You Can Learn A Lot From Dirty Movies

Been thinking about movies a bunch lately. Ones I’ve seen in the past, ones I want to see sometime soon, ideas for new ones that will never be made; theory and actual production swirling in my head. I think it’s my brain’s attempt to drive me to an air conditioned movie theater, and out of this infernal heat.

Unlike most everyone else that I’ve met in the film industry, my schooling was based solely on a theoretical background rather than hands-on. This has meant that I have no idea how to operate a film camera, or what exactly XLR is, but could pursue a job teaching film courses, or write a trashy review column in some local rag somewhere.

Used to think that the screenplay was the most important part of the whole bagel; set the backbone of the story, give direction to the whole project. Then came the underappreciated lighting world where I took on the role of the martyr, slaving away without a nod of appreciation to make the picture beautiful. Now, I’m a vendor. This is possibly the farthest I could have traveled from the origins of my studies while still being in the film industry.

It’s funny, the routes we travel.

You ever seen ‘Clerks’? A fantastical, absurd, lewd story about a convenience store in Jersey; I know, sounds wonderful, but it has it’s place in the study of film. One of the running themes, as well as lines, is, “I’m not even supposed to be here today.”

 And that’s the thing. None of us are supposed to be anywhere we currently are. In a warehouse filled with lamps and cats, on a hilltop with the mother of your child, in a trench with bullets flying overhead, in a hospital bed with over starched sheets – none of this was planned, but here we are, making choices and trying to live by some morals and a few beliefs.

As tough as it might be to believe, we’re not doing so bad. If you keep making choices, you’re always going in the right direction. "Write that down."

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Northern State - iluvitwhenya
Ending Note: I'm hungry. I want lasagna.