The Dialogue

I used to love watching Sons of Anarchy, it was an interesting look on the internal struggles of a motorcycle club. The first season was mainly done in one episodes, prior to getting picked up for season two. Season two was called 'Hamlet in leather on motorcycles'. The third season which I finished watching two weeks ago is different than both these seasons, it did what dramas shouldn't do.


They shouldn't move away from their setting, and that is what it did, at the wrong time and made it unbearable. Essentially three quarters of the club go to Northern Ireland, I won't say why. The thing that really rubbed me the wrong way was how the irish characters sounded exactly like the american characters, not so much the accents (despite being some bad ones). That last bit isn't strictly true, they always say 'aye'. Every single line, they say 'aye'.

There's something wrong when the characters start to sound the same, it sounds like the writer, not
characters. Now Americans might say Intel, but I've never heard any irish man in any thing ever say intel like they do in this show. SOA showed its weaknesses and should have been cancelled for it.Also the American perspective leads it to taking a republican side, which is generic of them. It seems like they knew no one Irish, why not hire an irish writer to work with them, for some reason they must've got a plastic paddy. Is there something wrong with even doing as little as watching the Commitments or other Ireland set films, rather than the Boondock Saints.

Write what you know, and don't hire american actors to do Irish accents. Hire James Nesbitt.

The ultimatum

This happens every once in a while. I'm trying to sleep, it's all quiet and dark. Then I'm hit, it's an idea. I've been lying here in the dark for what could be an eternity, a comfy eternity at that. I roll over to try and steal my concousness away. This thing isn't going anywhere, my brain should be slowing down, but it's speeding up with questions about this idea. I know it's a good idea, but I have to steal myself away from my slumber and turn on the light. But I don't want to turn on the light, I'll just use my hands to search for a pen and my notebook. Knocking everything in my way. I'm determined, there shall be no light, for if I do, I will wake up and I really, really want to get some sleep.

I open the notebook, I can't see any writing, through my eyes it's a grainy 16mm view of degrees of darkness. No light shall go on, I use my temporary blindness and inspiration by Matt Murdock to scan the pages with my fingers, feeling out the imprints left by a pen, working my way to an empty page. This is taking a while, how many pages have I filled up already? Fucking hell, I can't see anything, I open the curtains, maybe I'll see better this way, I can barely see anything still. I've got to make sure I don't write over any other notes.

Fine, I'll turn on the bloody light. Jot down my one sentence idea and go to bed. Just one sentence, that's it. This isn't Kubla Khan, it's just ten words.

This is a huge decision, where ever I am, I usually have my notebook, but when I'm in bed, this is the deciding factor of whether I want to write or not. I could be throwing away a defining part of my life if I don't write down whatever has spontaneously caffeinated my mind.
It’s not a conscious decision on my part, it is almost as if I can’t rest until this thing can be archived for future reference. I have let some good ideas go, not anymore, although quite honestly I have no idea if the lost ideas are any good, but wishful thinking and all that.

One step at a time

-This was started months ago, finally decided it was time to get it out there.

One of the most important things to me is running. A simple formula for life.
I don't talk to anyone, I am alone, but I am elated. I have my running earphones on, my nigh destroyed Saucony Grids that I have ran near 600 miles in and walked a quarter of in. I mean my grids are always in a case of falling apart, I've had them since early 2008. All my other trainers lasted about a year, I'd destroyed them big time, running up stoney hills, smacking my heels on the floor as I ran.

Shin splints have been a bane of my running life, they have stopped me for days, weeks and months. I've ran through them, I've been stopped by them. I've hobbled home, I've iced, put deep heat on and rested.

I changed my running style, that is, after I read Born To Run by Christopher McDougall. Good bye shin splints, piss off new "hi-tech" running trainers and I kept my "old trainers". Started landing on the balls of my feet, and slowly progressed. Since then I have been injured, I've damaged my adducters after not stretching for a while. The most annoying thing, on a hot sunny day, going through an 8 mile run, feeling a niggling pain halfway through and walking home from there. That was after doing three runs of a similar distances for a few months. Following a terrible performance at a fun run.

I couldn't run for months, the most depressing thing I can imagine is looking outside on a sunny day and knowing I can't run. Actually, no I can, watching someone run on a sunny day and knowing I can't run. I am a running elitist. I can't stand people who only run on a sunny day, I have ran in terrential rain, ice, snow, cold weather and all that. Not because it was a nice day, but because it is a day when I go running.

Also, charity runners, who the hell do you think you are? Not marathon runners, not 10K'ers, I have nothing against you. But you fun runners who run as little as 1 mile and as far as 3, I've ran past you whilst doing my sunday six miler (not doing this anymore), nearing the end and you've got a towel draped over your shoulder, a bottle of water and a bag of goodies for being charitable and then getting rewarded for it?! Not only are you lazy, you are hypocrites, taking profits from a charity. I ran six miles, with no water, no towel and you think you've done a 5k? Strutting with a strange sense of entitlement and a required reverence by the people that pass them by.

Anyway, moving on. I kept getting injured last year, started running shorter distances. Got faster, better and truly, stronger. Then I got injured again this year, took some time off and started running again as well as stretching. I was the fastest I've probably ever been at the beginning of this year and now I'm building myself up to doing it again.

I have to say, it's hard at the moment. I can feel my shin splints coming back, but sometimes you have to run through the pain. It can't always be a medititation, it has to make you question yourself, it must be a psychological and a physical battle. I've been bullied, called names, beaten up, but that only made me stronger, I've got to the point of my regular distance and pushed myself on for at least two more miles. When I am in this mode it, speed doesn't matter, grit does, a feeling that I'm willing to drop dead rather than give up. I'm in a competition with running and with myself.

I just want to show this from a different medium.

Things are happening

Just got up, set up/renamed my youtube channel. Time to be making use of my ideas for editing.

Why do I want to edit? Well, there is a culture of online editors who can make a compilation of different aspects of one person and join them together, much like the early work of Genghis Con, Machinemen (Hasn't made a video in years), Lookoutawhale and Kahl1one. Note that those four editors are MMA centric, so it won't be to everyone's taste, but the fact is, most MMA highlights are poorly done, the music is nigh identical in most cases with some crap 'gangster rap' or crap 'nu metal' which doesn't sync well with the images shown. The great thing about these four specifically, they all have their own style, something that sets them apart from the crowd.

Of course there are many other great forms of editor, rather than mention just MMA editors.
Gorillaproductions focuses on boxing and has done one extraordinary piece of work.

It takes great use of typography, and who has better one liners than 'The G.O.A.T'

Films are also a huge area that have been covered with such respect for the source material.

And sometimes, playfully ribbing it.

 Or picking away at referential pieces of work.

Or even teach us something we already knew, in a completely different way.

 

Hopefully, I'll have something by January. That gives me enough time to practice, no surprises if it'll take me longer, because I want to show off more than one video on my channel. Much in the same way I told nobody about this blog for a month or so because I wanted to build something up.