Considering this was the first "Superhero movie" I watched without reading the comic beforehand, I was thoroughly entertained. Hit-Girl was awesome, as predicted. Overall, the whole movie was an enjoyable punch to the head. It was grueling, bloody, brutal, with just the right amount of comedy.

With that said, why in the fuck would you bring your children to see it? Honestly, I had to sit in a theater littered with brats ranging from 4 to 8. Most didn't even know what was going on, which gave them full license to talk during the entire film. One kid had to update his Dad constantly, even telling the dumb bastard that certain parts weren't funny. Sure, one of the highlights of the film was an 12 year-old costumed vigilante, so I can almost see the logic of having the kids tag along. However, there are film ratings (who would have known?) and Kick-Ass had a big red "R" next to it on the marquee. Anyone with a brain would know there might be some stuff a 4 year-old shouldn't see. The title of the movie is a dead-give-away, for Christ sake.

Hey, I'm actually lenient on ratings. Back when I was little, my brother and I use to watch Terminator, Predator, Conan the Barbarian (a shit-load of Schwarzenegger movies), Blood Sport, Aliens, A Nightmare on Elm Street, etc. The big difference is we were quiet during the whole thing. The rated R viewings was a unwritten privilege, so to speak. Content really wasn't too big of an issue with my folks. If we were lucky enough to see True Lies or Die Hard, we made sure to keep our mouths shut and enjoy it. These brats... I can't really blame them for being loud. It's the fuckin' parents...

If you know your kid can't shut up in a big ass theater---even with a gun pointed to his head, leave him home. Whatever happened to babysitters? Usually, when a couple wants to have some alone time, hit up the Italian Bistro, watch a movie, or have some uninterrupted marathon sex, a babysitter would step in to free up time. 3 hours is all it would take. Cough up an additional $20 and you'll make everybody happy.

At the same time, the loud-ass kids weren't too much of a problem. I was able to enjoy the movie. It could have been a better experience, though. On a scale from 1 to 10---on the "Kenny is Pissed Off" scale, I say the experience was a 4.5. I had the unfortunate luck of experiencing a level 10 cluster-fuck, so this was "meh". The movie itself... Well, I rate mine with letters, so I'll give it a B+. I'll definitely pick up the DVD, so I can watch it child-free.

This makes me even more determined to write a book on movie theater etiquette.

It's obviously needed.

Being a poor bastard, I can't buy DVD collections of television shows anymore. I loved it back when I had a steady job because I pretty much collected all of the DC Animated shows like Batman TAS, Superman, Justice League, and so on. One show that I really, really want to own is Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Hulu.com actually had three seasons up for a while and stopped, which left me a crack-addict. Logo, the gay channel, actually came to the rescue and airs Buffy episodes regularly. Only problem is that they don't show them in order----at least not completely. It would be easier to watch if I could just pop in a DVD. I pretty much watched all five seasons of Angel on TV, so backtracking with Buffy has been my favorite geek activity lately.

Castle is actually one of the best shows on television...lately. Definitely on my top 5. I'd watch Nathan Fillion in anything, but the show is actually fun to watch. Their two part story "Tick, tick, tick..." and "Boom!" was the best I've seen from the show.

Looks like Marvel finally snagged a Captain America, but I think they made a bad choice. Chris Evans is a cool guy---probably the only thing that made Fantastic Four work, but he's not Cap. I mean, when I picture Cap, he's a leader of men. A guy with a commanding voice---the kind of shit that would give a coward courage. Evans doesn't seem like the right fit. The director was hellbent on getting an America for the role, which makes sense, but when you have a guy like Sam Worthington sitting around, it's not really wise to have limitations. I kinda knew that the casting was going to be screwy because they started off with John Krasinski from the Office. Very weird.

I hope Chris Evans works out because I hate to see The Avengers movie fail.

Animation's been on the brain lately. After seeing the behind the scene footage of a Birdy Decode, I seriously need to make stuff move with my drawings. One thing I can say (and this should be in a separate post altogether) is that I need to teach myself. Sure, the work can be tedious, but I think I have a better shot at doing this solo. I think it sucks that I went to an art school for animation and hardly know squat.

I just received an email from an agency and they mostly said that Los Angeles deals with motion pictures while New York handles television. A blitz of query letters were sent to New York, so I hope all of them reply. I might get lucky and hook up with someone who has connections. Even though this is somewhat of a let-down, I'm glad the guy emailed me. It's way better than leaving me hanging like so many others. Now I know where I stand.

One thing is for certain, I need a West Coast agent.

The only reason why I picked New York was due to the convenience. I figured the agent-client relationship would be easier to handle, especially for meetings and all the like. Since most of the production companies and studios are in LA, it makes since that those particular agents would be where the action is at. It feels like I'm back at square one.

I do have one contact, but she's swamped with work. Unfortunately, I have the dreaded task of bothering her, something I rather not resort to, but it's a necessary evil. They only way she can cure herself of me is to point me in the direction of someone higher up in that Hollywood hierarchy...

Honestly, she's really nice. I just hope she's not too busy for me.

Nothing new to report. Just mailed the handful of query letters to potential agents. Now it's all a matter of waiting, which could take days, weeks, months and who knows...? I'm rather patient when it comes to certain things, but this situation in particular, I'm a caged animal. I suppose it's best to move on to a new project. I have things going on in my head, so I won't be idle.

Moving on is hard, but it needs to be done.  

It’s been ages since I updated this thing, but I can’t feel too bad about it. I believe I mentioned in an earlier post that I wanted to stop talking and start doing. I could have spent entries talking about how I was going to change my situation. I could have went on and on about how I’d break into the movie business, but, as they say, talk is cheap. I’ve been absent because I’ve been busy.

Blogging, believe it or not, takes energy. Whatever writers tap into to create work is pretty much the same thing a blogger has to do. Of course, blogging is less stressful, but it’s still brain power. I just decided to concentrate on my screenplay. Looking back, it was the best decision I made last year. This has been going on since October of last year and I have 185 completed pages under my belt. I’m at the point of editing and finding an agent.

Editing isn’t so bad, though. I actually have some friends who were willing to give it a read, which means the world to me. 185 pages is a lot for some people, especially the kind that have other obligations. There’ s only so much I can do on my own and I seriously think my mind plays tricks on me. I seem to have “auto correct” inside my head and I’ll subconsciously correct spelling and grammar mistakes in my head, overlooking the actual document. Extra eyes means that it’s a lot harder for mistakes to hide. Of course, extra eyes can let me know if the story is whack.

The novelty of having a completed screenplay wares off once you look at how grueling finding an agent can be. Hell, I have to wait until Wednesday to mail out my query letters because I can’t afford envelopes right now. Yeah, I’m that broke. Anyhoo, the agency list that the Writers Guild of America provides is good to look through, but it becomes daunting, looking at that massive list. I actually called quite a number of agencies and most of them don't ta on new material----unless I'm in their exclusive club, so to speak. I recently came across a pdf that marks down which agencies take on my writers. It also indicates which agencies stick to their own circle of talent. Unfortunately, the number of agencies who take time out to “break in” new talent are few. I counted seven, but I’m grateful for them. Hopefully, my blitz of queries will get someone’s attention. I just need one.

I recently looked through IamRogue.com’s website and they have a screenplay submission contest. I’m thinking I should enter my script, but the only thing that’s stopping me, besides taking time out to read the terms and conditions, is that I want the story and characters to be copyrighted. It’s registered with the guild, but not copyrighted…not yet. I want to make sure the characters stay with me, no matter what goes down. Ultimately, I need to read the fine print on the talent search.

So, I apologize for being away for months, but I’m a guy trying to break into the business as a screen writer. Hopefully, by the grace of God, all my hard work will pay off. I’m already brainstorming a sequel. I’ll totally wait for the first script to be sold before I commit to it 100%. I'm just playing around with ideas.

I’ll try to update often. I have some time now.

Cheers,

Kenny

Update: The Talent Search at IamRogue wants screen writers to submit no more than 100 pages. Well, there's no way I can condense my stuff down to a 100, so I guess it wasn't meant to be. Then again, I'm wondering if they mean 100 completed pages or just 100 pages of whatever I have...? I emailed them, so, hopefully, I'll get an answer shortly.