My First Post...Ever...

Ahh, I'm entering the blogging domain and it feels good.  So what will this blog be about? Well, mostly it'll consist of my writings that friends and family can read, critique, and comment on, but hopefully people I don't actually know will venture upon this site and do the same.

I’ll probably post stuff that inspires me, too, art; photos; music; videos.  Maybe I’ll upload a few of my short films for general consumption, but to begin with it’s going to be a lot of writing.

Q:  Vince, what sort of stuff do you write? 

A:  Well, Vince, to answer your question, I write scripts, books, short stories, and sometimes poetry (very bad poetry). 

Q:  Yes, yes, yes, but what kind of things to do you write about?  

A:  Oh, that’s a good question.  Perhaps if you take a look at my general interest you’ll be able to get a peek inside the tangled web of stupidity and obsession that is my brain…

1.  I love History - WWI and pre-WWI European, Ancient, Roman, Greek, Babylonian, Asian, Celtic, Native American, you name it and I'm all over it.

2.  Movies.  I refer to them as such because "film" puts a bitter taste in my mouth; as if "films" are only meant to entertain a few whilst "movies" are meant to entertain the masses.  Which ones do I like?  I once made a list of over a hundred films that I loved.  I'll do myself and you, the reader, a favor and not actually post that list.  A few of my favorites happen to be “Star Wars”, “Indiana Jones”, and most Disney and Pixar animated fare.  I'm an unabashed lover of Spielberg, Jim (and Brian) Henson, J.J. Abrams, Tim Burton (a lot of his recent stuff has turned me off, however), and Guillermo Del Toro.   

3.  Video Games - the supreme waster of valuable time.  I try to limit this as much as possible, no MMORPGs (I am thinking of giving “Star Wars: The Old Republic” a try, however) for they would ruin my life.  If the game has a great story I’ll play it.  Pretty much anything by Bioware and Tim Shafer do I’ll devour with reckless abandon.  “Mass Effect”, “Dragon Age”, “Red Dead Redemption”, “GTA IV”, “Psychonaughts”, “Monkey Island” “Grim Fandango”, “Fallout”….these are merely a few.  When the mood strikes me I may pick up a “Civilization” game, or even a “Total War” game.  The problem with those however is that they never end; it’s a very real possibility that I could get stuck playing them to the exclusion of all else.  NOPE, I’ll stick to games with a definitive end point, thank you very much.

4. Books.  First and foremost I must say that my love of “The Lord of the Rings” goes beyond most things in my life.  My knowledge of the history and characters from that world is obscene and frankly disgusting.  But I do love many other books that I draw inspiration from on a daily basis.  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, most any Fairy Tale book I can get my hands on, The Once and Future King, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, and Agatha Christie books are just a few that make my mouth water. 

5. Art:  I generally find myself drawn to pictures that tell a story.  A few of my favorite artists are Aubrey Beardsley, Arthur Rackham, Mucha, Van Gogh, Michael Parkes, and James Jean.  I also avidly search out concept artist work and animation artists rough sketches; people like Matt Rhodes and Glen Keane.  Every once in great while I’ll take up pencil and paper and try to get the images floating in my head, on to paper.  It rarely works out well and I usually give up in fury and frustration.

6.  I love comics, too!  This is rather a recent thing.  Once, long ago in my infantile youth, I would purchase ratty old superhero comics, mostly “X-Men” comics at the annual Bouckville Antique Show.  But then I stopped…mostly.  That is until I ventured to California.  Here I found a love of Vertigo comics, particularly “Fables” (if you haven’t read it I highly recommend taking a peek).  I am slowly amassing a large collection of comic books that I feel transcend the medium into just great literature.  A few of my other favorites?  “Y: The Last Man”, “Sandman”, “Lucifer”, “Locke and Key”, “House of Mystery”, “Ex Machina”…and the list goes on.

7. Sports:  If only I had the gumption to continue playing them; but I don’t (at least not at the moment).  I love Basketball, Football, Baseball, and yes even Hockey (Professional over Collegiate…generally).  If the TV is on I’m either watching a history documentary or a sports event.  I still love the Buffalo Bills and pray ardently they don’t move (unless it’s to Los Angeles, that way I’d actually get to see them again.), I love the Yankee’s (and have ever since Don Mattingly, so basically when they were terrible in the late 80s and most of the 90s).  With Basketball I usually follow players rather than teams.  Melo, Lebron, Wade, Kobe, Blake Griffin.  Collegiately I have to go with my alma mater, the Orange of Syracuse.

8. Music:  The Beatles, need I say more?  Yes, I should.  I like folk music, barbershop quartets, and not much else.  That’s not true either.  I’ve come to love Mumford and Sons as well as Keane, and most any romantic era orchestral music (Tchaikovsky and Beethoven are my favorites).  I also have a few guilty pleasures, but since mentioning them will make me feel guilty and embarrassed, I’ll refrain from listing them.

So, after all that it would seem that I prefer genre material with a strong basis in reality…sometimes….I seem to also enjoy world building even though it’s exhaustive.

A:  Do you have anything of note on your resume?

Q:  Not creatively, no.  I was a 2008 semi-finalist in the Nichols Fellowship in Screenwriting for my feature script “Heather”.  That’s sort of a big deal since it’s the only competition that is actually accredited by the Academy of Motion Pictures.  I wrote and directed a few short films; one that actually has a website (www.heatherafairytale.com) and yes the girl from “True Grit”, Hailee Steinfeld, is in it.  I was actually the first guy to cast her in any sort of film role, so I can precariously balance my hat on that.  In all fairness I’ve never really displayed my writing before, that’s one of the reasons why I’ve created this blog; to get over the hump of secretly hoarding away my creativity.  If you looked at me you wouldn’t automatically think “there goes an imaginative and creative soul”, but I assure you, I am, thoroughly so.

Anywho, I’m running out time so to finish this up…I’m awesome and so are you.  Stick around and let me know what you think of my stuff…for I crave attention.