It was an unusually gray week in LA. We like it because gray, cool days feel like the Autumns we remember from Philly. It’s supposed to rain soon. That’s not good. All the fire damaged areas will turn to mud that will slide and take the remaining houses elsewhere or clog roads. The other bummer this week in LA is the writer’s strike. It got really nasty very quickly when the studios unexpectedly and inexplicably suspended development deals with production companies forcing them to layoff their staffs. Many of them are what’s called Hyphenates. I never heard the term before last week. Apparently Jon and I are Micro-Hyphenates (director-writer or writer-producer). Anyway the Hyphenates responded to the suspension by walking off their existing shows. Since these were the folks who would have kept shows running into next year, no one can figure out why the studios made such a boneheaded move. This means that many shows will run out of material before the end of the year. We have friends who were working under development deals. It’s a very scary time for them. For once, I do not envy their situation. We have two films that will have to be a WGA signatory, but we're not members yet. I'm not sure what this means if we need re-writes. And no, we still don’t know what we’re shooting or where it will be shot. Though given the flood and explosion at one of the locations, I think one has been eliminated from the running. At least, I hope it has.
The year is running out far quickly than I’d like it to. And my writing is moving more slowly than I’d like. I’m not fighting the pace anymore. My books suffer when I try to force the prose in a particular direction or rush the pace. If I had the time that book advances allow, I could make my deadlines more easily. But writing competes with everything else on my plate (I think I have two or three hyphens in my title), so the pace will be what it will be. Stay tuned for release dates on A Soldier’s Fate.
Much Happiness
A new release, deluxe version of The Beatle's Help is on DVD view the Trailer here. I can’t
tell you how happy that makes me. I know that A Hard Day’s Night is considered the better film, and I loved that as well. But there was a singular silliness to Help that I always loved. I was really disappointed just last week to find I’d missed most of it on cable. I still quote lines now and then. (yes, big dork) But I’m a long time Beatles fan. I have seen one Beatle in concert – George Harrison with Ravi Shankar and met another in Philly when he was visiting an old friend in Philly(John Lennon was visiting Larry Kane and even did the weather report on my local news). Help may be the film we show at the Thanksgiving gathering. Or I’ll just watch it on my own repeatedly.Movie Night
I watched Twelve O’Clock High for the first time. It was a coincidence that it is also Veteran’s Day weekend. I am not one for war flicks, but Jon insisted that I see it for the relationships between the men. The film is still shown to officer candidates as a lesson about leadership. I found I really enjoyed the film. And for my avid readers who know my bent well, there is a distinctly D/s relationship between commanding officers and their subordinates. There has to be. Gregory Peck should have had a riding crop, but he was still quite effective in the role.
Remembrance
It is Veterans Day or Remembrance Day , depending on the country. While enjoying the holiday off, please take a moment to remember why there is a day off. One in four homeless are Veterans. Those that aren’t homeless, often need more help than is available. Organizations like The Yellow Ribbon Fund are a place that you can support in this effort. And every city and town has Veterans’ organizations that can use a hand.
Caption Contest
I received some terribly funny though often rude responses to the caption. The least rude and most creative were:
Damnit, girl, how many times have I told you! Not haddock, HALIBUT!
And
"Unable to find a knife, Columbus Magician John Hill uses what he can to practice his knife-throwing for his Las Vegas magic act."
The actual caption was:
Get out of sight, you hussy! Seriously.
Our winners will receive an Amazon.com gift certificate courtesy of Sybaritic Press.
New Caption contest next week!
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