Posts Tagged ‘Oh’

So, I gave myself a little free reign and slept in a bit this morning. Jacob was off to his job – it’s his Friday – as he work. So, I gave myself a little free reign and slept in a bit this morning. Jacob was off to his job – it’s his Friday – as he works Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and has the rest of the week off; and I had put in more time than expected on that copywriting gig (Thanks again, Jason!) which was a nice surprise and a good boost (plus there looks like they’ll be more work to do – which is perfect.)

I digress within the digression. I’ve been trying to get up at 8:30, but its been more like 9:00 or 9:30. What I’m trying to get away from is the 10:00 wake-up, which is what I let myself go until today. I’ve also resumed walking, now a bit in the afternoon, to get a break from the computer and get some sunshine/exercise in and to listen to my audiobook/This American Life because I’m not in the car much these days.

ANYWAYS (finally, woof! Sometimes the tangents within the tangents are a little taxing, aren’t they?) I awoke and grabbed my handy-dandy, don’t-know-how-we-existed-without-them iPhone, as I do now every morning, and checked my email before pulling myself up for some apple-cinnamon Cheerios and toast (Hey, I’m out of English Muffins, which reminds me….) with some iced coffee. So, I turn off my alarm – which is on my iPhone, too. (I mean everything’s on that thing!) and lo and behold if there isn’t an email there that goes a little something like this:

Hey Guys,

I got your emails from **** (Ed note: Jason & Doc’s Agent) It was so great meeting you a few weeks back.  I just wanted to reach out and tell you how much **** ( Ed note: Her Boss the Producer) and I enjoy your writing and that we’d love to find something to work on with you in the future so definitely expect me to be bothering you guys with projects.  Thanks again for coming in!

Talk to you soon.

This being from one of the Execs and her Boss whom we pitched to recently with our latest TV idea. And though they passed, we had heard they loved us and the door would be open, but that was it. Until the email today. Which was a nice boost. Which meant we had taken a nice little step forward. This was further emphasized when the above message sparked an email conversation between the Exec, Jason (as he was moving, nonetheless!) and myself (before I could have any breakfast or iced coffee, but not from bed) that seemed to go on for an hour and a half maybe? The Exec asked what we were interested in working on in the future. We asked what her company mandate (the types of scripts they’re interested in doing most of all/are actively hunting around for)  is on the feature side. We chatted on that a bit which evolved into her asking us to return to their office for a meeting to discuss features this coming Monday @ 4.

Which is exactly what we had hoped would occur, reasonably speaking, from our meetings. We hoped , and tasked ourselves, with making fans – which we apparently did with this Exec. Now we’ll go in and have more of a general meeting where we’ll pitch some feature ideas, but they’ll also talk about what they’ve got optioned or purchased (books, magazine articles, ideas they have themselves) and we’ll discuss possible fits for an assignment hopefully of some kind, or they’ll spark to one of our existing ideas and we’ll go across the studio lot and pitch it to the Studio Brass.

BOO-YA!  GO. TEAM!

Yes, a lovely way to start the day. We figure this should please everyone @ UTA as it shows (again as Jason reminded me) a) progress under their guidance, and b) demonstrates value in our pitching skills along with our material, which means that when they do send us out there are benefits – like making fans – who may open the door to unseen assignments, business/creative opportunities.

More and more I am mesmerized by the education in how Hollywood really operates, since I left school! Sure, UCLA really prepared me to take advantage of the PHD program Jason and I find ourselves in right now. It’s amazing. There is no way on GOD’S GREEN EARTH that you could do this – start a career – from anywhere but here. NO WAY. If you were able to accomplish that, I would wager my last dime that it was a result of sheer dumb luck, or the person had been here previously (This is the untold portion of the GRAN TORINO screenwriter’s legend. He actually worked and lived here for quite some time, before leaving for Minnesota where he wrote and then sold his script through his CONTACTS here.)

Why do I say this? Because, there’s so much misinformation swirling around this aspect of the journey and the more and more that we take each gradual step these days, the fact that there’s such a deep schism between hard reality and The fantasy that’s sold in the many books, screenwriter’s conferences, et. all which I used to look to for facts like countless others out there. This isn’t a Mike Tyson fight people. There’s no thirty second, first round knockout. This is Muhammad Ali, Rumble In The Jungle, gotta last the whole fight type of fight. Which means you gotta be there every step of the way. In the ring. Taking your shots as you deal some out, bit by bit, too.

As I look about, read the trades, and pay attention to what’s going on as best as I can, I witness this reality in all of its myriad guises. I love it. And am frustrated by it. As well as depressed some days and just bewildered other days. Or exhilarated. But there’s no sense in railing against how it is. You may not want it to be that way, but it just is – and has been long before you came along.

Best bet is to learn those rules, master them, before you start even having the slightest glimmer of the thought that they should not apply to you. Because guess what? Even then, they still do.

I think as long as their are emails like the one above every know and again, I can make my peace with that and work (though I’m not perfect!) towards setting aside any thoughts otherwise.

If you’re out there, on this crazy journey, too, do yourself a favor. One I wish I would’ve done years ago, and put aside the delusions, see it for what it is and approach it accordingly. The headaches and heartaches from pounding your head against it just isn’t worth it.

So, I’m been meditating on/contemplating slowly and casually researching a more long term project in a different medium. As with many of my projects these days, some of it has to do with Chicago. A city, presence, and history that looms rather large in my mind the further and further I travel from it. I would love to infuse more Los Angeles into my work. I absolutely love the feel and rhythm of the city. But, for now, Chicago holds court for the most part. It gets the podium when it wants. Lots hours and miles and years traveled there. So there’s raw material aplenty and much of it is too beguiling to just ignore. As I’ve started to do more and more, in the early stages of research and circling something in my head, I tend to collect photos.

I’ve discussed how much I absolutely love and am drawn to the still photograph. How it represents a diving board for my imagination, one rooted in reality. A hair trigger to a story or a scene or an emotion that often spins into something else. So, today, rather than do some work or read, as I told myself I would do on what is probably my last day of vacation in a long, long time, I instead meander through the stacks and stacks of photo streams on Flickr, searching for images of Wicker Park, the neighborhood I lived in for nearly fifteen years in Chicago. Wicker Park has its history and I won’t quite get into here, yet. I’m sure I’ll wade into that hot button topic (in the years that I lived there, Wicker Park became ground zero/an international case study for the effects, both positive and negative, of Urban Gentrification) at some point when I do begin work on this project. (To be clear, it’s not a TV or Film project, so it’s clock is strictly my clock, so who knows when exactly that will be.) Simply what I mean to say before I roll out the photos is that in seeing these streets, where I not only lived, but also worked for so long. Spending my time locked up in this one stretch of Chicago, maybe one half of a square mile at best, twenty-four seven, at all hours of the day and night. That I’m struck by the grittiness of Chicago, compared with Los Angeles. That’s not to say L.A. doesn’t have it’s truly rough parts. Maybe it’s the constant sun, or the way the landscape breaks – whatever it is, L.A. doesn’t strike me as so compact and constructed and old. It doesn’t have the same rawness I see in these photos. Anyways. Here is Wicker Park, circa early 21st Century, about three years past the apex of the gentrification battle.

That's the Six Corners, formed by the intersection of Milwaukee, North, and Damen Ave. It's the heart of Westown, which is Wicker Park, Bucktown, and the Ukrainian Village. The road, North Ave, on the left, is a border between Bucktown and Wicker Park. I lived and worked within two-three blocks of this intersection for nearly a decade. That's downtown in the distance behind the Flat Iron Building.

The Coyote Building which is where the previous picture was taken from. The neighborhood's internationally acclaimed art walk takes its name from this building. The art walk is simply known as "Around The Coyote."

This is taken of the corners from the Flat Iron building. It also captures the Chicago, I recall most - overcast, rainy.

The main alleyway, off of Damen Ave. I can tell this is taken right at the mouth of the alley, which means if you look at the previous photo and locate the North Community Bank sign, next to the Blue Line El Platform, the photographer was just around the corner from there, a quarter of a block. I lived in an apartment that was two buildings down on the right and another one that was five buildings down on the left.

The Damen Ave El stop, which I lived several doors down, right across the park when I first moved to the neighborhood. Three stops and you're in the Loop. This is directly opposite the mouth of the alley in the photo above.

Outside the Double Door, a rock club next to the mouth of the alley. The Rolling Stones played here. Among many other big, small, unknown and friends bands. It's called Double Door because it has this door on Damen and another door on Milwaukee, just around the corner. That's big June, the longtime doorman. Whenever he was working I had an all-access pass. I used to raid there ice machine when ours down the street at Nick's would break down in the summer.

Some folks hanging on Milwaukee Ave, a couple of doors down from the corners. Looks like just outside Earwax Cafe.

This is inside Earwax Cafe. I knew Nick the own, through my fellow Wicker Park Ex-Pat, Brett. Earwax started out as a used CD/eclectic video rental/cafe/hangout spot. Fifteen years later is would evolve into an eclectic cafe with a progressive menu written up favorably in the NY TImes Sunday Section. Which was pretty cool to see.

Night time in the six corners. There are somewhere, or were, in the order of fifty or so bars, taverns, clubs, and dives - some of which saty open until 2 a.m., others until 4 a.m. in a fifteen block radius (if that) around the corners. This looks like an early week night. Pretty slow. I worked right in the heart of this for most of my doorman/bartending career.

Heilman Cold Beer signs. They're all over the place. Along with Pabst. Many, because of the Polish Heritage of the neighborhood, don't say "Cold Beer" they say "Zimne Piwo" which is cold beer in polish. Don't let the door hit you in the dupa on the way out!

The Pontiac Cafe, after my time there, which was the most infamous of bars and dives that I tended bar at. This is also the bar where I had my last drink. Served by Johnny Angel, who also got me sober. How do you like that for irony? In my time, we didn't have that plank/boundary thing - that was city mandated after it was discovered Buddy, the owner, didn't have the proper permits for it. in my day anything that was concrete was patio, so the patio was twice that area. Man, this place....It still defies words (not in a good way.) It's closed now. Which is as it should be. This is one building over, and on the other side of the El Tracks, from the Double Door picture above

Inside the Pontiac Cafe, at the corner of the bar, which was the place that you wanted to be. Guess who is standing, just to the left here? That's right. That's me. Beardless. Looking sharp. Must've been on my way out to dinner or something. It's almost ten years ago. I've definitely stopped drinking and all that, based on the people around me. I'm talking to Gina Black of The Blacks, a country-punk band and a Pontiac waitress. Crazy isn't it? I found this photo by accident on Flickr. I was startled to notice myself standing there. Seems like forever and a day.

I was going to do a post on the impending Blockbuster bankruptcy, the dominance of Netflix, and a nostalgic look back at the days of VHS tapes, the local video store, and spending hours browsing through tapes, trying to decide what to watch/or racing there, hoping desperately what you wanted to watch was still available. But that all changed when I decided to do a more CDM centered post and review:

HOT TUBS!!!!

How could you NOT love one of these?!?!

Yes, hot tubs. Or, as they’re known when they’re in ground and part of the pool/backyard design – pool spas. I actually like the sound of that better – “pool spa.”

What prompted this switch from the topical to the indulgent?! Well, I have to be honest – I’m about to climb in one and I won’t lie to you, it is one of my most favorite things. Why? There is just something inherently relaxing, therapeutic and decidedly end-of-the-day signifying for me when I climb in one.

I wish there was a bit more to it than that, but honestly it comes down to simply that end-of-the-dayness for me. Here at Casa De Uebe it’s often quite tranquil, of course, being more of a town, rather than a big sprawling city. But also the sky is clear, away from the heavy smog, and when the moon is out, it’s bright and wonderful to gaze up at it as one of the jets works over my aching shoulders after a hard day grinding pages. (Okay, there aren’t many hard days for me when I come down to the Mar. I promise, though, the memory of them haunt me when I’m down here and the pool spa is just the right remedy to chase them away.)

If you’re near one in the not-too-distant-future, I’m telling you: ultimately, it’s therapeutic. That means it’s good for you. Climb right in, without hesitation. And let the tension melt away.

Looks like it’s time for me to climb in…..

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!

In more ways than one.

The search for an apartment is still underway.

Both of us realized after a night’s sleep that the apartment we thought we liked? Well, that we didn’t like it quite as much as I let on we did in my last entry and that we should keep looking – especially with so many vacancies on the West side. So, today, we hit the pavement again,

We’ll get there. Patience was the lesson. Much needed, career-wise, as well. All right had an unexpectedly crazy day and could (obviously) use some sleep,

…as a UCLA graduate student. Next stop? The real world and a career of some kind.

Been thinking of the wonderful souls who lifted me up along the way, most of all the years I spent bound and determined to fall. I am truly blessed soul who travels this world in the company of some fierce supporters, who couldn’t have helped me anymore than they have in my winding road to this beautiful point in my life. My gratitude to each and every one of you knows no bounds.

My folks are visiting for the first time since I moved out. We toured North Campus today, had lunch in W L.A. at John O’Groats, stopped by Urth Caffe in Beverly Hills for a late afternoon coffee drink, and then out to Santa Monica and Il Fornaio for dinner. It was a good day. Action packed, but good. UCLA’s campus size really seemed to blow them away, plus it was a beautiful day and there’s nothing quite like that campus on one of those postcard perfect afternoons. It’s some serious pretty.

To be honest, I’m seriously frazzled and can’t believe tomorrow is tomorrow and not a big ole day of rest. I think we should run Graduation like the NBA finals and put four or five days in between events. At least.

With that, I will bow out. One more parting thought, tuck it in your breast pocket so it stays close to your heart.

This week two very different, but equally dear, close, old friends of mine lost a parent, unexpectedly. Both were not terribly young or as healthy as they could be, but were young enough for each death to be a bit of a tragic surprise.

I share this in hopes that if you’re the praying kind, you’ll say a prayer for both. They’re largely on their own in dealing with all the arrangements and that’s a task I couldn’t imagine.

But also, as a gentle reminder, in life we all know there are many beginnings and endings, but we don’t always see either coming. So, if your near someone you love, as I know many of my UCLA friends reading this are this weekend, take a minute to cherish their presence and hold that memory of cherishing them for those days when you won’t be able to.

My heart and prayers go out to both souls of the dearly departed, and to their two wonderful children who grieve their sudden departure.

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.

It’s the last week of the quarter. Well, the last week of the last quarter. So, I’ve been crazy busy, trying to bring the projects home on time. Had an immense weight lifted today. I finished my last 434 script and handed it in to my awesome professor, John Sweet (The Affair of the Necklace.) I haven’t slept much in the past two days, but I got it done and in. So, now all I have left is the rewrite of my play for next Tuesday. Then school will be done.

Regular posting should resume tomorrow. I’m taking a long night on the couch to regroup, before the final push. Plus, Jason and I have a few things we have to get cracking on. On top of all that, I had my dental appointment on Tuesday. What was supposed to be a 3-4 appointment turned into an 8 and 1/2 hour marathon. 8 of those hours were solid work. The 1/2 hour was interspersed throughout the day in ten minute increments for breaks. It was unexpected and wiped me out. I still haven’t completely recouped my forward momentum. I lost an entire day to it. I came home and tried to work and couldn’t. It was a rough one. Roughest I’ve ever had – terrible back pain in the chair in the morning, countless shots throughout the day  to numb the area consistently that they were working on, six teeth in total were addressed, an allergic reaction to the slow-setting material they used for my first round of impressions. It was grueling. I’m thrilled it’s over and I don’t know how else it could’ve been done, but I never want to endure that again.

So tonight, some TV, some pasta, some Ice Cream, and some sleep. Tomorrow’s another day.

Thanks for listening to me vent yesterday. I always appreciate the ear.

One thing that pops up in the experience is just how much, yet again, there’s such an obvious benefit to having a writing partner, or at the very least a tight knit community to plug into after an experience. So much of this business are moments like last night, or better versions of them. You would think it’s all writing, at home alone. Sadly, not true. Most of the time it is all about the strange, and always emotionally taxing dance of development that must happen before anything else does; well, that as well as endless, frustrating days – no, weeks – of waiting. If I were on my own and had no one to bounce these experiences off of, it would take days, and far too much emotional energy, to work through them on my own. Sure, it’s possible. But I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. Seriously.

Okay, enough shop talk. Tomorrow, my dear friends Brett and Jennifer are leaving for a surprise Paris trip to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary. Mazeltov, both of you. Have the trip of your lives. Thank God Brett came looking for me at the Pontiac all those years ago! It’s wonderful to see one small, seemingly inconsequential event, in concert with a fantastic orchestra of events big and small, blossom into the beautiful family you have today.

That’s all I’ve got for tonight. Go hug someone you love. Let them know how special they are to you. Then do something nice for the both of you. It’s always worth it.

Oh, wait. forgot two things:

I promised a picture of Dave. He’s a tough one to take pictures of, so this is an older one from his owner. But it really captures Dave in all his Daveness. Love this dog. So easy going!

And of course, Dennis Hopper passed today. He had been, as we all knew, quite sick. Still sad, though. Here’s the post I wrote on it, awhile ago, AMERICAN RACONTEUR, if you’re so inclined.

So, one of the great television shows ended last Sunday night. Yes, it’s time we tackled the  LOST finale here at Guided By Wire. I do promise this – if you’re not a fan and don’t plan on watching it, that’s fine. I understand. I may think you’re really cheating yourself out of some prime entertainment, but I promise not to make fun of you. Well, not too much at least.

The finale last Sunday was some serious event television. With a recap, two hour special before the two and a half hour final episode, it was an epic evening of television. The likes of which we don’t really see much of anymore. The last time I recall such a big deal being made out of the end of a television show was SEINFELD. I know several iconic shows have ended since then, but they didn’t seem to rise about the usual chatter and galvanize fans and non-fans alike to watch. That’s what makes it an event. For LOST, they were not on their normal night and commanded the whole primetime block for the evening and late night as well (Jimmy Kimmel special after.). That screams event to me.

Why all the hullabaloo? Well, LOST was the last of a dying breed of shows. Sure, it had its hard core fans (LOSTIES) and it had been at for six years, featured a talented cast and had plenty of mystery going on week to week (some would say too much, but I would say to them never!) What’s this business about last of a dying breed? Well, LOST was epic. Unrepentantly epic, actually, with its sprawling cast and story lines, it’s Feature like attention to set design and cinematography, the pathological willingness of the writers to constantly push and play with the world they built from the pilot form, until it didn’t resemble itself (An island that travels through time?!?!) The production shot in Hawaii and didn’t shy away from featuring the undeveloped vistas play a role. Also, the score. The amazing, Feature like score that was crafted for different episodes and for the show as a whole. In fact, you could say when LOST was firing on all cylinders, we were getting a movie a week on Television and it was a gripping movie that get us on the edge of our seat. We probably won’t ever see that type of show – the epic, almost movie-like, sprawling, multi-threaded (different ongoing storylines instead of self-contained) one-hour drama – on television again. A show of that nature is a trying undertaking and in today’s humbled economy, as well as broadcasting’s splintered, specialized market, a show of LOST’S scope and cost doesn’t make much sense. You never know, but I would be surprised.

Many, many different threads were begun by the writers through the six seasons. A lot of the build-up through this season was, of course, all about the “answers.” How many would we get? We couldn’t possibly get them all, could we? What was important? What wasn’t? And on and on. This season, admittedly, buckled under all that build-up. It was unwieldy at first as a whole new thread, important to the Finale (which we didn’t understand at the time), was developed and the answers were given sporadically and not in the most dramatic fashion, more as an afterthought at times. That’s okay. It happens. They had a heck of a job to do, overall, and I think they did the best they could, in the end.  There’s been plenty of debate among LOSTIES and even NON-LOSTIES this week over the Finale, the choices made, the narrative path taken, and all that was left unanswered. Part of the struggle in this debate has stemmed, in my opinion, from making sense of the Finale in the context of all that came before it, essentially fitting it in as the last piece of a puzzle, and making sense of the new world threaded in this season and played out in the Finale. There’s been many theories trying to explain what happened and why. The best, or at least most concise and fun one that I’ve seen so far, is embedded below:

BE FOREWARNED: MAJOR SPOILERS!

Yes, LOST explained with post-it notes in about three minutes. And, he’s right, basically. He nails the core story and lays it out with great clarity. What I love though, is what he says at the very end.

“For me LOST isn’t a show that’s about the story, but a show about how the story is told.”

That is it. Right to the heart of it. With LOST and its Finale, as well as many other shows, what we love is how the story is told; or what we should love and become fans of is how the story is told. If your a LAW & ORDER fan, which ended its run this past week after twenty-one seasons on the air, you know what I mean. That’s another great example. They say in all storytelling there’s only six stories and what captivates us as audiences, what has captivated us from the fire light on the cave wall to the plasma glowing in the dark, is how those six stories are told. The LOST writers made a definite choice in the Finale to focus on how they would tell that last episode’s story, and subsequently through that choice, how they would tell the story of the series. Upon reflection, through this prism, it was a master class on storytelling. The Finale was completely satisfying in an emotional context, which is the choice that the writers made – emotion was the frame chosen to display their work over the past six seasons and it was an excellent choice because it made everything feel complete, it made us feel connected one last time to this strange world and these characters on their mind-bending journey. That’s no small feat – to make us care all the way to the final shots in over a hundred hours of storytelling. And that’s exactly what they did – by focusing on how to tell the story and not worrying about the story so much. Bravo and thank you, to the writers of LOST and this gentleman with his post-its and YouTube video, opening my eyes to the power of this principle.