News
Moving, Moving, Moving
got some boxes today. that was fun. from a place called box city in van nuys. even got a tape gun too. its neat. apologies (yes, again) for the lack of posting but i have been a little under the weather for awhile after my work of late. stress is a funny thing that does bad things to you. its just bad, bad, bad. that’s why i try to avoid it as much as possible and one of the reasons i pretty much gave up on showbiz. too much stress.
oh well, i guess i messed that one up, didn’t i? in other news, put my order in for a shiny new black macbook today. its a cool new laptop (sorry, not a laptop) a cool new macbook which will allow me to get rid of two pieces of hardware and go down to one. with a macbook running mac osx and windows xp via bootcamp i won’t need a windows laptop anymore either. cool, right?
apple says the computer should ship in 5 to 7 business days but i hope its faster than that. usually is. let’s hope so. although, what with the moving and all i doubt i would have much time to play around with it anyway so its probably good that it doesn’t get here until after the move anyway. less of a temptation to just sit around and play with it instead of packing.
anyway, i’ll give a full report on it when it comes and let you know if the glossy screen and the new keyboard are annoying or cool. my dell laptop has a glossy screen so i’m not too worried. i don’t think it will bother me. we’ll see. ok, gotta go now and walk over to rite aid to pick up some stuff.
Moving on up! (or at least out)
well, its official, i am moving to new digs. after some trial and error and back and forth its definitely on for the end of the month fo sure. i am both nervous and excited at the prospect. having lived in the same place for almost ten years its a little odd to think that in a few weeks i will be in a new place. there are many problems with my current digs so moving is good.
of course, the cynic in me is telling me that there could be even more problems with a new place and all that. “the devil you know” scenario. well, i say to hell with that. i know what i have and a new place will definitely be better. so there.
besides, it will only be for a short while as i am looking to buy a house in the very near future. i wonder if the prices will become more manageable soon? i can hold my breath for only a few minutes so i don’t think that will be enough. unfortunately, everyone seems to want to live in los angeles so the home prices keep going up and up. oh well. maybe it will change?
anyway, the new place is bigger and more modern and has lots of things going for it. especially the part about being new and stuff. who doesn’t like new, right? i know i do.
there are many other things going on with me and with the world in general and i don’t have time to go into them at the moment. besides, i am easing back into the blogging anyway so this might be all i can do at the moment. i will try to increase it but it will probably be a slow process. so, hang in there if you can. until next time.
a picture is worth some words
if you remember this movie and its tag line you will understand what i mean. if you are drawing a blank, i’ll give you a little help. the tag line is “don’t bury me, i’m not dead”. that pretty much describes my situation at the moment. as in not dead, just away. far away. although i am closer to getting back and will be in los angeles proper later next week.
its been a long couple of months. long but fun. rewarding even. travel is good. i’ve seen new places, met new people and done new things. it will all go into my big book of fun stuff. although, i don’t really have one of those so . . . well, anyway.
now i’m off to mexico but will eventually spend more than a few days in los angels. maybe next week. really.
Vacation. Well, not really.
hello all. i am taking a small vacation from my real work to do my other real work and will be out of town for a little while. consequently, this site will suffer even more for lack of content. my sincere apologies but it can’t be helped. pulling the kind of hours that i am simply leave me too burned out to write anything even half interesting. so, a blank page it is.
when things stabilize, i will return. until then, i wish you all the best and may you get all the things you didn’t know you wanted.
Darren McGavin, dead at 83.sometimes you get what you didn’t know you wanted
you know, when i started these latest projects i really didn’t know what to expect. will the people i am working with be complete jerks or cool and easy going? do they really have the money and are they really doing these projects or are they just jerking everyone around? all of it very pro / con like that with more on the con side.
when you have been around a little and done a few things, especially in an industry such as entertainment, you start to develop a pretty good bullshit detector. i have heard most every speech about how this or that things is going to happen and you just need to hang in there a little longer and it will all work out and blah, blah, blah.
the truth is, it sometimes does work out. most of the time, however, its complete bullshit. yes, i said it. most people in hollywood who work in the entertainment industry are full of it. that’s not to say that there are not great people who act and are professional and a pleasure to deal with. there are many of those. just not that many.
over the years i have met many great people and have had, and still have, great relationships with them. i have also met many people who i would love to club over the head. of course, as that is illegal, i would never do it. plus, its rather rude so doing it would pretty much drop me down to the level of the people i wanted to club. so that’s out.
what i do instead is just avoid those types of people and situations. during my initial meeting with a potential employer i can almost always tell in a few minutes if i want to work with them or not. many time, its in the not category. sometimes, i get a good feeling and i accept the job.
i am lucky in that i don’t have to accept any job that is offered to me. that alone gives me a great deal of power in the room when talking with a potential employer. i don’t care that much if i get the job or not. another one will be along soon enough. that also helps me when i get the inevitable question of “what’s your rate for this?†as in, how much are you going to charge us to do this job.
for my current projects, i didn’t have the best feeling and thought in many ways that the project would have a great deal of difficulty getting going and being completed within the stated guidelines. plus, i asked several questions that i normally ask and the answers were rather vague and in many cases, non existent. so, not a great start.
when the question came up as to my fee for these projects, i felt in a pretty good position to give a really high number. either they would accept and i would get a good salary for the next few months or they would decline and i could go about my business knowing that i probably didn’t loose out on anything except big pain in the ass. obviously, they decided to go for the money and i have been working since then.
i am happy to report that i seem to have stumbled on a patch of good people who are professional yet easy-going and fun to work with. perhaps its because the are english and like a good pint? could be. no matter the reason, i am having a great time and for the first time in several years, contemplating a return to a more active role in the industry.
plus, it looks like we got a movie lined up after this in july so that’s a good thing too. of course, that could also be complete bullshit. i’ll keep you posted.
sometimes you get what you didn't know you wanted
you know, when i started these latest projects i really didn’t know what to expect. will the people i am working with be complete jerks or cool and easy going? do they really have the money and are they really doing these projects or are they just jerking everyone around? all of it very pro / con like that with more on the con side.
when you have been around a little and done a few things, especially in an industry such as entertainment, you start to develop a pretty good bullshit detector. i have heard most every speech about how this or that things is going to happen and you just need to hang in there a little longer and it will all work out and blah, blah, blah.
the truth is, it sometimes does work out. most of the time, however, its complete bullshit. yes, i said it. most people in hollywood who work in the entertainment industry are full of it. that’s not to say that there are not great people who act and are professional and a pleasure to deal with. there are many of those. just not that many.
over the years i have met many great people and have had, and still have, great relationships with them. i have also met many people who i would love to club over the head. of course, as that is illegal, i would never do it. plus, its rather rude so doing it would pretty much drop me down to the level of the people i wanted to club. so that’s out.
what i do instead is just avoid those types of people and situations. during my initial meeting with a potential employer i can almost always tell in a few minutes if i want to work with them or not. many time, its in the not category. sometimes, i get a good feeling and i accept the job.
i am lucky in that i don’t have to accept any job that is offered to me. that alone gives me a great deal of power in the room when talking with a potential employer. i don’t care that much if i get the job or not. another one will be along soon enough. that also helps me when i get the inevitable question of “what’s your rate for this?” as in, how much are you going to charge us to do this job.
for my current projects, i didn’t have the best feeling and thought in many ways that the project would have a great deal of difficulty getting going and being completed within the stated guidelines. plus, i asked several questions that i normally ask and the answers were rather vague and in many cases, non existent. so, not a great start.
when the question came up as to my fee for these projects, i felt in a pretty good position to give a really high number. either they would accept and i would get a good salary for the next few months or they would decline and i could go about my business knowing that i probably didn’t loose out on anything except big pain in the ass. obviously, they decided to go for the money and i have been working since then.
i am happy to report that i seem to have stumbled on a patch of good people who are professional yet easy-going and fun to work with. perhaps its because the are english and like a good pint? could be. no matter the reason, i am having a great time and for the first time in several years, contemplating a return to a more active role in the industry.
plus, it looks like we got a movie lined up after this in july so that’s a good thing too. of course, that could also be complete bullshit. i’ll keep you posted.
me, myself and i
yes, its all about me, me and again, me. i am now working on a couple of super secret projects that only a few key people know about. two are for one major electronics giant and the other is for an even bigger multi-media giant. anyway, the first two involve some actual filming (in HD really so no film) and also some fire, cops and a lot of action. good fun. the third one might involve filming as well but that’s still up for discussion.
plus, one of them also involves a rather well-known sports figure who is really quite cute as well. so, that should be fun. anyway, i would love to share more but can’t at this moment. that’s right, i can give you no clue as to who the sports figure is. sorry.
i can say that its actually much more fun to be back producing stuff than i thought it was going to be. at first, i was kinda not really that interested. producing things like this requires a lot of time and effort and often a little bit of stress, which i always try to avoid (the stress i mean. work is ok).
now that it has been a week or two, its actually pretty fun to be back into it. i’m sort of surprised really but also relieved as well. i’m glad it hasn’t been a total nightmare working with bad people who yell for no reason and can’t make decisions. who needs that, right? the people that i am doing this with seem much nicer and easy going and a pleasure to work with. so, i got that going for me. which is nice. plus, i get to work with friends and hire people that i like so that’s a good feeling too. and the money’s not bad either, which is also another plus.
on another front, i am looking forward to getting my hands on the new T-Mobile MDA next week. i will be picking one up and trying to determine if this i finally the device that will solve my problem of wanting one tool that is a phone/organizer and also gets email, etc. it has a lot of features and seems, at least on paper, to have what it takes. i should have it tuesday so i will let you know how it goes. although these jobs are taking more and more time (hence the infrequent posting) so i don’t know when i will really get some sort of review up.
i know some people (friends of mine) seem not to like t-mobile but they have been fine for me so far. their network seems to be pretty good here in los angeles. i even get signal in my home office which never happened with cingular/att. although, that was a few years ago. maybe they are better now. anyway, cingular is also going to have the MDA but they are calling it something else. i’m glad t-mobile is getting the mda as i don’t want to have to keep up with our cingular account to get one. now i can drop cingular completely now that i have moved all of our numbers over to t-mobile.
hope its a good device and as good as the specs indicate. it would be nice to find something. the blackberry is good just not great. same with the treo 650. i liked them both i just don’t love them. will i have to wait for an apple smartphone or will the MDA do the trick? come on t-mobile, rise to the challenge.
lacking something
there will be a lack of posts here for the next few weeks as i get deeper into a new super secret project. this project should prove interesting but will take a lot of my time and energy. some of which i spend writing here. so, i hope people are not too disappointed by this turn of events but i can’t do much about it if you are as i won’t be here.
i will release details of this project when i can and perhaps provide a few choice bits and pieces for your amusement. in the meantime, i am confidant that you will be able to find other ways to amuse yourself. i hear there are a few other blogs out there in the internet somewhere. one or two might even be worth reading. probably more.
if you get time, check out some of the links on the left. these people are good writers and provide me hours of entertainment and intelligent insight. be sure to check them out.
see you soon.
Good Day for Dissent, Bad Day for Alberto Gonzales
look at the picture and then check out the story here. isn’t it hard to sell something when nobody is buying? you bet your ass it is.
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday
yes, the title says it all. its sunday here and i have spent many hours this weekend watching tv. not just tv really, i watched a couple of movies too. i’m not sure why but it seemed like the thing to do. i watched battlestar galactica, the jacket (with adrien brody and the very cute keira knightley) , both NFL conference championship games (go seahawks) and new episodes of the west wing and grey’s anatomy (yes, i watch grey’s anatomy, so what?).
i also managed to squeeze in a birthday party for a one year old (my friends gil and holly’s son, julian) and also a trip to the santa monica civic to see the photo la exhibit. plus lunch and dinner and some time at whole foods market for a crap load of soy milk and other stuff. a full weekend indeed.
after taking a look around the photo la event, i am even more convinced that i am a mildly skilled photographer at best (one of my photos is in this post). those photos at photo la are really, really good. not just good, really interesting and inspiring. just what great art is supposed to do. inspire. it did for me.
i am more determined than ever to try to improve my photography skills. i have a long way to go. i am prepared to suffer for my art though so i got that going for me, which is nice.
my friend j-rod could tell you many more fascinating details about the various photographers whose work were on exhibit at photo la. i, however, can’t do much of that. i will say that i particularly liked the photos of Eikoh Hosoe and David Hilliard. check them out if you get a chance. unfortunately, photo la ends today i think so maybe you can make it next year. try, its worth it.
perhaps i will have improved by then. fingers crossed.
17″ iMac Review and a quick bit of other stuff
i know, i know. again with the light blogging. “what the hell is wrong with you?” you may ask. well, nothing really. just, you guessed it, busy again.
for some reason as yet unknown to me, except perhaps a dose of stupidity and a little boredom, i have decided to do some work back in the world of showbiz. well, not showbiz exactly, more the corporate world. on the plus side this corporate stuff is all very dramatic and will be fun to do so i am looking forward to it. we get to burn stuff and maybe even blow some shit up. good times.
anyway, back to the task at hand. over at ars technica they have a review of the new intel based imac. pretty good article. i enjoyed it. i might have to pick up one of those imacs soon (to install windows on it, of course, just to “see if i can”).
and, in other more serious news, william shatner of well, if you don’t know who he is i don’t know what to say about that, recently sold a kidney stone of his and gave the money to charity. really, it actually happened. i don’t know what more disturbing. the fact he sold a kidney stone or that someone actually bought it. really people, i like star trek but it was just a tv show. jeeez.
and, is the new video ipod responsible for the boots in ratings for NBC’s version of “the office”. if you read this, they seem to think so. could be, i guess, but the show being really funny might have something to do with it also. now if they would just start selling videos of “arrested development” on the itunes store. it might help that show too.
while we’re on the subject, isn’t it about time to change the name of the iTunes Music store to something more in line with what they are selling? how about calling it the Apple Media Store? that’s got a nice ring to it.
or maybe the Apple iStore? anyway, its time to consider a change. i’m sure they will come up with something and i hope its better than “mac book”. that doesn’t really work for me as well as “powerbook”. now that’s a cool name.
CES highlights and the future
apparently, there is some sort of event going on in las vegas called the consumer electronics show (aka CES). at the show, the major and minor electronics companies duke it out with press confrences to announce that they have developed similar products to each other that while new and exciting are not really that new or exciting. what a sad state of affairs indeed.
if you want everything in all of its glorious detail, point your browsers to the big tech blogs engadget and gizmodo. they are doing in-depth coverage of what’s hot, what’s not and what really stinks (including the backed-up toilets at the convention center). for my money, the more interesting announcements should come next week at mac world expo. perhaps on tuesday of next week to be exact.
however, if i must pick some things from CES that look interesting (and i must, for i am a writer who picks things) here they are:
tivo offers up a new box. the series 3. will this be the end all be all and finally replace all of my other boxes? mmm, doesn’t seem like it. in fact, it looks like us directv people are going to be left out in the cold with this one. cable card slots only from the look of it and no provision for satellite?
hopefully, that’s just because i don’t have more info at the moment. fingers crossed as i really, really want to keep using a tivo device and not have to switch over to some bastard child designed by the room of monkeys at directv. tivo knows something about simple and useable interface design. directv not so much.
google announces a video store. gee, what a great idea. they will be selling content from cbs and other sources as well as letting you download stuff for free. no prices yet but more content available online (legally online that is. yes, i’ve heard of bittorrent thanks) should be a good thing.
sony announced its first blu-ray dvd player. its got all the big time features and looks like a monster as well. and toshiba announced it’s HD-DVD players as well which also look pretty good.
now, if all the kids could just get together and agree on one format, that would be great. what it will come down to will be the programming. as in, what movies will be available on each format. in fact, here’s a list of release titles for blu-ray and hd-dvd(at least for now).
sony also announced a few other things including bigger memory stick pro duo cards (finally) as well as new phones and the sony reader for reading ebooks.
verizon offers up their new v cast wireless music downloads. you can download music to your verizon cell phone for two bucks each and listen to it on your phone. you can also transfer it to your computer via usb. could be interesting. sprint also has a similar offering only theirs includes video. wireless is the new black i guess.
this would be a great gaming rig (or allow you to keep yourself warm in winter) that is, if you are a person who uses a windows pc. not that there’s anything wrong with that.
last but not least, fuji is using my friend nick’s pictures in their booth at CES. so, if you are there, drop over and tell them how great the pictures look. nick would appreciate it.
oh, one more thing. there was also another event going on in vegas this week at the same time as CES. it gets less publicity but it is no less important. its the adult entertainment expo which climaxes (sorry, had to do it) with the AVN awards.
that’s it for CES. tune in next week for even more important announcements from my favorite company, apple. predictions? well, i think we might see one or two new laptops with brand new intel chips. and maybe a mac mini or imac with intel as well. perhaps some new ipod variation and hopefully, a mac-mini like device that can be put in the living room to record television content and play it back to my hd tv. too much to ask? come on apple, make it happen.
as a side note, i really wrote this for LAist but if you read carefully, i have tailored it for this site. see what i do for you.
Open mouth, insert foot
you think you do and say dumb things sometimes? well, wired has compiled a list of the biggest technology-related blunders spoken by people in power who are supposed to know better. they also have lots of people around them who are supposed to stop them from saying stupid stuff.
fortunately, these “handlers” were out to lunch several times so we get to laugh at the silly things grown-ups say. if you are not interested in clicking on the wired link, some of the more choice quotes are below (aka my favorites) but at wired, they do provide “context” and some explanation so it might be a good idea to go there anyway. whatever. enjoy!
“Screw the nano.”
– Motorola CEO Ed Zander
“I’m going to fing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I’m going to fing kill Google.”
– Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, in statements attributed to him in court documents by former Microsoft engineer and recent Google hire Mark Lucovsky
“Most people don’t even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?”
– Thomas Hesse, president of Sony BMG’s global digital business division
“All research up until now has been conducted in strict observance of the government-set guidelines.”
– Korean stem-cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk
“I know what I don’t know, and to this day I don’t know technology and I don’t know accounting and finance.”
– Bernie Ebbers, ex-CEO of WorldCom
“Lightweight, and crank it on, and you shuffle the shuffle.”
– President George Bush
Xmas post game
ok, its the day after christmas. anyone get anything good? i got socks and underwear. plus, some shirts and some other clothes. i remember being a kid and hating it when i got underwear or socks for christmas. it was all toys, toys, toys for me (still is, really).
although now, as a more “mature” person, i really understand the need for clean underwear. so, thanks mom and dad. and thanks to all who called, wrote or whatevered to wish me and mine a happy holidays. much appreciated.
now that i have said the above, i just wanted to point out that i am trying out a new blogging tool. its a firefox extension called performancing and so far, its pretty cool. this post was made with it even. i don’t know if it will replace ecto as my blog tool of choice as i really love it and have gotten used to it. but, its nice to be able to see something online and then grab it and put it into a post. not that i’ve done that here but i will.
happy boxing day all.
Home for the holidays
heading down south (no, not mexico) for a few days for some xmas cheer and whatnot (i’m big on the whatnot, btw). i intend to see a few friends and hang out for a few days and just sort of be. you know, free to be you and me, that kind of thing. (if you don’t know what i’m talking about, check out marlo thomas on imdb for a clue. don’t work too hard at it though, you’re on vacation remember?)
i have done all my shopping online this year and mostly at amazon.com. the great thing about amazon is that they wrap stuff too and just send it right to the person’s door. no transporting boxes of gifts in the car or on a plane. that’s a pain in the ass and you can’t wrap the presents due to security so really, what’s the point?. let ups do the work. you just coast in for the end and feast on the accolades.
some may think that purchasing gifts online and then just sending them to people is somehow less personal or not as in the christmas spirit as physically going to a store, buying something, wrapping it and then presenting it to someone in person. i do do that last part, at least for some people. i will be presenting gifts to the parentals in person. although, i did buy their gifts online.
really, what’s the point of suffering for the gifts by driving to the mall, looking for parking, waiting in line and pushing your way through crowds of angry shoppers pissed off that they can’t find and xbox 360 or an american girl doll either? it doesn’t make the person you give the gift to like it or dislike it. it doesn’t matter how it got there. the point is that it gets there.
a good gift is a good gift and a bad gift can be re-gifted next year. besides, its the thought that counts, right? i gave a great deal of thought to the gifts before i click the button and order. time and effort. just not exactly physical effort. it doesn’t take much physical effort to click a mouse, that’s true. but that’s not the point. the point is in the giving.
anyway, its been a great year and it looks to be a pretty good xmas. i hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season. no matter what you celebrate: christmas, chanuka, kwanza or some combo of all three, just be sure and have a good one.
and take it easy on the ‘nog. the year isn’t over yet. we still have a week until new years.
Writing is hard (aka the excuses)
as you may have seen (if anyone actually noticed) there has been larger and larger gaps between posts on this here blog. some of you may be wondering why. yes, i’m talking to you in the back row there. wake up. well, the answer is simple and no, its not burnout. although, that can happen. it’s just that i’m a busy person and more to the point: writing is hard.
ok, there, i said it. writing is hard. anyone who actually gets paid to write or anyone who just sits down and writes something will tell you. writing is work. hard work. you have to actually think about something and write it. it doesn’t just magically appear on the page. the old adage, which i have used many times to torment writers that i know, that something “writes itself” just isn’t true. you actually have to come up with it yourself and put it together. the writing keebler elf is just a myth. although, the cookies can be quite good.
sure, you can come up with a few ideas or something and jot them down (or in this case, type them in). however, getting those ideas into a somewhat coherent form is where the actual work comes in. plus, and this is a real problem for me when writing for this site and for other sites as well, i don’t always have something i want to write about. i guess i’m not angry enough. i’ll try harder.
that brings me to the other problem (yes, another one). subject matter. just writing some random words in some sort of order could be called writing, and often is. just read usa today or watch fox news. it isn’t always compelling or even interesting writing though. sometimes its really quite bad. that’s the rub. and that’s the challenge.
not to say that every word i write is golden, but i have been known to turn a phrase or two from time to time. on one of the sites i write for, LAist.com, i actually like a few of the pieces i have done for them. some relatively solid work there. but believe me, whatever you may think of my work and whatever comments you may make about it, i am a far worse critic of myself than you will ever be. its just the nature of it. most of the time i think that everything i write sucks.
but, if you feel compelled to comment or make critical observations (or even tell me something really blows) i’m ok with that. that’s part of the deal when you put something out there for people to read. you have to expect some reaction. and believe me brother, the reaction is never all good. if it were, you are probably doing something wrong. of course, a negative reaction is better than no reaction at all. as in, if a writer writes in the forest and no one reads is, is he really a writer? actually, it doesn’t really have to be in a forest. although, forests can be quite nice.
well written articles or books or essays should cause people to think and question and explore. sometimes, they even cause people to revolt or take significant steps to make sweeping changes in their lives or the lives of others. i think that’s a good thing and something to strive for. change often is inspired by someone brave enough or dumb enough to write something and put it out there and make people think. thinking is good. try it some time. it can be fun.
and if thinking causes a little conflict or makes others feel uncomfortable or exposes them to new ideas, that means the writing was effective. we shouldn’t worry so much about status quo or political correctness. this country was founded by people who rejected what was politically correct and what was status quo and we turned out pretty well. we shouldn’t forget that now that most people have 2 cars, 2.5 kids, 3.5 bedrooms, HD tv, microwave ovens, cell phones, computers, xboxes and all those other gadgets and luxuries that make life more enjoyable.
of course, if i read this now i could make an observation that this post has gotten off message and has started to meander a bit and i would be right about that. the point here is that writing is hard. and good writing is really hard. but that’s what makes it worth it. if it wasn’t difficult, it probably wouldn’t be worth doing.
i’ll try to remember that the next time i am looking at a blank page and a blinking cursor and i have nothing to say. i guess i can always ramble on about writing or how lame the president is or how much i dislike local news or people who make sweeping generalizations, every last one of them. maybe a point will come of it eventually. then again, maybe not.
i wonder what’s on tv.
