#4 - Silver Screen Poems
after Stargate and Community.
Welcome to good in a storm, a newsletter that does poetry now, I guess? Subscribe here.
I need the seventh symbol
After Stargate (1994)
I. Taurus - A young Richard Kind stands mouth agape as a much younger James Spader corrects the hieroglyphic translations he spent two years of his life deciphering. Crossing out so much, it’s embarrassing. Spader scrawls STARGATE on the blackboard.
II. Serpens Caput - We chose the Indonesian subtitles because all they had on Watchseries.mx was English/German and he had been learning Indonesian on Duolingo to impress my parents and my B2 from the Goethe Institute has atrophied.
III. Unknown, possibly Gemini - Kurt Russell was almost a decade removed from Overboard when he was in this. A blonde, square-jawed, spitting image of his son Wyatt. Dean Devlin co-wrote the film with Roland Emmerich before he sold Leverage. Nate Ford and Jack O’Neill both lost their sons. I hope to never lose my son, someone I am willing into existence. I hope he’ll like Stargate.
IV. Monoceros - Film language is religious. My bible is Dan Trottier’s, Sixth Edition and I’ve studied it for so long I too could get drafted by the government to decode ancient texts like the white pages or pink revisions of Stargate (1994).
V. Sagittarius - Only in America are they the heroes for pointing machine guns at an alien civilization they discover to be their own species. He thinks it's funny that the military are all too welcoming of the alien refugees in the pilot episode of SG1.
VI. Orion - I have never loved anyone more than I love him.
The Dualidean of Man
After Craig Pelton
You came out of the bedroom smiling
and then your smile faded as you leaned against the door.
I don't know who told you pouting was an option for you,
but all you're making me feel right now is hatred of Renee Zellweger.
What does this look like? An hour-long episode of The Office?
What kind of labyrinth have you created?
Certainly not the magic kind with puppets and macho rockstars.
After you left, it was closed for sentimental reasons.
To think I let you captain my magic carpet in my dream,
not like this, and not on dry land.
I know that this symbol isn’t a crossroad for ideas.
We printed five thousand posters, and we’ll print five thousand more.
I’m trying to save a planet here!
And Jesus wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer,
reminding you to keep any April Fool’s pranks physically safe,
politically balanced, and racially accessible.
Lines above from:
Community 3x15 “Origins of Vampire Mythology”
Community 3x12 “Contemporary Impressionists”
Community 5x13 “Basic Sandwich”
Community 5x06 “Analysis of Cork-Based Networking”
Community 5x01 “Repilot”
Community 2x04 “Basic Rocket Science”
Community 1x10 “Environmental Science”
Community 6x02 “Lawnmower Maintenance and Post-Natal Care”
Community 1x20 “The Science of Illusion”
Mel and I wrote a play together, Mel and Ari’s Immigation Fund ($1,200,000), and our first staged reading will take place at the Roundhouse on December 11th. If you’re in Vancouver, please come! Would love to see a friendly face!
Eight months ago, we didn’t have a play. We barely had an idea. With the generous, kind, and nurturing support of the team at vAct, our actors, our fellow playwrights, and loved ones, this story has a fighting chance. We hope you can join us to celebrate!
Thank you for your patience as I try to (once again) to revive my newsletter. I have an essay of sorts in the works. I want to have fun with this again. See you soon.
I'm sorry, not in Vancouver, so I can't see the play. I hope you'll make an occasional public posting because I'm in the cheapskate account. Also, please go ahead and do an occasional hyperfixate post like you used to. I marvel at your fixation.