from rooftops to Islam in sixty seconds

Here's a picture of a rooftop, as seen through binoculars.

Why?

I DON'T KNOW!!!


Here's a real discussion from my week, as follows (cut and pasted from an email I sent to Robin because I'm sleepy and don't feel like re-writing it...)

**********************************************************
Robin,

For your amusement... an email conversation with someone whose production company is advertised, but the website doesn't work, and google doesn't pull up *anything* about this company...
(binoculars?!)

From: Jane
Date: Sat, Mar 22
Subject: Production Company still in operation?

Hello,

I came across a listing for "xxx" -- I'm very interested in learning more about your company and the services that you offer, but your web page appeared to be down. Is your company still in operation? Could you tell me about your services?
Thanks very much!

Best,
Jane

*************************

From: "XXX"
Date: Mon, Mar 24

Hi Jane,

Yes.

Thanks,

XX XXX

************************
[15 minutes goes by]

From: XXX
Date: Mon, Mar 24

Hi again,

Only joking. Yes, we are in operation. We do all what was mentioned in the guide and of course, much, much more.

We have produced numerous shows for networks, corporate videos, and independent films.

If you have a specific need let me know.

Thanks,

XX XXX

***********************

From: Jane
Date: Mon, Mar 24

Hello XX,

Thanks for getting back to me. I was writing because I'm a writer/producer with a background in stand-up and improv comedy, so I was very intrigued by your write-up.

What kind of network shows and independent films have you worked on?

I'd love to learn a little more about your company-- are you ever on the lookout for additional writers / producers / crew members with an excellent sense of comic timing and an affinity for b-roll?

Best,

Jane

**********************

From: XX XXX
Date: Mon, Mar 24

Hi Jane,

I'm heading out of town so don't have a ton of time to go into great detail.

But, we've done shows for numerous networks. Definitely on the lookout and was slow to respond because I've been on top of my building with binoculars all day.

If you don't mind let's talk in two weeks and I can fill you in fully. Don't have a ton of stuff at the moment but tomorrow's another day. Yesterday is also another day. But, doesn't seem to get much work there.

Thanks,

XXX
***********************

??? BINOCULARS??
We only get one lifetime, Robin, and it's a weird one.

************************
From: Robin Truesdale
Date: 3/24

Only you, Jane, could conjure up a conversation like this one. Totally strange!


(and... scene!)

It's been a weird week. Extremely busy at work casting parents for the new video, fixing scripts, making Xcel spreadsheets that turn blue for no reason (why, God, why??), going stark raving mad from uncomfortable desk and back-to-door set-up and ripping every cable out of my computer, wasting almost an entire hour from stress-ville to lie under my desk getting covered in dust and old staples... emerging victorious with New Office Karma and Convenient Desk-Lodged-Painfully-In-Lower-Back set-up .
Lord, I hate offices. But they're necessary. I guess.

It's also a weird week because my mystery ailment / G.I. Joe infiltration keeps invading and then peacing the hell out, which kind of makes me feel a little crazy throughout the day. It's like the tiny green army men are rushing in with their guns drawn, only to find that the war was fought last year, and the battlefield is now a cafe that serves bottomless mimosas on Sundays.

So. Yeah.

Oh, speaking of "Soooo...yeah...", Big Giant Incredible Announcement:
EDDIE FREAKING IZZARD IS COMING TO DENVER IN JULY.

I got tickets so fast, my fingers got whiplash.
"JESUS CHRIST! (Hey, stop taking my name in vain, dad.) Sorry son, JEEZY CREEZY! What on Earth is going on?"

Went to see Persepolis on Saturday night with my fella's... they're a good bunch...they know when I get that desperate, gnawing look in my eye that they just need to get in my car and go to the Tivoli with me. Come on! It's a movie theater that serves BEER *and* organic snacks. Any art house that has PBR (in bottles!) and Dale's Pale Ale right along with M&Ms and Junior Mints ... well, it's my theater version of a soulmate.

I didn't read a single review of Persepolis... I'd only seen previews, and I wanted to keep it that way because I've made this quasi-vow to myself to stop reading reviews in general. (I hate having a premeditated opinion about films I'm interested in.) I was happy with the decision, because the film is so unique and so strange on a lot of levels that I didn't want someone else's labels slapped all over it.
After sitting with it for a few days, I realize that I not only enjoyed the film... I'm really still watching the damn thing.

I've never seen such a subject in such a surprisingly appropriate format, but for me, the graphic novel *IS* the way to properly present the story that Marjane Satrapi wanted to tell. It was lifted to a cinematic form beautifully-- still keeping the style and 'lightness', even the artistic obscurity, of the graphic novel.
Here's a story of unspeakably dark, tangled issues-- the Iranian Revolution, war, teenagers' nascent sexuality in Tehran, the introduction of the headscarf, censorship in the schools, the Qur'an versus modern times, executions, imprisonments, bombings, air raids.
These are all so deeply rooted in one of the longest, most complicated social histories on Earth.

Why not make it a film about buying punk music illegally on the street corner?
Why not follow Marjan's journey to school in Vienna and honestly depict her first true breakup as devastating as the bombing of her neighbor's apartment building in Iran?

This story was true, and each element was meaningful, but it was not sentimental. It was a beautifully, eerily dreamlike journey through pieces of a history that one girl happened to live through. There are no answers, no happy ending with the woman raising one high-heeled foot as the perfect kiss takes place on the perfect street corner.

As much as I'm starting to understand and appreciate the simplicity of the plot, I think the thing I truly got joy from was just the animation. It was so damn French!
Textured black and white backgrounds provided a stable, "Gashleycrumb Tinies" background to the moving, yet bold pen strokes of the characters. It was like a dancing New Yorker cartoon-- one of the older, much darker ones, with bold noses and mustaches that floated off of faces. Even the attitude was French... "here's a little war going on over to the right, and yet if you just come with me next door quickly, we will eat some pastries and look down our noses at this rather smelly dog."

So that's how I feel about Persepolis. Nothing earth shattering, nothing to snark at, much appreciated and a pleasantly unusual film experience.

Off to sleep, per chance to dream (about a spring filled with art house films, farmers market outings, a road trip to Santa Fe, and with luck, new prospects and the pleased look of someone who thinks my resume is adequate...)

Mae West.