1filmmaking2writing3music

ok. good. we’ve started. remember there’s no biz like show biz like no biz, right? so i figure it’s best to start in the middle and then work our way out to the extremes. i’m not much for introductions, preambles, oh, wait . . . i was working on a song earlier. i’d biked home from work (16 miles) to find no food, which i should have expected because i refused to shop yesterday–it was father’s day! it didn’t seem right, me being a father, to go shopping. but that did leave me without food today. anyway, i get a little goofy when i don’t eat and hence the following song: “my thumbs are disposable, no, i mean they’re opposable, that’s how i grip this here guitar. my girl is disposable, no, i mean she’s proposable, that’s why i hold her tight.” after penning that short ditty, i realized i must eat or go farther to the dark side aka crazy. where was i? yes. entertainment. i’ve written two rough drafts of screenplays and am 70 some odd pages into a third, plus i’ve finished a zero budget movie which cost me at least a thousand bucks to make, so i’m getting close to being ready to make a trip to LA, but need to polish the stuff some. and what happens. i read that this weekend is the Great American Pitch Off. this is in the top three events if you’re trying to sell a screenplay according to some web site that i didn’t bother to memorize the name of ( i just ended a sentence with of, which seems like some rule or other, but as you may have noticed grammar is not really my thing). I can use grammar if I choose, but it doesn’t seem to lend itself to blogging. where was I? oh, yes, the Great American Pitch Fest: you learn to make a pitch & then you meet with Industry Professionals. i’ve lived my life avoiding these type of conferences, but I’ve also live my life avoiding any kind of financial success, so maybe it doesn’t matter if there’s an element of scam. it’s time to learn the game. or is it? not that i don’t need to learn the game, because i do, but should i rewrite these scripts a few thousand times? should i premier my movie at the Crest? am i heading off half cocked? HALF COCKED. what does that mean? i’ve heard that all my life, but what does it mean? The following was posted by Lewis on the Phrase Finder:

: : Meaning : : Act hastily. : : Origin : : Flintlock rifles can be fired from full cock or half cock but only work well from full cock.

: : I find this site interesting, but had to disagree somewhat with this meaning and origin.: : Flintlocks, as well as any ‘hammer gun’, that is to say a gun with an exposed hammer such as all the lever action Winchesters and Marlins and single action revolvers have a sear (notch) in the hammer which holds the hammer at ‘half cock’. This is the ’safty’. If this sear is worn or defective the gun can go off unexpectedly, or “go off half cocked”.: : I have always understood the meaning to act in a manner not expected, usually anger.

: I don’t know anything about guns. Here’s what Mr. Funk has to say:

: GOING OFF HALF-COCKED - “This is what we say in America; the British equivalent is ‘to go off half-cock’ or ‘at half-cock.’ Either way the meaning is to speak or do something hastily, without adequate preparation prematurely. The original reference, back in the middle to the eighteenth century, was to the musket which, if the hammer was cocked halfway, was supposed to be locked, safe against accidental discharge. But sometimes the mechanism was faulty, the hammer would be released, and the gun would be prematurely discharged, with the musketeer wholly unprepared.” From “2107 Curious Word Origins, Sayings & Expressions from White Elephants to a Song and Dance” by Charles Earle Funk (Galahad Book, New York, 1993).

My understanding is that the expression “half-cocked” came from firing-pieces - and simply means insufficiently possessed of the facts - to act without making sure of the true situation - to act precipitiously. I’m not sure how that matches up to the detail of the gun, but a gun being properly cocked is a deliberate act, for it to be half-cocked that suggests accidental firing and probably in the wrong direction, which is another inmlication of going off “half-cocked”.

I’m not sure, but if a weapon is cocked, the trigger only requires a modest squeeze; if it is not cocked, the trigger needs to be pulled back with effort rather than squeezed which makes it less accurate as the barrel tends to be pulled upwards. Correct?So i hope that clears things up. it doesn’t for me. it’s not as easy as go or don’t go. then i’d go. right. i mean if nothing else just to clear up that last couple sentences. the conference cost $350, plus i’d have to stay two night in LA, and gas @ 4.50 a gallon. i could spend $650 before i eat. and i will eat! i don’t know what your financial situation looks like, but for me, $650 a lot of money. don’t get me wrong, i’ve got it in savings, which puts me sitting pretty in a lot of folks eyes (including me five years ago. yes, i’ve done a little saving. most of that’s just from going on the wagon every other month. really. for real. i’m Irish. well, Irish-Californian, which is different than Irish-American. it makes me just a real pale mexican, which i’m cool with, because i love some carne asada). where was i? ah, yes, that Great American thing. that’s a lot of money, but it also could be opportunity. and i’ve learned that saying it knocks may be an exaggeration meaning you have to hunt it down and kill it as if it were you’re prey and you were a pack dog. that’s a loose translation.  alright, i’d like to write more, but i’m cycling to work again tomorrow, so i’ve got to get some sleep. i’m going to go ahead and count this as writing practice (if you don’t mind), because i just read this book, Writing Down the Bones, and so i’m suppose to be writing. it’s a good book. if your incline towards writing or really any sort of creativity. is it me or do i sound more RURAL the tired i get? OH, and welcome to my blog (that will be funny later when i tell you the name of my movie). 

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