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Revolver Games Team Blog: Sort of New, Sort of Old

Not to detract from our loyal (2) followers, but here is the OTHER Blog I blog for sometimes.

Trash talk #3 - Has insidious saved the horror genre

Finally the dark pit that is the box office every year around mid January until about early April has ended. I’m not a tough critic (To be fair, I‘m not really a critic at all). I don’t hibernate every year around this time until the summer blockbuster season starts like some. But I will be honest when I say that the new year rarely brings me anything a really enjoy. This year, I had to wait all the way until April 9th, when I finally saw a movie I’d been pretty excited about. That movie was Insidious.

I really need a system of ranking movies some how. I’m not just gonna whip out the two thumbs or five stars or whatever that garbage is. When I think on one, or somebody else gives me a good one I’ll start using them. Until then you’ll have to deal with me saying if it’s good or bad or whatever.

As I’m a stickler for spoilers, (It was ruined to me that Sirius Black dies at the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) I’m going to try and avoid them as much as possible. Shit, didn’t I just spoil the end of that book.. And movie? Oh well, too late to back track now. What’s laid is played and all that.

Insidious is the latest horror film from director/writer team of James Wan and Leigh Whannel. Known best for the creation of Saw, (the first, not any of the ridiculous sequels). To sum up this bad boy, it’s about a couple (played by a super hero and a soon to be super hero, AKA Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne) who move their family into a new home (Original, right? Don‘t worry it gets better) and then there son mysterious slips into an unexplainable coma. Then some scary shit happens and blah blah I don‘t want to ruin it. Anyways, damn was this good. This movie had authentic, surprising scares. It used some typical genre cliché’s and used them in a new way. It had beautiful score that was reminiscent of Bernard Herman. It dragged a bit around the middle of the story but it made up for it with a kick ass ending. Overall, not a perfect film. But it’s a step in the write direction of Original Horror films. I’m not against remakes. I’m just against shitty remakes, which we have plenty of.

As for answering the ambitious title. The movie has made roughly 30 million dollars in two weeks. Coming from a estimated budget of 1.5 million dollars. 20x your money in two weeks will hopefully be enough to inspire the studious to make more films like this. As for now I’m eagerly awaiting Scream 4, or if you prefer Scre4m. Here’s hoping Wes knocks it right out of the park.

Until next time, thanks for reading,

This is just me talking trash.

Twitter.com/joshuaroach

What is Script Frenzy? | Script Frenzy

What is Script Frenzy? | Script Frenzy

I don't know about my fellow writers here, but I will be taking part in this for my new TV pilot I plan on writing.

Review: The Birthday Massacre "Pins and Needles"

1. In The Dark

2. Always

3. Pale

4. Control

5. Shallow Grave

6. Sideways

7. Midnight

8. Pins and Needles

9. Two Hearts

10. Sleepwalking

11. Secret

The Birthday Massacre are a band from my hometown Toronto. I've heard them described as many things from Goth-rock to Post-retro. In my humble opinion, they are a rock band. It's easy, simple, and accurate. Because they fucking rock.

I first heard them opening for KMFDM a long ways back. They were amazing live, I bought two CDs that night and kept abreast of what was going on with them. I've met them a few times. I also helped whom I assume was a megafan put together picture books, and scanned articles for their website (When I worked at a Copy centre.). I spent a long time admirning their music, listening to it when I was down, and indeed, I even at one point looked into what I would have to do to book them (I never ended up following through.).

Pins and Needles Is the follow up to 2007's Walking with Strangers. The Band knows their audience well, and knows themselves even better. Combining the heavy industrial riff with the soft melody of Chibi's voice, and the poppy interlude. Tracks Like In the Dark and Sleepwalking play to the heavy side, while songs like Secret draw on a haunting slowness that can take you to a lonely place.

Like most of their albums, they are padded with slow and fast. I'd be lying if I said I was a fan of the slow, but it breaks the album up nicely and makes it a very awesome listen through.

This album gets a 4/5 from me. I'm biased mind you, but all this stuff is subjective, right?

I hate it when my iblogforawebsite shares get diluted down to 0.03%

The title is a reference to a film I think deserved best picture.

what I enjoy more about this budding website is that my partners (40% business, 60% sexual) are very open minded.

which I think is the most important thing when it comes to blogging, even more so when you are blogging about pop culture, reviewing movies and such. I'm not passing my opinions off as fact, I'm just sharing who ever reads such a post, something I found rad.

I bring this up because the movie I'm about to review is pretty controversial.

This flick is directed by Kim Ji-Woon, which is his followup to The Good The Bad The Weird, which is a hilarious and badass South Korean western film, actually if you haven't peeped that flick, and you're in for something new, pick it up. totally worth it.

But I Saw The Devil follows Kyung-Chul who is the definition of batshit, hacking up women and what not. He murders a pregnant woman named Joo-Yun, who is the daughter of a retired police chief, and the fiance of Soo-Hyun.

The story is pretty much about what happens when you fuck with the wrong people, because what ensues is one of the most fucked up vengeance story I've ever laid my virgin eyes upon.

Soo-Hyun is a top secret agent, and puts the law into his own hands, when he tracks down Kyung-Chul and basically gets revenge by beating him half to death every chance he gets. It raises the question "who is the real monster here".

Kinda a tough watch, there is a beautifully shot scene involving about 63 stabbings, and a revolve around a moving vehicle, amazing cinematography.

In short I guess I can say the movie is a bloody good time.

I Saw The Devil: 4 Fingers out of a Possible Fist.

I was worried about what my second entry was going to be, be it another review, or something different. as you can see I've decided to review another movie that is under the radar. I contemplated writing my top 10 favourite movies of all time. But I think that would involve going Leo deep into a labyrinth of memories I have, maybe binge drinking in the forrest for three days. Coming up with a top 10 list would be pretty difficult for me, for I'm an indecisive lil' bitch.

My next post will be far more vast in the subjects I talk about. I just though I'd introduce myself first:

I'm Mitch, and I blog for this website. Look out for my new internet sketch comedy group soon, you can follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/TheSaddleback. Or you can join my fan club on Facebook for standup info, videos, and things I enjoy: www.facebook.com/withmitch (basically it's me whoring myself out)

but for now, courage.

- mitch.

Trash Talk #2 - More paranthesis than words

Top 5 lists are always fun. Hell top anything lists are always fun. I’ve decided to make a different top movies list. I’m going to be going by decade (starting with the most recent one 10-11). I’m not some highbrow critic that will give you in-depth analysis on the best movies. I’m just gonna do my favs.

This decade really only gives me like 15 months of film to choose from, so this list is pretty simple. I’m gonna start in reverse order, counting down to my favourite movie. So, here goes…

***SPOILER ALERT***

5. THE FIGHTER – Starring: Marky Mark, Batman, and that girl from Enchanted.

Coming into this movie I was a bit sceptical. It has a pretty basic and seemingly tired premise (down and out boxer makes a comeback).I went to see it anyway (I’m a sucker for boxing movies). But this movie delivered in many ways. Driven by strong performances from the entire cast, (I don’t really need to tell you that just look at this past award season.) this movie was truly entertaining from start to finish. Christian Bale as a washed up Boxer turned crack head was a character that I constantly wanted to see in every scene and craved to see again once I left theaters. My girlfriend, who normally hates Bale, has jumped ship completely. I particularly enjoyed the way they shot the fight sequenced, using the original camera from the 90’s that were actually used to film the fights really added to the film’s authentic feel. I wanted to talk a bit about the Director, David O. Russell, but I was always taught as a screenwriter that images (or video in this case) are more powerful than words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4Qls1rAfYs

CHECK THE LINK AT HOME TO MAKE SURE

4. THE BLACK SWAN – Starring Padme, Meg/Jackie, and that Dude from Ocean’s 12.

What’s to say about the Black Swan? I mean I’d probably re-watch Sex and the city 2 if you had Mila Kunis go down on Natalie Portman. (You probably couldn’t pay me to watch Cynthia Nixon go down on Kim Catrall. On second thought, I’d probably prefer to re-watch 2 girls 1 cup than the SATC duo go at it, only probably though) Anyways, The Black Swan is a really dark and powerful film. N-Ports (obviously Portman) is very believable as a young dancer who is obsessed with success (believable enough to get an Oscar). An oddly sexual film, considering the 14A rating here in the Great White North (that’s Canada, guys). I loved how the film doesn’t try and mask the fact that Portman is going crazy. It just progresses naturally, leaving the audiences on the fence on whether she is but never really trying to hide it either. Had this film not been in the masterful hands on Darren Aronofsky, it could have very likely turned out like a bad M. Night Shalalayamanadingdong picture, where everything seems great until the last five minutes the entire story is revealed through flashback. Also, it would have been shot in 3D.

3. THE SOCIAL NETWORK – Starring a Nerd, the Amazing Spiderman and JT.

Sadly I feel this movie was a bit over-hyped during award season. This movie is high on my list (I have not seen the king’s speech yet), but it really lost momentum heading towards the Oscars. It’s Sad, because this is really a great movie. I’m a lover of Dialogue driven films and the Social Network is one of the best dialogue heavy films in a long while. Crafted by Aaron Sorkin, this film is annoyingly clever and should leave every screenwriter running to their PCs (or MACs I guess) to go and write better dialogue. Jesse Eisenberg did not surprise me in the least. I Always thought he was a more (much more) talented version on Michael Cera. Andrew Garfield almost stole the show (that honour goes to Timberlake) and convinced me that he can play whoever, whether it be the Amazing Spiderman or the Stone Cold Steve Austin Biopic (Rumoured). David Fincher brings with him the unusual but brilliant visual style that links all his movies. I’m a Ginormous fan of Fincher, as is my Girlfriend (second GF drop on the blog!) and he made me nostalgic for Napster, Gap sweaters and everything that made the earl 00’s great.

2. HARRY POTTER and THE DEATHLY HALLOWS part 1 - Starring: Three kids and the best actors out of Britain.

I’m just going to let you people (yes, I mean YOU people) know that I am a monstrous HP fan. I obsess over the books and films but… Going into this movie I was a little sceptical. I really did not like HP5 or HP6 (films). As soon as I saw the trailer for HP:DH I was in awe. This was the movie I wanted to see. As a sat in line for the movie, all I could do is hope that the movie was as good as the trailer. And did I ever get a treat. It was simply mind-blowingly great, by far the Best of the potter films/ Shit, it’s probably better than the rest of the films combined. Sadly, I’ve only been able to see it once (a real tragedy), but I would argue that this is a near perfect adaptation. It took a very long story and possibly unfilmable story into a tight piece of cinema. During the chase scene at the start of the film, I honestly sat with a wide-toothed, childish, fanboy grin on my face. It was even better than I could imagine. Visual it was stunning, everything from Special Effects to the sets/locations were just breathtaking (never thought I’d use that term).Finally the trio (Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint) had a chance to stretch their acting muscles. Particularly Grint, who was normally reduced to crappy, half-wit jokes, was able to really show some acting chops. The animation sequence explaining the Hallows surpassed my expectations by such a large margin, the only way I come down from that high was to do an pound of Charlie Sheen. All that’s left to say is that part 2 can’t come any sooner.

1.

….

INCEPTION – starring: Leo, Juno, Bronson, and that kid from 3^rd Rock.

Talk about mind blowing. Director, Christopher Nolan had big shoes to fill after The Dark Knight, but boy did he fill them. Easily the most original idea since The Matrix, Nolan was able to take an extremely complex idea and put it into terms where even an idiot can understand. Nobody does Action like Nolan. Come, I mean a fight scene while the world around you is spinning like a damn clock? Who else could pull that off and make it look as realistic and smooth as you or me walking down the street? Great performances all around, although that East Indian fellow from Drag me to Hell really bugs me (don’t get me started on THAT movie). I’ll admit I have a soft spot for Leo, Ellen Page and Marion Cotillard so it’s hard for me not to like their performances. You can add Joseph Gordon-levitt and Tom Hardy to the list. (I actually saw Tom Hardy at a 7/11 in Vancouver, he’s not that big) Leaving the theater I was extremely jealous at how Nolan was able to craft the Inception sequence and still have it all fit and all make sense and yet still be satisfying to the viewer. This film was easily one of the best film’s I’d ever seen inside a cinema (remember I’m only 21 I haven’t seen that much). Bring on The Dark Knight Rises, bitch!

One thing that all of these movies had in common is that as soon as I had left the theater I wanted to run back in and watch it again. Something that every movie should strive for and something I strive for in my own creativity. Now I only picked five films so I’ll finish off with a list of a few Honourable mentions.

SHUTTER ISLAND, TRON: LEGACY, TRU GRIT, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO TRILOGY, THE TOWN, and TOY STORY 3.

Thanks for reading my Trash Talk

You can Follow me on twitter www.twitter.com/joshuaroach

What I listen to (top5)

I'm generally not one to name my top 5 bands very often, mostly because I prefer them to change. But I guess as I get older, I get more set in my ways. The more I love the bands I grew up with, and the less inclined I am to listen to newer music. It's not that I'm against new music (nothing new is new anyways). It's that I want something unique and new. My grandfather truly loves most of the bands I'm die hard about (he's particularly fond of Godsmack and Pearl Jam). Anyway, if there is a magic formula to what I love musically, I don't know what it is. Generally speaking I like rock. Hard, soft, Pop, whatever, I love all kinds of it. I like rap, I like hip hop, I even dabble in a bit of Country every now and then. But these bands best represent my current spectrum of music, and what it covers. In order:

Top 5 bands:

1. H.I.M

Anyone whose even talked to me knows my favorite band, even if they don't know them by name. I love everything this band has ever done, so much is my faith that this band will never ever do anything that sleights against me, that I have emblazoned my body with their symbol. The Heartagram on my right forearm. I was introduced to them around the 8th grade, my grandparents up north had an exchange student who had a bootleg of a live show where they played, doing Ozzy covers. Which is what they first started out with (H.I.M. Stands for "His Infernal Majesty" a reference to the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne.) From that moment on, I loved them. I did as much research as I could (only having dial up internet at the time, and with limited items available online at that point.) It wasn't until CKY, where Bam Margera and friends filmed themselves doing retarded shit (the precursor to Jackass) that I had heard more than a few songs from Napster and the bootleg I had.

When I heard Greatest Love Songs 666, I knew then I'd found the band that I related to, at least musically. This would be the sound that defined my love. It wasn't as abrasive as Deftones and Korn, two other huge favorites of mine at the time. But not as soft as say... well, let's just say Savage Garden, since up until about grade 7, I was in a very strict Oldies or candy-pop sound. When Razorblade Romance came on the scene, I managed to get it in Vinyl. The CDs were still ridiculously expensive as well (40 bucks a CD as it was an import). It never stopped me. Razorblade Romance to this Day still ranks Number 1 in my Top Albums of all time.

I've said a lot about HIM. They definitely belong as number 1.

2. Pearl Jam

The next band that I don't think I would be the person I am without is Pearl Jam. I was late on the Pearl Jam (and grunge in general) bandwagon. But when I was in highschool, and just beginning to explore music, along with my heavy nu-metal likes, Pearl Jam was part of a new way of considering music. The passion Eddy put into the music and lyrics made me yearn. I felt what he was singing. Pearl Jam remains a favorite, and probably always will.

3. Boysetsfire.

I have a lot to say about this band. Every album I've listened to, ever song, every note seems to resonate with pure agony of an unsatisfied existence. They are truly one of the under sung bands of my lifetime. Tomorrow Come Today is still one of my go to albums when I'm not sure what I'm feeling or listen to. More over, it inspires me. I listen to it when I write. If you've never heard of this band, do yourself a favor, and give them a listen. Rise, My life in the Knife Trade, Bathory's Sainthood. All these songs. do it.

4. Bad Religion

This is another band I was "late" to the party for. I didn't discover them until I started working at HMV. Working in the metal room allowed me to listen to something a little less ear friendly. So I popped in "Fuck Armeggedon, this is Hell." and from that point on, I'd put money into collecting their entire catalogue. Songs like You, 21st Century Boy, My Computer make me think.

5. Godsmack

I don't know what it is, maybe its because The violent emotions evoked by the music, maybe it's the fact that I've met Sully twice, and despite his angry lyrics, he's is genuinely a nice guy. Their first album to now, they've had close to the same sound, with only minor changes to the formula, some bands would have stagnated, but each album seems to be fueled by some beef, and I think that's why it works so well. Godsmack will be a band I will always be able to listen to.

Daft Punk is Playing at my House.

Listening to: Tron: Legacy OST by Daft Punk.

The Oscars have come and gone. I was mostly unsurprised with the results. I was hoping Social Network would pull out for Best Picture and best Actor (Jesse Eisenberg). But I knew after the Golden Globes that Kings Speech was likely to take it. I've never really thought much of it, especially given that up until Dark Knight, a huge portion of the scifi/fantasy/super hero genre was completely written off and ignored, unless of course it was animated. But as I get interested in the other sides of the awards, I actually care about who wins. I want to see people who I think deserve to win, win. And for a long time, it was just the equivalent of the High School king and Queen of prom; a popularity contest.

It still is to a large degree. I was pissed when Tron legacy/Daft Punk was snubbed for best Score/soundtrack. The entire movie as a whole may have been below Oscar worthiness (visuals the other exception) but that sound track still fucking makes me feel when I listen to it, and I know I'm not the only one. This year, it should have at least gotten a nod.

I've picked up Pokemon Black, and my girlfriend Pokemon White. I've already scammed us both all the starter pokemon. She's got a friend at work who is prodding her about it (this will be her FIRST pokemon game, and indeed, her first DS game.) and making her all nervous about playing it and screwing up. I told her that the game is pretty much idiot proof. It's hard to fuck up, and since shes into this iPad game on collecting frogs, I thought she might like something a bit more engaging. Here's hoping I don't get here addicted and create a monster.

I also bought Dragon Age 2. I never finished Dragon Age 1. I suppose I should have, as I own it still, but meh. Ever since I stopped the WoW/MMO grind, I've had a hard time keeping my mind and focus on any one game. I didn't even consciously quit WoW, I haven't logged on in what seems like months. I tried DC Universe, and while MAJORLY fun, the PvP nature of the game gave me a very meh feeling.

I'm in the process of putting together another Top 5 post. So be on a look out, it should be up by the weekend!

-jamie

Enter The Mitch

As I proceed with my first post, I first off want to explain my rating system.

much like the 5 stars, I will be giving fingers. When I really enjoy the movie I'm reviewing, an entire fist is in order.

That is only when I find the film as powerful as Ray Liotta's eyelashes.

If I were to review Gaspar Noe's "Enter The Void" I would give it 3 finger's out of a possible fist.

As much as I loved the movie I probably wouldn't fist it, maybe just take it on a few dates and leave it's number in my phone as "booty call" , I think it was quite possibly the most visually pleasing films of 2010. I really found myself feeling the length of the flick's 161 minute running time. With scenes like the close up penis ejaculating shot, you may wonder why certain things weren't cut out of the final picture. (not saying I have anything against penis shots)

You shouldn't keep a distance from this flick, I think it's one of those special movies that only comes around once and a while. I just think the novelty of what I was seeing wore off after the first hour or so. My point remains on the side lines though, if you haven't seen this flick, pick up the Blu, turn out the lights, and turn it up you are in for a treat, it's beautifully depressing.

ENTER THE VOID: 3 Fingers In.

aside from that I'm somewhat pissed Tron Legacy wasn't nominated for an Oscar in visuals. some bull shit up in this piece.

-Mitch

Jamie's Top 5 Movies of All Time (For now)

1. Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back

Few Movies have EVER had the impact on me the entire Star Wars franchise has. Like many young nerds, I was born well after the release, but when I did see it, man, did I fall in love with it. Empire, more than any other Star Wars remains what made me dream of

worlds. I profess my love, and credit Neil Gaimens Sandman with making me desire to become a writer, but the truth is I probably wouldn't have given a shit about Sandman had the idea of an amazing world in a galaxy far away not been put in my head.

From start to finish, Empire Strikes Back is formulaic, and it's eastern influences very apparent, the direction, delivery and writing still makes me wish I could be in that world.

2. Transformers: The Movie

I don't mean the terrible live Action flicks. I honestly mean the 1986 movie. I am a huge trans-nerd. Not so much as I used to be (Growing up, a yearning for something as good at Transformers, or even Beast Wars!). But I have seen this movie almost as many times as I've seen

Star Wars, I can almost recite it word for word. I also still rock the bad ass Stan Bush and Vince DiCola soundtrack every now and then. Hell, even just the soundtrack

makes me all giddy with nostalgia, and despite my best efforts, I can't help but cry every time Optimus dies (spoiler).

It rang true even in the latest (second) live action flick, it wasn't so much the scene itself (while I maintain it was probably the only part of the movie that made it watchable) as the memories of the original death scene in TF:TM. If you are even a little bit the fan of Transformers (past or present) peep this flick (because I didn't use enough parenthesis in this post already.)

3. Die Hard

John McClane is a hero. Hands down. Much like Kevin Smith, I would watch John McClane in anything. Die Hard and Lethal Weapon sort of defined the new style of Action hero. In the early 80s and late 70s, we had the jacked awesome action hero who was impervious to bullets, often silent, and an amazing killing machine. Then Lethal Weapon films introduced us to a wise cracking hero, while Die Hard gave us the everyman. Against all odds, this one man defeated an international bank heist against a very well trained team, and well armed, and he did it in a wife beater and barefoot. The movie showed us our heroes can bleed, and still win. I can't say it enough, if you like action movies, and you haven't seen the VERY first Die Hard, you don't know shit from sunshine.

4. Super Troopers

Hands down the funniest movie I think I have ever seen. I can quote this movie endlessly in almost ANY situation. I can watch it over and over again, and still love it. It's cult status means most people saw it after its theatrical release. I don't think I'd ever heard of it until I went to a party where everyone was getting drunk or High. I stayed sober and actually watched the flick because I was enraptured, the characters are so over the top funny, and their interaction even better. Up until that point, I think my favourite Comedy had been American Pie, while a great movie, I don't think there is any contest in sheer laugh volume.

5. Clerks

I don't think I could honestly post this without Clerks being on the list. I love it, it's funny, edgy (for it's time) and it's still a fantastic watch. Kevin Smith proved to me that an awkward writing style could be successful, if not an outsider, in the film industry, and has birthed a generation. Sadly, I'm on the tail end of that generation, but I look towards his movies for inspiration when I'm feeling down, his tight adherence to formatting make it easy to see why his movies are, while not as successful as a Hollywood blockbuster, still loved and admired by his fandom. If I ever win any award, he will be thanked as one of my major influences.

Honorable mentions:

I like a lot of movies, And I felt these 5 represented my tastes the best, but there are some that just need to be said, because without them, I don't know that i'd have the same love of film I have now.

Grandmas Boy, Fifth Element, Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, Gremlins, Aladdin, Batman, V for Vendetta, Last Boy Scout, Hellraiser, Empire Records, Reality Bites, Fame.

The Inaugural trash talk

I guess I should probably make a pretty good impression…

…

Well, since that’s out of the way I’ll just use this opportunity to talk about that I’m going to be talking about, when I’m going to be talking about it, and any other thing that pops into my head while I’m typing.

I’ll introduce myself. My name is pretty unimportant. My occupation is grinder. I’m not a poker grinder,(for those of you not familiar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_poker_terms#G)

I basically just grind out life. I’m currently working for my dad. Working construction is pretty terrible. Although the money is good and it’s going to help me with a little portion of my blog entitled My co-workers are idiots.

I’m an aspiring screenwriter (or pro wrestler, whichever comes first) . By no means does that imply what I have to say has any value. It doesn’t imply that my words will be clever or cute or even spelled correctly. It does imply that I have an incredibly low opinion of myself (and others around me). It also implies that I will be talking about movies. I might even do a review of the Oscars (yeah, I probably won’t).

I’m currently watching For a Few dollars more. If you need a reference for this particular movie, well you can look it up your damn self. I only have so much room for links in this POS and well I’m not going to waste valuable words showing you a movie you should already know about. (although, I will waste valuable words explaining to you why I won’t post the link.) The point is that Clint Eastwood is a badass and if I had to change my name it would be to The Man with no Name. Imagine hearing that over an intercom. I know I wouldn’t want to be the one who has to meet that BMF. Also, would I be called Mr. Name? or Mr. No name? Anybody have an answer?

Anyways, hopefully this is an accurate introduction on what I’m going to be like. I’m positive that I’ve scared away any potential readers with this POS of a first post. I just want to warn you, this is not the place where you will find all my adventurers in womanizing. I do not care what kind of beverage they serve in hell. You will not here about shit my dad says. (you might, but I don’t plan on it). You will not learn how to bet on sports, or how to lose weight, or meet women. Really you shouldn’t learn how to do anything better. That is not my intention.

If you’ve suffered through this much here’s a little treat for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZtY-pIVbc8

You can follow me on twitter @ www.twitter.com/joshuaroach

A Year Ago [Repost from January]

Listening to: The Birthday Massacre "Sleepwalking" from Pins and Needles (2010)

It's been a year since I entered Vancouver Film School's "Writing for Film and Television" program. In the last year, I have written more than I possibly ever thought I was capable. I was challenged to lose my ego in it, and let others shred my work to pieces in front of, for the sake of the greater goal of perfecting the work. I made some amazing friends, and consumed more red bull than a human probably should. I had my moments of despair, and my moments of triumphs, all culminating in a little piece of paper that says "DIPLOMA" on it.

I wrote a feature, something I never had any real interest in doing at first, the subject matter had some pretty tight parameters, and I ended up with a feature about two brothers who have to haul cars across the country to save their family business. It's a family drama, WAY outside what I normally write. But I wrote it, and, while rough around the edges, I saw what I was capable of. I had finally, truly, written in a different genre from anything I'd ever written. I pulled all nighters to finish it, and now, 6 months after finishing it, I can look at it again and say how well it turned out, considering my amature status in the Drama department.

I wrote a speculative script for an existing TV show. We had pretty much choice of any show currently in production. While I had MANY ideas for shows I loved in the past, the enforcement of "Currently in production" saw me question many of the Choices I would make in the coming 2 terms, where I would write. Sons of Anarchy was a fairly new show, with only 2 seasons at that point, and heavily serialized at that, which made writing for it dangerous. I thought once I had my idea, it'd get easier. But thanks to my instructors and classmates, It was much more challenging than i originally thought it would be. Through outline to the Second draft, I was fighting with myself to push it farther and make it better. The end result was amazing, and, while the new season may have wrecked part of my episode, I know it's not the end of the world, and when I go to update the script, I can fix it. I can do this in the confidence I have thanks to how hard I worked, and how hard my classmates worked with me.

I wrote a pilot to my long standing Astra stories. I redefined the story some years ago, and made it my own, with new twists on old ideas of mine. Taking it through Pilot class was both a harrowing and amazing process. Having known, lived, and breathed these characters for over a decade, or more, I would face some interesting problems. The first my perceived notion of the story, would it work for a television series? The answer of course being yes, but would it work the way I wanted it to? Sure I want to stand out, but there is a reason many of the shows on TV are the same as the other shows on TV. Next the choice i faced was; Animated or 1 hour drama? Well. I'd never really thought about it, I'd just assumed animated in a anime sort of way. But does the story suit a 1 hour drama more? This is something I'm still struggling with today. I wrote it as a half hour animated series, catered to a younger audience than I would like. Thanks to the 3 terms spent on this, a lot of thought went into this as a series. I loved what came out of it, even if I end up not using it, it helped a lot, and the process for me is possibly one of the better I've been through for developing an already existing idea.

And last but not least, I wrote a second speculative script. This time for a show I know almost as much about as I know about my own stories. Supernatural. And starting to write it before the most recent season had begun, it afforded me again, the chance and problem of not knowing where the season was going to go. And writing it was an ongoing exploration of where in THIS season I would place it. Learning as I went, it was extremely helpful actually, and knowing the process of how to do these things, made writing it this time much easier. So what the end result was a great Supernatural story that will likely never see creation (which is fine, this script is for reading, not production) that I feel is unique, and non "fanficcy".

And all through this year, living away from home, from my best friends, but with my best friend and my girlfriend. Living with Allison has been possibly the best experience for me while in school. I would have burnt out and given up early on had it not been for the support she provided me. She puts up with my shit more than any other person I think ever has. It's been a hell of a year, and I'm glad she took the chance on me to move out here too.
So where have my Blog updates been? There are a lot of reasons my Blog lay dormant while I was in school, the most obvious being; I was spending anywhere from 3 to 12 hours in class a day, and then between 5 and 14 hours a day writing. The last thing I wanted to do was look at a keyboard; Which makes it sound like I don't want to be a writer, which is false. Just in that setting, writing a blog may have been detrimental to other things that required my attention.

Now that school is done, and I'm a VFS graduate, I'm back.
-j