A Dream Of Significance?

Finally, I had a non-pedestrian dream that didn't involve me on some aimless journey to obtain some foodstuffs. In this dream, I was talking to George Clooney...yes, I know that's not what you would do with him all the Ladies and a few Gentlemen, but, hey.

So, I was in line at a store, talking to George Clooney about movies and in specific, those he had produced with Steven Soderbergh. Now they weren't the actual films, but in dreams, real logic is thrown out the window and replaced with one altogether, ersatz. The beauty of this dream is that I was nervous and that the conversation flowed rather nicely. He was even joking about some of these McGuffin films bombing and though I believe George has been smart with his money, I don't believe that anyone's ego or bank account at that level, would be so caviler.

One of the comediennes from Best Week ever joined in with us and she was wearing a California Highway Patrol uniform. I can't remember which one she was and why the hell do they air that show in what seems like only twice a week? VH-1 has become the "I Love New York" channel.

George and I crossed the street without paying for whatever we were standing in line for, not like we took anything with us or anyone. That's a damn shame, somewhere there's a comedienne in a Highway Patrol uniform asking David Byrne, "well, how did I get here?"

Again, with ersatz dream logic, I'm asking George what would be the best way to go about pitching a screenplay to Steven, instead of pitching it to him.

He's actually humoring me as we walk into a gift shop, he wants to get a gift for a friend who is a little down. He tells me Soderbergh's quirks and whatnot, while he picks out some lowkey jewelry and now it occurs to me that we are in Chinatown, Jake. Like I'd ever go to Chinatown, there's no parking and you can get the same food on Clement and Irving Streets.

Then, he's trying to find the best card to go with this necklace. There are all kinds of novelty cards, I point to a group of them that in ersatz dream logic, have little jokes about Kennoc listed as a rhubarb that is threatening to overrun Canada, like kudzu did the South. Of course as always with dreams, just as he is about to give me an answer how best to approack Steven Soderbergh, I wake up.

Dreams tease, they may give you great hints or point you in the right direction, but they will never give you the answers. Just like comedians and cartoonists have joked for decades about where missing socks go, somewhere, there is a place where all the answers that were never discovered in dreams, lie waiting.

Ah, If Only The Screenplay Was As Strong As The Soundtrack

I have a screenplay...or, should I say, three scenes and a premise. The play itself, Shakespeare, is not the thing in this case...because there isn't enough to get off the ground with...maybe I'll give it the short story treatment over here...I don't know.

At any rate, it's an almost modern western, think "Easy Rider" and Soderbergh's "The Underneath," the rare film where the remake is much better than the original. Unfortunately, that's all there is, a pitch and some scenes. The thing that does stand out, is the soundtrack I designed to write to it.

"Green Grass & High Tides" by The Outlaws. This song has a kinesis, a certain flow to it, if you will. Certainly this is the perfect road song and it's crescendo is the perfect song for a soundtrack.

"Midnight Rider," "Dreams," and "Hot 'lanta" by The Allman Brothers.

"Come To Poppa" by Bob Seger for the scene with a slimy pimp/strip club owner. Listen to this song, I mean really listen to this song. The character Bob is singing about doesn't just want the woman. He wants to exploit her and possilbly her very soul.

I was on the fence in terms of adding "Train, Train" by Blackfoot and "Mississippi Queen" by Mountian, and that was about the time I gave up on this so-called script. It's one of those ideas that would be served best, by a little time on the shelf and a fresh look at it in a few years.