4B: I don't even know how I got off the track

It's been a nutso couple of days. Perhaps too much to really capture in one manageable-sized blog, yet I will attempt so anyway. I really should have written one yesterday.

Yesterday was the first e-zine meeting, and boy was it... interesting. We picked a theme for the issue and were given the task of coming up with a new title. Yeah, and since the mag isn't really all that consistent in topic, it's just gonna have to be one thrown outta thin air. I came up with "Echo" or "Reverb" but they didn't seem to take. But at least I contributed.

The theme we came up with was Fears & Phobias, which narrowly beat out my suggestion, Dinosaurs, by a 3 vote margin. Don't laugh, because Nathan picked up on the double-meaning of dinosaurs (things that are old and out of date) and really managed to sell it. But the more general topic won out. We were then charged with coming up with story ideas to relate to Fears & Phobias, and it was at that point that I realized I could not bring myself to contribute to this endeavour in a writing capacity. Everybody seemed to be thinking so linearly about it, I was almost afraid to branch out and pitch something which was only connected to fear in a sideways fashion (a review of Fear Factor, perhaps?) the closest thing to what I wanted to do was the article Melissa Helwig (many Melissas, must specify) ended up being assigned, about Hollywood and feat in movies, etc.

It should be all right. I still think Dinosaurs had more appeal, but Fear sounds like a decent enough topic to start out with. Whether or not it is an enjoyable read is another matter, but people shouldn't have too much trouble getting their stories.

So I mentioned that I didn't want to be writing it. I know, insane, right? To those who know me well, the name Scott Williams is synonymous with writing. Well like I said I wasn't all that copasetic with the story pitches and didn't really make one for myself, so what I ended up doing was grabbing a slot on the graphics team with Phil and Anthia (Phil is in our class, Anthia is in another, but we've met before.) We spent the remainder of the meeting (which lasted roughly 4 hours,) heavily criticizing the look of previous issues, and making resolutions to not let ours look like that. From all the talk it seems like it'll be a challenge to put our money where our mouths are.

Then I went home and relaxed, had some lunch, came back, and had Roy Wilson's Writing for Newspapers class. It's not bad, easily the best course-course thus far, but I'll miss Stephen Jarrett. As it is, Roy's a good teacher and it seems like his class is going to be well-run.

Today sucked. I'll just say it, I'm not happy about today. I'm not gonna put up any false front of optimism for Wednesdays, they balls-to-the-wall suck this semester. Have to get up at 7 for Mitrovica's 8:00 Long-Story Journalism course, which is a 3-hour class where... oh who cares. It's Mitrovica. All I know is to expect lots of Australian accent in my near future. At least the required reading is In Cold Blood, which is impossible to find at the library (probably due to the popularity of the film Capote.) So I'm gonna have to go out and buy a copy of In Cold Blood. Mitrovica spent the whom time talking about what the course would be like and catching up with the end of last semester. He handed out the J-History assignment marks, which all sucked, because let's face it, there are fundamental things about being a teacher he doesn't know. It's like being in Mendes' class all over again, except this is actually relevant.

Then, after a nice 3-hour break during which I edited several scenes, mostly concerning Kyle Sanderson's character, it was Digital Publishing with John Clark. You know what the purpose of that is? Web Design. Not even good web design, but plain old HTML. That's right, teaching college-level students stuff I've been practising since I was 12. I spent the entire period reading title histories on WWE.com, and the highlight of the day was when Joe and I talked about how glad I was that Edge was now the champion. Terrible.

But then there's something fantastic in the air that has me singing today even when school is kicking me in the groin. Maybe the fact that the weather's so nice. Maybe I'm confident about the e-zine. Or maybe I just have some really cool news.

Last night, Cary came on to tell me about the Beermouse show (11:00 Saturday at the Pic, like you didn't know,) and when I say "I'll be there" he adds, "oh there's one more thing. There's going to be an ArtSci drama night where we can put on one-act plays."

Now, this statement required no further explanation as we'd already sorta had this conversation. What he was referring to is the fact that he said that, given the chance, he would like to direct the stage version of "Half-Past Eight PM" at Mac. Naturally, I was floored.

For an 18-year-old, I've amassed what I consider to be a remarkable catalogue of written works in only a few years, but my personal favourite may always be the origianl Half-Past Eight PM. Okay, amybe I think the script to the movie is tigheter with sharper dialogue and a more expansive plot, but there's something really cool about the original one-act play version of the story. The fact that it begins after the beginning and ends before the ending (I've often referred to it as "the middle of the story.") I love it so much because I was so consciously trying to satirize the very elements that worked to its benefit, a two-layered attack. A one act play, I believed, was usually just an excuse to put on a show with tons of dialogue, one set, outrageous characters, and no full storyarc. Check, check, check, and check. Unlike the movie version, which will further explain the events of the day, later that night, and the next morning, (and perhaps affect how people see the play,) the stage play is about getting to that last moment at 8:30 (or a little afterward, Beth is a little late, after all,) and leaving the audience with the perfect last line and a little wonder as to what comes next.

It's been hailed as "the best Fringe play," and while I'm not certain as to whether or not that includes professionally written pieces (such as The Underpants or the best three from the 2005 Festival,) or just original pieces, the fact that it's the best of anything, according to someone, is very flattering. To think, it came within mere votes of just not happening ever.

Combining this with Drift, it's already a good-looking year for me, professionally. Knock wood, here's hoping things keep getting better. It's not finalized yet, but it was an honour just to be asked.

Well that's me for tonight, hope you're all super, and if you're not, let me know and I'll try to help.

Keep on rockin'
-Scotto