Spring Flings, Mooks and Band Buses

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.


Spring has Sprung

It’s that wonderful time of year when vibrant flowers are in bloom, and the beautiful young men have shed their coats and shirts to jog in the gentle breeze. I still don’t have a net gun. It’s also a mere two weeks from the 2008 month long celebration of my – ack – 48th birthday. I have been asked how extravagant my plans will be. Not extravagant at all. Most of the treats in May involve the new films coming out (Iron Man, Speed Racer, and Indiana Jones 4 ). Speed Racer is of special interest because it began my interest in anime. You could say that the path to A Soldier’s Choice begins with that cartoon series. The month began early when Jon found a two pack of the last two Bourne films (Supremacy and Ultimatum) for less than the price of the pair of seeing Ultimatum in the theaters. I’ve been listening to it ad nauseum while inputing A Soldier’s Fate this week. I shall be frugal in my celebrations next month. I only plan to buy a couple of exotic ingredients to try some new French recipes from the Anthony Bourdain Cookbook like Soupe de Poisson (strained fish soup) and maybe lobster bisque. The former means buying a whole bottle of Pernod and I’m not sure if I’ll like it. Though I have liked everything I’ve tried in that book so far. Jon and I want to have another whack at making baguettes, but I need to find out if I can freeze the dough. That recipe makes a whole lot of dough for just two people. Why the frugality this year? I want to return to Paris in October for our 10th wedding anniversary. And I have to plan the trip as if there is no film happening on the budget our day jobs allow. I have found an amazing deal on a week long apartment rental in Montmartre. It’s off a lovely little courtyard and has a great kitchen where I plan to cook to my heart’s content with ingredients fresh from the farmer’s market. And it’s near the red light district of Pigalle. We have unfinished business there. Last trip, we were too pressed to visit the Museum of Eroticism (click on that link at your own risk – seriously). That’s an egregious lapse for a writer like me and a twisted guy like Jon. It must be corrected. I sent This photo from Pigalle to Ron Moore of Battlestar Galactica. His response was basically ‘of all the cultural things I could have sent him from Paris, this is what I chose’. How could I not? Thus, I will be frugal in May, but there will be a lot of fun to report.

What Makes the Blog?

I get that question often. Or actually, how in the world do think up that blog? When I’m not talking about writing, it’s just my life and friends who are responsible. For example, I was having a conversation with Craig about the weather in Tucson for the shoot, and ended up hearing a long story about his college roommates there that ended with a the sentence ‘And that’s why I had to buy him back from the Mexican Police.’ And then there was his rant about the Jersification of his Ohio girlfriend that he blames on The Sopranos. I’ve met his lovely girlfriend, and I can’t imagine her using the work ‘mook’ correctly. Now he wants to do a video dictionary on how to speak and understand Jersey speak. It has to be video because there are several nuances on how a guy leans on a car and what each way means. Oh, speaking of Craig, he believes that the one legged cricket is dead, though no body has turned up yet. Thus, my friends are an excellent source. Of course, there is TV and film because I’m a fan and a filmmaker. Work can give me inspiration. This isn’t a caption contest image, but I had to share it. The illustration comes from a compilation of Irish Lit from the 1800s. It’s hard to read, but the caption is ‘A Gentlemanly Caning.’ I usually know early in the week what most of the next week’s blog will have in it.

Head of Many Hats

The great thing about wearing many hats in a Film Production company is that the labor is cheap or free, and there isn’t any time lost with coordinating communication between the many departments that work on a film. The big downside is that when one person isn’t functioning several areas of a project ground to a halt. Jon is sick again. It may be that he never completely recovered from the post shoot cold or flu. Thus, work on a trailer has stalled. The image part is finally finished, and it looks amazing. All that’s left is laying down the sound and music tracts. The trailer should be up by the weekend of May 3rd. I plan to pull stills from this version at some point today. The feature pre-production is on schedule. We’ve got more and more details in place. The only worrisome thing, aside from the blazing heat and biting flies, is the situation with airlines. We can’t afford getting caught in massive cancellations with such a tight shoot schedule. We’re planning a contingency of renting a luxury band – type bus to take the actors back and fourth if something goes completely haywire with the airline. Let see, a busload of actors with a bar. Poor Randy. He may need a whip and a gun and a chair and a top hat.

A Soldier’s Fate

The editor’s have 3/4s of the book. I’m almost finished inputing the final chapter. With Jon sick and behind on the trailer, it looks like the release of the paperback will be the second week in May, but the e-book will be out a little sooner than that. There will definitely be an expansion of Vincent Greven’s Cookbook. This time, a lot of the recipes are actually mine. I really appreciate your patience. I think you will find that the book is worth the wait.