Had this idea awhile ago. Wanted to jot it down here.

Martin - “Alright everyone, let’s get settled in here. Yes. Ok. Do we have any new comers tonight? Announcements?”
The group was silent.
Martin - “Joys? Sorrows? Jan, who’s that? ‘Looks like you’ve brought a new guest to our happy little book club.”
Jan - “It’s my kid.”
Martin - “Well does he have a name? Maybe he’d like to-”
Jan - “Jake. His father forgot him today.”
Martin - “Ohhhkay. Yes Jan I am sorry, a fath-”
Alex - “Ahem! Let’s get to the book.”
Jan threw a knowing smile of relief towards Alex.
Martin - “Yes, yes. Well Alex what did you think of the ending.”
Alex - “Pretty good.”
Martin - “Good, I liked it as well. What was it about the end that you liked so much?”
Alex sat silently, exerting no effort toward an answer.
Martin - “Was it the surprise resolution within the subplot? Perhaps the deep symbolism of the dam breaking on the dark river running through the Monotawna valley…”
Alex - “Yeah.”
Martin - “Oh. So it was the symbolism?”
Alex - “Yeah.”
Martin - “Yes, yes good. Ok thank you Alex. Anyone else? What about the theme? Any thoughts?”
Silence.
Martin - “Favorite characters?”
Silence.
Martin - “Alice, you haven’t spoken yet. What about you?”
Alice - “Oh, me? No, well I like them all.”
Martin - “Ah. Jim?”
Jim - “Me too.”
Martin - “You liked them all did you? What about Everett, did you like him?”
Jim - “Oh yes, he’s great. One of the best.”
Alex - “Yeah, he’s a good’un.”
Martin - “I see.”
Martins face grew long with disappointment.
Martin - “Let me see a show of hands here, who liked Everett the best?”

Martin turned slowly scanning the the circle, checking off each body as he went. He caught a glimpse of a small elderly woman in the circle of metal folding chairs keeping her arms crossed. Martin’s face perked up immediately. He began ranting while scouring the guilty members with accusing eyes.

Martin - “Ivy! You didn’t like Everett did you! No, because there’s no such character as Everett, is there!”
With Martin’s breath less constricted now, the room grew uneasy.
Martin - “What’s the point of this book club if you don’t even- This isn’t school, you don’t have to show up!”
Alex - “Community service.”
Martin - “What?”
Jan - “Yeah. Same here.”
Everyone else in the room grumbled the same confirmation. Martin looked frozen.
Martin - “Community… service?”
Alex - “Hey! Fatman. Get over it. It’s nothin’ personal. We need to do some soft-time here, you’re on the list, it’s easy time.”
Martin - “But, but what about “Snowy Meadows” last month? We we had such a good discussion with the prince and the love affair with his-”
Jan - “Read it in the joint. Took my mind off things with that prince in there.”
Martin looked defeated, and suddenly perked up.
Martin - “But… Ivy. You’re not one of them!”
He turned quickly to see she hadn’t moved. She wasn’t moving at all in fact.
Martin - “Ivy?”
Jeff, seated to Ivy’s right, touched her arm.
Martin - “Ivy?!”

She’d died, and with it so did Martin’s grip on the small semblance of sanity he clung to. Realizing her arm was never entered into his I Didn’t Read The Book contest, he robotically marched out the church’s basement. Behind Martin, some of the ex-cons tended to the recently deceased Ivy, others milled about on their cell phones scheduling their nightly plans with their drinking buddies. Martin moved on.

If you’ve read it, you’ll draw parallels from this post. The nano-age is looming. Not that this new tech has anything to do with nanotechnology… or does it?

ps. sorry for the intermittent posting. I’m very busy.

I don’t really know the syntax for a screenplay, but I imagine this will suffice. I thought this up while driving through a rainy night on the interstate. I hope it cracks a smile.

The Evolution of the Weatherman

[Weatherman doing his thing in front o' the weather]
Weatherman: “It was a sticky one out there today, Jan, you’re right, But tomorrow it looks like we’ll have this high pressure system coming in from the west giving us a 30% chance of rain across the state.”
[FADE OUT]

[Scene opens on a group of non-descript folk in a parking lot]
Folk 1: “I thought there was a chance of rain? Look at this.” [Looks upward in dismay]
Folk 2: “Wish I didn’t bring my umbrella…”
Folk 1: “Yea, that’s annoying. Well what other errands do we-”
[FADE OUT]

[Weatherman doing his thing in front o' the weather: DAY 2]
Weatherman: “Thanks Jan. Well, today you may have noticed a bit more sun, as your emails would suggest, but there _were_ scattered showers across the state. Looks like tomorrow we’re looking at more of the same though, mostly sunny with some clouds here and there. Go out and enjoy it!”
[FADE OUT]

[Scene opens on a couple golfers in their cart]
Golfer 1: “Yea, great idea Jack. If I wanted to play in a swimmi-”
Golfer 2: “Oh you sonofa-; it’s that damned Craig Stewart on channel 7! He said-”
Golfer 1: “Guldamn weathermen. Quacks. All of ‘em. Just crazed witch doctor’s in suits with too much make-up and hairge-”
[FADE OUT]

[Weatherman sitting at the desk]
Weatherman: “Yes Jan. Ok it rained. Let’s just take a minute, sit right here and talk things out before I go over there to peer into our weather-future. I’ve spent all morning reading through viewer feedback, station policy, and I want to stress something about this science. It’s a generalization. I can’t pinpoint your little ho’boken towns and tell you that your little family reunion picnic is going to get poured on. What I can do is give the most people, the best report.”
[Camera changes, now doing his thing: Day 3]
Weatherman: “Alright. Now to the weather. Looks like it’s going to be a blustery one, in the mid 50s all day, with winds up to twent-”
[FADE OUT]

[Scene opens on a family in the park, with a dog]
Dad: “Well, I guess the kite isn’t going to fly afterall Jimmy, I’m sorry, the weatherman said-”
Jimmy: “Nooooooo! But Dad, it’s my birthday! I want to fly the kite!”
Dad: “I know son, it’s not fair. I’ll have that Craig Stewart’s a- err, we’ll send him our two cents.”
Jimmy: “Yea! Email!”
[FADE OUT]

[Weatherman doing his thing: Day 4]
Weatherman: “Ahuh. Yea. Look. I’m not here to please you, I’m here to do a job. Ok, so Liberty county didn’t get much wind. Who cares?! It’s wind! Man, you don’t go flapping around like this during tornado season do you? No. Because lives are at stake! But you have to have your ki-”
Jan [Nervous]: “Haha, ok Craig. Thanks for that report, looks like tomorrow mid 70s and clear skies.”
[FADE OUT]

[Scene opens on utopian-like group of folks, grilling out, loving life, flying kites, playing golf and going shopping]
Folk 1: “Thanks dad! You’re the best!”
Folk 2: “Man, what weather! Couldn’t ask for a better day.”
Folk 3: “I’m cured! The cancer’s gone Dave! It’s gone!”
Folk 4[Dave]: “Oh, I love you, this is the best day ev-”
[FADE OUT]

[Weatherman doing his thing: Day 5]
[Weatherman silent, standing in front of the moving graphics, boiling, hotter and hotter]
Weatherman: “Bahhhh! This puppet Jan Finkerstall! You’re going to send HER your [bleep]-ing fan mail?! You [bleep]-ing idiots! I’m a professional damnit! Anyone can get luck- eeeeeeeeee.”
[The weatherman stops suddenly, clutching his left arm and then heart. Has a heart attack and collapses]
[FADE OUT]

[Scene opens on a funeral, windy and raining]
Pastor: “Everyone here?”
[Pastor scans for a quick inventory of the mourners]
Pastor: “Good thing we brought umbrellas. Thanks Jan.”
[FADE OUT]
[END SCENE]

So this book came out over a decade ago, and in true Iowa-boy fashion, I just read it. We are a decade behind. But whatever, from the looks of things the future looks grim, so I’ll live in the past no questions asked.

“Consider it a primer for art history, the creative process and critical thought.”

Banter aside, this book is quite the tome for anyone in the creative arts and with each chapter I read, I became inspired to use the information for the power of good! And this is partially why I’m writing this in segments. I want to tackle a specific concept in the book, if I were to try to talk about the whole book, I’d end up gushing and ultimately saying nothing. Kind of like this entire post up until now. Also, because I don’t feel like spouting over a thousand words in a single post. Laziness.

Let me first start with a recommendation. A glowing and personalized one. If you are a creative person, even a coder [God's castaways], this is the first book you should read. Consider it a primer for art history, the creative process and critical thought. Sure it’s specifically about comics, but the lessons learned throughout the book can be applied to many other forms of “new media”. Game development in my case. In fact throughout the course of the book, while I wasn’t pondering the picture plane or the cultural differences in expression, I was thinking: “Why the hell wasn’t I handed this on the first day of design school?” It’s such a great piece of cut-n-dried badassery, that any aspiring painter, sculptor, architect, designer, decorator, programmer, musician, installer, or any other creative folk would benefit tenfold from its lessons. Now design/art school taught me many of the lessons McCloud covers [much more directly] but not in such a stark and matter-of-fact way that leaves an impact worthy of the weight of that particular lesson. Also, I should mention the whole book is one big comic, which not only makes the read more interesting, but also acts as a testament to the communicative form of comics itself. Ok seriously, end of the glowing, now onto some cold data.

The first topic that really blew me away was McCloud’s “Big Triangle” which he explains in that link. Basically, the triangle allows for a gamut in which all forms of visual art can be placed. Each vertex of the triangle represents a particular extreme of pictorial representation. On the top, the picture plane, which in extremes encompasses the most abstract of art. On the right, pictorial abstraction, in which its extremes include text. And finally on the left, pictorial realism, of which its extremes include photographs. Now all these exist on a 2D surface, but yet in this unassuming little triangle lives all of the world’s 2D art. Quite a feat, and because of this device McCloud has invented it allows people not only to map certain artists/movement and so on, but also to understand art better.

Weird huh? Understanding stuff. But using this triangle it’s easy to see why or how art styles evolved. And shown to a lamen who thinks Mondian or Kandinsky are taking the American people for a ride, can maybe see the value in these artist’s work. And that’s just the triangle. I think it’s perhaps McCloud’s finest discovery within the whole book, but perhaps not his most exciting when it comes to inspiring artists. That will come later, maybe in part 3. I am skipping things, mainly symbology and sign/signifier/signified type relationships covered in dry and grim detail throughout my graphic design education. Had we covered it with McCloud’s comics, I imagine we’d all be a lot happier. Regardless, the lessons are numerous and thorough. To know them and be constantly aware of them will make you a better artist/designer/person.

Time is purple.