The Chang Scale

For reference purposes, the Chang Scale:

(0) Fail! Completely devoid of redeeming value of any kind. Junk/garbage. Recommend avoidance at all cost.

(1) Lowest passing grade. Some redeeming value, but on the whole, rather bad. Recommend you try to find something else. Substitute something similar if possible.

(2) Decent aspects to it, but overall still not quite that good. Certainly not memorable. If this is all there is, maybe go for it if you need a fix. You might like it better than I.

(3) Satisfactory. Not bad at all, but not all that good either—sort of neutral or “meh”.

(4) Quite good. Recommend you give it a try. You might love it.

(5) Excellent! I loved it and highly recommend it. Recommend you go out of your way or pay a premium for it.

Hello World!

It was a dark and stormy night.

Well not night, and not exactly stormy.

But I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express once. No, not really. Those places scare me.

Let me start again.

So I just got an iPad and it’s motivated me to start writing again.

I’m a novelist who hasn’t been published yet. I’m a screenwriter who hasn’t sold a script to Hollywood—yet! And I do other things too. I’m a guerilla filmmaker who sometimes does sound mixing for other filmmakers. Sometimes I’m a script supervisor. Recently, I’ve gotten my feet wet as a director. I play guitar and bass. I own a small recording and film post-production studio. I’ve recorded and run the mixing console at live concerts by up-and-coming bands.

No, you haven’t seen any of my work — not under this name. I work under a different name. That way I can objectively critique things without fear of never working in this town again. You may well have seen my work on YouTube or Vimeo or heard some of my music on Reverb Nation. Several of my screenplays have been turned into independent films. And I’ve edited and mixed the soundtrack for several others. And I love to cook, and I love to eat good food. I’m always open to a tip on a good local eatery (or drinkery!)

I started this blog because I like to share knowledge (knowledge is power—so they say) and we should all be empowering ourselves to enjoy life more. The world is crappy enough without denying ourselves the simple pleasures of good food, good music, good films, good books, and good company to share them all with.

I live and work in the so-called “Triangle” area in North Carolina. There is a lot of talent in this area — in Durham, Chapel Hill and from my neck of the woods — Raleigh. And I’ve had the pleasure of working with a lot of the very talented musicians, artists, writers, directors, cinematographers, editors, actors, and sound guys over the past dozen or so years. To them I give my sincere thanks (except to a handful of cads to whom I give the Bronx cheer). Hopefully, I’ll continue to have the honor and pleasure of working with more of these great, talented folks over the course of the future (and good fortune of avoiding the cads).

I love storytelling in all its forms—whether it be a photograph, a watercolor, a short story, a stage play, a poem, a film, or a song. In fact even great cuisine tells a sort of story as well, so I consider cooking to be an art form as well. So here I go, embarking on my mission of sharing what I know and what I learn along the way, in this great adventure and journey we call life.

Cheers,

— Boris Chang
July 1, 2011