Posts Tagged ‘Baseball’

Call it the Corona Del Mar effect. I say I’m gonna do something on the blog, but there’s an unplanned  twenty-four hour delay. It’s the relaxing atmosphere Stags and I cultivate when we’re together. That and the sweet ocean breezes. That helps, too.

Here we go. Tomorrow we have our first pitch. Jason and I are a bit jittery – but that’s more over getting in there so we can do what we do and get a feel for the rhythm of the real game. Tomorrow’s is at Warner Bros. Studios with the producer of Grand Torino, among others. The meeting was bumped up to Ten A.M. so that the man with his name on the door could join the pitch. That’s a good thing. Any time the steps between you and the actual decision makers are cut down, so much the better. This would be our agents or manager probably at work. I’m would bet my bottom dollar there’s some kind of connection. I know we share the same law firm, so that’s something. Anyways, instead of pitching to a CE (Creative Exec,) who then in turn pitches your idea to her Boss, who’s either the head of her department or company (in this case its company,) we get to leap frog to him directly now. The reason why this is better is that he might have a discretionary fund for development from the studio as part of his deal to park his company exclusively on their turf and provide for their pipeline. Which means, if he did (it’s not a given, but it’s a possibility), that the head of the company could lock up the idea with a paid option or outright purchase, before taking it to the studio. That sort of thing. Regardless, it’s one piece in the telephone game of pitching, which means less relying on someone else to regurgitate your idea in just the right way. Got it? Good. Here we go:

-THE WIRE, people. Watch it. All of it. Man, I should’ve listened to my brother years ago. THIS. IS. THE. GREATEST. SHOW. EVER! It’s almost too much to handle. Deadwood’s a close second, tied with Six Feet Under. But, NONE, of them touch The Wire. NONE! I’m on season three. It’s blowing my mind how rich, detailed, and authentic this whole story and characters are – not to mention how they slowly and perfectly grow the world of the story from season to season. Of course, when it’s Denis Lehane, Richard Price, and George Pelicanos on your writing staff, you’re doing good as far as crime writing goes.

- My second niece is off to college. Which, honestly, makes me feel kind of old. Sounds like she’s doing quite well from what I can tell on facebook. Her sister is a Junior and their younger sister, my goddaughter, just turned 16. They are all getting too old too fast. It’s not fair.

-We booked another pitch for next week today, which was great. It’s with a non-writing Co-Exec Producer on Breaking Bad. That’s pretty good.

-We’ve got five pitches total right now. Which, I think, is just the first set. Or, I would guess it is. What do we know? We’ve never actually done this before.

-The thing I’ve been dwelling on, savoring even, all day is this: In the past, if I scratched something together, it was usually to get one person possibly interested. One person who, as a long shot, MIGHT be able to make something happen. In other words, the very few times I got into this situation, it was a do or die situation. That one person or nothing. Tomorrow, walking into the first pitch their will be four more right behind it. None of it is do or die in the moment. We will get better as we go through the first run of pitches. We may be great tomorrow, but we’ll then become unbelievable. It’s strange, but this feels, despite all the rest of advancements this summer, and even before, like the biggest career advancement yet. This is exactly what we wanted when we were struggling with the deal that ultimately didn’t go through. This is really all you can ask for as a writer in this town – the chance to take your ideas to the market and  to write. We’re doing that. Pretty cool, isn’t it?

-Ten years ago was the most pivotal time of my life as I struggled through the biggest change in my life ever. A change that is still having an incredibly profound effect on my life every single day. I’m beyond fortunate to be here, in this city, just enjoying the sunshine and my friends, let alone to be in the midst of my greatest dream – living that, too. I don’t quite know what to say actually. There were many nights – long, hard ones – where I thought this was just not a possibility EVER. Not in my life. To be here. Well, I feel like I died and went to heaven. Thanks to all the angels that have carried, and continue to carry me here.

- Cardinals looks like they found their bats. A little help from the SF Giants and we might just climb back into the division race. One way or the other, it’s shaping up to be one helluva stretch run!

Okay. I’m gonna catch another episode of The Wire. Then I gotta catch some zzzzz’s. Big day tomorrow!

Which makes me pretty sad.

Not so much b/c of all the lovely amenities which come with my visits to Corona Del Mar, but more so because I do love Stags so much. We’ve become quite good buddies and I think he knows I’m going. He’ll come and visit me when I’m writing, just to say hello and get some affection and he’s been visiting me more than usual today.

And for the quiet. The lovely, deep and thrilling quiet that exists here. With that comes a such an easier pace to the day which allows me to get more done, be more focused – which can be a struggle at times. I guess maybe that’s it. I’m good, out of necessity, at winning that struggle on a daily basis so I can get my work done. But, it takes a ton of effort in a place like L.A., which leaves me fairly exhausted most days of the week. Here, it seems like the days unfold more the way they should and I’m not doing as much wrestling with myself.

Ah well, work and life, for now, is back in L.A. Someday it might be just outside of L.A. in a place like Corona Del mar. Hopefully! That being said, I am due back. It is time. Work is piling up. Phone calls are happening. People want to talk. Time, essentially, to put the house in order for the next stage. Plus, there’s life stuff to handle as much as I dislike it. There’s a new apartment to find and a job, more than likely, in my near future. Plus, organizing my loans and setting that all in motion.

I will say this. For about the past year now, but in the past four or five months in particular, its been an extremely fruitful period of work. A level I haven’t personally touched quite before. I feel like its been a true maturation as a writer – lots of hard work and sweat put in that’s starting to peek through in the pages and ideas and problem-solving. I always follow how I see things – the pages, the outlines, the drafts, the ideas – and I feel like I’m seeing them very well right now. Getting faster at identifying solutions and building on ideas.

In Major League Baseball, hitters talk about how well they’re “seeing the ball,”  that and their timing. When you’re tasked with hitting a ball that’s the size of an apple thrown at an average of 90 mph from  a distance of sixty feet and change with late movement; you have to be able to time your swing. Which means you have to react to the ball leaving the pitcher’s hand. You’ve got to see it and read it from jump. If you hang back and wait, you’re more than likely toast. The whole interchange happens in seconds, so it’s all about knowing and acting immediately.

Which is kind of, in a long-winded, tangent of a metaphor what I’m talking about during this furtile period. I feel, as Albert Pujols would say: “I’m seeing the ball real well.”

So much to gab about, so little time tonight to gab about it. So, without further ado, let’s hit it:

-I’m hesitant to say anything about the Cardinals at the moment. (Did you see tonight’s box score, Dad? Not bad. Not bad at all.) Let’s just simply say: YAY! And leave it at that.

- Mouth? Still sore. But, starting to settle in. Body? Still discombobulated. Though I think that’s more from the 48 hour write-a-thon I found myself in, before the final 434 on Thursday. BTW, that script is looking quite sharp. It was a rewrite of one of Jason’s – a spare, dark psychological thriller. Near my sweet spot, so to speak. He did a pass, after I wrapped up on Thursday and the script sparkles in my opinion. Truly sparkles. I want to see this movie. See what a director could do with it.

- The delightful Ms. Antone is in town for the weekend from Prescott, AZ. Always a major league treat! We hustled out to see a play at the Pasadena Playhouse. It’s called boom by Furious Theater Company. It was not the best thing we’ve seen. A little annoying. Tough to say if it was the direction, though, or just the play itself. Overall, I’d say the production was quite well done – acting and set design. But the story turned on a rather trivial and tired joke at the end, with far too much wackiness before that to really hinge on something so – plain. One notable to the evening is that this production featured Julia Duffy, mostly known for her work as a series regular on the funny and endearing sitcom, Newhart .

-Tonight, my niece, Ellen, had her high school graduation party. I wish I could’ve been there, or, more importantly, there on Sunday when she graduates. She’ll be off to Saint Mary’s of Notre Dame, in South Bend, next fall. Congrats, Ellen!

- I’m just glad Ellen made it home, safe and sound from her senior trip – a mission trip to Guatemala that some students do as their senior project. All the students do some sort of aid work as their senior project. This particular trip took place this past week. Which meant that they were trapped in Guatemala after the volcanic eruption and then tropical storm. You can read about it here.

-Always makes me a little melancholy when someone I love, who’s heart is still full of wonder and isn’t hardened to the roughness and inexplicably tragic in the world quite only to get a random glimpse of it before they should. I made choices that I’m not so proud of when I was quite young, lead an extremely reckless and self-destructive life when I was in high school, college, and my 20s. This life brought me out into that rough and inexplicably tragic world far sooner than I should’ve been. When I look back on some of those things, string them together in their proper context, and look at them again in clear eyes, I wouldn’t wish that for anyone’s teenage years. Not what I saw. Not what I did. Not what I learned – about myself, about others, and about the world.

-I have three days to rewrite the play. Should actually be a mellow experience. A nice victory lap on my MFA career.

-I’ve made the decision to search for a 2bd/2ba apartment with my buddy Jacob Bursten-Stern, a fine playwright, former HS basketball star, and good guy. I’ve known Jacob for the full three years of school. We both worked together, as well, at the UCLA Film Archive during our first year. We go to lunch every few weeks, talk shop, etc.. He’s also a very good friend of Tiffany’s, a playwrights who plays poker, has good taste in TV shows and – with Tiffany – kept me in it to win it with playwriting this year. We’ve been discussing this, after Tiffany suggested it, for a couple of weeks. Kind of amiably considering it. Bottom line came down for both of us, at different times, this week and the fact of the matter is that we can find a place in Culver City that’s big and will go for $1300 to $1500. Split that in two, plus split the bills and all of a sudden, I cut my monthly by a third, which is nothing to sneeze at. So, for July 1st as the target date. I hate to give up living alone. But, I’ll have plenty of time for that later. Need to stay in the hunt and this will help that – tremendously.

-Been a frustrating week on the business side of things. That’s all I’ll say for now. It is what it is. Suffice to say, this business is not a very above board, say what you mean style of business. Deciphering the different layers of “I said this, but really meant this.” Or, “I agree to this, but what I really wanted was this.” Is a major pain, most all the time. But, it’s also par for the course, unfortunately, and you just have to grin and bear it. Best advice? Keep writing.

- YAY REDBIRDS!

-Coach John Wooden, The Wizard Of Westwood, passed today. He was considered not only one of, if not the, greatest basketball coach/es. More than that, though, he was a teacher, a mentor, a molder of men. As Vin Scully said: “He is a genius in his ability to inspire There are a few giants who walk among us. He was truly one of them.” Coach Wooden’s spirit pervades all of Westwood. Not just in a basketball sense, but in an inspirational success. One of my favorite Wooden quotes:

“Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.”

Below is an brief video from UCLA’s tribute page for Coach Wooden. In it he talks further about failure:

“In life there will be peaks and valleys. The strength of a person’s character depends on their ability to accept both success and failure. Gonna have both.”

That is a lesson former Sony Pictures Head and famed Producer, Peter Guber, who will speak at graduation on Friday, taught quite eloquently in his opening lecture for his class ‘Navigating A Narrative World.” I believe he mentioned that he had learned it from Coach Wooden, but I’m not sure. It is, I feel, the core lesson that UCLA teaches and a resounding truth to life that is all too often overlooked. In all things and in all lives there will be peaks and valleys, you must reconcile that in your heart, have faith and learn to grow from both.

At the end of the tribute, Coach Wooden intones a beautiful poem on letting go of the fear of dying.

God Bless and Good Night.

Not a good day, by any stretch of means. Just got out of a notes session on the desert script. Let’s get right down to brass tacks. I’m tired and feel a little beat up. These days happen. This too shall pass. Doc shall rise again.

- The notes session. Overall, I guess we survived. There were definitely some good notes and the talking it out that happened around that notes will, most likely, prove quiet positive. That being said, it’s never fun, as a writer, to watch as work you were responsible for get completely shredded. Work that you invested in, stood by, and believed in. It happens. It’s happened plenty before and it’ll happen again; but going through that tonight was not fun. Especially when you felt those sequences (not even scenes – entire sequences!) were just called flat and “not doing it”, but had been misread. You flip open the script the exec/producer has written all over and across whole pages, multiple pages, are big red X’s from corner to corner. Sure, I’m venting here, because I couldn’t in the meeting. Sure, I know I have to take it and, hey, it’s clear I didn’t do my job. But, that doesn’t make the pill of it all easier to swallow. Not that the scenes need to be unanimously adored or loved, I guess it’s just that they were tossed completely out. It’s the worst kind of strike out. The one that makes you look foolish, most of all to yourself. Thank God Jason was there. Otherwise that would’ve gone much, much worse.

-For some reason, it’s like a sauna in my apartment. I checked the heater and it’s not on. I kind of don’t know what the deal is. It’s not all that hot out and it usually doesn’t get that hot in the apartment, ever. (No direct sunlight, really)

-I’ve got Dave, an awesome cocker spaniel, with me for the weekend. I’m watching him for a friend, who had a job in New York over the weekend. He’s about ten. Really happy go lucky. A super sweet dog and has taken quite a liking to his stay at Camp Doc where the treats flow steadily and the walks are plentiful, dinner’s always on time, and we sleep in late when the spirit moves us!

-Though I am looking down the barrel of a seventy-two hour lockdown in the apartment. Got a ton of writing and even more rewriting to do. Mainly for school this weekend. It is the final push.

-I’ve slowly become a Trader Joe’s shopper, for the most part, over other stores. I think it’s more cost effective, but I’m not so sure, yet. It’s keeping me out of Whole Foods, which is good.

- Finally watched the Lovely Bones last night. Didn’t I first mention it almost two weeks ago? I haven’t seen a movie that so thoroughly misunderstood the novel it was adapted from in a long, long time. I mean, we’re talking BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES missed the boat. It was rather stunning to watch. I don’t recommend it, though, for fans of the book. In addition, the film was so wildly self-aware of itself, it almost seemed like an exercise in Douglas Sirk styled melodrama.

-Early Tuesday morning, I’m to have a long procedure done on my teeth at the dentist. I won’t get into the cost, or what it is, it would probably bore most all of you. Suffice to say, it represents the end of the decade long endeavor to overcome a condition I was born with – a not uncommon problem, but still difficult to manage without extensive work on your teeth. Work that, in the end, costs as much as a nice mid-market sedan. I will be thrilled to be done. My gifted and talented dentist, Dr. Grace Ahn, will be thrilled as well. My amazing dentist in Chicago, Dr. Scott Stiffler, would be amazed if he knew. It’s been a long road. Especially with no dental insurance to speak of through most of it.

- Man, it’s hot in this apartment!

-Dave sure does love watching HGTV and his rawhide bone.

-Cards beat the Cubs. That helps. A lot.

That’s all I got. Have a safe and fun Memorial Day Weekend.

Kind of a lost day, today, but I mean that in a good way. I told myself I was going to tackle some basic chores around the house – cleaning and laundry chief among them, some grocery shopping would’ve been good. But, I arose a little later than I thought I would and was slow out of the gate, got wrapped up in email correspondence and just, kind of, let the day go. These days happen. Usually after power sessions like the one earlier in the week. So, I’m not too concerned. All right, enough rambling about the non-state of my day, let’s get down to it!

-Went to see a fellow Bruin Scribe’s latest short film tonight – Lily, whom I have lunch or breakfast with every now again, commiserate with and tweet (on twitter for the non-tweeters reading) back and forth with a little. It was screening at The Bridges Theater on campus, along with a directing student’s thesis film, both Produced by Producing student Justin Begnaud, who is producing the serial killer script that Jason and I will draft over the summer. Lily’s film was awesome. I think I mentioned her other short won the audience award at the Milan International Film Festival recently. She’s a hard worker who goes out and makes it happen. She’ll be shooting a feature soon and i can’t wait to see it.

-Alan read the first 35 pages of the script we just handed in and loved them. Really, really loved them. I think he was a little blown away. That always feels good.

-What is up with the Cardinals? They won tonight, but not before starting pitcher, Brad Penny, after hitting a grand slam (yes, that’s right a grand slam) left the game in the fourth with a tweaked back muscle. Which Brad had admitted he tweaked a week ago, while pitching against Cincinnati. The teams been winning sporadically, the situational hitting has been atrocious, the pitching brilliant and the bullpen an adventure. But now, players are hiding injuries! (Mr. Penny was the second pitcher in the course of the past couple of days to go down with a more severe injury b/c he neglected to say anything the first time he was hurt. It boggles the mind! This is a multi-million dollar enterprise. You’d think they’d get a handle on something like this! Quite hiding injuries guys! This has been going on for years. Time to stop. It’s killing the team. Just killing it.

-A 13 year old boy become the youngest person ever to top Mt. Everest. I guess he climbed Kilimanjaro at 10! Man, talk about the best “what did you do last summer” essay when he hits school next fall. Seriously, though, if you can dream it, you can do it.

You. Just. Have. To. Try.

-Has anyone been watching Friday Night Lights, the television show (which is back on NBC now, from DirectTV) ?   It’s on tonight actually and is in its fourth season. If you haven’t been – and I wouldn’t be surprised if  you hadn’t – FNL is one of the most unsung shows in Television history – do yourself a big, big favor, listen to me, and go watch the first season on DVD. You will be hooked. Such a fantastic, heartfelt, stirring show, all about Texas small town High school football and the people of Dillon, Texas. It’s downright criminal that this show wasn’t a huge, smash success. It’s really struggled to find it’s audience, despite being possibly the greatest primetime soap ever. And easily tied for first or just barely a step behind The Wire as greatest television show ever.

-Facebook is about to log its 500 millionth active citizen, worldwide, in the next few weeks. Chew on that number for a minute – 500 millionth! The social media site has only been in existence for six years and was started in a Harvard dorm room (or stolen in one, depending on who you talk to about it.) If it were a country, it would be the world’s third largest – 2/3rd’s bigger than the U.S. That’s a lot of power (personal info on each user) that just a handful of people control. Staggering to think about, isn’t it? With all the privacy debates raging about Facebook, I wonder if they’ve grown too large for the U.S. government to sanctioned or demand changes from. I mean that in more of a philosophical way. Sure, you could pass laws and they’d have to be followed, but is the genie out of the box already?

-Real quick, on Facebook, THE SOCIAL NETWORK, a studio film about the founder of Facebook and the story behind its creation. Well, one of the stories. It’s a major Hollywood production – directed by David Fincher, screenplay by Aaron Sorkin and stars many young, up and coming or just breaking talent. Should be an interesting film. It was very hot screenplay a few months ago. They’ve been shooting some at UCLA.

-LOST ends, of course, this Sunday night with a huge, four hour event. I know of several parties with invitations out that are going on. It’s been awhile since I can recall a show ending that has generated this much attention and outpouring. Sure, this season, compared to last, has been a little off. Maybe it’ll play better, years down the road when all the hubbub and expectations have faded.

With that, I will bid you all, farewell for now.

On time and even a little early this week! Let’s get right down to it. We had a sunny, upper seventies day today and hopefully it means summer is underway here in SoCal. Not that we have rough weather, but we’ve definitely had a funky run this winter. Lots of hot-cold, rapid switches. It would be nice to settle in. (I’m not complaining, just making conversation here, jeez! I’m thankful for what we’ve got!)

-Went to dinner tonight with my good friends, JJ and Cheyna, who are back from a Guatemala trip/adventure. They took me to a Santa Monica, low key trattoria called Fritto Misto. In a word? Fabulous. It’s a real simple, store front pasta joint. A good go to, italian dinner. Not too expensive, fresh food. So, along with the always good conversation and stories from their trip, they introduced me to a great new restaurant right down the road. And they brought back Guatemalan coffee for me, which I’m cold brewing as we speak.

-We went to dinner at six. When we walked up to the restaurant, which is on the corner of 6th and Colorado, near the Promenade, their were about ten or so simple plastic chairs – like lawn chairs – you’d find in a patio or around a dinner table in a frat house – on the sidewalk. In a perfect neat row, empty and waiting. We all cast a glance at them as we strolled into a mostly empty restaurant, grabbed a table, and commenced with dinner and catching up. When we left near 8:00 o’clock, the restaurant was full and had that storefront clatter to a busy night; but when we hit the sidewalk I did a double take – all the chairs were full up with people waiting and their were an additional ten or so in little clusters waiting as well. That’s usually the mark of a great restaurant. If nothing else, the manager or owner is smart and prepared.

-Did anyone catch the Cardinals-Pirates game tonight? I didn’t either. But, true to form, I checked the Cardinals box score upon arriving home from dinner. (What? You didn’t? I know my Father did. Anyone else?) In the top of the ninth, with the score tied 3 a piece, Joe Mather (a.k.a. Joey Bombs), came in as a pinch runner at first with two out. Joey got the steal sign from TLR or The Secret Weapon (Jose Oquendo, Current Third Base Coach, Former Utility Player Extraordinaire) and took off from first. Risky call, but you gotta push it – even in May. What transpired next was a thing of absolute hardball beauty. You see, Joey Bombs was dead to rights, out by about two steps, but being the bench player he is (A young Tony LaRussa bench player) who doesn’t want to head back to Memphis if he can help it, dove for the bag. BUT, as the Shortstop swept his glove for the tag, Joey Bombs – in mid-leap, outstretched, all his kinetic energy committed forward to the bag, arms outstretched – raised his arm AND then tilted his body a half-turn UP, completely avoiding the tag in an improbable moment of gravity defying, split-second baseball physics. Joey Bombs barreled into the bag, slid over it, but had the presence of mind to clutch the bag with his right toes to kind of brake his runaway forward momentum. SAFE! Even on the replay, in slo-mo. Yadier Molina doubled Joey Bombs in for the winning run five minutes later. That’s how you play May baseball, people!

- I gotta finish my play this weekend. At least the first draft. Plays evolve. Kind of like novels. So, this is more a just do it thing. Though, I’ll have to do a quick burst of serious rewriting because it will be read by actors in a workshop table read the Tuesday before graduation.

-I think I mentioned that I went to a series (three) of the one-acts from my classmates in the playwriting class. They were all really well done. That’s not meant as a polite bit of propaganda. That’s an honest critical statement. You don’t always see that in your peers in grad school. I was completely enthralled with each piece. I did notice in the course of the night, that I have successfully immersed myself in the theater side this year. Even the professors I haven’t taken know me now and were saying hello and I was there with one of the playwrights. It made me think, this year has been – in terms of school – all about theater. Even though I’m in a Screenwriting 434, I don’t feel of the screenwriting side, like you normally do when that’s your main focus. Part of that’s because my 434 is on a Thursday, which is opposite most everyone elses (which are normally on Monday’s and Tuesday’s.) I’m pretty thrilled that I have had the experience I’ve had in my playwriting classes. It’s the one part of graduating that I’m sad to leave behind. I’d love to keep taking classes – some theater history, more playwriting. It has had a fantastic effect on me.

-Been knocked off the new sleep regimen lately. I have this current determination to see a movie or some TV and read before I turn out the lights. It’s one of those rituals to end the night. Three hours is the usual block, though sometimes it’s two. (I know. That’s a serious chunk of time.) It’s hard for me to give up or get around the drive for it in my head, even when it doesn’t make sense; which with the new sleep schedule is anytime (like last night) that I go out and I’m out past 11. I have the strangest time coming home and just going right to bed. For some reason, I can’t do just that. That’s gonna have to change.

-May go to AZ next weekend to see Big Daddy and Aunt Ginger. I’m planning on it. Hopefully nothing will crop up and disrupt my plans. I have a great time to go over. They’re the absolute best. I’m pretty fortunate to have them relatively close. Plus, I should be able to swing through Prescott and see Tiff, which is an extra added bonus!

-Figured out finances for June, which is good. We’re at the one month at a time point. It’s a tough spot – not the lack of cash flow or uncertainty, though. That I’m used to. I’ve been there plenty of times before and am decidedly non-phased about it right now. It’s more so the in-betweeness careerwise that the option puts us in. It’s not all that unlikely that we could make some money sooner rather than later. When that is (as JJ and I talked about tonight) is anybody’s guess? Is it next month? Is it in six months? Just saying six months is a fantastic thing. Heck, even saying we should make some money in the next year (which I would say, yes, we will almost certainly right now. Like ninety percent certain and rising fast to a hundred,) is a major accomplishment as far as I’m concerned. But, can I hang out for a year until that happens? That becomes the question. And a rather slippery one. Of course, at first blush, I can’t. But the financial space between no and yes for an answer to that question is shorter than one would think, so how do I traverse it, if I have to? Don’t know that yet. Not even close.

- Consider this a part two to the above. You see the trick is momentum and really that’s the core of the dilemma. Sure I could pick up a variety of jobs, patch together a means to make rent, and gut it out. BUT, I can’t stop writing. You have to keep that forward momentum. You have to keep taking meetings, keep pushing, be ready to redirect your efforts on a moments notice, all in, all the time. So, taking on that barista gig is dangerous, because it’s not as flexible as it appears. Momentum must be maintained, now more than ever. In fact, I’d go so far as to say, it has to be pushed harder to make the final summit to paid, working writer. It’s a hustle and if you’re not focused on the hustle, it can pass you right by and getting back becomes a difficult proposition.

-Still haven’t watched The Lovely Bones yet.

That’s all I’ve got tonight, folks. Be good to yourself and do something nice for your Mother or a Mother! Nine months is a long time!

Well, I was going to write about how much I enjoy cover songs, or get into the Cardinals a bit because they’ve been playing some pretty strong baseball lately. It really appears the bats are waking up and stabilizing a bit, so they’re not relying solely on the long ball, which can be dangerous because in baseball slumps happen and in St. Louis, in particular, small ball (or as the faithful still refer to the speedier version of it as “Whiteyball” after the great St. Louis Manager Whitey Herzog a.k.a. The White Rat) is the only true way to play baseball. More on that and all things Whitey some other day. As far as the cover songs that’ll have to wait, too. I’ve recently plundered the internet and amassed a war chest of great versions of hits by a fascinating constellation of unique interpreters which have crafted some truly wonderful variations on these standards. I’ll simply say, it’s always captivating for me when you take a song, strip it of its expectations and recast it in a very different light. Often times what occurs for me is that the lyrics (what can I say I’m writer, even if I pine to be a musician deep in my heart of hearts?) often take on a whole new shine and power – revealing the subtlety of their story much more clearly. Someday, as an addendum I will get into just how much song lyrics, and in particular my sister Caroline, influenced me heavily at a very young age – or rather her musical tastes did – and really played an incredibly key role in making me a writer and the kind of writer I am today.

But alas, what I had intended to get into a paragraph ago (Hey, I’m sorry. I’m tired. Still a bit scattered and well, would like to go watch The Pacific and Breaking Bad before bed, which comes really early now) is the new play idea I danced around last night a bit. I of course had playwriting today, which is always grand. Turns out the playwright Sheila Callaghan, of the play Tiffany and I loved on Thursday night – Lascivious Something – was my professor, Hanay’s T.A. when she was at UCLA (His best T.A., according to Hanay.) So we got some brief stories and Hanay remembrances about the playwright. In the context of this afternoon discussing playwriting and reading pages by some of the other playwrights, I believe I cracked how I would handle this new idea – the second one – which is all dependent on how I frame it and approach the physicality of the story. It again would largely happen in one space, or at least there would be one set on the stage, another physcial space, and even time, would be indicated by two chairs down front left or right in a separate pool of light. Now the next decision is whether I’m going to go all August: Osage County on the set and make two or three levels. That’s asking a lot. This one would be set in Chicago as well, would be faintly autobiographical, not involving any of the time I lived there though – which I’m sure sounds odd. You’ll see when I write it. Anways, I think I may very well be in the midst of a Chicago trilogy of plays. Very interesting. I didn’t think of it quite like that, but it all makes sense. Even number three….might just have another new idea for another play.

Have an excellent day out there!

Fair warning, this is another Baseball post. Though it’s simply about the “youthful/fun” aspect that I wrote about after the Cardinals twenty inning extravaganza on Saturday.

This article by St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer (and Cardinals Beat Reporter) Derrick Goold speaks to exactly what I was getting at in the post. I encourage everyone to take a few minutes, click on “article” and breeze through it. I think it captures the nature and character of Baseball, that youthful/summertime feel to the game, which even at the highest levels, still comes through from time to time and makes the sport, ultimately, so enduring to people from all walks of life, of all different ages.

Favorite quotes, real quick:

“I think there was pressure innings 10 through maybe 15 or 16,” outfielder Ryan Ludwick said. “But then when we starting bringing in position players to pitch and (Kyle) Lohse went to the outfield, I think it became — believe or not — but it was really fun.”

“A day later, Mather pitched two innings and became the first position player since Oquendo to get a decision. Both of the Mets’ runs scored on sacrifice flies against Mather, who never got in a count to throw his slider. After the game, his cell phone glowed with 40 text messages. Read one: “Nice ERA.”

“Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter also lobbied to play. Brad Penny said, “I wanted to catch.” Lohse was the only legit option. La Russa asked him what outfield position he was comfortable playing, so Lohse took a poll of teammates and decided on right field. He was about to tell La Russa when La Russa sent him to left in the 18th.”

“…Lohse joked. “I think we all saw it as something cool we may never get a chance to do again. It was fun to go out there and act like a position player for a little while.”

Makes me want to go watch Bull Durham or catch a little league game.

Our beloved, St. Louis Cardinals, (“Our” as in my Dad and me), had a twenty inning tilt against the Metropolitan’s from New York (The other NY team.) The Cards lost. Which, while sad, is tempered by such an extra inning affair. Really, once you move past twelve innings, you could decide the game by coin toss and it’d be more predictable. After fifteen or so innings, things get comical, and the players have been at for five and a half hours or more. So, a certain exhaustion sets in. There are two things non-baseball fans need to know at this point. First of all, once a player comes out, he can no longer re-enter the game. There is, technically, no clock in baseball; so, theoretically, you could play forever.

Now, there’s only twenty-five guys on each roster. Nine of which are playing at the start of the game on each side, and in the course of a tight game – as extra innings always are obviously – there are many substitutions that occur for strategic purposes in the course of play. Especially when your manager is one Tony La Russa, Friend of dogs, Avowed Vegan, Lawyer, Scornful of the Press, future Hall of Fame manager of the Cardinals. Tony likes to substitute people, even when the Cardinals are clobbering another team. He does it so often, that I swear he does it just to amuse himself half the time. And I’m a big time fan of Tony, which not all St. Louis fans are. So what am I saying? Twenty-five guys, nine playing to start, close game, twenty innings? Things get a little silly by about inning sixteen.

And that’s one of the reasons I love baseball. You see, even though – nowadays more than ever – true athletes play the game, there’s still a bunch of regular guys playing it who are overweight, not really in the best shape possible, but have some talent. And in its very nature, it’s a game that brings out the kid in the players. More than any other sport, in my humble opinion, there’s – on the field – still a certain youthful innocence to the sport. Nowhere do you see that more than in a twenty inning game. So, as I did my work and listened, online, to the St. Louis radio broadcast of the game, it was a special treat to listen to the later innings.

Ultimately, for the Cardinals, two infielders had to pitch because they had run out of pitchers. Now very rarely a position player will pitch in a tight spot, or if you lose by a ton and the manager doesn’t want to send his relief pitchers out there and tire them out. This might happen once every two or three seasons, really. So, having two of them pitch in one game, was like right out of little league! Also, one pitcher for the Cardinals, Kyle Lohse had to go out and play Left Field – which I’ve never seen happen. Through the later innings, longtime Cardinals radio broadcaster, and former Cardinal, Mike Shannon would just laugh and laugh, everything had grown so ridiculous, in a sense, or fun on the field. He practically stopped calling the game. It was great.

Now, keep this in mind – that things had grown silly on the field, that the players – all of them – had been playing for five + hours, and that they have to play again tomorrow. Now look at the photos I post below, which are all from the last two or three innings of the game, innings Seventeen to Twenty.

Nineteenth Inning. Cardinals score their first run of the day to tie the game and send it, miraculously to a twentieth inning. It looks like a world series photo doesn't it?

Earlier in that same inning, Cardinal Outfielder - Ryan Ludwick, reacts to being tagged out at Second, trying to take an extra base to make something happen.

Albert, returning to the dugout, after crossing home plate. This is shortly after the first photo. Look at how thrilled everyone is - riled up, despite the marathon nature of the game. They're invested. They love it. This isn't about stats, or endorsements. It's about winning the game - just like with your buddies after school in a pick-up game.

Of course, things didn't turn out that way for the Cards.

Here's some of that silly stuff. Kyle Lohse, starting pitcher, shags a flyball in Left Field in the late innings. Not bad glove work.

Back-up (Utility infielder) Felipe Lopez, on the mound somewhere around the seventeenth inning. Felipe was dealing a 70 mph fastball with no movement and a 50 mph change-up, which was loosely referred to as a curveball. Very loosely. To give you an idea, high school pitchers routinely throw harder than that.

And a few more, not from today, but from the first year in the new Busch Stadium:

My Father and My Brother-In-Law, Dave @ Busch 3. You can see the Arch in the background there. We're all waiting out a brief rain delay.

Dave, two of his daughters/my wonderful nieces - Emily and Ellen, and my Dad as we're about to enter Busch 3 for the first time. (Don't worry. I'm wearing my cap, too)

Thanks, Dad, for making me the baseball fanatic I am, today. (Just as his Dad inspired him!) Three generations of Cardinals fans. Now that’s history!

Kind of conked out early last night, thus no post. That’s been happening to me more and more lately. I wonder if my body is finally starting to rebel and force me to go to sleep at a more normal hour. We shall see about that!

- Okay. The Cardinals are in first and were looking pretty darn good up until this week. I’m not hitting the panic button yet, but a few trends alarm me. In short order: What happened to Chris Carpenter’s fastball? Is it me, or is the entire right side of the bullpen taking on water already? Apparently, the only way we score runs is by hitting home runs. Will Brendan Ryan find his stroke again? Is Tony mad because their winning, but he can see the warning signs; or this line-up is so non-flexible he can’t switch the batting order around every day to torture the press and keep himself engaged?

- Met an old friend who’s living out here, has been for awhile, works as an actor. He’s been in national commercials, guest spots on shows, and is a company member of Tim Robbin’s Actor’s Gang (or their equivalent, I’m not sure there’s a formal arrangement like most theater troupes.) We met in Silverlake, which was a rare journey to the east side.  George has been out here a lot longer than I have, actually. Anyways, Silverlake feels a lot like Wicker Park in Chicago, so that was fun. I walked up to coffee shop where we met and it was like I was instantly transported back.

- Had a conference call (Jason and I) with the lawyer today. He had spoken with the manager and they had hatched a game plan to go out to Agencies in the next few days, basically pitching us for representation – putting a team together (of Agents) to cover both TV and Feature. It is quite an amazing thing to have these two, experienced individuals out there, doing this for us. Hopefully (say some prayers) it gets us to where we need to go.

-Still want an ipad, really bad!

-Started back in on my play lately. I feel, honestly, quite disconnected from it and, uncharacteristically, nervous about not being able to write the second act. I just need to sit down and blow it out. But, for various reasons, that’s been tricky this week. I would chalk it up to Spring fever, the end of school, too many other things going on; but it’s not really that. In all honestly, it’s just fear. Plain old, boring fear that I can’t fdo it. I can’t finish the thing – which is actually ridiculous. It’s inevitable (not because it’s for a class, but rather because the first is solid enough to dictate the completion of it) that I will finish it.

- I miss my dear friend Tiffany! I could use some theater and a poker night or two.

- If you haven’t yet, you should check out Jakob Dylan’s latest solo album, Women & Country, with miss Neko Case featured as a back-up vocalist on most all of the tracks. That’s one of things I love most about Neko, she seems to be willing to go wherever and do whatever – if it it’s intriguing. She’s even going out on tour with Dylan, to sing his songs. I really admire that spirit of collaboration. It is a fantastic quality to have in one’s life.

I think that’s it. For now. More tomorrow.