Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Journal

Journal/ Fissures work journal: almost the end
Current mood: angsty
Category: and blah Writing and Poetry


Behind on deadlines. Behind on play Fissures. I can't get to the end...Should be a few more lines but I don't see it an ending ever...I need to finish this, NOW
The deadline for Fissures was 11-30-07. I had a family emergency and I hope my director will take that under consideration. If not, well on to the next...I've got ideas falling out of my pores. But limited time. Last night I had every intention of taking a quick nap and do some work for most of the night. I fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 5:30am with a cat's ass in my face. Yummy.
Back to work...
I'm putting the cats out for the night
Lee

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Journal

Journal





The deadline for Fissures rapidly approaches and I have review books to read and review. Fissures comes first, so it is time once again to do some marathon writing. I am almost in my office, half in, half out...moving can be exhilarating and a pain in the ass at the same time. My life is full of "partially to mostly" emotional weather patterns. A woman emailed me expressing interest in using one of my plays. I emailed her back and haven't heard a damn thing from her. I emailed an editor of a review magazine for work and he gave me his personal phone number to discuss logistics. When the topic of payment came up...he told me that payment usually consists of the item that is being reviewed and a byline. I told him that as a professional reviewer and freelance writer those terms were unacceptable. We ended the conversation on what I thought was polite and respectful. Later, I reconsidered and decided that working for his magazine once in a while for a by line because of the magazine's circulation would probably be beneficial for both of us. I emailed him some Clips (samples of my published writing) and a cover letter. So far, I have heard nothing from him. OH WELL.
My car died and mysteriously resurrected itself when the garage mechanics tried to find the problem. It has been at the garage for the last three days and I have been depending upon family and friends for rides. What an enabling nightmare and disruption of my routine. Hopefully it will work tomorrow and I'll be able to get back on task.
I co-directed some APT theater company actors last night through some scenes during rehearsals of Zero People last night, what a rush!
After I am done writing Fissures, I'm going to re-write a few short pieces and re-work two of my 10-20 minute plays for consideration of a theater in NYC. I haven't decided which plays. I was thinking of my plays, Waiting For God and Congestion. I think I will continue to post a work journal for whatever I happen to be working on. A mentor of mine has informed me that my playwriting format is antiquated. That is good news to me, my format was complicated, the new proper format is simple. Learning quickly to write in that format and loving it.
A young man and I are currently seeing if we can collaborate on a graphic novel called Meal Ticket, based on a series of novels I started writing in my early twenties; what I hope is a brand new twist on the vampire mythology.
I think I might post a sample of the first page of script he is currently illustrating.

I'm sure there is more to discuss...but I can't think of anything else at this moment.

I'll be off myspace for awhile to complete my Fissures Deadline.

I can always be contacted through: goodenreviews@yahoo.com
and lee@leegooden.com I still hate my website.
L

Saturday, November 24, 2007

FISSURES WORK JOURNAL 7

FISSURES

A

LOVE

PLAY

OF

NOW,

THEN,

AGAIN,

AND

LATER

WRITTEN

BY

LEE GOODEN



CAST OF CHARACTERS:



CLAY

ANNA



SCENES: 1. NOW, 2. THEN, 3. AGAIN, 4. AND LATER







SCENE 1: NOW, THE LIVINGROOM: CLAY and ANNA atre sitting side by side on a couch center stage facing the audience. A coffee table is directly in front of them. On the table are, two coffee cups sitting on coasters (ANNA is very fussy about the coasters), a pack of cigarettes, a lighter, a half filled ashtray, a tv guide, crossword or word jumble puzzle book, pens and pencils and a couple of remote controls. Periodically, CLAY OR ANNA will pick up the television remote and point at the audience as if channel surfing.



CLAY

Nothing but reruns.

ANNA

Let's watch a dvd.

CLAY

I don't feel like getting off the couch, do you? Keep flipping; there's a thousand channels in high Def, has to be something good somewhere.


ANNA

What did we do before Dvr and Tivo?



CLAY

We drank copious amounts of alcohol and had a lot of sex.


ANNA

Sounds good…


CLAY

Which part, sex or drinking?


ANNA

Both…Oh, look, there's Iron Chef.

CLAY

What's the secret ingredient?

CLAY and ANNA
KUMQUATS!!!!


CLAY

(with remote)

What are kumquats anyway?



ANNA

Damned if I know, vegetable, animal or mineral?



CLAY

Sounds like something found in the back of those really personal personal adds: Wanted SWF that likes to bike, ski, take long walks in the moonlight, tea-bagging, light bondage, and coffee colonics. Must have own kumquats.



ANNA

I am not going to encourage you by laughing.



CLAY

We've been married for forty-five years, you should know by now that I don't need encouragement.



To be cont…

a mind is a terrible thing to...waste?

Charlie Stross is a great Sci-fi writer. Hell, the man is brilliant in so many different fields, I can't list them. Read his stuff and check out his website.

http://.antipope.org/charlie/

People are entitled to their opinion, but man, read the following: Some people shoud just keep their uninformed ignorant rantings to themselves.

"The book is not that interesting, as tales of desperation and survival are actually quite common."

What do the public really think of literature?

Here are some examples, in the form of reviews culled from the reader comments on Amazon.com.

1984 by George Orwell:

Caitlyn from Atlanta, GA, wrote: "1984 is the worst book I have ever read. I would advise anyone who is thinking about reading this book to reconcider! George Orwell is not a bad writer, however, this book he does not do evry well on, as some of his others. Prehaps he was getting old and lost his touch. Animal Farm was okay, but 1984 was horrible. It took him forever, it seemed like, to get into the accual book. If someone were to take out all of the useless part of 1984, it would be half as long. Why would he wirte so much about nothing? I havent ever meet someone who could wirte such a boring book about the goverment. I have meet many people who have loved this book, but i dispised it. I am not at all intrested in the goverment. This may be part of the reason that I didnt like it. I would advise you not to read this book."

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez:

R. Vanderhoof wrote: "I spent several weeks slogging through this book and found it to be very repetitive and tedious in the extreme. Keeping track of the family tree is a constant effort. At best, Marquez reveals an egalitarian attitude that seems to pervade the Americas south of the Rio Grande (no wonder those countries are in constant economic trouble). Marquez should study supply side economics as described by Milton Friedman, another Nobel Prize winner, in order to give his book better balance."

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley:

Ashley Lue wrote: "This was the worst book that I have ever read! The way that Huxley wrote the book was awful. He was writing about something that could never happen to our society. Back then he thought that our world would pretty much go to hell and the book portrayed the world that we should be living in today. Nothing that he said made sense. I don't understand why he would want anyone to live in that weird world that those people had to live in. People should have emotions and actual relationships. No one should be punished like that. I advise you not to read this book, unless you want to fall asleep!! :)"

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens:

goosedog 69 (New York) wrote: "if you don't like reading books with way too much detail than don't buy this book. when i was reading it i couldn't understand anything it said. if you are older maybe you wouldn't think it's boring, or if you like this author's books, but i thought it was very boring and it took me forever and a half to read."

A reader wrote: "I found this book difficult to follow and hard to hold my interest. I am an English teacher so I don't think it's me. I was revved about the book and started it immediately unpon receipt. I didn't even finish it--which is something I can say about few books..."

The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer:

[A — presumably — different] A reader wrote: "his book has potential but fails to deliver the goods. too much time is invested for the pay off. i hated the time machine sequences they were a total waste of time, eventually i just skiped them to help get the book over. this is a shame because there were some very good parts to the book a good editor could have improved it by trimming a few hundred pages."

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare:

Son of Sammy wrote: "i just read this book. everybody like always talks about how great it is and everything. but i don't think so. like, it's been done before, right?? soooo cliched. omg."

The Quiet American by Graham Greene:

Jorge Frid (in Mexico City) wrote: "AT first you think that you are going to read about some secret agent in Vietnam that was killed, but when you see that the story of the book is not that man, is a journalist from England that doesn't want to go back to his country you will be disappointed, the book doesn't have any main story, it has the story of the journalist, his girlfriend (who was also the girlfriend of the "secret agent") and many more, but you will not be interested in one story at all, a real waste of time this book."

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe:

Newton Ooi (in Phoenix, AZ) wrote: "If imitation is the highest form of praise, then this book must be one of the most praised books in the English canon. A man from a middle-class upbringing leaves it and ends up stuck on a tropical island. This story would inspire Swiss Family Robinson, Castaway, and probably Lord of the Flies. Mr. Crusoe is a white, Englishman with a wife and kids. After the wife dies, he leaves the kids to go on his own and to serve God. He ends up stuck on an island by himself. There he encounters cannibalistic natives, and one of their intended victims. The former scares him, and he essentially enslaves the latter, teaching him to call him Master.

"The book is not that interesting, as tales of desperation and survival are actually quite common."

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy:

A reader wrote: "I love classic novels. Some of my favorites: Gone with the wind/The catcher in the rye/Huck Finn/The Iliad..I adore Shakespeare... this book was B-O-R-I-N-G!!! I stopped reading at 400 pages. I am someone that almost never stops reading books. I couldn't stand it any longer. I don't mind the parts the were actually about Anna and human relationships. I could not stand all of the boring Russian politic talk or Levin and his boring farming or hunting talk. AHH! I do not recommend this book. If I truly hated someone, I would them to read this book."

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck:

Jef4Jesus wrote: "So, I'm only on page 478 of 619, but I've been disgusted at the amount of profanity. So far I've found more than 500 uses of profanity! On average every page (with relatively big writing, even) has more than one swear. Yikes! I'm never going to read Grapes of Wrath again, and won't be recommending it to anyone. If you don't like profanity, be careful."

M. Landis wrote: "This book was 600 pages written purly about a bunch of hicks from Oklahoma starving. Thanks, but no thanks."


Posted by Charlie Stross at 11:05 AM

Sunday, November 18, 2007

fissures work journal entry 4

FISSURES

A

PLAY

OF

LOVE

NOW,

THEN,

AGAIN,

AND

LATER

WRITTEN

BY

LEE GOODEN



CAST OF CHARACTERS:



CLAY

ANNA



SCENES: 1. NOW, 2. THEN, 3. AGAIN, 4. AND LATER







SCENE 1: NOW, THE LIVINGROOM: CLAY and ANNA are sitting side by side on a couch center stage facing the audience. A coffee table is directly in front of them. On the table are, two coffee cups sitting on coasters (ANNA is very fussy about the coasters), a pack of cigarettes, a lighter, a half filled ashtray, a tv guide, crossword or word jumble puzzle book, pens and pencils and a couple of remote controls. Periodically, CLAY OR ANNA will pick up the television remote and point at the audience as if chinnel surfing.


CLAY
(with remote)

Nothing but reruns.

ANNA

Let's watch a dvd.

CLAY

I don't feel like getting off the couch, do you? Keep flipping; there's a thousand channels in high Def, has to be something good somewhere.


ANNA

What did we do before Dvr and Tivo?

CLAY

We drank copious amounts of alcohol and had a lot of sex.


ANNA

Sounds good…


CLAY

Which part, sex or drinking?


ANNA

Both…Oh, look, there's Iron Chef.

CLAY

What's the secret ingredient?

CLAY and ANNA

KUMQUATS!!!!



To be cont….

Saturday, November 17, 2007

FISSURES WORK JOURNAL

Friday, November 16, 2007


new play: Fissures working journal entries
Category: Writing and Poetry

New play: working journal. entry 1

I decided to keep a journal of my ideas for the new play I'm writing about love and marriage. So far, here is my working title FISSURES.
A fissure vent, also known as a volcanic fissure or simply fissure, is a linear volcanic vent through which lava erupts, usually without any explosive activity.

We all have fissures in our relationships. Don't you think? They keep us from killing each other.

What are your fissures or relase valves in a relationship?


entry 2
Edward Albee wrote a wonderful short play about marriage called Counting the Ways. I'm going to reread this. He is always so damn insightful.

entry 3
The official title of the play:
Fissures: Love Now, Then, Again and Later.

Characters: CLAY and ANNA

Scenes are divided into Now, then , Again and Later.

Research:
"Steeplechase, which had a huge funny face of a man over its entrance leering at the throngs below, was very special. A flat fee bought not only a good number of rides but, for pubescent young men, the joys of voyeurism. Strategically placed air jets sent the flimsy summer skirts of shrieking young women billowing up to reveal glimpses of shocking pink unmentionables. Steeplechase outlasted all of its competitors, but it came to a convulsive end in 1965 after a series of devastating fires and financial setbacks. In 1966 it was sold to Fred Trump—Donald's father—for $2.5 million."

"Afterwards you could sit in the funhouse audience and watch as the folks got off the ride and got shocked. You also got to see the womens skirts getting blown up by hidden air jets. One time a very embarrassed old teacher, (probably was in her 30's which was old to us), was caught with no underwear as her skirt went up to her neck! All we could do was look at each other in utter disbelief..... and of course utter joy."
-Glassman

..>..>..>..>..>..>


Blowhole Theater, Steeplechase Park


Description
A woman's skirt is blown up by the compressed air machines at the Blowhole Theater as onlookers observe.

"The Blowhole Theater, located at the exit of the Steeplechase ride, forced unwitting women to stand above an opening that blasted air up their skirts while the crowd--generally recent victims themselves--looked on with approval. If a woman's escort protested, he often received an electric shock from a clown waiting nearby."
Description sources
The American Experience (PBS) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/coney/peopleevents/pande08.html
Accession number
SK.Photo.107
Collection category
Coney Island History Project Study Collection
Artifact class
Photographs
Work type
Documentary
Overall dimensions (inches)
8 X 10 inches
Date created 1943
Terms
amusement parks, describes the object
black-and-white photographs, describes the object
Related places
Steeplechase Park", HAUTO, VAUTO, FGCLASS, "tooltipInside", BGCLASS, "tooltipOutside");' .."nd();">Steeplechase Park, was creation location of the object
Blowhole Theater, is depicted by the object

note: Google has a quick video of this.

IDEAS FOR FISSURES PLAY





1 LOOK INTO STEEPLE CHASE PARK NEAR CONEY ISLAND.



2 WHAT IF THE CLOWN WITH THE AIR HOSE END FALLS IN LOVE AMD MARRIES ONE OF THE GIRLS , WHO'S SKIRT HE BLEW UP. LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.



3 IT IS A LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT, WHEN HE SEES HER HE PURSUES HER NOT AS A CLOWN, BUT AS A MAN WHO IS A CLOWN OR A CLOWN THAT IS A MAN. CAN HE BE ONE OR THE OTHER



4 HE REVEALS TO HER WHEN THEY'RE IN THEIR GOLDEN YEARS THAT HE WAS THE CLOWN



5 SHE ENJOYED EXHIBITING HER GOODS.



6 CLOWN METAPHOR



7 AIR METAPHOR

Sunday, November 11, 2007

journal

Journal
Category: Writing and Poetry



I received an email from someone that wants to purchase my play "Waiting for God". Zero People is almost finished. New Ten minute play opportunity from a theater in Denver about love, we'll see about that one. Finishing up some new poems for submission. New reviews due soon. Delay on office. I maybe receiving a full time salary journalism/reviewer position with a popular magazine. Not telling which one yet, I don't want to jinx it!
Busy, busy, now going to my alternate office, a Hess station with chairs, tables, redbull and music, I'll be writing on my portable and jamming out with the tunes.

L