From the desk of Thomas Typewriter…09-21-2020

Progress continues on The Great Works Project scripts. I’ll finish the final rough draft for Season Five tomorrow or Wednesday. Once that is dine, I’ll start working on crafting the Season Two scriptbook. The last three scripts of Season Five required a complete rewrite. Carro and Z-Mouse suprised me, reacting differently than what I expected. I like when the characters surprise me. A moment of joy.

As for the List, I feel like I need some help. A glaring issue I failed to notice when I compiled the List is the lack of context. I really believed that just exposing one self to great art could trigger a positive change. I still believe that, knowing it to be a powerful form of spellcraft. Yet, with every piece I am left wondering about the context. Why do people like it? What have those before me found special in it? To that end I have ordered three of the books that helped form part of the List*. I ordered “A Lifetime’s Reading: Five Hundred Great Books to be Enjoyed over 50 Years” by Philip Ward along with “1001 Films to Watch Before You Die” and “1001 Albums to Listen to Before You Die.” I hope these will help.

*When creating the List of Great Works, I was concerned about how these lists could be so mono-cultural. I felt that would defeat the purpose. I also was not experienced enough to fully discern the quality of a source. My solution to this was to go overboard and grab a too many sources. Cast a wide net. I of course used the Harvard Shelf of Classics and then added onto it. Here is a list of the sources I used: A Lifetime of Reading by Phillip Ward, Pitchfork.com’s People’s choice Top 200 albums from 1990 to 2010, AFI 100 years 100 Laughs, AFI’s The Top 25 Musicals, AFI’s Top 100, Empire Magazine’s 500 greatest films of all time, NPR Young Fiction Top 100 finalists, NPR Science-fiction/Fantasy top 100 finalists, The Guardian’s Top 25 Blues albums, The Guardian’s Top 20 Operas, The Guardian’s Top 20 classical works, Time Out New York’s survey of animators best animated films, Rolling Stone Magazine’s Top 500 Albums, The Great Works lit collection, The Harvard Shelf of Learning, 1001 Films to Watch before you die, and 1001 Albums to listen to before you die. I also believe I threw the movie Corky Romano on the list just so the list couldn’t be taken entirely serious. The list was important to me but I do not think anyone should take it as anything but suggested reading and viewing.

From the Easel of Thomas Typewriter…09-18-20

paintings

“The choice of JOY in the spite of and in the company of SADNESS” by Thomas Typewriter, 2020 (watercolor and ink on canvas)

writing and puppet building…

today in the studio

The Great Works Project: Season Two, Episode Twelve script

Puppet play, The Great Works Project scripts

———–<.thom.>———–

THE GREAT WORKS PROJECT

a puppet play in many parts

Season Two, Episode Twelve

an Epilogue

By Thomas Typewriter

———–<:type:>———–

FADE IN TO BLACK

From the bottom of the screen scrolls up the following text: “02-12”. It moves upwards, pausing a moment in the center of the frame, then continues upward, exiting the frame at the top edge. Shortly thereafter, from the bottom center of the screen scrolls up the following text: “an epilogue”. It moves upwards, pausing a moment in the center of the frame, then continues upward, exiting the frame at the top edge.

FADE OUT

FADE IN

THE TYPEWRITER ABSTRACT PUPPET STAGE
We open this episode already focusing on the TYPEWRITER ABSTRACT PUPPET STAGE.

THE CAMERA FRAMES THE MID-STAGE AREA

MID-STAGE: THOMAS TYPEWRITER’S APARTMENT’S KITCHEN
On stage-right, sits a refrigerator, with a few houseplants on top. Center-stage sits a stove, with two pans on top, next to a counter top and sink. On stage-left sits THOMAS TYPEWRITER at his small kitchen table, with a plate of pasta and a plate of salad. He spins a small jewelry box, lost in thought.

CUT TO A XCS OF THE JEWELRY BOX SPINNING

The Mid-stage Curtains close on the shot of the jewelry box.

TRANSITION FROM THE TYPEWRITER ABSTRACT PUPPET STAGE TO THE UNROOM.

THE CAMERA PULLS OUTWARD, PANNING FROM THE TYPEWRITER ABSTRACT PUPPET STAGE TO THE UNROOM NOT.SEVEN

INT. UNROOM NOT.SEVEN

PAN OUT FROM THE MID-STAGE TO THE OUTER ONE’S POV.

The OUTER ONE sits on one of many carpet squares arranged around a wooden disc in the center of the Unroom Not.Seven. The carpet squares spread out like chairs in an auditorium. The wooden disc, the focus of the Outer One’s attention, sits with the Typewriter Abstract Puppet Stage standing center. Unseen lamps above it illuminate, though not for long. Once the Mid-stage curtains close the unseen lamps turn off. The Typewriter Abstract Puppet Stage disappears, leaving the wooden disc empty.

POV OF THE OUTER ONE WATCHING THE STAGE

The Outer One tries to stay focused, but his/her attention starts to waver.

POV OF THE OUTER ONE LOOKING AROUND THE ROOM TAKING IN THE SPINDLY METALLIC LAMPS, THEIR SNAKING CORDS, THE DISTANT WALLS, AND THE DISTANT CEILING WITH ITS ANGULAR CHANDELIERS.

The sound of TYPEWRITER KEYS CLICK CLACKING drifts in from off-screen.

POV OF OUTER ONE RAPIDLY LOOKING BACK TO THE WOODEN DISC.

Unseen lamps over the wooden disc flicker to life, taking two or three attempts to light before projecting at full illumination. The new light reveals the return of the Typewriter Abstract Puppet Stage.

TRANSITION FROM THE UNROOM TO THE TYPEWRITER ABSTRACT PUPPET STAGE.

PAN IN TOWARDS THE MID-STAGE AREA OF THE TYPEWRITER ABSTRACT PUPPET STAGE.

As the camera nears the Mid-stage, the Mid-stage curtains part revealing an empty stage. The Curtain of Clouds is fully visible, no longer obscured by any of the Mid-stage sets.

TRANSITION FROM MID-STAGE TO BACK-STAGE

THE CAMERA CONTINUES PANNING IN, ENTERING THE MID-STAGE AREA

The Curtain of Clouds parts revealing…

THE CAMERA CONTINUES PAST THE OPEN CURTAIN OF CLOUDS, STOPPING WHEN PROPERLY FRAMING THE SPACE BEHIND

THE BACK-STAGE: THE CONCURRENT DISTANCES

The back-stage is an empty black field. No illumination. No decoration. No sets. DREAM-BUBBLES, with their soft glow, float down from the stage-top and across the stage. Into this peaceful scene from stage-right, runs THE MAIDEN. Pursuing her is a YUCK-BUBBLE, specifically the Dream-bubble she accidentally injured in Season 02, Episode 0. As it pursues her it bumps into the Dream bubbles. Each Dream-bubble touched by the Yuck-bubble shakes and changes. Their inner illumination darkens to a sickly yellow-green and their sides dent becoming Yuck-bubbles. They join in the pursuit of the Maiden.

They chase her off-stage stage-left. She shortly re-emerges followed by the flock of Yuck-bubbles. She flees off-stage stage-right this time. After a brief pause the Maiden and her pursuers re-enter stage-right. She reaches mid-stage and trips. Scraping her knee, she softly sobs.The Yuck-bubbles stop, confused by her tears. Cautiously, they approach. The Maiden calms down and wipes her eyes. She looks at the Yuck-bubbles. Truly looks, as if seeing them for the first time.

THE MAIDEN
(to the first Yuck-bubble) “You know what it’s like to be hurt don’t you?”

The first Yuck-bubble flickers and nods yes.

THE MAIDEN
“It was me wasn’t it. I hurt you. Didn’t mean to, but did.”

The first Yuck-bubble flickers and nods yes again.

THE MAIDEN
“I’m sorry. You were so beautiful and I wanted to look at you. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I hope you can forgive me.”

She moves closer and lightly kisses the first Yuck-bubble. It shudders and then it changes color back to the original Dream-bubble color. The other Yuck-bubbles then start shudder and change color. The healed flock surround the Maiden before flying off. When they move away we see the Maiden has been replaced by THE MOTHER. She watches the dream bubbles float away absentmindedly rubbing her belly.

The Curtain of Clouds closes on the Back-Stage.

TRANSITION FROM THE BACK-STAGE TO THE MID-STAGE

THE CAMERA PANS OUT. PAST THE CURTAIN OF CLOUDS AND PAST THE MID-STAGE CURTAINS
MID-STAGE: EMPTY STAGE

The Mid-stage curtains close.

TRANSITION FROM MID-STAGE TO THE UNROOM

INT. UNROOM NOT.SEVEN

THE CAMERA CONTINUES TO PAN OUT RETURNING TO THE POV OF THE OUTER ONE.

The unseen lamps illuminating the Typewriter Abstract Puppet Stage turn off. It disappears from the disc leaving it empty. The Unroom returns to dimness.

POV OF THE OUTER ONE LOOKING AT THE STAGE, REALIZING THE SHOW IS OVER, AND THEN LOOKING DOWN AND TO THE SIDE.

Sitting on the carpet square next to him/her, the Outer One sees a book. An elaborately simple book with the following written across the cover:

———–<.thom.>———–

THE GREAT WORKS PROJECT

a puppet play in many parts

the complete and the all scripts

By Thomas Typewriter

———–<:type:>———–

The Outer One’s hand reaches out and picks up the book. They examines the cover, running his/her hand across the cover and spine as the episode ends.

FADE OUT

From the desk of Thomas Typewriter…09/14/2020

From the desk of Thomas Typewriter, Up Late, Late at Night

Another week, another update…

Last week did not go so smoothly. I am not happy, more so displeased with myself. I changed my method for working on my college classes and I disrupted my whole flow. I missed two assignments and failed to meet any of my script goals. Why do I do this to myself? I forget how important routines are for my attention difficulties. I just get this impulse, building in intensity like a bonfire, going from a spark to a raging fire. At least I have lived long enough, and been burned enough times, I can get back on track.

Up Late, Late at Night made minimal progress since the last update. Ophidia and myself are still working through character designs that we can both agree on. It is frustrating at times, but it is very important to me that she feels listened to. Important that Ophidia feels involved and respected. While we work on the puppet designs, I have started looking around the house to see where we could film the show. So far the basement looks the most likely.

Character design

Uncategorized

With the script for episode 1 of “Up Late, Late at Night finished, Ophidia and myself have moved onto designing and building the puppets. I like to design ten or so different designs then show them to Ophidia for her input. Then we will repeat the until reaching a design we both like.

Ophidia did not like any of my first designs, so she jotted designs down. She wanted a design more in spirit with this mask we bought on our honeymoon.

writing…

Uncategorized

From the desk of Thomas Typewriter…09-07-2020

From the desk of Thomas Typewriter, My next assignments..., The Great Works Project assignments, The Great Works Project scripts

First off, let me say thank you to everyone who reached out with a kind word regarding the paintings. Thank you.

The Great Works Project continues to move forward. The scripts are on schedule with Season Two, Episode Twelve all set for publishing next Wednesday. Being that it is the final episode of Season Two, I would like to take some time and compile all the episodes into one collection. It will take me a few weeks to compile and format then onto Season Three. I am thinking that it might be time to set up a character and location list. Let me know what you think.

The other part of the project, the List is moving alone nicely. I actually managed to read, watch, and listen to the assignments without feeling crunched for time. I enjoyed myself. I’ll keep to the current schedule of three assigned titles a week. Last week’s I was assigned the movie “Aliens” , the graphic novel “American Born Chinese” by Gene Luen Yang, and the album “All Directions” from The Temptations. A real solid collection. “Aliens” was awesome. One of the things I noticed was how much of the movie I had missed before. I had some friends in high school who loved the movie to the point where they had it playing on loop on the tv one of the weekends I slept over. Watching it last week made me realize how much of the movie I did not notice. For whatever reason, I had no recollection of the scenes on the colony with the colonists. I also did not notice when I was younger how the film could be allegorical for the Vietnam War. American Born Chinese was a great book. I remember first hearing of Gene Leun Yang when he won the Xeric Grant for “Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks”. (That was a really good comic. Check it out if you get a chance.) In “American Born Chinese” I liked how it uses the different characters to explore the feelings of fitting in, feeling like an outside, and empathy. Also a nice little nod to use the shapefting Monkey King to talk about shifting identity. Then there is “All Directions” from The Temptations. It is The Temptations, so you know it is good. The vocal range coupled with the strong tempos, loved it. It also has one of my favorite album covers.

The new assignments are to watch the 1950 movie “All About Eve”, to read the novel “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman, and to listen to the album “All Hail the Queen” from Queen Latifah. Should be an interesting two weeks.