Film, Fog, and Naked Torsos

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.

The Gunslinger Trailer Shoot Part One of Who Knows
Two Days in Fresno
The shoot was actually in Exeter, California, but our hotel was in Fresno and that title sounds similar to Four Days in Sylmar, The Privateers Shoot. I suppose it’s because of they have the same number of syllables. Yes, I’m punchy, and it won’t get any better. Our hotel was in Fresno, because that was closest to our first location for the shoot. By the time we secured the site in Exeter, our third, the hotel was 45 miles away. We purchased rooms via Priceline.com and couldn’t switch. But it was a great price on some nice rooms. Besides, our leading lady was from Fresno. It worked to stay near her and all travel to the shoot together. It wasn’t a horrible inconvenience, except for the fog. We were warned about that even before reaching Fresno. There were fog visibility checks along State Route 99. That didn’t make much sense until the Saturday morning when we couldn’t see the IHOP across the parking lot from the hotel. Travis thought he had awoke in a Stephen King movie. Reaching Exeter was really scary. We all had eyes peeled for the sudden appearance of trucks stopped on the road.

Our location for the trailer shoot was a ranch in Exeter, CA that often host weddings, corporate team building and other events. The owners were connected to our horse wrangler and pistol provider, Rich Kreps, a resident of the area and a client of our partner. Our hosts were lovely, salt of the earth type folks with a great 20 acre spread where we found several kinds of backdrops for scenes and photos. Because the ranch hosts all sorts of events, our location had niceties that we weren’t expecting like a dressing room for our actors and some facilities that were nicer than what we rented for Demon Under Glass. We were expecting rustic, we got comfortable. And the family couldn’t have been sweeter people. Their five year old son, an Adorable Little Fellow (Alf), was with us most of Saturday and a good bit of Sunday. He was a blonde, blue-eyed, freckle faced cutie with limitless imagination and endless patience. It was really hard to leave him, especially after he volunteered to have his father build us a house on the property. He thought that because we were in a hotel that we were homeless. I’m keeping the offer in mind.

The ranch was not the frontier, but it had enough rustic feel to work for our needs. We had two scenes for Saturday. The first was Shadow Smith alone on a trail, exhausted from life on the run and paranoid about faceless foes. The second is Shadow enjoying a safe and soothing bath from warm water in a rain barrel. Unbeknownst to him, KD Delaney is watching from nearby. They seemed to be simple scenes because they were short and had no dialogue. Ha! We scoff at simplicity and somehow thwart it. The trail scene involved a horse. That adage about not working with animals or children exists for a reason. In this case, it’s the temperament of horses. They do not like strangers or surprises. Doc, the horse Travis would work with, was not an exception to that rule. He also didn’t like crossing wet areas or mounds in the grass. Doc had definite ideas of where he would go. The problem was that in the scene, Shadow is exhausted and not really steering the horse. Thus, Travis had to steer a very stubborn animal while looking like he was about to lapse into sleep. That part of the shoot took a while and involved much that could go on a gag reel.

Somehow, that scene got done, but the sun was low when we went for the rain barrel footage. And though we had many niceties, we did not have anyway to heat water for the rain barrel as planned. Travis had to pour handfuls of cold well water over his head and down his torso. And it wasn’t a quick scene, because we had to make sure the rivulets of water were visible on his skin. Our poor Shadow was soaked and freezing in bright sunlight by the time we finished. He was a trooper though. He poured all that cold water over himself and looked like he was enjoying it. I admit I was.

Our adventure continues in The Outlaw Has No Boots, the exciting sequel to The Vampire Had No Pants. Watch for it this Sunday.

Holi-daze – February Edition
Okay, there are too many holidays in this one, short month. There is Ground Hog Day, Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday, Chinese New Year, President’s Day and on top of all of that, Black History Month. That’s a lot of pressure for a holiday minded person like myself, especially while readying for a shoot. I did what I could.

I didn’t get to Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez much. I did enjoy some lovely cold fried chicken and a glass of red wine while watching Peter Mansbridge in LA covering Super Tuesday for the Canadian Broadcasting. That was a real treat though I would have loved to see him in person, not streaming on the web. It was a pretty hot time. For the Chinese New Year, which is my year, the Year of the Rat, I made potstickers and low mein and sent well wishes to everyone. My wish for me and for Jon, aside from making a new film, is a return to France. It has been too long without a visit. As for the rest, I’m watching Black History being made this month. I don’t think that can be topped.

Author Stuff

I am still working on A Soldier’s Fate every day. I’ll be inputting until the wee small hours tonight. The caption contest is still on hold. Be patient.

Film Related Blog Delay

The blog will be a day or two late. We're just back from shooting The Gunslinger promo and need to fall over. It'll be a hoot though.

Gung Hay Fat Choy, Yall!

It is the Year of the Rat, my year. Shut up! May prosperity and good fortune find you and all you love!

And a belated laissez les bon temps rouler for Mardi Gras! I hope you debauched well and are now repenting.

I'll not likely blog Sunday as we will be returning from the shoot. Check anyway but late in the day.

Secret Service, Pixels and Codpieces

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.

Bush Vs Brentwood

There was a short but intense skirmish in LA’s Entitlement Zone (I cover the definition of that terms in the sybpress Blog entry Our Vida Locas). Bush was in town for some sort of Republican function in Bel Air. That’s not a large portion of the Zone, but his travel plans caused a monumental disruption to the entire area. We thought our commute would be affected, but the street we were on was cleared mid-way to UCLA. We found out the extent of Bush’s travel arrangement when we spied Marine One parked on a ball field a short distance from Sunset Blvd. Then were the Secret Service dudes and a phalanx of LAPD motorcycle cops. And they were all there to guard an empty helicopter. We couldn’t imagine how much firepower he had riding with the car. Our colleagues never saw any of this. They were caught in the mother of all LA traffic sams when the 405 was closed as was Sunset Blvd while Bush was on the move. There were no signs indicating why everything was standing still and goodness knows the Entitlement Zone doesn’t listen to AM news radio. They just do what they always do – try to plough through as if nothing was going on. There were near accidents and a lot of screaming and cursing. I don’t blame the Secret Service for closing the roads to traffic. In that neighborhood, someone driving a Hummer while on the phone, listening to an ipod and drinking coffee is likely to broadside the presidential limo and then be annoyed at being made late for a massage.

We got a kick out of seeing that big helicopter. And I have a soft spot for the Secret Service. I had more than one opportunity to interact with them while I worked at the Center City District in Philadelphia. The first time was during the wedding of Max Kennedy (son of Robert) to Victoria Strauss (heiress to the Pep Boys fortune). The Secret Service was with Ted Kennedy and I was part of Papparazzi control. They were very polite and professional for being really heavily armed.

What’s in a Name – Codpieces!

I’ve been shopping for the Hidden Passion Films (HPF) shorts since the mass visit to the costume house last week. I knew I was in for a long and strange internet journey when the costumes for the western proved to be a more difficult search than I thought. Vendors sometimes have different terms for clothing items. The search under old west gets far different listings than western. But the key word I really needed was frontier and I only got that while looking at the image results from one search. That took hours after last week’s blog, but it wasn’t the most frustrating search of that day. Finding fantasy clothing for The Gift of Surrender (GoS) has been surreal. Again, terms were a problem. Tunics mean different things to different vendors. Much of the clothing is custom made and thus either too expensive or too long to wait for delivery. The search was annoying because many of the men’s items like bracers for Everquest and Warcraft characters. I can’t have David wear pixels! There’s no protection against a horse’s saddle. I had no idea that there was a whole cottage industry behind elven-style wedding dresses. It was interesting, but not very helpful. And almost every site I found had a fine selection of codpieces. One had a zippered pocket for your renfaire bucks. Why, I asked myself. This was one answer:

What IS a Codpiece anyway and why do men prefer them?
Firstly, they are comfy. Ask any man brave enough to try one on.
They are a "Boxers~ not Briefs" expression of personal freedom. AHHHH!
They are also quite useful in attracting attention to your...ahem...best feature. Kind of like the Wonder Bra, if you will. AND... Chix dig them. 'Nuff said.

Okay, that’s their story, but it wasn’t helping me with my costume issues. I’m stilly searching off and on. However, the focus is on The Gunslinger. We’re four days from the trip north to do the short. We’ve got all of the costume issues solved and have almost all of the props. I’m going to have a practice run at food styling this afternoon. I’ll post photos of the experiment on the myspace page for HPF.

Caption Contest

I’ll post the results later today and a new one in two weeks. We’re just too busy with the shoot right now.

Holiday Posts

It's a crazy week with Mardi Gras and the Chinese New Year coming up. I'll have a rare mid-week post about those. I am of the Year of the Rat, so there must ne celebrating. As for Mardi Gras, it involves sybaritic indulgence. Of course, I'll be celebrating.

Soldier's Fate Excerpt

The regular, weekly blog is below this excerpt.

Here it is, as promised. Note: This is homoerotic fiction and may not be to everyone's taste. This is also very much un'betaed. Continue at your own riske and without yelling at me.

To remind everyone of the plot for A Soldier's Fate:

Love was the Easiest Battle
Colonel Rik Heron thought he and his lover, Major Vincent Greven, were finally free. They had survived the treachery of military commanders and retired to head a foundation dedicated to the well being of their kind. Their lives would be filled with love and satisfying work making the lives of Altered soldiers better. But fate is not that kind. The landscape of the Foundation was as treacherous as any battlefield. The demands of their new roles and intrigues of the staff nearly tear their relationship apart. And despite the purge of mad generals, someone is still trying to kill them. To make matters infinitely worse, Bobby Greven, Vincent’s brother, disappeared with his squad during his first mission out of training. Thus Rik and Vincent must put on their uniforms and become weapons once more.

This excerpt occurs about a third of the way into the book. Rik and Vincent have had a huge personal crisis from which they are recoverying when Bobby's sudden, unexpected and very surprising love life causes a peculiar situation. To dissuade his brother from making a serious misstep, Vincent reveals a secret involving Rik that he had held since they were first serving together.

Excerpt

“Um...guys...I want to go to a brothel,” Bobby said before taking a bite from his sandwich.

I couldn’t have been more surprised if he had announced that he was going to clown college. Thank God Vincent had put down his knife. He gaped at his brother while I blinked at the young man.

“Are you stoned?” Vincent exclaimed hotly.

Bobby turned red, but his jaw was set and his eyes flashed. This was serious, but Vincent was on a tear.

“We just spent two hours with your girlfriend, and you want to be with a hooker?” Vincent demanded.

“You were Ms. Kramer?”

I almost chuckled at the thought of Bobby still using that formality while they were in bed.

“Bobby,” I said while placing a calming hand on Vincent’s. “You can see while we’re confused.”

“I want to go because of Ms. Kramer,” Bobby replied. He sighed in frustration when we continued to gape at him. “She so sophisticated and...I’m not. I thought that if I got some experience...she wouldn’t get bored with me.”

My lover sank onto a chair. His expression was odd, and his cheeks were very red.

“That won’t work,” Vincent said softly. “If someone else tries to touch you, it’s repulsive. Makes your skin crawl.”

“Vincent?” I asked after a hard swallow. “What are you saying?”

“Someone made me that kind of offer,” he replied. His gaze was intent on the floor. “He figured out that I wanted you. He knew I didn’t know anything...”

“Vincent looked up at Bobby. “I really wanted to learn, but every time he reached for me, I flinched...couldn’t help it.”

I stared hard at Vincent, but his eyes pleaded with mine to wait. I looked at Bobby instead.

“Your first experience should not be a matter of commerce,” I said. “there will be no real feelings thus nothing that can translate to being intimate with someone you love.”

Bobby looked uncertain.

“None of her reactions will be heartfelt,” I explained. “You may as well rent an automatron.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” I assured him. “It wouldn’t be good for the relationship if you handled Ellie like a sex worker.”

“Ellie?”

“We’ll get to that,” Vincent said. His voice was still quiet. “That first time is really important, and it should happen between people who care about each other. It meant everything to me that my first real kiss was with Rik. I didn’t know what I was doing, and that didn’t matter.”

“But aren’t guys supposed to know more?”

“How old-fashioned of you,” I chuckled. “Ellie is unconventional, and so are you. She is willing to risk a great deal to respond to your letter. I was clear to us today that she knows what you’ve experienced. I believe she was deeply touched at you wanted her to be the first. It meant the world to me to be Vincent’s first.”

“What is Ms. Kramer missing?”

“She can’t cover us or Altereds as a reporter anymore,” I replied. “That may adversely affect her career. Then, there sill be all the muttering about her hooking up with a young stud.”

“Or boy-toy,” Vincent added derisively. “I hear that a lot when people think I can’t.”

I frowned at that.

“How much could she lose?” Bobby fretted.

“It’s hard to say,” I replied honestly. “But she is well aware of the risks and still wants to explore the possibilities.”

Bobby swallowed hard. Vincent patted his shoulder.

“You’ll be fine, Bobby,” he said confidently. “You’ve got past the hard part. She noticed you and is interested. Smooth move.”

“How did you get a tux for New Year’s Eve?” I asked as the mood lightened.

Bobby smiled. “General Braun helped me rent one with my savings. I think he was amused by it all.”

“I’m sure of that,” Vincent snorted. “But you did all right.”

“It helped that her date got hammered,” Bobby laughed. “I don’t know what I would have done if he hadn’t. That guy was really good looking.”

“I think you would have found a way, young Greven,” I replied. “You’re good at improvisation – the mark of a great soldier.”

“Thanks, Rik,” Bobby replied with a shy smile. “So, Ms. Kramer came to see you?”

“Yes, Ellie was worried that you were throwing away your affections before you had any experience,” I replied.

“What did you tell her?”

“We told her the Grevens make up their minds about whom they love quite young,” I assured him. “And they have a surprising amount of maturity and commitment.”

Bobby beamed at us. He really was as beautiful as his brother. No wonder Ellie was blushing so much.

“Are you guys really okay with this,” Bobby asked as he ate his sandwich.

Vincent smiled his small shy smile. “I could tell you that you’re taking on too much with your Induction and training.”

“And you’d be right,” I added.

“But fighting your heart can be dangerous, too,” Vincent murmured. “It wasn’t good for me or the squad. Probably sent me to the Medical Wing more than once from injuries. But you can’t let this split your focus, Bobby.”

“I won’t,” Bobby said resolutely. “Becoming an Altered is my priority. That’s why we’re just exchanging letters now.”

The rest of the evening passed quietly. All of us appreciated just how normal that night was. I needed to talk to Vincent about what he had revealed earlier, but it could wait while we enjoyed each other’s company. There were a finite number of evenings like that left. Vincent had been grateful that I let sleeping dogs lie, but he tensed as soon as I locked our bedroom door. Somehow, I knew who it was that had made him that offer. Knowing the man was dead didn’t really help.

“You couldn’t have protected me,” Vincent said softly as he flopped onto the bed. “You wouldn’t have seen.”

“How did he see?” I countered.

Vincent shrugged. “I think he saw me watching you.”

“You watched me? Where? When?”

Vincent blushed, lowered his eyes to consider the floor. I moved to where he sat, reaching out to tilt his chin up. I smiled at him.

“Please, tell me.”

“You would read under a tree near your office window,” he replied. His eyes warmed. “I could watch you from my quarters without your seeing. I loved catching you that way. You looked so serene and...”

“And what?” I asked softly.

“Kissable,” Vincent replied with a sigh. “I’d lose track of everything watching you...dreaming of touching you or having you touch me. I think Raden saw me then.”

Vincent saw the guilt and regret in my expression. He shook his head at me emphatically.

“He couldn’t force me, Rik. Even then, I was too strong for him. He never touched me. And he never stopped me from watching you. I didn’t care if he saw me,” Vincent said. His tone was quiet but intense.

I can’t stand that anyone offered you that – especially over me,” I whispered. “I shielded you from many eyes and advances.”

“Who?”

“A few dozen over the years,” I muttered ruefully. “Far too many, considering your age.”

“None of them matter. I was always yours and yours alone,” Vincent murmured. “Please, Rik...don’t let anyone – especially him come between us. We’ve been through too much.”

My lover gasped when I reached out to caress his elegantly strong jaw, moving back to grasp his ponytail.

“I wish I had known, and yet knowing would have been torture,” I whispered, tracing his lips with the index finger of my free hand.

“Why? Why torture?”
“I could have never done this?”

Lord, I loved Vincent’s kiss. He was yielding to me, allowing me to press him back onto the mattress. I covered him with my body as we kissed. I petted his hair after our lips parted.

“Tell me, love,” I asked softly. “How had you planned to have me back then?”

“Is this all about you night?” Vincent demanded mildly.

“Tell me,” I gently pleaded. “I didn’t get to be courted.”

“Jerkwad,” he chuckled.

“Please...”

“I didn’t have a plan,” he admitted. “I knew you sometimes dated men, but I never saw you with anyone like me.”

“Love, you are singular in every way.”

Vincent smiled as he rolled his eyes. “I had no clue other than if I was enough of a pain in the ass, you would stay close to meditate with me or keep an eye on me. For a long time, that was enough. It was all I thought I could get...when I came back and you held me like that on the battlefield – I couldn’t believe it.”

“As you walked away from me toward all that fire in that pit, the memory of our last year together in the squad slammed into my mind,” I murmured. “It finally dawned on me why you had made me more crazy in that time than you ever had, yet I couldn’t stand to have you out of my sight. You had become a man. You were of age, and I wanted you. But you were still under my command. It had been impossible to let myself think of you as a lover.

“Still protecting me,” he observed.

“Hard habit to break, Love.”

“Protect me now, Rik. I need you.”

My lover was vulnerable then. We had been through almost more than we could stand in recent days. We were still healing emotionally. I knew what he needed. I still knew how to protect him.

“You have me, Love...body and soul,” I whispered, rolling over so that he was on top of me.

Vincent peppered my face with kisses. His eyes were solemn – almost reverent when they met mine.”

“I love you,” he said softly. “It’s not just about wanting you.”

“You show that to me every time you look at me,” I replied. Then, I smiled. “It’s okay to want me, too.”

“Cocky bastard,” Vincent murmured before kissing me.

The kiss was hot, almost rough though his hands were gentle. I couldn’t think after that. His mouth was working me. First, there was that long, incredible kiss. Then he took me with his mouth, pushing me toward climax then pulling back over and over until I was rendered into a mindless and pleading plaything. My diabolical lover was then pushing into me. I didn’t climax while he pounded into me just how much he owned me, but the intense and constant state of bliss I had until lapsing into sleep was more than enough.

Costumes, More Dopplers and Ohio Boys

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.

Multi-Tasking

I’m even more distracted than usual doing this blog. I’m an hour late getting started, because I was processing photos from the great costume sojourn for the short films. I’m not nearly as technically savvy as the hubby, so figuring out how to remove red eye and other things took me a while. I’m also building a myspace page for Hidden Passion Films(HPF). The website is the official voice for the projects. The myspace is more for fans of the actors and romance novel fans to see the behind the scenes stuff. It’s the fun place. Again, not tecchy savvy, so everything takes longer for me. I’ve just finished uploading the first photos and blogs there. It’s a public site, so you don’t have to join myspace to visit. However, if you are a myspace member, please friend us for updates that may not make it to this blog.

Costume Fun

On Wednesday, we took the four leads of HPF to hunt for costumes at one of the larger costume houses in the area, Western Costume (not named for costuming westerns) click on the link and check out the film and galleries. For all costume photos, so to http://www.myspace.com/hiddenpassions and click on pic under the dime novel photo. As I said last week, they buy tons of leftover outfits and accessories in bulk from the studios then rent them to big and small productions for a great price. That day, we found costumes from Charlie Wilson’s War, and there is a whole aisle of costumes from Waterworld. Its a massive facility with aisles that go on and on. Each aisle has three tiers of racks stuffed with costumes. We’ve used it for the Privateers and other projects. Funny, this photo seems familiar – oh, it is. I still don’t like going up those ladders. That day, we were searching for authentic looking western era clothing for The Gunslinger, and I wanted to eliminate that costume house as a source of costumes for The Gift of Surrender (GoS). I had a feeling, I would do better finding fantasy costumes online. We had Jennifer Sparks (KD Delaney, the Gunslinger) the least amount of time, so we were all business finding her a frontier dress and a cowboy hat. A group of four guys nearly broke their necks (actually passed us then backed up in a group), to get a look at her. She’s nearly six feet tall and quite stunning. When Travis Willingham (Shadow Smith/Matt, the Gunslinger) arrived, David Matthiessen (Nikulainen, GoS) and Lisa Lee (Sarianna, GoS) were already trying on capes. Thus, we were all together when we reached the aisle of hats. Actors in an aisle full of all sorts of hats leads to only one thing – utter silliness. And the fun went on for a while. It was all we could do not to join them. Somehow, we managed to find all the costume pieces for Travis – save for the gun. I’m told that’s a prop, so we must look elsewhere. And we found amazing capes for both David and Lisa, but I wasn’t happy with the dresses, tunics and such. If I wanted cod pieces – there were plenty of those, but overall, online shopping is my best bet for GoS costumes.

As I write this, I’m searching for links to fantasy costumes and accessories and researching pet friendly motels in our shooting location. I’m also still looking for oil lamps. Ack!

More Doppler Fun

While we were doing all this running around, it’s been raining – hard. It’s been raining so much that the Doppler-crazed LA weather folks have calmed down into resignation. It’s actually been worse this week than when the storms first started, but the rain is routine for a while. Jon and are reminded of the Albert Hammond song ‘It Never Rains in Southern California.’ Seems it never rain in Southern California, Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before, It never rains in California, But girl, don't they warn ya, It pours man it pours. Before moving out here, we thought that was a metaphor. Nope, it was literal, man was it literal. I mean, the LA river actual water in it. Yes, it’s that big canal they had the drag race in Grease. Most of the year, one can walk in the LA river. Last night, not so much. Long story short, it’s been a chore getting around. I’m really tired.

Why Ohio Matters

And I don’t mean as a political belle weather. I’m talking about film. We’ve often said that we know we have a good script concept if our Ohio friends like it. They are the middle America, all American guys that big studios covet. I bring this up because of the great debate over Cloverfield. Though I wasn’t interested in the concept, Jon was jazzed as an experimental film maker. It was a refreshing, bold take on the old monster movie. There was huge buzz and huge box office the opening weekend. But in the film biz, it’s the second week that tells the tale. How much the film will or will not drop off in box office accurately predicts what a film will make over the complete theatrical run. I was speaking to my Ohio posse last week about Cloverfield. One said that he and his friends thought they could shoot the film better. The other said too Blair Witch – done that. Neither is a good sign for the next weekend. It had a drop off of 75% -- ouch. The chic flick, 27 Dresses that Cloverfield crushed last week made more money and the over 60 year old Rambo made even more. When Hollywood is hiring all of those expensive audience consultants, they would do well to spend the money on a few phone calls to some regular Ohio guys.

Caption Contest

More than a few folks were confused with the two images for a caption in the blog. Thus, I’m extending it a week. You can find the image here.

Soldiers Fate Excerpt

I’ll post a link for that later today. Stay tuned.

Sudsy Actors, Historical Nakedness and Crickets

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.

Once again, I have a lot to cover. It’s been a busy week and not everything made the blog last week. But, as always, my friends distract me.

Naked Book Reading

Not the author! Our own Len Richmond is seen here giving a reading from his superbly funny and sexy, Naked in Paradise. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcsq5VxMI8g

One Legged Cricket

Craig has a one legged cricket living on his bookshelf. We think he means the cricket has one hind leg, because it hobbles and doesn’t chirp. Craig isn’t an earthy-crunchy kind of guy who thinks insects should be allowed to live like any living creature. He is more prone to crunch the critter on his shoe and scrape it off. His lovely girlfriend is the kind soul in the household. She’s been feeding it. Thus, it hangs out on a bookshelf next to Craig’s computer watching him work. He blames his girlfriend’s kind nature on being from Ohio. I can’t verify this as my friends from Ohio are all guys. Tell me, Ohio peeps, are the women there prone to feed and shelter helpless creatures? Meanwhile, I suggested to Craig that the unfortunate cricket might be his muse. He wasn’t sure about that, but he conceded that the critter on the bookshelf is far easier to cope with than the fully grown, live sheep he found in his dorm hallway while in college. Did you know that sheep do not like to go down staircases? He still hasn’t made a decision about the webcam.

Micro-budgeted Film Making Fun

The road to our second feature has been perilous and frustrating, to put it mildly. Of late, a fun project with a cast I am longing to work with has been stalled between the funding sources and the cable network interested in the concept. Each wants proof of some sort that the concept will be a sellable one. Thus, we decided to make a five minute version that captures who the leading pair of characters are and what the film will be about and how it will look and feel. The catch in this plan is that we don’t have a lot of cash to put into a proof of concept. And I mean there is more lint in our coffers than cash. But LA is a film town. Surely, you can rustle up what you need that is professional grade and just start filming, you say. Ha! I say. In this town, film is big business. Everyone that might be involved wants major bucks or at least they want more bucks than we can afford. It requires a great deal of creativity to get what we need to make the shorts look great. For instance, there is the rain barrel.

In one scene, our hero, Shadow Smith, is rinsing the trail dust off his big, buff body with water from a wooden rain barrel. I believe that scene is pivotal to the short and spent a lot of time talking it over with our DP. Actually, I talked about little else to the DP. Getting the light foam of suds sliding down that broad back just so is vastly important to me. It may even be important to the film. Anyway, before I’m distracted beyond all hope, I’ll continue. It’s possible to rent anything imaginable for a film in this town. I’ll give you a link to a typical prop house chosen at random from the 101 prop houses listed online. There is great stuff in those warehouses. I’m sure there is a rain barrel in one of them. However, renting is not an option for us in this case. The rental price may be terrific, but almost all prop houses want an insurance rider for each of their items rented. Minimum premiums are about $1500 for a million dollars of coverage – average coverage for prop and equipment rentals. I don’t find such requirements unreasonable. We had policies for both The Privateers short and Demon Under Glass. And, oh boy, did we need them. Things get broken or lost all the time on film shoots big or small. A hideously expensive camera was damaged beyond repair shooting Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It fell in a vat of chocolate. We demolished several glass props during the return trip to the prop house during The Privateers. During Demon Under Glass, it was the wreck of the prop machine guns. The insurance was money well spent. We just can’t do it this time.

Thus, my week was spent trying to buy a wooden rain barrel and period kitchen items for another scene at thrift store prices. There actually is a thrift store/prop house near here that I plan to check out. But I wanted to see what was online first. The big problem (and one I hadn’t counted on) was how difficult the Google search turned out to be. Finding the right combination of key words was a bear. It took a week of off and on searching along with inquiring on every film list I belong to, but I found that rain barrel and the kitchen wares locally. And though we weren’t looking for one, we found an amazing, full blown costume rental and sales place five minutes from where we live. Costumes are less of an issue than props for inexpensive rentals. There are several rental houses here that buy used costumes from the big studios in bulk for cheap so the studios can have the storage space. They rent them very cheaply in return and don’t require an insurance rider. If the costumes are lost or damaged, the renter pays the purchase price for the item in addition to the rental. I mean, Warner Bros will likely not have a need for Babylon 5 costumes anymore. So you and a whole squad of friends could look really authentic for Halloween or that Youtube masterpiece for very little money.

We lucked out on finding a Director of Photography who is talented but just starting out. He has his own equipment and a lot of creative energy. That will help us out a great deal. We also have a guy who can compose and lay down music tracks and handle the very mild FX load. Typically, we’d ask Gabriel Koerner for that assistance, but he’s hip deep in digital in Mach 5’s working the Speed Racer film. The location is not local. It’s a three hour trip in good traffic north of LA. We needed real frontier-like vistas, an actual ranch and horses to pull this off. Naturally, we are acquainted through colleagues with real ranchers who act on the side. They are being obliging in exchange for small parts in the feature. The costume hunt is on this week with our cast for The Gunslinger and for the other Proof of Concept short, The Gift of Surrender (much more on those details as we get closer). I’ll provide details and perhaps photos in next week’s blog.

Caption Fun

I had one illustration in mind for this week, and it is a lulu. However, whilst viewing it on the PC, Jon walked by and blurted out what could be the only caption for this thing: THIS IS SAPRTA!!! The actual painting by Jacques-Louis David hangs in the Louvre and is gi-normous by gi-hugic, or 13 feet by 17 feet for laymen. Here is a link to a larger version of the image. http://www.goddess-athena.org/Museum/Temples/Sparta/Leonidas_David.html Though I don’t think it was on display when we were at the Louvre. I’d remember something that huge and that naked. At any rate, I had to choose a new illustration for the caption contest. It is from another historical text depicting the arrival of King Louis XI (that’s 11, not 14 as google and yahoo insist). I’m not sure what he was arriving for, but it must have been quite a gathering. Give me your best zingers and win an Amazon gift certificate. This image may be too small to catch all the detail. A larger version can be found on this link. Good luck!

Must See TV
Thankfully, the WGA strike should soon be over. Meanwhile, do go and enjoy this inspired piece of solidarity on the actors’ parts. This is a real gem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_igKSYspPs

Soldier’s Fate Excerpt

Alas, this will be delayed. My other duties prevented me from choosing something titillating without having too many spoilers. I shall post it next week.

Plots, Twists and Unruly Characters

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.

We have a lot of ground to cover today. I even manage to talk about writing! Really! But first a X-post.

Film From Sybpress Author's Story

And now a message from our own Brenda Petrakos, author of Stories from the Inside Edge:

Just wanted to let you know that our short film COP will be screening at the Cinema Slam event in Park City!We will have two screenings, one on January 22nd at 11am and one on the 24th at 10am. While we're not in Sundance, Slamdance, or any of the dances, it should be fun to screen on Main Street in the heart of the festival!!!!Details are below. If you are planning to go to Park City, let us know. If not, let your friends know!

For info:http://www.mandy.com/1/board2.cfm?v=25695150


Craig’s Yard
We have prevailed upon him to put a webcam on the yard. Despite being disturbed about the number of people from this blog being interested in his weirdness. He’s become fixated on what’s happening there when he isn’t home. Of course, when that will actually happen is another matter entirely. I’ll keep you posted. I should note that Craig pointed out that this yard isn’t nearly as gruesome as the yard he had while living next to the beach in San Diego. His beach was at the end of a current that brought anyone who drowned nearby to his front walk. Craig said he had to really careful running in the fog. He never knew who he might step in.

Parallelisms

No, I haven’t developed a taste for anomalies. I still hate ‘em. I’m actually going to talk about writing. Even without the distractions from the holidays and my other jobs, I was having a struggle with the plot for A Soldier’s Fate. When Jon has a block writing a story, it’s because he believes he’s taken a wrong turn somewhere and needs to start over. With me, my blocks or slow-downs is because I’m fighting the direction the material wants to go in. It’s not that I have no control over where my characters go. And I do know the destination for their journeys before I start writing.

Usually, when I’m fighting with my own prose is because I don’t see what the themes are doing with one another. I never plan for my stories to have themes. Rather, I don’t consciously think in those terms. When I was writing The Gift of Surrender, I was writing and erotic fantasy romance. I didn’t notice until the end of the first draft that there were themes like the consequences of impulsive behavior and that failure to communicate can destroy a nation as easily as it can destroy a family. These themes come from character development for me. Often, I am so focused on that development that I don’t notice the overall themes until I do something that’s contrary to them.

I thought A Soldier’s Fate would be about Rik and Vincent’s developing relationship and Bobby’s journey into the military. And it is about those themes, but it is also about the choices that Rik and Vincent were not given growing up and how they impact the decisions Bobby makes. There was also a great deal going on with Vincent while he was in the squad that Rik knew nothing about. There is far more discovery between the characters that I hadn’t planned, but that’s making it a lot of fun for me to write. All of this seems disorganized, I know. I seldom do formal outlines of novels (that usually happens only if an outside entity like a publisher requests it or I’m writing with a partner). I do skeletal outlines of the plot. However, I do a lot of character work before I start a new book. I know their histories inside and out, and I really know their personalities. In the case of A Soldier’s Choice, I had to develop a world set a century from now. Most of it didn’t end up in the book, because the book was about the two lovers. I revealed enough of their world to make their actions and attitudes make sense. More of this world’s politics will be revealed in A Soldier’s Fate, because they directly impact the major characters.

I leave some of the thematic elements to unfold through the interactions of the characters. That’s the fun part of writing for me. Wouldn’t writing something that was more finely outline be more fun? I have found that is not the case for me. Demon Under Glass was very hard to write as a novel because I was hemmed in by the script and the film. However, I did find some character nuances with Joe McKay that surprised and impressed Jon. I kept the point of view of the book largely with Joe giving it a film noir quality that Jon really liked. If we are given the opportunity to re-do the film as a pilot, he would utilize them.

I’ll post an excerpt from A Soldier’s Fate next week.

Plot Twists

It is very hard for most films or TV shows to surprise me. That’s a downside to being a writer. It’s a real downer to anyone in the room watching something with me. Our former room mate forbade me from making any sort of noise during mysteries or suspense programs, because I invariably knew what was going to happen. Fortunately, I enjoy the ride just as much as the destination. Anyway, I found myself profoundly surprised by last week’s episode of Criminal Minds. I won’t give anything away here, but the ending was absolutely jaw dropping. And the best part was that the twist was in keeping with what had gone on in the rest of the episode and completely within the canon for the show.

Warning! There be spoilers ahead!!!

Coincidentally, I found this list of best all time plot twists on line. Now, Jon and I have problems with most best whatever number lists from entertainment magazines. They seem designed merely to generate angry fan mail. We saw an EW list of 25 all time great science fiction on film or TV for the last 25 years. It had V but not any of the Star Wars films (though it had the badly animated Clone Wars). That sort of list makes no sense and is infuriating. I actually admonished Jon for reading so many of them. They all tend to make him angry. This list from Premiere.com was a good one. I wasn’t surprised by two of the movie twists. Actually, I don’t know of any woman who didn’t know that was a dude in The Crying Game. As for Angel Heart, he kept looking in the mirror for goodness sake, who else could it be? The rest of films on the list had great twists. I forget because we’ve seen Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back so often that it had a huge twist. I was in a first screening when it came out. The audience gasped. I was shocked. I love being shocked in a film out of surprise – not because it was bad. I wish it happened more.

No caption this week. Really nutty with the film shorts right now. We’ll be taking our casts to look for costumes this week. I’ll likely have many tales to tell in the next blog.

Dopplers, Tree Mutilation, Brad and Angelina

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.


Ringing in the New

It was out with the old and in with the new. I kinda like that tree photo. We may use it for next year’s Christmas Card. Jon and I spent a quiet New Year’s Eve. I was really tired from who knows what, and Jon was obsessing with Legos Star Wars. That was my fault though. I gave it to him. New Year’s day involved tree mutilation and undecorating the house. We were all set to get back to work.

The weirdness began almost immediately. Strange things were happening in Craig’s yard again. Past strangeness include the discovery of a large, red McCaw parrott who addressed Craig as Lucky and Jack Nicholson having an argument with a woman that Craig did not know. On each of these occasions, Craig was en route to a job, so he had no time to ask what was going on. The oddities would always be gone upon his return. The new oddness was from a homeless woman who was the 1956 prom queen of Palisades High. She was screaming profanity in his yard and threatening to have her prom date beat up Craig and the other tenants of the building. I suggested that Craig put up a web cam to capture the oddities. Apparently, there are things going on while he is at work that he never sees though there if often peculiar evidence left behind. If he does, I will provide a link.

Dooplers and Weather Woes

For a city that has very boring weather most of the year, Los Angeles local news stations have a lot of high powered weather equipment. Most involve the word doppler. The least doppler intensive – at least by the name they use – is Live Weather Doppler Plus at Channel 4. Channel2 has Sky View Doppler Radar with Futurecast. That sounds both impressive and sci-fi. But the winner seems to be Channel 7’s Live Mega Doppler 7000 HD with forecaster Dallas Raines. I am not making this up. The problem is that when you have all this equipment and not a lot to do most of the year, actual storms make these forecasters and their stations go absolutely insane. The rain storm of the last few days was really bad. We didn’t lose power, but I’ve never had to walk in wind that strong. And I haven’t had that cold a soaking since I lived back east. But the coverage may have well included the phrase 40 percent chance of the apocolypse. This feed was picked up by CNN and Yahoo. The first of the worried e-mails from Philly came in while we were still at work. In addition to figuring out how to get home without getting wacked by falling tree limbs and palm fronds (those things are heavy) or LA drivers who spin out in a drizzle, we had to worry about our folks worrying. Criminey! The forecasters or futurecasters remain unrepentent. I think they’re drooling of the notion that LA will have a real rainy season this year.

New Year, Old Writing Projects

We hit the ground running with the film projects. Our partner had a meeting about our whole catalogue yesterday. HE gets to sit at a table next to Brad and Angelina (he said she was incredibly beautiful without any make-up). We were at the eye doctor. OY! At any rate, the meeting went places that we didn’t expect. That’s one of the truisms we’ve learned out here: meetings never go the way they are planned. It went well, but the scripts that this agent was interested were ones that we thought were dead. And the big film project, The Privateers, is finally going to have a lead. Can’t say who yet, but I’ll be able to soon. Follow –up meetings to discuss development funding are scheduled for next week. We won’t get really excited until checks clear. We’ve been this far before. Meanwhile, we’re gearing up to shoot the shorts for Hidden Passion Films. If the weather isn’t really unstable, we should start shooting them bey the end of the month.

I should have a firm publishing date for A Soldier’s Fate in a couple of weeks. I’m back to pounding that out. It’s great to be haning out with Rik and Vincent for a while.

New Caption Contest next week!

Year's End Musings

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.


Steamy Goodness

It’s getting steamy here this New Year’s Eve. And it has nothing to do with champagne. I’m cooking up the traditional dishes of collard greens and black eyed peas. Serving these are for good luck and prosperity in the New Year. It’s both a Southern and an African American tradition. I’ve altered the family recipe over the years from flavorings based on pork and fat to smoked turkey, garlic and olive oil. Ours will be a more subdued celebration than our norm. We’re really tired. It’s been a grueling year.

Retrospective

It was a tough year for us. We moved from a place we liked and enjoyed for many years without knowing where we’d end up. Moving in stages is not the best way to go, but condo developers don’t really care. We were still juggling the production company and the press while in interim housing with an intermitted and fussy internet connection. Both business suffered while we hunted for an apartment. A friend accurately described apartment hunting in LA as a steel cage match with other applicants. It was two and a half months before we lucked into this place. That experience made even Jon give a nod to observing good luck rituals. During this ordeal, we made mistakes, ruffled a great many feathers and hurt some feelings. We also found out who our real friends are and what kind of baggage we were better off without. Ultimately, we are stronger for the experience.

Looking Ahead

We have been presented with some great opportunities in the last few weeks of the year. We start acting on them right after the holiday. In the past, we’ve learned that we gain more ground in the film arena when we are aggressive. This year, we plan to do more on our own to draw attention to our projects. We have some film shorts planned with great production values and even some special FX starring the actors who will be in the full features. And we are close to beginning our second full feature. Book wise, I will finally put out A Soldier’s Fate and there will be a third Surrender book. I will also finish my collection of short stories based on family memoirs. It’s called Adventures with Miss Patty. I hope to have the first short story published early next year. We have a lot on our plate, but we also have a lot of good plans and determination.

Many Thanks

There are a lot of you out there all over the place that visit the blog weekly. I am very pleased and flattered by this. I thank you all for your attention and your support.

May you and yours have a happy, healthy and safe 2008. Don’t forget to celebrate!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Cross Promotion: Musings on Barberella

Sypress' own Marie Lecrivain has some wonderfully witty musings on life and Barberella at Media Cake. Check it out at:http://www.mediacakemagazine.com/cake_spring_07_081.htm

Enjoy!

Football, Films Rip Offs, and Year End

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.



Fourth Quarter Blues

The season has ended for the Philadelphia Eagles at 8-8. Ah well. I have suffered through much worse. There was times in the 70s and 90s were we prayed to end at 500. I remain a staunch fan who will wear the jersey during the playoffs. I think team fans should remain supportive no matter what. I really admire Ron Moore this season for his continuing support of the Miami Dolphins. And there are up sides for me with the season being over. Truth be told, I enjoy the playoffs more when there is nothing at stake for me. I can now just enjoy the games and hope for a great Super Bowl that doesn’t involve the Cowboys and has some good movie trailers. My biggest regret at this time of year is that all too soon, there will be no football until the Fall

The Bad and the Ugly

I can’t say I received any seriously snarky notes after last weeks rant about snobs. I did, however, get some really pointed ones. Most wanted to know if there was anything in film that I would consider bad. In a word hell, yes. I just don’t think I’m superior for having a taste for certain kind of films. I don’t have the time to list all the films that I considered bad and why. Though I will mention the worst film I had to sit through (I was a film critic at the time) was The Villain with Kirk Douglas, Ann-Margaret and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Allegedly, it was a live-action version of The Roadrunner cartoons. I got that. Everyone meant well. They just couldn’t pull it off.

However, there are some films that seem to aim at being awful. There is a production company called The Asylum that seems to have such aims. Aside from their titles looking very familiar. My particular favorites wer Snakes on a Train and The Transmorphers. Rip off titles like that have no right to take themselves seriously, but they do. And that’s disappointing. A title like Snakes on a Train should be hilarious with tongue firmly planted in cheek. I lament the wasted opportunity.

A wasted opportunity phrase is more accurate than whether I think something is bad. I usually can see where a film maker is going. It’s when the film doesn’t reach it’s goal that there is a problem. With Soul Plane, it was clear where they were going. They got there, and it had an anudience who enjoyed it. Whose Your Caddy had an aim that was a bit lower. It didn’t hit that and it didn’t get any kind of audience. Sometimes a film can reach it’s goal and still not have an audience. A prime example is Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. When Jon and I saw the first trailer we knew two things: we would be crazy about the film and it would have no real audience. The film was critcally acclaimed, had an astonishing look and was everything the film makers wanted. And it had Angelina Jolie! It just failed to connecy with a mainstream audience. Jon thinks it was too much like the film seriels of the 30s it was emulating, and thus, didn’t connect with an audience accustomed to a different pace and very different leading men and women. At any rate, yes there are films that I view as failures. I tend to be harder on films that are near misses like Resident Evil (yes, I know it made a pile of loot, but it just missed being a really great film) than ones that just are what they are (the Saw Franchise). I make no judgement on fans of films I view as failures. However, if anyone insists I go see one or insists on talking about them in hopes of changing my views, they they get an earful for a very long time.

The other question I got this past week was an example of advnaced film watching I’d recommend. Easily, that’s Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang. It is brilliant, hilarious, profane and fearless. It’s one of those films that critics love to analyze, but anyone into action and comedy will adore. Run out and rent it, but make sure there are no tender, young ears about. There be a lot of cussing.

Year’s End

I’ll post the New Year Blog tomorrow night or on New Year’s Day. I’m still mulling over how I feel about the year that is about to end and what my hopes are for the one that is about to begin. That said, I hope all my readers ring in the New Year safely. But you should have some fun!

Merry Merry!

Have a happy and safe holiday. And if you want a differnt kind of Christmas Carol, click HERE!

Films, Snobs and Food

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.


As always, my issues are many and varied.

More Holiday Viewing

I forgot to mention some other films and TV shows that are fun for the holidays. Don’t worry, all of these are relatively safe. Shrek the Halls was good fun. It may repeat before the holidays are over. I also loved films like Pockerful of Miracles, a sweet, funny Cinderella tale with Bette Davis and a hilarious Peter Faulk reprising his role from Murder, Inc. for laughs. Then there is Bell, Book and Candle, a strange Christmas romance between a witch (Kim Novak) and a publisher (Jimmy Stewart). That film made me fall in love with backless dresses. To round out the list, there’s The Thin Man that was listed in the LA Times as a Christmas set film with more martinis than all of the James Bond Films combined. And Die Hard that also is set during Christmas.

Snobbery

I don’t like snobs of any kind. It’s silly to think one person’s interests or tastes are superior to someone else’s. I’m not saying that there aren’t good and bad ways of executing an art or a craft. There are badly executed films and books and music and whatever you can think of as an interest. However, I don’t think one person is superior because they prefer La bohème to Spamalot. Most of what is studied today as high art in literature began as pop culture. One of my favorite lit professors in grad school, a scholar in Victorian lit, said that the lions of fiction in that era were writing the equivalent of soap operas today. There are certainly different levels of sophistication to creative work, but that does not make them superior, merely better crafted. Jon and I really enjoyed Solaris. Jon calls it advanced film watching which means you really need some film or lit critical theory under your belt to know all of what’s going on. However, we also enjoyed The Day After Tomorrow, even with the ice chasing people down corridors and the attack of wolves in New York City. We adored Aquateen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters which Jon called remedial film watching. It may have damaged our brains. I think The Closer is one of the best police dramas I’ve ever scene in every way. Yet I watch CSI: Miami religiously, cursing all the way.

Why do I bring this up? A flame war over the quality of a diner started it. I was looking for an image of the 50s Café in Venice, CA for last week’s blog. I was going to mention that they had a sign in the entry proclaiming their support for the WGA strike. But the blog was unwieldy by then, and I decided to leave the reference out. In my search, I ran across a review site. One of the blogs totally dissed the Café. It’s a long time favorite for Jon and me. We’ve held production meetings there. It was where I first met Garett Maggart (who also loves the place). I have never had a bad meal there, nor have I ever had bad service. From what I gathered of the posts, it wasn’t fancy enough food for these diner connoisseurs (like those words go together). I find that silly. Diners are not for fancy food. If they can make a good burger and good breakfast, they have fulfilled their mission. I fired off a retort, but had to register for that privilege. Thus, I was exposed to more blogs. One of them was dissing The Food Network for their TV cooks‘with low cut blouses’ and quoting Mario Bitali’s lament that the network was going for the Walmart audience. Well, then it was on. I don’t fault Bitali for his crack, because he’s been having problems with the network. But these other foodies are really annoying to me by implying that food by non-chefs has no place on a 24/7 network. First off, it would be impossible to fill all that time with four star chefs. Second, the audience would be really small. Third, what the heck are they talking about? TV cooks like Rachael Ray and Paula Deen have inspired legions to pick up an apron. Ina Garten had no formal training, but God bless her for making me take on phyllo dough or Beef Bourguignon. In fact, much of what is considered French haute cuisine like coq au vin or Beef Bourguignon comes from cuisine À la Bonne Femme. That is a French term used to refer to a homey and simple but honest cooking style done by farm women. Enough of being on their high horses. They web site moderators will probably revoke my membership soon.

Holiday Fun

The baking is finally done, done and done! We’ll be handing out the LA goodies over the next week. We’ll also be mailing out packages to folks we missed. I really need a new address book. Today, I start on the Christmas dinner prep. We’re going out to visit our Sybaritic Press buds on the big day itself, but I like to have food here as well. I enjoy visiting or being visited upon at this time. We don’t see much of our cronies from the 3rd Street Promenade or ‘Traumenade’ anymore. The holidays are about the only time we have to catch up. Jon and are are blessedly free from the day job until Jan. 2nd. It’s paid time off, to boot! There will be much in the way of writing happening over that time. I can also address my long neglected work on Sybaritic Press.

I don’t like to get on a soap box, but I would like to mention a couple of charities that could use some bucks this time of year. The USO provides care packages for the troops and their families who need support no matter how we got in that conflict. Information can be found here. Also Second Harvest is reporting that food bank donations are down while need has sharply risen.

Seasons Greetings

I’ll post my holiday greeting later tonight or tomorrow. For now, I have roast beast to attend to and many more calls to make.

Frenzies, Actors and Christmas Stories

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.

Wacky Week

Much wackiness is about to ensue, including at rant on two CSI shows. And there will be much wandering in the narrative. And I think there are more links in this blog than any I've written. Do visit them all.

It’s been a busy week. I apologize to everyone that may still be waiting to hear from me. It’s been hard keeping up with even routine e-mail. The cookie insanity has entered phase two – local deliveries. The first batches turned out well and had a lot of variety this year. The marshmallows stayed in the bowls and turned out light and fluffy. And the menorah didn't catch the apartment on fire. But the baking was the easy part. Over the past week, I’ve packaged and shipped 35 boxes with an average of three bags of cookies or cookies and hot cocoa mix. Thank goodness for flat rate boxes and labels with postage that can be printed at home. Everything was ready when we got to the Post Office. Today I will try my hand at making chocolate truffles and mini baklava. The ladies on The Food Network make it all look easy. We shall soon see.

Right now, I’m enjoying a surprisingly good glass of wine in preparation for the Eagles/Dallas game. It’s surprising because I bought it at the 99 Cents Only Store for only 99 cents. I’ve had really good wine in France for under $2.00. It was 1€ 20, I believe, for a lovely red wine. I always enjoy a glass of two buck Chuck but this is my first under a dollar vintage. I must say that Foggy Bay white Table Wine is quite nice. I don’t think it will help with this Eagles game, but maybe I won’t care by the time I finish drinking it.

Holiday Viewing

This year, I didn’t yield to the strange way networks scheduled their holiday programming. One should not be watching A Charlie Brown Christmas before it’s December. We recorded all of the usual suspects and watched a number of them last night while I was trying to cook. I almost never just sit and watch the shows. I’m usually baking or decorating or wrapping or something.

Our holiday viewing is a bit ecclectic. We watch the shows and films we grew up watching like How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Scrooge, the version of A Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim. It is really the best one to me as it adhere’s so closely to Dickens’ text, and Sims is a hoot. It may be running on cable, but if not, buy it! Of course, I watch the endless Holdiay specials on The Food Network. They have a series of them under Season’s Eatings with programs for cooks of every skill level. I watch for new recipes like the truffles and baklava. I also watch for the warm, fuzzy feelings from my favorite chefs.

But there is a darker side to my holiday viewing. Jon and I never fail to be twisted, even during the holidays. I even found a twisted Holiday cooking special. Anthony Bourdain’s Holiday Special was a nightmare version of anything The Food Network would show. His neice carries a switchblade and his young nephew curses like a long shoreman. The cooking instructions include terms like ‘a crap-load of butter’ and ‘enough sugar to make you smile.’ But my favorite line was ‘Uncle Tony is not huffing glue. I’m checking it for quality.’ It’s repeating at various times on The Travel Channel. Try not to miss it. I adore Anthony Bourdain. He is so funny and so crazy. His No Reservations is addictive. The episode on Beirut, filmed as bombs were falling on the city, was such riveting television that it was nominated for a news documentary emmy. Each show is a gem though, and Bourdain is always fascinating.

However, we found a wonderfully twisted yet touching anime Christmas film. Tokyo Godfather’s comes from the folks who made the amazing series, Paranoia Agent, which ran on Adult Swim. Here is the trailer Tokyo Godfathers is a re-make of Three Godfathers. In this case, the ‘Godfathers’ are a drunk, a drag queen and a runaway teen who are homeless. They find an infant on Christmas Eve and undertake a harrowing, funny and poignant adventure to reunite the child with her parents. In the process, they find their own way back from the streets. It’s available on Netflix and we highly recommend it. Here is the trailer.

Our favorite slightly irreverant Christmas shows are two Futurama episodes, Xmas Story and a Tale of Two Santas. In these, Santa Clause is a violent robot who tries to kill people instead of giving presents. The take on Christmas is really screwy, but it doesn’t leave other faiths unscathed. There is The Hanuka Zombie and the Kwanzaa bot is particularly funny. From there, the animation we like to watch becomes more and more profane and drifts into the blasphemous. Be warned (that means you, mother-in-law, dear) the language and action is graphic and really adult (thought not mature). There is the mobster spin on Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Raging Rudolf and the Reinfather, and the original South Park Chritmas video that spawned the series. And then there is the brilliant depravity of Robot Chicken’s Holiday that manages to offend everyone.

So, the cleaning and baking and shopping frenzy will continue until next Saturday. I’m having major dental work then. Next week’s blog may prove quite interesting under the influence of painkillers (No, it isn’t always written under the influence. It just seems that way.)

Playing Santa

We do have fun during the various frenzies. I really enjoy meeting up with my actors and spreading some holiday cheer. We catch up with each other, and I update them on the status of projects. Mainly, we just enjoy their company. Yesterday, we met with David and Lisa Lee, my leads in The Gift of Surrender. I always enjoy spending time with them. They are so funny and talk about som many interesting things. And they are just gorgeous. Jon and I had so much to do in a compressed amount of time, but I am really pleased that we made the effort and slowed down to enjoy the moment. We get to do it again with our Gunslinger leads, Travis and Jennifer on Monday.

Writing

I actually got back to writing. It’s slow with all of the distractions, but I’m back to a few pages per day. That makes me feel a lot better. When I’m not writing something each day, other parts of my life suffer. Ireally need that creative outlet to be whole and relatively happy. I’ve been asked how I keep at my creative work when getting films made or promoting the books is so hard. I’d be writing even if none of my works went anywhere but my website. I have to keep writing.

Last year, I wrote a bonus chapter for those who purchased A Soldier’s Choice. I also complied a mini cookbook of all the recipes Vincent Greven made in the novel and in the bonus chapter. I’ve decided not to include them in the second edition of A Soldier’s Choice. Nor will they be in A Soldier’s Fate. They don’t fit in either book. Thus, I've uploaded them onto the website for A Soldier’s Choice. Go to Cookbook for the recipes and Bonus for the chapter.

The Rants

Okay, the vaporizing machine gun on CSI: Miami was ridiculous. I can’t remember the name of the darned thing, but it had an insane number of bullets over a barrel shapped like a wide cross and fired with an electronic trigger. The affect was a hail of bullets that ‘vaporized a target.’ It was gooey to watch. Jon and I decided it was less phaser and more disruptor. But Jon panned the gun as idiotic for any application because it would take forever to reload. Beyond the silliness of the gun, was some really violent action. Horatio Cain dispatched of three gun runners by himself with a shot to the head each. Even Steve McGarrett never did that. Though he did spray people with machinge gun fire from a helicopter once or twice.

But I must commend the show for not being as stupid as the previews indicated. From the clips, it looked like Delko was about to be shot – again. Now, even in the 60s, everyone realized that Mannix could only get hit in the head so many times before he’d have some real brain damage. I was cringing at the thought of a guy having two bullets in the brain in one year. Fortunately, it was a falshback. But shame on them for such a misleading promo!

And CSI needs to abandon this conspriacy thingy with the mob and their department. It had become a slick, fun show without the incredible goofiness of it’s successor. Last season had some brillaint episodes (though I still wish Sarah Sidle had been the minature killer). One epsode, Ending Happy, had a tribute to Tor Johnson. Brilliant. This year, goofiness is gripping them though the Lab Rats Game episode was wuite good). Knock it off!

I'm off to continue the baking marathon. See you next week.

Cookies, Content, Consent and Towelboy!

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.

Dough is Me

Yes, I plan to talk about writing this week, and that subject will have some racey material. But there are other things on my mind and all over our apartment. It’s the cookies. They’re everywhere. I chortle at my favorite Food Network chefs baking two dozen cookies and acting like they’ve done a lot for gifts. Somehow, my little college aged efforts have exploded into a two week production involving nine pounds of butter, so far, four five pound bags of flour and sugar, and a lot of other stuff. And we aren’t done yet. We have to ship to six cities in the US and two in Canada. The LA deliveries are mostly in person. It’s a lot of work, but we enjoy the process for the most part. It’s just a trifle cluttered in here at the moment. I’m making the marshmallows and hot cocoa mix this year, but I’m hoping to avoid the attack of the hot stickiness by using the wonderfully stable Kitchenmaid mixer that the lovely Marie kindly loaned us. We need to get all this stuff out of here, or the tree won’t fit.


Adult, as in Grown-Up

I write admittedly adult content in that it is sexually oriented and sometimes graphic. However, I also write content that is adult in that it is responsible and rash actions or inappropriate behavior has unpleasant consequences. This has been the case in my erotica even in my slash fiction. Because of my bdsm themes, I make sure that it is crystal clear that my characters are consenting adults who have entered into the relationship willingly. There is no drugging or coercion.

A Soldier’s Choice presented a sticky situation because Vincent had been under aged when he came under Rik’s command. There is the double taboo of crossing the age line and taking advantage of a subordinate. However, I make it clear that Rik was not aware of an attraction to Vincent until they re-united during the first battle in the book. By then, Vincent is 21. When they begin the affair, they are not on active duty. Then, they resign their commissions at the first opportunity. In A Soldier’s Fate, Vincent reveals a lot about the strong feelings he had had for Rik from the first time they met and how he suffered in silence because of those feelings. Meanwhile, Rik reveals just how many inappropriate advances he had deflected from Vincent over their years in the squad. Rik didn’t allow his own feelings for Vincent to surface until it was more appropriate to act on them.

It could be argued that my Demon Under Glass story, Identities has Joe McKay in a forced marriage to his Vampire companion, but that’s not the case. While it’s clear that Joe is entering into the marriage to have access to Simon’s considerable assets in order to protect himself from their pursuers, it is clear that there is an attraction. Joe also understands that the marriage makes it unlikely that Simon will ever let him go, but he willingly accepts that. I must note here that the story is a speculation of what would actually cause Joe to marry Simon. We don't consider it canon.

My characters also court in full view of their families and friends. They don’t engage in the more kinky aspects of the relationship in full view of them, but the relationship does not grow in a vacuum. These relationships do push boundaries, but the characters feel no shame in them. They seek and receive support for their union from their loved ones. Thus, when I say I write adult content, I mean I write erotica that is gown up.


Fun Stuff

Not that I have any time for shenanigans, but these sites are really fun. You can view some really crazy old movie trailers here. And if you have a hankering for old newsreels check out this link. The whole website is filled with amazing books, films and audio collections. There are whole feature films available for download. If you’ve never seen Frank Sinatra play a treasonous killer, you should see Suddenly. And if you want to see the first film about Nazi hunters, you must see Orson Wells amazing performance in The Stranger. Both are free here.

Fundraiser for WGA Strike

There is a great fundraiser in the works for those effected by the strike. It inexpensive and easy to do by Paypal. You can even win prizes in some cases. The info is available here for the fundraiser in general, but the best prize involves Battlestar Galactica and a towel. Go Here!



Guerillas in the Mist

That’s the title of this week’s CSI: Miami. It involves a machine gun that can vaporize a person. Yikes! Their titles are getting to be quite amusing. Last week’s was CSI: My Nanny. Funny title though the episode was not so much. I have a feeling I’ll be ranting next week.

No caption contest this week. I really need to finish baking.

LA Style, Mr. Whipple and Caption Contest

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.


‘Tis the Season, LA Style

Happy Hanukah, y’all! The festival begins before my next blog. The weather is feeling more like the holiday season. My favorite weather quote this week was from the Malibu Fire Battalion Chief. ‘we’ve moved out the fire brigades and moved in the swift water rescue teams.’ It’s December in LA once more. For Jon and I, it’s been nice to have gray skies and even pouring rain. I’ve been wearing my winter coat more than since I received it last Christmas. It’s a great change of pace, and I hope it holds up. There is nothing stranger than shopping for a Christmas tree in 80 degree weather.

Procurement – LA Style

I got a call this week from our friend and medical consultant Lucy Doty. She need a connection for hospital bassinets in Vancouver, BC for a commercial shoot occurring on Wednesday. I gave her a number to a set dresser up there whom, I was sure, knew where to get one or knew someone else who knew. I didn’t think much of it until a co-worker heard me talking about it later that day. “You KNEW someone who had that?” I guess I take it for granted. That kind of call happens a lot. And in the time we’ve been making films or trying to make films, we’ve searched for a coffin, a free-standing elevator and a automotronic cow, and we found them all. They were all too expensive for the film, but you keep the contacts. And those contacts always have contacts. Right now, I am having trouble finding an old-fashioned wooden rain barrel without renting a whole western set. It’s been a bigger problem than I thought, but I’ve got people working on it. However, I'm always open for suggestions. I've also been trying to find a laundramat for a location in LA that will be free or close to free, if anyone has ideas.

Ode to Mr. Whipple

Veteran character actor, Dick Wilson, died recently. He is best known as Mr. Whipple , spokes-character for Charmin bathroom tissue. In tribute to the actor and the man, my friend Craig told a little known story of heroism from this TV icon. Sometime in the mid '90s, Craig was walking along the beach in Pacific Palisades when he heard a woman screaming that she was being stabbed. Craig ran up a flight of steps to a house that didn’t have security gates for help. He knew he had to act fast, but froze in his tracks. ‘There was a woman screaming, and I’m staring at Mr. Whipple with my mouth hanging open. I mean, it was Mr. Whipple. I tell hip to call 911 and to give me a flashlight and a bat. He said, ‘I’ll give you the flashlight, but I can’t give you a bat. Meanwhile, a surfer- kid is behind him, I assume it was a grandson, mouthing that he’ll get me a bat. When Whipple went for the flashlight, the kid ran to a beat up van and pulled out the bat. I hid that from Whipple when he gave me the flashlight.’ Craig then rushed down the steps to a guy out of the bushes by putting the light on him and the woman and pretending to be a cop. The woman was bleeding and naked and wanted to hug Craig, but he made her stay in the bushes. During that encounter, the man made a move at Craig, making use of the bat necessary. The cops were coming by then, so Craig marched the guy up the steps where they were both taken into custody. Craig was released when Mr. Whipple and the woman verified his story. The last thing Whipple said was ‘Where did you get that bat?’ The surfer kid was behind him giving Craig the thumbs up. Though a nice tribute to Mr. Whipple, it is not the strangest thing Craig has found on the beach. In fact, we chose him as the hiker who finds a body in Demon Under Glass because he’s found bodies or pieces of a body in one instance while hiking before.

Writing Updates

My various writings are moving along. It seems we have to do some development on both film and some TV stuff. Its re-writing existing material for new representation. That’s going to be time consuming, but we will have time off toward the end of the month. I plan to clear out a lot of old business then. And I plan some surprise postings for my long time fans. After that, I will – hopefully – have more time for my fiction.

Caption Contest

The best response this week was: "I saw this same act last year. Funny thing is, he had a female assistant then. I wonder what happened to her?"

New contest next week.