Great, kid. Don't get cocky!

So far this year has been productive! Yes I am patting myself on the back. I've finished lettering the comic. Matt and I have just a few tweaks to take care of and then it's ready to be submitted to publishers (keeping my fingers crossed).

I was able to check off one of my creative goals for the year, record a podcast. I sat down last week with a couple of my buddies and we recorded our cinematic ramblings for a good hour and a half. I then edited this into a "test show" which I am getting feedback on but will probably never see the light of day publicly. It was a lot of fun and I hope my friends enjoyed it enough to pursue it further.

The photo a day project is still on track. It's been a good exercise for me to stop for a moment each day and find a composition. It keeps the creative juices flowing and reminds me to keep my eyes open to the art around me. Boy I sound full of it. But seriously, it helps.

The next big hurdle is to punch out a revision of issue #2 of the comic and a 4th draft of The Drifters. If I can tackle these by mid February, I'll be kicking ass. I'm itching to write new material but I have to clean my plate of these revisions before moving on. Otherwise I'll never break through my cycle of starting rough drafts of projects and jumping onto the next piece without solidifying the foundation.

Personally, I haven't smoked a cigarette in 18 days. It's been pretty easy actually because I'm rarely around smokers these days. 337 days till I meet my goal. Soda has proven the more challenging beast. I originally was shooting for once a week. I'm now on once a day, which is still better than what I was consuming. Baby steps.

I got a free pass to LA Fitness for the month. Now the hard part, using it.

RANDOM BRAINSTORM: Cleaners

I made a short film a few years ago with my friend David Chan Cordeiro called CLEANER. It was inspired by the film LEON (The Professional) and we made a story that could be a psuedo-sequel following the Natalie Portman character who grows up to be a "Cleaner" like Leon. We never mention her name or directly tie the films together but that was the origin of the idea. We struggled to find that title and I think it was perfect as it has two meanings. One is it's her profession. The other is what she is striving to be, leaving this life of crime behind. Well apparently he weren't that clever or original because not long after our film a feature came out called "Cleaner" as well as a TV series called "The Cleaner". Sometimes movie sites get our film mixed up with this big budget feature and I feel bad because whoever made that movie is probably cursing our little short's existence (or they could care less which is probably more likely).

So there's some backstory.

I had a brainstorm recently about dry cleaners. Dry cleaning doesn't pay the bills necessarily and what if it was socially accepted that all dry cleaners were also assassin cleaners. It was just an unspoken rule and if you needed someone taken out you brought in your laundry and stuffed some money along with info. about the target into your dirty pants pockets. You didn't have to say anything. The cleaner checks his calendar for when he's free to kill and then prints you a laundry receipt for the day after. When you come back to get your clean laundry there is also a pink necktie hanging with your clothes. This tells you that the job is done. If the job isn't done because the cleaner needs more time, they'll tell you there's been a delivery mix up and to come back at the new date on a new tag. If there's been a snag and it's your fault, say you neglected an important piece of information or it's more risky than expected the cleaner tells you there's a hole in your pants and asks if you want him to sew it up. If you say no, the hit's off and you get some of your money back minus a standard retainer that all cleaners keep. If you say yes, he'll tell you how much more it will cost. If he needs more info he asks you to write down your phone number so he can call you if there's any difficulty with the mending. Later he'll call you and vaguely ask questions to hint at what info he needs and you reply just as nebulously. This is inefficient as hell but you don't want to say anything incriminating, right?

I realize that for the most part what I've just written is likely nonsense. But maybe the next time you go to a dry cleaners you'll think twice about pissing off a cleaner.

"Do or do not. There is no try."

That's what this year is about for me. I'm 30 years old and there's so much I want to do in this life. I wish I had a mentor like Yoda to ride around on my back and hit me in the head with his cane when I'm getting off track. As I wrote that last sentence I realize that could sound wrong...Anyway, a metaphor it is.

So what do I need to do that I've only been trying to do? What have I accomplished and what haven't I?

Well I have been making progress with the comic. We got a Kickstarter campaign going. The first issue is nearly complete. That's fantastic. But I can definitely get more accomplished. I recognize the irony that I am writing a blog about getting stuff accomplished rather than just accomplishing it. I guess I want to write these things down that are constantly on my mind as a reminder of what I hope to achieve. Documented evidence to look back at and either lament what I wasn't able to do or take pride in what I did do. This is mainly for me but I'll put it out there so that I know anyone can read it and that puts more pressure on me to succeed.

I don't like New Year's resolutions. New Year's actions are better. One of the actions I took for 2009 was to drive safer and stay accident free for the whole year. That might sound like a lame achievement if you're an excellent driver and have never been in an accident. But it's all relative. In 2008 I had 3 car accidents! That sucks. I was ashamed of myself. A quick tangient. Is anyone else as pissed about the shitty public transportation we have in LA? We used to have an amazing red trolley car system and you can find the skeletal remains of trolley tracks at different spots in the city. Why did they get rid of it? Stupid. Or how about Disney's Monorail system for California? That would have been epic. I hate driving! Give me other options that don't take hours and multiple switches from bus to rail lines and I'd be a happy camper. Getting back on "track" (heh heh heh...awww) I am proud that I was accident free for 2009. Now if I can just continue the streak in 2010.

I also went back to school and took some art classes again. That's been something I hoped to do for a long time. I sort of gave up on it when film became my pursuit. I'm really enjoying it. It's been good to feel some artistic accomplishment again. Painting and drawing can take my mind off of everything. Focusing on a piece for hours and putting all your attention into that present moment is kind of therapeutic to be honest. It's so much more time consuming and EXPENSIVE to get a film endeavor going. Art supplies are cheaper and you don't need a crew to pull something off. I'm going to continue taking art classes this spring as well, learning some new things in graphic design and watercolor painting. So yep, enjoying the art.

So what's my list of New Year's Actions for 2010?

Get healthy. Wow original I know. I'm giving up smoking and alcohol for the year. I'm also cutting soda out to once a week. I'll be hitting the gym again too (watch out ladies!). I've neglected this for most of my 20's. 2010 is the year I put my health as priority one.

Read and write every day. I want to be a better writer. I think that if I discipline myself to a daily routine of reading a chapter in a book and writing for at least 30 minutes I have to get better just by repetition. If I can get issue #3 of the comic written, a 4th draft of The Drifters, and a 1st draft of a new script going by the Summer I'll be stoked.

And the big dream goal:

Save up my bonus checks, tax return, couch change, etc. I want to have enough money by next fall to finance a microbudget feature film. This is really an ongoing plan for me. If it can happen this year that would truly be something but I'm not worried if it doesn't. One thing that I've learned is to be patient when it comes to film.

So far I'm off to a good start with 2010. Good luck to you with your New Year's actions!


PS: I almost forgot to mention my art blog. Check it out: www.andymak.tumblr.com

I'll be posting my artwork there as well as a new photo a day project.

The long gestating podcast I keep meaning to start may be moving forward soon as well. Stay tuned.

MAK

Hello!

Been a while since I've posted and that's about to change starting now! We just launched a Kickstarter project to fund The Birth of Venus! Click on the link below and check it out.

MAK

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andymak/the-birth-of-venus-comic-series-issue-1