Some Introductory Waffle
Back when I was a student, way back in the crazy days o' Easter 2006. Way back then when we were younger and wiser and had less bother with our gums and our prostates. Way back then, says I, as part o' the course I was enrolled in, being a Media Studies number at the University Of Ulster. Way back then I crafted a short flick by the name of Cliddyplomp which - alongside a hefty ol' 100-page screed detailing the ins and outs of its production and the thematic threads all dangling from off of the corners of the frames — served as my final dissertation type thing.
What the 'forementioned short flick amounted to, was an autobiographical comedy fantasy, sort of carry-on, about a young lad with incredibly bad teeth and ridiculous hair by the name of Declan; Who finds himself all a sudden adrift 'pon those churning oceans of solitude and despair far side o' a lengthy relationship. At risk of going mad in the very brains, Declan inadvertently conjures a demon/imp/dimensionally challenged entity of some sort from out his sore befuddled mind-wax that he might have a distraction from the realities of his situation.
Except it's less ponderous and miserable and far more like a dramatized stand-up routine than that synopsis would lead a fella to believe.
It took a year to write the damn thing, that much I can tell you (although, in the end, much o' the yacking was improvised on the day), and a month or thereabouts for to film and edit and score and what have you (the filming was assisted no end by the camera-slinging talents of fellow Blogcritic Aaron Fleming, which were utilized with much gratitude for a few key scenes) and here it is now, available for to watch right here on the web-net that you might maybe smile of occasion and yawn here and there and probably say all about "Aye, student film, then" and "He's seen Annie Hall a time or two" (to be fair, now, it was explicitly pointed out in thon big 'ol written thing mentioned up yonder that the opening was an overt homage to that particular Woody Allen masterpiece, and also, manys a theoretical finger was pointed towards Henry Koster's Harvey and Ingmar Bergman's Persona) and "Dear Jesus oh, his teeth truly are fucked somethin' wicked."
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
This is absolutely awesome -- even if I really do think that Keeeeersten Dunst looks like Cliddyplomp sounds. If you had a Scarlett Johansson fixation, that would be more understandable to me.
Still and all, excellent work, and congratulations!
2 - Greg Smyth
Congrats chief. Very enjoyable indeed. And congrats on the awards and whatnot.
3 - Dave Nalle
Ok, how can we get this bit of Dukery into the SXSW festival this spring and get The Duke over here so that I can buy him a beer or three?
Dave
4 - Duke De Mondo
folks, thank you no end. i felt more nervous 'bout flingin it on here than i did flingin it afore the Official types.
Greg and Dave, thank you, and Phillip, thank you also, and i must add that whilst i can see a certain mid-1930's soft-focus charm about Ms Johansen, she is no Kirsten. Nor is she a Thora Birch, even, who so memorably outshone her in the marvellous Ghost World. She IS more attractive than Steve Buscemi mind you, who was also great in that flick.
5 - Clavos
Very good. And I won't ever refer to the young lady as curse-ten again.
I usually just went out and got drunk--this looks a lot more therapeutic.
Well done.
6 - A.L. Harper
Duke -
This is a beautiful film, and you have beautiful hair.
7 - Aaron Fleming
Hurrah! At last it has emerged onto the world! A fantastic piece of work, well deserving of the acclaim gifted it!
8 - Eric Berlin
Duke, I just completed watching this great masterwork with the wife and mom (flown from New York to California for the very occasion... in part) and are all fully astounded by the complete hurtle into lands of comedic artistry on display right here.
Seriously, I thought every moment was fantastic -- the Duke's vision taken to next steps. Particularly liked the bits with the piano and the e-mail.
9 - DJRadiohead
Duke, you know precisely how unbiased I am when it comes to all this despite my never having actually met you or being related to you to the best of my knowledge…
Brilliant. It’s fucking brilliant. I was very taken with it.
I’m in agreement with Dave… you need to give this film a chance to win more notes… not that notes are the only reason to do this but more just in the sense of you really need to give this film a chance to continue to be seen by more people and when you do more notes are sure to follow.
I am still listening to the record. The film… you’ve more talents than you can harness.
10 - Jon Sobel
Oy! My cliddyplomp hurts from laughing.
11 - Duke De Mondo
Clavos - alas, the drunk business wasn't available to me. but i still ended up makin a great arse of myself in public, intoxicated or no.
Ms Harper and Sir Fleming, thank you both for the kind words, and for no end o' support and what not, either via the editorialising, or via the construction of the thing in general (ms harper for the former, sir fleming for the latter)
Sir Berlin, i am altogether pleased out my mind you enjoyed it. and i do hope the references to self-fumbling and the fuck word didn't offend your family.
Sir DJ - thank you also sir. other than blushin a great deal i dunno how one would respond to such lovely commentery. i'll just say thank you.
and Jon - i'm glad you found it funny! manys a viewer was perplexed when i told em it was a comedy. a very distressing affair, some found it.
and thanks again to all for the comments!
12 - zingzing
That was actually pretty damn good. yer accent is dreamy. cack. is that how you spell it? cack. funny shit.
13 - Matthew T. Sussman
I'm fairly certain we should have to wait several months for deleted scenes, yet there they are right with the release of the short film. Where can we go from here?
Ah. Widescreen. I await it.
Or a sequel.
14 - Emo Hair and Woody Allen
The major problems I have with this film are mentioned in my name. I can get past that though, and other than that, what I saw was pretty good but I got cut off on my video during the monologue. There is more to this, right? Even on Youtube it cut off at the same point. It is about "1:30/10:00." It might just be me but you should fix this. Thanks.
15 - DukeDeMondo
Heh, EM&WA, you've summed up my life, right there, in that screen-name. The Woody Allen homage tomfoolery was intentional, but the hair... alas,i have no excuse for that. nor the teeth, i should add.
it seems to be playin fine at this end now, i can only assume there was some sorta gremlin in the works, or maybe an act of divine intervention so as you might be spared the sight of my acting in the big "dramatic" moment. truly, it is right shockin' to the soul.
16 - lono
Duke,
Just saw the film and loved it! I want to apologize for taking 4 months to see it. I am a huge fan of your everything... but I think everyone here at Blogcritics is.
I want to know what Cliddyplomp looks like. For now, I will imagine the dolphins. Remember, on your third or fourth podcast you warned us of cave dolphins who hang upside down and eat the shoulder meat of humans. At least, that is how I remember it.
I hope you are doing well. I am going to go through and see what else you have been up to. Regretably, I haven't been a great contributor to the group as of late. I am on mucho good painkillers from knee surgery and have found I am nowhere near as funny as I used to be when sober.
plus, I wasn't that funny then. See, I am rambling... blame the narcotics. I do! Happy New Year, Duke!
17 - Chris G
The hair. The hair. The right eye needs to see too!
Brilliant writing and performance as always.
Miss your podcasts.
18 - DukeDeMondo
Chris! What a joy to hear from you again! I have in fact missed the podcasts too, and have considered strongly flingin a couple out afore much longer. Hmm.
And thank you very much for the kind words, and as to the hair... haha. well. I could pretend it was the character's hair and not mine. but that'd be twistin the truth till it was as near as dammit a dirty bastard of a lie. it's not in that state anymore. Proper depth-perception and what not has been returned to me.