Not Enough Time For The Beethoven

As a few of us know, Terrance Williams, who played the first violinist in my 1998 video, "Gosk II", used to be a key assistant to Director Ridley Scott and his director brother, Tony Scott. Another thing a few of us may have noticed is that, ever since Terrance's appearance in my video, my material has occasionally been used in significant ways (unacknowledged) in the work of Tony and Ridley (mostly Ridley). Ridley Scott's "American Gangster", which I just saw yesterday for the first time (in its HBO premier), proves to be no exception.

Specifically, I first draw your attention to the scene in my 1994 video, "Gosk I", where Clerp, noticing something while speaking to Jerp, says, "Wait a minute," gets up from his seat, dramatically (complete with dramatic music) steers the spacecraft away from a meteor, returns to his seat, then after a few nonchalant words in response to Jerp's question about what he was doing, says, "So anyway, like I was saying...."

I then draw your attention to the scene in "American Gangster", where the Denzel Washington character is in a diner speaking to a few people at his table, notices something, says, "I'll be right back," leaves the diner, exchanges a few words with someone, then shoots him, returns to the diner, sits back down, and nonchalantly says, "What was I saying?"

Ridley Scott, I once again repeat the suggestion I asked the person who answers the phone for you to pass along: As delighted as I am to be an influence, I would be even more delighted to work for you directly.