So Just What IS in My Manvelope?

The question is frequently asked:

"What's in the bag?" (it's so not a bag) or "...folder?" (it folds but it's not a folder) or "...manpurse?" (really?)

I prefer the term "manvelope" and yes, there are tons of things squirming about inside my manvelope just aching for release (so much, in fact, that it warranted the title of this blog.)

This particular manvelope started out as a caravan for fresh photocopies of my poetry which would be recited at spoken word and open mic events back in my Bukowski days when you could find me curled up on the #2 piecing together my master's thesis. Now it's home to ideas inked out on Starbucks napkins, script pages reddened by the scars of revision, film reviews still in the fetal stage, random copies of CREATIVE SCREENWRITING or THE NEW YORKER, a Moleskine notebook (of course), and a surfeit of other concepts fresher than most of the food in my fridge, from short film blurbs and one-minute sketches to feature-length script ideas.

The latest projects to emerge from the innards of my manvelope are CERISE, a short film about a former spelling bee champ haunted by the word that took him down, and A BEAUTIFUL UNLIFE, a feature about a vampire from the future who travels back in time to 2010 hoping to find a cure for his ills and during his stay gets a job answering a suicide prevention hotline (all the better to find fresh blood) and falls in love with a cynical young actress whom he eventually learns is his own mother.

CERISE now has a project profile on IndieGoGo where I'm hoping to raise an extra $5,000 from fans like you to add to the $10,000 I've saved up myself so that I can make CERISE the best it can be.

A BEAUTIFUL UNLIFE (currently in its sixth draft) is currently on the desk of noted script analyst Michael Ray Brown. Once I receive the new coverage, it'll be time to begin the resubmission process and hopefully snag a nice one-step deal and save the world from the shimmery of the Twi-Hards!

As my days change, so do the contents of my manvelope, so be sure to subscribe and keep up with what white rabbits and sacred dragons I pull from my magic hat!

Star-struck a Second Time: Denys Arcand's STARDOM

I just watched the film Stardom for the second time last night and man, what an honest work of art. Director Denys Arcand shows us that he is a true master of visual storytelling. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

In brief, Stardom tells the rags-to-riches story of a young girl who skyrockets to the top tier of the modeling industry with the aid of prominent individuals (mostly men with whom she intimately involves herself) throughout her climb. For me, the most interesting aspect of the film has to be the way the story is told through various camera lenses, from TV sitcoms and talk shows, which range from a Canadian Jerry Springer to a more traditional Late Late Show host, to the black and white voyeuristic docudrama of Bruce Taylor (wonderfully portrayed by Robert LePage, who also directed an excellent film called Far Side of the Moon back in 2003.) The diversity of color footage, which illustrates Tina Menzhal's (Jessica Paré) life as a model as glamorous, idyllic and lush with color sharply contrasts with the darker, almost hidden truth that her life is only filled in by dominant blacks, shades of gray and the slightest hope of white. That is absolutely brilliant filmmaking.

And if you enjoy Stardom, be sure to check out Arcand's other films of note, namely The Decline of the American Empire (1986) and its sequel The Barbarian Invasions (2003). Oldies but goodies, guaranteed!