Willy's Birthday and Bat-Pod

On Wednesday, all morning working on financials and paying bills. Went to lunch with my neighbor Willy who's an award-winning sound supervisor. His birthday today. Got a sandwich at Whole Foods and ate at the park. Tjavascript:void(0)rying to help Willy get on a couple pictures, one with someone he knew from working on 'March of the Penguins'. Gabrielle took me to the first-ever television writers mixer at Cat & Fiddle, hosted by Jane Mountain. Packed, about 80 people. Too noisy and chaotic. Ran into Josh, who I knew from city's misdirected open source initiative. Met Carrick who may be a COMEDY WALK show host. Gabrielle and I ate at Astro Burger afterwards.

On Thursday, up at 4:30am writing a series on the technology of 'The Dark Knight' for Hollywood Today, starting with Batman's Bat-Pod motorcycle. Posted articles for Gabrielle and Hawk. Sent invitation to ScreenPlayLab mixer on Monday. Long chat on phone with Hawk, one of my Hollywood Today reporters. Applied for Linux job at MTV. Ordered Chinese take-out, but they messed it up again so won't order there anymore. Watched disk 3 of 'Lillie' with Gabrielle.

Comedy Walk August

Comedy Walk just happened Thursday, which means I'm busy getting ready for the next one on August 14th. Gabrielle is casting the comedians. I'm selecting the show hosts and updating the website.

My screenwriter Silvia is making good progress. I phoned Pam, and she's going to complete her present-day screenplay based on 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.

I wrote an article about Jon Voight joining '24' for Hollywood Today. First time he's had a series since 'Gunsmoke' in the 1960s. This is part of the press conferences at the Television Critics Association. The networks bring out their stars for a couple weeks to talk to media about their new shows.

Elsevier Challenge and Jon Voight Article

I wrote two more R&D proposals for the Elsevier Challenge. The deadline is midnight CEST. That's central Europe, 9 hours later. Submitted three proposals total.

Reheated potato leek soup for dinner. Watched a couple episodes of Acorn 'Lillie' on DVD with Gabrielle.

Reading 'Rewrite' by Paul Chitlik. My friend Quinn recommended it. Intro says rewrite is hard, duh. Seems a discouraging way to start. Chapter one reviews the hero's journey screenplay structure. However, I'm rewriting a romance 'Pride & Prejudice' type of script that isn't an action movie hero's journey. Wrote Chitlik to see if he has a suggestion.

Reviewing pages of black historical for screenwriter Silvia. That got stalled when she left for Cannes. Back on track now. Screenwriter Anzu says she's completed rock star biographical, but I haven't seen it yet.

Article for Hollywood Today: interview with Jon Voight talking about his new role on Fox '24' and Jolie twins.

Box Office Report and Christian Science Church

I wrote the Sunday box office report for HollywoodToday.net. The studio estimates came out at 10:30am, which was just in time to include them before I posted my story.

Then I went to the Beverly Hills Christian Science church which is nearby. They're a friendly group with many people like me in the film industry. Christian Science believes in mind over matter, that you can be cured through prayer. Another principle is to express how grateful you are, which is pleasing to hear. The church was founded by a woman and has two speakers at the service, one to read from the Bible and another to read the interpretation.

I edited a story on Hellboy 2 for one of my reporters.

I prepared a proposal for the Elsevier Challenge to create breakthroughs in the field of scientific articles publication. My proposal is a game-like interface for queries.

My neck feels very stiff. Working at the computer so much is too much sometimes.

Director Notes and Cookbook

A director friend of mine surprised me by emailing me excellent notes on one of my scripts. That script is still on a top A-list star's desk, recommended by her manager to star and produce. Any decision on it was postponed pending the WGA and SAG strikes, so it's been sitting there a long time. Attaching a director would be a logical next step.

I made potato leek soup this morning. Gabrielle asked for it, but the recipe was missing from Gabrielle's cookbook. She wrote it from memory so I could make it. I asked Gabrielle to give me her cookbook last week so I can help finish it. She sent me the file in Publisher, which I had to install on my computer to read it. As I don't know Publisher, I exported it via PDF back to Word. Not the best publishing tool, but I know how to use it.

We went to the Famous Deli for dinner. Gabrielle had a tofu Rueben sandwich, which I could learn how to make.