12.04.07

They're coming...stay tuned.

Out sick

Being sick really sucks. There's no way around it. It's not like you can plan the time when you're sick "Yeah, I'd like to schedule being ill during the month of March, dates? Yeah - 12th and 13th."

Sadly, it just doesn't work that way. Fortunately, I am the Queen of making my own fun, so after sleeping (A LOT) I watched a movie I've been meaning to see for quite some time - "Big Fish." It's different than what I was expecting. For starters, the first hour wasn't any good. I kept watching it going, "Now, what is the point of this movie?" They had me at the end though, when you discover that most of what the father said in his stories was true, but still, you shouldn't have to sit for 2 hours for a movie to get decent.

Speaking of movies, been rewriting "Xia" for the ASA/Gotham Screenplay contest. Due date Oct. 31st. It is quite different from the original screenplay, but closer in tone and events to the novel. I am enjoying the process but will be quite glad when the whole thing is over with. I've had this story in my head since I was 16. Time to set it free.

The Kaiser Report

Yes, the concert was quite smashing. The into band, Datarock - very weird. They looked like Ben Stiller in "The Royal Tenebaums," complete with sunglasses and red track suits. The keyboardist totally made that band. He kept jumping around, clapping and - get this - playing the saxophone. Kind of badly, but by the end, he had everyone cheering. He made that band.

The next band, I don't even know their name. They never introduced themselves. Don't you hate that? They kind of sounded like a cross between Radiohead and something, can't quite describe them.

And then - KAISER CHIEFS. They lowered a huge sign with their name on it, and it was ON. The whole crowd stood to their feet when they played my FAVORITE SONG FIRST - "Everyday I love you less and less." Excellent. They are so good live. Much better than on their CDs. "Ruby" and "I Predict A Riot" were also crowd favorites. And in a great comedic moment, the lead singer introduced the keyboardist  (Peanut) and encouraged him to come to the front to sing a song. Peanut high fived people and clapped, and the crowd started chanting "Ole, ole ole ole," to get him going, much to the amusement of the lead singer, who doubled-over laughing.

What an excellent show! They came out and did 2 songs for an encore, and the lead jumped into the crowd, climbing over seats and shaking people's hands. Amazing, simply amazing.

Rock on, Brits!

Kaiser Chiefs Forever!!!

That's right kids, the boys from Britain play TOMORROW NIGHT at the Beacon Theater. More info from the live show coming Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.

I Heart Anderson Cooper

Yes, the myth, the man was at Barnes & Noble on Monday. So exciting!

We clapped when he walked down the aisle. We clapped when he got to the stage, we clapped when B&N's Joyce the Announcer introduced him, and we clapped when he left to tape Anderson Cooper 360.

Oh yeah, and there was this other guy there - Jeffrey Toobin. He wrote a book called "The Nine" about the Supreme Court. Man knew his stuff. Anderson interviewed him for 25 minutes before jetting to CNN headquarters. Jeff then amused us with interesting tales about the famed and mysterious Court, then opened the floor for questions.

I always love audience Q & A sessions. Inevitably there is always some crazed person who pontificates about their life without actually asking anything, or who tries to ram some point that has nothing to do with anything down the throats of the audience, or someone who is downright pathetic. In this case, there was this young-ish guy in the back that started to get into some conspiracy theory about 9/11 that had jack squat to do with the topic,

Sydney White: Revamped for the MySpace Generation

Due to an unforeseen rainstorm preventing a trip to the zoo "Look Jahkwona, wet, miserable animals! Fun!" my little sister and I hoofed it to the local megaplex where we were greeted by a paucity of movies aimed at anyone below the age of 19. None were suitable for the kid, except for one "Sydney White."

Here's what I knew about this movie:

1. It starred Amanda Bynes (reigning queen of perky tween movies)
2. It was a retelling of Snow White in college (translation: Disney-esque)
3. It starred Amanda Bynes

Miss Bynes is the anti-Lindsay, goofy and beloved by tween and teen girls everywhere.
In other words, safe for a 9-year-old.

So off we went, and while they didn't break the mold with his one, it got the job done.

Basically story goes like this - cute and lovable Sydney White (Bynes) lost her mom at age 9 and was raised by cute and lovable dad Paul (Johnathan Scheinder) on a construction site. So we're led to believe that even though she's got Oxyclean skin and can apply make-up better than most supermodels, she knows more about a Phillips head screwdriver than the perfect prom dress.

OK, suspension of disbelief--on.

But Syndey longs to follow in the footsteps of her dearly deceased mommy, and decides the best way to do so is to join mom's sorority, Kappa Phi Nu, upon entering her freshman year of college.
So off she goes to Southern Atlantic University, but trouble is a brewin'!

Enter Rachel Witchburn (aka Sara Paxton aka Evil Queen) stereotypical blond queen bee we've already seen in every other teen movie made in the past decade ("Mean Girls" anyone?) Ms. Witch is president of both the sorority house AND student council (natch). And wouldn't you know it, Rachel's goal is to be the fairest in the land - via a "Hot or Not" list posted on the school's MySpace page, the magic mirror updated for the 21st century blogging generation. She also has her peepers set on turning the Vortex, a sadder than dirt student residence house and home of the seven dorks, into her own private campus complex with the help of her parents money and funds from the family of her ex, Tyler Prince (aka Matt Long, and if the names aren't enough to convince you what role he is to play, I can't help you.) Prince could care less about his old flame, for even though he is the Frat Boy King, he has a heart of gold.

But enter Sydney! Because of legacy Rachel has to let her rush with the sea of blond cookie cutter fembots. She gives poor Sydney hell but the girl still catches the eye of the Prince, befriends a Dallas-cheerleader-like sidekick girl named Dinky and meets the first of the dorks (the dwarfs of the story), Lenny (Jack Carpenter in a role that quiet frankly is suited for a better movie).

However Rachel's bile and insecurity pushes her to use various loopholes to banish Sydney from the sisterhood and humiliate her in front of everyone at the rush dance. Poor Syd is left with no place to go, but look! The dorks have emerged and offer her a place to rest her wary head! And all of them are straight out of the 1937 classic with one-dimensional updates. There's Terrence (Doc, aka Jeremy Howard) a dude who's been in college 6 years past his graduation date and doing weird experiments with mice; Gurkin (Grumpy aka Danny Strong) an angry conspiracy theorist blogger; Embele (Sleepy aka Donte Bonner) a Nigerian who never adjusted to the time zone difference; Spanky (Happy aka Samm Levine) a horny ladies man-wannabe with zero luck with the opposite sex; Jeremy (Bashful aka Adam Hendershott) a who speaks through the hand puppet of petshop.com and George (Dopey aka Arnie Pantoja) a Tiger Scout who can't tie knots and earn his last merit badge. And of course, Lenny, (aka Sneezy) who is actually more like Doc, for he leads this pack of motley geeks who have found solace in the deathtrap of a dorm they call home.

Sydney, firecracker that she is, decides to help her new friends by getting them better housing, and the only way to do that is to get them to run against Rachel in the student council elections.
They decide Terrence should run for prez (why? who knows!) and they campaign in earnest. But stuff happens, mainly Terrence getting disqualified for already graduating, leading them to pick Sydney to run, which should have been there first clue anyway. Sydney obviously (because it's her show, isn't it?) wins over the hearts and minds of the people by reaching out to everyone not in the Greek System. Which is, in her own words, 80 percent of the student body.

This propels her to the No. 1 slot on the "Hot or Not" list, and the Evil Queen in a last ditch effort to destroy the fair princess, enlists the help of a techno-goth to send a computer virus (the poison apple) to Sydney's computer, destroying her term paper the night before the big stu. co. debate. Sydney pulls an all-nighter, and the debate nearly goes on without her, but lo! Prince Charming awakens her with a kiss inside the study hall, they rush to the debate where Sydney gives a lame "I'm a dork, we're all dorks!" speech that unifies the masses and destroys the Queen.

In the end the Vortex is saved, Sydney gets the Prince, Lenny gets Dinky, and the Queen is kicked out of the sorority. The End. It's all escapist-fluff, but the demographic it caters to voiced their pleasure at seeing their girl win. And there are winning scenes that come out of left-field, such as the Evil Queen paying the techno-goth in hotpockets, the dorks re-enacting fight scenes from "Gladiator" and even an homage to the "Hi-ho off to work we go" sequence of the original, with the seven dorks trapping through campus with picket signs instead of pick axes.

Mainly the problem lies not in the acting but the writing. In the hands of a better scribe, the movie could have been in the upper-eschelons of teen comedies. But for all its faults, it ain't half bad.

And my personal favorite...

Zombies...errrrrrr

© 2007 Angela Entzminger

Sketch of the Day

Here are sketches from last night's ASIFA drawing class.











©2007 Angela Entzminger

Sketch of the Day

SCRIPT FRENZY!

Been so busy working on other things I forgot to put this up. So back in May my friend Mesha invited me to participate in this contest from the makers of NaNowrimo called
Script Frenzy. The goal was to write 20,000 words of an original screenplay in one month, June 1 through June 30th. You cut and paste your screenplay into the site (first scrambling it so that it looks like a bunch of magical A's) then the site calcuatles your word total and you get this nifty banner. Since I wrote 21,656 words - I'm a winner! And the best part of all - I now have a second feature length script "Darkness Rising" the story of a down-on-her-luck monster hunter who must save NYC from a 10,000 year old beast. Exciting stuff. You'll see it on TriggerStreet in a few months, but for now, enjoy the beauty that is the snazzy banner.

Got inspired

by Jim "The Man" Henson, so here are some monster character designs of my own I've been working on.
















© 2007 Angela Entzminger

Jim Henson Rocks

So I came home today and was pleasantly surprised to find a check from the State of New York. So apparently I overpaid and they were kind enough to rectify the situation. Yay money!

And speaking of money, went to Barnes & noble at lunch and found a copy of Jim Henson's Designs and Doodles on the bargain shelf for a whopping $4.98. It's quit exciting - filled with pen and pencil drawings of proto-Kermit, Rowlf, Big Bird and hundreds of other oddities, not to mention facts about his life, childhood and ideas to shape the future. I can't believe this was on the bargain shelf. It's Jim Henson! For only FIVE BUCKS!

With all the money I saved today, I'm putting it towards my Buy New Computer 'Cause This One's About to Up and DIE Fund. A most worthy cause indeed.

Princess Sally

Even though Sonic ain't the cool dude I remember, the character designs are still pretty sweet.
Here's a few of my drawings of Princess Sally.

More than meets the eye

Speaking of "Transformers", saw the movie, and first gut reaction -

"Wow, this totally doesn't suck."

Followed by -

"Starscream is freakin' awesome! YEAAHHHH!"

So Michael Bay did not butcher my childhood. Whew. Good to know there is at least one 80s icon that Hollywood cannibalized but in a good way. I now entrust them with all sequels. And there WILL be sequels - you can see the word FRANCHISE fly across the screen. Along with product placements for Hasbro, Burger King, XM Satellite, GMC...

Yes, Transformers is a thin veil for toys and mass consumerism, but it was OUR mass consumerism dang it. And I loved every minute of it. I mean come on, it's robots that can turn into tanks. And cars. And jeeps. And dinosaurs! Robot dinosaurs! Best. Idea. EVER. If they put this in the sequel, man that will be sweet.

But the thing itself is nearly overshadowed by the crazed fans OF the things. OMG people are nuts. Type in "Transformers" into Google or wikipedia, and you will find pages, of pages, of, I kid you not, TRIBUTES to the characters. Really indepth tributes. Scary in their knowledge.

Exhibit A - the Soundwave Tribute Page.

http://www.plumed-serpent.com/favorite.html

Now I love Soundwave as much as the next child of the 80s, but I ain't writing a tome on the boy. I mean, this person knows about Soundwave's MOM. Did you know he had a mom? Neither did I! Good grief these folks are nuts!

Exhibit B - The Allspark. On eBay. eBay! You too can have a piece of Cybertron history for only --wait for it--$40K!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200126643272

Yeah the money goes to charity, but who the heck buys this stuff? (Actually my question is really, - how big is it? Judging by the $14.95 shipping price, it's like, Rubix Cube size!
Human size would be kind of cool. Rubix size is just kinda lame.

Exhibit C - Cracked's "7 Most Useless Transformers Ever."

http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=News&sid=2175

Unlike the last two exhibits, this one is funny Ha-ha, not funny sad. And funny it is. (Sorry Perceptor, but you really are useless. Nifty, but useless.)

Makes me wonder, who are these people? And how did they amass such pointless knowledge? And will they be part of my fan base when "Xia" comes out? I sincerely hope so. Because seeming people in jogtha suits would be awesome.

SatAM

Ah Saturday morning cartoons.
Who doesn't love them? Especially memories of shows from bygone years.
Nostalgia is a magical place memories of childhood exist forever encased in the cocoon of perpetual coolness.

But nostalgia is a cruel, conniving mistress.
Case in point - "Sonic the Hedgehog." Many permutations of the blue hog with super speed have come and gone, but the best was by far the version dubbed SatAM (for Saturday morning). I often wondered what happened to the show that I got up at 6:30 in the morning to see every freakin' week.

Then bam! I find it in the DVD section of Target. The COMPLETE 26 episode series! Seasons 1 & 2! Visions of Saturday mornings and Lucky Charms flash before my eyes!

But oh man, is this show bad! To my horror I watched as one of the most exciting shows ever slowly reduced itself to a steaming pile of poo. I remember it being AWESOME. I remember the story lines being sublime! I don't remember the story lines sucking, or the animation being choppy and often inconsistent, (look, Snively has a headset! Look, it's gone. Look, it's mysteriously back!) Just bad bad bad.

Yet I continued watching, hoping that it would improve. And while Season 2 definitely ups the ante in production values, the show is no "Animaniacs" which is indeed as fabulous as I remember.

Sad awhile.

Makes me wonder what "Transformers" will be like.

Vodlin Jalla

Here's a character from my screenplay "Xia." It's Vodlin Jalla, an alien prophetess in traditionally dress. I like how this turned out.

© 2007 Angela Entzminger

Exciting things are a-comin...

It's back ladies and gentlemen! The 12th annual screenplay competition Slamdance returns to give screenwriters of all stripes a chance to showcase their burgeoning talent. Entries are due May 18th, 2007 with this year's top prize at $7,000. That's enough to make your indie a reality!
Want more info? Check out: www.slamdance.com

Panel Discussions: Do's and Don'ts of the Art of the Question

So I attend many a panel discussion every year in my quest to learn more about the tv/film/animation/comic industry, and it never ceases to amaze me how badly folks in the audience ask questions. I'm not talking about nervousness, for even the most nervous has asked a compelling question. And indeed, most people are able to get their thoughts across well enough for the interviewee to answer well. But many people use it as a platform to tell their sob story about the woes of failing in the industry, or about their life in general, leading many a moderator to ask what the actual question IS within the jangled mess of jargon spewing from the attendee's mouth.

So for you, my dear readers, I present:

A PRIMER ON ASKING THE QUESTION

DO:

1. State your name and your profession.
2. Ask one to two questions MAX that are clearly worded well enough for you to say them before you get up to the mike.
3. Give the responder time to answer the question without arguing, cajoling or looking like you're about to break down.
4. Thank them for their time.

DON'T:

1. Tell them your life story and about how hard it is to break into the industry and the rotten luck you've received for the past 1, 2, 10 years. They've already gone through their own tales of woe and made it, they don't care about your gripes and it makes you look desperate.
2. Think out your question as you attempt to ask them, turning it into a jumbled mess.
3. Ask them to hire you, give them your resume, hire their friend, ask why they haven't agreed to meet with them, etc. It scares them and makes you look like a stalker.
4. Ask them 5 questions in a row that could be answered with a brief conversation with them AFTER the Q&A.
5. Ask them a question that has nothing to do with the topic at hand, why the state of the world is so terrible to them, etc. (Again, see Don't #1)

Remember - they are there to help you, so present yourself in as confident, professional manner as possible. They'll appreciate it and you'll look fabulous.

© 2007 Angela Entzminger

Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting Hosts Second Annual Careers in Television Event

April 28, 2007 - New York City - Apollo Theater

Students and tv/film production hopefuls stood in line at 9 a.m. this morning to attend the
City of New York Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting second annual Careers in Television Event. Film Office Commissioner Katherine Oliver moderated the program. The esteemed panelists included Darlise Blount, associate producer of BET's "106 & Park;" Melanie Byrd, production manager of the Food Network; Richard Martin, founder and president of Drum Television Network, Inc., David Puente, creator and anchor of EXCLUSIVA for ABC News Now and Yvette Vega, executive producer for PBS' "Charlie Rose."

The show kicked off with an intimate interview with Sway, creator and co-host of "The Wake Up Show" billed on their website as "the most listened to hip-hop radio show on the planet." Sway and co-creator/partner King Tech started their program from Sway's room in his mom's house in Oakland, CA. 11 years later he and Tech continue to host the groundbreaking program, but is also a part of the MTV News Team.

Like many of the aspiring artists in the audience, Sway started from humble beginnings. The youngest of three in a single parent home, Sway did everything he could to see that his dream of giving a voice to the underground hip hop masses would become a reality. Washing dishes, making deliveries for UPS, delivering shrimp, breakdancing for cash on Pier 39, none of these jobs were beneath the talented young man who aspired to be the next Run from Run DMC and Russell Simmons.

With the money he and Tech saved, they took classes in marketing, business and manufacturing and put out their own independent records. They then advanced to radio. When I asked Sway how he got the word out - mind you, this was the late 80s, early 90s before the explosion of viral video and myspace - his answer was grassroots. In other words, guerrilla marketing.
They had from the start loyal listeners who tuned in every week to hear them play the music the mainstream wouldn't touch. Those loyal few told their friends, and the word of mouth campaign began. They created a street team to diseminate information. When artists came to town to appear on their show, they offered to drive them around - took them to hotspots, clubs, concerts, where they could promote their latest albums and themselves. And most important - they were authentic, their genuine selves wherever they went. And they slapped their logo on everything they handed out. These were the tools Sway and Tech used to go from Sway's momma's house to the big time.

It was MTV that courted Sway - three times - before the creator/producer decided to give them a shot. And only if he could stay true to himself. They wanted him, he said, because "The Wakeup Show" was "the ear of the streets." They gave him freedom because he could come to the table with leverage. He had the audience and the artists they wanted. And MTV was openminded enough to see where hip hop was truly coming from.

Along the way, Sway learned many skills, among them: learning people's sense of humor and learning how to relate to people on every level. He also learned to be aggressive, confident and non-confrontational, at first, then be yourself once you have gained credibility and have proven that you have something to offer. He immersed himself in culture, reading up to four newspapers a day, watching the news, reading books both fiction and nonfiction. Keeping his mind open gave him the confidence, and believing in his own self worth enabled him to deal with various people at all levels, because he says, being a black man with confidence is tough in the corporate world. People are instantly afraid of you and speak to you differently, so you have to show people that you can work with them, that you are someone they can trust.

"The more you educate yourself, the better equipped you'll be because you'll know how to react," said Sway.

After a brief intermission Ms. Oliver began the second part of the program by bringing out the panelists for a discussion on how they achieved success in their careers. Ms. Oliver first asked each panelist to describe "their typical day," and the answer for all of them was that in the world of television, there is no typical day. Case in point for Ms. Vega - Monday morning the crew received a call from the White House, requesting for Charlie Rose to interview the President the next day. The interview happened, but not before the team flew Charlie from Las Vegas back to New York, researched everything the President spoke about in the last nine months and made sure that their best production team members were there for the shoot.

What everyone agreed on is the need to do research on your field.
"Learn everything you can about what you're doing and someone will notice," said Ms. Vega.

The other key is being willing to put in the work.
"People think Generation Y doesn't want to work 12 hour days," said Puente. " Prove otherwise - prove you're willing to work." The willingness to work often separates the wheat from the chaff. Many of the panelists started out doing the menial jobs that all up and comers out of college hate - the unpaid production assistant aka gopher positions. But showing up early, staying late, and showing initiative is what gets you noticed, said Ms. Byrd. Some of the other skills required for making it and staying within the industry are being dependable, responsible, on point and being able to and willing to communicate with people. When asked what one should do to break into the industry, and if there is ever an age limit, the panelists responded that one is never too old to be an intern. There will be people younger than you that know less that are your boss, and you may have to "carry around the screwdriver" according to Mr. Martin, in other words, look like you are busy so people think you are, but there is always a way.

"Whatever you choose to do, you need to be passionate about it," said Ms. Byrd. "Many a false move is made by standing still." In other words, don't just stay there and expect something to happen. Make it happen.

© 2007 Angela Entzminger

Upcoming Events

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL Presents:

The Animated World of John Canemaker

Directed By: John Canemaker

Continuing Tribeca's celebration of New York-based independent animators, this program features the work of John Canemaker, a preeminent animation teacher, filmmaker, author and historian, who won an Oscar® for his animated short The Moon and the Son in 2006. A selection of short films spanning Canemaker's career will be shown including Confessions of a Stardreamer, Bridgehampton, The Wizard’s Son, Otto Messmer and Felix the Cat, The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation, and Bottom’s Dream.

Films Provided courtesy of Milestone Film & Video.

» Show All

Continuing Tribeca’s celebration of New York-based independent animators, this program features a selection from the career work of preeminent filmmaker, author, teacher and historian John Canemaker. Called “animation’s ambassador at large [who] has brought animation’s unsung heroes into the limelight, expanded the parameters of the medium, and inspire[d] those who are embarking on careers in the industry,” Canemaker here displays his talent in continuing the tradition of two-dimensional, handdrawn animation techniques. Canemaker pays homage to the work of such pioneer animators as Otto Messmer, the unsung hero behind the creation of the Felix character, in his documentary Otto Messmer and Felix the Cat. Canemaker’s distinct animation style begins with a strong storyline, drawn from a variety of sources of inspiration: real life (Confessions of a Stardreamer), classic Shakespearean literature (Bottom’s Dream) and fairy tales (The Wizard’s Son). In each of these films, Canemaker imbues his animated characters with personality (a precept inherited from Messmer), which the artist then augments with painterly, abstract techniques. In Bridgehampton, Canemaker creates a colorful, impressionistic view of nature over the course of the seasons. The animation techniques that Canemaker foregrounds in his films—including cels, line drawing, cutout animation, the use of marker pens and painting—allows this artist-animator to instill his work with deeper human and emotional resonance. Nowhere is this more evident than in Canemaker’s Academy Award®-winning, autobiographical film about a dialogue with his father, The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation. In this film, Canemaker magically transforms still photographs and home movies into animated flights of fancy, creating a deeply moving, emotionally honest exposé of his own complex relationship with his father over the course of their intertwined lives.
—Jon Gartenberg

Cast & Credits

» Show All

Directed By: John Canemaker

Confessions of a Stardreamer :
John Canemaker

Bridgehampton :
John Canemaker

The Wizard's Son :
John Canemaker

Otto Messmer and Felix the Cat :
John Canemaker

The Moon and the Son: An Imagine Conversation :
John Canemaker

Bottom's Dream :
John Canemaker

For tickets log onto: http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/tixSYS/2007/filmguide/title-detail.php