A Passion for Possession

Here, Love is fierce and all consuming, the characters are beautiful and possession is 9 tenths of the fun!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Thwarted Plans and an Inspirational Film

Be patient, somewhere in here are actual musings on writing.

Best Way-Laid Plans

Many of my plans were thwarted this weekend. We were going to see giant robots smash things at the movies, but never got there. We were really swamped with production related work, and I'm a bit behind in everything I'm writing. We just couldn't justify being gone for half an afternoon. There is also a small pile of films at home that we haven't watched. So, we stayed home. It was just as well, because the weather is finally hot as blazes. Thus, we are in our air conditioned cave hunkering over monitors and keyboards. It's a lot like being at work but without a sofa to lounge upon. Or the wine.

At any rate, my time is still pressed as I write this, so I can't do as much ambling around as my norm. I had a whole report on Craig's dealings with the shamwow guy when he was a scheduler at a local cable TV station. He's claiming that there are no tapes of the man's 'comedy' routines. Not that I care. What interested me more were some skits Craig did with a co-worker called Children of Our Doctor's Hospital, a mock soap opera. We think there may be clips that survive. I really want to see them. But these ramblings are quite involved and often disturbing, so they must wait for a day when I'm not so pressed.

Sublime Viewing

Last week, I was tooling around the movie channels on my cable guide to see if there as any film noir to be had that week. There was not; however, two films caught my eye. The first was one I had not seen before though it had come with many recommendations from friends. My friends know me well for it was a film aimed straight at my heart and soul as a writer and as someone madly in love with a city. Paris Je T'aime is a collection of 18 short films set in Paris. Each short is by a famous director and each captures an aspect one of the neighborhoods or arrondissements. [See the Trialer here]. There are wealthy and poor characters. There are many ethnic groups represented. And all strata of the society are given voice, even the magical or fantastic. It is mostly in subtitles, but there is English spoken as well. A whole lot of American talent appears on screen. Since my writing focuses a lot of eclectic people thrown together in the same orbit, this film appeal ed to me as a writer as well. Though each segment was

only six minutes long, I was told about an entire lifetime of each character. The segments were funny or sweet or sad or all of those at once. I was surprised by a number of things that Paris Je T'aime revealed. Wes Craven apparently really gets Oscar Wilde and his wasn't the horror segment. The Coen Brothers were odd, of course, but the segment was an extremely witty observation about the mind of an American tourist (Steve Buscemi) . Naturally, there was a segment with beautiful young men in love. That was a very funny and sexy segment called Le Marais after the neighborhood that is home to both Jews a

nd the gay community.

There was what Jon called a big slab of boy named Gaspard in the lead role whom I'm thoroughly in love with – as an actor, of course. And being a French film, there is a hilarious and surreal segment in Chinatown and there are mimes. This was different though. It seems that Parisians seem to find mimes and disconcerting and annoying as the rest of the world. That was gratifying to learn. Paris Je T'aime is a great introduction to a glorious city, warts and all. I was crying while laughing. It made me a bit melancholy, of course, to see streets we'd walked down. We have a photo of Jon standing on the beautiful little street where the Mime lived. Please take a look at the trailer, then rent it and enjoy.

Seeing that film inspired my writing for the entire week. I tend to write characters in shorthand in the hopes that their dialogue and actions will tell the reader who they are. Paris Je T'aime was deft at rendering three dimensional characters with the sparest information. Seeing such beautiful work lit a fire under me with regard to my own stuff. Thus, I must be off to do some honing and refining along with my chores and production duties. I should have more updates next week.

Oh, the other film I recorded but have not yet watched (I've seen it before) was Mr. Hulot's Holiday by renown French director Jacques Tati (he is also Mr. Hulot). It's a charming film that I'd describe as a more sophisticated Mr. Bean. I'm saving that film for a break in my day later on. For now, I'm back to work.

posted by DLWarner at 10:58 AM

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Sunday, July 05, 2009

Multiple Voices, Grillin' and Tough Calls

Shades of Sybil

I'm always happy when the characters I'm writing find their voices and start living in my mind. Don't worry, it isn't time for a straight jacket (not for that, anyway). I'm not splitting into these characters and their voices have yet to tell me to set anything on fire. They just hang out in their disparate groups with remnants of songs (lately, they've largely been Michael Jackson or the Jackson 5 and songs from Funny Girl ) and snippets of books that I'm processing for the Archive. Okay, that still sounds crazy. Don't worry about it. I'm currently writing a few things simultaneously. All of those characters are now running around in my head doing their individual things. I'm having the most fun with dear Vincent Greven and the cookbook. Jon's been helping me with the guy's view of cooking. The result is some very funny narrative between the recipes about such important things like having to clean the fridge every now and then or how to handle cutting boards so that no is killed by the food. Vincent's voice is often playful and sardonic making him a lot of fun to write. I'm also thinking about him and Rik Heron for the next Soldier's book. Simon Molinar, from Demon Under Glass is back for that one as well. That book is in there percolating phase. The characters from the Surrender books are back in my mind, because I'm contemplating a third book with them.

And then there is my Mother with the memoir. She's not out of place with my more lurid characters. Mom was very open minded (she came of age in the 60s, after all). I inherited my penchant for attracting very strange people as friends from her. There are a number of very naughty characters that Mom would have liked to hang out with very much. I'm still sweating the plot threads (memory threads, really) and the language in the first story from the memoir. The exposition in this story is really important to the rest of the collection, but it can't seem like exposition. It must feel more like rumination (as in pondering, not chewing cud ). The story was spun really quickly, but the honing is at a glacier's pace. Most days, one of the characters is speaking to me more loudly than the others and I make progress on something. Last week, I was so tired for some reason that none of them were speaking. I suppose characters can nap as well. They're all talking now, especially Vincent. I expect to finish the cookbook, writing wise, soon. We've never laid out a book like this, so the production may take some time after that.

July 4th 2009 Edition

The following is a bit more cooking detail than my norm, but I'm cross posting this section on Paula Deen's social network. This crazy blog is now appearing on all sorts of sites without my intervention and at least six where it was directly requested. Go figure!

I had hoped for a relaxing 3 day weekend. That would mean that all three days are spent relatively close to my sofa working on the pile of stuff in my inbox. Alas, that was not to be. We had to go to Costco on Friday. Perhaps because the banks were open, I thought that most people weren't off on Friday like Jon and I. Silly, silly me. The crowds in the parking lot and the store were unlike anything we'd ever seen there. The parking lot was full to the point of complete gridlock. Every square foot of that cavernous stores was jammed with adults and children who were all but immobilized by the volume. Jon and I have a method for such crowds. We park the cart then zip around and get what we need. That helped some. I still had to shove some carts and the person pushing them out of my way. For some reason, the Pharmacy window is next to one of the registers. The people in line seemed to think that leaving a foot of space clear would negate their spot in line. Naturally, they were either on the phone or texting. So, I shoved – hard. A little later I passed by the same area to find that an elderly woman had been injured trying to get through the register line to the pharmacy window. That was the kind of day it was there.

Though the errand was inconvenient and I was homicidal by the time we worked our way out of the parking lot, it was worth the effort. I wanted to try grilling some new things for this 4th of July like lamb chops. We didn't have lamb growing up, because Dad didn't like it (but they kept foisting okra on us). We've made leg of lamb for Easter when we had a room mate. His family was from Eastern Europe, so we had a blend of foods at holidays. That was okay. I liked ground lamb in a ragout . Jon even liked it though I suspect he didn't know what the meat actually was. I first had lamb chops at the premier party for Battlestar Galactica. The buffet was just killer (better than the one we had for the premier of Leap Years, and that one was awesome) with a huge bowl of grilled lamb chops at the center. Gabriel Koerner and I had a pile a piece. It was disgraceful, but so delicious. I've seen many recipes for grilled lamb chops on the Food Network, and finally decided to try one when next we pulled out

the grill. Costco has an amazing price on a rack of lamb that cuts into 8 chops. Mine didn't look as pretty as the ones on TV (you may notice that some of the little chops have fallen off their bones), but they were really delicious. A simple marinate of garlic, rosemary, thyme and olive oil for an hour along with the tobasco barrel woodchips in the charcoal fire made for incredible flavor. The wood chips were a gift from Ohio DJ friend Bruce Kline. I plan to do a lot more grilling this summer. Lamb chops will be on the top of the list. I also lucked out in finding a huge pork shoulder on sale. It had the bone and the fat layer on top. That's becoming increasingly rare at my markets for some reason. I bought one of those and slow, slow roasted it overnight with a new kind of rub. Instead of the pulled pork rub (onion powder, garlic powder, brown sugar, chili powder and pepper), I did a rub with herb de Provence, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder. I found I like pulled pork with other than just barbecue flavor, and this rub gives me more options. And don't worry, Jon and I weren't in a meat coma by the time of the fireworks. I have my handy vacuum sealer to properly freeze the vast leftovers for meals over the next couple of weeks.

Updates

We've heard from our funding connection this week before the holiday bug-out. Our current count down to a mid to late August green light is holding steady. Toward the end of this month, we'll start contacting our locations for The Gunslinger and find out their availability. We'll also look at the availability of lodgings and such. For the horror film, the debate over where we're filming is over. Our company is now involved with a local soundstage that can provide everything we need, set wise, at a price that no one else is going to beat – no matter how many rebates on the budget are offered. Additionally, California and the city of Los Angeles are offering rebates that make travel for a shoot completely unnecessary unless it is for a unique locale. So, for one of them, we're staying home. For Blood Oath, we're taking on some new personnel for post. The reasons are detailed below. The rough cut is being refined. And we're looking seriously at having a screening for the network suits and yaoi fans in August. That should be some kind of interesting party. Stay tuned for more details.

Tough Call

I had to fire someone very close to me last week. It was a difficult decision, but I had to think of the good of the project. Yep, I had to fire myself from one of the tasks on Blood Oath. My work was fine, but my production was too slow. It was too long since I had used that skill set. I was happy with the sketches as was Jon, surprisingly enough, but the output couldn't match what we needed to finish the pilot presentation in any kind of timely manner. So I fired myself and put ads out for a replacement. Randy was very surprised at the speed of the decision. He worried about his own position. I made him feel better by saying that he'd better get his tush out here as quickly as possible with a big spring in his step. I've learned that I have to put the film before everything else, including my ego and others. It was a tough lesson to learn, but I think it makes me happier in my role as a producer. Things run more smoothly and I'm less aggravated. That was another thing I had to learn. Every set has a personality. Sometimes, it reflects that of the director. Sometimes, it reflects that of the lead. Our mentor in film making, Jonathan Zimmerman, told us that sets can have a frenetic energy where everyone is highly strung and prone to explosions or it can be really laid back and mellow even under extreme pressure. Problems only arose when these temperaments were mixed on the same set.

He was of the opinion, and we agreed with him, that since making films was one of the coolest jobs on the planet, there was no reason to be screaming and tense all the time. Jon and I are laid back and mellow. I seldom raise my voice and Jon hates that kind of tension. It was great on Blood Oath to have crew that gave great creative input and helped us problem solve without drama. It was the most fun I've had on a shoot (though Gunslinger was a hoot, it was more of a grind). Thus far, we've gathered some very talented people for the upcoming shoots. They also seem to be as mellow and twisted as we are. Still, it was hard firing me. I had to make it up to myself with a special desert. I'm sure I'll get over it in time.

posted by DLWarner at 12:00 PM

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Sunday, June 28, 2009

Memoirs, Memories and Passings

Warning: If you find yourself here via a google search for such things as TV shows or films, recipes or cities, this blog has some facts. However, this blog is one author’s very twisted musing on many weird things. It is sometimes graphic in content. If you read on, don’t write to yell at me.

Memoirs and Memories

Finishing the first story in my Mother's memoir has been a fascinating experience as a person and a writer. It's not the tear jerker stuff that got to me. It was all the details that I didn't remember until I really started going back over all the circumstances of one particular vacation my Mother and I took to New Orleans. For instance, when I travel to far away places, I'm not one to have a hotel room for showering and sleeping. I like to have a room that I can enjoy while watching local television. The news in every city is delivered differently – even the packaged styles like Action News or Eyewitness News. New York has the biggest percentage of traffic reports of any city's news I've seen. But the area and traffic density they cover is, frankly, insane. Philadelphia has the longest sports sections where Los Angeles has the shortest (even when they had an NFL team, which they didn't and still don't deserve). Canadian news broadcasts have anchors that reflect the make up of its population. I have seen East Indian reporters and anchors for decades. I'm just beginning to see reporters in the US. I've seen no anchors yet.

In France, the news was really fascinating (and I'm not just talking about the weatherman who was once a general). Just looking at the weather map gave me a whole new perspective on Eur

opean politics. The map was the same size in area as the ones in the US, but it covers the UK, continental Europe to Russia and the Middle East and North Africa. They are all neighbors like our states are. I can see why troubles in one section o

f that map would be of concern to the others. We're an ocean away from those conflicts. We also saw things while in France that I'm not so sure were a good plan like The TV version of Der Clown. How the authorities could never find the guy in the rubber clown mask with the tiny clown hat at a rakish angle is beyond me. That show was many times sillier than any given CSI: Miami. The film was being hawked that year at the Cannes Film Market. And then there was the Eurovision Song Contest (the one that brought ABBA to the world). It was often painful, but we found we could not turn away.

These travel habits stem from that trip to New Orleans. We went in July not realizing that the city had deadly mid-day heat and humidity. Philadelphia has very sultry summers, after all. I don't think Jon and I were dry for the whole time we were last there (and that was May). Mom and I figured, how bad could it be. It was Mad Dogs and Englishmen bad. Thus, we took to going out in the early morning, then retiring to our lovely room for TV, reading or naps until the daily thunderstorm ended at somewhere after 2pm. Then we'd venture out into the 'cooler' weather for the rest of our sightseeing. We rationalized at the time that part of a vacation should be resting from everyday work, not running around like crazy people to tick items off a list. When we weren't in our room, we stayed on the hotel's property enjoying the atrium and people watching. To this day, I like to really take my time and enjoy the ambiance of a city I'm visiting. If I'm not in the room soaking up local pop culture, I'm at the local cafe or tavern soaking up local beverages and people watching. The sightseeing list is not etched in stone for me. I had never thought about when or where the habit came from until this past week. I can't wait to find out what other revelations this writing will bring.

Dad vs the Oysters

My adventure with the oysters amused my father to no end. That's a wonderful thing to do on Father's Day. I haven't heard him that tickled in quite some time. For the record, he still is not willing to let me come at him with hot food. He also would prefer that I buy shucked oysters in the future. He got a chill thinking about me jabbing at the shellfish with a sharp knife while holding it in my hand. I was surprised to find out that he is quite the oyster fan and makes soups or stews with them fairly often. That makes sense. He's the parent that is really into anything from the sea. I learned to broil fish and cook live crab from Dad. I knew he loved clams on the half shell. The oyster thing is in the blood. We also seem to have the same view of cheese in cooked food. I really prefer a balance of cheese in a dish. With pizza or with lasagna, I don't like to have so much cheese that it will congeal into a solid mass if not eaten quickly. Six or 58 cheese pizzas are of no interest to me. When it reaches that level, I'd just prefer to eat the cheese on its own with some crusty bread. I get that from my father, I believe. He's currently on a tour of famous southern barbecue joints. That should be fun for him. I think if he'd retired earlier in life, he may have opened one of his own. The need to feed multitudes comes from both sides of my family. I hope he doesn't give the Neelys a hard time. I'm not the only one who watches the Food Network. Dad will no doubt be checking to see if their sauce and fixings are up to snuff. Oh geez.

On Michael Jackson
Again, these are musings on a very personal level. If you think you'll be offended, skip it. But no flames. I flame back.

Let me begin by saying that I was profoundly disturbed at the course of Michael Jackson's life in the last decade or so. I think that only the sleaziness of the parents involved in the incidents that caused him to be under the scrutiny of law enforcement kept him from jail. I was profoundly saddened by the erosion of his talent to his demons. Nor was I happy about the coverage his passing has received. Only complete peace on Earth and the answers to world hunger and the curing of all disease would excuse the extent of coverage on one entertainer's life and death. On a personal note, between his home in Bel Air and Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is the bus route Jon and I take home every day (it's the LA Metro route that takes all the help to where the rich folk live). As we listened to the coverage and the helicopters overhead while still at work, I was convinced we'd never get home. That was not the case, but only a level one homeland security emergency or the Big One amongst earthquakes should cause such commotion at a major hospital.

That said, my feelings about the passing of Michael Jackson are complicated. He had been a child my age finding fame amongst the grown-ups. The Jackson 5 inspired my cousin and two of our best friends to form a band and send a tape to Motown. We were invited to come to Detroit for an audition. That notion was vetoed by all of our parents. He comprised a significant part of the soundtrack of my youth and young adulthood. I had my only AP wire service story during the Jacksons Destiny tour. I broke the news that Jermaine had performed with the group for the first time since leaving them. As a young adult, I can remember all the night clubs and

dance parties where we danced the nights away to either the Jacksons or Michael's music

. Hearing those songs during the endless coverage brought me back to very specific and significant experiences in my life. That's Tracey as Michael and me as LaToya. I think we won a prize at that Haloween party. It's still hazy. The significance of the momories triggered by songs was much the same with sister, Janet Jackson. It was a random Youtube search that had me listening to Nasty. That song prompted the memory that resulted in the first story in my mother's memoir. For me, it was hard to ignore the huge presence this man had in my early life. I had long since drifted from Michael Jackson's music as it became more self absorbed, but I was saddened by his passing. There would be no rehabilitation nor comeback. He joins the going list of passings that put a fine point on my mortality. It was hard enough to hear that Prince needed double hip replacement. I'm waiting for the day he turns up singing Let's Go Crazy while using a walker. Needless to say, I don't consider anyone in their 50s as anywhere near old. That's a new realization for me. Before the conflicted feelings and annoyance set it, all I could say was, Damn. Followed by 'shut UP Craig.' My dear friend remains firmly footed in the more negative view of Mr. Jackson's recent life. I suppose, in the end, I'm not merely sad about Michael Jackson's passing. I'm mourning the passing of my youth.

And no, I'm not wallowing in grief. Nor do I want to be 20 something again unless it was with that body and my current mind. That could be a rip snorting good time.

posted by DLWarner at 10:38 AM

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Sunday, June 21, 2009

Amore, Oysters and Updates

This will be shorter than the norm. I have a lot on my plate this week and many chores and deadlines for today.

Magic Moments

I wait all week for that one moment of weirdness that makes the beginning of the blog something fun and reflects the strangeness that informs my life. Sitting in a restaurant full of people singing That's Amore while toasting the wait staff certainly qualifies. There were even laminated lyric sheets to encourage singing along. Tracey genuinely looked horrified. Jon never broke stride making some point about money laundering (that really had something to do with the writing we were discussing) and I sang along without needing the lyric sheet. What can I say?

I've seen Moonstruck about a billion times and the film opens with that song in its entirety. I was having dinner with Temple Alum and playwrite extraordinaire, Tracey Wilson, in one of my favorite Italian Restaurants in the neighborhood. It's also quite the spot for tourists visiting Venice and Marina del Rey. We hadn't been to the C&O Trattoria in quite a while. We tend to avoid the touristy areas nearby especially on a Friday night. But the restaurant was really good and fairly cheap with these incredible garlic knots steeped in olive oil and dusted with salt and herbs. And of course, Tracey was in town. We hadn't seen her since our last trip to Philadelphia three years ago. She was having all sorts of exciting meetings that we wanted to hear about. And she's always writing something very interesting. I really miss conversations about writing that doesn't involve budgets and funding and packaging. It was just about themes and characters. We were having a deep, esoteric discussion while the restaurant and the servers were singing That's Amore. It was a blast. More on writing later.

Deb vs The Oysters

We were off on Friday, so I finally had made the purchases for the seafood extravaganza. Fortunately, Alton Brown had an episode of Good Eats on oysters the night before. I figured out that I needed to buy small oysters that were sweeter and easier to handle. That was good to know, because I knew nothing. I found myself really nervous about this whole situation. I am a hedonist, and my creds were on the line here. But as I looked at these things that seem to be exotic rocks, I couldn't help but wonder why anyone would ever get the idea of cracking that open and having a swallow. Primitive man probably saw primitive birds smashing these things on rocks and feasting on the innards. But what else did primitive man have to eat? I was dubious. With that in mind, I also bought some lovely lump crab meat along with the oysters at the fabulous Santa Monica Seafood and some shri

mp and crab legs (they were on sale at my regular market). Since the oyster prep was very simple, I decided to finally tackle the elusive shrimp bisque recipe and make some crab cakes. If I hated the oysters, I could still enjoy some seafood. Next, came trying to opening the tightly closed rock. I am not the most graceful person I

know. As far as I know, my father is still leery of me coming at him with hot food. You trip once going across a diningroom and no one forgets. Shucking these things involves holding the oyster in the palm of the hand while leveraging a sharp implement pointed toward my hand and shoving it into this rock. As I was doing that for the first time, I realized that we could be mere centimeters from a visit to the ER. However, that didn't happen. I opened them. It was inelegant, but I shucked a half dozen without losing any of the liquor. I had three on the half shell with a squirt of lemon and three with a Mignonette sauce. They are delicious. It was clean and sweet and a little salty. I got the attraction. I will definitely have them again. My hedonist creds remain in tact. The bisque and crab cakes were great as well. My Month of Fun is complete!

Writing and Other Updates

I'm making slow progress on all fronts in my writings. This week really wiped me out physically. The slight shift in schedule made for commuting anomalies that were frustrating and draining more often than not. I just had nothing left by the end of the day. Thus, all of my work saw only incremental progress. I'm hoping for more today, but I also have a lot of getting ready for the week chores to get through. Mind you, I'm juggling three major pieces from the same number of genres and a cookbook. They are all making progress. It's just slow going. Talking with Tracey and then then with one of my other favorite writer chicks, Sarah always lights a fire under me. I'll likely get many more pages done this week than last. That's a good thing.

On the film front, the count down to pre-production is winding down toward the mid-August. We've been doing a little prep in advance of that but not very much. We've contacted most of the actors we've talked to and making sure they still want to work the shows. We've touched base with the location mangers to make sure rates hadn't changed. Everyone is eager for work, so that's good news. The pre-production mayhem should be limited to the normal disasters.

posted by DLWarner at 11:02 AM

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Sunday, June 14, 2009

Hooky, the Hays Code and Naughty Noir

Heatwave

This was a really weird week in the day job part of my life. There were some air conditioning problems at the Archive. Since the building is hermetically sealed, that became a problem for the equipment and the personnel. On Monday, we were given the option of leaving early. And we were offered the option of skipping Tuesday entirely while the problem was being fixed. Strangely, this has become a tradition at this job. Every spring, there seems to be an equipment problem that ends the shift. When this happened in past years, Jon and I would go to the movies. The first year, we went to see Ratatouille. The second year, we went to see Speed Racer. This year, we went to see UP. And for those writing me about seeing the new Star Trek film, you haven't been reading my blog, you naughty people. My position on all things Trek has not changed. I'll see it when it's on Netflix. Maybe.

Back to UP. Young or old, this story is an amazing experience. It is hysterically funny, especially whenever the dogs are on screen. It is incredibly touching without being treacly and the characters all ring true. UP is an incredible achievement in American animation. I'm used to Japanese anime being brutally unflinching and honest and wildly funny in turns, but only recently have I seen that same complexity in American animated films. UP is in the same realm as Miyazaki's Spirited Away for its stunning storytelling. Run out the door now and see that film in 3-D. The blog will be here when you get back. The free day off was made complete by a lovely breakfast at our favorite French bakery cafe. That was a good day.

The rest of the week was odd because of a shift in the schedule at the Archive I mentioned last week. Our days are a little longer to give us every other Friday off. In July, we have all the weekends off because of a fluke with where the 4th of July falls. The days off are great for us, because of the work we're doing for our friend as she gets ready to launch her new business and the work we still have on Blood Oath. We aren't under any pressure yet in the countdown to pre-production on the films. We've done all we possibly can on those short of having the funding. Thus, we have about a month and a half before the really running around being crazy starts (and the whining and some times, crying).

Thus far, the longer days haven't been a problem. Surprisingly, the commute home is shorter in time. We seem to have missed the worst of the street traffic be departing an hour later in the afternoon. That's kind of strange as rush hour itself lasts until after 7pm on the freeways. I'm not arguing with it. Long, slow commutes make for one cranky Deb.

Busting Writer's Block

Longtime readers of the blog know that the way I get past writers block is to write something wholly unrelated to whatever is being blocked. It was a tip offered by one of our landlords, the late Stanley Ralph Ross. This advice has proven quite useful to me over the years. It has also produced some very strange fiction. This includes most of the fanfiction I've written as NovaD. Fanfiction is a good diversion from writer's block. I'll never have it published save for maybe on NovaD.org, so there is less pressure about polish. The writing is an exercise to help me work out problems with another piece of prose.

It's Jon's fault that I chose this subject for a writing exercise. He's been watching everything available (three series and four movies) on Space Battleship Yamato. In the US, the first series ran under the name Star Blazers. I watched Star Blazers (see Youtube intro) when I was an undergrad in college. It was the first cartoon series I'd ever seen that was a serial and it ended each episode with a countdown to when the Earth would be destroyed. Of course, my Hubs, anime boy, has seen everything Yamato and owns quite a bit of stuff on it as well. Anyway, he's watching all of this with new English translations to answer some questions he'd long had about some of the fan translated scripts he'd read over the years. The revelations he made have caused a week long e-mail argument between him and one of his anime friends. I have mentioned in the past that this is a house of uber-geeks, right?

Anyway, Jon's watching a little bit each night after he done with editing. I wasn't really paying attention until the films and series I hadn't were running. Then, I noticed something curious and intriguing.

The villain and the young hero from the first series had become allies. In fact, there seemed to be something intense between them. Even Jon was startled by what the new translations revealed. This development was particularly obvious in the last film

It is thought that the former arch villain has finally met his end in a surprise attack on his home world. The young hero is devastated. He leaves a bouquet of bouquet of white roses and vows never to forget the man. At the end of the movie, our young hero is about to be destroyed by the enemy. There is no escape until the former villain appears to save him. He is all put purring the young man's name while sniffing one of those roses. Jon knew where I was running with that. Of course, I have to layer in layers including survivor guilt and a flirtation with Stockholm Syndrome in conjuring a situation that is realistic to the series in which the young hero could be seduced by his former enemy. It's been fascinating if strange. The story will only see the light of day on NovaD.org.

The exercise became quite involved. It is now a four part arc. Well, somewhere in the middle of the first part, I figured out why I hadn't gotten very far writing the first story in the memoir about my mother, Adventures with Miss Patty. Dancing with the German at Happy Hour in New Orleans was two paragraphs long until this morning. Now, it's six pages with the end clearly in sight. I had been having trouble with the frame for the story. I suddenly realized that it should be very much like the blog – conversational with all the segues that I use every week in giving all the details of a particular incident. The pages began to flow. It was very satisfying, especially after the story had stagnated for so long. For some reason that I can't really explain, the conversational style also keeps me from crying over the details. Weird, huh?

Noir and Naughty

The other indulgence that has preoccupied me in the cause of my writing is film noir. I'm writing a most naughty romance (and I mean really, really naughty), and I need to remind myself of how to write naughty and snappy dialogue without being the least bit explicit. I just watched the initial scene between Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity that was amazingly sexy and naughty but classy and snappy. I watched Mildred Pierce on Tuesday. It's one of my very favorite films. The plot was tight. The dialogue was razor sharp, and the acting was impeccable. The Hays Code certainly kept writers, directors and actors on their toes. I plan to avail myself of the liberalities of these modern times and have my characters do the most unseemly things that I can imagine. But their dialogue will always be clean and classy.

Yes, I'm still working on the comic art work for Blood Oath. And the cookbook. I'm really good at multi-tasking, and I don't sleep much. Fortunately, I have a shorter work week for a while.

posted by DLWarner at 8:48 AM

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Sunday, June 07, 2009

Good Vibrations, Cake and Updates

I feel much better this weekend (thank you for all who asked), I'm behind schedule today. Friday and Saturday involved some necessary meetings that pushed us way out of our routine. Thus, I'm just starting this blog at a point in the day when I should be posting it. I have a lot of news though, so I must press forward though this one will be a short one.

Power of the Positive

We've teamed up with our partner to help a friend of Dragoncor Productions strike out in her own entertainment related business. She's been a staunch friend of the company , and she's just gosh darned nice. So it was worth giving up most of my Saturday to attend a Small Business Expo to help her canvass for financing and other resources. Unlike the many meetings we've had for financing over the years, this was very straight forward. The business is a vendor to film makers and thus it was easier for the money sources to understand what she does and how the money is made. Meanwhile, the City of Los Angeles had pulled out all the stops to make sure business owners knew the vast range of assistance available to them from the city. They want small businesses to open in LA. It was amazing to be in a room that was vying for attention to help out. Beyond that, there was such a positive vibe from the business owners. Despite these precarious financial times, they were hopeful and optimistic about seizing an opportunity and succeeding. And there was a lovely slice of fudgey chocolate cake at the end of a nice ravioli lunch. We left the building feeling we could take on the world.

Finally, Updates

Perhaps it was the positive vibes and chocolate cake fueled euphoria permeating the ether. Perhaps, all sorts of money has decided it's time to stop hesitating. I don't know. All I know is that during the commute to the meeting, we got a call from a long silent investor. It was happy news. It looks like we will be in pre-production in mid- to late August for 'The Gunslinger' with the other two films lining up after that. It would mean shooting the Western in late September. So we're keeping our thoughts upbeat, our fingers crossed and making plans for swamp coolers and mosquito nets and vats of sunscreen.

On the Blood Oath front (again, thanks to those who've asked), Jon is almost at a picture lock. That means, that the editing sequence and timing is largely finished. He'll send it back to the composer to make sure the music cues are long or short enough. We'll soon know how many manga panels will be needed and what will be on them. I'm hoping to put up some of the final character drawings up this week. We'll preview a few of the manga panels as the short nears its release date. I'm refining the pilot script and first episode and writing treatments for five other episodes. And I'm working on the cookbook with more diligence. We're a little busy.

Summer Fun

We had a fortunate turn of events that helps us with the pressed schedule. The Archive is going to a four day schedule through the summer. We'll be working slightly longer shifts for a three day weekend. Sweet! This will help with our projects and with the severe sleep debt we've amassed. Maybe we'll even get to see a movie! So exciting.

Needless to say, the meetings this weekend kept me from the Seafood Feast yet again. It was not meant to be this weekend. However, I discovered the seafood market that I like to use for special feasts moved to a much more convenient location that we pass fairly frequently. Thus at some point this week or maybe next week on our first free Friday (that's hard to say), I'll finally get those danged oysters and the other seafood treats I've been craving. The Fridays off may mean more grilling in my future. We'd have the courtyard to ourselves during the day on Fridays. Even when school is out, the kids here are in activities that keep them from home until late afternoon. I want to try grilling vegetables and summer fruits.

Conversations with Craig
Warning! Spoilers and extreme derision for Terminator: Salvation

The following is from a Post-it note Craig left on my workstation and a lengthy conver

sation that followed:

A Stone-aged tribe, unfamiliar with modern ways and technology of any kind, could have a camcorder dropped in their midst and come up with a more satisfying and comprehensible 'Terminator' movie.Not since the heyday of Tijuana donkey shows have audiences witnessed such acting prowess. Many scenes appear to have been filmed in christian Bale's backyard shed. Bale seems to be drunk and unaware that he's being filmed.'Terminator: Salvation raises so many howling questions in my mind that weren't closed to being answered by the end of the film. Questions like, 'How can a human man get hit in the chest with a steel girder and continue spewing dialogue?' Or 'How does the rag tag band of rebels know how to put a robot heart into a human?' But the most vexing question left unanswered was 'why do the robots in the robot factory need workstations with chairs???'

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Sunday, May 31, 2009

Bacon Bits, Grillin' and Illin'

This will be a shorter blog than the last few weeks. As you'll read below, I've been under the weather.

High Concepts

I was unsure of how to begin the blog this week. Craig had an interesting first line. “Hamish, the dog, dragged me into an AA meeting while looking for donuts.” That was my first choice, but I decided to save it for a new segment of 'Conversations with Craig.' There is also a mention of lederhosen, but that can't be confined to a single sentence. Surprisingly, lederhosen comes up fairly often in this part of Los Angeles. There are lots of German tourists who enjoy wearing traditional clothes while touring. But I digress. There were other lines that came up during the week. However, none suited my twisted philosophy like the slogan for Bacon Salt 'Because everything should taste like bacon.' Now, I don't believe that everything should taste like bacon. That would be really weird on fruit or ice cream. But I do love the taste of bacon. That singular flavor is one of my many reasons for avoiding vegetarianism. This product offers some tantalizing possibilities. It claims to be vegetarian and kosher somehow. I imagine that it created in a similar fashion as liquid smoke, turning the vapors into something that can be tasted and smelled. I can certainly see some useful applications in things like dry rubs. Craig was truly gleeful about the thought of such a substance. His girlfriend is a vegetarian. Thus, Bacon Salt opens all sorts of new possibilities for mayhem with her recipes. And I suppose that guilt-free bacon flavor makes about as much sense as Vodka infused with vitamins and anti-oxidants.

Month of Fun – Almost Done

Why almost? We never did the seafood extravaganza. Starting Tuesday of last week, I fell ill followed by Jon. I was only consuming soup for a few of the days. The illness sure forc

ed me to stay off my feet for most of the week. I was reminded once again how much news broadcasts annoy me. One of the city's leading anchormen was using the word foreclosure when he should have been saying furlough. This same genius also announced that the charges against Phil Spector had been dismissed when he was about to be sentenced for murder. Meanwhile on CNN, another stellar anchor said she thought that a hung jury meant a suspect couldn't be tried again. At that point, I turned on The People's Court which makes a lot more sense. Why was I watching daytime TV, you ask. My head was too full of cotton to write. I made very little progress on business plans or anything else I was supposed to be working on last week. The other problem was extreme queasiness. I actually had a real portion of dinner only yesterday. Needless to say, this week was not a good time to take on oysters. Thus, the Seafood Extravaganza will have to be next weekend.

I did have fun last week right up to falling ill. Grilling was a lot of fun. I haven't pulled out the keg shaped grill since our first summer in this apartment. It's not easy to set up a grill in the courtyard. A pool dominated the space, and what's left is usually full of running children. Thus, I timed the cooking for the morning when most of the residents are out of the building at church or some sort of kid related activity. By the time everyone began to trickle back, the coals were cold and ready for disposal. The menu was very simple: burgers, ribs and brats. The ribs and brats were braised before I put them on the grill to finish cooking, so they didn't take very long. I did the burgers and the onions at the same time. We wrapped everything up and left it to warm in the oven until it was time to eat. And worry not, this was not purely a meat feast. We had lovely fresh corn and I made tabouleh and hummus to go along with my Mom's potato salad. That was fun! Today, I'm still eating mostly soup though I think I can handle some crepes with fresh berries for dinner. Don't be too impressed. I'm not making the crepes from scratch. I just can't seem to get that to work. Our local market has credible packaged crepes. I'm just making the filling and the sauce.

I had some fun in more lucid moments during the week. I looked into flights to Philly. I also found that I had to go to some of the city's tourism pages. There are a lot of restaurants and other points of interest that have sprung up over the years that Jon and I haven't visited. I'm hoping to have some time to take in one or two of those. And since our luggage disintegrated after our last trip to France (we had to borrow luggage to take our last trip to Philly), I've been shopping for new luggage. I don't know why, but I've always enjoyed looking at luggage. Weird, I know.

Writing Updates

There isn't much to report on any of the projects. We've been preoccupied with helping a friend with her business plan. That's been a very involved process that is is still ongoing. I'm waiting for comments on my portion of the plan, so I can refine it. I'm also waiting for Jon's comments on the Blood Oath scripts, so I can refine those. While I'm, waiting, I'm working on the cookbook and sketches. Mostly, I'm babying myself so I can face the work week. Ugh.

Next week – Updates and Conversations with Craig

posted by DLWarner at 11:52 AM

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