Things I have to do before I leave

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Tuesday, I leave for So Cal at 4:44 am, and I have a lot to prepare. Here’s a checklist of things I’ll need to bring:

    Books to read, preferably ones put out by my publisher.
    Clothes that fit and don’t look terrible. (My wife spent part of this morning sewing buttons back onto shirts–I don’t deserve her)
    Thank you gift for the friend who is putting me up.
    The rough cut DVD of the low-budget film I helped produce.
    kiddie gifts for our former roommate with a new baby.
    My old laptop bag, which isn’t comfortable but is much more appropriate for crowds than my dumb backpack
    Checkbook for splitting expenses.
    A list of items I need to research in L.A.
    My sense of humor and adventure.
    A towel.
    A camera
    Notebooks and pens

I plan to update this list as I think of more things.

That doesn’t sound like much, but jeez.

I eat

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Tonight, I’ll be meeting my family (wife, son, visiting sister-in-law) for dinner at my favorite restaurant. It’s provincial French, and very simple. Not too fancy, but delicious food.

I wish they’d put the Normandy Chicken back on the menu, though.

Should I mention that I had completely forgotten about it, and that my wife had to call me to remind me? No, better not.

This. Is. Awesome.

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Turn fast food take out into beautiful food!

seen via blackhanddpants

Eeep!

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This is me, spamming your feeds and lists…

One of my supervisors at my day job offered me a chance to do a reading. Here at work.

Here.

At work.

I… erm… thanked her and declined. I’d just as soon do a pole dance.

Changing the (pop) culture

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A Hollywood producer writes–undercover of anonymity–about sexism in her industry. It’s interesting stuff, but here’s one of the many money quotes:

I heard a male agent once say that if the heroine of a script didn’t face higher stakes, he couldn’t see how someone would emotionally invest in her. OK, so the character is never chased to the edge of a cliff or anything, but plenty of successful movies exist with mediocre stakes.

Was anyone ever truly emotionally invested in whether Owen Wilson got it together in “Wedding Crashers”? It could be argued that the stakes of our movie were at least as high as learning to act like a grown man when you are one, so what gives?

Women in Film — We’re Not There Yet (Don’t bother with the comments.)

Transitions are for the weak!

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Chat rooms: are they relics of a bygone age or are they still kicky fun?

Hee!

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This morning, the Senate Health Committee passed its bill on a straight-party line vote. I hear it’s a pretty good plan, although I’d be surprised if it was as strong as the plan the House just passed.

The White House is calling it a bipartisan bill–not because Republicans voted for it. They didn’t. They’re calling it “bipartisan” because it contains Republican ideas. That matters, because they’re signalling to possible GOP moderates that they are not going to water down the final bill to win a few Repub votes.

Yay! Finally, some hopeful news.

And for bonus grins, ultra-conservative Republican senator Tom Coburn added an amendment to the bill requiring Congress to get their health care from the public plan. Rather than kill the amendment, Sens. Edward Kennedy (who voted by proxy) and Chris Dodd, both Democrats, called their bluff and voted for it.

Now, it seems pretty unlikely that the amendment would survive all the way to the final version of the law, but Kennedy likes the public plan, and really, why shouldn’t our elected leaders have a personal stake in public programs?

Warehouse 13

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I didn’t want to review this based only on the pilot, but having seen the first episode, I have to admit that I’m torn. It’s as if a team of talentless dorks found an incredible series pitch–complete with rough episode outlines–and ran with it as best they could.

The show is a weird mix of graceful, interesting moments and embarrassments like the male lead saying “Boobies?” or a slow-mo shot of a sexy woman entering the room to the tune of “Oh, yeah,” by Yello. There’s genuine pleasure there, but you have to endure a lot of pain to get to is.

God, I’m so fucking stupid

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Why do I have to post these things?  Christ. I’m such an idiot.

Three visual items

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First:  Seattle pranksters/vandals have been altering billboards around town.  For instance:

Hee.  See more.

Second, Jonathan King, the director behind the hilarious and underrated BLACK SHEEP, has a new movie coming out.  Check out the trailer.

Third, a buddy dropped me an email pointing me toward these short romantic comedies.  The series is called Turbo Dates, and they’re terrifically funny.  Start with “Potion.”  Seriously.