There's something in the water

So this is a story breakdown for a horror script I am going to be working on.

Lurking

Darcy and her husband Cade are about to embark on their honeymoon adventure, they plan on taking their small two person sailboat on a trip around the world. Making their way from California they plan on sailing the Southern Pacific route by way of the Pacific Ocean. Darcy isn't experienced but Cade is an avid sailor and has planned this for over a year, he's excited to take his wife on a trip around the world. Darcy is nervous about it but trusts Cade and loves the romantic idea of sailing the world with the man she loves. Amidst well wishes and jealous congratulations from her friends the two set sail and head away from port, the weather is beautiful and the sun creates a golden glow on the water. By the end of the first day they find themselves all alone on the water, the lights of California are just visible on the horizon. Darcy is amazed by how peaceful it is, her reservations of the trip begin to fade. Cade surprises her with her favorite wine and a picnic on the bow. They make love under the moonlight. As she begins to fall asleep down below deck she hears a strange call off in the distance, something high pitched and clicking. She can't place it but dismisses it because it's so far away.

The next day she wakes up alone, the boat is rocking heavily. She heads above deck and finds Cade working furiously to prepare for an impending storm, he tells her they need to get their sales down and have their emergency equipment ready. She's scared, he tells her not to worry; taking the time on that swaying boat to hold his wife and look deeply into her eyes and kiss her. He tells her again that it will be ok. Her nerves steady and she asks how she can help, he tells her to run down below and bring him his emergency kit. She races down below, finds it and heads back upstairs. On the bow she sees Cade, mouth agape with a disturbed look on his face standing by the edge and staring out into the water. He's scanning the water as though he'd just seen something. His calm demeanor has changed, now he looks startled and nervous. Darcy snaps him back to reality.

It's night and Darcy is down below with Cade, the boat is being assaulted violently by the storm outside. They're laying in bed, Cade is holding Darcy to keep her calm. She closes her eyes and tries to shut it all out.

The next morning is calm, she wakes up alone in the bed. Light shines in through the door which has been left open. She gets up and heads topside, when she gets to the top her stomach drops, she's overcome with paralyzing fear. She's alone, Cade is nowhere to be seen. Panic sets in immediately,  she races around the small boat looking for him, eyes welling up with tears. She screams for him, she checks the water around her and screams his name at the top of her lungs. No answer. She races to the radio which she doesn't know how to use, she turns the dials desperately begging anyone listening for help. The isolation, the panic all hit her. She stumbles back below deck and falls to the ground unconscious.

It's later in the day and dark out, Darcy is lying in a ball on the floor. She's awake, lying there silently talking to herself; it's deathly silent. She hears something, she listens attentively. She hears it again. There's someone on the deck, she can hear them walking. It must be CADE! She runs upstairs calling his name but what she sees startles her, she catches a slight glimpse of something slumping off the deck and springing back into the water. She grabs a flashlight and scans the water, shaking. She screams out once again for Cade and swings the light along the water. She catches the movement of something darting back underwater and drops the light in fear. She thinks she saw a face. A face of something, not Cade. She hears the same high pitched clicking that she heard on the first night, only now much, much closer.


...Cont'd

...but scarier than this

Some things I saved from my childhood

There are two drawers I've had since I was a kid. I kept all my sentimental mementos in there.

Here are the things young Thomas considered worth holding onto.

Shoppers Drugmart 1994 Bluejays Calendar. Autographed by Tim Crabtree.
Who? Tim Crabtree. Who? Tim Crabtree.
Shoppers Drugmart 1994 Bluejays Calendar defaced by Tim Crabtree

The entire set of Youngblood cards, in order.

A Jays ticket and Playbooks from 93 and 94

The PACKAGES that my cards came in

Ahhh, here we go. A letter to myself from March/29/1993

"Dear TomQualities I like about myself are:
I am good at baseball
I am a good friend
I am good at hockey
I am good at sports
I am a good student
I am funny
I am nice
I am not stupid like Dylan Ostipick
I am alive
I love animals
I don't smell
I am not cheap
I am good at science
I have good aim
I am not chicken
I like sports
I can watch horror movies without..."

Peeing my pants

I HAVE A HEART

I remember the assignment being to fill up two pages and to me that counted.

F**k she was hot. I saw this movie just for her boobies.

Remember that Lando toy that got discontinued because the packaging was too bulky?
I bought it BECAUSE it got discontinued because of the packaging being too bulky.

I wrote the troops in Iraq once during Desert Storm. He wrote back.
Apparently all young Tom asked him was if he watched hockey and if he'd seen
Ace Ventura and Jurassic Park.

A handwritten script I'd totally forgotten about.
I might post it later.

A typed script about a group of suburban people who form a gang because they can't find jobs.

Those Spider-man and X-Men stickers that came in gum.

Inflatable Sky Dome blimp still in the package

Devon White shirt pin

And lots and lots of cards.

And I found some caps. Little strips of gunpowder from when children were men and played with fire.

I didn't write this (obviously) but it's a great example of a short, easily consumable story that hits you at the heart. Poor kid never stood a chance.

From: Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman Annual #1
Marvel Comics
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Colleen Doran

I am 6'4 and I can't dunk, it's my single biggest failing in life

I am 6'4 and I can't dunk, it's my single biggest failing in life. For someone who can't dunk and never plays basketball I spend a good chunk of my day imagining myself obliterating some stupid defender with a mean spirited rim wrecker. In my fantasies I never jump right at the rim, I want to have to extend on my dunks so I can snap that rim down with everything I have. It sounds like a shotgun blast. In my younger days I remember working on a loading dock with a big garage door, we used to raise the garage door to the standard NBA 10 foot mark and see if we could touch it. At my most athletic I was able to barely smack it with my fingers, in other words I could touch the rim but not actually dunk a ball over and through it. Sometimes I forget that I am white. I don't feel white, on the inside I am seriously Marvin Gaye or something.

On the outside I look like this:

On the inside I look like this:

So it's easy for me to forget how white I actually am, until I try to dunk a basketball. Being tall; asking if I can dunk is a pretty common question I hear from strangers. I should after all be able to, I am tall and fit (and I don't think most people think I am white as well, because I get really mad if they do). I can dunk on an 8 foot net; yes, but I should be able to Mosgov a bitch at that height.

But my legs have failed me, I failed me. I should be able to link you a video of me throwing down that dunk I made up in my head where I jump up into the air toward the basket and THEN throw the ball off the floor for a bounce pass alley-oop to myself. AFTER I jump. It would have been sick, they would have nicknamed me Spider-man but now no one calls me that. Women would find me more attractive if I could dunk, men would respect me. It would have changed everything. Now the best I can offer is a link to a video of my boy doing what I should be doing.

Terrence Ross for the 2013 Dunk Contest Please.

HE TALKED MORE S**T THAN ALI AND SHOCKED PEOPLE MORE THAN TYSON. JACK JOHNSON.

He talked more trash than Mohammed Ali and created more shock than Mike Tyson, he beat and emasculated white champions at a time when just looking at a white man could get him killed and lynchings were commonplace. Jack Johnson lived the most cinematic life of any sports figure and someone needs to mine that material and make a movie about his life.

Jack Johnson was born into poverty in 1878 and dropped out of school by age 6, not long after he ran away from home and drifted his way into the gym of some boxing enthusiasts. Jack being a burly 6'0 caught the attention of some local trainers and by the age of 19 he was starting a career in boxing. After some early success against lesser opponents he finally faced someone respectable; Joe Choynski. Choynski was a well known and experienced fighter who used the green Johnson's lack of technical skill against him; knocking him out in the 3rd round. Right after the fight both men were arrested, prize fighting was illegal in that state at the time and the two spend nearly a month in jail. During that month Choynski decided to teach Johnson how to fight, impressing upon him the importance of strategy and timing. 

Back then boxing was kind of goofy, it wasn't scientific and no one had learned how to fly around the ring using quickness and precision to land blows. It was still very much a plodding, slow grind with few rules that resembled a tough man contest more than a bracketed, organized sport. The champ was free to take on all comers and fight whoever he wanted, which usually meant whoever could raise enough cash. The champion at that time was an tough, rock chewing white superman named Jim Jeffries.

Jeffries was undefeated and wanted to stay that way, as Johnson's talent grew along with his win record he started to demand a fight with Jeffries but the thinking at the time was that no black man should ever receive a shot at the title; Jeffries towed that line firmly. Despite Johnson's impressive wins over championship caliber white opponents, he would never get his shot at Jeffries who went on to retire undefeated. Several champions later; Johnson kept whooping ass until he racked up such an impressive body count that he became impossible to ignore. He taunted and berated every white champion that dodged him and won so convincingly that white America wanted to see him get beat up by the champ Tommy Burns just to shut him up.

In 1908 Johnson finally got a shot against Burns for the title, it was the first time a black man had ever competed for the heavyweight championship. It was the biggest fight the world had ever seen and all odds were on the much smaller Burns to knock out Johnson and prove white superiority. Which was ridiculous given how much bigger and more powerful Johnson was.

The footage of the fight is striking, it's back from a time where video footage of anything at all is rare and the spectacle of the dark giant bearing down on this small white figure is memorable. What's even more striking is Johnson's behavior during the fight.

Maaaaan...

He ties up and taunts the smaller Burns constatly, peppering him with shot after shot but keeping him conscious so that he can inflict more humiliation. He pointed to parts of his body that he dared Burns to try and hit, he held Burns close while he talked trash to the all white crowd and even gave the champ a demoralizing pat on the had after rounds. It was a bold, BOLD act in an environment where most of the audience literally wanted to kill him. What's worse is that he would go on to knock out Burns several times during the bout but catch him before he fell, hold him up and put him back on his feet just to prolong the fight. Jack Johnson was an asshole. In the 14th round Jack mercifully decided to end it and put Burns on his back though you'll never see that part. The only cameras recording the fight were ordered to stop by the police, they wanted to spare the white public the sight of a black man knocking out their white champion. The footage cuts just as the white champion begins his nosedive. Jack Johnson was the first black heavyweight champion of all time and did nothing to endear himself to white America when he boasted after the bout that he's "forgotten more about boxing than (Burns) ever knew".

After the fight race riots broke out, whites were pissed and black people were thrilled and emboldened. The result was a string of violence. It's my belief that Johnson himself was never killed because they needed to beat him, killing him would have turned him into a symbol and essentially retired him as an undefeated black champion. For racist whites to regain their feeling of pugilistic superiority they needed to beat him in the ring, they needed him to live long enough to fall in battle.

This is where the term "The Great White Hope" comes into popular use, every white contender was seen that way. He was a torchbearer for his race and Johnson was the spoiler again and again and again. If anyone blatantly disrespected his opponents today the way Johnson would back then he would be banned from the sport. He smiled through 90% of his bouts and really didn't make much effort to put his man down until the later rounds, by then they'd have suffered through 15 rounds of insults.

Stanley Ketchel

May I refer you to one Stanly Ketchel who wore cowboy boots during his fight and actually landed the first solid shot that Jack Johnson felt in a decade. The shot rattled Jack and he fell to the ground...for about 4 seconds. Then he decided to stop screwing around with Ketchel and finished him off in about a second after he got back to his feet. I mean A second. People, watch the video. He literally pops right back up, and knocks Stanley out before the white crowd even realizes they need to stop celebrating. Stanley stays down for a good long time too.

So, Johnson ruled the world for a while and white America was desperate to find a challenger to beat him. At the insistence of many; Jim Jeffries was convinced to come out of retirement, remember he never lost the belt so many still considered him the true champ. To his credit the retired, fat farmer respectably lost 100 lbs to get ready for this super-fight. A SUPER-fight it was too, it drew enormous interest worldwide. For Johnson this was a chance to finally shut up that noisey contingent of people who denounced his claim to the championship. As far as boxing fans were concerned while Johnson might have the belt, the title of heavyweight champion was still Jeffries. This was a BIG fight. Seriously, people; watch this video because this was a humongous moment in the history of sports and civil rights.

The fight itself carries on like all the other Johnson fights, he breaks his opponent as a man, shatters his will and destroys his body. 

I find the ending of that fight amazing, as Jeffries starts to show signs that he's about to fall the all white crowd starts chanting not to let him be knocked out. After a series of blows tear through Jeffries and send him collapsing to the floor the people at ringside rush to pick him back up onto his feet and throw him back into the fight. When he falls again they rush through the ropes and into the ring to help him to his feet. It was a pitiful sight and one that made Johnson truly look like one man against and entire race. The fight is stopped, Johnson wins convincingly. 

Johnson eventually would fall, at the age of 37 and after 20 rounds (19 of which he won) in an outdoor arena in heat up to 110 degrees to someone a decade younger than him. He was hailed as the Great White Hero, Johnson for what it's worth went down but was never knocked out. He was just too spent, it was too hot and he decided to just stay on the mat for the count. He finally gave the people what they wanted. That's not the end of his life story either, he ended up being a fugitive and marrying a white woman who would go on to kill herself. But this is where my movie ends, Johnson standing triumphant, having just beaten everyone.

-Thomas Holler-

THE TOP 5 MOST DISGUSTING THINGS I'VE EVER TASTED

What follows is a list of the top 5 most disgusting things I've ever tasted. These are things that ended up in my mouth for one reason or another and were foul enough to leave a lasting impression.

5 - Red Ants -

Me and my brother were eating saltines one afternoon when we noticed that something tasted slightly off about the salt, it was more wet and popping than we were used to. That we ate as many crackers as we did before we finally looked at them and saw how covered in ants they were is why this entry only comes in at number five. They tasted just like salt, exactly like salt actually. It was only the strange crunch and texture that eventually arose suspicion after 5-7 crackers. Technically they didn't taste bad but they WERE ants so...still gross.


 4 - A piece of wood -

This is more circumstantial than anything, there's nothing specifically gross about the taste of wood but in this instance I was attending Nigerian naming ceremony for a child and one of the traditions is to pass around little plates with various substances on them. Since it's a tradition you can't really say no to putting these things in your mouth, it's the whole point of the ceremony; these weren't just snacks. I didn't know that at the time though and was handed what looked like some sort of root, I was told it would be sweet and that I should suck on it. I did. It was just a piece of dry wood, still kind of annoyed about that actually.


3 -Mud -

This one I remember vividly, we used to have this little pole in the back garden when I was a kid and one day I found it just laying out on the ground rather then stuck into the ground with a plant wrapped around it. My dad had been doing yard work and left it out, I saw it and thought I could make it into a really good blowgun. To test it out I tempted fate by picking it up and putting it to my mouth and whoever's in charge of fate just couldn't resist. I was served up a mouthful of muddy poetic justice. Pure mud. Pure mud.

2 - A Fly -

One flew right into my mouth and was crushed into the roof of my mouth in the fight to spit it out quickly. It tasted bitter, it tasted traumatic.


1 - A packet of soy sauce that had been left sitting in the hot sun of a parking lot -

This is obviously another story about something that was forced upon me, and the odds of this happening to anyone are incalculable. It's more likely that an asteroid breaks apart beyond the Kuiper Belt in deep space and sends a fragment on a perfect course for my mouth than it was for a car to drive over a packet of sun baked soy sauce and explode it all over my lips but it happened. It was REALLY, REALLY salty and grainy. Like wet, hot, SALTY dirt.

SKINNY DIPPING IN THE MOONLIGHT - A 1 Minute Script

I would have thought finding an enticing skinny dipping picture to use would be easier than it was. Here's my final 1 minute script.

Exterior - Evening/Night - A secluded little spot at a large pond or lake.

An attractive man and woman are stripping down.

TYLER
A little night time skinny dipping, this is the best idea I've ever had.

Jodi smiles

TYLER
How did I talk you into this again?

JODI
I thought I talked you into it.

TYLER
Maaaaan.

JODI
Don't get too excited this is just skinny dipping and you have to turn your head while I get in.

Tyler looks disappointed

JODI
Aww I am sorry. 

TYLER
Alright, am I turning my head all the way around or can I at least have it on this angle where I can just see a TINY little bit in my peripheral but not enough to make anything out?

JODI
If you can't make anything out then why do you still want to see?

TYLER
Have you seen you?

Jodi starts to get undressed, as she's taking off her shorts she looks up.

JODI
A full moon. They say that's romantic.

TYLER
Aren't I lucky.

Tyler turns his head slightly to get a quick look. Jodi sees, she likes it.

JODI
We'll find out.

Jodi walks out into the water. Tyler turns around.

TYLER
Are you going to get your hair wet?

Jodi takes up the challenge unblinkingly and dives down under the water.

TYLER
Skinny dipping with a sexy woman on a full moon. I'd call that lucky.

Tyler pulls down his shorts, as he bends over he hears a large footstep behind him and the breaking of branches. He shoots back up and it's perfectly still. Frozen.

Jodi comes splashing to the surface.

TYLER
shhhh...Jodiiiiiiii...is there a bear behind me?

Jodi looks, her eyes widen. The shock on her face doesn't register with Tyler.

JODI
No

Behind Tyler is an enormous man in a mask, he's wearing tattered clothes covered in blood and carrying a huge knife. Tyler doesn't turn around.

 

TYLER
Phew...ok, good.


-END-