The Academy Awards: Revival Plan

The Oscars have been in rating free fall since 1998, that 'Titanic' year.
--Entertainment Weekly reports that the show is badly in need of a revival plan--

I would like to take this opportunity to put in my two cents:

In the postmodern times the film industry has gone global.. All the best acting gold this year went to foreigners. Many of the other talent are not Americans either. This has been happening for a while now but it is now really beginning to disconnect the heart of America from the elite Academy members.

It is essencial that Hollywood embrace talent from all over the world. It is important fot Hollywood that it remains the motion picture capital of the world and as such it must constantly acknowledge and find new talent. While this may alienate Americans it pleases foriengers. So while American viewer ship has been slipping global viewership has gone up. Awarding foriegners makes Hollywood global wich is certianly good for business.

American actors and big studio films need to get better. The problem is the average American consumer would see Saw 5 instead of There Will be Blood, and the studio's play to this. Because the average movie goer does not like, or can't follow a well done movie, it makes it hard for commercial success and critical success or academy praise to go hand in hand.

My solution for this is as follows.

Before the Academy announces it's nominations, a seperate group should begin the process of polling and asking regular Americans there choices for best movie of the year, best actor, best actress ect. They could have a website where after January 1st people can regisiter to vote and people can vote for their favorites pics for all the major catagories. The Academy would then make it's own announcements and both would be announced at the awards show. The First 3o minutes of the show would be a compilation of the best moments of the years movies, and the results of Americas votes would be announced.* This would provide insight for the academy (on it's connect or disconnect for the year), interest for the masses, reason for then to tune in, and would seek to promote more movies making the award show about all movies, making the studios and the networks happy as well. The awards would still only be for Academy pics but it would help give praise for the Will Ferrels and other comedic types who do great work but are not recognized.

*It would not be a 'Peoples choice' type thing, it could be done with class.

I would also condiser adding a comedy catagory. it could be for men and women combined, i would love to see comedians acknowledged for there contribution.

1 out of 100???

The New York Times reported today that one out of evcery 100 people is in prison.

This is out of control? Isn't it? America has more people behind bars than even China. Many states spend more on Prisons than they do on higher education!!! Something has to change... this seems completely out of control to me.

We need to figure out a cheaper way to deal with people. We need to get everyone that can work, working for the economy somehow. Working on road, building things or manufacturing something. Whit collar criminals should be punished by forced labor by the governenment. If they do a bad job, or constantly show poor work, the sentence continues. They should pay there debt to society by working for society. This is where I think planeting microchips comes in. --If you commit a felony you have lost the right to privacy-- This way people can be tracked.

For the length of their sentence they must live in governemt housing, and ride a special buss to and from work at there specified state job. If they attempt to go anywhere else, there punishment time gets longer. If they deviate again. They are incarcerated. They would be required to clean and do other chores, much like Army personell. The whole thing would be much like a non-volunteer Army. Because criminals cannot be trusted with weapons we cannot send them to combat. Peace keeping mission abroad would be a possibility for some people. Drugs and alcohol would be strictly forbidden and random testing would be done ontiop of weekly testing.

This would save the government BILLIONS and would not only help rehabilitate people and put them to work for the society they harmed but also teach people who never had a teacher. Education would also be mandatory for all who cannot pass a standardized test. Certian inmates/participants could follow classes over the internet and work towards degrees.

Also to spead the process along, all capital crimes that have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt (unequivical DNA or video proof) should be processed immediatley and the criminals executed within a year.

I know it seems harsh but when you think about how it cost's almost $40,000 to house and watch these people, it is more than obvious that that money should be spend elswhere, like on education and crime prevention!!!

Just my thoughts

Hillary or Obama?

This Democratic Primary is something isn't it? Who would have thought it would drag out this long? Hillary didn't.

But there is nothing like a good fight to gather the crowds and rally the party. This Primary is so important and so viscious because we all know that a democrat is going to win the White House. I think most people are so tired of the Repilican gaurd (including the planet) that it is all but certian. This fight for the Democratic nomination is so huge because it is essentially a fight for the presidency.

** John McCain is just to old and stale for most Americans. Huckabee just likes to campaign, go on TV and collect money from people, he's not a bad guy, but let's be honest he's in it for the fame. He doesn't strike me as Presidential at all.**

So which canidate should be President? Barack or Hillary?

Change is something we will get no matter which of our choices we elect... The question is what kind of change do you want, or to what degree?

I like Barack Obama, he is smart, articulate and a burst of life into a stale and rigid system. I look forward to great things from him. I want to see more of what he stands for, more of what he can do as a leader. But I don't think it is his time to be president.

I personally support Hillary. I think she is more prepared, she has more skills and abilities to get things done. She knows the world leaders, knows the policies, knows what she wants and needs to do to get things back to where they were before the Bush/Rove/Cheney debacle. I want a President who supports and is friendly with California. I think it is time America has a Woman president and I think that Hillary is the most qualified.

Barack has run an awesome campaign, he has vitalized, galvanized and the disenfranchised with his messages. He has great support (Obviosuly the Kennedy's are going to support him because it suits there image as much or more than it suits his, Oprah should stay out of Polotics and just stick to giving stuff away. He also has support from Repulicans who just want to hurt Hillary.) and is no doubt a fine man, and a long needed leader and role model for Black America.

He has become a trend and I am always weary of trends. I feel Barack is un-tested. By comparison he has no credit history and is seeking to buy a mansion. I'm not saying he can't afford it... he very well could, i'm just saying, if I was the Bank I would want a little more credit history before I give out such a loan. America is in a delicate place right now and experience is essential to getting things done, and even more so for undueing things that have already been done. Running America is no easy task and if you don't know what you are doing, or who you can trust, or who can help you or who is out to hurt you... things can go sour. I like that Hillary has been through this all already. She survived the worst smear campaign the Republicans could muster. No easy feat.

I also understand why she voted for the war. She, like most people thought it would be like the first Gulf War, quick and easy. It is not her fault that Billions were wasted and 'dissappeared'. That Halliburton didn't rebuild, or the Rumsfeld allowed the torturing of people. America cannot help but be involved in the Middle East. The Saudi's wanted us to dispose of him, Isreal wanted us to dispose of him, and Exxon wanted the oil. America needed that oil to stabalize it's economy, we needed to bring change to the region, the question was only how?

Bush Co.'s method of maddness f*cked Iraq up royally, wasted billions and dragged it on for as long as it possibly could/can so the checks for Halliburton keep coming, and so we can secure our control over the oil. It has all been done on purpose, there is no mistake about it.

I understand why Barack would vote against the war (remember it was a vote to dispose Sadaam, not a vote to send 140,000 troops over to Iraq for 5 years), but I also know why Hillary would vote for it.

No one wants this to get ugly, but everyone likes a fight. Obviously I am going to support whomever the nominie is but I would love to see a Hillary Obama ticket. I think that would be the best way to unify the party, and that way Barack would be fully prepared for the Presidency 4 or 8 years later.

Change we will have no matter what, and that is something I can't wait for!

TWB Farwell

No one is going to think anything of TWB until someone from TWB sells a script. Or until someone finds a script on TWB and buys it.

And the people whose thoughts matter are never going to even know about TWB unless that film is made AND makes money.

There is no getting around that.

So the question then becomes How is someone at TWB going to sell a script?

If you ask me you should make it a group effort. Write great scripts, with peer reviews et al. Collaborate and share methods and contacts, have four people work on getting one script seen and sold. You stand a much better chance focusing on one script, than four people working on four scripts or eight.

Find a project to rally around, work as a team to write it, promote it, get it buz, get it seen and read. Then if you sell it the credit TWB and the main contridutors. This would make TWB the contact that it so needs. It would make it a place where scripts go to get polished and sold, and it would give it cred that would make Agents or producers more likely to look for material.

What is important to remember is that everyone at TWB is writing 'Spec Scripts'. No one asked for them, they were written on speculation and by definition need to be four quadrant high concept, very marketable stories. Juno is the perfect example. No Country for Old Men would never sell on Spec.

I moved to LA almost two years ago and have worked on TV shows, feature films, Agencies, and management companies. I have leanred so much in this and i am still trying to understand how it all works... when you think you know, it all changes again or the rules you thought existed are all being broken. There is a definitate path to the biz, and Lit agents and producers can smell an outsider from a mile away. If you don't follow the path you will never get anywhere. There are shortcuts and there are hurdles. But if you don't even know the path you will wander aimlessly forever.

So what is the path?

Know someone in the biz who wants to help you.

or

Write a verified excellent Spec script; marketable catchy, relevant, and interesting. Make sure everyone knows about it; agents, producers, managers. Find that one person that wants to make it and buy it. Pray it makes money.

**

I have feel I am getting close and I am building up some contacts of my own, but i am not in a place to get anyone elses material read, especially if it is not amazingly good. I have enough trouble getting my material read! Remember you are competing with thousands of writers who have sold scripts, so it has to be really good or really original to even have a chance.

The issue with TWB is that is doesn't help people like me: young, in LA and work in the biz, and aspiring screewriter. When I first began looking for help in my screenwriting career/mission I found TWB. I was immature and rambuctions; but was overly criticized, even discouraged here. I went elsewhere for help and found it. Today I have a great relationship with a Literary Agent and I make new contacts on every job. I know it's only a matter of time before I write a perfect spec and get it into the right hands. It takes a lot of work, dedication and timing. But I am in for the long haul.

I think there is a definate place for TWB. This thread got me thinking about TWB and how I used it. There were some great discussons from 2005 I am copying before they get deleted. The way I see TWB today is the same way any Agency or Production house is going to see it? What have you done for me lately? No one is this biz is going to stick there neck out for you. It's unwise. It is better to say no on something that seems viable, than to say yes on something, spend millions and be totally wrong.

I know many 'senior members' don't like me as far as I can tell. None have really been helpful to me whe I asked for it; so it is hard for me to want to help them. I am in a position to help people these days but I have found a circle that I trust and that supports me, we support eachother. Helping people is a great way to help yourself. The sucess of your friends is your success right? Choose your friends well.

Once my membership expires I will not be renewing it. Wish me luck! I wish TWB the best of luck. Don't stop beleiving.

Oscars 2008

Not a bad show. Not a great show.

Dark themes, alienation, death, pain, greed, evil...

As Jon Stewart said, "Thank God for team pregnancy!"

I would have like to see more clip shows like the ones Billy Crystal did. I like Jon Stewart I think he is a great host, but I want to see the show more lively and fun. Next year hopefully the movies won't be so dark. It was a dark year for Hollywood and indeed America.

I am actaully really glad that Tilda and the French girl won. I like them both and am going to see 'en Rose' soon.

I have been watching the Academy awards since i was a kid. It is one of my favorite things, my family has always been into it. My Mom was always routing for the underdog foriegn films... it seemt that the international is now winning the prestige war with the Hollywood studios. And the foriegn acots are stealing all the American Academy gold!

Hollywood needs to take a good hard look at itself and try and understand why this is happening. Why are the people who don't live in LA better actors?

I hope the 'Britney Spears' disease is not spreading... mediocraty we cannot have.

Movie: Michael Clayton

Very good movie.

It was very Syriana, highly convoluted, hard to follow, and confusing. This film however comes together perfectly in one swoop. It all makes sense all the sudden. It truly is a great film, I would highly recommend to all intellegent film viewers.

Not Clooney's best performance I thought, he brought the gusto in the final scene, but other than that scene I didn't see a great performance.

I liked No Country for Old Men better, but this film is certianly justified as a best picture nomination.

8.6

It's a sign.

I am currently writing a script called "The Nigerian Letter". On the Tonight show with Jay Leno the term came up. It's a sign. It's gonna be a great movie. This was a sign.

Movie: There Will Be Blood

Very good.

Danielle Day Lewis is amazing. A truly powerful performance. He was the film, and he was rivetting. A great story, with a good cast.

I don't see it as best picture, but DDL should get best actor, hands down.


8.5 out of 10.

Hollywood Types

I feel like I am turning into a 'Hollywood' type.

I am not an actor, but sometimes I act like one.

I am not a director but I direct things.

I have never sold a screenplay --yet but I am close.

I live in Hollywoodland in a dream.

I am always looking for friends and networking contacts, I am going to start to put a production company together in the next year and I am going to add Producer to my resume.

I don't want to be just another Hollywood type, I want to be the guy that went Hollywood but never forgot where he came from.

Producing (Old re-post)

"A Producer is nothing but a dog with a script in his mouth."

I learned something interesting watching this DVD a friend of mine has, given to her buy a producer about producing. She works at a coffe shop he frequents, and he likes her but she said he's kinda 'creepy... and sexual' but the point is he gave her a copy of "Hello, He Lied... And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches (AMC Program starring Linda Obst)" and it is actually really enlightening on Producing I thought...

Basically what I gather about producing* is that it is very hard and is filled with unexpeted bumps problems, choas, good luck, awesome/horrible timing, magic, disater and sometimes a movie. What you are going through now is nothing compared to what you are going to be in for once the ball starts growing... It's all about relationships, and you have to be a good sales man, excite people about the idea... LIE WHEN YOU NEED TO... you have to make people think you have gold even though your holding lead. It will either all come together... the movie gods will smile upon you... or curse you into development hell! AAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Noooooooooooooooo....

Sorry I had a panic attack.

I think it sounds like you guys are not in a bad place. What has to start happening (agian in my baseless opinion) is you have to start to build a relationship with this actor, he is your new best friend and your co-worker... a tough place to be. You are his boss but he is your job, he has a lot of the power and much of your buget may be going to him, it sounds like he is the movie so...

You could be facing creative control issues, if you plan to go to a studio... get ready for that, I don't ever hear about it being an easy process... I mean once you get funding you have to make the fucking movie! You need to find a Director this actor will like who understands your vision... the movie might end up completely different than you imagine it if you are not careful... or maybe it was a good thing

It sounds to me like you are entering the realm of development... which can be a decade long process or like rolling a snow ball down the hill and a film ends up at the bottom and you win an Oscar (we can dream can't we?).

I wish you the best of luck, and I hope to learn from your experience. I am no where near ready to produce a film at the point I am at, I am just trying to sell my idea and hope it turns out well, maybe get a speaking part on it.

Some day I will produce an Oscar film... Some day I will produce an Oscar film...

Some day I will produce an Oscar film...

I tell myself that everyday.

Best!

*(I know nothing about producing but you can sure as hell bet I am going to figure it out!)

Postmodernism #4

One thing you should know about the information age, about postmoderism.

Secret#1

It is all about launguage.

No knowledge that cannot be transfer-translated-or-caputured by a computer will survive the postmoder transformation. Period the end.

If it cannot be be put into a computer language, it is not knowledge.

Experiences, dreams... not knowledge.

Words and text... knowledge, power.

Pictures... worth a thousand words.

If you master the art of communication, if you are able to translate your knowledge into a computer, if you are able to use launguage (not as many people as you think are really capable of this) to communicate your knowledge, if you can transfer it to a computer and thus share it with the postmodern-cyber-image-media driven world, then you have leanred the art of...

Postmoderism.

Language is magic.

Smoke and mirrors.

Rhyme and reason.

Law and rules.

Math and science.

Religion and philosophy.

Everything.

The reality of many people, people take books for literal truth.

Books are falable because they are created by man.

Text is meaningless, unless it has meaning. Who gets to descide?

You do.

So go ahead.

What is Postmodernism?

What is Postmodernism?

"The more you know, the more you know you don't know"

I think it helps to think about the market for your script as well as the way in which you think it will fit into the mainstream? Will it be over looked or will it stand out?...

Here is a writing exersise I engaged in that helped me and other writer understand my story and our world...

I would love to hear thoughts and discuss this more with anyone.

AxiomTy
Anything turns to everything as quickly as everything turns to anything!

Reply Criptic Quotes
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"Eclectic Simularum Reality Posted Bricollage."

Darkness and Sunshine

What is Postmodernism? It exists in Language.

jimjimgrande
Registered User
Posts: 2
(2/5/05 10:16 am)
Reply Re: ..@$% Postmodernism? %$@..
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I took a class on it in college and I still don't know what it is.

AxiomTy
Registered User
Posts: 14
(2/5/05 11:55 am)
Reply Re: ..@$% Postmodernism? %$@..
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That's why they should make a movie!

Do you think they should make a movie that adresses this totally cool social theory?

scriptfxr
Registered User
Posts: 47
(2/8/05 1:32 pm)
Reply No
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No.

They should make a movie about great characters in an engaging story. If one of them happens to talk about postmodernism theory as his "thing" then it might make for an interesting character... but to build a movie around an esoteric theory? Good luck...

AxiomTy
Registered User
Posts: 25
(2/9/05 3:09 am)
Reply Re: No
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You don't build the movie around it. You make a movie using it..

That "interesting character" is the professor in the story, and the engaging characters happen to be smart and beautiful, and ever so marketable characters.

The story is built around someone who is trying to understand the world he lives in, trying to make it right.


AxiomTy
Registered User
Posts: 28
(2/12/05 12:32 pm)
Reply What is the Matrix?
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You know what movie is built around postmodern theories. The Matrix. The Matrix digs into the esoteric, and incorporates Pomo theorist Jean Baudrillards 'death of the real' and 'simulation and simularca' as well as many other postmodern styles and concepts.

I'm telling ya, this pomo thing is already big, the market is there, waiting to be addressed.

username
Registered User
Posts: 44
(2/12/05 7:41 pm)
Reply Re: What is the Matrix?
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The Matrix was successful for it's special effects. That's what put asses in seats -- not postmodern theories.

AxiomTy
Registered User
Posts: 30
(2/13/05 3:22 am)
Reply O' contrare
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Postmodern theories of film making drove people to create such awsome visual effects. They beautifully evelated and integrated computer animation flawlessly within the story.

Before that could get on screen, there needed to be a theory for what it is that they (The Wycoski or whatever Brothers who spent five years writing and researching [postmodern] theorists) were trying to bring to the screen.

Special effects don't make up for a weak story, in my book; luckily the Matrix has both.

My point was that the market has already responded well to postmodern elements being thrown at them. I think the market is ripe for a film like the one I just so happen to be selling...

username
Registered User
Posts: 45
(2/13/05 11:39 am)
Reply Re: O' contrare
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Perhaps the Wachowski's (sp?) intended The Matrix to be based on postmodern theories, and perhaps it is based on postmodern theories -- to be honest, i'm not real sure what postmodernism is -- but, the fact remains that it was more successful for it's special effects than for it's ability to get people to buy into it's underlying postmodernistic theories. The Wachowski's (sp?) creatively found a way to turn a decades-old idea into a movie that was able to showcase cutting-edge special effects technology and CGI. That is what the market responded to.

A google of "postmodern" reveals that the concept of postmodernism emerged in the mid-80's. The concept the Wachowski's (sp?) used (machines vs. man) has been done many times before -- even before "postmodernism" emerged as a concept. Take Kubrick's Space Odyssey. That movie was released in '68. It used the same theme of man vs. machine (Hal vs. Dave) as the Wachowski's (sp?) used three decades later (man vs. machine). What about the Terminator movies??? Again, it's man vs. machine.

In ALL of the examples i listed, each of those movies were praised for their special effects, which were cutting-edge in their time. That, is/was the main attraction to those movies, and that is/was what the market responded to -- NOT any underlying postmodern theories, as in fact, postmodernism was still two decades away when Space Odyssey was released.

AxiomTy
Registered User
Posts: 33
(2/19/05 3:40 pm)
Reply The Matrix has you Username...
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I changed the size of the title in that last post and then it just deletes the whole thing, fricken computers...

The Matrix is postmodernism, an instance of postmodernism, an example of it. The effects, the story, the marketing, the concept-- postmodern!

Meaning, new, cutting edge, drawing on the past in a new way, intertextual (drawing on texts of east and west, i.e. Oracles and Kung Fu) and elevating digital effects to the status of the real... entering us into an era of hyperreality film making! Can't get someone to do that on camera? No problem we will just digitally make them do it.

Postmodernism did not just appear in the 1980's. You have completely missed the boat. The term Postmodernism, the term, has been around since the 19th century (the 1880's to be exact) and where the modern era ends and the postmodern era begins is not yet answerable. But one thing is certian, we are in the post now.

"The concept the Wachowski's (sp?) used (machines vs. man) has been done many times before -- even before "postmodernism""

This is exactly why the Matrix is postmodern. It is taking a conceopt that has been visited millions of times and making it new, bringing new elements to it and making a story conbination that relies on many elements, together. Man vs, Machine + mind over matter + hyperreality computer worlds + men in black + gangster neo-noir + spoon bending Budhists + action, explosions and unkillable computer programs. and more.

Postmodernism is best thought of as the world today, a world where all rules are out the window. All the worlds ideas, cultures, creeds, religions, races, concepts, sciences, stories and facts are stirring together contradicting eachother and making it impossible to understand who is right and who is better looking? Postmodernism is the era of the image, image is everything and money is the only sign of value, everything is sex and nothing is sex, TV and reality have blended giving us a world of simulated hyperreality where we watch TV as it watches us. In this world we can google answers and find information about anything instentaneously, whether or not it's true is only a matter of perspective anyway! In this way religion is both dieing and being reborn, falling appart and coming center stage, it becomes absolete and necessesary. Everyone is simply lost in a world of images, we perfer them to reality anyway, and we all go about our lives living in a dream world we can't rise out of, why would you want to leave anyway...

Darkness and Sunshine: A Postmodern Story

username
Registered User
Posts: 46
(2/21/05 6:41 pm)
Reply The Matrix has you Username...
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I don't know what postmodernism is, and quite frankly, i don't care what it is. The only time i ever even thought about postmodernism was after reading your posts here. A google of "postmodernism" returned...


Quote:
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Postmodernism is a complicated term, or set of ideas, one that has only emerged as an area of academic study since the mid-1980s.
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That quote comes from the first link returned by google. That link is...
www.colorado.edu/English/.../pomo.html

That is where i came up with the part about postmodernism originating in the '80's. But, like i mentioned, i don't know anything about postmodernism, and if you say it started earlier, then that's fine with me. I'm in no position to question that.

However, i would like to question one of your claims. You posted...


Quote:
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where the modern era ends and the postmodern era begins is not yet answerable. But one thing is certian, we are in the post now
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How can this be??? If it hasn't been answered as to when the modern era ended and the post-modern era began, then how can we know for certain that we are in the postmodern era now??? Wouldn't it be impossible to claim that we are in the postmodern era now, when we don't even know for sure when the modern era ended, or even if the modern era did in fact, end??? Perhaps we are in the modern era now -- maybe even the pre-modern era??? Is it grandiose of us to assume that we are in the postmodern era???

I watch movies to be entertained. When i watch a movie, i'm not looking for enlightenment, knowledge, understanding, etc. I simply want to be entertained for two hours. Maybe i'm shallow, but i don't want to have to think real hard at the movies, and i don't want to have to try and figure out underlying postmodern concepts or how i can apply them to my everyday world. A movie, to me, is an escape, where i can forget about the day's worries, and just relax and get lost in what's happening on the screen.

I liked The Matrix movies, because i like Mr. Smith and some of the other baddies, and i particularly liked watching them fight with Keanu Reeves and his gang. That was the entire attraction to me -- the special effects and action sequences. To me it was about man vs. machine and really cool CGI. If that's postmodernism, then so be it, but that's not what i was thinking about while watching. The main draw for me and countless others was the special effects and fight sequences. The story was secondary and nonessential. All the viewer needs to know is that the machines want the humans dead, and the humans don't want to be dead. If people want to analyze it on a deeper level, then that's up to them, but that's not what i go to the movies for, and that's not what Hollywood marketed when they advertised these films.

I'm not into the "red pill, blue pill" or "The One," or any of that other crap. I just want to see some fighting and Carrie Anne Moss in that skin tight suit. (IMO, The Matrix would have been a much better movie if they had put Angelina Jolie or Teri Hatcher or somebody like that in that skin tight suit.) The Terminator was the same way for me -- cool fighting, and in the last one, a really hot chick playing the "bad machine." Personally, i didn't care for Space Odyssey because it was too much story and not enough action.

Don't get me wrong, though -- i do like a good story, but i like it even better when there's some big explosions and big tits to back it up. If they're able to package it into a movie that is based on postmodern concepts, then that's cool too, but don't blame me if i pay more attention to the cleavage than to the concept.

AxiomTy
Registered User
Posts: 34
(2/22/05 2:59 pm)
Reply The Matrix has a lot of people...
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First of all I don't want to offend you dude, and I want to say I enjoy our difference of opinion and discussion and I hope it is mutual.

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Postmodernism is a complicated term, or set of ideas, one that has only emerged as an area of academic study since the mid-1980s.
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This statement is dead wrong becuase many of the most prominent discourses on postmodernism were written in the 1970's. Loytards "The Postmodern Condition" was written in 1972! And he was building on previous other discourses.

Did World War II ever end? Common understanding would say yes and yet some would say no. This is like modernism and postmodernism. While the war was declared over, we are still dealing with the consequences and aftermath of it. The middle east was a WWII creation, all the countries were divied up in the post WWII and that is far from over (Iraq, Isreal Palistine ect).

Postmodernism is full of contradiction and catch 22's, just like in the matrix. Man and machine trying to kill each other even though they can't survive without eachother; catch 22. This is the post dude, we hate it but thats just the way it is.

"Perhaps we are in the modern era now -- maybe even the pre-modern era??? Is it grandiose of us to assume that we are in the postmodern era???"

Of course it is! But this is also how I KNOW we are in the postmodern era (a catch-22), we are questioning wether or not we are which means we are. Just like the end of WWII came with the delcaration that it was over, the postmodern era began with the delcaration that it has begun. The problem is that it has been delcared man times by many people in many ways. What makes it even more complicated is the fact that not EVERYONE is in the postmodern mode or mindset, many people and many places are still living in the past, the pre-modern as you put it. So in a sense you are right. But only the postmodern era and thinking could give us the Matrix right?

"Don't get me wrong, though -- i do like a good story, but i like it even better when there's some big explosions and big tits to back it up. If they're able to package it into a movie that is based on postmodern concepts, then that's cool too, but don't blame me if i pay more attention to the cleavage than to the concept."

Spoken like a true red blooded American, I love it. Don't get me wrong either dude, I love a good cleavage shot and expensive explosion, but the nerd in me also like a good subtext and high concept. Postmodernism in film only draws attention to the fact that rules are breaking, it is not trying to make people strain their brains. South Park is a great example of Postmodern Television. Pushing content to the edge, and yet it is so simple or as the creaters put it in the South Park movie filled with "crappy animation". See postmodernism is fun, it is all around you, you just don't realize it because you don't know any different. Old people on the other hand grew up in a world that is long since gone, to the masses while to them it may still exist, but such is postmodernism...

Keep watching the cleavage dude, postmodernism want to give you more!

username
Registered User
Posts: 47
(2/24/05 7:34 pm)
Reply Re: The Matrix has a lot of people...
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Oh no, i'm not offended. I'm sorry if i came across like i am/was offended.

"Postmodernism," for me, is a term i've heard many times but never gave a second thought to -- i simply dismissed it, whether correctly or incorrectly, as being "artsy-fartsy," and since i've never considered myself to be much of an artsy-fartsy type guy, i've just ignored the term and/or whatever it might mean.

Then, i started reading your posts about postmodernism, and it made me start thinking about the term and what it means. I guess i'm not very good at it, because i still don't know what it means, LOL. However, as far as postmodernism relates to the movies, i think we are both in agreement, even if we don't refer to it as the same thing. In other words, i think we both liked The Matrix for the same reasons, even if i just refer to it as "cool effects," while you refer to the underlying postmodern concepts that brought us those cool effects.

I guess my point is that even though i might like a movie that is full of postmodern concepts and in fact relied on those concepts in order for the movie to be made in the first place, the red-blooded American in me won't allow myself to acknowledge the postmodern stuff, i guess because, i don't understand it.

Hollywood LOVES guys like me. As long as they keep pumping out explosions and big tits, or really cool story lines and really funny one-liners, then i'll keep buying tickets. AND, if those same movies are considered to be "postmodern," that's fine too, but Hollywood needs to market them to me as action-packed flicks with ultra-hot chicks instead of something that i would consider "artsy-fartsy." I think if Hollywood loses sight of that, and starts trying to push the postmodern angle, then Hollywood is gonna lose.

Even if The Matrix is a postmodern movie, i think you would be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of people who would be in agreement with that and/or willing to discuss the posmodern concepts involved. On the other hand, you wouldn't have any problem at all in finding a plethora of people willing to jump on the "cool effects" bandwagon. I think Hollywood realizes that and will market it's movies accordingly, since i represent the target market, LOL.


AxiomTy
Registered User
Posts: 36
(2/25/05 1:20 am)
Reply Exactly
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"Artsy-fartsy" I love it.

What I love about you is that you both love and hate postmodernism, which is so postmodern.

I have a secret though. Postmodernism is a scam!

I made it all up just to promote my script:
Darkness and Sunshine: A Postmodern Story

I bet I could get you, Joe-Hollywood, to come see my movie. I just need to add an explosion...

*This post was deleted from soyouwannasellascript.com for some reason, this post has been edited so as not to rattle any nerves!

Generation Gap

I wanted to share this cuz I think it is interesting, it came from me talking about postmodernism and my screenplay...

**

Julian (me)– per your post above about others here thinking you are immature. What we have here is a failure to communicate. (That’s a line from a very famous movie that many of us here in Jurassic Park remember clearly!).

I think the problems you are encountering here {The Writers Building} are, for the most part, generational. Most members here, judging from the bios, are Baby Boomers and grew up at a time when we inherited the world our WWII parents created for us; a world that was saved from facism by a military paradigm. Our folks came home from war, went to work for big companies based on a military, bureacratic models and bought us televisions and and some toys. Our folks stayed married and retired with a gold watch and enough in the bank to buy a condo in Florida or Arizona.

When Boomers went to work, interestingly enough, we accepted the general bureacractic paradigm and bought into most of the ‘rules’, thinking that we could work really hard and get rewarded for it. Boomers brought some changes into the workforce, namely the concepts of life/family issues, but for the most part, Boomers aren’t as adapable as we’d like to think.

Boomers’ kids, however, the Gen Xers and the Yers had a much different experience – you’re much more cynical because you saw your parents divorce in record numbers, you saw your parents get downsized and you realized that the only way to get ahead in this world is to rely on yourself. Plus, you are the most pampered generation in US history. While you may not have had a parent at home when you returned from school in the afternoon, you had a cell phone, a computer and anything else you wanted. In essence, you expect to be listened to and given as much authority and autonomy as you want because that’s what you had in your household.

I think what you’re bumping into here at TWB is no different than what’s happening at companies and businesses everywhere. The Boomers are still running the shop but we cannot for the life of us figure out how to keep Gen Xers and Yers in the workforce. We think you are too arrogant and selfish and not ready for the responsibilities you tell us you deserve. You think we are too old and stuck in the mud and unwilling to look at the world in a new way. Who cares if I work from my back deck at midnight rather than coming into the office? It should be about getting the work done, right?

What to do? Hell if I know; but my suggestion to you, Julian, is to try to understand where most people here are coming from and stop arguing when you receive advice that you don’t agree with. Instead, ignore it and move on. The business we are trying to break into is still being run, for the most part, by Boomers and the push-back you are getting here so far is based on that paradigm - scripts need three acts, a clear and concise story and logline, yada yada yada. If you have skill as a writer, you’ll be able to create a marketable script that speaks eloquently about postmodernism, though it may not ever use that word in the screenplay, logline or marketing materials. Or, you may simply need to find others in the industry who speak your language; go the independent route where you are less likely to run into the walls you are running into here. This just may not be the right community of wanna-be writers for you.

My suggestion to my fellow dinosaurs is to try to keep an open mind to what Julian is saying and understand where he and his generation are coming from as it’s very, very different than our experiences. We might be able to learn something from him. The Gen Yers are tremendous problem-solvers which is good news for all of us Boomers entering our golden years with some overwhelming societal/political issues ahead. Julian’s posse will be the ones to tackle health care, social security and, the most important thing – what we’ll go see at the senior matinee!

** My reply **

Thank you Sara!

You are exactly right, we have a failure to communicate, people are not treating me like the adult I am. Last I checked 23 is an adult, and I do expect to be treated as an equal in this system. I have just as much a right and a place here as anyone else, period.

I may be young but my mind is old, I am the oldest 23 year you will ever meet. Just the fact that i am here talking to you and wanting to learn from 'old people' is a testimate to that.

>>Boomers’ kids, however, the Gen Xers and the Yers had a much different experience<<

To say the least, just like the kids being born today or that were born in the 1990's or earily 2000's will have a totally different experience than I had, and I think many of them are spoiled 'brats'. When i was born, no one had a computer, or a CD player... now computers fit in your pocket, ipods, and HDDVD's are coming... the pace of change will only get faster, like it or not that is the way it is. You are best t except the change, don't fight it (or me), since nothing can stop it. Don't blame me, you Boomers are the ones who started the snow ball rolling!

>>The Boomers are still running the shop but we cannot for the life of us figure out how to keep Gen Xers and Yers in the workforce. <<

I have to disagree with this statment. The problem is actually that the Boomers are living longer and are not leaving the workforce, while the X&Yers are entering and the economy is not (being allowed to) growing fast enough to give them the postions many are qualified for. This is what leads many of the XY kids to be even more bratty, they don't have to do anything because it is all done for them, they don't have responsibility because it is not given to them, so what do you think they are going to do...

>>We think you are too arrogant and selfish and not ready for the responsibilities you tell us you deserve<<

This is also a major problem, for both parties. Boomer refuse to let go of the ranes, and want to continue to do things in a way that no longer makes sense in light of the present state the world is in; sometimes, many are coming around i might add.

>>You think we are too old and stuck in the mud and unwilling to look at the world in a new way.<<

Often also unwilling to except the proven physical reality of the world today, the nature of the tsunami of change taking place, and the potential of the generation that follows you. Boomers are too busy fighting and harking on XYers, rather than trying to work with them, or learn from them. They are the ones who started the generation war and they are the 'adults/bigger people' who should end it!

>>Julian, is to try to understand where most people here are coming from and stop arguing when you receive advice that you don’t agree with.<<

I am more aware of where many people are coming from than they are aware of where i am coming from, they simply don't like or are threatened by where I am coming from. I came here for help and advice, and am always greatful for TRUE guidance and WISDOM. I seem to get pointless critisism and mockery more often, which i find immature and laughable. I don't get offended, I am not easily offeneded. What people say is characterisitc of who they are and how they think, and i love building pictures and understandings of people, our posts tell others a great deal about us...

>>you had a cell phone, a computer and anything else you wanted.<<

I didn't have a cell phone till I was 18, I have used computers since elemetary school though. I did not grow up wealthy, but I was rich in everything that mattered.

>> In essence, you expect to be listened to and given as much authority and autonomy as you want because that’s what you had in your household.<<

I expect to be listened to, as do others, becuase i am part of this world too. I am hear to say and i have a stake in the future of this planet and this country! Brushing someone off becuase hey are young is folly, it's ridiculous and ludacris. I am the future, I am just getting started and if people don't like me, too bad, there is nothing they can do to stop me or my generation from coming to power. I think the boomers should be nice to the XYers becuase they are the ones who will be desciding the best way to take care of the Boomers as they begin to age and leave the work force.

>>The business we are trying to break into is still being run, for the most part, by Boomers and the push-back you are getting here so far is based on that paradigm - scripts need three acts, a clear and concise story and logline, yada yada yada. If you have skill as a writer, you’ll be able to create a marketable script that speaks eloquently about postmodernism, though it may not ever use that word in the screenplay, logline or marketing materials.<<

The business we are trying to break into has impossible odds stacked agianst you, if you really want to be sucessful in it, it probably needs to be more than a hobby. The Film business is run by trends, and by Boomers and people who are obsessed with youth, and youth culture BTW. The markets runs the biz, while yes the Boomers through a generational stroke for fortune (Boomers on average did not save any more than people today, but becuase they plunked $2000 dollars down on a house in the 70's and it's now worth $2 million, they have all the money and capital wealth) have all the money, but are burning out on idea's, especially since the Boomer are not the majority of movie goers, XYers are.

I am finally getting the point though that you Boomers don't like postmodernism, you don't get it (who does by the way?) and it bothers you. But you are also not giving me a chance. I am so busy defending my self from critics and naysayers that i cannot even finish my script! Once I am done my script will speak for itself.

>>It should be about getting the work done, right?<<

Right. It is about results, not about me.

>>My suggestion to my fellow dinosaurs is to try to keep an open mind to what Julian is saying and understand where he and his generation are coming from as it’s very, very different than our experiences. We might be able to learn something from him. The Gen Yers are tremendous problem-solvers which is good news for all of us Boomers entering our golden years with some overwhelming societal/political issues ahead. Julian’s posse will be the ones to tackle health care, social security<<

Those are the least of the problems ahead. My generation MUST be problem solvers because we have inhereted a whole heap of them (including red budget ink as far as the eye can see). We cannot solve the problems plauging the world alone however, and the mentality if Boomers that "Oh, we'll just have the next generation deal with that" must end immediately. The problems are all of ours and they need to be addressed and fixed with rapid diligence, more are on the way.

I need your help as much as you need me, we are all here together and we can all work together and achieve great things, together; or we can faulter and struggle alone.

There is no point in fighting, that solves no problems and often leaves people hurt and un productive. It is time to join forces and finally do what we are hear to do! Learn and sell screenplays!

Peace & Love

Postmodernism! (I had too:)

Best,
Julian Tyler

P.S.
sorry for errors i don't have a lot of time

***

With all possible and serious respect, Sara-- PPPPPFFFFFFTTTT!



Pigeonholing individuals (and their attitudes about writing, art, discussion, reasonable conduct, ad nauseum) according to something as arbitrary (and often flat out misleading) as marketing labels (Boomers, Xers, Yers, Millenium Babies, etc etc etc, blah blah) applied based upon year of birth pretty much excuses everyone from any personal responsibility and culpability here.

If Julian (or I or anyone) wants to burn up their small amount of "starter credibility" in any newly-joined social group by entering the room and immediately launching into a strange convoluted self-adoring ramble about topics the group has consistently indicated little or no interest in ("POSTMODERNISM!"), it's not the room's responsibility that he have a nice comfy podium from which to bray. That possible unenjoyable fact is no more a factor of age than it is of astrological sign or the pattern of bumps on the head. Rather, that's just plain old group dynamics, the sort of thing that has been around since the first time two members of the genus homo hunched around a water hole to compare hunting exploits.

As much as I enjoy Strother's voice being invoked, what we have here is not "failure to communicate." It's a refusal to communicate -- a lack of willingness to even try to communicate. Communication is a two-way thing. If someone bangs cymbals in an effort to draw an audience so they can then hold court in a play for attention and praise and applause and respect, that's something closer to performance, and in that case the audience has no responsibility to give a flip if a performer bores or annoys. Pleasant or not, that seems the description many might use to describe Julian's antics onsite since his arrival. It surely describes my take on the situation, and I've swapped a few comments with others who echo similar sentiments. (And for the record, I have not called for Julian to be driven from the site, though I did write to Admin and ask "am I the only person who's getting bored and turned off by the pointless noise in that thread?")

Julian might well be an intelligent guy -- I honestly have no idea. The sad part is that right now I no longer have much interest left in bothering to find out, as I'm really really bored by what I see as grandstanding and pomposity and a childish need to argue as proof of relevance. Can he win back ground lost in this recent episode? Surely, but not by demanding my respect, nor by having others demand the same even as they insult me by trying to dismiss me as merely the sum of the stereotyped shortcomings they choose to ascribe to something as arbitrary as year of birth.

My lack of interest in Julian's grandiloquent pronouncements is not a result of being born during the Eisenhower administration or the Kennedy administration or the Nixon administration or the first full moon following a thunderstorm in an odd-numbered month of the first Reagan mid-term election. Like you and me and everyone other person here who's slapped down a credit card and paid for a year's worth of hopefully intelligent respectful discussion about screenwriting, Julian is competent (and expected) to make his own decisions and live with the results. That's the responsibility of every thinking member of any social group. If at any point he chooses to abdicate his responsibilities and behave in a way which brings him attention and judgments he doesn't like, well, I feel for the guy but don't blame my parents. If I'd been born twelve years sooner or twelve years later, Julian's responsibilities as a member of the tribe would still remain exactly the same as they are for everyone else.

Bottom line: if someone acts like an interesting respectful thoughtful guy, chances are most folks will think of him and treat him as an interesting respectful thoughtful guy. Conversely, if someone acts like a booger-eatin' moron, chances are most folks will think of him and treat him as (wait for it...) a booger-eatin' moron.

Life is hard. Bring a cushion.

Them's my two cents and change.

Was the strike worth it?

Was the strike worth it?

In the eyes of many scribes, the answer is an unqualified yes. But when it comes down to dollars and cents, the answer is murkier. The victories in new media that may pay big dividends in the future have come at a high price in the here and now.

The contract agreement that the Writers Guild of America clinched with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers last week includes precedent-setting deal points and establishes residuals formulas for the first time in the uncharted waters of new-media reuse -- gains that most likely would not have been achieved, or at least realized at the same level of compensation, had the biz not been paralyzed by the work stoppage.

For the WGA, it was all about setting precedent and cementing the idea that scribes deserve to be paid for Internet exploitation of their work. More specifically, they wanted a deal that paid them a percentage of distributor's gross, on the principle that "when you get paid, we get paid."

But the cost of achieving that principle through a strike has been considerable -- particularly for the busiest and most successful WGA members with the most to lose. Meanwhile, the money to be made through the hard-fought new-media residuals is not exactly eye-popping.

A TV writer, for example, will earn about $1,400-$1,600 a year for each streamed episode on which he is the credited writer -- while some showrunners may have lost as much as six figures from unproduced episodes. Screenwriters will probably earn less from this new income source, as Web streaming of movies is not nearly as ubiquitous as streaming of TV programs. Meanwhile, pic scribes have lost out on assignments and on rewrite and polish deals, and they will face the intangible costs of having lost the momentum a project may have had before the strike -- momentum that may or may not be regained.

On the TV side, a showrunner who was slated to make around $40,000 per episode on a 22-episode order for the 2007-08 season that has been downscaled to 12-15 segs is out at least $280,000. The deal the WGA cut for ad-supported Web streaming of series calls for a scribe to earn about $1,400-$1,600 a year for each seg on which she is the credited writer, and that's even after the compensation formula switches to a percentage of distributor's gross in the third year of the deal.

Financially, the deepest cut was felt in the TV biz last month, when the majors invoked force majeure provisions on more than 70 overall term deals. The wave of pinkslipping not only affected scribes but the nonwriting producers who have become so ubiquitous on the talent rosters of major studios during the past decade.

Of course, IATSE members and other industry workers also took a hit from the strike since their livelihoods were affected from its first day.

Beyond the immediate pain, network and studio brass have vowed that they will never load up again on so much overhead in the competitive frenzy to lock up creative talent. Writers who are solid performers but not superstars will be grappling with more one-off deals in the future, rather than the studio housekeeping deals that paid them $1 million or more over a few years to develop pilots and pitch in on series.

Networks, in varying degrees, are vowing to use the jolt provided by the strike to tame the madness of pilot season by cutting the volume of development -- not just this year but for good. If the nets hold to this promise, it will mean fewer opportunities for scribes and other constituents in scripted TV to draw their highest paydays, as pilot fees have traditionally been higher than regular episodic minimums. And, of course, the shutdown of scripted series production only spurred the broadcast nets to dive deeper into the well of writer-free reality programming.

With all of these payday opportunities at stake -- and the savviest of WGA members surely knew they were on the line when the walkout began Nov. 5 -- what was the motivating factor that put so many feet on the street? How could guild leaders have maintained such remarkable solidarity (albeit with some restlessness in the last few weeks) among its members?

Fear and loathing, that's how.

The fear stemmed from the same issues that keep the media conglom CEOs up at night. Nobody in the biz knows how the digital revolution in showbiz wrought by iTunes, TiVo, YouTube, the Wii and their ilk will change the entertainment-consumption habits of generations to come. The only certainty is that things are changing, at warp speed, thanks to the availability of paid downloads and Web streaming and the evolution of the DVR and digital video cameras as household appliances.

WGA leaders were supremely effective in summoning a demon from the guild's past -- the hated homevideo residual deal reached in 1985 -- to raise the specter of a similar injustice inflicted on scribes in the digital realm. "Won't get screwed again" was the rallying cry of WGA West prexy Patric Verrone from the time he was elected guild prexy in 2005.

That most of the majors have been offering ad-supported Web streaming of full-length TV shows for more than a year without offering any kind of compensation for scribes only made members more inclined to believe the WGA leaders' sketchy logic that if the guild didn't fight to the death for a fair shake, the studios would shut them out of Internet revenues forever.

The loathing part stemmed from a major tactical blunder by the AMPTP early on in the WGA negotiations. At the highest levels within the media congloms, it's recognized that the 32-page proposal to overhaul the residual payment system that the majors put on the table when negotiations began in July was akin to pouring gasoline on a fire.

Insiders say there was dissent among the AMPTP conglom leaders about the proposal and that it was in large part a maneuver to put the WGA on the defensive. In fact, it couldn't have been a bigger gift to guild leaders, as it provided them with so much ammunition to paint the majors as intransigent and focused only on rolling back writer compensation, not expanding it in the Internet realm.

The blow-up at the outset set the tone for negotiations that got more poisonous as they went on, in fits and starts, through the fall, with plenty of missteps and misplaced rhetoric emanating from Verrone, WGA West exec director David Young and, to a lesser degree, WGA negotiating committee chief John Bowman. The rollback proposal was so offensive to many members that the guild's success at shutting it down was a key point that Verrone and Young used to sell the contract at Saturday's membership meeting.

By the time the sides arrived at their day of infamy on Dec. 7, when the AMPTP broke off talks after demanding that the WGA drop six deal points (including the quixotic bid for jurisdiction on reality and animation), the bosses of the AMPTP congloms were firmly focused on putting the WGA talks in a deep freeze while they cut a deal with the Directors Guild of America that would serve as a basis for restarting the WGA conversation.

The DGA and WGA both wound up benefiting from this high-stakes chess move by the majors. The DGA went into its negotiations with incredible leverage given the strike and the majors' eagerness to cut a deal. The WGA strike gave the DGA some ammo, but the DGA also brought its experience, its research into the new-media marketplace and the strength of its industry relations to seal a deal that became the foundation for the WGA accord.

The DGA deal helped the WGA both in the contract terms and in the approach to negotiations, when the leaders of the AMPTP member congloms stepped in and became actively involved in hashing out the pact. In the end, all of the major players agree that movement in the WGA talks began when Disney CEO Robert Iger and News Corp. prexy Peter Chernin got into the same room with Verrone, Young and Bowman.

The momentum toward a deal further accelerated when the WGA retained respected showbiz lawyer Alan Wertheimer to help it sort through thorny issues, such as the definition of distributor's gross, shortly after the DGA pact was unveiled on Jan. 17.

But the real thaw in WGA-studio relations began about a week before the DGA pact was completed, when Endeavor partner Ariel Emanuel helped set up a private meeting for Bowman, Chernin, CBS Corp. chief Leslie Moonves and Warner Bros. chairman Barry Meyer at Chernin's home.

The gathering for drinks was cordial and focused on big-picture issues, clearing up some past misunderstandings and coming to terms on a process for the negotiations that will finally bear fruit for scribes.

Al Rocker

He really bothers me. I can't stand him.

Election 2008

This is shaping up to be an interesting election year. Everyone knows that the Democratic Primary might as well be the election. Whoever the Democratic nominie is is going to make history and has a 80% chance of becoming president.

A Woman? A black man? Historical either way.

I personally support Hillary.

I really like Barack Obama, he has charisma but I feel he is an unknown quantity. I feel his day will come, it has not come yet and it is not to be rushed. He doesn't have the foriegn policy knowhow, and he is not going anywhere so lets see what he does.

It is my beleif that it's time we had a woman president. I think Hillary fits the bill.

I want a president who is friendly with California, who will repair America's relations with the world, who will address climate change and unchecked pollution, join or recreate the Kyoto Protocal and will end our dependence on oil. I want a president who will fix the broken education system, correct the health care crisis and generally move our country in a new and hopefully better direction... a direction that will revive the economy and restore America to prominance.

I also think that we did need to go into Iraq. I think reform in the middle east is absolutely essential to global stability. I think it was the right idea , it was the people managing it (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld) that made it a bad thing and a huge waste of money. I think it is important not to confuse the two. Iraq is Europe's backyard, and I think if we went in and did things the way they were supposed to be done, they way that made tho most sense it would have been the right thing.

I also do not support drivers licenses for illeagle immigrants.

No matter what I'm just glad that change is in the air.

Stardust

I have always been a fan of fantasy. I watched this film on recommendation.

I liked it. It was better than I thought it would be.

I love Michelle Phifer. Claire Danes was perfect. So was Sienna Miller was cast perfectly as the bitch.

Robert DeNiro was a bit disappointing.

It's no lord of the rings but it's Fun and magical. Brought out the kid in me.

Horses

I love horses and was curious about their origin...

HORSES

PLACE OF ORIGIN

The ancestry of the horse--unlike that of human beings--is extraordinarily well documented and dates back more than 65 million years. The prehistoric "little daddy" of today's powerful steed has a poetic name--dawn horse, or eohippus. Fossilized remains of the tiny whippetlike animal (about the size of a rabbit, 10 to 20 in. high, with an arched back and multitoed feet) have been found throughout Europe and America. Down through the ages, it grew larger and larger, with bigger and bigger teeth (for grinding grass) and longer and longer legs.

By the Ice Age, horses roamed every continent but Australia in great herds and had become very much as we know them today, fully monodactylous with each lower "leg" (originally foot bones) ending in a huge middle toe with a giant nail forming a hoof. Sometime during that mysterious glacial period, the horse vanished from the Western Hemisphere entirely. One theory is that herds migrated from America to Siberia by a then existing land bridge. At any rate, the horse didn't appear in America again until Spain's conquistadores invaded Mexico in 1519 A.D.