Instead

of sleeping last night, I ended up drawing five thumbnail pages of

this then writing this script for a 12 page sequential art story.

Don't ask me why. It just kind of wrote itself.

5

pages thumbnails started August 23, 2004 2:00am, finished written

script at 5:23am

BildoLiteratura

de Huntsville, Alabama

PAGE

ONE:

panel

1: The tip of a Saturn rocket that Cainmark, a bald middle aged man

with round eyeglasses, is pointing to against a simple black

background

Cainmark:

I come from a strange town.

panel

2: Cainmark looking down from Monte Sano onto lights of the city of

Huntsville,Alabama.

Cainmark:

called Huntsville, Alabama.

Panel

3: the midsection of a Saturn rocket, against a starry sky with the

moon clearly visible.

Cainmark:

Maybe it's the space connection

Panel

4: Several church spires going down a street, one for every corner of

a block. Cainmark leaning into the frame from the right side.

Cainmark:

(in smaller lettering) Maybe they're jealous of the rockets?

Panel

5: Base of the rocket , but instead of stars, small explosions, and

laser beams in the background.

Cainmark:

Or the Military-industrial complex of Redstone Arsenal that has such

a stranglehold on our fluctuating economy.

Panel

6: Mountainous cliff and landtrust sign stopping bulldozers from

advancing.

Cainmark:

Or Monte Sano (Mountain of Health) as a nature retreat fighting back

against suburban encroachment.

PAGE

TWO:

Panel

1: CU of Cainmark's face

Cainmark:

but really what makes it strange to me. . .

Panel

2: Crowd of diverse people looking straight out at reader.

Cainmark:

. . . is the sheer number of people in our diverse population.

Panel

3: Same crowd, but looking up this time and all shouting

CROWD:

PAGE

THREE:

Panel

1: Side view of Cainmark as he walks along a street in downtown

Huntsville, the shadows of thebuilding forming bars across the panel.

Cainmark:

To be fair, I once felt trapped here myself.

Panel

2: CU of Dollar bills, in the BG is Cainmark showing that his pockets

are empty.

Cainmark:

month, since companies had glommed onto how great it was for them to

not actually hire anyone and give them benefits-just hire a

part-timer or a temp!

Panel

3: CU of an open cardboard box, half loaded with books, beside it

some socks strung out on the floor.

Cainmark:

Not even having enough money to move somewhere else where I might

have had a better job prospect (though all accounts from my friends

throughout the nation told me it was pretty much the same everywhere

at that time).

Panel

4: CU of right half of Cainmark's face.

Cainmark:

Panel

5: CU of right half of Cainmark's face, showing only nose and

eyeglass frame this time

Cainmark:

Don't run . . . From something.

Panel

6: CU eyeglass framein shadows

Cainmark:

Panel

7: CU eyeglass frame, bright with light.

Cainmark:

PAGE

FOUR:

Panel

1: A big question mark with dramatic burst lines coming from it.

Cainmark:

Panel

2: Picture of Earth in Space. (The earth at night picture would be

really good to use here)

Cainmark:

Could be anywhere!

Panel

3: Picture of clouds covering the US.

Cainmark:

So why not

Panel

4: Picture of Alabama's state outline with a dot for Huntsville.

Lettering points to Huntsville, Alabama.

Cainmark:

Panel

5: Picture of a chain breaking in the upper left corner. Picture of

Cainmark confined by a 2D box in the lower right corner.

Cainmark:

strangely,

Cainmark

IN BOX: Confining.

PAGE

5:

Full

page: Small picture of Cainmark in a fetal position in the lower

left corner.

The

following dialogue alternates across the page.

Cainmark:

I mean

Cainmark:

what do you have to do?

Cainmark:

when every

Cainmark:

option

Cainmark:

is open

In

the middle to the right of the page is a door open, with the workds

“To You?” in it.

VERY

BOTTOM OF PAGE IN SIMPLE TEXt: You get scared.

PAGE

SIX:

panel

1: Cainmark on Monte Sano.

Cainmark:

Sorry, got a little off track. I've learned some hard life lessons

and moved on.

Panel

2: Cainmark in the hospital district.

Cainmark:

But I didn't have to move to move on.

Panel

3: Cainmark on railway tracks.

Cainmark:

Panel

4: Picture of televison showing Buckaroo Bonzai saying:

BUCKAROO

BONZAI FROM TELEVISION: “Wherever you go-there you are.”

Panel

5: Cainmark looking back over his shoulder, smiling, eyebrows raised

Cainmark:

remember it now.

PAGE

SEVEN:

Panel

1: Historic district houses.

Cainmark:

Huntsville, Alabama was a small town back in the 50s.

Panel

2: Picture of the Von Braun team

Cainmark:

Until it became a city thanks to the influx of these scientists.

Rocket scientist.

Panel

3: Picture of A&M buildings.

Cainmark:

Panel

3: Picture of water spraying people in Birmingham

Cainmark:

But this was before the civil rights movement had gained any

momentum, so

Panel

4: Picture of small night class. Very tiny illegible you8H on paper.

Cainmark pushing panel off page.

Cainmark:

Enough of embarrassing past beginnings. There's several more

colleges and institutions of higher learning here now, and the

Universities are all more ethnically diverse than they ever were.

Panel

5: Picture of several different ethnic types walking and 2 playing

frisbee in the background.

Cainmark:

They have to be, with the welcome influx of foreign students.

Panel

6: Young goth girl arguing with a man, while a man in a uniform is by

a car in the background.

Cainmark:

and employment policies about foreigners and their cultures they

bring with them. Which leads to generational conflicts between the

older people who've been here, both the agrarian amd military

contractors-and their children and their friends.

PAGE

8:

Panel

1: Pictures of several bars and nightspots in town.

Cainmark:

styles of live music to choose from. I really don't know.

Panel

2: Cainmark in a crowd of people enjoying a rockabilly band.,

Cainmark:

talent of a slug,

Panel

3:Cainmark enjoying the rocket scientist surf band.

Cainmark:

is that we have some incredible musicians for a city in Alabama.

Panel

3: Picture of WC Handey,

Cainmark:

area.

Panel

4: Bob Dylan, Greg Allman in the mussel shoals area

Cainmark:

or the studios used by the rock and pop stars in the 1970s in the

Mussel Shoals area,

Panel

5: Drawings of swing dancers dancing to Mambo Gris Gris morphing into

punks a-moshing.

Cainmark:

Industrial.

Panel

6: Drawings of Blackout, goth people

Cainmark:

There's something here for everyone.

PAGE

9:

Panel

1: Picture of Microwave Dave at the Kaffeeklatsch, only three people

listening.

Cainmark:

or maybe not. Though this guy is well repected blues player with his

own blues radio show, he gets great audiences from here, his local

base much less often than you would think. If he was in Chicago,

he'd probably be packing them in every night. So what's different

about Huntsville?

Panel

2: Cainmark walking along downtown

Cainmark:

This city doesn't have the built in capacity to have a great audience

every night for even one venue.

Panel

3: Cainmark looking out from a parking garage. Lights all over

downtown.

Cainmark:

Much less several. Especially when people come in, see no one they

know there, then leave, and the next crowd does the same thing. So

while it may only be three people at a time, that venue may have had

sixty people in it in the course of three hours.

Panel

4: Cainmark still on parking garage, different angle. Looking like

he's about to jump,

Cainmark:

Panel

5: Cainmark walking along bottom of parking deck, the spot he was

looking at.

Cainmark:

With people's schedules today, it's hard to get out one night a week

for dinner and a mainstream movie, much less for a great live music

show or play (which we have in several bars, The Flying Monkey Arts

Center, Renaissance Theatre, numerous high school productions, or the

Von Braun Civic Center*) or indie flick (which we have at Regal

Madison Square 12 or the Alabama Filmmaker's CoOp). Which is

understandable, of course. What's not is what I call-

*yes,

THAT Von Braun

Panel

6: A HUGE Blanket covering all of Monte Sano, creeping toward the

city. Artistic types are running away from it like it's a monster.

One Artistic type is very androgynous with short hair.

Cainmark:

-The Apathy Blanket!

ANDROGYNOUS

ARTISTIC TYPE: Run or it will devour us!

PAGE

10:

Panel

1: Same panel from Page Nine, Panel 6. Blanket covering all of

Monte Sano, creeping toward the city. Artistic types are running

away from it like it's a monster. Another darker blanket is coming

from another direction.

Cainmark:

Or the Judgemental Blanket!

ANDROGYNOUS

ARTISTIC TYPE: It's controlling me-telling me I must move to New

York or LA or Portland or Seattle or Atlanta or Austin to be happy!

It's telling me there's-

Panel

2: ANDROGYNOUS ARTISTIC TYPE getting into a car, a dazed hypnotized

expression on his/her face.

ANDROGYNOUS

ARTISTIC TYPE: -No hope. Nothing to do here. Nothing to offer me

anything in this backwater hick little God-thumping little town of

hayseeds.

Panel

3: Cainmark looking at car driving off. The blankets are nowhere to

be seen.

Cainmark:

goes another one. Maybe housing costs and living and transportation

expenses have come down considerable in big cities. Or they at least

got a monumentally well-paying job. For their sake.

Panel

4: Cainmark looking straight out at reader.

Cainmark:

Alabama becoming a BIG CITY overnight. Nor do I necessarily want it

to. It's a city, but not a big one, surrounding what's basically

still a small town. So you get the best of town and city

life. With one worst of I'm going to talk about now.

Panel

5: Picture of Jordan Lane and Holmes Ave intersection. Cars running

lights both ways.

Cainmark:

Panel

6: Pictures of several different crashes.

Cainmark:

Not only do we have aggressive city drivers, we have passive town

drivers who like to go 35mph in the left passing lane. Add to that

people from, not only the rest of the US, but the world, and you have

a mix of drivers that no one can tell who is possibly going to do

what. I'm not sure why, but when people start to live and drive in

Huntsville, they suddenly have no idea what turn signals are for-if

they use them, they'll use them for a good 2 miles passing several

turns on the way.

PAGE

11:

Panel

1: Cainmark in sunglasses and helmet on bicycle going down legally

on the right side of the road.

Cainmark:

most.

Panel

2: Preppy teen yelling from passenger side of car. Throwing beer can

at Cainmark.

PREPPY

TEEN: Get off the road!

Panel

3: Cainmark catches can and throws it back into the teen's window.*

*yes,

this happened, although it while I was walking on the sidewalk and no

yelling at me. Life is good sometimes.

Cainmark:

responsibilities and rights as automobiles on the road.

Teen:

&#@!

Panel

4:Cainmark at stop sign giving hand signal for stop.

Cainmark:

That means stopping at stop signs, traffic lights that are red,

giving hand signals, and taking the center of a lane when it's not

necessary to get to the right for automobile traffic.

Panel

5: Cainmark giving a right hand turn signal. Turning right.

Cainmark:

Riding on the sidewalk is not only illegal, but much more dangerous

to a skilled bicyclist who can get up to speed of 35 mph.

Panel

6: Teenagers riding against traffic, on the sidewalk.

Cainmark:

And never, ever ride against traffic!It's more

dangerous, not safer.

PAGE

12:

Panel

1: Cainmark biking down a road. The Apathy blanket on his left, the

Judgemental blanket on his right.

Cainmark:

So where was I? Oh yeah. The Apa-

Panel

2: Cainmark being smothered by the blankets.

Cainmark:

U knnn le em gih u dow thay na jusss i uville thay air v were.*

*You

can't let them get you down. They're not just in Huntsville.

They're everywhere.

Panel

3: Cainmark riding his bike through the blankets, holding a

videocamera. The camera is like a beam ripping holes in them.

Panel

4: ANDROGYNOUS ARTISTIC TYPE holding paintbrush, painting over the

blankets.

ANDROGYNOUS

ARTISTIC TYPE: Rats. How'd I end up back here?

Panel

5: Cainmark by parked bike, videotaping some ducks at Big Spring

park.

Cainmark:

difference in how you see the world and your place in it.

Panel

6: Cainmark looking over at Androgynous artistic type who has

transformed the Apathy and Judgemental blanket into two canvases to

paint onto.

Cainmark:

overall, especially with, to be honest, unfairly low property taxes

compared to the rest of the country. Still more expensive than most

of the rest of Alabama, though.

Panel

7: Cainmark biking off by Huntsville Museum of Art.

Cainmark:

to the great public library with its books, magazines, graphic

novels, VHS tapes, DVDs, computer ti-

THE

END