A STORE FOR HUMANS
This is Finish Your Monsters, a weekly newsletter about the creative process. I'm sharing adventures in art and life as well as setting CLIFFHANGER goals for myself, so--
DID I MAKE MY GOAL?
Last week, I committed to getting started on the pitch deck for my feature film. And I did it. I wrote a 5 sentence logline to describe the film. I did two sketches to help readers visualize the monsters. And...that's it. I could have got a lot more done, but I gave myself a light, gentle goal because I've been pushing myself hard lately.
Ironically, I struggled to focus on it because the goal was light and easy. I have better luck with setting a goal to FINISH A THING ALL THE WAY. (Shocking, given the title of this blog.) Hyper-focusing helps me tune out all the distractions and what ifs. In the swirling mélange of 21st century chaos, I crave the solid embrace of a finite thing that can be crossed off a list.
ADVENTURES OF THE WEEK--
Lots of other adventures this week--recorded 5 podcasts, read 1 whole book, worked on taxes, sent at least 5 scary emails, watched 3 movies, and got some great forward movement on the next short horror film I'm doing.
But the experience that really resonated was a total surprise. My wife, Sara, and I went to a pop-up furniture store we saw advertised on Instagram. (They didn't have any furniture we liked but for three bucks, I found a giant blue ring that looks like a villain on Doctor Who would use to hypnotize people.)
Since we were going to the furniture place, I searched for anything interesting nearby and we found something strange and ancient defying the fury of time itself...a video rental store.
Specifically, Vidéothèque in Los Angeles. It was great. We wandered the shelves for over an hour. We rented a film I've been wanting to see for literal decades, but never found a physical copy of until now. Anna Lucasta starring two entertainers I love--Eartha Kitt and Sammy Davis, Jr.
I walked out of the store thrilled but also grumbling about how much better that experience was than scrolling through 17 streaming services while our souls melt into the couch.
I was concerned I was in the grip of a grumpy nostalgia attack, but the more we discussed our retro-adventure, I realized it wasn't as simple as old (video store) good, new (streaming) bad.
It was about the experience. The video store was deeply curated. But unlike streaming services, it wasn't an algorithm trying to prove it knows me.
Vidéothèque has their films organized by actors, directors, genres and sub-genres. I loved the way it was laid out and even disagreed with some of the choices. (No separate stack for Frank Sinatra in Classic Hollywood actors? Outrageous!) But it felt truly handpicked. Selected by humans to speak to the humans walking into the store. And If you couldn't find something, there was an actual human at the counter to chat with--and a very friendly one at that. The store was offering discovery. Look around and find out what you might like.
In contrast, streaming services feel like they just want to show me what they think I like.
Back when The Clone Wars animated series was on Netflix, I watched it four times and only got Netflix to say it was a 96% match. What does it take to get to 100%, Netflix? What does it take?
I'm not against streaming. It's amazing to hit a button and have Citizen Kane beamed into my home without me even considering changing out of my pajama pants. But I think raw, slavering capitalism is animating a lot of the way we interact with technology.
They want me to just keep clicking. The streaming service, Max, claimed I could watch all of The Sopranos in a weekend--which seems like a cruel dare from a chaotic robot. Our interaction with a lot of tech is still in what I think of as the emotional uncanny valley. It feels almost human--they use our first names in friendly fonts and remember where we left off when we fall asleep during our stories--but it's cold, distant, manipulative. A stranger in your living room claiming it really gets you.
Like the luddites of old, I'm not anti-technology. I just want to give some thought to how the technology is used. Can it bring us closer? Can it increase our humanity and our empathy? Or is it biased toward enriching the already powerful while lying to us about how long it takes to watch The Sopranos?
Anyway, I'll probably stream something tonight. Because the technology does have value. But so did the extremely humanizing trip to the video store.
As a creative person, it's always important for me to pay attention to a humanizing experience--how did that happen? What made me feel that way? How can I capture that feeling? Because, for me, that's what art is--an attempt to connect with other humans and our own little curated video rental souls.
MY GOAL FOR THE WEEK--
In my ongoing calibration for these weekly goals, I'm going to give in to my zest for completed tasks. I'm going to attempt to finish an entire first draft of the pitch deck for my feature film. More art, more bios, some logo design, and pull it all together in one shareable doc. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs to be the first draft, dammit.
YOUR GOAL FOR WEEK--
What's your goal? Hopefully, Buttondown will add a comments section soon, but until then feel free to reach out to me on social media and let me know what projects you’re working on this week. Or you can respond directly to the email version of this blog, if you'd like!
LIGHT PLUGS--
My Patreon keeps my production company, Strange Path, afloat. It covers all the monthly bills as well as helping pay for more films and podcasts. On Tuesday, Feb 20th, all patrons will have exclusive months-early access to my experimental comedy film, THE NARRATOR starring the great Phil LaMarr. If you're interested, you can check out the Patreon here!
You can also check out Strange Path t-shirts and wall art on Threadless. And my comedy albums and cosmic horror tale on Bandcamp. Thank you for the kind support!
A LITTLE SKETCH--
This week, I present a calm illustrated selfie of me trying to concentrate on one thing at a time. My best to you on your adventures in concentration! Will I make my zealous goal? Will you make yours? Let's find out together in the FAR FLUNG FUTURE of next Tuesday!
