the indoob! network

August 20, 2010

fripodding and playing fair: “hey, soul sister” by train

Filed under: fripodding,music,music video,poetry — t. sterling @ 11:55 am
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The mother of one of my best friends recommended I check out this song, “Hey, Soul Sister” by Train. At the time, it was a song I thought I had never heard by a group I never heard of. My friend told me other songs they had done, which didn’t help jog my memory whatsoever. So once I got home to look up these songs, I found that this was a song I heard quite frequently on a commercial or two. What it was advertising, I can’t remember… but I remember the uppity, bright, happy feeling it gave me without really paying that much attention to it. Music has interesting affects on my like that.

After watching the video, which I also enjoyed, I set forth to download the song and I found myself hitting repeat for the greater part of an hour… or more. I later reported to my friend to report to her mother that I loved the song. My friend responded that certain doom would rain upon me if I played the song while she was in the car–she didn’t care for it as much as her mother or I did. Her loss.

In any event, whenever she wasn’t around, I cranked the volume up to 11 and drove around town feeling as sunny and bright as this song does. That’s one of the reasons I love this song. And this light, happy feeling seems to translate into the video with all the brightness that’s shown. Sure there are smudges from the charcoal going on… but discussing the video is slightly different and I’ll get into that in a second.

What stood out to me the most about this song are the lyrics. If you haven’t learned by now, I’m attracted to very creative wordplay and imagery. (The other song I said I wasn’t aware of, I later found out I had heard a few times too: “Drops of Jupiter” which also has great lyrics with imagery.) This song dances on the line of being cheesy and cliché, yet to me, personally, it doesn’t bother me because it’s overall positive and puts me in a really good and optimistic mood. Songs of this nature can be hit or miss… so for me, this was a hit.

A brief breakdown of the song as I interpret it is as follows: this guy has met this girl that he has completely and utterly fallen for. Life is 100% better and brighter since meeting her and he is entranced by everything she does. This has given him confidence and maybe even a sense of self worth. Not that he didn’t have it before, but I think we can all agree that the feeling of mutual acceptance is empowering and encouraging to do better knowing you have strong moral support. And she seems to feel the same way too, as he intends to make her feel just as awesome as she has done for him.

The line I love the most is: The way you move ain’t fair ya know and The way you cut a rug / watching you is the only drug I need. Why? Women are magical. And whether they are dancing, walking, or just being… there’s a natural beauty to their movements and actions that they may or may not be aware of. And it’s not fair that women possess this power… but I’m not really complaining about it either. This song points out many of the aspects this guy really enjoys about this girl and watching her move is one of those highlights that I resonate and agree with… among many of the others he sings about. Some girls I know have a similar track mind like me too.

As for the video, I’ve seen animations like this before a few years ago by some artists with similar walls and charcoal/chalk. I wish I could find it but I’d probably run into a bunch of videos just like it versus the one I’ve actually seen. I also recently saw Coldplay’s “Strawberry Swing” video which employs the same animation style but in a very different direction (and nominated for a VMA for Breakthrough video). Also awesome, but I like Train’s song better.

As I was saying, this video really matches the feelings expressed in the song. Plus I’m a sucker for written words, so seeing the lyrics running around everywhere is awesome to me. I have no doubt this video took some time to produce, but its well worth it in my opinion. Furthermore, it has a sweet ending. Awwww.

Question… Why didn’t this get a VMA nod? I have a handful of others I thought stood out… but oh well.

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July 27, 2010

revisiting summer poetry

Filed under: poetry,writing — t. sterling @ 2:45 pm
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I’m working on some new poems for this summer season, regardless if they have to do with summer or not, but I will post them when they are ready to be read. In the meantime, I thought I would showcase some past poems again that I either recall writing in the summer, or writing about summer. I may post one or two throughout the week in their own special post, but here are a few links to what I will post later… until I’m ready to post something new, of course.

And even though I’m putting my poetry hat on, I’m still working on telling my adventures in Canada. To be frank about it all, life has been in fast forward since I’ve been back and I’ve barely had time to sit down to recount all the events that happened in those few days. But no worries, those stories will be posted soon. In the meantime, enjoy some oldies but goodies. When I repost these poems, I will give more of a back story as to how I was inspired and what the story is behind it… if it isn’t obvious.

“The Night We Ruled the World” – a poem detailing the adventures I had at Purchase College with a great friend of mine named Dan around the time the semester was over.

“Forever Lasts Tonight” – an imagined memory of friends enjoying a summer’s night.

“Gravity” – okay, so this one is about spring… but I think I wrote it during the summer.

Summer Haiku – self explanatory.

February 16, 2010

place your bets: 2010 oscar predictions

Filed under: academy awards,awards,movie,oscar,poetry,review — t. sterling @ 1:27 pm
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‘Tis Oscar season once again. Actually, it has been for a couple months now, but the race for Hollywood’s biggest night (March 7th) officially started February 2nd when the nominations were announced. Every year I like to play along with other “movie geeks” and predict who will win this year. I tend to side with my favorite magazine, Entertainment Weekly, but this year I wanted to see if I could make my own predictions. But if I were a bettin’ man, I think if I chose whatever EW predicted, I’d probably win 90% of the time. It’s all in fun and I usually have two choices anyway: who will probably win, and who I want to win. The trick is to follow the nominations and results from other awards like the Golden Globes, SAG, Critics Choice and even early buzz from film festivals like those held at Sundance or Toronto.

Rather than give you the complete list of nominations, I’ll just give you the big top five categories and my pick. You can see the rest of the list here. As you can see, Best Picture has been expanded to 10 nods this year. It’s an honor just to be nominated, ya know.

Best Picture

  • Avatar (Chances are very high, but I will say no gold)
  • The Blind Side (A filler choice, probably good film)
  • District 9 (I would like this to win, but no deal)
  • An Education (Little movie, fat chance)
  • The Hurt Locker (Underdog of the season, for the win)
  • Inglorious Basterds (It’ll be cool for this to win, but I doubt it will)
  • Precious (This would be a deserved surprise, but probably not)
  • A Serious Man (I hear good things about this, but I don’t hear win)
  • Up (I’m all for this, but seems unlikely)
  • Up in the Air (A lot of buzz, but probably no deal)

Best Actor

  • Jeff Bridges—Crazy Heart (He was the Globe, SAG… he’ll get this probably win)
  • George Clooney—Up in the Air (He’s a favorite, maybe a close second)
  • Colin Firth—A Single Man (A great actor, but not this year)
  • Morgan Freeman—Invictus (I love this guy, but not this year)
  • Jeremy Renner—The Hurt Locker (Could be a surprise, probably a miss)

Best Actress

  • Sandra Bullock—The Blind Side (She’s got this one for sure)
  • Helen Mirren—The Last Station
  • Carey Mulligan—An Education
  • Gabourey Sidibe—Precious (It’ll be awesome if she won, but I doubt she will)
  • Meryl Streep—Julie & Julia (She’s going for a record win, she’s tough competition)

Best Director

  • Kathryn Bigelow—The Hurt Locker (For the win)
  • James Cameron—Avatar (He did good, and he might pull an upset)
  • Lee Daniels—Precious (An honor to be nominated, a surprise to win)
  • Jason Reitman—Up in the Air
  • Quentin Tarantino—Inglorious Basterds (I would be happy if he won, probably not)

Some other nominations include the following: Mo’Nique (Precious) will more than likely win Best Supporting Actress. Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds) has won other Best Supporting Actor awards for this movie, he’ll probably win this one too. Up is probably the best choice for Best Animated Film. I really like District 9, but I think Up in the Air might take Best Adapted Screenplay. And I can’t make up my mind with Best Original Screenplay, I like Up, but Inglorious Basterds could win and I would be happy with that too.

For some fun and an experiment for movie reviews, here are a few nominated films I’ve seen in haiku form. Enjoy.

“District 9”
Aliens are here
Unequal and unwanted.
Underrated hit.

“Inglorious Basterds”
It’s Tarantino
Rewriting history nicely,
A bit dry, still good.

“Up”
Flying high story,
Amazing, very funny–
Pixar for the win!

“Avatar”
Fantastic new world,
Three hours yet not boring.
Great, but not the best.

“Star Trek”
Stars, spaceships and fun
Where no one has gone before!
…At least in 0-9.

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”
Massive explosions,
Poor excuse for a story,
It’s pure eye candy.

“Coraline”
She’s a brave wee girl
Discovers a brave new world
Really, it’s scary.

May 15, 2009

fripodding and reciting: “icarus airlines” – taylor mali

Filed under: friday,fripodding,ipod,poetry — t. sterling @ 11:43 am
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Technically, this post I had planned to write last week. And I also planned to be all poetic about it, because if you are familiar with this artist’s name, you will know he is one of the great poets of the day. His name is Taylor Mali (pronounced like “Molly”) and I first heard him on Def Poetry Jam some years ago. Awesome performer of the spoken word genre. And I’ve been a fan ever since.

Unfortunately, as I tend to do, my interests shift from time to time and I moved into the film making world and put poetry to the side. Not that I ever stopped, I just didn’t pursue it as much as I once did, you know? So that means I stopped listening and reading some of my favorite poets like Mali and Billy Collins whom I mentioned earlier this week.

I was planning on writing a tribute poem about Taylor Mali, helping to revive my poetic juices that I’ve felt have been dormant for a bit longer than I would’ve liked. This explains the poems I posted this past week (even the poems I didn’t post). But I had lifted my “stop buying music so I can save money” ban just so I could purchase Mali’s spoken word audiobook on iTunes.

Icarus Airlinesis a collection of some of his recent poems. According to iTunes, it was available for download early this year, but apparently it was released a few years ago. Regardless, the poems are still relevant. And although I first knew him to be a comedic poet, he definitely has a serious side. A side that can move you like an 18-wheeler. What I didn’t know about him, he explain through his work. About his late first wife, and probably some things about his current wife. Poems about family and social events. And even a poem about Pluto. And of course, poetry about teaching. This is the dude responsible for the poem What Teachers Make.

I highly recommend this guy and this album to anyone with in an interest in poetry, especially performance poetry. Just a disclaimer here, there is some explicit language, so there’s a warning for those with virgin ears. If you’d like to know more about him, check out his website.

May 14, 2009

“anesthesia” a poem

Filed under: poetry,writing — t. sterling @ 11:12 am
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If it’s one thing I miss–
often longed for and desired–
it’s the sense of touch
last felt when last time expired.
 
My arms kept her safe, comforted
at a time when we were significant others.
The sense of touch comforted us–
she was happy, as was I when I was with her.
 
So often neglected, I wish I felt more,
not mentally, or emotionally,
but that sense of touch,
I miss feeling that feeling physically.
 
And it is that feeling that drives me
further from into the storm,
rushing to the sense of touch,
naked skin, soft and warm.
 
I don’t like this anesthesia.
I swear I was forced to succumb.
The sense of touch is missing
and I loathe this feeling of numb
 
I’m grateful for smells, sights and sounds
and I enjoy tastes since date of birth.
But when will the sense of touch
return to all that I remember it being worth?
 
It’s been so long since I last felt
that I fear I feel I would recoil in fear.
That connection, the sense of touch,
would need to be gentle, sweet, sincere.
 
I’m grateful for close companions
sharing laughs and secrets untold.
But it’s not quite like the sense of touch,
having someone close enough to hold.
 
There’s a clear line between love and lust
and I don’t have a problem with either.
Love can enhance the sense of touch,
but this time around I have neither.

May 12, 2009

“cubicle assumptions from mr. mondayn” a (working) poem

Filed under: poetry,writing — t. sterling @ 10:34 am
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I can only assume
outside the birds are stalking their food,
squirrels are playing tag, flirting perhaps,
and millions of creepy crawlies
are doing something obscene in and around my yard.
 
I can only assume
the roofers roofing my neighbor’s roof
are holding back from hammering any louder,
the man from the water department
doesn’t mind holding up non-existent traffic
as he maintains all angles of the fire hydrant,
and the handful of husbands and house men
that decide to cut their lawns at the same
are admiring Spring’s first grassy fruits.
 
I can only assume
the majority of the neighborhood children
are busy at school, working on assignments
while at least half of their absent friends
are absent for legitimate reasons,
their parents are also hard at work
or possibly hardly working
possibly because they received a call
from the school about their absent child,
and the retired, unemployed,
sickly or vacationed,
reminiscing when they
used to be that absent child
or used to receive that call from the school.
 
I can only assume
because unlike Mr. Collins,
I do not have a window to see outside.
I’m boxed in my little office nook,
nestled under and around the stairs,
closed in by Japanese wall panels
decorated with bamboo silhouettes.
The light from the stained glass in front of me
paints my walls red, yellow and green,
while the window at the top of the stairs
only tells me if the sun is shining.
But I can still hear
the school buses and garbage trucks,
kids home from school with unfinished homework
claiming that they “did it on the bus,”
the endless constant bird-chatter or chirping,
and any other ambient noise
that isn’t masked by my radio.
That is, until I open my front door
to watch the sunset and pretend to regret
on the work I should have done today,
but have to make up tomorrow.

So let me know what you think… I can take criticism.

February 19, 2009

dreams of anti-fame

Filed under: dreams,goals,movie,poetry,scripts,writing — t. sterling @ 12:59 am
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I was reading about the dreams of aspiring screenwriters who want to make it big in Hollywood… as well as some money figures of what some screenplays sell for – even the ones that’s don’t get made. And to be completely honest, those figures I saw, even the so-called “modest” amounts, looked quite alright with me. But between that and reading an article about a soon-to-be-watched documentary called Dreams on Spec, I read some line about struggling to be “the next big thing.” And I thought that line… and it got me thinking-I don’t necessarily want to be the next big thing. I just want to be something. I indeed, want to be successful and content, but I don’t want the glitz and glam. I’m still going to shop at The Mart and eat at IHOP. But, perhaps, I think it all depends on your definition of success. Anyway, I was stuck on the phrase “next best thing” and jotted some lines down as I thought about it.

I don’t want to be the next big thing.
I just want to be something.
Not just anything, but a mix of everything.
They’ll say “He’s doin’ his thing.”

I’m completely aware that being a screenwriter isn’t a profession that would make me an instant multi-millionaire (unless I’m directing, starring, etc.), but I just want to get by. Not only that, I just want to be really good at it too. So I continue my learning and studying. I haven’t been aggressive in this passion the past few days due to some other concerns (like vacation planning), but rest assured, my dream won’t be deterred. Oooh! Another hot line! [Scribbles in notebook.]

February 2, 2009

a poem: "tour de force"

Filed under: music,poetry — t. sterling @ 5:57 pm

I captured you against your own will.
You want to resist but can’t sit still.
I’m shooting my shotgun at your feet.
Your head bobs trying to dodge the beat.
There’s no lacking the cracking of whips.
There’s no faking the shaking of hips.
Work you off the wall to the floor by force.
You’re my slave and that’s my tour de force.

January 26, 2009

a poem: "heartbreak hangover"

Filed under: poetry — t. sterling @ 7:40 pm

No, I’m not fine,
I am not okay.
There’s nothing you can do or say.
But thanks for asking anyway.

They don’t make pills for this kind of pain.
My heart can’t stay dry from this kind of rain.
Only time heals a heartbreak hangover.
And my heart won’t truly get over
knowing it won’t be the same.

Unless you were her
and came back to stay,
there’s not much else you can do today.
But thank you for trying anyway.

December 27, 2008

is it considered "insomnia" when you’re on vacation?

Filed under: Christmas,Friends,mac,music,poetry,scripts,sleep,writing — t. sterling @ 11:32 am

I’m wondering why I’m still awake at this un-ungodly hour (it’s almost 7 in the AM)… But then I remembered, I didn’t go to sleep the night, or morningish before until about 5 in the AM. Furthermore, I didn’t awaken until about 3 in the afternoon. Okay, actually I woke up from about 10 to 10:30 to talk to a friend on one of her breaks… but other than that, I stayed unconscious for most of the daylight hours.

I’m considering this an “unofficial” post because I wanted to do a “Christmas present wrap-up” (wow, that was an unintended pun)… I was going to accompany it with pictures, but you guys know how lazy I am with the pictorials. It’s so bad right now, the camera doesn’t even have battrees in it. I hope I didn’t promise pictures of the snow. It’s almost gone. And could you believe the crazy New England weather we’re having and about to have? SIXTY DEGREES ON SUNDAY. What the stank is that about?

Anyway, I thought I’d give an update as to how my script is going. It’s not. I bought myself an early Christmas present that arrived Christmas Eve. “What could this be?”, a curious nosy person might ask. Well, I’ll tell you. Remember a couple weeks ago with the first trailer trash post with the last trailer being that of next year’s Watchmen? Well sometime after that post until about 3 hours ago, I previewed the original graphic novel, Amazonned it, waited patiently (for once), unboxed it, and read it within 3 days. December 24th to 26th. Technically 4 days, but I slept most of the 26th.

Hey, I just gotta say… That is an awesome story right there. And now I’m ecstatic to see this movie. If there is a midnight showing, I think I may show up to that. I pretty sure I donned some geek points for this too… but whatever. Still not big on comic books, but this one’s different. It has an end. AND now I understand why many felt that this comic was unfilmmable. Man… I can’t wait to see this.

So due to my reading this, with a mix of holiday festivities, I haven’t done much writing. That should hopefully resume tonight (Saturday) or the latest Sunday night. My other issue was getting my CD/DVD drive on ol’ Silver to work. I think I broke it somehow when I was trying to burn a multi-disc collection for a friend of mine. This suck worse than spoiled milk already poured into the cereal. I had one disc burnt already, and had 4-5 left to do. I can’t explain what happened (partly because I don’t know) but I tried everything I can do that doesn’t cost money. I already admitted to being a geek, but my skills couldn’t crack this problem and that saddens me. I’m considering the Geek Squad. It’s where I go when I can’t fix something I broke. But it’s weird… I can fix other computers… but mine? I’m at a loss.

So I’ve got one week to do some damage to a script. I’ll extend it until January 4th. I kinda can’t wait because it was torture listening to Fall Out Boy and not jotting down a few lines… and as we speak I’m finally really listening to The Roots’ Rising Down and feeling the rap schemes fall over me. In my head, taking their versus apart in slow motion allowing me to see/hear/understand why their lines/raps/verses are so hot, and how I might possibly be able to write my own. Still a craft I’m honing in on. My goal: to make a reader/hearer’s face wrinkle up/frown or make them say “wow” or “whoa” and even “that’s [any positive slang]” …but I also still dig getting my sense of humor in my poetry as well AND telling stories. Perhaps I’ll devote March or April to coming up with some really good material.

In the meantime, I must continue to hit the scripts. It’s not that I’m creatively stuck. If anything, I’m more inspired to write other things… but with scripts I feel I’m more productive with a plan. I need to have the characters written out first. At least the major ones. I can always add or change some later. I already know “The Writing Retreat” has some weak points in it, but you know what? I’m not worried about that right now. I just need it “complete” then I will do some tightening. I also have been assembling a team of readers. I have 2 and a possible 3rd who would probably be interested.

Anyone else interested in giving me critical critiquing of some scripts I’ve worked or working on, let me know and I be sure to send you what I have looking for some honest advice. I won’t be sending anything until January… so there isn’t a rush. Well, not for you.

I think I’m feeling sleep come on. I think I will “nap” since I think I’m going to get a phone call at 9 or 10 this morning to hang out. And I actually want to go places tomorrow like maybe dine at IHOP for the last time until the new one close to home opens and price shop a Mac at an Apple store. Yes yes y’all!

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