Never Give Up, Never Surrender!

First off, Galaxy Quest rocks. GREAT movie, very funny. Go watch it and tell me I'm wrong. I dare you. But why would you want to look so foolish? Captain Awesome is always right. ALWAYS. Unless he wishes to be wrong, to give you the sense of how it feels to be as awesome as him. That's right, that time you thought that I was wrong? Oh I was RIGHT, I just decided to let you win. Taste the awesomeness, enjoy it. It won't last long, for Captain Awesome will be right again. And soon. Ok...well THAT sure diverged quickly from where I'd planned it to go. Though, as usual, it will end up there eventually. The best part of the journey is the voyage. Or voyage is the journey. Or trip. Whatever...

So! To the reason for this blog title! Yes, as always, I'm going to explain it. Not that I don't think you could figure it out for yourself, I just enjoy explaining things. Obviously if you choose to read this blog you are an intelligent, cultured, well-groomed and all around swell person. And if you aren't, well... Even dumb people should enjoy good things. Alas, I digress once again. I know I said I'd try to cut down on the writing about... well about my writing, but this is one of those things I like to brag about! I found myself doing the page breakdown for the latest issue of Legacy (#2 if you're keeping track, which by the way you should be) and I realized that I was short two pages. In the middle of the freaking book. Smooth, huh? After a (very) mild panic attack and thoughts about burning my notebook, I decided that, when in doubt, refer back to characters that you're already established. So now I have not one, but two mini-scenes that set up what comes after it. I hear they even have a fancy writer term for it...foreshadowing. Amazingly I think it turned out VERY well and in the span of the next 3 days I will be writing it out into the script. I'm quite excited and will post some of it on here next weekend for your enjoyment!

So the moral of this blog/story? Never give up, never surrender. I myself have never liked the idea of just giving up or giving in. Not really sure why, just how I'm built I guess. Not just in my writing either. If you look at many choices that I've made in my life, I've never given up on things, or people, easily. There may be several years of down time inbetween, but just up and walking away for good...that's just not the Captain's style. Don't get me wrong, kids, sometimes walking away could be the very best idea. It could save you alot of pain and hardship and heartache. But you'll never know unless you try. And not knowing is always a helluva lot worse. So go out there, give it your all, take the bumps and bruises and setbacks and just carry on and greet it with a grin. Because there's nothing sweeter than the little victories in life, even if they do sometimes fade away too quickly.

                                                  Going back to the grind,

                                                                      Captain Awesome

Grin
If you're up against a bruiser and you're getting knocked about —
      Grin.
If you're feeling pretty groggy, and you're licked beyond a doubt —
      Grin.
Don't let him see you're funking, let him know with every clout,
Though your face is battered to a pulp, your blooming heart is stout;
Just stand upon your pins until the beggar knocks you out —
      And grin.
This life's a bally battle, and the same advice holds true
      Of grin.
If you're up against it badly, then it's only one on you,
      So grin.
If the future's black as thunder, don't let people see you're blue;
Just cultivate a cast-iron smile of joy the whole day through;
If they call you "Little Sunshine",
wish that they'd no troubles, too —
      You may — grin.
Rise up in the morning with the will that, smooth or rough,
      You'll grin.
Sink to sleep at midnight, and although you're feeling tough,
      Yet grin.
There's nothing gained by whining, and you're not that kind of stuff;
You're a fighter from away back, and you won't take a rebuff;
Your trouble is that you don't know when you have had enough —
      Don't give in.
If Fate should down you, just get up and take another cuff;
You may bank on it that there is no philosophy like bluff,
      And grin.
                  -Robert Service

Legacy #1 excerpt!

Page 3

Full splash page. Cops with lights and sirens in hot pursuit of a car full of criminals. Gunfire blazing from the car with the thugs, indiscriminately targeting the police and bystanders alike. This scene needs a real sense of energy and intensity- the cars should come RIPPING onto the panel. Maybe either an upward or downward side shot to give it more ZIP.

Page 4

5 panels on this page in a 2 standard, one wide, 2 standard layout.

Panel 1 

Panel tight on police officer in passenger yelling into the car's radio for immediate backup. The cop is male, Caucasian, late 30s-early 40s, mustache. An experienced beat cop. Standard panel.

older cop
"Repeat, Unit 37 is in pursuit of suspect vehicle. Shots fired! We need backup! NOW!

Panel 2

One of the thugs leaning out, his upper body almost completely out the window firing a handgun, shots ringing out in succession. Standard panel.

SFX
Bang! Bang! Bang!

Panel 3

Medium wide screen panel. Exterior of police car taking fire; bullets slamming into windshield, hood and one of the lights getting hit and shattering. View of the cops inside is somewhat obscured; shouldn't be able to see if they've been hit or not.

SFX
Crack! Crack!

Panel 4

Standard panel. Interior of police car; as if looking through the driver's window. Bullets tear through the glass, hitting the seat, the older cop takes one high in the left shoulder, nothing serious but there's blood.

SFX
Thud! Thud! Crack!

OLDER COP
(in pain)
"Arrghh!"

Panel 5

Standard panel. Tight up-close shot of the older cop barking into the radio microphone. His hand, the mike and his face should be pretty much all you can see. Maybe a bit of blood spatter indicating his wound.

OLDER COP
"Where the HELL is our support, Central?"

Page 5

Panel 1

Close-up of passenger front tire on the police car getting hit by a bullet and blowing out. Thin wide screen panel.

SFX
(tire blow out)
Bang!

Panel 2

Wide screen panel. Cop car veers off-course into a lamp post. Out of commission.

SFX
CRASH!

Panel 3

Inside the criminals car, they're high-fiving each other, laughing. Wide screen panel.

Criminal 1
"Hahaha! Woo! Take that pigs!"

Criminal 2
"Nice shootin' bro!"

Panel 4

Large panel. This is the main shot for this page. Driver's P.O.V/maybe an over the shoulder shot. Looking through windshield as a man in a blue bodysuit/costume hurtles through the air at them as though he jumped from a building. Incoming! His face is partly hidden as the sun is behind him though the symbol on his chest, a white star, is quite apparent. The whole thing should give the effect on the thugs of holy shit!

CRIMINAL 3 (driver)
"What the hell is THAT?"

Page 6

Four wide screen panels.

Panel 1

Wide screen panel. Interior of the bad guys car again. Same P.O.V as the previous panel. Windshield spider-webs under the impact. Crunch! Maybe move the "camera" slightly to really make it feel like the guy landed on the car HARD. A colored shape is visible but that's about it.

SFX
CRUNCH!

Panel 2

Wide screen panel. The car comes to a halt, whether through the impact or the driver braking to a stop. Side view of the car, can't see the hood, just the people inside. They're recovering from what just happened, whatever it was, they can't believe someone would've been that crazy.

CRIMINAL 4
"Dude, what the HELL did you HIT??"

Panel 3

Wide screen panel. The roof is torn off! This could work either from the outside of car, tight in on roof tearing from the rest of car, or from in the car still as the criminals stare in shock as the car suddenly becomes a convertible.

SFX
EERRRRR!

Panel 4

Wide screen panel. The thugs stare up, completely awestruck and dumbfounded by what they're seeing here. All we can see is their faces and maybe a bit of a shoulder of whoever is now standing on the hood of their car. The main thing here is to convey their reactions to having the roof of a car TORN OFF and what they're seeing on the hood. Panic, fear, disbelief and awe.

Page 7

Full Splash Page. PARAGON stands on the hood of the car, a smile on his face, confident/wry, almost but not quite cocky. Mainly from the thugs' P.O.V, maybe just over the shoulder of them. PARAGON looks larger than life, intimidating and inspiring all at once. The star symbol on his chest draws the eyes to it, almost distracting you from his face (part of the reason he wears it). The sun shines above and behind him almost as if a halo or a spotlight. Have to remember no one of this generation has ever seen a costumed superhero before now. Not in person at least. He holds the remains of their getaway car's roof in his left hand.

PARAGON
"Good day, gentlemen."

And there we have it! Legacy #1! Well PART of it, anyhow. More stuff heading your way soon! Until then...

                                                     Captain Awesome

The Awesome-verse!

Welcome, dear reader, to the Awesome-verse! Below is a list of superhero (and villain)-type characters whom I have created (They're MINE! You can't have them! But you can enjoy their adventures!) and you, no doubt, are dying to read about! Script excerpt featuring one of them to follow on the next blog!
        A
Angelfire
Archer
Avant-Garde
Armory
Arcane
Antediluvian
Anarchist
Amok
Allure
Animator
Analyst
Axis
Amp
Alchemist
     B
Blowtorch
Baron Power
Barrage
Burn
Blockade
Brute
Breakdown
Blindside
Bloodshed
     C
Captain Intrepid
Coral
Cosmic Knight
COBALT
Cross
Crusader
Cadaver
Calibre
Contagion
Crypt
Cordite
Coldsnap
Condor
Cyberhawk
Chrome
Coldshot
     D
Dynamo
Dreamwalker
Dreadnought
Doctor Sun
Dr. Macabre
Dirge
Duplicator
Dragonfire
     E
Eclipse
     F
Fade
Fenris
Firefly
Forecast
Frostbite
Firebomb
Flatline
Firecracker
                       G
Granite
Goldwing
Glacier
Gravitar
Gadgeteer
Gaia’s Avatar
     H
Haze
Hellfire
Heavy Artillery
Hyena
       I
Impact
Illusionist
Ivory
      J
Jinx
Jury
Jotunheim
     K
Kodiak
Kid Mercury
      L
Lady Victory
Lotus
Lightning Avenger
Labyrinth
Lit
Lore
Le Sabre
Lumina
Lord Neutron
     M
Magistrate
Mr. Magnetic
Mastodon
Menagerie
Malevolence
Master Dark
Meltdown
Maser
     N
Night’s Shade
     O
Outback
Overload
      P
Paragon
Psionic
Prophet
Powerplay
Pulsar
Prometheus
Pursuit
Pantheon
Peacekeeper
Python
Purge
Pagan
     R
Regent
Rampart
Radiant
Raptor
Rocket Girl
Reaper
Redwood
Riptide
Redwolf
Revenant
Rott
          S
Stormbringer
Singularity
Sandstorm
Spin Doctor
Sprite
Spartan
Storm King
Solaria
Shyft
Synapse
Slash
Shatter
Siege
Slag
Sidestep
     T
Tidalwave
Titan
Thornn
Torrent
Thesaurus Jones
Thunderhawk
Timeline
Tremor
Tekhead
Threshold
Tigerclaw
Tsunami
Thunderstorm
     U
Umbra
     V
Vanguard
Venture
Vigilance
Vibrax
Vector
     W
Watchman
Warhammer
Warfare
      Z
Zephyr

An Oldie But Goodie

I was re-reading some old blog entries from my previous blog and came across this one...I found it funny. Enjoy!

Aren't You Lucky For Knowing Me?

18/06/2006 8:59:19 PM

Howdy there boys and girls, it's time for another literary masterpiece from yours truly, The Drew! Don't you feel blessed to be reading this? I'm sure you do. Well those who know me, know i like to have a drink or two sometimes (ok, ok so it's more like a case or two, but that's neither here nor there...) so last night me and my bud Joe decided to kill a few beers. Don't worry their deaths were more or less painless and served a greater purpose. Namely getting me drunk. You should all be as fortunate as those beers were to have gone out of their way to get me drunk. A lesson to be learned here, get me drunk and your life will be more fulfilling and richer for doing so. So as always, we got into the phone or text messaging and hilairty and half-recalled conversations ensued. This, of course, is your obligation, and PRIVELAGE, for knowing me... drunken phone calls at all hours from me, the One and Only DREW. Feel free to express your thanks in form of alcohol, cash donations, or sexual favors (women only on this last one PLEASE!!!). I, being a humble and benevolant god, will graciously accept your offerings. Human sacrifice is not neccessary, but god knows (that's me don't forget) that there are people out there who should not be around to reproduce or use up valuable resources (oxygen, land, food... mmm...cheeseburgers...) and in these cases there is no alternative. It's ok. But check with me first, to make sure said sacrifice qualifies.

As i was saying... So Joe and i ended up talking to some ladies with which a friend of ours (go Sarah, you rock!!!) was partying with and Joe decided to be "the man" (he gets only a little "m" because everyone knows The Drew is the Man dammit!!) and started chattin' it up with the ladies. I must say he did well, all due to learning from me, naturally. Yes, i was quite impressed with his performance, but I, being The Drew and all, of course could not be beat as some young lady passed along her phone # to me. Not bad for just talking (well texting actually) for maybe an hour, huh? And this is why YOU can benefit from knowing (and worshipping) ME, THE DREW.

Well, my friends and followers i'll be heading out now, but never fear little ones, your hero and leader will return.

Yours (if only for an hour at a time), The Drew

Should You Choose To Accept This Mission...

     Or at least I believe that was how that old tv show Mission Impossible started (let's not get started on the whole Tom Cruise movie thing...Tom you are an idiot if you think you can play Jack Reacher..he's a WHOLE FOOT TALLER than your scrawny self...but I digress). Hopefully though the mission I have chosen to accept is NOT an impossible one. Difficult? Yes, without a doubt. Impossible? Nah... Oh! What IS this mission, you ask? Glad you did because I was more than happy to rant about how much Tom Cruise sucks (Katie Holmes was mine you bastard! At least before she got all super skinny and weird looking, have at'r Tom.) but I suppose we should get around to the mission. The Mission. That looks better, sounds more important too. Ok so the mission, oops, The Mission, is as follows:
     
      TO WRITE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE THIS YEAR. AND IN A CONSITANT AND ORGANIZED MANNER. No half-assing, incomplete, brilliant-yet-unfinished ideas, or at least as few of those as possible.
    
    To achieve this mission, certain criteria/goals must be met. What are they? Wow you really are a bunch of nosy bastards, but that's ok, questions are good! Sometimes. Usually. Depends on what they're about. But anyway... The goals for this year are as follows:
    
     A.  One blog entry per week on the Captain Awesome's Realm of Awesomeness blog. If you don't know what that is...either you're an idiot or just completely missed the title of the blog. Either way keep reading, idiots and blind people welcome! No Romulans though! Creepy pointy-eared wannabe Spocks...
    
     B. One chapter of a novel per week, most likely from the Steven Kincaid mystery series that I've been trying to get into the groove on for...well the better part of a decade. Don't laugh. Or I shall smite thee! Luckily, this past Novemeber saw a HUGE breakthrough for me in terms of that series when I participated in NaNoWriMo (aka National Novel Writing Month). The goal of NaNoWriMo is to begin and FINISH a novel of approximately 50,000 words in the space of the month of... Novemeber! That's right! Man, people who read this blog ARE smart! I knew it! So anyhow, one chapter per week is the keypart here.
    
     C. Is for Comic Book scripts! Originally the plan was to do TWO a month. That plan has since changed. After finishing the first issue of Legacy (with a whopping 26 page count) in essentially one night, I realized that although two in a month would be awesome, and do-able, I still have alot of background stuff to hammer out for most of the stories and one is more realistic. For now. It will become more, probably by the spring when I've finished the world building that I've been doing for the last year and a bit. It'll be great, trust me!

     D. To participate and FINISH the aforementioned NaNoWriMo contest thing. I made it to about a third of the way before too many real world things got in the way. AND I made the mistake of going back and reading what I wrote. BIG mistake there. You start over thinking things you already wrote instead of creating new stuff and before you know it, you're frustrated and give up. Not this time.

     So far that's pretty much all I've got, though I'm pretty happy with it since it's WAY more than previous years. Seriously if you look at the entirety of my writing/creating in the last 2 years compared to the previous decade, it's pretty damn good. And we're just beginning... Samples of scripts and chapters are going to be popping up on here on a monthly basis, in addition to the usual ranting about the writing itself as well as the blog covering topics beyond my awesomeness. What? Why would I do that? Why not?

     Originally the blog was going to be about whatever random thought crossed my mind but it's kind of turned into "hey this is what my writing is" instead. Not a bad thing, mind you, but no doubt all of you loyal readers out there want to know what Captain Awesome has to say/what he thinks about a variety of topics! Why limit it to just one thing? Captain Awesome will be giving you his insights into many things, so that you can use his words wisdom in your every day life! If there's a topic you want covered, by all means, leave a comment saying what you'd like to see!

                                                       Stay Awesome,   
                                                               Captain Awesome

Crunch time!

Ok, so here we are, less than 20 hours away from my first script deadline. Where's it at? About halfway. Luckily the majority of the rest of it is action, something that I hope won't be too hard to get through. "Paragon punches bad guy in this panel", next! I've already been (generously) granted an extension, due to the holidays and maybe some sucking up on my part, by the wonderful and talented (still sucking up) Shannon who has agreed to be my editor, but now this is it. No more excuses, no more extensions, no more words that start with ex...like expeditious. No idea if I spelt that right. Who cares! I'm not the editor! I just write the stuff! And write I shall this evening, essentially HALF of what is needed to be done by tomorrow is still unfinished. Strangely, I couldn't be happier about it. I've always enjoyed performing under pressure, it's so much more satisfying (for me, anyhow) when you beat the odds and snatch victory from the jaws of failure. I never admit defeat. So, tonight after I get home and eat some leftover pizza (yum!) I will switch off my phone, block my Internet with a handy program I came across, and sit and write, Rockstar Mocha in hand, until it is done. I can't wait. It's going to be fun. 
                                                              Yours truly,
                                                                         Captain Awesome  

Merry Christmas!

      Well it's that time of year again, specifically, Christmas Day. No doubt you got that from the title of the post, or the time stamp on when it was done, but either way, Merry Christmas! I've always like the abbreviated styl of X-Mas because it looks close to X-Men and as we all know, anything comics-related is a good thing.

     The boys were up at a semi-resonable time today, just before 7, and managed to take their time opening their presents (although I've learnt to throw lots of little stuff at them or they'll be done in SECONDS) and seemed more or less pleased with what they got. I myself was the receipient of my very first pair of New Balance running shoes (SWEET! though I don't RUN, they will be awesome for walking) and a surprisingly cool Boston Bruins gnome. He looks like my kinda gnome. If I had a kind. Which I guess he is.

     It's always been an interesting time of year for me, giving gifts, amazingly, has always been my favourite part. I know alot of people SAY that but for me it's true. I like the challenge of finding something that they'd never thought of getting themselves or never knew was out there. It's fun. The kid in me though still likes to play at guessing what I'm getting though and, once again, I managed to predict at least one of my presents just by looking at the box (woo! After 8 chocolates! Mmmm...) and using my Captain Awesome psychic present-detecting powers.

     The part I liked the most this year though was having been able to spend time with some close friends during the hustle and bustle of the season. Good friends that made the time to see me and spend time enjoying each other's company. That, by far, was the best present I could have hoped for. Thank you to them for making the time.

     That's what this season is supposed to be about right? Spending time with people that matter to us? Not just the gifts. Actually... The gift of oneself, of friendship and love, is really the gift that matters. Think about it for a second. If someone stranger walked up and gave you a Ferrari that'd be pretty cool, right? But would that be AS COOL as your best friend handing you the keys to the blue and white 1957 four door Chevy Bel Air that you've wanted since junior high? (By the way anyone reading this that wants to buy me said car, I've since switched to wanting a '55 black and white 2 door hardtop Bel Air, thanks) A gift from someone who knows you and puts that effort of themselves into it is always the best. Because they cared. And that's the best thing of all.               

     Stay awesome my friends, and Merry Christmas.