
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 standon an empty bedI wonder if you are stilltorturing...My tears consistof bloodMy blood consistsof wineThe corners of my roomhave sprouted cobwebsof despairyou 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.