Countdowns, Redeemable Characters and More Countdowns

The date for chemo has been set. I talk about that below. First, I have updates on Craig's garden. The ladybugs have never returned. The skunk is still skulking about, but that hasn't mattered because none of his plants have born produce. I think it hasn't been consistently hot enough for the corn. I'm not sure what his tomato problem is though I suspect that because of his proximity to the beach, there hasn't been enough sunshine. The weather here has been really weird this summer. I wanted to ask him about other things in his life, but he started ranting about Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome [it's a long story that won't make any sense unless you were these for the event in question] and I couldn't talk for laughing.

Treatment Countdown

I've got a long list of things I need to cook and freeze in the next three weeks, because that is when I begin chemo. I've been a very good patient about not looking up the side effects online. I drive Jon crazy enough as it is. However, I have been officially told by the newly minted and cute as a button Oncology Resident last week that the fatigue will knock me on my butt. That, among other things that may happen, will make cooking a challenge. So, I'm going to stock up while I can as I did before the last surgery. I'm lucky enough to be friends on a few social networks with some of my favorite chefs. Thus, I'm working with a lot of solid advice on how to freeze some really tasty things. I'll be going to the LA Farmer's Market this week for a Year of Fun lunch with an old friend. That is a great place for meats and bones and just about anything for some serious cooking.

I was much relieved to have some time before the treatments begin. I had been concerned that they would start as early as this week, and I have a lot of stuff to do. [I'm also relieved that the push wasn't urgent. That means they were truthful that these treatments are just precautionary] Hopefully, I'll be busy enough to not dwell on the treatments. And no fussing at me. My plans do not include a lot in the way of running around the city. For most of my tasks, I'll be doing no more physically than my daily exercise allotments allow. I'm behaving myself, relatively speaking. Many of you know how much a notion like that rankles my sensibilities. The only exception may be some actor wrangling I'll be doing sometime next week. That's always a lot of excitement. And a bit of excitement now and then is good for you, right?

Joe and Simon and Rik and Vincent – Falling from Grace and Other Dark Matters

Warning: Spoiler alerts for some films and TV shows – not ours. Also, strongly held opinions and dissing on other films and some potty language

Jon and I were in a pitch meeting a few months ago ostensibly bickering with one of the key players [Please note, we don't generally argue with people who may give us money for films. This was an unusual situation] over what he called films with a puzzle. Jon and I considered his examples to be mindfucks, pardon my language. These are not the kind of films we like to watch and they are certainly not films I'm interested in making. The two he was most enamored with were Shutter Island and Old Boy. My apologies to those who enjoy that sort of thing, but I find such films highly annoying at best and infuriating at worst. In the case of the former, I never saw it, because I figured out the big secret before it was release. One of the trailers gave away too much. At any rate, it's not the big puzzle itself that bothers me. It's being put through an ordeal with a crappy pay off at the end.

Warning!!! Major Spoilers to all sorts of films!!!

I consider a payoff to be crappy not because it has an unhappy ending, but because it was an unfair ending for the lead character. If it is sufficiently established that a character is doomed from the start and it is clearly shown that there is no hope for the character to escape his or her fate, I can accept what happens – no matter how tragic. For example, James Cole in 12 Monkeys was an extremely dangerous convict. He begins the film as a condemned man. His death in the attempt at doing something noble and selfless is acceptible. It is a better death than he could have hoped for. Okay, you say, he was a literally condemned man. What about a guy who just gets crewed over by life? Can a tragedy that's fair happen to him? Yes, I give you Maximus in Gladiator. For being a loyal servant to the Emperor, his family is killed and he is condemned to die. There is even hope that he may win his freedom in the ring. But for Maximus, the only thing that would be fair is to have his revenge before he dies and joins his wife in paradise. Maximus never fears death. And after his family is destroyed, he embraces it. The only question for the audience is will he find justice and will Lucilla escape a very creepy fate with her crazy-assed brother, Commodus. I was even ready to accept John Anderton being 'boxed' in Minority Report. He was a doomed character whose life was in shreds because of inescapable grief. I was just as happy that wasn't the case.

Why do I bring this up? I've been having discussions with some readers about when it is okay to let a character's fall from grace become a complete tragedy. I've been causing some alarm amongst my readers with my interest in and admiration of the very dark themes in Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) and Ai No Kasubi (The Space Between). I received a near panicked note (I mention with permission) when I wrote about being distracted by The Space Between. 'Do you KNOW what happens to those characters???' it read. The panic was particularly keen as I had just started A Soldier's Destiny. Well, of course, I know what happens to those two men, but I have no interest in following suit with my writing. In fact, I was so perplexed by the ending of that extraordinary series of novels that I'm negotiating an interview with the author to find out why it ended the way it did. I really need to know. But I'm not, as Jon is implying, obsessing about it. At any rate, I prefer to spin tales like some of Hayao Miyazaki's (keeping with the Japanese themes) where the leads are put through great trails and suffering but find a way to prevail. Howl's Moving Castle (Hauru no Ugoku Shiro) is a favorite example. The big tension in his work is How in the hairy heck will they get out of this one? The characters are often transformed at the end, but it is always fair and happy. And as Jon correctly points out, sometimes there are no trails at all. The characters just hang out and groove for a while.

I admit that I am messing with Rik and Vincent big time. They will be tested as individuals and as a couple as never before. And just when you thought you knew everything about them, more secrets are revealed. There are thrills and chills and laughter and tears and lots of white-hot passion between the guys, but I'm certain that no reader will be left with the compulsion to look me up from thousands of miles away to politely but firmly demand answers as to why I put them through THAT kind of hell with THAT kind of payoff???!!! Okay, I'm more than a bit obsessed with finding answers.

Now, about Demon Under Glass and the trails of Joe and Simon. Since the series has no five year episode plan, how Joe ultimately decides his fate or how is fate is decided for him is not relevant for for the web series or future books. And as for Molinar's appearance in A Soldier's Destiny which is set quite a bit into the future, the one thing he refuses to talk about is Joe McKay until Rik and his Foundation make certain guarantees. He implies that there is much to learn regarding the Doctor. I won't go further because of spoilers. Thus, for now, we want the reader and the viewer to enjoy their adventures as they work their way through what we hope is a very long character arc where they are both pushed outside of their comfort zone. The leads are game for whatever we can throw at them. Garett Maggart has made some interesting suggestions of his own (some of those will be in the Demon Under Glass interview).

DraggonTV.com Countdown

And this brings me to The Countdown to the launch of DraggonTV.com a new website that will stream independent shorts and features from all genres. The goal is to give filmmakers a place to safely stream their works at full resolution and complete length in the hopes of attracting distribution. To showcase how the site will look, we're starting with Demon Under Glass and a comedy short, 15%. We'll also be running sample ads like the Demon series promo and a book trailer. If you know any authors looking for fresh, new ad space, let me know. We'll be running a buy one month get one free special. This will kick off the weekend of August 14, 2010.

I'll post a couple of photos from the upcoming photo shoot featuring the three Demon Under Glass lead characters (Joe, Simon and Ethan). I'll save most of them and the best of them for the DraggonTV.com's Demon Under Glass page.

Stay tuned.

Posessiveness Addendum

Sorry, it's been a little nuts here today. Like the cheese for my papusa, some thoughts have been forgotten. In the case of A Soldier's Destiny, the possessiveness physically manifests itself by glaring at anyone giving a nano-second of extra attention to Rik or Vincent. When with each other, there is a lot of slamming against walls, the holding of wrists above the head, grasping of hair, divesting of clothes with enthusiasm. And this really has nothing to do with my distraction with AI NO KUSABI. I'll speak about that when I figure out how I fell about the whole thing. I've been writing this way for a very long time. See Novad.org, if you've forgotten.

Herbs, Chokes and Non-Passive Possessives

I have no news about Craig's farmland adventures with the ladybugs, the skunk and his harvest of corn. I'm hoping for a report this coming week. However, I can report that a quick chat with my father, a veteran urban gardener, solved my problem with the root bound basil plant. A coffee can, of course. I'm such a silly billy over thinking the problem. Now, my plant is happy, and I've made my first batch of basil oil. I have, in fact, almost put my kitchen in order. There are vats of stock chilling and waiting to be reduced. I've made chive butter and a compound herb butter in addition to the basil oil. By the time this posts, I'll have my Hollandaise. I have asparagus to put it on among other things. The therapy has been very helpful, but I have to refrain from having the oven on along with steaming pots during a heatwave. We had on the air conditioner and it was still warm enough in here to melt the butter in the dish on the counter. It took hours for the stocks to get to room temperature last night and longer still for it to be cool enough for me to sleep. That was very silly on my part. But my freezer is nearly stocked again.

Year of Fun – Deb versus the Artichoke

In last year's widely acclaimed blog, Deb vs the Oyster, my readers learned that I finally ended a shameful chapter in my life as a sybarite by having a plate full of raw oysters. Opening them almost involved medical intervention, but overall, I really enjoyed them. I'm desirous of another one soon. At any rate, another shameful secret I held until today is that I've never had an artichoke. It just wasn't anything my family cooked. As an adult, I'd watch people so carefully eating the tender part of the leaves that I worried about what would happen if one was careless. The heart seemed to be a huge effort to find for a very little bit of veg. I wasn't sure it was worth the effort, frankly. And then that danged Gaida DiLaurentiis and David Rocco were making them look so tasty, especially fried in olive oil. Rocco in particular was so deft in the way he whittled down the veg to the heart, that I thought I would take up the challenge. Forty minutes later and only two of the four gigantic things have been whittled enough to fry. They don't look as pretty as they did on TV. In fact, I believe I could hear Giada and David screaming at me as a mutilated the poor things. You see, I was worried about getting too much choke or fibrous stem or leaves. The whole thing scares me, okay. But I did it. The photo indicates one of the whole beasties versus two quarters of a heart. Now, I just have to fry it then see if I'll ever go through that again. There will be a mini blog reporting on who all this worked out.

In other food news, I actually made a papusa! It's filtered into the mainstream enough that the Food Network website had three recipes and a video on how to make them. The dough wasn't very cooperative and I forgot to add the queso Cotija that I managed to find. But it was really yummy and I have plenty of ingredients to make many more. And they freeze! I've been obsessed with papusas since working a temp job years ago that had a lot of Salvadorans on the factory floor. I'd look for them on the menu at every food truck I'd run into here. Two years ago, there were two odd recipes online. Now, there are over a dozen not including the Food Network. It's just bliss to have them for a ready snack.

Possessing Possessives

Food was not the only thing occupying my time this week. There was much in the way of hospital related unpleasantness that I won't get into. The now Kafkaesque bureaucratic nightmare continues with great vigor. I may be forced to make some very difficult choices next week. But there is not much to be gained in talking about that now either.

What has occupied my mind this week have been the possessive nature of characters in both Demon Under Glass and in A Soldier's Destiny. One of the things we wanted to make clear in the promo recorded for Demon Under Glass is that Simon's interest in Joe is more than the business of bringing down the Delphi Project. While that is clear, whether or not the interest is mutual on Joe's part is another matter That has to unfold over time one way or the other. It is quite clear that Joe is well aware of Simon's inclinations toward him. He is also aware that Simon tends to be possessive often in the guise of being protective. The element we're working into the scripts is a very subtle interplay between the two men. Joe must make it clear that he will be allowed to think for himself and act on his own when necessary while not giving Simon any inkling that he is trying to pull away. Meanwhile, Simon must keep Joe close to him to protect him while they work toward their mutual goals and while he works toward his ultimate agenda. There must be a balance between keeping Joe firmly within his grasp but not clutching too tightly. Joe knows what Simon can do, so he is disinclined to frighten or overtly coerce him. It's all very subtle but we have to make sure the audience see this interplay and know what the stakes are. Now, there will be flare ups of rebellion on Joe's part and of determination on Simon's part. Sometimes, the possessiveness seeps through when they are in an extreme situations. But Simon must never lose control, or he risks an escalation which will not get him a willing companion. It will be a challenge born mostly by the actors.

On a less tantalizing note, We are scheduling a formal photos shoot for reference photos the promo requires and for advanced publicity. It should happen in two weeks.

Back to the matter at hand, possessiveness is a big theme in A Soldier's Destiny. As more and more demands are made on Rik and Vincent, they tighten their hold on each other. It is apparent to anyone with a brain that trying to pry them apart would not only be futile but dangerous. This is a mutually obsessive/possessive relationship that works for the pair. Is it healthy, probably not for normals, but it's what they require to function. It's also really hot with all that claiming and reclaiming and dominating and submitting going on everywhere. Of course there are those who chance to observe some of their behavior and misinterpret it. That is that either man is prone to submit to someone stronger or someone who has been given an edge. The mayhem that ensues from those assaults puts everything Rik and Vincent have worked for in extreme jeopardy. I'm having a lot of fun with this.

Stay tuned.

Herbs, Sneak Previews and Stock Investing

Randomness
I started walking for exercise in earnest on Thursday. It's part of the getting as fit as possible before chemo. I usually need a destination, so I went to the library. On the way I nearly adopted six kittens. They were all so cute frolicking together in the pet store window. Then, I remembered that look Jon gives me when I say or do something really nuts. I did buy a basil plant having realized that I do have enough room on the one windowsill that gets light for a small, potted plant. But that cost less than two dollars (cheaper than the pre-packaged herbs they were selling at the same store) and didn't need a litter box, so I didn't think Jon would mind.

I suppose I really should find out why a dude in full SCUBA gear is at the bottom of the pool. But then, the explanation may give me a headache. And I have other fish to fry.

Taking Stock

Anthony Bourdain is yelling at me again. I've been reading his first memoir, Kitchen Confidential in anticipation of reading his second one, Medium Raw. Kitchen Confidential is a fascinating book for numerous reasons, but it also find time amidst tirades to give a lot of tips on how to cook really well. Bourdain has tersely reminded me that I am woefully lacking in a key ingredient for good cooking – stocks. My freezer is, indeed, bereft of stocks. I have about a quart of chicken stock from the whole birds I dismembered last week. That will be gone by tonight. I really miss the results I get cooking with it. Now that I'm able to make it once more, I'll have to make a lot this week. I may even make demi-glace of both chicken and beef. And no, I haven't made the Hollandaise or had that fool proof poached egg yet this week, but I have had some very fluffy scrambled eggs. I've been lining up the recipes I want to make prior to chemo so that we'll have meals ready to heat up if I'm not up to cooking. It's quite a list, but then, my freezer is almost empty. Meanwhile, Bourdain is currently yelling at me about the quality of my chef's knife and my sauté pans, but there isn't much I can do about that right now.

Cutting Comments

I have been editing the two promos that will be running with Demon Under Glass when it goes online next month. There are two reasons that I'm dong it. Jon is almost at the end of Blood Oath and I don't want to interrupt that again. It's been forever and a day since we shot it. Second, I've had a lot of trouble articulating exactly what I wanted to Jon. That's why I basically directed the recording. Thus, instead of leaning over his shoulder and trying to hear in his headphones, I'm having a whack at it myself. I've done a couple of book trailers and two teaser trailers, so I'm familiar with digital editing software. Jon uses something a lot more complex than Microsoft Movie Maker (which made me absolutely crazy), but it's actually easier to use. I managed to get 12 minutes worth of footage down to just about three minutes of takes that I want to use. My goal tonight is to get the two pieces down a rough cut so I can think about the images. These are voice over recordings not live action scenes, so this is far easier that it would typically be. Sorry, but I won't be putting up any more teases. There is too much I would be giving away. There will be lots of advanced warning debut date.

Demon vs Solders

The story I posted last week prompted a sudden rush of creativity. I had no sooner posted the story when I had a scene in my head for the next Soldier's book. I had been having trouble thinking through that part of the book. Suddenly, it was there. Here is the excerpt. No worries of spoilers, there is a lot of detail left out.

“I know why you sought the Foundation's help, Vampire,” Rik heard Ellie whisper. He had never heard her voice take such a vicious, urgent tone. “The world is now too small for you to be safe. Too many private, powerful entities know about Delphi's research, right?”

“Yes,” came the soft reply. “I haven't resources to hide anymore. The Foundation does.”

“Then know what I am here for and listen well,” Ellie hissed. “If they do not succeed, my husband will follow to get this information. I will not risk him or his family. The last time Rik and Vincent faced a situation like this, they were so badly burned, no one knew if they would recover. The best of Delphi research made them physically well, but it was months before they were as they had been. My husband suffered painfully every day that they were not whole. I will NOT let him suffer that way again. You will protect me, and I will use what the Foundation sent to protect them while they get our asses out of here.”

“The Foundation sent the where with all to escape?”

“No, Rik and Vincent are our escape,” Ellie said bluntly. “What I was sent with will give them the time they need to make sure we get out. To do what I need to do...”

“I must protect you,” Simon enjoined. “How is it that you can protect them? They are living weapons. They are...extraordinary – even by my definition – in what they can do.”

“The Foundation's existence is about protecting them,” Ellie replied in an amused voice. “A staggering amount of resources are devoted to Rik and Vincent's survival...and now yours.”

There was a brief silence. “It is as you say. Moreover, those in possession of Delphi's legacy have become aware of my existence. Their resources outpace even mine. There is no where left for me to hide save for with my kin. I need them and their Foundation. I will do what you need me to do.”

“Okay then. First, put this on.”

“I hardly think...”

“Are you bullet proof, Vampire?” Ellie snapped quietly. “Do you know what an bio-EM pulse will do to your body chemistry?”

“Er...no...”

“Put it on.”

Rik heard fabric rustling. He knew then that he could sleep. Ellie didn't need protection from Molinar. The Vampire understood that his safety was inextricably tied to theirs. Carefully, he pulled his exhausted lover against his body. Vincent had finally settled into sleep after hours of worry. What Brigadier General Zumwald and the evil Lieutenant Remak trained Ellie to use, he didn't know. But he was certain it would be enough for him and Vincent to act with enough force to get them safely away from their pursuers.

With that, I figured out the back end of the book I'm not fleshing it out in my head, but I'll likely start writing it very soon. This has been a huge relief as I hadn't really written any fiction since before the surgery. There is a lot that is still not right in my world, but it looks a heck of a lot better when I can create.

There will be a lot happening with photo shoots for the promo and development of the series in the next few weeks.

Stay tuned.

The Saga of The Saga of the Saga

I used to be so much faster writing this sort of thing. Still, not bad from concept to execution. I may have finished Sunday, but for Jon commandeering my PC and while still using his. And then there are the sudden lapses into sleep I'm still prone to since the last surgery. I was writing away in the home stretch early in the evening Sunday when one hit. I woke up at 3am too fuzzy for a coherent thought. And I had to go to the hospital the next day for tests. but enough of that.

Some of the quotes are close paraphrases from the Twilight novels. I've never read them, but when I was a bookseller, I thumbed and skimmed anything that had a following so I could render good customer service. Thus, I was aware of the stories and the...interesting take on the lore and on dialogue. Joe and Simon had a blast butchering it.

I did the format to make sure my Maw-in-Law can read it if she is inclined. Here's the link:

http://dragoncor.com/Demonsaga.htm

This will be an episode in the series we're developing. The script will be a bit longer and that dialogue will be fun when heard out loud.

Enjoy!

Of Eggs, Pole Dancing and other Therapy

It's a good thing that I like eggs. I foresee many of them in my future. In the last couple of weeks, four of the cooking shows that I watch have featured egg dishes. In two of them, homemade English muffins were made. Until that point, I'd never really considered making my own. Jon, Lord of all things made of bread, caught one of the English muffin shows. He wants us to give it a try. As of this afternoon, I'll have seen three versions of 'foolproof' poached eggs. I'm still not sure about that. I've been a pretty big fool where poached eggs are concerned. We'll soon see. I've also been jonesing for Hollandaise sauce again. I'd forgotten until today that it can be spread on asparagus. That's healthy, right? In fact, I had been told to try to eat two of them a day to make sure I got some protein in my diet after the first surgery. I still can't quite manage that. But one poached egg and some Hollandaise could count as two eggs. That's how I'm counting it at any rate.

But eggs aren't Independence Day fare unless they are hard boiled and in potato salad. But I'm a bit potato saladed out – maybe. Potato salad tastes great with the barbecued chicken I'm planning for tomorrow. We'll probably have frite
s with the burgers today. And there will be apple pie. I realized today that since apples aren't in season, the all American apple pie is danged expensive for the 4^th of July.

The new cooking channel and the use of my older cookbooks as set dressing has resulted in a whole lot of new cooking plans. I have a tendency to read and use a cookbook for a while and then shelf it indefinitely. This was especially true when I was less proficient as a cook. Pulling out those older, more difficult books was a revelation. I realized that I could handle a lot of those recipes with much more ease now. So, I started reading them again. I have to figure out which recipes fit into this season.

All of this cooking frenzy is, in part, to make up for lost time over the past several weeks. The Cooking Channel is another reason for the renewed enthusiasm for my favorite therapy. I've also had a pretty crappy week. The bureaucratic nightmares continue though I may have finally stumbled upon the right avenue out of the mess. It's now a matter of staying afloat while the problems are resolved. No, I don't need the extra stress, but that's what the cooking is for. I could also do with a chat with Craig. News of the garden wars always lightens my mood for a time.

Demon Doings

We're still on track with the development of the Demon Under Glass series. The online release of the film and the new trailers is set for August 1^st. Worry not. There will be a loud countdown and perhaps a small party. The fans that have recently come into our midst have provided a lot of grist for the mill creatively. That and the writing of a writers' guide sparked some notions in my brain a couple of weeks ago. Just the other day, I started writing. This probably doesn't sound like that big a deal from a professed writer, but it was to me. I hadn't been writing anything other than this blog for quite a number of weeks. And while I get a great deal of satisfaction from writing the blog, not writing fiction was making me more than a little buggy. Everyone around me is far happier when I'm writing. This particular piece is prose, but it will be a script for the web series. T

hus I'm putting Simon and Joe into a situation that will let the actors have some fun with the characters. Along the way, it seems that the Twilight Saga was fairly well savaged. Simon really doesn't like that saga at all, and Joe is profoundly annoyed at being exposed to it. That aside, the story is a lot about how the pair are negotiating boundaries. I'm hoping that the reader/viewer will get the sense that something special was interrupted by some very creative Delphi related mayhem. Simon has not achieved any of his long term goals where Joe is concerned, but he has achieved a comfortable intimacy in a relatively short period of time. There are even moments where all that's happening is a brief dispute over how Joe does his laundry. The mayhem is merely a frame for their interactions though I'm having a lot of fun with it. I'll be posting the story online at this link: http://dragoncor.com/Demonsaga.htm later today

Mind, reading this will definitely spoil the episode(s) somewhat. There will be chan ged between this story and the script and between this story and what will go into the next collection. I wrote this on a tear in a very short period of time.

On Pole Dancing

I must admit that Jon and I have chanced to see the occasional pole dance. Well, we've seen enough to know the ones in California are largely lame. At any rate, we really appreciate the athleticism of this sort of...er...performance. But this past Tuesday, I came to have an even greater appreciation for it. We were shooting the second part of that fitness pilot for Dr, Paul Drew on Tuesday. Jon was shooting. I was mostly sitting and documenting. Part of the day w as spent at Isabella's Salsa Studio in downtown Santa Monica. We did various segments of fitness and posture. On a side note, I have lovely posture. That's not really a surprise. I'm a woman of a certain age who attended Catholic schools. It's part of the programming. Where was I? Yes, fitness. All of the segments are aimed at giving women the building blocks to become red carpet glamorous. And since exercising can get boring, there are a number of different types of fitness segments in the show. One is pole dancing for fitness. Isabelle led one of Dr. Paul's clients through a basic routine. Paulina is in fantastic shape but five minutes on the pole really did a number on her. At the end of the second take, I knew that there could be no more without her risking injury. Pulling one's entire body weight off the floor then contorting around the pole to end in a split is not anywhere near easy. Heck, just the walking around the thing and squatting and moving from weight on one leg to another while still keeping time to the music and looking sexy. Too much for me right now. Probably too much for me ever. I've yet to take on the Bollywood dance work out though I think that I will soon in my ramp up to chemo. Still, most of the crew, including Jon and me, found the pull of the pole irresistible. So, there we all were. And we were all sober! I'll get into detail about the nature of the show and the behind the scenes on the entire shoot when I have some clips to run – probably next month. But I must say that we really enjoyed working with that crew. It was the first time we've worked with Sunshine since Demon Under Glass. She was good then. She's phenomenal now. Somehow, she can take a bolt of cloth and a few twigs and make a gorgeous, warm room out of a blank warehouse space. We also had Cat Elrod from Blood Oath. She super professional but so much fun to have on a set. And she'll pitch in anywhere. We were very fortunate hat she was available. And then there was Dutch, the most gigantically tall sound man I've ever run across. Again, he was very professional and lots of fun to have on the set. He's super laid back – the kind of crew guy I really like to work around. It was such a nice mesh of folks that even the more stressful moments weren't that bad. Needless to say, I'm calling on them for the next shoot.

I'm off to finish that story and the apple pie and the barbecue chicken. You get the idea. I'll put up food pics later.

Stay Tuned!

Chemo, Scirpts and the Tao of Deb

It's been a yin and yang kind of week. On the one hand, I have to have regular chemo after all. Nothing new has been diagnosed. This is purely precautionary. It's just a little daunting. On the other hand, some wonderful things have been happening with pitches. We have a very promising meeting for a gig that would mean a great deal to our careers and out bottom line this week. Naturally, I can't say anything about it. This bit of good news helped mitigate the other news and reminded me that I can't let myself be daunted for too long. I can't afford to be daunted for many reasons – financially, emotionally and physically. And this opportunity offers much of what I had hoped for with our screenplay writing. So with the yin and the yang in my life of late, please think good thoughts.

I had hoped to do a full blog. Aside from the various life altering news, we started shooting that fitness pilot. Oh, the stories we have to tell. But aside from the fact that she shoot is not over (we have another day on Tuesday), I am exhausted on a lot of levels. I'll have a lot more news next week including the progress on the promotional trailer editing.

Stay tuned.

What's Cooking on a Tuesday Night

I didn't have the best of days today. I won't know how bad it was until tomorrow. However, I did have some tenderloin, some Vidalia onions, some big ol' potatoes and some excellent aged balsamic vinegar from F.Oliver's. the result is an amazing dish by David Rocco that I discovered on the new Cooking Channel. It was delicious. Here's the link: http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/beef-tenderloins-con-balsamico-recipe/index.html

I learned the frites technique last night on the Cooking channel's Unique Eats. I par boiled the cut fries for five minutes, drained and cooled them on paper towels then deep friend them until crispy. Jon and I ate them with two fists until they were gone. Ah, food therapy. It's much better than punching.

Turkey, Therapy, Demons and Serious Matters

I continue being contrary in my appetites this week. There were huge shrimp on sale this week along with all sorts of steaks – presumably for Father's Day. There were even some nice, firm fleshed fish on sale. All items aimed at grilling, I'm sure. What do I crave for Sunday dinner? Turkey! Thus, I splurged on a turkey breasts and some wings. Jon wondered if I was creating a Franken-Turkey. No, not at all. I need the wings to make some stock for the gravy and the dressing. Jon's a silly billy. Mind, I did buy the shrimp and the steak as well. The sale was too good and those shrimp were enormous. I have plans for them as well. So the apartment is filled with the scent of roasting turkey and Herbs de Provence. I managed to get everything in the oven before 8am. I was pretty pleased with myself until I noticed Alex Guarnascelli making butter from scratch. Jon noticed as well. I wish I'd noticed before we ate the pancakes. Ah well. That will be for next week's breakfast. The recipe even yields enough buttermilk for another recipe. Sweet!

It may seem that I am very industrious, but this week has not gone well as far as clearing the pile of work off my plate. I was thrown off by an ongoing bureaucratic nightmare that managed to get more frustrating in the last several days. I am an infamous worrier, so this hasn't helped my focus or my sleeping habits at all. And in this state of mind, it would have been unwise to tackle that film editing program I've never used. I can't afford the new PC I'd need after I got really frustrated. I didn't manage any writing until late in the week. Some of that is the worrying. Some of that was the latest rejection slip (more on that later). Some of it was physical – no doubt a side effect of worrying. Surprisingly, I'm not worrying about the pilot we're shooting next week. I've been delegating 90 percent of that and it's a far simpler shoot that we typically attempt. At least, that's how it looks on paper. Still, I'm refusing to worry about it.

I'm certain that I need some serious cooking therapy to get things off my mind that shouldn't be churning up in there, but it's been difficult with my slim energy reserves. My goal this week is to get more activity into my day. Perhaps by the end of next week I'll be slicing and dicing more routinely. I now have two food channels to provide inspiration. I've even organized all of the recipes that I've saved from my favorite shows into folders by subject. That file had gotten out of hand. Still, it wasn't as crazy as when I would print them out. That pile was at five to six inches thick and never in any particular order. It was crazy, and it drove the Hubs nuts.

I'm actually whipping something up now. The turkey breast is resting on the counter. So, I've put the shrimp, some thin asparagus and some Vidalia onions on a baking tray covered lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper. I'm going to make a salad with a champagne vinegar vinaigrette dressing. Surprisingly, I was able to get a photos of this dish. I do try to get photos for the blog, but often I'm eating while I'm plating. That which remains is not very pretty. This is really yummy.

Serious Writing

I look upon that term with great derision. I doubt that the even the worst writers that ever lived were writing for giggles. I put a lot of work into this blog when it's not something I plan to have appear anywhere but the internet. I sweat the details in all of my fiction. Yet somehow, I let the seriousness of the topic cause me to treat the memoir differently than my other work. The first time it happened, I was blocked from finishing the first chapter for months. This time, I've been hamstrung from even starting the second chapter waiting for responses from the journals that have the first one. I've had three rejections thus far, but two were personal notes which meant a lot. At some point after the second personal note, I was talking to my brother about family holidays of yore. He asked why I haven't been working on the memoir. Then, I heard my Mom yelling at me to just tell the story and stop worrying about the rest. She gave me the same advice when I got all frozen writing my thesis novel. I realized that I was being an idiot again. It's hard enough getting the writing out on a page without letting all of this other baggage get in the way.

Embracing the Demon

Strangely, it was not the memoir that I opted to work on when I finally started writing this week. I opted to clear something major off my plate and lob it down the pipeline. We were going to do something completely new for the Demon Under Glass series now in development that would be augmented with flashbacks to get viewers up to speed. However, to explain who a number of characters were and their relationship to Joe McKay or Simon Molinar and hadn't been in the first film was proving to be difficult. These relationships were crucial in explaining why Joe would end up on the run with a being who was terrifying him at the end of the film. We have to show the extreme personal betrayal that Joe suffered through that pushed him to the point where Simon became his only option for survival. Thus, my writing life got a little easier. I had lumbered through a first draft script of the second half of the novelization long ago. Unfortunately, it didn't have a number of scenes that ended up in the book. And the script has a number of things that aren't in the book.

So I had windows open for the current script, the original film script and the book building a hybrid over the last couple of days. It helped to have the performances from the film as a baseline. That made it easy to pick and shape the added dialogue to fit the new script. Despite the dangerous edge in Simon and the horrible things he does in this script, I have to show clearly that he is someone that Joe can live with under the right circumstances. And despite our viewers' knowledge of the film and the fiction, it has to be clear that there is a lot more to learn about the vampire. In fact, I found an outright statement by Simon where he says that Joe, and the FBI and Delphi only know what he told them about himself. And he makes it clear to Joe later that he may not tell him whether or not something is true. But Joe is also capable of profound surprises. Simon's behavior and Joe's must be different and unexpected to keep from being caught. All of this has to be put in the existing script and make sure that it makes sense with what was already written. I think it does though I won't know for sure until I look it over in a few days. I meed some distance before I attempt to read it again.

Once this is done to my satisfaction, I may be ready to take on some other writing. It's sort of a creative warm up for the fiction or the memoir. Oh, I know I still have video editing ahead of me this week, but that's more mechanical than creative for me at this stage.

I must be off to finish making Sunday dinner then get back to work.

Stay tuned.

Ladybugs, Summer Eats and Updates

The skunk lives on in Craig's Corleone garden. Despite the continued thievery, the tomatoes have been planted. Craig is forbidden from dispatching the critter because all of the ladies in his complex deem it cute. Meanwhile, he's missing the 1,000 ladybugs he released into the garden last week. The skunk is not the suspect though. Craig believes it's Murphy the Crow and his murder. Craig rescued the bird when it was young and now regrets it. No word on whether or not he'll replace the ladybugs.

Some of these critters don't seem to go for tomatoes. I know that the squirrels and gophers didn't in my Dad's garden. I'm rooting for the tomatoes. When they come in right, they come in like crazy. I'm hoping to make some fresh marinara. I've picked up a bunch of new pizza and pasta from David Rocco on the brand new Cooking Channel. Of course, I won't wait until the harvest to try these new dishes. The local farmer's market is full of really beautiful tomatoes. None of them are Jersey tomatoes, but I'm sure the sauces will be lovely. I can always roast the tomatoes first if they are not to my liking even if it's a bit warm to have the oven blazing.

Seasonal Eats

It's funny about summer and cooking for me. Most of the food shows are talking about getting outside and grilling or making things that don't need an oven. Everything is geared towards the super light foods because of the heat. I remember adhering to that in my cooking and eating habits when I lived in Philadelphia. But save for odd years like this one, it's hot in the middle of winter here. So if I want to have a pot pie in February when it's 80 degrees in the shade here, I have one. Likewise, If I want hot noodle soup in August, it's the same thing. That's a round about way of saying that I'm making a pot roast today. I am having a cold starch as my obsession with potato salad continues. I think I've finally achieved the right balance of ingredients.

Updates

Last week was odd, because I'm still under the take it easy edict; however, I'm now being encouraged to have more activity. Thus, I'm letting my body be my guide. I do what I can until I get a bit tired then I stop. The good news is that I've been able to do a little more each day without a setback. This week is relatively free of appointments. My plan is to finish the rough edit on the interviews and the promos we shot a couple of weeks ago while finalizing the details on the fitness pilot we're helping to produce. No, we aren't changing the focus of the production company. This is just a solid for our partner Ralph Lliteras and a very cool client of his, Dr. Paul Drew. It's also a good things to exercise that producing skill set on a relatively simple shoot. We haven't shot anything in over a year. It's easy to get rusty, so any practice is welcome. We have a few more Demon Under Glass interviews to complete. Strangely, it's all the production team. I've held off on those as I wanted to hear what the actors would focus on in their answers. That and I wanted to look at other behind the scenes interviews of directors and producers. I've been particularly interested in how they pull off talking about the things that went awry without sounding bitter. Not that I'm bitter about anything...not really. It's just that some of the travails that befell our production don't make for amusing stories to my own ears. A few people I've relayed these tales to have laughed their asses off over them. Maybe it's my delivery. I may have to test run them before the interviews from us go live.

I must interrupt myself to say that it is always a thrill to hear my characters come to life. Often when I've done casting, I have closed my eyes to listen to the performance to see if I can hear the character truly speaking to me. I've had the thrill of hearing two great versions of Rik Heron and Vincent Greven in A Soldier's Choice, but I've now heard a wonderful version of Nikulainen and Sarianna from The Gift of Surrender. Matty Ferrrao does a wonderful job with Vincent, but he also did a lovely job with Nikulainen. I could listen to him for hours. It was also fabulous to hear Joe McKay from Demon Under Glass come to life once again. And then there is the intriguing twist on hearing the vampire, Simon Molinar this time. The tones were dulcet and provocative, but a bit different. My thanks again to Owen Szabo.

I've been reviewing a lot of Demon Under Glass stuff of late. That's been a necessity because of the series development and the sequel to Soldier's Fate. We've finally written a Writer's Guide for Demon Under Glass for the fiction and the scripts. We wrote a first version. It's already apparent that I'll have to teak some things. I've has a really interesting experience talking and sometimes debating the finer points of our writing with the fans and authors of the fiction. I generally refrain from participating in these discussions. As far as the fiction based on the film or the novel, I stay out of the fray because I don't want to put a damper on the ideas. We have very few rules for the fiction, I tend to only answer questions that I'm asked directly. I'm very jazzed that something we created has inspired so much consideration and discussion. However, the scripts are another matter. The plots and the rendering of the characters has to match what we consider canon. Thus, we have to really put our foot down on what we'll accept. The guide isn't meant to hamper ideas, but to prevent a writer from spending a lot of time or energy creating something that we can't film. It was also good to finally put this all in writing. As I finished, I was able to construct a character profile list for when we do the casting for this thing. And I was actually writing something other than the blog. I've been constructing a lot of fiction in my head, but none of it was making its way through a keyboard. The writer's guide isn't fiction, but it got me to write on a day other than Sunday. Now, I just have to find that 'one true sentence' ¹ in any of the things running around my brain and I'm off to the races. I'm getting close with a couple of the novels. Now that I'm feeling better for longer in the day, I expect to get a whole lot of work done.

Stay Tuned!

1Earnest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast (New York, Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, 1964) p. 12.

Quiet Pursuits

This will be a shorter blog as I've been compelled to slow down and focus on recuperating for a while. Although it snowed it the mountains during my family's visit just last week, spring has sprung in Southern California and the food has been just amazing. Jon and I have been just gorging ourselves on fresh, sweet corn. And now, local cherries are in the market. They are so sweet and juicy. I even have a gadget that pits four of them at once! I love fresh spring and summer fruit more than I love candy. And I can eat as much fruit as I can stand. This all sounds sickeningly healthy, but fear not! Warmer weather and fresh fruit also make me think of some decidedly unhealthy things. And I've been aided and abetted in these thoughts by an extraordinary occurrence.

There's a new food network on cable!!! The Cooking Channel debuted on Memorial Day. Granted, it is a spin off of the Food Network, but it has a lot of stuff I haven't seen before and some favorites that I haven't seen in a long time. I almost busted a stitch during on episode of The Galloping Gourmet in which the dish actually went wrong. I have seen him set fire to his set before (he used to drink quite a bit of wine while cooking), but I've never seen one actually fail. It was fascinating. Meanwhile, Julia Child is doing a buffet for 19 people and making her own puff pastry (not in the same show). And there are new chefs for me to enjoy. All of this new inspiration has had an impact. A few of the shows were making fried chicken. On one show, an early episode of Tyler's Ultimate (there's also a cookbook) in which these elderly and well seasoned cooks at an Inn in Cape May, New Jersey flavored their cooking oil with onions and fresh herbs. I'm using a similar strategy with flavoring the buttermilk I marinade the chicken. And If I'm having fried chicken, I must have potato salad. In this case, I'm trying something I just saw today on Alex's Day Off. Chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli (who writes the most sensual descriptions of food I've ever seen) bakes her potatoes for the salad.

The cupcakes from last week tasted really good. I overfilled the cups, thus they were a might strange looking, but boy did they taste amazing. I think they were all gone by Wednesday. We did share a few of them with Craig, but the bulk of them were eaten by Jon and me. Shameful! In my defense, I did eat a lot of fruit last week and certainly will today. Jon remains unrepentant. I meant to get photos even though they were mutants, but we laid into them so fast. And then, they were gone. We're pushing back the attempt at raisin bread. I've been more or less coach-ridden most of the week. My energy isn't lasting long enough this weekend to do more than cook meals. And that's been with a lost of rest breaks. I've really been wanting to whip up an new batch of stocks, but I haven't been able to go out and shop yet. Maybe next week I'll be able to do both. I'm chafing to get to the newly discovered Mar Vista Farmer's Market, but that may be a ways off. I have to behave myself. Aside from the exhaustion, everyone I know has been yelling at me about moving too fast. I think they've even been checking up on me. I get calls from people at odd times making sure I'm home and not doing anything. Some of my actors have even been calling.

I've been behaving. It doesn't take much physical exertion to edit the promotional clips for the re-release of Demon Under Glass. It's more mental torture. Jon has me using something more advanced than Movie Maker. It has a screen that reminds me of an airline cockpit. There's a lot going on, in other words. Luckily, I'm only doing the first pass at editing. Jon gets the sweat out the fine details. He likes doing that. I'm not sure how I'll do wading through the various takes to get the performance I want. I may enjoy it, or there may be a smoldering crater where my PC sat. I can't give too much in the way of insights into what we're up to. Everything I could say is a spoiler of sorts. Be patient.

I have been doing some work on the various fiction projects piled up around my work area. And working on them has brought up some interesting things about the craft of writing. But my energy wanes now that the chicken is friend and the potato salad is chilling. I think I should get a nap. Then, more cherries.

Stay tuned.

Skunks, Funk, and Wee Willie Influences

Craig is having a battle with a skunk. It's after his corn and sunflowers. It seems that he must take a stand before planting the tomatoes. I hadn't realize that Craig had become Oliver Douglas. I suppose that tilling the land was a wonderfully benign hobby considering the mayhem he could be enjoying. However, I couldn't condone his plans for the ravenous skunk. Craig's lovely girlfriend wouldn't let him dispatch the one legged cricket. There was no way he would be allowed to take out a fur bearin' critter. My Father has extensive experience with gardening. I know he had run ins with gophers. I plan to consult him on the matter before Craig does something rash. Despite the critter problem, I have garden envy. All of this cooking has made me want to grow my own herbs at least. But even that is out of the question. Aside from being tiny, our abode is not much for natural light. We have no plants because of that. It's sad. And the courtyard is off limits to anything but passing through and swimming. But then, if I were gardening, I'd have to be weeding. I'm not in shape for that. I will update on the skunk war as information becomes available.

Summer Eats

As to what's cooking? Alas, there is not a lot going on right now. My energy level is still not what it was before the last surgery. And my appetite is still off most of the time. It actually took me a week to get through the Tastykakes and Federal soft pretzels my Brother and Sister-in-law brought along when they visited. Typically, I finish such delights in embarrassingly short order. I did manage to make a small bowl of potato salad to go with the oven barbecue I'm planning for today into tomorrow. I so enjoy food roasted over charcoal, but wrangling that grill is just not happening any time soon. I've read some good tips on making everything in the oven, and Dad gave me a few more. I'm thinking some chicken and ribs will work nicely. I'm even thinking of making my own barbecue sauce. And we have fresh corn locally grown – really! I have a selection of fresh melons sliced up as an appetizer. We're pretty well set. I had hoped to go to the movies over the holiday, but I don't think I'm up to that quite yet. I need to be able to recline and I never know when that need will arise. That's another reason why oven grilling works better for me right now. And both meats survive well in the leftover phase. I have more ambitious cooking/baking in the planning stages. If I have enough energy, there is a cake I really want to make in cupcake form. It's a cinnamon swirl pound cake with a coffee cake streusel topping that's also swirled throughout. I had something similar from a joint called the Corner Bakery . The recipe in The Cake Book was the closest I've run across to the ingredients – at least I think it does. I'll certainly let you know.

Lithuanian Funk

I saw this photo on Yahoo News and realized that aside from the Cannes Film Market, the time had come once again for the Eruovision Song Contest. Jon and I were fascinated by that the last time we were in Europe. In fact, watching the show almost made us miss our cab to a film premier. This group claimed to be representing Eastern European funk. I was doubtful. The transplant of Rap to Europe generally makes me sad. Some of it is probably good. I'm sad that it emigrated at all. I'm for contracting of the form not expansion. Funk is not easy to achieve. It seems even more difficult in disturbingly brief sequined shorts. But I'm game for exposure to any sort of musical funk. Inculto (check out the video of them competing) had a surprising sense of humor about their music and, I must admit, it was fairly funky. I'm not sure what George Clinton would make of them, but I felt they represented Lithuania very well. I'm not sure why they didn't win. I would have enjoyed seeing the competition. I like peeking into the pop culture of other countries. I get my fix on the internet where I can, but there is nothing like turning on the TV in a hotel room to a random channel and thinking 'what in the world?' Jon and I are feeling especially vexed and gypped to not get to see Law and Order: UK. It's a rare opportunity to directly compare the differences in crime dramas. The plots are taken directly from scripts early in the show's run in the US. We saw clips on Youtube and – geeks that we are – recognized the cases, but not how they were being handled. Alas, the deal for HULU UK fell through, so we don't know when we'll get the chance. But I digress. My hats off to you, Inculto, keep up the Funk. Though you didn't win, I hope we see more of you here.

Wee Willie Remembered

Speaking of local programming, I was saddened to learn that a giant in Philadelphia local TV, particularly to kids, had passed away. Bill Webber aka Wee Willie Webber hosted weekday afternoon cartoons on one of our UHF channels for many years. It was three and a half hours and ran for ten years. This man's shows is directly responsible for Jon and my fixation with Anime and was a profound influence on our bents in writing. He introduced Philly kids to shows like Speed Racer. I still say that the film was better than the general public realizes. But there were so many other shows that are less famous that I remember quite fondly and can still sing the opening themes. Among them and in no particular order: Astro Boy , Marine Boy. The theme for Marine Boy is especially insidious. I found it on Youtube for Craig because his Ohio born lady had never seen the show. He cursed me for a week. Click on it if you dare. There are so many more Animes I could mention, but the most interesting one for me is one Jon doesn't remember. Prince Planet had such a profound impact on my memory that I include a very obscure reference to it as an aspect to my lead character in The Privateers. It too has a very catchy theme song . Wee Willy Webber also introduced us to live action Japanese TV. The biggest among them was Ultraman. That show had cool uniforms, a cute girl and lots of big rubber monsters. It was awesome. And a reference from that show turned up in Soldier's Choice. I saw a couple of episodes when our former roommate ordered a video a few years back. Jon and I agree that it holds up now. And here is Ultraman's theme song. Not everything was good. I'm not sure why I even bothered with Gigantor. And I still don't quite know what Johnny Sakko and His Flying Robot were about. But they are available for your perusal on Hulu.com. All of the above is to say thank you to Wee Willie Webber. He changed my perspective ans the programs he introduced us to all those years ago still have the power to while away our time and stir our imaginations.

Under the Influence

Speaking of creative influences, the Hubs and I have finally stopped squabbling over the script we've been researching for more than a year. Jon had grown justifiably weary of films that use history as clip art. That is his term he used and he applies it to personal history as well as national. I agree with him for the most part. But I maintained that in this case, since there was no video or social media to record their meetings, we had to rely on anecdotal evidence that they met where and when they said they did and that events transpired the way they were stated. For a long while, that was making no headway. Heck, had I not found a note written in the hand of one of them about the event which prompted my interest in writing the script, we'd still be squabbling about doing it at all. Still, it took me reading copious biographies to convince Jon that neither character was truthful about events in their lives. And that they both tended to manipulate events in their relationships to fit whatever the current narrative of their lives was. Even the accounts in their letters must be regarded as somewhat unreliable. This discovery has prompted Jon to make this unreliable narrative a part of the script. Thus, we can manipulate the timeline somewhat. Memoirs are not always just the facts. The are written through the same prisms that influence fiction. Did that happen or am I remembering an episode of the Cosby Show? I find myself asking that question often as I write the memoir about my Mother. I suppose it could be worse. I could be remembering an episode of Mannix. That would be weird. At any rate, this research and from I've gleaned working at the Archive, pop culture influence has always blended with personal history to inform fiction and sometimes memoir.

Updates

All the writing is coming along at a satisfactory pace. I've had some setbacks connected to shooting the interviews for the re-release of Demon Under Glass. Namely, each one put me back on my butt for a few days afterward. I still tire really easily. Still, they were good sessions that revealed at lot about the actors' views of their characters and some surprising views on future material. I'll talk about my reaction when they run. Anything I say now is an absolute spoiler. We also recorded some voice overs for promos connected to DraggonTV.com. My thanks again to Garett Maggart, Owen Szabo, Matty Ferarro and Cynthia Quiles-del Rosario for taking the time on such short notice to help us. Owen and Cynthia rose to the occasion despite being completely unfamiliar with the material. We look forward to working with them again soon. Everything will be live on line in a few weeks. Then, most of the questions raised will be answered.

Stay Tuned.

Mid Week Quickie

Not a real blog, per se, but I thought I'd share some things about the interview shoot yesterday. This one featured thoughts on Joe McKay by Garett Maggart and Ben Yarmall by Ray Proscia. In both cases, desipte knowing these actors more personally than most of the others from the shoot, I was surprised at some reactions to their characters and what they considered their best and favorite scenes. And as always with these two, I have a lot of footage that I can't put up for public consumption. That was a nice bit of crazy that I remember well.

As always, I have to be mindful of spoilers. This pair of interviews has a lot of them. So, I'll torture you gentle readers and viewers in a different way. Please note, this is my own handiwork 'editing' a much longer and more provocative piece. Thus, I can't exactly call it polished.

Late Steak, More Demons and Family Fun

There were birds chirping at three in the morning. They seemed to be startled as if they were wondering why they were up in the middle of the night. I wondered that, too. Though I was just getting up as opposed to my norm where I hadn't yet gone to sleep. Unfortunately, my brain isn't very nimble that early. I can't even read much than the social networking posts. Writing doesn't work for me until hours later in the day. So, I watch the telly. First, I search the guides of the various movie channels for something I haven't seen in a while. Before the last surgery, I re-discovered Margaret Rutherford's Jane Marple. And while I share my Maw-in-Law's assessment that she didn't quite work as Jane Marple (she was the toughest physical interpretation of the part), I rather enjoyed the films on their own. Usually though, I watch the cooking shows I've recorded over the weekend. And on days when I'm cooking, I prep my veg. Strangely, I focus well enough to handle a very sharp knife or mandolin, but not enough to read.

This week, the cooking decisions are a little difficult. My family is coming to town as I write this (Saturday). I suspect that we will be sharing a number of meals out. I don't have quite enough stamina to pull off entertaining, so I won't be cooking for them. Besides, this is their first visit to Los Angeles, they should see more than our tiny apartment. Since my family aren't huge beef eaters (they've alread expressed a keen interest in going to Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles), I know that making anything with beef will be a safe bet not to be repeated. Tgis blends nicely with my being intrigued with the idea of dishes involving pounding meat. You know, yaking a cheap cut of meat, pounding it thin and then braising it until very tender. One recipe, Braciole as I've always known it or Involtino as it's known in Italy, is a dish I've always enjoyed when I had it but it's an proved elusive on the menus of restaurants I've gone to. I also wonder if my enjoyment of the dish was connected to the evening I was having or to the tastiness of said dish.

In one instance, it was after seeing Patrick Stewart's A Christmas Carol on Broadway and involved one of the stranger evenings I've ever had in a restaurant. I was in New York's Little Italy for the first time. I was with the infamous Gideon and the restaurant was a little eccentric. The waitress had a screaming match with her boyfriend on the phone just after taking our order. She ran our on us sobbing all the way. The cook declared that the joint was closed after us. He brought our food out family style along with a big jug of home made house red. He also joined us – not in our meal but in hoisting a glass of wine (which he declared was on him). Naturally, he was hilarious. He and Gideon could have toured the comedy circuit. I laughed until I cried and the food tasted great. The only other time I tried it was in Atlantic City at a restaurant of the same name. That time, it was in the middle of a night devoted to dancing with very attractive young men. I don't remember much save for my feet were killing me on the ride back to Philly and I'd had a very good time. IN both instances, I have no clue if the food was as good as I recall. However, I trust both Anne Burrell and Giada DeLaurentiis who have made each version. Giada's is in my cookbook, thus I am compelled to give it a try.

The other dish is one my mother made frequently, but I've improved as I became a more experienced cook. That's pepper steak – not to be confused with Steak au Poivre, which I have at some point. The former involves thinly pounding a cheap cut of beef, cutting it into strips and stir fraying it with green and red bell peppers and other ingridents. It's wonderful over rice. My variant is to brown the beef than braise it for a short while in beef stock with a touch of soy sauce. When the liquid evaporates, I remove the beef, stir fry the veggies, add a little flour to make a roux, add more stock and return the beef. Jon likes beef to be fork tender, and I've found that stir frying alone doesn't get it there. I don't season anything with salt because of the soy sauce and the possibility of packaged beef stock (alas, I've had no time to make any). I've recently learned to add fresh ginger and slivers of fresh spinach and shredded carrots just before serving. It works nicely. And I can do my veg prep in the middle of the night.

Revisiting Demon

We had the first of the interviews for the online release of Demon Under Glass. I'd been living with the characters and their stories for s few weeks now while working on the web series, so I was prepared to revisit the concepts and issues behind the film. I was delighted to find how much it still resonated with these actors. It was also delightful to see them again. Being an artist is by necessity a selfish endeavor. We're always chasing new projects or working on our crafts or promoting what we've done. And we're all likely to still have day jobs. It's very difficult to keep up with each other when not working together. Add LA's expansive geography to the mix and it gets even more difficult. To quote the ever quotable Phil, you move to a new neighborhood in LA and risk never seeing anyone again. That's one of the many reasons I like the Facebook thing. I've reconnected with folks from most of my projects without breaking stride. Thus, it was wonderful to be in the same room with Jack Donner (Dr. Richard Bassett) and Scott Levy (Captain Steubbins). I won't spoil the interview here by detailing it. Suffice it to say that they remembered the characters well and gave some wonderful comments about them and how they viewed Simon and Joe McKay. Jack had some fascinating views on how he saw Bassett's lief post Delphi that I am likely to use in the web series. Scott's views reflected his real life experience as a US Marine and he was most interested in reprising the role to haunt the survivors in their nightmares. It was a real hoot. I can't wait to do the next wave this Wednesday.

Another fabulous thing that happened related to Demon Under Glass was finding a cadre of heretofore unknown fans. I knew there were quite a number out there. We'd have spikes in sales of the novelization of the film now and then. And there would be spikes in the blog hits when I talked about the film. But I finally chatted with some who had been doing some amazing things on youtube with our footage. This highly creative group even made 3D avatars of Simon and Joe that live in an online community (here are those links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D0JBdOm-Qc (one of the many fan videos); http://avatars.imvu.com/SimonMolinar (Simon's Avatar); http://avatars.imvu.com/DrJoeMcKay and http://avatars.imvu.com/DrJosephMcKay (links to two versions of Joe's avatar). It's all very flattering to see such hard work and creativity stem from something we made. I've also found that there are other groups out there keenly interested in what's about to happen with the web series. We have a big surprise coming sooner than later.

Meanwhile...
As I've said earlier, my family is in town making sure I'm well on the mend. I have to go now as I'm tired out from doing some tourist type things in Hollywood today. I'll detail those adventures and the fun stuff we're doing this week next Sunday. I also have a lot to say about season and series finales from my slate of TV shows.

Stay tuned.

Big Day and Big Plans

This is the time of year when my mind is consumed with one thought. No, it isn't how does it feel to be half a hundred (thanks, Dad). The burning question in May is 'Why the hairy heck aren't I in France???' My early mornings should be spent on a lovely terrace overlooking a marina full of yachts slowly sipping excellent coffee and eating freshly baked croissants or batards spread with sweet butter and maybe a bit of apricot jam or creamy honey. The only thing on my mind should be what movies I'm going to see that day or which cafe we'll have a delicious and leisurely lunch. Typically, this would put me in a funk that not even a lovely glass of Blanc de Noir Chandon champagne could cure. I just had some on my birthday. That stuff can cure almost anything. Where was I? Ah, yes, the Not in France Funk. This year, however, I eschewed being cranky in favor of planning to go next year. We'll have reason to go next year as we'll actually have all sorts of business to conduct. Though the last time we went without actual business, I came back with some amazing contacts. At any rate, Jon noted my 'Deb's determined to go back to France' look and sighed in resignation. He had to admit, we have business in Cannes next year. We even have business in Paris this time. Thus, I can feel less guilty about my 'Why would I go to France and NOT go to Paris' attitude. I only feel a little guilty about that attitude, so next year I'll be guilt free. I love planning trips. I really love planning trips to France. Thus, I had a fun Saturday. First bit of great news, the airfare has plummeted from the last time we considered traveling there. That's an excellent portent.
Health Update
I visited the surgeons last week for a post-op check-up. Everything is looking good. I was very excited that they removed the staples from the incision. I think the thing that bothered me the most about this entire ordeal was seeing what appear to be regular office staples holding me together. It generated this image of my surgeon wailing away on me with his office stapler. It just got to me. I almost said it got under my skin, but that would be too silly. I didn't look when they were removed. I just knew that it was an ordinary staple remover, and I didn't want confirmation. [I was going to do a link to surgical staples, but the images made me a little queasy]. I'm really glad the nasty things are gone. I didn't know how annoying they felt until they were missing. I'm much more comfortable. They liked my progress. I'm not saying that recovery is trouble free, but it is proceeding nicely. Still, please keep those prayers and good thoughts coming. I have several weeks before I'm out of danger from infections and other post-op complications.

Year of Fun – The Big Day

One of the best reasons for celebrating the birthday on more than one day is a great deal of pressure is off for the perfect day on the exact date. I had my doctor's appointment the day before, and I was out a whole eight hours. And I rode home with Craig. Thus, I was exhausted. On Tuesday, my actual birthday, I had some important errands to run. Luckily, I didn't get an early start. I would have missed a delivery of flowers, chocolate truffles and an adorable stuffed bear from my lovely cousin Katrina in New Jersey (many thanks, again, cuz). I had plans for the amazing shellfish sales still going on post Mother's Day. I came home with some amazing lobster tails and huge shrimp. Unfortunately, I was still tired from Monday, and all the walking involved in the errands left me too tired to cook when I got home. The fancy food would have to wait a day. But there were more surprises at home. We'd barely crossed the threshold when there was another delivery! My brother and sister-in-law and my wonderful nephew sent me an Edible Arrangement, a centerpiece that looks like a bouquet of flowers, but it's made of cut fruit. It was amazing!. (Thanks, family). Mind you, I had just bought a big box of strawberries and blackberries. I thus had a lot of fruit in the house. By the time I took apart the arrangement to refrigerate it, I had almost a shelf full of fruit, not to mention two heads of lettuce and two big bunches of kale that were supporting the arrangement. Jon and I were in for some really healthy eating. But for that night, I celebrated with a couple of chocolate truffles and a glass of champagne. All in all, it was a stellar day. And the next day, I made a shrimp and lobster bisque and a roasted shellfish cocktail that made me want to sing. I'd say that the big 5-0 went very well. And though I'm no spring chicken, I think that after I've healed, I will be able and ready to embrace cougar-hood. [I tried to find links to the definition of a cougar in its current form, but they were all sleazier than what the word has come to mean recently. Earlier, it meant an older woman on the prowl for younger men. More recently, it's come to mean a beautiful and confident older woman who is very comfortable in her skin. I prefer this definition.]

What's Cookin' Sunday

It was delightful to feel up to some real food prep yesterday. I chopped enough aromatic veggies for three main courses this week. It's not very hot out this weekend, so I' m making some decidedly un-spring like meals. I'm just in the mood for slow cooked, one pot comfort food. Thus, I'm making chili, coq au vin and meatballs in marinara sauce. I'll be able to share some with the studio denizens and have leftovers. This should spare me from cooking the rest of the week – unless I get a wild hair about making something else. I still have to figure out what to do with all that lettuce and kale. Right now, the house is scented with cumin and garlic from the chili bubbling away in the slow cooker. After I finish a decadent lunch of home made Buffalo wings, I'll finsih the meatballs and start the coq au vin. I'll put up photos next week.

Updates

In the run up to releasing Demon Under Glass online, we'll be doing the first wave of interviews with cast and crew tomorrow. It's been interesting reconnecting with this film and those characters. I've been working hard fleshing out a continuation of the storyline and figure out what to ask in the interviews. There will be lots of observations, photos and possibly video in the blog next week.

My family is in town next weekend, so I'm not sure if the blog will be on time or not. I'll post an announcement if there is a delay.

Stay Tuned!