The Lottery or Cash for Clunkers?

We have all imagined and conversed
about the many changes our lives
would take if we struck Paydirt:
from numerous purchases, crazy projects
to ridiculous contests
and lavish dwellings with all our friends.

Luck is the moniker,
it will always wake up
with the motorbreath of a ’64 Mustang
charging away to another hit again.

These two divergent outlooks paint:
Fate versus Luck- the Ultimate
mixed martial arts fight featuring
an 800lb pagan gorilla and a mysterious Lady humanoid.

Now,
believing in winning the lottery is to jump in the fire;
Even though the mathematical chances of winning
the jackpot are slimmer than getting whiplash
from an accident caused by a truck
driven by a dog on Flag Day
in a rainstorm of frogs…
but it can happen.

Luck is just a phantom lord.

Here’s a song we sail to and, so far,
brings spirits up...
Numb (New Mix) 4:24 U2 The Best Of 1990-2000 Rock 8/10/2009 9:51 AM


We just sail on...

A New Motivation...

Someone traded us lyrics for video - we had to take this....

SHIP LOG 71123

The voyage has been long and treacherous but one question still abounds from the fellow Utopians in tow and family abroad: Where in the hell is American Utopia? Alas, a good question as I see water all around still.

I don’t know. But it exists for the purity of art and the audience with little politics… except for bailouts from our homelands. This umbrella land is there for the last harvest of the century because when I was given a photo as an idyllic, young boy: it exists. So we, Ted and I, put these fledgling dories together with few supplies to find it. And we will, minus tweeting and Rockstar [although a Big Mac does sound good]. I imagined it was east of the Easter Islands… or was it west of the Western Indies? Damn GPS- it tells you one way repeatedly when you can’t go that way- fuck it, just take, yes, take the batteries out.

Anyway...
As today's afternoon begins, chores finished, everyone entertains ourselves with stories, pictures and music the fellow Utopians are excited to bring… for now, I'm surprised about how much material you can amass[ha! sailor's joke... nevermind]. We sail on in anticipation for more… and a big shout out for Jeff Buckley, you're in spirit, but the money runs low so we had to find new means of trading.
[This message brought to you by Green EcoSchooners – Going green is where everything you waste goes into the sea].

A Hottie with a Hook

Whenever you feel the blues, good ol' Nat always helps out

"It Began With a Fist... "

Excerpts taken from an interview with an online contributor with a fellow Utopian...
* * *
So we were talking and got side-tracked... tell me again why I should-

I am a creator of my own destiny- what I instigate is where my beliefs, principles, and desires are rounded... if that's the word.


Tell me then: what is "The Struggle of This Life"?

It is a symphony of images: man vs. himself as his rite of passage is for all to participate in a theater hall on a particular night. Everyone is gathered for his battle against the Devil.




And what about "Last Call"?


"Last Call" is a homecoming.

For a fresh, college graduate, full of idealism versus the real battle of everyday; Neil, the protagonist, finds himself hunting for success underneath the internal/external shadow of his parents tavern.


And your comedy-

I do want to talk about it, but I don't, but I do, but I don't... so I won't. It's our next project.

Fair enough. Calling in to agents, producers, managers, it has to be tiresome, no?

Yes, it is. 'May I speak with the literary department for queries?' Say that a hundred times and you tell me. 'I would like to send a query letter independent of all legalities'. The statement almost automatically hinders you but what else are you going to say, you know? I could go into the classic two movie pitch: example, "The Struggle..." It is a journey of 'A Clockwork Orange' vs. 'It's A Wonderful Life'. The winner is determined by the Audience, and I want you to capitalize audience, because they are what is the most important.

You are very passionate sitting here, talking with you... I was just handed a note about "Cut, Dry, and Unedited". What is that?

Can be done, can be done in Cleveland, hometown, for less than ten grand. Have two violins and timbre drums as a soundtrack. Set should not, I stress NOT, show depth- consider this hotel room, which it takes place, as a walk-in coffin... rectangular.

You have me-

Can I go back to "Last Call"? I like to figuratively create an image: a slow boil of real execution, depth, and consequences, what you want vs. what you need. Does "Last Call" have a two movie comparison? ... As a writer, I have to claim illiterate.

What are your fears in this, or even life?


Interesting. [long pause] Fears of assimilation, fears of grandiose taking over the sensible fears of being forgotten, umm, fears of never achieving Love, capitalize the L, fears that my branch of quasi-realism manifests within parameters that in 1789-1800 thought. Fears that I die... ... without family and friends. That I want to hear certain music if I die a slow death. But in rhythm.

Okay, solemn, but what do you live for?

To read, write, hear other artists' pain. To pay it forward by understanding and categorizing where it fits in my life.

So its all about yourself?

No! No! ... Not necessarily. I mean [long pause] I find comfort in seeing grandiose expenditures on production because it can happen with mine or other Utopian's, "The Struggle..." being the most.

I think you dodged the question- what do you live for?

Well, okay, okay, to be read, to be understood and helpful. There are many artists yet to experience their epiphany, their cathersis, living was never meant to be looked upon as one side is better than the other. But as history speaks, only in lost tomes, the poem I just read was 230 years old. Seigneur, nobles, magistrates, royal has turned into house reps, senators, lobbyists, Kennedy, the President.

And we are to understand that as?

If our best institution of America would understand, meaning Hollywood, I have a partial for them, if they have a bigger, better goal in life then... if they only knew what they have! Hollywood minus greed equals the largest university bordering on propaganda, but I digress, am I?

No, I don't see it, but is there an answer to why you live? I feel that you ice-skate and dance. I find it to be amusing but dishonest... personally.

[Long pause] If I may... I would like to intrude upon this... so-called interview and rant... [nods around]

[cough] Pouring music into the decanter, the decanter pours into the glass, the glass jingles with ice, the drink is hollow, it sits. Take it! Drink! Hitherto my friends, music makes the difference even if no one is there or a stadium is filled. [pause] I say that because I chose 'The End' by the Doors to be on as I do this.

For what it was, fascinating, but to get back to-

Everything is judgment... do not get me wrong there is a limit, a chalk-line and a convenience line, but they are separate.

Wrapping this up, who do you speak for?

[Long pause] I guess I attempt on speaking to the Audience. I hope I do because they are what matters.

ALL SOLD OUT

Thanks to everyone who has purchased their own piece of "The Struggle". The first run of shirts has sold out. We will keep you posted regarding the next run in the future. Sail on Utopians.

Burying The Hatchet that Tore Apart My Soul

This year has been crazy.
L.A, New York, Canada, Vegas.
I met world-renown artists: Directors, actors, producers and musicians.
Truth: no big deal.
The past and future of screenwriting begins in the present.
There are no right and wrong answers.
My goal from the beginning: Place a soul in what I am writing.
Cell phones, cameras and high tech computers capture moments.
But they can't capture everyday thought.
One day - it will be understood.
It doesn't matter.
I'm happy. See why - the story is to the right.
"The Struggle of This Life"
Ted Christopher
Co-founder of American Utopia

Recreation to the Right

American Utopia is collecting stories for their voyage. We set sail again; we hope for more wind.

Hibernating in the Nation

As everyone weathers their particular voyage to the land of American Utopia, we here are doing the same. 2009: Re-invention of trasnportation to our land of contemprary conundrums.