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About screenwriting, anything and everything, mostly how to professionally make the leap from "aspiring" screenwriter to "working" screenwriter, also looking for others in love with screenwriting like me

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SWIMMING WITH SHARKS

MEMORABLE QUOTES I NEED TO SHARE!!
Swimming with Sharks
starring Kevin Spacey and Frank Whaley
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114594/)

[ 10:53 ] [ 2008-May-6 ] [ 0 Comments ] [ Post Comment ] [ Link ]

Lyrics to one of my favorite songs...

 
 
Everybody's Free  (to wear sunscreen)


Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of '97... wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be IT.

The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.

I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.

You are NOT as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.


Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.


Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.


Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't, maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself, either. Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance. Even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.


Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

[ 10:49 ] [ 2008-May-6 ] [ 0 Comments ] [ Post Comment ] [ Link ]

Not just a dream...

The following is a personal experience of mine, slightly controversial---depending on where you stand in the moral values department---and a great prompt for anyone easily mused... I allow anyone to create a story based on this!!!  I could tell you about myself, here is a brief introduction.  You can call me Tash, here is my brief bio:

Writing has been a lifelong passion, hobby, devotion and escape.  It used to be my secret hiding place, where I could vent after crying my tears on my pillow every night after school.  Books and stories were my friends.  I had no friends as a child, after confiding my lonesome sorrows to my father, he told me “Books.  Books will be your best friend, you’re never alone with a good book”.  The characters in my stories became real friends to me, the places in the stories I wrote gave me somewhere to go when I wished I could leave my little town.  It grew to become a part of me, something I just cannot walk away from. It’s who I am.  

If you wake up in the morning and you can't think of nothing but writing... then you're a writer.

Here is a page from one my diaries...

 

THE UNSPEAKABLE LETTER


You came to me at a time of turmoil.

Take it or leave it... it's something I felt I'd share, right off the bat!


I had wished for you, wanted you, the way a child wishes for a baby brother brought by the stork.

When I found out, July 15th, five years ago as I write these words, at 10:16 at night, staring in disbelief at the white plastic stick with two glowing pink lines that stuck out to me and made me numb, made me ache, made me choke.

Both pink lines flashing like a yellow light about to turn red, I suddenly became very still. My hand shook, my heart dropped. I didn't want to believe it.

I'd heard it happened, seen countless movies with actresses brilliantly playing their parts, making you think "What if that was me?"

Twenty-thousand thoughts raced, fifty-miles per second, like a freight train with faulty breaks. That very minute, my childhood was over. I dropped the white plastic stick. Staring at the walls, a wave of desperation swarmed over me.I'm keeping it... It grows inside me.

The magical spark of life that he and I had ignited... That night where the new life I'd chosen for myself crumbled... That night I'd had to leave, that I'd never see him again and I was careless. I'd wanted to feel all of him, keep a part of him with me when I'd leave.

I surrendered, body, soul, mind, and everything else I didn't even know I could surrender...He wasn't supposed to be able to have kids. I had no concept of conception and thought I'd get away with it... That night, though, I had looked in his eyes and secretly wished to bear his child.

A part of him and me. Of us.However, as I was back in the bedroom where I used to be a child, I kept still. Unable to hear or feel a single thing.

Then, I broke down and cried all my tears, hacking sobs. I felt so alone yet inside the pearl I could come to carry reminded me I was no longer alone. When I was able to breathe again, when the shock faded---like a blanket gently pulled away from the top of my head---I took a long breath and swallowed hard.

For the first time in my life, I would have to make a decision.

[ 10:38 ] [ 2008-May-6 ] [ 0 Comments ] [ Post Comment ] [ Link ]

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