd buzz of the fan and the dry throat woke him up so often during the night that he was almost as tired as when he didn’t use it. Hopefully they’re more comfortable these days.
So, anyhow…. Where’s page three?
January 23rd, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Katie: Well, I’m glad to see you’ve gotten Jeannie to help you with your spelling. As for your critique, have you forgotten how badly your version of my story, Kay Tee the Awsum Kat, flopped?
Jerry: Apparently CPAP machines have come a long way over the years. Mine is portable and quiet. It has a humidifier to prevent my nose and mouth from drying out. The air is delivered via a hose that connects to a mask. There are many varieties of masks, and most people are able to find one that is comfortable.
As far as page three goes, all I have to say is: @!!#$&#!!%^$%@!!!!!!!!
January 23rd, 2007 at 8:15 pm
It looked like a combination ALIEN facehugger and Darth Vader mask when one of my best friends got one.
Eh, you artist types. Perfectionists.
January 23rd, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Y’know, thing that’s funny is that if you lived near me, you could get all you CPAP supplies from Stacie’s company. No kidding. She could even tell you how to put it together.
And I know from personal experience the problems that can come from breathing, um, problems. My sister’s first husband has CF, and both my lungs were punctured and collapsed, so I can relate.
Now, I think everyone but Katie could possibly lay claim to the “Holy crap, this is crap” statement about our own work at some time. I myself alternate between the heights of thinking my stuff is really good, and the depths of thinking I’m writing Plan 10 From Outer Space By Way Of Hoboken. HOWEVER–anybody hear about that Spielberg reality show? Where moviemakers can submit a 5 minute clip to graduate onto the actual show? Well, starting tomorrow night, I’m going to film the trailer for the movie I’ve spent
17
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG
years writing. So far, though, everything in this version is working right. So come on, People, and Katie, give the guy a break!
Bill, you have a good start. The basic storyline you’ve laid out is really catching, as in, catching my eye and dragging it down the hall. Don’t let Katie or the Boys play with it, I don’t know where it’s been. Like a publisher firend of mine once said, a good story is at least half the fight, and you’re beyond that point. Trust yourself, trust your ideas. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go say the same things to myself.
January 24th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
How’s the page coming? Building up some momentum? Getting stuff done? Great, now I get to kill some of it come two months from now by making you and others a TV zombie for weeks of repeated viewings.
SLEEPERS IS COMING TO THE U.S. DVD MARKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m sorry, but I have to subvert your blog for a moment. I love this mini series to death, I’ve watched my almost fifteen year old VHS copy that I made off of Masterpiece Theater to the point that it’s likely onion skin thin and I never, and I mean never, thought that I would see it as a U.S. DVD release. Now that it is, I have to infect as many others with it that I can and share the joy.
http://www.amazon.com/Sleepers-Nigel-Havers/dp/B000L2127W/sr=1-2/qid=1169622855/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/103-7829234-7178238?ie=UTF8&s=dvd
A better price can be found at deepdiscountdvd.
You can find a better description here…
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101200/
January 25th, 2007 at 7:00 am
remember bill…
with great artistic power comes great artistic responsibility…
and sleep apnea or not…use the force and just do it!
(copyright infringements not recognized in the state of hysteria)
January 25th, 2007 at 11:03 am
AND GOD SAID, “LET THERE BE KITTIES.”
On the 1st day, God created the cat.
On the 2nd day, God created man to serve the cat.
On the 3rd day, God created the other animals to serve as food and toys for the cat.
On the 4th day, God created toil so that man could labor for the good of the cat.
On the 5th day, God created furniture so that the cat could sharpen its claws.
On the 6th day, God created Veterinary Science to keep the cat healthy and man broke.
On the 7th day, God wanted to rest, but he had to change the litterbox.
Meow.
January 25th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Sean: You got both of your lungs punctured? Jesus! How’d you manage that!
Please keep us up to date on your film project. I am definitely pulling for you. Would love to read the script if you’re of a mind to send me a copy.
Jerry: I looked up Sleepers on IMDB. Is that the movie with Robert DeNiro, or is that a different Sleepers?
Keef: Thank you, Master Yoda. I will put on my Nike sneakers and do what I must do.
Nio: You egomaniacal cats. *Sigh*… anyone reading this blog for the first time is probably liable to wonder who the hell you guys are. Katie, Nio, and any other felines who want to post here, listen up. New rule: any cats must identify themselves as such in the “name” field.
January 25th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Oh, also, if you cats threaten to overrun this blog, I will relegate you to your own blog.
Ah, crap, you guys probably want your own blog…
Humans, please rally ’round me and prevent this from becoming a blog about nothing but cats!!!!!!!!!!!
January 25th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
I talked to my wife this morning about her not letting her cat get on my laptop. Nio has been told that he’ll get his Gone Fishin’ toy and Kookamungas taken away from him for unsupervised blog posts.
January 25th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Sleepers (1991)
English TV Mini-series.
Comedy/Drama/Spy
Nigel Havers, Warren Clarke, Michael Gough, Davis Calder, Ricco Ross and others
In the time of Glasnost, construction on a building in Moscow uncovers a room that has been long sealed. Inside, the KGB find a giant replica of a 60’s era London street filled with miscellaneous items from the era and sound and video recordings from England. No one has any idea what this is or why it’s there.
A little digging uncovers long sealed KGB files detailing a project by KGB officer Andrei Zorin (Gough) to train two young agents, Sergei Rublev (Havers) and Vladimir Zelenski (Clarke), to be undetectable sleeper agents in England during the most paranoid time of the Cold War. Panic hits when nobody can figure out what Zorin’s project was ultimately meant to do or, brown trousers time for the KGB, where their agents are. Zorin is no help as they’ve long ago shipped him off to the nut bin.
In the records are secret activation codes and radio frequencies to make contact with their long lost sleeper agents. Desperate to try any thing, the KGB tries to make contact.
In England, Yuppie Jeremy Coward has a mega $$$$ loft, works for one of the major $$$$ companies in England and has a string of rich girlfriends at his beck and call. Albert Robinson is a man of modest means working at the local factory. He enjoys nights at the pub and is a season ticket holder. He’s also a devoted father and husband. They just happen to be Rublev and Zelenski. And Zelenski kept his radio in working order and he gets the signal. Or rather, his daughter playing in the attic gets the signal, much to the confusion of the KGB who have no idea what just answered them.
Zelenski decides to track down “Jeremy Coward” to return home. The two of them have a bit of a bad reunion before deciding that they don’t want to go home and that they need to destroy Zelenski’s radio. In the meantime, the KGB have no idea what they just started and still have no idea what paranoid Cold War scheme Zorin had designed and decide to send agents into England to find their lost agents (and they don’t even know their English names.)
This leads to sending the two former agents on the run, the KGB chasing them without knowing why they’re doing it and the Brits, KGB and CIA (or, as they are disdainfully referred to as, The Cousins) playing cloak and dagger with each other to unbelievable levels.
And that’s just the kick off in episode one. The comedy is well written and the human moments, especially in the last episode, have an almost poetic beauty. If you even just kinda liked the movie Hopscotch, then you’ll likely love this.
You can see the cover with the two lead actors on it at:
http://www.amazon.com/Sleepers-Nigel-Havers/dp/B000L2127W/sr=8-4/qid=1169763260/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4/102-9494209-4215364?ie=UTF8&s=dvd
You can get a better deal at deepdiscountdvd. Lower price and free shipping!
January 25th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Yoo kant stop mee from posting, yoo big dum dum.
Hay, Nio, wanna help mee bild a factoree? We wil mayk our own kat food and kat nip and kat toyz. We wil mayk the humans wurk for us but wee wil not pay them bekuz they doo not desurv it.
(Dont be skared of Bill or of Jerry. They kant doo nothing too hurt us. Tayk away yor toyz? Ha! He duzint hav the gutz!)
P.S. My spellin iz not kwite so good in this post bekuz Mommee wuzint heer too help.
January 25th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Okay, first, my lungs–a ‘68 Satellite landed on my dad’s Tercel after launching itself off a curb at 50 MPH, my face broke the windshield and the dashboard broke my chest up.
Second–I’ve notcied that Katie wisely didn’t include me in the ones not to be scared of. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!
Jerry–a few of my friends have talked about Sleepers in the various parties they have. I still never watched it, though. WANT to, but, who has time?
Nio–if God made Man to serve Cat, be careful. Soylent Friskies, anyone? Or, meow, it’s a, meow, cookbook! Meow.
January 25th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Damn, Sean…
You win any future “well I did this” one-upmanship games based on past injuries.
“…but, who has time?”
Four parts broken down into four evenings. Seems an easy equation.
Hmmmmm…
“To Serve the Cat”
Never thought of it that way. Sweet and Sour or General Tso’ kitty listings in there?
Hey, why’d my wife’s cats just scramble behind the couch?
January 25th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Jerry–yeah, there’s a reason I don’t have a shaved head. Between the accident and all the OTHER times I’ve had to get my scalp sewn up, my head would look like a topographic map of the Poconos. Brian would either think I was trying to look like Herman Munster or want to connect them to see what the picture is. But, my firend, you’re the one with the potential for serious injuries EVERY FREAKING DAY. The closest I come is falling out of a camera tower once or twice a week. Unless you count eating my own cooking….
Well, four parts in four evenings SOUNDS easy, but my TV viewing hours are REALLY limited, and since the 5 year old is really into his wierd father lately, the private time I get to watch anything remotely not-G-rated is limited. And as for watching it with my friends, the only time they seem to be able to get together is Saturday night, and I work until 1 in the morning. Tkere are times that working in TV stinks. Today wasn’t one of them. I took fifth in a wing eating contest out of 45 people and got escorted to my seat by one of the new Parkettes. And she wasn’t remotely nauseated by my method of eating wings. It was a good day.
ANYWAY–Bill, thanks for the support. Hopefully, if I get a chance, I’m going to submit the trailer to the On The Lot site soon. Just have to, y’know, film it.
January 25th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Reooowwwww!!
Jerry, yoo wil pay!
Nio sed he kant wayt until yoo put yore shus on tomorow
Now hoos laffing?
January 25th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
Kay Tee, nehvr feer!!!!!!
I, Nio, hav cum up weth tha anzer 2 R prahblims!!!
Thay wunt 2 ster fri katz? Thay wunt 2 surv katz 4 dinr????
No prahblim.
Wee mahst convinse thim that wee eldar howze katz r old, stringee and tuf 2 eet. But thows yungr kittanz that hav invadid owr howzes… thay r sawft, sweeet and tastee. Thay r melt in ur mowth taystee.
The EVIL HUEMENZ can hav RIKKI and ZEKE and ZACK 4 thayr “COOKBUK” thingee and U and I shall hav owr howzes bak!!!!!!!!!
LONG LIVE THA KATZ OV OLD AYG AND TREHJUREE!!!!! DOWIN WETH CUTZEE KITTANZ!!!!!!!!!
January 26th, 2007 at 10:39 am
Nio, Katie, u got it oll rong–the cute kittanz DOO surv a purpus–BAYT. Those hareless ayps think there cutzee, thay leen down too pet them, THEN WEE STRYK! Leep owt and klaw there i’s owt. Then wee eet the cutzee kittanz. Doo this enuff tyms and wee will kontrol the wurld!! MWAHAHAHAHAHMEOWHAHAHA!
January 26th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
But…. if… if… if wee git rid of tha ayps…. woo wil opin tha kat fewd kanz and chainz r kittee littar????
Juzt git rid of dum stoopid cutzee kittanz!!! Than thay play with uz moor and hapeelee skrach r eerz wyel Dahktor Woo iz on.
Doun with cutzee kittanz!!!!!!!
January 27th, 2007 at 12:50 am
Y’know, there’s either a fascinating abnormal psychology paper or a better-than-average SNL skit in all this.
January 27th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Nio, yoo r verry smarrt. I cud probbly liv with a kat lik yoo insted uv the dum kittenz that r heer. They r so stupit they play in wahter. Hoo wud play in wahter?
Captin Smoky had a gud ideea tho abowt eeting the kittenz, I think I wud rather let the dawg nex door eet them tho. Maybee I can luur them over theer.
dam kittenz.
January 29th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
They like to play in water? That may be a story worth a post or two. Every cat I’ve ever know runs at the slightest hint of H2O.
Does it help at bath time?
January 29th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
They try to jump in tha sink wen Bill or Jeannie r wahing dishez or running wahter or brushing thar teeth, they all so go in the bathtub after Bill or Jeannie get owt. They wil get wahter all ohver themselfs, shake off and then get mor wahter on them. Unbeeleevable. They giv cats a bad name. I musst admit tho, that Zack iz kind uv cute and funnee. Funnee in a stupit way, butt funnee.
March 20th, 2007 at 12:18 am
We have a sighting!!!!!!!!!!!
I was in the check out line at the local grocery store and saw a Weekly World News in the rack that blew my mind. They had a completely un-doctored and legitimately real photo on the cover of Anna Nicole Smith sitting in a diner having lunch with some friends. Elvis, older but recognizable, was eating a peanut butter and ham sandwich, Andy Kauffman was impersonating Elvis while eating a fried banana and onion sub and Jim Morrison was sitting at the end of the table obviously enjoying a mocha latte while ADMIRING A COPY OF THE ELUSIVE PAGE TWO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why did he get to see it first? It’s not fair at all.
March 20th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
I suppose I only have myself to blame for this…
March 20th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
Yeah, you do.
I was just thinking aout Elvis and writing ang y’know, stuff like that (durn you to Hoboken, Jerry!) and I git images of Presley ganging out with Ernie and Galdriel abd Legolas on Ed Sullivan.
Y’know, because he’s ELVis.
Anyway, more writing to do tonight before I lose the PO’d-ness (Best inspiration I’ve had lately) and the desire to do terribly nasty things to all the stupid people in my movie. Yeah, they’re all based on real people. Isn’t that the main reason to do terribly nasty things to people in stories?
March 21st, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Good one, Sean! ELVis
Poor Bill has been sick these last couple of days, I don’t think he’s done much more than turn the TV on. At least the cats have been able to comfort him, they won’t make him chicken soup though. Selfish, lazy, little creature, after all he does for them….
March 22nd, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Seriously, I mean, he lets them get on the internet and plot the overthrow of anyone bipedal, some quadrupeds have just NO sense of gratitude.
BTW, sorry about the typos in that last post. Not easy to type one handed in the dark while consoling a sick, cranky five year old who’s plotting the overthrow of anyone bipedal over three and a half feet tall.
But, I have been reinspired yet again, the reminder of certain ex-girlfriends and certain being dumped events is wonderful news for my script. May get done before this NEW millenium’s out.
March 22nd, 2007 at 6:43 pm
BTW, Bill Mulligan, if yer around, thought ya might wanna see this.
http://www.zoobody.com/pages.php?viewpage=24
Horror script treatment contest.
March 22nd, 2007 at 6:45 pm
One more, then off to typing land.
I hope you feel better, Bill. Soon. I personally HATE being sick. Y’know, unlike all those normal people who personally LOVE it.
March 29th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Draw
the
damn
page…
…seriously, if you are having a hard time with it - draw page 7 or page 14, then come back to page 2…
…just don’t stop! Stopping is the only thing that kills dreams.
March 29th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
CapVsBats, you’re absolutely right.
By the way, gentle readers, note the hyperlink in the heading of CapVsBats’ post. Actually, do more than note it. Click on it. It takes you to http://www.flashbackuniverse.com. It appears to be an honest-to-goodness indie super-hero universe, and the content is viewable online. It looks quite good. I intend to check it out, and would urge the rest of you to do the same.