Hiatus Schmiatus/For the Kids/et al

Ground control to Major Thelonious, commencing countdown notes on hiatus

April 22, 2010. The date of the last post on this blog. Some might call the past 2+ months a hiatus. I'd still call it blogging.

Legendary (and eccentric) jazz pianist Thelonious Monk is as noted today for the uniquely shaped melodies that he composed as for the unique spaces that he placed in between the notes that made up those melodies. Miles Davis was heavily influenced by Monk and touches of the pianist's spacious style can be heard all over Davis' later period work (Bitches' Brew, in particular, where one often has to listen very attentively in order to catch Davis' trumpet).

Last year mega-director Steven Soderbergh, helmsman of films such as the Oceans series and Traffic, stopped by NYU to deliver a lecture to the debt-ridden students in the MFA program. In it he described himself as a synthesist and went on to explain to us what exactly that a synthesist is the type of artist who takes in numerous external stimuli, processes and reflects on them, and creates something unique that is an expression of this work.

Oreo cookies are known not for the chocolate cookie discs, but for the spaces in between them.

What's my point? Two months without blogging, were just as expressive, honest, and substantial as two months full of blogging. Just as the spaces in between Monk's notes express, just as the cream in the oreo is more famous than the cookie, and just as the time of synthesis is needed in order to produce meaningful work, these two months were, if not necessary, then definitely honest.

What have I been doing for two months? Researching for my next screenplay: Synthesis. Watching a lot of baseball, LOST, and movies, and reading: Creme filling. A lot of nothing: The spaces in between notes.

After two months of relative inactivity you may be wondering what spurred me to finally revisit this old sounding board. The answer: my summer gig teaching high school kids filmmaking. It's strange how a whole day spent instructing young students the art of expressing themselves via the mediums of film and video can fire up one's own expressive motor. Strange to look in the eyes of these kids and see in them a voracious hunger to develop the tools needed to become great filmmakers and strange that they're looking to me to show them. Strange how eager they are to hear about my films and my experiences as a filmmaker, who my influences are, and what my process is.

I finished today literally pumped that I get to help these kids bring their dreams to life and I can't wait to get on set with them again to see how they've synthesized what they've experienced and been shown. This was all that it took to catalyze me and return to the blog.

Maybe it's because today was the first nice day in a string of absurdly hot ones in this city, maybe my blogging conscience was screaming at me to get off my ass, maybe I want some oreos, what ever it was the space between notes finished synthesizing into this new note from the sound guy you all know and tolerate.

Special thanks to Monk, Soderbergh, and Nabisco.

Ryan the Sound Guy