Thank you for viewing / reading my blog posts! I appreciate it!

Monday, December 02, 2002

It's Christmas and I totally love Christmas music! I have this really old version of Handel's Messiah, that's sung in english and not german by the London Symphony Orchestra, that I'm listening to right now. It came with this 5-cd set I bought of Christmas music a long time ago.

The sound quality is really bad, like I'm listening to some old TV program, but it's kind of cool and so cheesy because maybe you're supposed to pretend it's Christmas eve and you have the TV on and some choir is doing Handel's Messiah. Only who needs to wait till Christmas eve and TV, when I have the CD. And it's not my stereo, because my little baby has great sound.

I definitely need a new version of Handel's Messiah in stereo.

Sunday, December 01, 2002

I love these long weekends. They really make me feel like I've gotten away from the office, even though I didn't leave town.

I've got the "I finished my writing project" blues. I always feel so "blah and bleh", after I finish a writing project. That sense of urgency to complete my writing total for the day is gone now, and I've stopped living in that heightened sense of every day is a deadline. It's kind of an emotional let down really. Writing that intensely for me is like being on some kind of weird drug and when I stop, it's like I've crashed down to earth with a big thump and I can't get up again. Maybe the best thing is keep writing, or at least plan to start another writing project as soon as I finish one.

I know I should enjoy my writing time off when I have them, because there's the screenplay to finish before December 14. But it's hard not to feel like I've ground to a halt, because I've stopped writing. I wonder if I'm one of those people who has to be in perpetual motion to feel worthwhile.

I know I used to feel that way sometimes at work, that if I wasn't getting promoted every year there was seriously something wrong with me and I was failing at my job. Because what I'm going through right now, which is a vague sense of dissatisfaction, is sort of how I used to feel after I got my promotions. It's not exactly like I'm dissatisfied, but there's definitely a feeling of some kind of letdown. It's hard to explain.

Saturday, November 30, 2002

I just saw "8 Mile" with Eminem. The reviews were right. It's a standard Hollywood plot, updated for the Detroit 313. What makes this otherwise boring movie a standout is Eminem. He has the same kind of intensity I've seen in Sean Penn's film, and which I saw up close when Penn was in a Sam Shephard play with Nick Nolte at the Magic Theater a few years ago.

Eminem is very watchable. You see all these emotions wash across his face, which is great for a movie audience. I loved the guys arguing in the car about the difference between west coast and east coast rap styles, and how Tupac Shakur influenced rap style. I'm sure half the people in the audience with me, had no clue what these guys were talking about.

And Kim Basinger. She looked almost too natural, too familiar playing Eminem's trailer trash mom role. The music was great, but I wished it had more of Eminem's own music. I'm not sure Eminem would do well in another kind of movie role, but he was great in this semi biopic of himself.

"Contact" the movie was on TV last night, and every time it's on TV, which seem like once a month, I have to watch it. I love the Ellie Arroway character. I so relate to her focus, her single mindedness, her intensity and how her driven qualities lead to her inevitable incredible loneliness. But in the movie, she's at least got her JC man, Palmer Joss, the ruggedly beautiful Matthew McConaughey. I'm like so jealous! Like where's my spiritual, beautiful JC man?
WOOHOO!!! I finished National Novel Writing Month a day early, and wrote 50,184 words. I'm not even done with my story, but I do intend to finish it soon.

I even figured out how to post a graphic to my bloggie. I'll have to post more pics soon.

I'm exhausted from writing like a fiend this whole month, but now I have to get back to writing my screenplay. I'm taking a class from Richard Schultz, who I believe is the head of the screenwriting department at UCLA and has taught most of the current screenwriters who have Hollywood films out. The class is in two weeks, and last year in a radio interview, Schultz said he would read screenplays if people brought them to class. I would so love to get feedback from him on my screenplay.

I can't believe I completed another year of Nanowrimo. It's so hard, so maddening, yet in the end I always feel good that I've pushed myself and accomplished something really cool like write 50K plus words in 30 days. Now that's great writing production.