Sunday, June 16, 2013

On Green Dolphin Shit (Fiction)

By Pauly
Los Angeles, CA


EXT. BEVERLY HILLS - DAY                                         
                                                                           
Lazy Sunday morning. Empty street in Beverly Hills. 
Three twenty-something post-bohemian hipster (PBH) 
types slowly pedal their bicycles. MAISY, 25, 
Female PBH #2 on the far left is silent and heavily 
medicated. The other two  -- DAKOTA, 27, female 
PBH #1 with Tina Fey glasses and DYLAN, 28, 
unshaven male PBH -- were pontificating about nothing 
for several blocks.                                              
                                                                           
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    I don’t know how many times I’ve                       
                    taken the same photo.                                  
                                                                           
                              DYLAN                                        
                    Imagine how many people took the                       
                    same photo before you?                                 
                                                                           
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    My mom said she used to work in a                      
                    Fotomat when she was in college.                       
                                                                           
                              DYLAN                                        
                    What the hell is that?                                 
                                                                           
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    It was like a drive thru photo                         
                    store. But very tiny. Like the size                    
                    of a food truck. This was before                       
                    digital cameras. People dropped off                    
                    film things. I dunno what are they                     
                    call?                                                  
                                                                           
                              DYLAN                                        
                    Umm... Film cartridges?                                
                                                                           
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    Film reels? You know the film film?                    
                    Old school film, like tape. You see                    
                    that shit in old movies.                               
                                                                           
                              DYLAN                                        
                    Yeah. Film tape.                                       
                                                                           
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    So people drove up to Fotomat and                      
                    dropped off their film tape. When                      
                    pictures were developed, they                          
                    picked them up                                         
                                                                           
                              DYLAN                                        
                    Where did they develop it?                             
                                                                          
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    Dunno. Some darkroom somewhere.                        
                    Doesn’t matter. The thing is that                      
                    my mom said she looked at a lot of                     
                    the photos. She said when people                       
                    came back from their summer                            
                    vacations, if they went to Europe,                     
                    they always took pictures of the                       
                    same things. Like the Eiffel Tower.                    
                    Or Notre Dame.                                         
                                                                           
                              DYLAN                                        
                    Right were the Hunchback lives.                        
                                                                           
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    Same photo. Different people. Same                     
                    photo.                                                 
                                                                           
                              DYLAN                                        
                    Imagine how many people take the                       
                    same photo of the same Eiffel                          
                    Tower?                                                 
                                                                           
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    Day after day. Thousands every day.                    
                    Tens of thousands. Over one hundred                    
                    thousand a week                                        
                                                                           
                              DYLAN                                        
                    No way. I saw more. Like a half a                      
                    million a week                                         
                                                                           
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    That’s like 26 million people a                        
                    year                                                   
                                                                           
                              DYLAN                                        
                    Same picture. Same tower. Different                    
                    people. So what’s the point of                         
                    taking pictures?                                       
                                                                           
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    That’s what I’m wondering. I guess                     
                    as a personal memento                                  
                                                                           
                              DYLAN                                        
                    But you can just Google that shit.                     
                    You’d find a better one. No doubt.                     
                    By a real photographer. Or someone                     
                    who took a shot with better light.                     
                    I went to film school. It’s all                        
                    about light.                                                                                   
                                   
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    I thought you dropped out?                             
                                                                           
                              DYLAN                                        
                    Whatevs. Just Google pics. You                         
                    don’t need to take ’em.                                
                                                                           
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    Selfies in front of the Eiffel                         
                    Tower is the new postcard. Except                      
                    you don’t actually have to go                          
                    through the trouble of sending an                      
                    actual overpriced card that will                       
                    take a month to get to where its                       
                    supposed to go, and by then you’re                     
                    already home and told everyone                         
                    about your trip                                        
                                                                           
                              DYLAN                                        
                    What’s the point of even going? You                    
                    can just Photoshop yourself into a                     
                    picture of you with the Hunchback                      
                    of Notre Dame, or hanging with                         
                    Beibs in Rome with 2 Chainz’s                          
                    entourage.                                             
                                                                           
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    Food is temporary. It’s unique and                     
                    something worth preserving                             
                                                                           
                              DYLAN                                        
                    Now you see it. Then it’s gone                         
                                                                           
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    Disappears. Digested. Shat out.                        
                    Flushed away. Into the bowels of                       
                    the city’s sewers                                      
                                                                           
                              DYLAN                                        
                    Then flushed out to the ocean, so                      
                    whales and dolphins will eventually                    
                    eat it. You shit out dolphin food.                     
                    That’s pretty rad. You can’t do                        
                    that with the Eiffel Tower... eat                      
                    it bit by bit and shit it out for                      
                    Euro-trash dolphins as dessert.                        
                                                                           
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    You ever think that when you take a                    
                    picture of food, that you’re                           
                    capturing it’s last breath of life                     
                    before it gets consumed                                
                                                                          
                              DYLAN                                        
                    And then turned into dolphin shit.                     
                                                                           
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    Yeah. You capture the food at the                      
                    height of its essence. Someone                         
                    prepares that dish pulling in                          
                    different ingredients and it went                      
                    from nothing to something in a                         
                    short time. But once you get                           
                    served, that’s the beginning of the                    
                    end. The dish reaches its pinnacle                     
                    of existence as its being set down                     
                    in front of you. Once you start                        
                    eating, it’s over. Death. When you                     
                    take a photo of food, you capture                      
                    the moment before it dies.                             
                                                                           
                              DYLAN                                        
                    That’s some really serious deep                        
                    thinking. Like Nobel Prize winning                     
                    philosophy and shit                                    
                                                                           
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    Thanks. And I didn’t have to get                       
                    thrown out of NYU film school to                       
                    learn that.                                            
                                                                           
                              DYLAN                                        
                    So how did you learn that? You                         
                    know, the essence of food and dying                    
                    and shit?                                              
                                                                           
                              DAKOTA                                       
                    Xanax. I take one but before I                         
                    drift off to dreamland, I look at                      
                    food photos on Instagram. It’s easy                    
                    to think about death when all you                      
                    think about all day is hiding from                     
                    real life. So I look at a couple                       
                    hundred of food pics every night.                      
                    Relaxes me. Meals by friends and                       
                    strangers alike                                        
                                                                           
                              MAISY                                        
                    That’s a lot of dolphin Shit.                          
                   

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