Birthday party went quite well. It was at The Yard House. I had an amazing burger. And some fresh farmers market peaches with burrata, a little olive oil, basil and sea salt on them as a starter. That was actually heavenly. The raspberry semi-freddo with arrugula cookies for desert was not so great. (This desert was not by choice, but brought out by the house for the birthday gal.) It was much more freddo than semi and, well, arugula cookies? Really? Are you sure? Are Megan and James reading this? As cafe owners and operators (Of a fabulous spot in Alameda called THE BLUE DOT CAFE. Go there, now, if you are even remotely near the Bay Area. Seriously. Would I steer you wrong? ) ; as well as restaurant vets, am I wrong in saying arugula cookies are a bit too far? I am food adventurous. Really. I have come a long way since my youth (My entire family is laughing right now, because I was the very definition of a finicky eater until my twenties.) I am willing to try just about anything save sushi. I mean I’ve eaten it. Sushi’s just not my thing. I’ll eat it again and if past really is prologue, I may some day very well come to thoroughly love it; but arugula cookies? And semi-freddo that is rather brick like? Like throw through the window brick like? (It took two spoons holding it down for a third person to chip a hunk off to consume.)
Let’s be clear here. I’m not, nor have I ever been, even remotely finicky when it comes to all things sugar. I don’t have a sweet tooth. I have sweet teeth. All of them. If my life is, as I am known to joke to close friends, a series of developing addictions and realizing/endeavoring to quit them (Recent ones include iced coffee, cookies, and writing) then sugar will be the last one standing, because it was the first and it is the deepest. Writing comes very, very close. But Sugar predates my writing habit by a decade at least. Sorry, writing. So, what I’m saying, ostensibly, is that you could throw sugar on just about anything – bake it at 350 degrees and I’m going to probably love it. Even if I don’t. I’m not going to dis it. I’ll eat it and wish it were, say, a molasses cookie or chocolate chip even. So, you can maybe extrapolate from there the arugula cookie. I know we want to be forward thinking in our culinary imagination (Mr. David Murphy, are you reading this? Mr. David Murphy – former roommate, good friend, one half of the legendary Americana outfit COLD MOUNTAIN, dangerous poet, tuba player, and one of the world’s most dazzling, inventive, and talented chefs – could back me up on “forward thinking in our culinary imagination.” As a chef, David Murphy is straight up from the future, that’s how forward thinking he is when it comes to taste architecture) but sometimes don’t we go too far?
And so, what started as a review on walks, has quickly turned into our first negative review, here at Guided By Wire’s new Saturday Review, on Arugula Cookies.
Posted on September 5th, 2010 by doc | 2 Comments »
Took the day, blissfully, off. There will be more than enough to do in the weeks ahead. I know it’s been light posting, but, well, you know it’s been a rather unique week that’s taken me a little bit away from the day to day routines.
As promised, here are the photos that I have of graduation:
On the outside are Cynthia and JJ from the writing group and my friend Megan is next to me. Those two sweet looking blondes are two of the raunchiest comedy writers you will meet. That's including all the comedy writer's I came to know at Second City. Material that, while hilarious, would make a hardened sailor blush and gasp.
Taken by my Dad, who shows a hidden talent for frame composition most directors would kill for.
For the record!
Meanwhile, waiting for the call to line-up I was capturing the moment with my iphone:
JJ. again, and friend Jason Molloy on the left.
The Playwrights! There are only three per year, so they tend to hang with the Screenwriters or MFA Actors. Jacob Bursten-Stern on the left and Adam Simon on the right. Jacob is the playwright I'll be relocating to a more affordable living situation with, and Adam's from Chicago. So they're good guys.
Good Lord, what have I done now?!?!?!
JJ, on the left, and Jason, on the right, just chillin'.
JJ, Jason and Cynthia. Three/Fifths of the 431.
The 431 (a.k.a. the writing group.) From L to R: Me, Cynthia, JJ, Ed, and Jason.
My friend Meghan, looking thoughtful
Then back to the event, and my Dad’s photos. Which are, in my opinion, much better than mine. (Good Job, Dad!)
The approach. As the saying goes: "There is no turning back now." That's my writing partner behind me with his hands raised to his family, who were the best cheering section by far on the day, in terms of volume and dedication. Well done Latshaws!
Moments from donning the mantel "Master of Fine Art."
There we are, waiting to be called up.
Crossing to shake Dean Terri Schwartz's (Producer, Sister Act) hand after being called.
Descending the fabled stairs at Dickson Court, a newly conferred M.F.A.
Stunned, elated, and exhausted, searching for my seat. Wondering, already, if I should get my M.F.A. in Playwriting to deter the inevitable.
The Graduate with his Father and Mother. Not sure about that look on my face. Shock, possibly?
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.
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.
This weekend, my dear, dear friend Elissa, (from Chicago) was in town. She’s a big time, hard-working class action/worker’s rights lawyer back in the windy city and an old movie buddy of mine. It was a treat to see her. I’ve been thwarted, more times than I care to count, in attempts to return to Chicago to visit friends their. Either, I had the money, but couldn’t get away because of some deadline, or I didn’t have the money, but had all the time in the world (usually in the summer.) It’s been frustrating, to say the least. On just a personal level now that almost three years have passed, I’ve been dying to go back just to see the city again, visit the old neighborhood, and just be on its streets again for old time’s sake. I lived their so long that I would experience, if it’s possible, the thrill of visiting Chicago; which I remember so fondly from when I was little and would come with my parents, as well as in college in Milwaukee when we would jet down for various escapades. It was, and always will be, my first “big city” – the capital of the midwest – and carries all the thrill and electricity when visiting that it means to go to a big, cosmopolitan place where roads from all over converge. L.A. feels slightly different than that. First of all it’s big, so much bigger than any other huge capitaleseque city I’ve ever been in. There is nothing close or compact about it. Secondly, and more importantly, it’s incredibly de-centralized. Incredibly, almost maniacally so. Therefore, it feels more like a grab bag of towns, villages, and a few small almost-cities loosely arranged in one general spot everyone refers to as “Los Angeles.”
Regardless, I digress. With Elissa in town, I traveled over to Echo Park, where she is staying with another old friends of hers, Julia, whom I know also from Wicker Park in Chicago (the old ‘hood.) Julia’s been out here awhile – since 2002, or so. We had not crossed paths yet. Turns out Elissa is here because all her close girlfriends were getting together here to kind of have an informal reunion. Some had moved on from Chicago and it had been a long time since they had all been together in one place. In the midst of this, Julia had just moved and was throwing a kind of house warming party, which is where I caught with Elissa and the rest of the crew – most whom I know fairly well from Elissa. It was great to sit and chat and catch up. Elissa’s always been such a good friend. For a long time we went to the movies weekly – usually on a Tuesday night, or Wednesday. I mean over years. She was in law school by then. We had met through the bar business. She had been a Server when I first met her, then got out to go to law school. It was a wonderful ritual.
Echo Park, though, to give you an idea is way on the east side of L.A. Remember back in the 80′s when latino comedians like Paul Rodriguez and Cheech Marin would make jokes about ‘East L.A.?” (I think they even made a movie, right? Born in East L.A.?) That’s Echo Park. It was the barrio once upon a time. Now, it’s one of three neighborhoods in L.A. where there’s been some gentrification – not completely – but some and a ton of Hipsters flooded the area. Most all of L.A.’s music scene is actually centered in and around there – the bands all live there, the clubs where they start out are all there. It’s its own world almost, because it’s so east. So, heading over to see Elissa was an adventure – which in L.A. is always fun. Again, vast being the key word. In traffic, this neighborhood is over an hour away; but without traffic is more like a half hour. The terrain is a bit bit different – very hilly and the streets are quite twisty. It’s much grittier (in certain parts); but really just reminiscent of places in Chicago that were a lot rougher – like Humboldt Park in the late 90s, Wicker Park in the early 90′s, and Ukrainian Village in the mid-90s. So, in a lot of ways, it felt like I was traveling back to Chicago (and in time) by going to the party.
Julia’s apartment is in what must’ve been a mansion of some kind, or, possibly, a municipal building. It was this epic columned, old, stately two story, high up on this steep hill (we’re talking four flights of stairs just to get to the front door.) The building had been carved into 2 bedroom and 1 bedroom apartments some time ago. The interior was very vintage. Julia’s apartment had some detail that was period (maybe 50s, maybe 30s.) She was up on the second floor, with an amazing view. At the party their was a tarot card reader, so I got my cards read. One word that came up in my reading, unprompted, was “teacher.” The spiritualist felt strongly that being a teacher was a part of my future. (Also, Jason – as long as we are cautious in our negotiations – financial success, professionally, should be coming soon. Very soon.) The last element was that I would find love, as long as I wasn’t guarder – but rather open to it – in the next two weeks to two months. So, somebody remember that and we’ll check back in August, see how things turn out. I think my odds are good.
Tomorrow is hump day, of course, and I don’t know about anyone else; but I’m looking forward to getting through it. Seems like there’s been a ton of meetings, lots of development stuff on various projects, which while quite a bit of fun, is also pretty exhausting overall. Though, I can happily report, we are fast approaching a time when – at least for the better part of two months – it will just be writing time.
Lots of good, positive stuff happening on the feature side with Right Brain. We were in today for another story breaking section. A marathon four and a half hour session, on the magnetic whiteboard, 3X5 carding the plot/scenes of the screenplay (Chinatown in the Desert.) All four of us – Alan and his boss, Seth - who’s head of development there – Jason, and myself. I’ll say this – we’ve been firing on all cylinders and it’s been feeling excellent every step of the way. Today was a lot of fun. We’ve been through the plot of the story several times. I’d say we have three very different versions that we’ve worked through. But each time we’ve made it better and tighter and more exciting. I know that Seth and Alan are both very high on our work and our work ethic. Which should be a good thing for us going forward. We are at the outline stage, then we’ll have one more meeting in the first week of April. Once the outline checks out, we’ll go to pages and write the first draft. From there, if we do our job (and deep down I know we will, because we can deliver), we’ll hopefully be out to actors and directors early this summer. Which would be incredible. I don’t want to get ahead of the curve, there’s still a long road and a lot of work to do, but it’s nice to be working directly for the next stage; instead of the idea of the next stage. Does that make sense? Either Right Brain will make this or they won’t. It’s their decision. Which is refreshing and motivating. It just doesn’t always happen like that.
So, we’ll see what happens. Think happy thoughts and say some prayers. I can safely say we’ll take all the assistance we can get. Tomorrow we have a meeting with Tony on the John Doe feature. Our outline is in place and in excellent shape. We’re basically ready to go off and write that one. So, we should be underway on that one sooner than later. That one’s so close to reaching a cruising altitude. Can’t wait.
All right. I’m tired. After the long, but fruitful session, I went to play poker with the playwrights – which is always a blast – at Tiffany’s house. I came out ahead tonight, which was a first. It wasn’t looking good in the first half, but I bounced back. Always love poker night. Buy in is five bucks, so it’s not like we’re breaking the bank. And though we all act tough playing, if we didn’t have Adam’s gentle, but firm guiding hand, we’d probably slide into playing hearts or euchre or go fish or just gabbing away over the buffet of snacks we lay out on the table. Though tonight was special – Tiff made awesome chicken BBQ sandwiches for us. Gotta love it!
Car is fixed. Can I just say that I’m a big fan of AAA?
In Los Angeles you can’t hail a cab from the street – they don’t stop, and taking the bus – while possible – could take you all day just to navigate the simplest of routes. Not to mention require you to take three to four busses to get where you need to go. It’s a car city. Wait, make that a car county. Because that’s what L.A. is – a county. Not a city, per se. So, when your car breaks down – and it will at some point, happens to everyone – you better have someone to call. Some roadside service to help you out.
I gave a call at noon. AAA was out in twenty-five minutes. Checked the battery – it needed to be replaced. That’s the third new battery in five years with that car. Not to sure about that, but that’s a whole other matter I’m not gonna get into it. I had the Triple A guy change the battery – all told from the moment I called to the moment I was rolling out the driveway to run some errands it was forty-five minutes. Not bad. Works for me. At least it wasn’t the electrical or ignition. (Thank you, God.)
Been busy, buys, busy, despite it being technically exam week, and therefore – for the graduate screenwriters – first week of spring break. We had an excellent story meeting at Write Brain (of Nala Films.) They are over the moon about our work on Dead Man’s Hand (or Sacred Ground.) We’re trying to not get to ahead of ourselves, but I think we’ve really made some fans over there. That’s a good feeling – keeps you wormking hard when you get some genuine feedback.
After that meeting, I scurried over to a dinner party in Beverly Hills – so I missed Justified (and forgot to DVR it.) Here’s hoping it’s up on Hulu or FX’s sight, or better yet, my good friend – On Demand. The dinner party was lovely – a few producing program friends – both current 2nd year producing program soon to be grads and a recent alum and her directing alum fiance, both wonderful folks. We had a lovely dinner and, of course, talked about film and TV and UCLA for most of the night. The directing alum works for Sundance and the producing alum is an assistant/associate producer/good friend of the creator/showrunner of Pushing Daisies, among other shows. They’re all good folks and dear friends. All attendees are foodies at heart, so a good time was had by all.
Another story meeting tomorrow with a young director (for John Doe.) Should be a good one.
