Hi folks,
There’s a lot I want to accomplish with this… whatever it is/will be but the main thing I have to do is get your attention, then keep it.
Plus I have to live an interesting life. Fact, is, the way I write/make films, you can’t have one without the other. Boring life, boring storytelling.
So here’s the plan: ‘Give up house and home’ and hit the road with my dog, no plans to return. (I know: Seems like I do return, but one of these times I won’t.)
I’m hitting the road again.
This will be number three. The last two resulted in good things. In 1996 my trip with Shiner resulted in In Search of Captain Zero. With Honey, leaving in 2007 resulted in Water Time; Surf Travel Diary of a MadMan – Part One, with Part Two to come. (For those of you who don’t know, dear Honey passed away last summer. After 14 years, it was tough on me. But I rallied and adopted from the local shelter Gus, ‘nee’ Augusta, another female.)
Point being that soon Gus and I will be hitting the road together and I will be continuing… this from the road. I will be staying within the confines of the United States and Canada and will be continuing with my habit of talking people up to see what they think of the world, and trying to understand why they think what they think.
A book, a movie, and now a series of whatever this is. I’m not wild about the term ‘blog,’ but I suppose that’s what I’m talking about. With lots of photography (I ain’t half bad, I’m told) and some Youtube films; whatever works for the subject matter.
My interest in How the World Works will not wane, nor my enthusiasm for exposing lies. I will try to force you to flex your critical thinking muscle. Sometimes ‘on the road’ events will be combined with this sort of stuff, sometimes not.
I want to keep you a bit off balance as to what you’ll get when you open one of these.
One week it might be an open letter to a physicist who has his head up his ass about something (which I’ve already done and which is viewable at banditobooks.com.) The next might be a film or prose interview with a truck stop hooker.
Get the picture? If I annoy you with one post, I’m hoping you’ll hang in because the next one just miiiiiight raise a grin.
I’m interested in truck stops, by the way, via my many crossings of this country we have, and which we may soon lose. (Because the U.S. of A. is the way it is, you ‘foreigners’ have as much at stake in the subject as we gringos.)
It seems to me that truck stops, certain of the hard core ones, are like little planets in some kind of cultural solar system. (The image of an oasis works too.) The folks who pass through them regularly – I speak mainly but not only of the truckers, form an interesting subculture. Someone recently pointed out to me that truckers, through what they do/what they see, know things about How the World Works that few others are privy to.
So there’s that. I hope I’ve got your attention. We’ll see if I keep it.
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I intend to make this interactive, although right now I don’t know if I’ll have a Comments feature, wherein you write in and there it is, boom, for all to see. There are technical problems with this that I may not be able to deal with on the road.
But I want to hear from you. And please tell me if I can quote you. I will not use your name unless you outright say it’s okay.
Water Time. My film. I have to deal with it now and for the next few posts. If this bores you, just skip down or whatever. You must understand what I put into that film. A lot. Okay? Going on seven years of work, including teaching myself the craft of film editing.
Many of you have seen the film. Great. Since Jon Rappoport (god bless him) kickstarted my campaign to get it seen a bit over a week ago, I have received something like three hundred emails, some of which I have to tell you moved me to tears.
I had not wasted seven years of my sorry ass life.
It’s sort of nice to know that.
Quick story: A friend of mine, a terrific storyteller his-own-self (he wrote and produced a film that won the Grand Prize at Sundance a few years ago) liked the cut he saw (a slightly earlier one) and arranged for a private screening with a major big shot in documentary distribution. Sat the guy down and watched it with him. At the end, the guy says that no one will want to see ‘the thing,’ and then referred to me as ‘a paranoid old man.’
I know, I know. That’s just one guy. But he’s the guy who decides what you see, the information you get. From the Mainstream.
Point being we have to have our own ‘mainstream.’ That’s what I want to contribute to.
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Quite a few of you were not able to view Water Time because of technical issues; in some areas the film is blocked for copyright infringement. Mainly because I use a bit of my favorite tune of all time, Beethoven’s 9th (right, myself and Alex from Clockwork). Apparently Ludwig von wants his piece of the action. So they blocked it.
Also, some say that the movie won’t play on their smartphone. After thinking about it: GOOD! I mean it ain’t Lawrence of Arabia but it is a film. A little respect please! In fact, I’m conflicted about putting it on Youtube at all. This is like… my kid or something… like sending him/her out into the world via dropping him/her off in Times Square with a dime and ‘good luck’… maybe that’s not the right allusion but I watch films on my wide screen, even stuff from the Net. Especially stuff from the Net. Especially if it represents someone’s hard work.
Here’s what I’m going to do. If you want a dvd, shoot me an email at allan@banditobooks.com and put ‘DVD’ in the Subject box. Then I just need your mailing address, formatted like a shipping label. I’ll put a stamped, addressed envelope in with the dvd so you can return my expenses. It’s about two bucks for the dvd/label, almost a buck for the wrapping, plus postage – just this side of five bucks. (As far as my time goes – ‘handling’ as they call it – after seven years a few minutes more is laughable.)
That’s the best I can do. Those in foreign countries, even Canada, it’s more. Use your judgment. Cash is best, but a check will work.
If you don’t like the film, too bad! That’s the chance you’re taking.
(The odds are good though: It’s 2:15 on Tuesday, May 6th. I just went to the Water Time link. There are 59 Thumbs Ups, 1 Thumbs Down – which is probably my sociopath ex. The newest comment, from Max Wedge, reads: ‘One of the greatest documentaries I have seen since A Noble Lie. Well done Allen! [Spoiler deleted] Un-fuckin-real.’
Thanks, Max. (It’s ‘Allan’ with two ‘a’s, Max.)
So, okay. Hang in, spread the word if you like what I’m doing – please send people to www.banditobooks.com rather than forwarding a link. It’s still free but they see more of what I’m up to. Please, that’s important.
Give me a few days and the paranoid old man will get back to you.
Allan
Oh, and in case you still don’t have the Water Time link: