Off to London...

Image I’m going to London to meet up with a group of friends. I’ve never been, but I think it’s safe to say that I’m looking forward to it. Aside from the fact that I like to see people close to me, I also like to get out of the house and explore new territory, and truthfully, I don’t do it enough.

I’m going to cut the shit and get to the chase here because I’m on the verge of walking down a road reflecting on friendship and how life takes us in a new direction and blah blah.

I’m writing this is because I’d like some advice on what to see and where to go in London. I’m not talking about the basic things, i.e.: Big Ben, London bridge, London eye, Windsor castle…  or really anything I can find on the internet in 30 seconds. I’m talking about off the road hole in the wall historic landmarks that I wouldn’t be able to find unless I pleaded for help on the Internet.

Also, and I mean this – If you’re reading this and will be in London over the next few days please don’t hesitate to connect. The best way is to email me: Josh@thebigshoe.tv or twitter: @JoshuaHallman

(Just became that dude asking people to tweet me)

Only reach out if you want to have a drink and talk about life, movies, sports, adventures, conspiracies, travel, and writing. Hope to talk with someone somewhere, it would be cool to connect... I think.

The Beauty Of Creation

Right off the bat we should establish that this is in no way a religious thing so lets not let the title of this post mislead you. I just let my mind drift as it normally does and I got to thinking about the creation of art, entertainment, stories, basically anything that has a human at the helm. It’s incredible for me to think that something doesn’t exist and then a person brings it into existence, possibly altering the mind of someone observing whatever it is. The impact that creation can have on someone is hard to comprehend. Many times we see a work of art or a quote, and it alters our thinking - Literally changing our lives. It makes me wonder about creations that exists in the world that I’ve never seen, or creations that almost never were.

I’m not sure if creation is as appreciated as it should be, especially now. We live in a time where we’re spoiled with information and content. We’re in a microwave attention span time-period so I feel that much of the things we see we take for granted simply because we’re trained to look and move on.

Also, we have access to the greatest site in the world, YouTube, and it allows us to watch an auteur create a five minute story that took him three months along with blood, sweat, and tears, but on the flip side you can also watch a cat jump on a hamster but was filmed by a ten year old in sixty seconds.  Does watching cat on hamster pull us from appreciation of good calculated creation? Also, who's to say what is “good” and what isn’t? But really, that’s the beauty of creation! We don’t know what’s good or bad until we see it. You may be reading this post and thinking it’s the biggest piece of shit of all time, you may be right, but it wasn’t in your life five minutes ago… so wrap your mind around that.

Shall we dig a little deeper and talk about the creation of human life? I don’t think that’s the best idea at this current moment. My mind is overloaded right now just thinking about this subject, when I pull back and try to relax I’m left with one solid conclusion: Creation is amazing, and what you create says more about you than what you’ve probably ever intended, but that’s the beauty of it. As long as people create then people will keep thinking of newer things to create… It’s essentially evolving the world.

Sportscenter and Breaking Bad.

I sort of feel brain dead right now. It was a long weekend. Maybe it was because my lady was out of town and I proceeded to eat frozen pizza, drink beer, watch TV, and eat more pizza. Maybe it was because I was anticipating the Breaking Bad finale and felt emotionally drained. Maybe it’s because I’ve been staring at a computer screen all day and my emotions were poltergeisted from me and sucked into my laptop. Or, maybe it’s all of the above. It’s all of the above.

Somewhere in the fog and pizza I managed to come to two very important conclusions this weekend that (I think) have an impact on any human who likes either sports or watching narrative programs. I’m banking on one of these two things appealing to you.

Conclusion 1: I was really trying to avoid being the guy who talks about Breaking Bad. I’m not going to get into how great Breaking Bad is, we already know that, the finale was great. The show was great, it’s storytelling at its finest.  What I am going to get into is how great Breaking Bad was at marketing to its fans. I kind of think it may have been a game changer.

Breaking Bad knew exactly what it was as a show and fed into it. It knew that we as fans loved Heisenberg saying, “Say My Name” or “Tread Lightly” and Pinkman saying, “Bitch.” It was so aware of what it was doing that it didn’t over think itself. But rather, it fed itself, and in turn, fed us. It created hashtags that weren’t generic, and created novelty items (meth lab Lego set).

I don’t think there’s ever been a show of this caliber that played to its strengths in regard to communicating with fans. There was no forcing the Breaking Bad slogans, they saw what was trending and moved with it… Which is a great lesson for just about everything in the entire world.

 

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Conclusion 2: Sportscenter is never not on.

What. The. Fuck. Seriously, Sportscenter is always on. I have Time Warner which has 3 ESPN channels – ESPN, ESPN2, and some 3rd ESPN station that I literally have no clue about… ESPNews maybe?

I was staring at my cable guide and noticed that as one Sportscenter would end on ESPN it begin on ESPN2 then end and then begin on the 3rd station - and continue, over and over and over and over. The weird part is, is that these were all different Sportcenters talking about the same thing, sort of, but with different people. Then when a certain time came, ESPN just looped the original Sportcenter!

In my slumped over fat guy weekend mode I searched forward to find out if this was just a weekend thing, it isn’t! ESPN legitimately loops Sportscenter.  This is horrible. I love Sportscenter as much as anyone but this is not right. The main reason being is because Sportscenter now releases so much content they’re talking about non-stories and bullshit that shouldn’t warrant a conversation. I don’t give a flying fuck what LeBron said on Twitter or the Instagram of him and his wife, I don’t need you to tell me, that’s why I have Twitter and a Instagram account.

Sportscenter talked about Dwayne Wade and Kevin Durant’s minor words back and forth like they had a KG / Carmelo exchange.  The ironic part is, having this oversaturation of Sportscenter being there 24.5 hours a day makes me tune out and allows me to appreciate the Internet’s a la carte style along with good writing from sites like Grantland.

Eh, bitter old man talking. Whatever, Breaking Bad was great. I’m off to read about sports. 

That One Time I Started To Hate Dogs.

383088_10150957763585005_1679889685_n Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be possible to hate dogs. I love dogs. I’m that guy who goes out of my way to play with dogs. When I’m at a party and someone has a dog, I find that dog. My sister has a dog, his name is Summit, he may be man’s best friend, and when I say “may be” I mean he IS man’s best friend. Greatest dog ever 10 years running, and he’ll continue to be the greatest dog until the end of time. But, lets not go down that road, I can’t think of a life without Summit.

So I love dogs, great, fantastic, who doesn’t? Ohhhhh right. Me! But how, how could this possibly happen? What the fuck? I’m so conflicted in my dog loving life. I’ll tell you how it could possibly happen… Los Angeles happened.

This may not be totally accurate but it seems as though 95% of Los Angeles owns dogs that are smaller than the size of my 10.5 foot. These little dogs are running crazy, they’re maniacs. Never have I seen so many Chihuahua’s in my life. For the record I just had to auto spell “Chihuahua” – even the spelling seems insane. But it’s not just Chihuahuahuhhauha’s, it’s other small dogs. How could there be so many small crazy dogs. Well that part is kind of obvious, to me at least —

I live in West Hollywood / Hollywood area. It’s so small and condensed. People who want dogs end up getting small dogs and since there are so many people BOOM there are so many dogs, simple. But still, that doesn’t add up to why I hate these things. So let me peel back another layer and try to save face. It’s not the dogs that I hate… it’s the owners of the dogs.

As of right now it seems as though my anger is unjustified and is totally all over, it is, and that’s only because I feel bad writing this. I feel bad hating things. So here we go, here’s my justification:

My problem is when dog owners find it okay for their dog to just jump up on you, bark, run past your office door, or really anything that people find cute just because. The things that people find cute, I find it totally annoying. I don’t care about other dogs, and PEOPLE don’t care about other dogs. I don’t think. But really, why do dog owners think just because their dog is cute then everyone thinks it’s cute? What is that?

People treat their dogs like they’re the second coming just because it successfully sat down or didn’t take a shit on the street. These dogs are getting away with societal murder.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on people being able to travel with their dogs on airplanes as “helper” dogs because they need “emotional” support. Fuck off. What an insult to people who actually need a dog with them. It’s a slap in the face. Emotional support? Really? You’re not emotionally equipped to be without your dog for a weekend?

Taking a breath…

Trying to make sense of why I even started to write this…

Oh right! So my problem is with dog owners and it’s starting to transfer to the dogs. I know it’s happening and I can’t stop it, that’s the scary part. Sometimes when I see a dog minding its dog business some negative thought enters my mind and I try to stop it, trying to think of other reasons why I like dogs, but negativity takes over like some kind of virus. But I guess that’s what negative thoughts do; they can easily take over so much faster than anything positive.

Maybe I need to get out of this bubble that is Los Angeles and get back to seeing what I consider normal dogs — Dogs that you can actually play with, dogs that I feel like I can’t physically harm with my one hand just by petting it, dogs that don’t have a size complex, and dogs that sound like they’ve hit dog puberty when they bark.

I remember Bob Barker used to always sign off the Price is Right by saying, “Don’t forget to get your dogs neutered.” My God was he ahead of the curve.

What a strange rant this has been. I was hoping to talk through my current day totally-out-of-the-blue-dog-hate. I kind of did, it’s the owners…

For the record I need to say that to all my friends with small dogs. I love your dogs.

Art and Adventure.

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As I’m writing an outline for a script I’m drifting off and thinking about adventure. It’s underrated.

On a personal writing level I like to put a relatable individual in a highly unlikely situation and thrust him/her off into some form of an adventure. More times than not it’s usually a very exaggerated situation. But it always comes back to the adventure. Part of me thinks that most writers kind of follow this idea, especially if you’ve ever read Joseph Campbell.

However, the great thing about adventure is that it doesn’t have to be something exaggerated and I think people forget that. Adventures can be small and contained. They can be a night. They can be a drive. They can be quick. They can be a day. If you learn something new from an experience and it takes you mentally to some place you’ve never been then I’d chalk that up to an (mini) adventure.

The great thing about adventure is that it feeds into what’s amazing about life. The majority of us live pretty standard lives in the sense that we know how our days are going to unfold – coffee, work, work, work, home, dinner, TV, internet, sleep - Rise, lather, repeat. But adventure changes that. Adventure allows our brains to respond to something it doesn’t expect - it keeps us fresh.

I like to think that our minds and bodies need new experiences to keep us new and young. Adventure offers us that. AND I’m not even touching on the amazing stories created, new people we meet, and many regrets we secrets don’t regret that adventure offers. Underrated right?

BUT… As amazing as small adventures are how great are the ones where you take a monumental trip to Italy, sleep with a foreign diplomat and find yourself in the middle of a terrorist plot.

Adventure.

The Cloud

The Cloud

I’m flying over Utah, maybe Colorado. I just stared at a series of clouds that are scattered, one stuck out. This cloud (pictured above) seems so random; I can’t help but wonder what he’s up to. Maybe this lone cloud got into a fight with another cloud and he’s being punished. Maybe he’s old and doesn’t give a shit. Maybe he’s lost. Maybe he’s brand new and is looking down to earth for the first time ever… Or maybe it’s just a cumulus cloud formed from heat rising from the surface of the earth and connecting with a cooler atmosphere.

Damn. Science wins again.

Ignoring science for one second…

If this cloud is anything like me he’s being stubborn right now. He’s by himself trying to prove a point to someone, maybe himself, and he’s simultaneously wondering if he’s just being a total asshole and doing more harm than good. Either way, he’ll figure it out. I have faith in this cloud.

Tackling Notes...

Image Probably the lamest blog title in the history of blog posts but really I’m not sure it can be engaging or exciting because the reality is, I’m not sure how exciting this post is going to turn out. This is a post about approaching notes you receive when writing a screenplay (insert explosions and something else cool to hold attention).

A handful of posts that I write are formed from procrastination but really are formed from me needing to mentally work things out. I talk my friends ears off so I take to this blog to really help myself. Right now I currently have maybe one of the greatest problems of all time – I have too many notes.

First, I should mention that I’m in two different writers groups. I’ve been in one for years with a group of friends and the other I’m fairly new to. Both consist of opinions I trust, and both consist of screenwriters. The groups meet at different times and function differently than each other. The jist is that you submit your writing and then everyone discusses/dissects it. Pretty standard protocol for a writers group.

It’s rare that I’d submit a feature to both groups at the same time, but in this case, it happened. For the first time ever I have an overload of notes. I’ve been staring at them for about a week to try and make sense of things. Trying to figure out which people overlap in their critiques, which notes are good, which aren’t, which notes I’m not incorporating because I’m stubborn, etc…

I’m curious as to how people deal with a ton of notes. I suppose the basic way to deal with them is to just break them down and throw out which notes ultimately work for you, that seems to make the most sense, right? Looking at notes is like looking at a massive puzzle that’s only sort of put together, but I suppose that’s what writing is. Fuck, I suppose that’s what any creative process is.

Notes on something you create are very interesting; they’re basically saying do this, instead of that. They have the ability to get in your head. They’re also a constant reminder that you don’t actually know everything in the world… Well, for me at least.

Note to self: I don’t know everything.

Off to tackle these notes (may be back on here writing about not incorporating notes).

Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Holiday and Culture

not-drunk-from-wisconsin-t-shirt The combination of a mother who doesn’t think I eat enough and the culture that is (most of) Wisconsin has created the perfect storm of complete and total over fucking indulgence… I wish I didn’t drop an F-bomb right there but I needed it for emphasis.

Quick backstory - I left Wisconsin and moved to Los Angeles to find a career, or really any job in the entertainment industry. It took a while to figure out what the hell I was doing and I’ve often wondered if I should have prepped myself a bit more before I blindly moved. The truth is: a) nothing can “prepare” you for a move to LA and b) The other part to why I moved so quickly was because of the lifestyle I was living.

I was drinking and eating as though it was the final days of the world. A glutton who lay on a bed and was served s’mores dipped in grease and then deep fried then wrapped in cheese while I washed it down with a Keystone Light. Okay, no, not really, but almost really. I was eating but mainly because I was drinking so much, and yes, it was Keystone. Of course I was drinking so much – I was in college and this was Wisconsin.

To honestly understand the culture is to live in the Midwest, it’s difficult to express if you don’t experience it. During my early 20’s in Milwaukee I may have spent more days blacked out than I did coherent, and it felt okay, not because it was okay but because I was just one of many doing it. I thought that’s how college was but actually it’s how Milwaukee was.

Wait, am I talking about Milwaukee or having a mini intervention right now?

At some point I knew I wanted to move and I also knew I needed to stop living how I was living. I imagined my liver probably was that of a 75-year-old man and my brain was becoming deformed. So I booked it to Los Angeles and started doing coke… KIDDING. I chilled out and essentially continued on with my life in a culture that I preferred.

Over the last 7 years or so I’ve come to appreciate Milwaukee for all the things that I missed while I lived here, which is standard protocol for just about anyone who returns to somewhere. It took me a minute to realize that the culture is more than just getting black out drunk. Having said that… Drinking is still a MASSIVE part of Milwaukee and there is no getting around that.

Regardless - it’s holiday season 2012 and I’m back. I guess I’m a little wiser and I’m definitely older and I’m fully prepared to embrace the things I once couldn’t handle. The culture that I once was being tornadoed in is no more. It’s not as though I stopped drinking or something, it’s just that I’m aware of what the hell can happen to me, I’ve been down that road before.

Fuck it. Bring it on, Wisconsin. Bring on the Packers, Bucks, not the Brewers, the cold, the cold forcing me to stay inside and do nothing, the booze, and did I mention the Packers? This is a culture to embrace head on like you’re staring down a bull, and just like staring down a bull - if you’re able to coherently discuss it after it’s over, then you’ve succeeded.

Colorado: The Culture

 

For me, Colorado is one of those places I could go and one day later realize that I’ve been there for five years. Not sure if that’s a bad thing or a good thing. Keep in mind it’s not really a place for me, I’m more accustom to city living in California. Even Denver doesn’t have a complete city feel to me, it just seems like a pretty laid back.

When I think of Colorado I think of …

Recycling, changing my eating habits to get rid of glucose, getting a Subaru, riding a horse, eating cage free eggs, hiking, bike riding, more activities in general, drinking more beer than I already do, watching less TV, being outside more, yoga, and getting a dog – To name a few.

I was visiting my family in Colorado these last few days and lost track of time. I was consumed with relaxing with elements of drinking. I forgot that I write on my blog and actually have stuff to do. I was ultimately sucked into the culture and it scared me. There is always the possibility of never coming back.

I’m back in LA with clear eyes and a detox ahead of me. I feel like a stronger man after weathering the Colorado culture. I’m happy to be home, I was even happier to visit my family – It’s kind of a confusing scenario.

Whatever the case, I’m back to work and wondering if anyone else feels like I do in Colorado. Do you lose track of time? Am I just victim to visiting family and taking a vacation? I don’t know, and that’s just the thing. Colorado did this.

*Yes, well aware that I bunched a lot of cities and towns into “Colorado.”

Sunday Ramble: General Interests

 

I’m thinking about having general interests in topics and how those interests sculpt who we are. I’m kind of envisioning a person that is completely put together like a puzzle, and each puzzle piece is a hobby, idea, feeling, or another sub interest. Does that make sense? I wish I had the capability to draw out a diagram but I don’t have it right now. I’m essentially wondering if there are two people out there who have the same exact interests.

Is it possible? I’m not talking about having 9 out of 10 of the same interests; I’m talking a solid 10 out of 10. For that to happen someone would have to have a similar upbringing, similar parents, similar everything really.

—2 minutes of critical thinking later—

As much as I want this to be a reality I just don’t think it’s possible, not now at least. We’re just a little too unique with too many options. Dammit, I started to write this in hope of talking myself into the belief of two of the same people. I was also going write a little bit on how we’re all unique in our own way and blah blah, but I have a feeling we already know that already.

I was about 30 seconds away from deleting this post and making sure it would not see the light of day, but fuck it, it’s Sunday and I’m rambling.

Here’s to one day finding two people cut from the same cloth…

Rebooting Back To The Future.

 

I think I have finally figured it out! After years of tough and long mental thought I have figured out how to move forward and reboot the Back To The Future trilogy… and it came to me in a dream… No, seriously. I’ll hold off on the dream talk for now because we need to get a few things clear.

When I’m talking about Back To The Future I’m bundling all 3 films together because it’s that complete. I’m well aware that the 1st film is the best, the 2nd is arguably as good as the 1st, and the 3rd isn’t nearly as good as either but somehow gets better when you catch it on TV.

Here’s why it’s a brilliant trilogy:

Aside from the obvious things like amazing characters, fun storylines, great writing, great directing, and continuous new imaginative visuals it created a fail safe for itself. When Back To The Future literally went to the future in Part 2 it went to the year 2015, forever sealing its fate in that desired time and location. We currently cannot make a sequel to the film because our modern day (2012) doesn’t look like the conception when it was released in 1989, ie: hover boards, flying cars, and fashion. It’s brilliant, right?

Also, in Part 2 we learned that Marty had kids, was married to Jennifer, and Biffs grandson Griff went to jail (to name a few) - another fail safe. Initial thought is there is no way to make a sequel, say Back To The Future Part 4 because it would look hokey and out of touch. Of course this couldn’t have been the intent of the team behind Back To The Future when they created it but it happened, and it’s awesome.

Here’s what my thoughts have always been about trying to flip this trilogy:

- In order to keep this series going with the same title and characters someone would have to conceivably start from scratch and remake the film with a new Marty, Doc Brown, George McFly, Biff, etc… The problem with this idea is everyone knows it’s to soon to do this and that the original films are still better than almost everything in the world.

- The movie could take place in 1985 picking up from where Part 3 left off but the main issue is that a train murdered the DeLorean and Doc Brown is stuck in the old west. OH, and lets not forget the obvious… Michael J Fox and Doc Brown are older and cannot be in these films.

- Speaking of Doc Brown; maybe Part 4 could start in the Wild West and he could send some cowboys into the future for whatever reason. But, who really wants to start a film in the Wild West?

- At the end of Part 3 when Jennifer’s fax disappears stating “you’re fired” she asks Doc what the deal is and Doc says: “the future has not been written yet” – Oh shit! Does that one sentence negate everything above? Did Zemeckis know what he was doing when that line was spoken? What does that mean!?

Quick Side Note: I feel like this is a good random stopping point to point out that I don’t know why everything needs to be rebooted or remade. Honestly, I don’t know why I can’t leave this alone, well, yes I do. I loved this series and deep down I want to pay homage to it. I know that someone is going to redo this movie and trilogy and I want it to be me. Moving on…

Back to my dream and my Back To The Future solve. Remember in Part 1 when Doc Brown was shot by the Libyans at the Twin Pines mall and was talking about plutonium? Also, remember that Marty was recording him? In fact, Marty brought the videotape with him to 1955 to show doc he knew about the flux compacitor. Well, that footage is key to keeping everything moving forward.

In my dream a group of current day kids found the footage from Doc Brown and Marty (along with footage we’ve never seen in the films) and learned how to build a time machine, and not just from a DeLorean but from anything because they know what makes time travel possible… The Flux Compacitor.

The beauty of Doc filming himself in the first film opens up the idea completely and it’s totally logical he was in YouTube mode filming himself stating what he needs to do to time travel. Doc was essentially making a running diary of his work, thus throwing all of his knowledge to future time travelers.

The kids would then reference the footage, create a time machine, and proceed to go on their own adventure, and on this adventure they could maintain the integrity of the series and also reference things like Hill Dale, the clock tower, Marty and Jennifer, Biff, hover board… basically everything from the original that’s cool.

Major issue: The flying fucking cars in the future that we don’t have in current day. The solve: Doc Brown was the catalyst behind the flying and much of the technology that we saw in Part 2 but he just didn’t know it (this would also explain how he created a flying train in Part 3). But since Doc isn’t around because he went back to the Wild West the flying car hasn’t hit the scene… yet (but could be referenced in the video tapes).

Also, lets not forget Doc’s crazy ass “the future has not been written yet” line and plug that in when we need to. Is this line a cop out? Yes. But my entire plot hinges on that line and the videotape footage.

And BOOM, we have a reboot and a semi sequel to the films! But wait, just like Back To The Future there’s one more option -

My dream also consisted of a low budget version of Back To The Future – seriously. That low budget modern day version is a found footage approach, which still revolves around Doc’s videotapes but takes place in 1985. This version takes place during the time that Marty heads back to the past in Part 1 when the Libyans shot Doc.

The major flaw to this is that Marty took the video camera with him, but I’m sure there is some kind of work around to that. How cool is a found footage time travel movie?

What this all boils down to is that in order to reboot this franchise and not fuck things up we need Doc’s footage, it’s the spine to everything, its like the flux compacitor. In my dream it seemed perfect. With this footage we can move forward to open a new adventure for a new group of kids and integrate the old crew.

Does this sound crazy?

In my perfect world this franchise would go untouched, but that’s not reality. We’re in that zone where it’s easier to just retool and reboot everything under the sun due to the built in audience and financial return. Also, we’re getting to a point where the people that are taking over and can make these decisions were fan boys of the original series and if someone has the opportunity to redo this thing, it’s going to happen.

Truthfully, I want to make this movie and when I pitched the idea to someone they thought I was crazy and couldn’t be done. Screw crazy, Doc Brown was crazy and he made a time machine out of a DeLorean. If someone reads this and has the immediate power to get a reboot in motion don’t F things up.