Some background

Alright, since I don't really know shit about how to make a movie, I thought I would talk a little about background. This one's going to be a bit long, with plenty of pictures if you don't like all the words... click "Read more..." to get started...

Background can be and mean a lot of things. In a painting, it could be a meadow behind a pair of Victorian dressed women holding parasols, one of them touching her lips in deference while chuckling softly at the social quip the other might have made. In a book, it could be a piece of story about the character's past that hasn't nothing to do with story at hand, but might help you piece it all together at the end. On your computer, you currently have software running in the background that makes the whole get-up work, and if you're the average user, you probably have software that came with computer reporting your behaviors to Dell, or Compaq or Gateway. However, the point is that the background is always in one place. The back. If it wasn't it'd be foreground, and that is not the topic at hand.

Background, in this case, is Mike and I. We met on the school bus in elementary school. Comics. He and I both liked them. I'm not going to say that we were fast friends, it wasn't exactly 'love at first site', no matter how gay this thread seems to be becoming (not that there's anything wrong with that). But we were friends. We've been friends since, it's been about 15 years now, give or take.

Growing up, we were into all the things most kids are into. Comic Books, Music, movies, porn, Compuserve and later AOL chat rooms posing as 16 year old girls, or 25 year old guys. We used to jam out to the Counting Crows and Ace of Base (go ahead and laugh, but I bet you saw the sign too). We also made up stories, and we both thought we were going to grow up to be in the Comic Book biz. Mike was going to be a penciler, I was going to be a writer. Of course, a lot of that kids stuff fell away by the time we were in high school, being that we both had discovered there were women, women had vaginas, and we were actually getting to put our penises into them (different women, at different times. I assure you). However, the drive to do something big never left us. It faded, sure, but it was always there.

Background is where we are now. We went to school in the same city, all the way through high school, always living right down the street from each other. Eventually we moved to opposite ends of the cities, living our lives, but we still hung out. Now, so many years later, we again live literally a few blocks away from each other. Not only that, we live in the same damn city we first met. Cyclical. We grew up, we got girls, we had kids, and now we're right back where we started. Hopefully no worse for the wear. Alright, so we didn't hit the big time yet... but, like I said, that drive never left. This is why we're doing what we're doing. No, it's not comics, but, it's like comics as far as I'm concerned.

You might wonder what this has to do with anything. Who cares if he and I have been friends for a decade and a half or we met a few months ago? It's simple. I trust Mike. That matters a lot. I wouldn't be willing to put effort into this if I didn't trust him.


So, all that sappy shit aside. Background is about where we are now. I warned you that I was going to be popping up with pictures, you probably didn't take me seriously. That was your first mistake.

Here's where I'm at. It's not much, but, I call it home. That's where the magic happens. And truly, it is magic. I spend a lot of time in front of this computer, which is my main rig. I have several others scattered around the house, but, this is the one with all the power. Some things of note: a mini-fridge stocked with Coke, which saves me the trouble and hassle of getting up, two monitors, because one is never enough, and lots of random electronics, since that's just how I roll. You may also notice prescription drugs, which I promise are mine, extremely over exposed on the wall are pictures my daughters drew me that they insist I tape up, and on top of the scanner, on top of the tower, is a copy of a draft of Ink.

In addition to the slavery that is my work on Ink, I also do my own thing here. That chair is a lot more comfortable than it looks.



This extremely damp looking, concrete walled pit is Mike's office. It's where he now does much of his magic finger clicking on keys thing. It's his fortress of solitude, his home base. It also smells funny in there, but that isn't important.

For him, he's got those big Thing hands as well as other random toys, the little laptop that makes him feel sooooo mobile... parked at the desk, the picture of his lady and their daughter (how can you not be inspired by that?), and potato chips. I personally disagree with his choice of Old Dutch, I'm a Lays man myself.




This is on the wall of his office. You guessed it, that's Ink, in it's most purest form. Index cards. Beautiful, isn't it? Well, no, because I made it super tiny to prevent theftification.



This is Mike in the rest of the dungeon he calls a basement... or is it a basement he calls a dungeon. Either way, that's it right there. It's where he keeps his dogs. His dogs are the reason that he can't have nice things. You might notice one of the little bastards there. You know, I can go there 3 times a week, and that doesn't change the fact that he acts as though he's never seen me before in his life. Of course, my dog is going blind and growls at my kids as though in protection of me, so, who am I to judge? I'm the master of all that there ever is and ever will be, that's who.







And that is how I roll. Mike prefers the MGD, but, I like 'em dark and tasty (and now the double entendre has reared its ugly head). I think Guiness is the perfect beer because it's the only beer that doubles as a meal. If I can teach you nothing else, it's that if you're going to make a movie. You're going to need liquor and smokes. Without those two things, you are going nowhere fast.

Alright, maybe what I can teach you is that if you want to do this, if you really want to make a movie, or do anything big really, you find someone you can work with, someone that you trust. No, you don't have to build a 15 year friendship, they don't even have to have driven to another state to be in your wedding (that's another story entirely), but, make sure it's a relationship that works. Because, in the end, working on your own is fine, but if you're in it with someone you know and trust, even if you fall flat on your faces, you'll have a much better time doing it.

Cya internets. Damn, I am one verbose mother fucker.