News, Views and Tuesday Morning Blues

News: I'm turning 38 on Saturday and want a new camera. Buy me one.

Views: Michael Jackson is weird.

And in Tuesday Morning Blues: My laptop is kaput. I need help.

And on to my journal entry...

"Roses are red, violets are blue. I'm a Schizophrenic... and so am I."
-Bill Murray as 'Bob' in the movie "What About Bob?"

Yeah. That's me. At least I feel like one... and so do I.

I mean, I pose as a Financial Analyst by day. I do analysis on things like Vertebroplasty and Open Heart Surgery. I see if there's profitability in Acute Rehab and reemphasize the fact that Medi-Cal is a profitless form of business despite DSH.

And I question, is there any value in all this information? Probably. To some most likely. But to me, not really. Providing these numbers are a means to the end. You know... the root of all evel - Money. To both, the company and to me in the form of a salary. A way to afford food, gas and other necessities and evils.

And at night... I desperately try to figure out why Orion is a conflicted five year old. I try to figure out why his older brother, Gemini, is desperate to defend the name of his father from the menacing martial arts bullies. I'm on the lookout for that next great story where I can start and never finish. All this for no payoff, no financial benefit, no nothing. Nada.

How gratifying is that? To do something you love, to work your ass off on a 120 page script, all so that you can put it on the shelf for nobody to read after getting rejection letters from agents to writing competitions.

And I question, is there meaning in any of this? Am I Orion? Am I Gemini? Am I the next great story that needs to be told to anyone that will listen? I guess there could be a meaning to the toil and trouble. But what?

I continue to believe this is only a temporary state of mind. You know... 'the act'... its a temporary means. Something that I'll use to get by until finally, I can do something that I'm actually passionate about.


And no, I'm not really that passionate about playing ESPN's MVP Baseball 2005 on the Xbox. But on some midnights it would seem that way. It's a great escape from all my other identities that I'm trying to hide from.

I'm talking about writing. In any form. Journals, blogs, short stories, cartoon strips, movie scripts, forum posts. Everytime I get to express myself in any of these forms it seems like hours can pass at a blink of an eye. And although nobody ever gets a glimpse of 99.9% of any of my ramblings, I feel good that it gets down on paper.

I love expression. And maybe I supress my own self-expression as much as I tell the kids to 'not be loud' or to use 'indoor voices' or to 'be quiet' when all they are doing sometimes is 'expressing' themselves. Yes, there's a line to be drawn, but sometimes that line shouldn't be so straight as we tend to make it.

Wow. That was some profound shit there wasn't it?

Okay, back to the theme sentence. You know, the subject of this Tuesday rant. Schizophrenia. Well, maybe I can't go as far as being 'clinical' so maybe I'll lower my standards and call myself a decent actor in the theater of life. A good liar? A fake? Someone without an act where the non act is really the act? I'm a Dr. Jykell during the day, and at 4:00 PM my Mr. Hyde is desperately trying to show himself. But can't because he's too mentally tired from being prim and proper.

Damn, this sucks. Your id butting heads with itself. You know because of the schizo thing I have multiple ids. I kid. A joke. Id. HA! Ahem...

You know what I mean. A baby is hungry, the id wants to eat. The baby feels left out, the id wants attention. Well, THE HUNGRY HUNGRY SCREENWRITER FEELS FRUSTRATED... THE ID WANTS TO BE A FULL TIME WRITER.

Okay, don't school me on the id and ego and superego... I know the flow, the progression, the structural model. It was only a joke so don't take id so seriously. HA! I kill myself sometimes.

Why can't I find that focus. You know, like Daniel-san in "Karate Kid". That way I can have balance.

Tuesday's, after a long weekend, sucks. My boss should have never given me a Friday before a long weekend off. Well, yes, he should because four day weekends are the bomb and a half. But that's not good for my motivation to continue this act.

But there's light at the end of the tunnel. There's a sunrise after every sunset. What goes up must come down. Whatever will be will be and any other cliche you want to say... I will be 38 on Saturday. And I'll sell a script, get an agent and produce a feature by the time I turn 39. That's my goal.

Why? Because 38 is 3+8=11. Because 11 is 1+1 =2. Because 2 is Jacob's tee ball jersey number. And this will give me luck! See... there's meaning in everything.

There's hope. I mean, look at my hair.

Just when I thought it would never be the way it should.

It's coming to the point where I can look at the mirror with two thumbs up and say... "Aaaaaaaay!"

Hey, I just realized there are some film/tv references in this Tuesday Rant. Intentional and non. 10 points each if you can find em! :)

Another excuse not to write...

I need to throw things from VERY HIGH BUILDINGS!

Look at this...

When I start up my laptop, a Dell Inspiron 8200, I get a message:

Primary hard drive not found.
Fixed optical drive not found
No bootable devices
Strie F1 to Retry boot F2 for set up utility.

I try to reboot and get the No bootable devices messages again. I went into the utility and the Hard drive and i think floopy drive is highlighted.

I'm in complete and utter desperation.

ALL MY SCRIPTS ARE ON THE DRIVE!!!

Last time I backed up was a while ago, I have the main stuff, but alot of new stuff, like shorts are all on the hardrive...

SO IS MY NEW SCRIPT "ORION'S BELT"!!!

NOW WHAT?!?

I just checked my warenty status. I have 31 days left on my warenty. Whew... hopefully that means something.

Blogger Problems

Blogger.com is giving me problems. I had to temporarily move my blog to http://hungrywriter.blogspot.com/ as I try to fix the problem. I can't upload the templates to the Squint.tv site.

So for the time being, this will be where to find "The Hungry Hungry Writer" blog.

If you have my blog syndicated on MyYahoo or MyMsn, you'll need to delete it and update it with the new syndication links here or on the right column of my blog.

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Glenn's Photo Studio

My new found passion for GOOD PHOTOGRAPHY prompted me to create a make-shift photo studio on Saturday afternoon, around 3:00 PM. Here is where I would take around 100 pictures of the kids.

Of course, the kids thought the idea was great... for like 1 picture... but I managed to get these good ones from the set of pictures.

As you'll see, there was some bribery, which resulted in some sugar induced craziness for the up-coming evening.

Hope you like em.


Bella is the hardest to keep still when in front of a camera. Don't tell her to smile or you'll get a "funny" face. You just have to make her laugh or catch her with a natural smile.


Getting the two together was even harder.


Time it right and they'll both look at the camera. But two smiles... RARE!


And of course Jake has to put on a show and goof off its hard to get them to do the same thing.


If you keep snapping photos, you sometimes get a good one but its unfocused.


Two smiles but one not looking at the camera.


And the key to all this. BRIBERY!!!


Without this, there would be no pictures! LOL


Ahd here's the makeshift studio.


Natural light, two chairs, the curtains (better if they were dark) and a highchare to prop the curtains on.

Fun in the CA sun - but indoors!

Comic Strip Character Update

"Untitled" Comic Strip Update

Here’s an update to some characters of my cartoon strip. Artwork by Dwight Adonay.

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Of course these are initial concepts/first drafts of the characters as they are developed.

Another sample 1st draft of a script:

“ALARM CLOCK” – HUNGRY HUNGRY SCREENWRITER · script · 1 page(s)
By Glenn Magas (writer) & Dwight Adonay (art)
glenn@squint.tv, DWAdonay@msn.com

"FATIGUE"
Panel 1. Jake's Dad (COACH) instructs a group of five year old tee-ballers. Jake is among the tee-ballers.

Panel 2. The players are on the field. Jake's Dad frantically waves his arms and turns his head.

CAP: 9:00 AM

DAD: THROW TO 1ST! RUN! ALLIGATOR! READY POSITION! CHARGE THE BALL! THROW TO 1ST!

Panel 3. Jake's Dad plops down onto a recliner. Completely exhausted and dirty. Jake, still in a very clean baseball uniform asks him:

CAP: 11:30 AM

JAKE: CAN YOU THROW TO ME?

Panel 4. Jake goes to his Mom.

MOM: WHY DON’T YOU ASK YOUR DAD?

JAKE: HE’S TIRED OF YELLING.

More to come as I try to build interest and readers for the dailies in hopes to make it to syndication one day!

"Mr. Rigamarole", "Grounds for Coffee", or "Untitled"

I've written aproximately 30 first draft scripts for my cartoon strip. But I don't have a title for it yet.

Here's one as an example:

“COACH” – HUNGRY HUNGRY SCREENWRITER · script · 1 page(s)
By Glenn Magas (writer) & Dwight Adonay (art)
glenn@squint.tv, DWAdonay@msn.com

“ALARM CLOCK” (four panels)

Panel 1. ECU of Jacob staring right at us.

CAP: 6:30 AM

SFX: SNORING "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"

Panel 2. TWO SHOT of a four year old boy staring at his dad who is sound asleep and snoring loudly.

SFX: SNORING "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"

Panel 3. One of Dad’s eyes open. He notices the boy staring patiently at him.

Panel 4. The dad, puzzled, opens both his eyes to a very frustrated look of his son.

BOY: ARE YOU DONE SLEEPING BECAUSE I CAN’T HEAR THE TV.

I want to stay away from 'writer' type titles like "Epiphany" or "Writer's Block" or "Denoument" or "Hungry Hungry Screenwriter" (temporary name).

Also some very typical names came up like "Slice of Life" or "Life in a Box". Both are exactly that, and the latter is also a pun being life in a 'cartoon box'.

I've always liked the word "Rigamarole" but the definition is more appropriate for "Seinfeld". But I am really considering it as the title to the strip. Possibly, "Mr. Rigamarole".

rig·ma·role n.
Pronunciation Key (rgm-rl) also rig·a·ma·role (--m-rl)
1. Confused, rambling, or incoherent discourse; nonsense.
2. A complicated, petty set of procedures. (Dictionary.com)

Other ideas for the title are:
"Exposition"
"Subtext"
"On the Nose"
"One million conversations about one thing"
"One conversation about a million things"
"Zen and the Art of Nothing"
"Boogie Nights"
"Inciting Incidents"
And one I really like: "Grounds for Coffee" - a play on words where "Grounds" means:

"The foundation for an argument, a belief, or an action; a basis. Often used in the plural." (Dictionary.com)

And of course "Grounds" as in coffee 'grounds'.

The artwork is coming along. Here's a sample of the dad character.

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We're going with the 'Retro' cartooning with a personal touch. The reactions of the characters are so key its so important to get the characters just right.

Here's an initial test for a four panel strip. Characters aren't "Retro" in this one.

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Hopefully we can finalize the characters this weekend, then I can start editing the scripts, then we can go into full blown production!

Development Hell

I am suffering through what writers and producers call, “Development Hell”! That’s complicated tech-talk there so beware!

I have found a title for myself. It’s a temporary title, but its right on-the-nose.

“The Short Attention Span Screenwriter”

"At the end of the day there are two kinds of screenwriters: those who finish the first draft of a screenplay and those who don’t. Some days we can write and some days we all suffer from Short Attention Span Deficit so we stare mindlessly at our monitors or notepads until we give up and find our usual ways to avoid the problem." (Giles)

I recently read a great article with the above title by D.B. Giles. He listed ten reasons why I, The Short Attention Span Screenwriter, am writing but without focus.

Here’s his list:

1. You can’t get started on an idea, any idea. Even an idea you love
2. You have three or four ideas you love, but you can’t decide which one to write first and because of your indecision. Instead of writing you watch TV, rent movies and eat junk food
3. You’ve fallen out of love with what you’ve been writing
4. You can’t get past a certain point
5. You’ve realized as you languish in the middle of Act Two that you have no idea whose story it is so you get discouraged
6. You’ve finally admitted to yourself that you weren’t emotionally connected to your story and that you only started writing it because you thought it was commercial and would be easy to sell and the realization that you’ve wasted four months on the project kicks in your self-loathing mechanism
7. Your idea requires more research than you thought and you hate doing research so you watch TV, rent movies and eat junk food
8. You find out that a major studio release with an A-list director and huge stars has begun production on a film that’s so close to yours that you know you don’t stand a chance so you don’t know whether to stick with it, put it in your drawer for ten years or start something new
9. You showed the 63 pages you’ve toiled over for eight months to someone and got negative feedback that bummed you out and sent you into a tailspin of self doubt
10. You’re nearing the end of your script and you’re afraid to finish because it means you’ll have to show it to someone and it’s safer to just keep working on it because you have a pathological fear of criticism

If you’re lucky, which I’m not, there will be only ONE or NONE that you can identify with. Most writers will identify with three or four. I can pick out ten. And I can add another two or three that applies to me.

It’s a terrible place to be. It ruins every aspect of your daily life. It can drive a writer to places he’ll never get out of. Like uncontrolled OCD, addiction to video games, and possibly a state of walking comatose.

And here’s a list of roadblocks most of us, or I, can identify with based on an unscientific poll of screenwriters.

· You’re spreading yourself too thin with your full-time job, social life, family responsibilities and/or other interests that prevent you from finding enough quality writing time
· You’re working on too many scripts at once. Halfway done with this one, a third of the way with that, stuck with no third Act for another
· You’re so infatuated (or obsessed) with your idea that it’s turning into a creepy little Pygmalion scene or your psychotic Frankenstein monster. You just can’t let it go. You’re constantly tweaking and revising the same scenes over and over again
· You’re spending too much time thinking about the deal you’re convinced you’ll get or making notes about which stars to get the script to
· You get mad at the script, as if it’s a recalcitrant child who won’t listen · You somehow expect the screenplay to fix itself
· You’re waiting for your Muse to do her part and you haven’t realized that she’s like that girl/guy who dumped you and left town without a forwarding address
· You have negative people around you who are discouraging
· You’re just lazy and more of a slacker than you thought

I do spread myself too thin with a boring left-brained job, family responsibilities, recreational sports, and now video games. I do tend to work on too many script ideas at once and it gets all so confusing and cluttered that my mind shuts off and goes completely blank. And yes, I’ve discovered when it comes to screenwriting, I’m a lazy ass slacker! UGH!

But here’s something that I need to keep pounding in my head:

Never forget: a bad first draft is preferable to a brilliant unfinished 49 pages that’s been gnawing away at you for two years. (Giles)

I have identified that my biggest problem is laziness. And just as Giles suggests, I talk more about screenwriting more often than actually doing it and I need a wake up call. But what is the wake up call? What’s the rush? What’s at stake? That, my friends, I have to figure out now or I’ll be lost in my own oblivion of watching TV, renting movies and instead of eating junk food, playing a game on X-BOX.

“At the end of the day there are two kinds of screenwriters: those who finish the first draft of a screenplay and those who don’t. Some days we can write and some days we all suffer from Short Attention Span Deficit so we stare mindlessly at our monitors or notepads until we give up and find our usual ways to avoid the problem.” (Giles)

I’m glad I’m not alone. But I’d like to leave that really cool clique of screenwriters who stare mindlessly at their monitors and get into the nerdy group of wannabe screenwriters that actually write badly but write none-the-less.

I think I may need therapy.

You can read D.B. Giles' here: (“The Short Attention Span Screenwriter”) D.B. Giles is the author of "The Screenwriter Within: How To Turn The Movie In Your Head Into A Salable Screenplay." He teaches in the Undergraduate Film & Television Department at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He is also a Script Consultant and Writing Coach. You can contact him at dbgilles47@aol.com

Pictures say a thousand words.

Donna came home late last night and I opened the door. The first thing she asked was, "Are you writing?"

SLAM - It felt like that. A slam in the face. She didn't mean it in any other way other than wanting to know why I was still awake and if I was writing. So its not her fault at all. But I felt like a lazy bum when it comes to writing. From a crappy day at work, then to come home without any motivation to write a word, dude… its torturous!

So… No, I was not writing. No, I was not motivated to write. Yes, I was just messing around on the computer doing nothing productive whatsoever. It sucked.

But that evening was filled with this new found motivation for something else. Call it an excuse to not write. Call it guilt for not taking more pictures of my kids. Call it whatever you want to call it. It ain't writing but it sure beats unproductivity.

I suck as a photographer. Seriously. Jessica can shoot better pictures than I can. Jake can shoot better than I can. I've thought maybe I should try and see things from a 14 year old or 5 year old perspective and shoot like that. It doesn’t work. So yesterday I sped down to Barnes & Noble to find a book called, How to Photograph Your Life: Capturing Everyday Moments with Your Camera and Your Heart by Nick Kelsh.

They had one copy and I sat there and read it from cover to cover. It was short, sweet, to the point and absolutely inspiring for those wannabe digital camera photographers. I didn’t buy the book, but I plan to. Not only did it give me helpful hints on lighting and what to capture, it was easy to follow and even Jessica and Donna can benefit from such a wonderful book.

Well, this prompted me to get the camera out and shoot away.

So I followed my kids around and took about 100 shots of them doing their late evening activities. Alot of the photos were just plain awful. Lighting was bad, boring angles, boring boring boring. But that's what's great about digital photography. Just trash em at no extra cost!

I tested out the manual settings of the camera then after taking a bunch of pics, I picked two of my favorites. Then I ran them through Photoshop for some quick manipulation and photo fun - mainly to play with the backgrounds.

Here they are in pure form and then manipulated - resized to a width of 400 pixels to fit into this blog entry.


I liked this one of Jacob because he was so tired of me taking pictures he would avoid me at all costs. This was the very last picture where I was able to see his face versus him turning away every time I'd shoot. What's the big deal anyway? He was playing X-Box. So what if I got in the way once in a while!


Then I did some speckled filter on the background. I usually just blur the background but wanted to try something different. I don't like the speckling too much...


Bella is a hard one. She rarely poses and runs when I want to take a picture. So alot of her shots were blured as she dodged the camera. But once she engaged in her little drawing, I shot away and came up with this.


To get rid of all the noise in the bg, xbox, carpet, hanging cord, I used the colored pencil filter as the background. Its kinda neat and I think I'm a fan of it. I'd still use the motion blur for most of these types of photoshop deals but this one was pretty neat.

I'll experiment more. Having low light and not using the flash really forced me to have a steady hand to avoid a blurry picture.

I still have to learn about all these manual settings and how to use em.

AND...

Back to writing since that’s how I started this entry.

I was supposed to meet with my cousin regarding the artwork for my comic strip. I have aproximately 30+ scripts ready for layout and production. I still have to title the strip but can't come up with a 'non-writer' type title. Normally I can sit down and do a four panel strip with not much motivation. Last night I couldn’t. But will get back on track tonight.

Instead of buying the ‘picture’ book I actually purchased three other books for reference on doing comic strip art and work.

Cartoon Cool: How To Draw New Retro-style Characters by Christopher Hart


Action! Cartooning by Ben Caldwell

&


How to Draw Cartoons for Comic Strips by Christopher Hart

I also found out useful information on syndication. I’m on the right track. They say,

“To get an idea of just how tough it is to become a successful cartoonist, consider the following. King Features, the world's largest syndicate, receives more than 6,000 submissions each year. Of these, two or three might be launched as new features. Perhaps two-thirds of the features introduced by syndicates each year fail to find an audience within five years and are discontinued.”

Sounds disheartening doesn’t it? As a screenwriter, the odds are probably just as bad… or worse! I like being a long shot!

SLAM. Sure… it felt like that. But whenever a door is slammed in your face, it just means you have to open another one!!!

Rule 17 states: “Omit needless words.”

One of those Tuesday Morning Ramblings…

I was going to apply William Strunk Jr.’s and E.B. White’s Rule Number 17 from their book, “The Elements of Style” as my entry for today and post an entry with no words whatsoever. Because any other word outside of ‘blah’ seemed needless.

Rule 17 states: “Omit needless words.”



I forced myself, which is good practice – especially for Hungry Screenwriters – to write this out. Sure, the following may be a plethora of needless words, but the subtext of a writer fighting through many blocks remains.

And so I’m back as my role as a Financial Analyst or just recently the interim Director of Managed Care. A Financial Analyst suits me better than the latter title. But yes, I'm back, with title or without, from a four day break which felt longer than four days. And when it feels longer it makes coming back even harder. It makes me ask myself, ‘is there light at the end of my tunnel?’

Seeing my cousin James in a graduation robe and hat made me rethink all the career choices I have made thus far once again. I’ve owned a Comic Book store, I fell into a job as a Business Analyst then found myself doing Financial Analysis for nearly seven years. I’ve struggled with a non-paying career as a writer and have fell into the role of an interim Director of Managed Care. Seeing James graduate law school gave me this little push to think about Law as a career. This is not a ‘first’ as I’ve always thought about such careers like Law, Medicine and Education, but have yet to feel so passionate about it that I actually do something to make it happen.

And when you see me struggle to write a paragraph or a scene for a script, you would question why I’d even want to write for the rest of my life. But its there. It’s the hardest emotion to describe, even for a writer: at least from my perspective. But you must have ‘been there’ one time or another.

Just think back when you’ve spoken to a friend. You’re having a meaningless conversation and you’re trying to use a word but it just doesn’t come out of your mouth. It’s at the tip of your tongue. You know the word, you know what it means, you just can’t say it and it drives you insane. But then the moment, the conversation, the struggle to find that word goes away. You leave it at that and move on. Maybe you’ll remember the word maybe you won’t. But you just let it go.

Well, as a writer in that ‘struggle’ mode, that feeling, the loss of words, the frustration, its not just a small moment in time but more like a torturous day, week or month of not getting the work done. It lasts longer than that meaningless conversation and can eat at you night and day and then repeat itself. You can’t let it go because it’ll gnaw at you till the day you die. Therapy helps, but it doesn’t complete you. Because until you find that word, write out that scene, or jot down the paragraph that says exactly what you want it to say, you’ll just be a frustrated writer forever. If you’re a writer, you can’t just let it go. You have to make it work.

You have to fight, struggle and wrestle with all your might to get it done.

When you’re finished it’s the most satisfying but non-rewarding piece of work you’ll ever create. Break open a bottle of wine and celebrate the completion but accept the fact that nobody will read it since it’s a shitty first draft, you’ll have to go through re-writes that may take months or years, and if you do complete it, you’ll get rejection letters from everyone from agencies to your best friend.



Writers. That’s what we do. And either you hate it or learn to love it. Either way, a writer does it night and day. In order to succeed, we, as writers, force ourselves to write anything, anywhere, anytime. Even if its on a napkin, a notepad or even an internet Blog. But despite the struggles and possible victories of writing through a story block, Tuesday mornings after a four day weekend doesn’t give you any hint of light at the end of the tunnel. At least from a Hungry Writer’s point of view.

The Hungry Hungry Screenwriter's Blog is now syndicated

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Glenn

She attacks as quiet and as swift as a Ninja in the night...

With all my training in the Martial Arts you’d think I’d be able to defend myself with such a sneaky attack. But no, I haven’t learned my lesson.

Here’s the situation.

It’s dark.

It’s way past midnight.

All is quiet.

When suddenly it happens. The attack. And you have no recourse except to moan and groan in pain.

My daughter (age 2), seems to get this idea that if she kicks me in the eye in the middle of the night I’ll stop snoring. Well, that’s my interpretation of the logic behind her motives. She curls up on the pillows between Donna and me and her feet end up next to my head. But it doesn’t stop there. Of course I’m not awake to witness such an assault, but I’m guessing she recoils her leg and straightens them out as fast and as powerful as she possibly can into my eyeball in order to illicit a reaction out of me!

Well, last night was the worst.

I screamed out “OWWWWW!” which jolts Donna awake. I follow that with a “GADDAMN IT!!!”.

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this before, but Bella can feign sleep like the best of them. She didn’t budge. Not a single move from my outburst. Her eyes were closed in a natural – look at me I’m sleeping like a baby – state.

Donna is like, “What happened?” And I’m rolling out of bed in pain saying, “I SWEAR SHE DOES IT ON PURPOSE”.

No she’s NEVER kicked Donna in the eye, mind you.

And Donna is like, "No she isn’t."

But I know she is. Because Donna has more than once wanted to sock me in the eye while I was asleep in order to shut the noise!!!

So I get back in bed and low and behold, guilt overwhelms the innocent sleeping angel and she starts crying, rolls up on me and says… “SAWEEE PAPA. I SAWEE.”

AHAHA! She’s just admitted to guilt! See. I KNEW it.

But despite my throbbing eye what can you do but hold such a sweet little ninja as snug as you can muster. She cries and kisses me on the eye (see she knows exactly where she kicked me) and I say, “Don’t kick papa anymore, kay?” She whimpers, “Otay” and I pat her to sleep.

So a few of the many lessons that might be learned here is… sleep with one eye open… or get your baby to sleep in her own bed. :)

Jacob cast to star in the upcoming marital arts film, "Orion's Belt"

Last year around Jacob’s fourth birthday I took him to two Karate Dojos to watch some Karate classes. It took tons of persuading to just get him out of the car to watch a class. He finally came in, clinging to me like a monkey (perfect for a monkey technique of some sort! ;) ). There were a bunch of kids training. It was madness. But it did look like a lot of fun from my perspective.

But since then, just the mention of going to a Karate School or driving by and pointing one out would illicit some sort of emotional response and crying would erupt.

A few weeks ago we watched The Karate Kid together and he enjoyed it. The whole ‘crane’ thing started to make sense to him as I taught him some, what I called it, ‘Bird Technique’ way back when. He’d hop on one leg doing ‘wing actions’ (circle blocks) and I’d pretend to be a snake and try to attack him. I disguised two animal styles into playful activities. But now Daniel-San and the crane suddenly made more sense. Cool, huh?

Then last week I bought a hand target for Jessica and Jacob to practice on. I showed them a few Okinawa Te basic kicks, blocks, punches and stressed balance. Both Jessica and Jacob got really into it.

So I felt it was time. I dug up my old heavy weight gi and dusted off my black belt. Jessica found Donna’s old gi and put that on. Jacob swam in Jessica’s old gi but we folded up the arms and legs and it worked fine... then we drove over to Sensei Mike’s new Dojo in Eagle Rock.

Jacob was a little apprehensive at first but when Sensei Evelyn took Jess and Jake aside to train, he didn’t hesitate. He really wanted to learn some Karate!

I trained with the older/advanced students. It was really tiring. I’ve lost more than a step or two and I have no idea how I’ll ever regain that form again.

The end result (or what could be the beginning) - Jacob LOVED it. He told Donna he loved it. He called Grandpa to tell him he loved it. He wants to take classes. And so does Jessica. So finally, once again, I’ll be back on the mat training. But this time… with my kids!!!

And its just in time to start training in Karate so he could be available to play the part of 'Orion', a five year old martial artist, in my soon to be completed script, “Orion’s Belt”.

Wouldn’t that be great?

So the title above, Jacob cast to star in the upcoming martial arts film, "Orion's Belt" is a little bit misleading. But still... in a way its true. Heck, if its my film, he's got the part. He just needs to learn karate! And I need to finish the script! :)

I’m so proud of Jacob! He loves baseball, hockey and now he loves karate! Finally… or once again… 'he’s just like his papa’!

Here we are... And there he is...

"THE NEW KARATE KID!"



As a side note... Bella could be staring in her own film as well. "The Baby that ate Santa Monica Beach!"

Here she is right before the Mother's Day Beach Sand Eating Incident of 2005.



Believe me, she doesn't need to know karate to defend herself against Jake. She has created some very threatening moves on her own.



She's so cute!

Mother's Day, the Beach, sand in mouth and hair update

For Mother's day we went to Duke's in Malibu. I love Duke's because you can eat all you can eat all day long!!! ;) j/k

But seriously, I had like 20 fresh shrimp, some muscle in the shell, a cut of Roast Beef, FOUR waffles with strawberries and their special whipped cream, rice, eggs, some bacon, a sausage and eggs benedict. WHEW. I was stuffed!!!

Then we went to the crappy beaches of Santa Monica. I hate beaches - unless I'm in Hawaii. But the kids wanted to go so we did and they had a great time. We played soccer, we flew kites, Jake and Jessica played in the water and Bella ate sand. Yes, BELLA ATE SAND!

She's done it in the playground and now at the beach. She had to try it, just a lick, and she hated it. So she's trying desperately to get it out with her fingers when her fingers had sand on them so mo' sand mo' sand mo' sand...

Blech.

Bella chased a pigeon for a few minutes, then found fun jumping into a hole she made and rolling around in the sand. She would hop hop hop then plop down on her but as she approached the little hole. It was so cute.

When it was time to go, I was just about to pick her up when she JUST HAD TO TRY IT AGAIN. So she stuck out her tounge and jabbed it into a mound of sand. She didn't like it as usual, tried to get it out with her fingers and you know the story - mo' sand mo' sand mo' sand.
Blech.


There she is. Building the hole that she'd eventually have a meal of sand in.


And here's an update on my hair. I got it 'cleaned up' on Saturday and its looking decent finally. I'm going to grow it out but right now, today, I still don't like it.


And that was the weekend.

"Fandango" 1985 (Movie Review)

Fandango
Watched on TiVo (HBO)

Netflix Synopsis:
Five college roommates take a gonzo road trip into the Texas badlands and across the Mexican border before they graduate and go their separate ways. During their journey, they bond and remember the good times and lazy days just past. This 1985 student film directed by Kevin Reynolds stars Judd Nelson, Sam Robards (son of Jason Robards and Lauren Bacall), Pepe Serna, Chuck Bush, Brian Cesak and a young Kevin Costner.

This is one of those movies that I have to watch whenever its on because I love the nostalgic, sad, yet happy feeling it brings to me when I do watch it. It is, in its own way, a quite magical coming of age film.

The ‘end’ always gets me. Being twenty years removed from high school and fifteen years out of college, I, along of tons of other people have felt that loneliness when you watch your friends go their separate ways. You’ll probably never see them again, and all you can do is shake their hand, hold up a beer and say goodbye.

The complications in the movie are really just to drive the plot, but the true interior conflict of Kevin Costner is what really drives the story for me. He’s in love with the woman that he’s trying desperately to get his friend to go and marry.

Two of the best scenes in the movie are the skydiving scene with Judd Nelson and the last dance scene when Keven Costner and Suzy Amis dance the “Fandango” at her wedding (you’ll remember Susy from Gabriel Byrnes love interest in “The Usual Suspects”). The skydive scene cracks me up and is filled with enough tension to bring you to the edge of your seat. Yes, the dance scene is a little sappy, it has a little cheese on top, but it brings a lump to my throat whenever I watch it.

This is one of Kevin Costner’s firsts. And he did a great job! Great movie. Watch it!

"Orion's Belt" Update

It's 90% done. After redoing the outline because of some character choices that seemed more true... the script is coming along.

Excerpt:

FADE IN:

EXT. PEARL OF THE ORIENT RESTAURANT - NIGHT
It's late. The streets are dark. The sign behind the door flips closed and the interior goes black.

AROUND THE CORNER-

EXT. IN THE ALLEY - CONTINUOUS
FOUR FIGURES in black ninja attire circle their prey - An OLD ASIAN MAN. Drunk.

The old man stumbles back. Tries to find balance. Tries to focus. There is no place to go.

NINJA 1
I gave you enough chances.

The old man desperately tries to assess the attackers. Is there four? Eight? Twelve?

OLD MAN
Bah. You disrespect. Always disrespect.

NINJA 1
This is the last.

Ninja 1 signals to the others. They close in on the old man.

They attack.

The old man, alcohol impaired, dodges punches, block kicks and sweep Ninja 2 to the ground with drunk like maneuvers. The others back off.

NINJA 1 (CONT'D)
What are you waiting for? Punish him!

Ninja 3, hesitates then charges.

The drunk old man delivers his own punishment. He grabs the attacker’s arm, breaks it, and sends Ninja 3 to the ground. Screams of pain echo in the alley.

Ninja 4 takes out two butterfly knives and twirls them in his hands. He attacks but before unleashing a deadly strike, the old man, lightning quick, steps in with a finger strike to the attackers throat.

Ninja 4 drops the knives, gasps for air as he falls to the ground.

Three ninjas roll on the ground in pain. The drunk old man struggles to stay on his feet.

NINJA 1 (CONT'D)
Just like old times right?

The old man, in a low cat like stance tries to focus. Ready to pounce.

The last Ninja attacks.

These two seasoned fighters trade blows with expertise. The old man fighting both a deadly attack and his own drunken state manages to get an advantage. He sweeps Ninja 1 down then grabs the Ninja's fingers and bends them back, breaking each finger.

The Ninja rolls away in pain, removes his gloves. His fingers are twisted. Broken. Swollen. He resets them himself with a scream.

The old man moves in and just as he delivers a finishing blow one of the other ninjas hits the old man in the back of the head with a club.

The old man falls to his knees.

NINJA 1 (CONT'D)
Goddamn you old man.

Ninja 1 grabs him by the shirt and lifts him back to his feet.

Ninja 1 takes off his mask but his face can't be seen in the dark alley.

He raises his fist in the air. And delivers a brutal blow and the old man drops to the ground with a thud.

The four ninjas disappear down the alley and into the night.

The old man lays there. He’s not moving. He’s not breathing.

He is dead.

A moment of silence before-

SOMETHING stirs behind a dumpster.

Someone is behind the dumpster.

Someone was watching.

That someone is ORION, a four year old little boy. His whimpered cries seep out into the night as the world turns to-

BLACKNESS