Thursday, March 27, 2008

Come on Eileen

#18 on my list is to write a screen play. I have always had a lot of ideas floating around in my head as to what I think would be a good story to tell. Since I now have an open forum to share these ideas, I figured over the next few weeks I would share some of these ideas to see what people think. It is very possible that these ideas will suck, so feel free to say so. I don't want to waste one of my 30 on a crappy screen play.

One of the ideas I had is based on the song, Come on Eileen, which happens to be one of my favorite songs. The hardest part of this screen play would actually be getting the rights to the song. Assuming that has been taken care of, here is a brief overview.

The movie is split into two main parts. The first half starts with a twenty something mail on the sidewalk. Across the street at an outdoor cafe, is the woman of his dreams. He goes to step onto the street to meet her, and stops short as a large truck drives in front of him. Once the truck passes the woman is gone. He then goes on a wacky romp to find the girl and convince her that he is the one for her. Crazy restaurant bus boy assists in his quest. Ending with him playing, Come on Eileen, ala Say Anything outside her apartment, winning her over. As she comes out to kiss him. Cut to black and start part two.

Part two, starts with him waking up in a hospital bed. That truck that passed in front of him, actually hit him. He imagined the whole first half of the movie while in a coma. The second half mirrors the first half in that he attempts to recreate this "dream quest" he was on. Since this is real life, things do not play out as they did in his head.

The two halves would have drastically different styles. The first half would be bright, plasticky almost in the look of the movie. Overly Hollywood schlock in every way. The second half would be much darker. The footage appearing grainier, dirty.

That's it in a nutshell. I always liked the idea of the big change in the middle, and having the main character go through similar actions in both halves, with vastly different outcomes.

Thoughts?

On the exercise front, I was back at it today. More time on the elliptical along with some other strength building activities. I watched the second episode of Undeclared and was Underwhelmed.

I am hoping for some nice weather this weekend, so I can take it to the streets, and go for a jog. It was admittedly harder to head to the basement and exercise today. I am still pretty sore, but I know that I need to keep plugging away and the chore of working out will turn into something that I look forward to.

Though I have found that my extra girth is a great substitute for a weight set. Push ups, leg lifts, sit ups, all are more difficult than I remember. I assume it is the extra 5o pounds I am lugging around.

10 comments:

quartergoddess said...

So, Come on Eileen is going to better than Sliding Doors was, right?

I wouldn't get your hopes up about "wanting to workout". I've been working at this almost a year. Maybe in the future I'll want to work out, but so far I'm just to the point where I don't mind it. I'm glad afterward, but want to? Not so much.
Maybe that will hapen in the future though? A girl can hope.

Nice job on the working out though! :)

Heather said...

Hey there. First: yay.

I like the script idea, but not the song with it...just because Come on Eileen is about seducing the girl next door and you need something about love at first sight, with a chicks name... I'll think.

Good with the working out. I ran 3 miles today and did yoga.

Heather said...

Oh, you need to pimp out this blog!

Mr Blume said...

The whole movie is based on my unhealthy love of Come on Eileen. Suggest away, but the song stays.

quartergoddess said...

You know I've thought about it some more and I dig the whole song thing and the two toned theme. What if, instead of holding up a stereo a la Say Anything, he puts together a big musical number to Come on Eileen, you know with a band, a stage and dancers? Then it could seem sort of over the top and fantastical in v.1 and sort of lame and pathetic in v.2. Just a suggestion...

j.l.b. said...

Can I play the busboy?

Heather said...

* showed the music video of "Come on Eileen" in the 'Sam's Mailbag' part of the show as Kevin Rowland was a look-a-like to co-host Garry Lyon. After the music video was performed, another video was shown with hosts Garry Lyon (as Kevin Rowland), James Brayshaw (as Banjo player), Sam Newman (as Violin player) and Trevor Marmalade (as Accordion player) performing a copy of the original video as themselves.

* This song has incorrectly been rumored to be a reference to methamphetamine. However, the band's name, Dexys Midnight Runners, is a reference to the stimulant Dexedrine.

* The song features in the film Rainbow Warrior.

* The title of the song was mentioned in an episode of Will & Grace. Grace has bought a dog against Will's will, and when trying to convince him to keep the dog, she says "Come on, Eileen!”

* The song was used as the Space Shuttle Discovery crew wake-up call in August 2005, on STS-114 Flight Day 14, in honour of the flight commander, Eileen Collins. The ground control team selected the song to remind the crew "that it is time for your return back home to planet Earth" (a return which turned out to be delayed by a day due to weather).

* The phrase "Come On Eileen" is used as the refrain in the song "Me and my Black Metal Friends" by Atom And His Package.

* The song was used in the film Tommy Boy, during the scene with Chris Farley and David Spade singing in the car.

* The song's title was parodied in Clerks as a porno film titled "Cum On Eileen". There is also a real porn site with this title.

* The song was used briefly in the hit British cult sitcom Spaced, starring (among others) Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson.

* This song is one of the '80s tunes that can be heard in the arcade game compilation Namco Museum 50th Anniversary Arcade Collection, for the PS2, Xbox, GameCube and PC.

* In The Simpsons episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" Lisa remarks that Homer's barbershop quartet, the Be Sharps, beat Dexys Midnight Runners for a Grammy Award to which Homer replies, "Well, you haven't heard the last of them." This is an ironic reference to Dexys Midnight Runners' one hit wonder status in the US.

* The song is referenced in an episode of the television series American Dad.

* The song and video are featured in the the Singstar 80's karaoke video game.

* The song was used in an episode of the ABC television series Carpoolers.

* The song was used in a Kinder Bueno commercial.

* The song was played during the Jackass 24 hour take over on MTV

* Kevin Rowland was parodied at the end of an episode of "Big Train", created as a sort of Frankenstein's monster.

* The song was played during the intro to episode 6 of the popular British television series Spaced.

Mr Blume said...

I would feel honored to be in the same company as TommyBoy, Spaced, and the Simpsons. You just sealed the deal my friend.

Heather said...

The song's title was parodied in Clerks as a porno film titled "Cum On Eileen". There is also a real porn site with this title.

This sealed it for me.

Mr Blume said...

Again, you throw Clerks at me. The closest thing I have to religion now a days, is the pilgramage I take to listen to Kevin Smith's weekly podcast. You can't win.