The Sixty Four Squares

Jedaawiy

2010-03-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

Salams to all who chance upon this quiet little post and indeed also to the kooks and trolls,

Since my last post, economic realities of being partially employed in the bay area forced a drastic change, so I searched, found and accepted an English teaching post back here in Saudi... near Jeddah this time... arrived here last October (09)

The 2nd draft is thus still active; being read with useful feedback received... a fresh direction for the third draft has been plotted before formal external script editing... there just remains just the time to do so... ah that ol' chestnut! now freshly married to boot... praise be to He Who Made it So..!

Third draft here we come... Godwilling

your prayers and good wishes are always welcome

Yours in the struggle ever onward toward the grave

2009-08-12T21:28:00.000-07:00

Peace to all!

Eyup a new facebook group The 64 Squares is up please feel free to join!

2009-07-29T16:29:00.001-07:00

From one of me oldest mates....

"Dearest Matt

great script - great story. Well done. Love Oleg.

Love the animation - ground breaking.

I'll read it again and get some notes to you.

big love my brother..."

Guess I need something a little more objective perhaps but it really helped...! Thanks Charlie!

2009-04-30T22:06:00.000-07:00

Hello World!

Peace to you

A lots happened so much that I haven't been focused so hard on staying alive in this here town (San Francisco) it has consumed almost all energy nevertheless...

As I wrote to my friends recently:

"Despite the breakup, divorce, the move to San Francisco the unemployment, the desperate job search in the middle of the worst recession since the 30's, moving house 6 times etc Praise be to He who made it so! I've just manage to finish my proofing of the second draft. 2 pages clipped in the process despite several more scenes added, rounded and massaged & many lines trimmed, tucked and corrected in a thousand different ways. I feel it to be way more coherent in a way the 1st was never meant to be. Despite that, there'll be mistakes that I just cannot see despite having gone through it several times over.

I hand it over to you, in trust, to read as readers whose opinions I value and trust. It must be read, despite my reservations, for it to continue on. I know this is a burden on you all, let me know if you can't. But believe me, it is now that I'm eager for feedback, besides myself, it has indeed been written for others. It's been a mountain of work these past 2 years, I've been able to work on it on and off.

If you are able, then as soon as you can will earn my eternal thanks, prayers and credits in the final product and a sincere future gift, Godwilling.

I have been advised off paid coverage, so you are my substitute and confidants in this.

From the feedback I receive and from a table read, I intend to make submissions to 3rd parties/producers/competitions I don't know, the need for it to be as mistake free as possible, no doubt is obvious.

I request you please don't send this on to anyone else without letting me know in advance as it's still not 100% proofed.

There is also an opening title sequence where the narrator has the tedious task of explaining the rules of chess to animation and montage to an audience that knows nothing about chess which I am not including currently. Interested in your opinion if you think the potential audience will require it or not perhaps so...

Your Brother in the Art,

Matthew Mahdi Bin Daoud Thistle"

If you'd like to join them in having a read then contact me!

I intend to ramp this up as I have a clearer idea of 3rd party perceived quality etc

In the Remembrance of the One, (Exalted Be He!)

Peace!

Matt

2009-01-02T22:15:00.000-08:00

On the quiet I have a finished second draft running at 115 pages... ! Praise be to He who made it so.. A mammoth two week effort to make the deadline for the Kairos screenplay competition for spiritually uplifting screenplays in November, helped me get 75 + pages of those, as did Summer's willingness to support me during.... Alas I wouldn't have qualified as it was a Christian Bible centric... not withstanding the fact that it wasn't finished!

Considerably more pleased with it now, it's in much better shape, a more credible B-Story, romantic interest, enhancements in portraying chess mental gymnastics, tighter, condensed but she still needs polishing.... Nonetheless, feedback from being read remains the most compelling need. So I'll be seeding it out soon once proofed, Godwilling.

In a few days I'm also decamping to the Bay area for work slash new opportunities and hopefully more like minded humans not too mention the Muslim spiritual community. A far cry from South Eastern New Mexico, amongst the cowboys, thorns, potash miners & the Guadeloupe's!!

As curios it has been, time to decamp... your good wishes and prayers as always are a blessing.

Saalams!

By the passing time

2008-06-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

Peace!

Well a semester teaching the fundamentals of Video Production has since passed & I have over 6 films all under 5 minutes being gathered for an archival DVD. They all stepped up beyond the call the duty that 2 sessions of 3 hours each week demanded, and I don't know who got the better of the benefit! I learnt much & continue to imbibe.

That has meant time for the 2nd draft rewrite has indeed been in short supply but begun it has, rest assured, and take my time I will! Much is left to be done, two characters have been removed. One replaced by a female & the b-story will, Godwilling, be more that it was.

19 Hours of summer chemistry tutoring has taken over my afternoons, as well as the garnering of a photographic portfolio in the mornings & the rest: a short film project is urgent but the final story has not yet been decided.. leaving weekends and sharp discipline to accomplish a 2nd draft for the The 64 Squares.

More than luck is demanded, earned taufiq above all is the blessing sought.

And here the quiet update ends.

Peace to you...

Employment: Update

2008-01-13T10:56:00.000-08:00

Peace,

To keep the peace & now with a green card I must provide, despite one's high falutin' creative aspirations. The Power that Be Has stepped in & organized 2 part time roles at the local University, NMSU, one of which is extremely handy as a Production Manager in the Video Production unit & have access at all hours to all of it's considerable equipment. Will be teaching some students also I believe, specifics are hard to be had. Just organizing the mess is first priority & has taken up all my time last week.

Will also be teaching chemistry 8 hours to nursing students. That'll

RE: The 64 Squares, a direction for a 2nd draft has been achieved, with a new opposite sex B-Story & deletion of several other characters that weren't working (Kill your babies!) & deeper portrayal of forces of motivation. Time to complete? Allahu 'Alim.

I face a vertical cliff of technical & S/W information I have to be on top of ASAP@ the studio, so when that lets up Godwilling. Sounds ominous I know, but don't worry

Out in the Wild

2007-11-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

Well its about time for objective eyes!... the cut of the 1st read through of the 153 behemoth came in at 122 pages sent it off to a few trusted friends & acquaintances. Yikes!

I've hustling for work in around my spare time too finish this, hence the lag.

Anyhow a picture of an official 1st draft & Praise Be to He who Made it so

2007-10-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

Peace!

Things have been a little delayed with Eid & my father returning to Australia but the draft is at pg. 124 while I'm at page 90 cleaning up the first 153 page iteration! That's 33 pages of cuts! Finally, its getting down to something more digestible minus two subplots & pared down characters.

About one more day of work before I send it off, wincing, to be read by eyes other than my own!

Wish me luck!

Will let you know how it goes shortly. Godwilling

Matt

2007-10-12T05:25:00.000-07:00

Peace to thee on the last day of Ramadan 2007,

A post fajr & small announcement that I have had a 153 page completed arc 1st draft for 2 weeks now!

Never thought I'd see the day!

Of course it is too long & one major subplot is going already, full steam ahead after Ramadan before I'll let it be read.

Hoping for further shavings & general tightening down to about 130 as a maximum God willing.

Salams!

2007-05-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

Herro!

hmm two month since I last posted... many joyful interruptions & trips elsewhere! Being newly married is certainly not the best time for maximum productivity!

However with settling down, there's been slow, steady improvement in general... although several problems had to be resolved for me to continue...

They had roots in dealing with exposition, that I just couldn't get right, .... so I went back to the books for a few weeks of intense re-study with Bob McKee, Karl Iglesias & others to deeply reassess what i thought I knew & to re-imbibe more wisdom, techniques & understanding for dialogue/character development & the eternally difficult exposition, that yet maintains interest & originality .

This has meant several re-iterations throughout the arc & reapproaches to the desciptive language, vividizing it all to specific verbs & greater concentration on avoiding adjectives & adverbs, condensing 4 characters & combining them to the more interesting result of only 2 & deeper rounding & articulation of back stories to each of the personaliies of the chess park misfits. Natural enough stuff for those who have travelled this path before.

Perhaps, most importantly, an increased examination of motivation & condensing REAL, tangible subtext as a basis for dialogue for all the main & minor characters.. basic stuff to approach any notion of quality in this oh so difficult domain... so progress made with the slow application of the hallowed craft ... my respect for those who acheive concistant quality is deepening all the while...

...& Godwilling I won't get swamped by excessive self-editing which seems to be the main enemy besides the inevitable procastination & distraction hence now considering a move to an isolated office during the day with no internet to increase productivity. Any research questions that arise I'll note them down on paper & take them home to do there later.

So I shall leave this low key blog for the time being which is proving a distraction at least for today... until the last full stop on that 1st draft...inshallah

The critical self- examining eye has proved slightly paralysing... but managing to overcome it & if you believe: certainly all Ability comes from The Beloved when you bust your guts! Funny thing taufiq...

See you from that so tantalizingly near shore (it's wavering through the binoculars through heavy swell) - Godwilling!

peace to you

Matt

The Board

2007-02-20T19:30:00.000-08:00

So this essentially is, (with the long treatment) what I'm working from, with my original script pinned up for the last 20 pages. It's 3rd draft itself. A reasonably complete arc......... however!

Entrenched, I am, in an important scene on page 11 at the mo, not making much forward progress until I'm happy with it as is with whatever the scene in front of me...excruciatingly slow. Quite nerve wracking actually. Difficult to get each scene 'feeling right' & such a nebulous phrase...

.....but it's getting a little easier every day Alhamdullilah, learning my way amidst the blank white stretching on...

Salams from the imagination trenches!
Matt

2007-02-14T13:49:00.000-08:00

Peace!

still quietly beavering away...

Abandoned the long treatment some time ago which still holds useful in favour of the time honoured index card approach!

It worked in so far that after 2 generations I have 40+ detailed cards holding nearly 60 scenes for a completed draft arc of the feature script which finally was completed over a month & even took a photo of! ha We'll see about posting it. Godwilling

But it's not the screenplay! Oh no

It's been smacked into me since I HAVE actually started at last, yay!- but adding dialogue is proving to be nerve wracking, as well the dynamics from notes play out very differently on full pages, forcing one to reconsider the quality & beats of the original idea but hopefulling bettering it all the while.. remains to be seen inshallah!

This is, truly, not easy by any means & Alhamdullilah! long slog from here, looking forward to the ride...

Valentines day interruptions aside

prayers always appreciated!

PS the other blog is not officially dead but a last post remains! Blessed marriage & copious web time go not together!

& Thank God for that, as I was certainly wasting too much time online

back to work!

Salams!

Matt

Back on it!

2006-12-30T15:56:00.000-08:00

Peace!

Been a while since Cairo! what, with the marriage, honeymoon, move & set-up 'n all in the states...how could you blame me? wow what a blast

and Praise be to Hu Who Made it so

pretty well set up now... here in Carlsbad, NM nice & quiet perfect for writing and it's been time to knuckle down & so I have!

Work has recommenced! the treatment had been frozen at pg 24 has now grown 6 and a 1/2 pages and have refound the source of the inspiration to this story that was planted way back in '96 & gotten a deeper perspective with my time away.

Longway to go but the characters are deepening & becoming more well rounded & original thank God.

My head is down & my beautiful wife has helped, 4 weeks is my time scheduled to finish the treatment, should beat that by some way Godwilling.

so the last post for 2006..!

to next year! I wish to any who chance upon this quiet little post.

Astonished Salams!

2006-10-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

Greetings after a day of fasting!

over a page of outakes as I stutter on page 19 & which direction to take in the 2nd ... Oleg's becoming a little predictable to me at this stage, opening that gap of expectation is real writers work.. Ramadan's severing hours but Praise be to He for it All

back to it..!

2006-09-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

arrghphmf salams!

pace has crawled to a page a day if I'm lucky with Ramadan on... Alhamdullilah

the molasses of the second act had me panicking for a moment as I need conflicts with alluring legs, that cover an hour of screen time, happily seeds have formed by the Grace of He who Inspireth all: now to a known ending! should be easier than most... so what am I complaining about?

but it's getting genuinely difficult, wrenching my head at the desk, walking around talking it through there's always a way... finding it is the grace

veritably relishing the challenge though!

daring not to re read to much until I've feel I've completed the entire length, I know myself too well, self-editing could drag me down a hole at this stage

wishes of divine inspiration for all similar creative spirits this Ramadan...

peace!

2006-09-18T04:54:00.000-07:00

Herro..!

Ok about 5 days at work now, produced almost 10 pages of prose scenes for the treatment, in prep for the proper 1st draft,

Alhamdullilah I guess that's called progress! ....I pray & hope that it continues, (Godwilling) should have most of the prep material for 2 acts in antoher week to 10 days

Lonely work though, this writing! outside the streets are buzzing & I'm holing myself away, totally necessary, sp prone to distraction :) Alhamdullilah that was the plan in any case..I'm not complaing!

getting up at 4AM, pre-dawn ibada for a change Alhamdullilah!, got a great cycle going, thanks to God's Almighty Help, managed to mop the flat, big time on my way out to get rid of the stinky malathione left there by Dr Osama to kill most of the insects while no-one's been there, these last 4 years

alas today no writing thus yet, except this!

The first steps to getting my driving license in Egypt! ...gulp...it's no easier here than in the KSA, is this an Arab world standard? mm first had to cash an American express travellers cheque: can only do it in 3 places in Cairo! that took a day & a 1/2 to find out, from 6-7 different change houses & banks, eventually found the American Express office this morning Alhamdullilah

then the drivers license quest began, you see in Aus it's a 5-10 minute trip to the rego office & it's done, here it's like stepping back in time to place where organized is a word people dream about but rarely ever encounter, but they do have a hard determination that people in Aus would start shouting after about a 10 th of the following:

-went to the darasssat daratat al maroor (maroor means traffic/license/vehicle admin centre) 8 km away with a madman Taxi driver who abused every car that got in his way, 15 pounds (2 euro), on the advice of some street police outside the American Express office, completely wrong! made to a desk, who kindly informed me that I had to go across town, 7km to another maroor

-2nd Taxi ride of the moring to the 2nd Maroor, elderly driver, another 14 pounds should have been 10 may be even 7 but I can't stand being stingy with these poor drivers. Sat in the insane office of the manager, gave up trying to get his attention there were 50 other Egyptians stuffed in there all shoving bits of paper in his face, & intensely murmuring. I left with out a word...found a placard outside with most of the info uh-oh needed to change my passport visa, had it confirmed, need an 'iqama' (residential permit) on my passport had to head to the British embassy, will also need proof of my address & several medical reports, step by step... inshallah

-3rd taxi ride, much calmer & middle aged driver, owned the cab, which is unusual, although he was utterly exhausted, had been driving since 2AM, another 14 pounds, becuase he went out of his way and found what he did not know, a further 6-7 km back into the centre on utterly choked roads, to the British embassy, negotiated successfully through the security labyrinth to the consular section, waited another 30 minutes for my turn, read the officious British expat club mag, strewth I don't belong in that world, only to learn at thwe window with a very polite & professional sister, that I had to get the visa changed not there, but by taking on the dreaded 'mogammara': the massive government edifice on medain tahrir

which I did, after praying zhuhr in a stunning fatamid era 'Masgid' .....starting to pick up the dreaded masry 'G' already...! ya HAGGY! azzaluk 'Ammil EHHH? (how are you? what yr doing?) ( in colloqial Egyptian dialect) that's right, UH? just can't understand what people are saying here, no classical forsah on the streets here I'm afraid

so the quest continues, I walked my way there, to the mogammara, the dark reddish of the Egyptian Museum spoke of other gentler days to come, inshallah not this one though

-the Mugammara! My Lord, 10 Stories high 300 metres long, packed to the gills with petty, overworked administators who've been holding down hard to get, miserably paid jobs since Nasser's era ...fin bref: spent a further hour, finding the right windows, amidst teeming hordes from all Africa/Arabia & Europa: eventually found the window out of 50, after several false starts, made a first step by a kind serious & pious woman or so it seemed, was given a huge A3 sized form, was sent down stairs, had to make photocopies, got bad directions, filled it out, found I had a spare photo on me... was told I had to go back up after waiting uselessly in the shadows of vastly more experienced Arabs who've got being professionally rude & pushy ( ie ignoring anyone whose been waiting patiently: more or less, every man & woman for himself, free for all , no numbers no queues, just 1/2 moon shaped frantic, clutching paper, one armed herds of smelly brothers around barred windows) as a necessity that everyone understands down to an art,

went back up stairs, found another lady, who filled out the Arabic section while she conducted a profound heart to heart conversation with another colleage, like I barely existed, but was at least quick while she mulittasked quite impressively, in due course, she sent me off to buy stamps (91 pounds: 13 euros for a one year iqama) brought them back, she attatched them, as proof of payment & told me to come back (noooooooo!) tommorrow at 9AM at window 38, where it should be ready

hahaha.. Alhamdullilah it's now 3:30PM, buzy day try & get a quick nap & attempt at least a page

what possessed me to share this, I have no idea! :) strange days indeed

and Praise Be To He Who Maketh it so

Mattx

2006-09-12T13:44:00.000-07:00

Eessmuk eeeeeeYY?? (what's your name: Egyptian style)

~

2 Days, one fasting : removing caps, full stopping sentences, snipping dialouge, scooping the extraneous away, smoothing corners, accommodating large, semi- mythical imaginative narrative sub-structures backwards while flowing forward...

Fresh eyes on old pages and old ideas and it feels right...something is summoning forth beneath the ocean, bubbling & frothing the muse before it breaks the surface: what it is, will be and yet to be witnessed by any, known only to God Almighty, the Creator of Creativity Itself (and what does that infinite loop mean?) the Involver Unseen

~~~

I've questioned the value of having this blog a few times in the last 24 hours, how to keep one about a new project without writing out it's energy? but it seems to be flowing..we'll see otherwise a delete may yet occur if it starts to impede

new territory, exotic culture, Ramadan in a few weeks! Ya Allah!

fi hifz Allah!

2006-09-10T06:05:00.000-07:00

This is the 1st post in the trials & tribulations of my selfish quest to finish a feature film of the above title based on the long developed short film. To those that know me certainly know the effort expended so far, it's survival from fire in Australia....and how it must be completed for me to go on without the burden of regret towards my inevitable death one day

.. and so it progresses, Godwilling, to it's final, more completed & financially viable form

It will be initially a documentation of the writing process over the next couple of months, of the 1st feature length draft here in Cairo...

script details & information on how to assist if you so desire, will be available soon....

May God make it Easy for me!... your prayers are a great blessing in this process

and so it begins....

May God,(Exalted be He!) Grant me motivation, imagination, work ethic & the perception to discriminate quality from dross!

amin

Salams!