One of my favorite critics is Roger Ebert.  I’ve watched his show Siskel and Ebert, a TV movie review show that made the two thumbs up famous.

On hissite, he had reviewed a movie call The Girlfriend Experience. In meandering around Neflix, I had come across this movie that stars Sasha Grey, directed by Steven Soderbergh, director of the Ocean’s Eleven movies, The Informant starring Matt Damon, just to name a few.

GFE is filled with unknown actors except for one, Sasha Grey. She is a porn star. Don’t ask me how I know this. I just happen to be really smart. Ahem. GFE is an actual term used by escorts who give the girl friend experience. They usually charge by the hour or clients can arrange overnight stays, which seemed to be Chelsea’s (Grey) bread and butter.

According to Ebert’s research on IMDb, Grey has starred in 161 adult films, and she now has her own company managing other girls. I’ve done no research into Grey.  That is a lot of movies.  I know guys who haven’t had sex that many times.

For Soderbergh to choose a woman who has sex for money to play a woman who has sex for money seems obvious. But why choose Grey? Mainly because of who she is and the depth she carries. Further proof of depth was revealed when she listed her top five movies on Current’s Rotten Tomatoes show.  I’ve heard none of those movies because most of them were foreign films.  Her explanation of why she chose them indicates her depth.

Porn stars are not known for their acting ability, nor are they even required to. And for a woman who I think would have thick skin, Grey plays Chelsey with a level of sensitivity and vulnerability.

The movie takes place during the 2008 presidential election, follows her through several of her transactions, while following her boyfriend’s as well. He’s a personal trainer who’s trying to get a clothing line up and explores more lucrative job opportunities.  Chelsey’s clients talk mainly about the downed economy, telling her what she should do with her money.  I couldn’t help thinking how we’re all selling a part of ourselves. Chelsey may be selling her body, but how many of us work in meaningless jobs, selling parts of our souls.

The character arch seemed to be a tragic one. We’re lead to believe that she is special, that she’s the creme of the crop in the escort industry. But as the film moves along Chelsey realizes that she’s not. A bit depressing since we get the same sense that her clients are also nothing special despite their wealth. Chelsey is expensive.

I liked the movie. It’s was an experimental film by Soderbergh. Did I need to see it? I guess so, having watched it.

Now here’s a question:

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Anthony Hopkins is an Academy Award winner. Benicio Del Toro is an Academy Award winner. Emily Blunt is a Golden Globe winner. Hugo Weaving is an AFI Award winner. Director Joe Johnson is an Academy Award winner.

When they were brought together to make The Wolfman, given the technology today, it should have been one great remake.

Somehow the story was devoured. Put in place was a lot of shock value. Hey, here’s a really fast werewolf. Ooh, captivating. A damsel in distress.  Holy cow crap, Batman!  How about some gruesome murders. Ah, can’t call it a remake without reusing blood gushing murders. How unexpected. Needed? Yes. But it wasn’t done creatively. It’s one thing to be predictable. It’s another thing to know what’ll happen at the beginning of the movie.

The special effects were not over used.  A positive.

Netflix. Man do I love Neflix. Want to get rid of your cable bill? Get Netflix. It has TV shows, movies, DVDs, Bluray, and a lot of the content can be streamed online.

As I was browsing, I’d run across Dexter. The hero is a serial killer who kills serial killers.  And he’s likable.  You’ll find yourself rooting for him. I haven’t read the novel it’s based on, but once I watched the first show, I was hooked. I don’t like horror much but watch it on occasion.

One thing Dexter has very little of is shock value. But the tension and conflict is high in each episode. And it’s not predictable. For the most part anyway. The episodic stories and the overall story of Dex was amazing. There were story lines that ran the length of the season, and, more importantly, story lines that ran the length of each episode. Amazingly, it all coalesced together nicely, fitting together like puzzle pieces.

Each character is wondefully flushed out. Each one has their own goals, strengths, and issues. The backstory for each character is spread over each episode, and the season. And the growth, or deterioation, was well done.

Then, when I found out the first season was based on the book, Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, I was ecstatic.  Somehow, within me, I was hoping it was based on the book.  The storyline just worked so well for me.  Every plot element circled on itself, playing an essential part to the story.  Shouldn’t that be the case?  Or else why not just eliminate it since it doesn’t serve the story or plot?

But The Wolfman was missing the essential element of story.  And the plot, though obvious, tried to circle back, but it just wasn’t done well.  I wasn’t rooting for any of the characters, nor did I care for any of them.  In fact, if the damsel was the werewolf who caused the initial murders, it might have been a better movie.

Maybe Dexter should go after the Wolfman.

To rebel or not rebel.  That is the question.

The hero in my book is confronted with a choice.  His close friend and former mentor wants to brutally take over the world.  The hero is given the safe and easy position of being the right hand man.  Doing so would kill tens of thousands of lives through war.  Rebelling against his mentor would kill tens of thousands of lives through war.  Probably more.  Nice choice, huh?

I was watching a documentary called Slanted Screen. It chronicled the stereotypical and racial barriers Asian actors have to go through and endure in order to be successful in Hollywood.  I enjoyed the documentary, but I have a serious problem with it.  More on that later.

The main message was rebel.

One of the main reasons Asians are not seen as much in Hollywood is that acting, singing, dancing, the arts, are not considered practical choices of occupation.  I know.  My family detested my decision to study acting, and at times isn’t the most positive when it comes to my success in writing.

Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa has been in tons of movies such as Mortal Kombat, Rising Sun with Sean Connery and  Wesley Snipes, and in upcoming movie Tekken.  The list is just huge.  He said something that I connect to.  If your heart is in the arts, and your family doesn’t support it, then don’t listen to your family.

Rebel.

I think too much in life we succumb to the norm.  Afraid of marching to our own drummer.  Wary of listening to our hearts let alone follow it.

I wrote a post about themillion dollar question. It asked, if you were guaranteed to make a million dollars a year, what would you do?  Does it match the work you’re doing now?  If not, can you spend an hour a day, five days a week on it?  If that’s too much time, then reduce it to 45 minutes a day, five days a week.  Or 30 minutes, five days a week.  Four days.  Three.  Just start.

What happens, if you truly love it, or like it, is you’ll naturally spend more time on it.  You’ll sacrifice precious things like hours talking shit in the bar, or watching television.  Have your own vision.  It happened to me.  I started writing around five hours a week.  Then it grew to ten.  Suddenly, I was spending an average of 15 hours a week writing.  I loved it.

We all have bills.  We have to eat.  Take care of our families.  Have laundry that we have to wash on the rocks by the river bed.  After we clothespin the laundry on the clothesline, what do we do?  We sit down on the couch and watch TV.  We watch reality TV.  Watch others chase, attack their dreams.  We see a lot of them succeed.  Then we go to bed, sleep, wake up the next morning, and start the circle all over again.

This is called complaining, playing the victim, blaming things outside of ourselves, when it is us who stopped us from chasing our dreams initially.  And that was the problem with Slanted Screen.  A lot of people interviewed said being Asian made it hard to succeed in Hollywood.  Really?

Have you heard of a small guy namedBruce Lee?

Rebel.

Living in a metropolitan area allows me to encounter tons of people.  In talking to them, almost every one I run into have a good idea.  Either they have a book they want to write, an invention that would revolutionize daily life, a hobby they’d like to explore, a business they want to start.  Just to list a few.

Question is how many of those people explore or pursue it?

I’d venture a guess that it’s 2% or less.

So what’s inspiration?  Is it the same as a good idea?

In talking to all these people, a lot of them also have inspirations.  They have a book they want to write, an invention that would revolutionize daily life, a hobby they’d like to explore, a business they want to start.

Again, I’d go on a limb and guess that less than 2% pursue or explore their inspirations.

When you walk into a store, like a Walmart, you’re surrounded by tons of merchandise.  Think about this.  Where did all that stuff come from?

A factory in China.

Ha!  Yes but no.  Go further back.  Where did any of those things–George Foreman Grill, flat screen TVs, gum, textiles–really come from?  Someone’s mind.  Think about it.  A long time ago someone who loved fish said, “I’d love to have live fish at my house, so I can look at them when I come home.”  Hence, fish tanks came to existence.

Any of you know how J.K. Rowling got the idea of Harry Potter?  She had a vision, an inspiration, of this boy.  She then spent the next several hours imagining the world of Harry Potter, spent the next five years writing it.

Look at all the movies that come out every year.  All of them started in someone’s head.  Sometimes it took several heads to come up with the story idea.  But it got made and released.

The difference between a good idea or an inspiration becoming real is action.  Go out and do it.

Today I got my first rejection letter from an agent.  Rejection is prevalent in publishing.  But should we as writers expect it?  No.  In researching the publishing industry the one thing that is common is no one knows what makes a book a bestseller.  If the author is already successful, one who’s had traction from prior books, a fan following, then, yes, it’s one indication that the next book will be a bestseller.  Other than that, what makes a bestseller is a mystery.

So when an industry professional says anything negative about your work, what should you do?  See if the judgment has any validity.  If not, ignore it.

For those of us who love gorgeous women, Catherine Bell is a successful actress.  She’s been in hit TV shows such as JAG and Army Wives. A long time ago I saw an interview of hers, and the interviewer asked her if she had taken acting lessons.  She said yes, and then went on to say that one of her well known instructors told her that she’d never make it and couldn’t act.  Look at her filmography and tell me if she’s successful or not.

Around the same time, I watched a special on  George Lucas.  In it, either him or one of his classmates talked about one of their film instructors.  The instructor said, paraphrasing here, there was no future in film making, and they should all drop out.  What?

Not only that, but when he was making Star Wars, most of the English cast stated how ridiculous this movie was.  How it would never succeed.  That must have affected Lucas because he thought his movie was going to flop.  History tells otherwise.

One thing I’ve found with all successful people is they pursue their dream, their truth.  To me success is not only financial abundance, but spiritual and mental happiness.  Without happiness, what I believe to be the meaning of life, what good does money do?  Cause you can’t buy happiness.  The credit industry is proof of that.

The question becomes how far should we persevere to fulfill our dreams?  Or is there an end?