again with the storage closet

the above pic is a left-over VHS tape sleeve for the "reel" i submitted as part of my grad school applications back in January, 1996. the picture on the cover is a scan of a 16mm film frame (film!). it's from my first short with sound, "Étrangé." it's not as pretentious as it sounds. i am a pitiful script writer, so to fulfill the narrative assignment, i wrote the film in remedial French. turned out to be a bit of a cult fave among my film pals. did i mention it's a musical? those are my peepers behind the slate.


this installment of Storage Closet Rummaging will feature things found in the box marked: SHOW BINDERS/PAPERWORK
--instructions for "Using the TC-D5M Crystal Sync Recorder" and "Using the Mini AC Resolver"

--my diploma from Humboldt State U.

--several scripts and writing exercises from my Dramatic Analyisis class. this included an assignment to write a, "Brechtian-Based Central Reflector" scene. (there is a reason i am not a drama-nerd)

--an essay about procratinating the writing of an essay (clever!)

--a list of books carried by the HSU library (circa 1996) relating to submarine warfare in WWII

--hand written lecture notes headed, "Systems of Analyzing Illusion (re: Narrative)" that includes a depiction of the "Stayan Model" (what?) [see inset]

--a note under "Asian films": Compare: "Fistful" to "Yojimbo": Choreography in Fistful more in camera, Yojimbo w/in mise en scene. (mise en scene!)

--a photo copied poem titled, "No, Love Is Not Dead," by Robert Desnos that may be been originally written in French

--left over, unsent, handmade HSU graduation announcements. (these are really good. if i had a scanner i'd post a pic)

--2 issues of the "Polaris" newsletter. the newsletter for the world-wide WWII Sub-Vets organization. (i was researching a documentary that my pal, suzie, and i were brewing. it never came to fruition, but i still have a keen interest in, and middling knowledge of submarine warfare in WWII.)

--this photocopy of an article in a local Chinese newspaper regarding the production of "The Water Ghost" [i'm in the lower right wearing a manly shirt]

this box had about 12 binders and notebooks in it full of the detritus from college, grad school and a little beyond.
at the back of one binder (a university of san diego binder that was a hand-me-down from one of my HSU housemates [shout out, suzanne!]) had 3 xeroxed pages in the back pocket. poems and song lyrics: the aforementioned "no, love is not dead", a page of poems that may have been written by a friend, and the lyrics to "fair warning" from todd rundgren's album "initiation" (of course).

reading through the possible-friend-source poem, i have NO idea why i carried it around. here is a sample:

As I stand
on an empty bed
I wonder if you are still
torturing...
My tears consist
of blood
My blood consists
of wine
The corners of my room
have sprouted cobwebs
of despair

you get the idea.

lord. i don't remember being that maudlin. well, not after high school.

ok. the purpose of this binder clearing was to consolidate the few things i do want to keep (more on those later) into a box with the handful of video tape evidence of work. i've got my narrow selection to clear from the piano bench. along with the re-boxed xmas decorations [that havent' been used in at least 2 years, this one included] this box is going back into the storage closet.
that big (b.i.g.) plastic container full of FILM is still in there. i think that will stay there another year.

and now it is nearly 6:30. i'm looking at either thai food, vietnamese food, armenian food, or cake. all suitable.