Blargety, Blargety, Blargety

That's the backwards sound that plays on the guys' production company logo during one of the seasons, and for awhile it was infectiously stuck in my head.

Nickelodeon Fellowship application has been mailed. Fingers crossed.

Time to start working on a new comedy spec and pilot.

Oscars 2010

Awards season is over! Congratulations to The King's Speech on its Best Picture win. My thoughts on the Oscars can best be summed up with my Top Ten list. Since there were five movies on my list that placed higher than TKS, it obviously wouldn't have been my pick. But that's okay, because Avatar didn't win last year, and for that I am still grateful.

I love Aaron Sorkin for many reasons. He's an amazing writer. He's eloquent and well-spoken. And I know his assistant's name is Laura. The reason I know that is because he thanks her every time he gets an award. What a stand up guy. Every single person who won last night (expect maybe the doc and short film people) has an assistant (probably more than one). How many people thanked their assistant (and their researcher)? Mr. Aaron Sorkin. Yep, I think that was it. From all the assistants out there, Thank You.

Best Acceptance Speech of the Evening: Luke Matheny, the NYU student who accepted for "God of Love" for Best Short Film. He thanked his mom for being Craft Services on his movie. It was the biggest laugh of the night.

But enough about the awards, it's all about who looked best. My top 5 IN ORDER:

Best Dressed: Amy Adams

Glorious. Sparkly. Perfect jewelry. Can someone lend me some emeralds?

2.) Jennifer Lawrence

Va Va Voom. The Oscars needed some sexiness this year, and Jennifer brought it. And her makeup. Oh, the makeup. Best makeup of anyone all awards season.

3.) Annette Bening

This is the dress Melissa Leo should have worn. It's age appropriate, yet fun. But I think it would look great on women of all ages. I want it. I could find somewhere to wear it.

4.) Natalie Portman

It was her night and she looked the best she's looked all season. Ditch the matchy-match earrings and she's perfection.

5.) Helen Mirren

I. Just. Love. Her.

Honorable Mention: Hailee Steinfeld

I liked her Oscar dress...

I love that she helped design it. It's lovely and youthful. I think the headband ruined it for me, much as Natalie's earrings almost ruined her look. But cheers for looking like a fourteen year old should look when she goes to the Oscars. And cheers for looking like a superstar at the SAGs.

This dress is freakin' awesome. It should look like a table cloth, but instead looks like a work of art. Way to rock it, Hailee. And the season started with this:

Pretty fabulous way to start. Thanks for a lovely awards season, Hailee, and for nailing all three of the televised shows.

Skins

The original Skins, wearing more clothes

I love well-done teen shows. I think My So-Called Life is one of the best TV shows ever and I'm a huge Veronica Mars fan. The first season of Gossip Girl was brilliant. I'm merrily addicted to Pretty Little Liars. I haven't seen Freaks and Geeks but someday I will, and I know I'll love it. Hell, I even like Glee, (although my love has been waning as of late). So I'm relieved there are now places on cable for teen shows where they don't have the extreme ratings pressure that the major networks carry.

I haven't see the British Skins, so I had no expectations. I just wanted it to be good. Pilots are hard. I try to give new shows one additional episode even if I don't like the pilot because so much info is crammed into such a small amount of time and they often don't capture the true spirit of the show. And after the first episode of Skins that's how I felt. I didn't really have a feel for the show. I knew that the lead guy couldn't act his way out of paper bag, which was disheartening. And he looks like Penn Badgley from Gossip Girl, which can be good or bad depending on your taste.

Half the episode was ADR. Maybe they were trying to fix Poor Man's Penn Badgley's performance, or they scimped on their sound recordist. Either way, it was obvious ADR. Um, sound mixers, were you asleep during the mix? The show sounded like ass. I've been to a few mixes, and the mixers are the most anal people I've ever worked with. They hear mistakes I can't hear even when they're pointed out to me. The mixers are wonderful, perfectionist dogs howling at whistles I can't hear. It's beautiful. I don't know what happened with the Skins mix.

So I watched the second episode. Again, there were ADR issues, but not as bad as the pilot. Again, the show was meh. So I gave it one more episode. Same thing. The show isn't good enough to get excited about, but it has potential, and isn't bad enough to automatically cancel it out. There's some decent acting, Jesse Carere and Britne Oldford are standouts. The production seems to know Poor Man's Penn Badgley isn't very good because in a pivotal scene where he was pleading with his crush, they left her take running the whole conversation and never showed his face. Sort of hilarious, sort of sad. Anyway, I think I'm done with the show. Last week's episode has been sitting on the DVR for a week and I saw a little of this week's episode which involved putting a moose out of it's misery. Way too early in a show to be needing moose humor.

Goodbye, Skins. You were worth the try. Time to go rid my DVR of you.

A Few Notes About Romantic Comedies

Romantic comedy chat has come up on Done Deal recently. One thread asked what's wrong with romantic comedies. I commented that they aren't living up to their namesake. There's no romance. There's no falling in love. Where has all the chemistry gone? The "New York Times" had this article awhile back: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/opinion/04dowd.html?_r=1

Most people blame the recent plummet of rom coms on their formula. We all know how it ends; the couple gets together. Well, movies are all formulaic. In general, they're going to end two ways, happily or sadly. When you go to see an action movie or a thriller, you know the bad guy gets it at the end, or he doesn't. It's either one or the other.

We don't pay to see movies because of the endings, we pay for the journey. And just because rom coms have predictable endings, doesn't mean the journey has to feel tired. The journey feeling boring and been-there-done-that is a problem within the genre, but just pointing to rom coms and saying, "Ick, formula, run!" is a cop out.

People either like the genre or they don't. Which is fine. Viewers who like rom coms will continue to pay to see them because they want a happy ending. People want to see feel good movies. Why do you think The King's Speech has been so successful? Word of mouth has spread about it's excellent performances and how uplifted people felt when they left the theatre. Can't say the same about The Social Network, Black Swan, or Inception. All, in my opinion, are better films than TKS, but they don't leave you with that fuzzy warmth in the pit of your stomach.

I'm a proud writer of romantic comedies. I focus on trying to create journeys that don't feel like a road I've been down a thousand times before. It's effin' hard to create a world that has to satisfy genre expectations and feel fresh. I like the challenge. And I find it depressing every time a rom com comes out and sucks. It feels like a little piece of my favorite genre is dying.

The thread on rom com problems led to someone creating a thread asking to name your favorite rom com. This was particularly comical because you find out real fast who likes rom coms and who doesn't.

I like Shaun of the Dead (liked Hot Fuzz better) but it is not a rom com. It was listed again and again. Yes, there's a tiny romantic storyline, but if the last scene of the movie is about a dude hanging out with another dude (and they're not making out) it's a freaking bromance! And bromance is not romantic comedy.

Someone listed True Lies. If I would've been drinking when I read that I would've spit all over my computer screen. That is a person who haaaates romantic comedies. That's like me saying that My Best Friend's Wedding is an action movie because there's a chase scene in it. Hah!

For the most part, I don't watch movies multiple times. But these are the rom coms that I can (and do) watch over and over again:

It Happened One Night
The Philadelphia Story
Bridget Jones's Diary
You've Got Mail
Kissing Jessica Stein
Love, Actually
The Cutting Edge
Green Card
While You Were Sleeping
Cousins
Clueless
I.Q.

Runners Up (They're very good, but I wouldn't watch them more than once a year):

When Harry Met Sally
Peggy Sue Got Married
Moonstruck
Fever Pitch
Return to Me
Date with an Angel (childhood favorite)

I'll keep adding to the list as they come to me.

Mine's Bigger Than Yours

 
I've worked some crazy jobs since I moved to LA. Lots of interesting characters. I read an article this week that reminded me of a funny work story.

I once saw the office of an executive producer on a successful TV show. We'll call that Show A. Show A had been on for a couple seasons before Show B started. Show B was not a rip-off of Show A, but it had a similar feel, and the shows were often compared to one another. Show B usually fared better in these comparisons, at least critically.

I noticed a framed letter hanging outside of the EP's office. It was a letter to the EP, in ugly, scrawled penmanship (it could have been a ransom note) about how Show B sucked and Show A was awesome. There was even profanity. And there it was, framed for all the world to see. It wasn't a note from Spielberg congratulating and admitting to being a fan, this was some random person from Nowheresville with the penmanship of a kindergartner and the grammar of a preschooler. It made me giggle. I still imagine the EP ordering his assistant to frame and hang that letter.

Ha! See! We have won. My show is better. This note proves it.

And so it did.

The Fifth Taste

I've been dreaming of Umami Burger ever since the last time I went there. One would assume I was craving the signature Umami Burger or one of the many sophisticated beef or turkey burgers on the menu.  But, no. I fell in love with the Earth Burger, a veggie burger made from ground up mushrooms and edamame. The patty is tinted red with beet juice and has the texture of raw ground beef. Truffle ricotta makes it extra special. Nope, this isn't vegan. I find this burger to be a very carnal experience.

I used the flash so the red from the beets would show.

I am not a vegetarian but I'm always trying to find meat alternatives. I'll try any veggie burger that says "homemade." I'm not going to a restaurant to pay for a Boca Burger, but I'll keep a box in my freezer. Along with Umami, Hugo's has my other favorite veggie burger.

Hubs sticks with the beef. He appropriately got a Manly Burger. I had a bite and it was great.

Manly Burger

The onion rings are special, too.

They're made from tempura batter and the baking power or soda or whatever it is makes them puffier than your usual onion ring, but they're still very crunchy. Hubs isn't a huge fan of onion rings and he suggested we order them again, so you know they're good.

Service at Umami can be frustrating. We waited for our food longer than it took to eat it, and we eat sloooow. Go at an off time and eat a snack before you go.

Thick Skin

Having thick skin is a necessity as a writer. I always want my writing to improve with each draft and absorbing others' criticism is vital. I know I've improved at taking criticism, but it's taken time and practice. The more I write, the more confidence I gain in my writing. The more criticism I get, the thicker my skin grows.

Sometimes throwing yourself to the wolves works, too. I got a jump start with the thick skin when I was in college. I took a poetry workshop and I loved it so much I decided to do a poetry minor. That meant lots and lots of workshops. For the first few workshops I had the most amazing instructor, Maureen Seaton. She's an amazing poet and an incredible human being. The only acceptable criticism in her class was the constructive kind and even if comments were negative, the vibe was always nurturing. In her class, when you offered feedback, your first comment always had to be positive. It's something I always do when I critique any one's work; lead with something positive. That way you always start off on the right foot. And after people here something complimentary I feel they're more receptive to what needs work.

I wrote about very personal subjects during these workshops. I think there was a lot of baggage I needed to expel, and in Maureen's workshops I felt safe enough to write about my love, hate, shame, grief. Everything. The same students and I had been through so many workshops together by this point, I felt close to them. I looked forward to what they were going to say about my work. I even had a poem published. I thought I was the next Adrienne Rich.

Near the end of my poetry minor, Maureen got offered a better job across the country and left. I took my advanced workshop with the head of the poetry department. He's a well-regarded poet who runs a successful literary journal. He was a nice enough guy. Most of my old colleagues were in this larger class, but there were a lot of new faces. The new guys were poetry majors. They had been in the advanced workshop with this instructor for two years. But I wasn't intimidated. I knew I was talented. Maureen had believed in me, so would my new instructor. Well, not so much. The feedback was all negative. I know poetry is subjective, all writing is, but my work was not well received. And I sat and watched as the language poets would write down random words all over the entire sheet of paper and the students would ooh and ahh over the white space on the paper. I puked in my mouth a little. I was still writing about subjects near and dear to me. One student called one of my poems "trite." It's the worst word you can hear as an artist: your work is trite. You may as well have just spat on my soul.

The whole vibe of the class was awful. It was negative and competitive. This was poetry. There is no reason to be competitive. There is no money to be made. Again, this is poetry. I felt the students were being nasty just for the sake of being nasty. My favorite comment was a snotty, "This is like a Billy Collins poem." Okay. Billy Collins was the Poet Laureate of the country at the time, and this opinion was given with a negative connotation. A number of my classmates nodded in disdain. I almost laughed out loud. This was like sneering, "This is like an Brian Helgeland screenplay." Even if you don't love his work, you have to respect his success. There is no way to negatively compare a screenwriter to Brian Helgeland. That would be insane.

So, I guess that's my best advice; take a poetry workshop, write about personal subjects and have your babies ripped to shreds. You might cry a little after class. Your love of poetry may wither and die. But you will have thick skin. And then you can start writing screenplays.

Canines

The first time I watched the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show was in 1990. I know the year because a pekingese won my first year viewing and last night a pekingese made it to Best in Show, so they were showing all the stats. My mom had a pek growing up, so there's a place in my heart for those ridiculous-looking, waddling dogs.

But last night was all about Hickory, the Scottish Deerhound. I've watched Westminster fairly regularly over the past two decades. I always root for the big dogs from hound and the working groups, but they don't win very often. I was expecting the smooth fox terrier or the pekingese to take the title, and was completely shocked when the charming Italian judge gave the prize to the deerhound. I wasn't even rooting for the deerhound this year. I loved the sharpei. Oh well.

Hickory is a beautiful dog, but she didn't even get excited when she won. Usually the dogs are jumping up and down, clawing the hell out of their handlers. Hickory's paws never left the ground; she remained elegant to the end. I must admit it was a little anticlimactic. But I'm glad one of the big dogs won.

Leggo My Chego

So, I've wanted to go to Chego for awhile, even moreso after Jonathan Gold named their Hot Buttered Kimchi Bowl one of the ten best dishes of last year. We finally made it out last weekend, and it didn't dissappoint.

I had to order the Kimchi Bowl because Jonathan Gold told me to.

I'm realizing that Jonathan Gold and I don't share the same palate. He raved about the Pig Ears at Church and State. I wasn't in love, too rich and greasy for me. He loves the ramen at Jinya. I thought it was okay, but I won't be craving it again until I'm ill with a cold. Not that the kimchi bowl was bad, it was fine. All the flavors seemed to muddle together for me. I found Hubs' Pork Belly Bowl to be much better.

I went to bed craving more of this and woke up wanting it for breakfast. All the flavors were so distinct. Beautiful spinach and basil kept it tasting light and fresh, but the rice and sauce were rich, and the tender, smoky pork belly was divine. Seriously, my favorite new dish that I've had in a long time. It makes me sad that we live so far away from Chego. But it's probably for the best because if I lived close, I would eat it every day and burn out. I can't wait to go back and get more Pork Belly and try the chicken rice bowl.

We didn't have any appetizers, and I definitely want to try some on our next visit. Skipping dessert was not an option. We shared a tres leches cake, which was rich and creamy, but didn't leave me wanting it again the next morning.  However, we also had the sriracha candy bar, which has left me craving it all hours of the day. It was delicious with just a hint of sriracha and delicious peanut brittle. So rich and good.

Thanks for a great meal, Chego!

Hello, My New Old Friend

When I was growing up, my mom worked in a bakery. Every night, they could only save so many donuts for the next day, so my mom would bring home some of those destined for the dumpster for our breakfast. My friends thought I was the luckiest kid in town; I got to eat donuts for breakfast every morning. And they were great donuts. But no matter how decadent the food, after I ate the same thing every day I inevitably grew sick of donuts. By high school, I wouldn't touch them.

I became reacquainted with the donut in college when I spent a summer working at Dunkin' Donuts. I made a whole quarter above minimum wage, which was gold at the time. The bad part was, my shift started at 4am, and my friends constantly made "Time to make the donuts" jokes. The good news was my shift ended at 10am, and I hated donuts so I was never tempted to snack. My disdain for donuts only intensified after leaving work every day reeking of cheap, mass-produced donut.

I do eat the occasiona Krispy Kreme when it's free at work, but they're not as good as the glazed donuts from the bakery I grew up on. But, alas, I've finally found a donut I can get behind:

The Maple Bacon Donut from the Nickel Diner. Now, the donut itself still isn't as good as my childhood donut, but the subtle, sweet maple combined with the smoky, salty bacon is magic.

The other food was good, too. I couldn't decide between breakfast and lunch, so I chose the pulled pork hash which seemed somewhere in the middle. The bbq sauce had a nice kick and I love poached eggs.



The 5th and Main. I forgot to take the photo before I broke open one of my eggs.


Hubs had the French Toast which was a hearty portion. It had a flavor our palates couldn't quite single out. Orange, maybe?

Cinnamon Brioche French Toast

I liked the ambiance at the Nickel Diner. It felt like a larger version of the Nite Owl in L.A. Confidential with the open kitchen and high ceiling. I look forward to going back and trying their desserts.

V-Day

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm making my awesome Olive Pasta for Hubs (it's one of his favorites), but the meal is really all about dessert.

A Fudge Yummy (with heart) and the signature Yummy Cupcake

Mmmmmm. Cupcakes.

These cupcakes are from Yummy Cupcakes in Burbank. They're much better than the cupcakes at that other more famous (and expensive) shop in BH. I've been going to Yummy Cupcakes since they opened, and I love them so much we decided to have their cupcakes at our wedding.

Hubs went to great lengths making this cupcake stand. It turned out beautifully.

They made a little cake for us so we could have the cake cutting ceremony. I still remember Hubs and I eating the cake together after we got back from our honeymoon. So good, so...yummy :) The best part is that we can get cupcakes whenever we want and have a taste of our wedding.

Mas Malo

I hit my head on that lamp when I stood up. Fun times.

Last night one of my friends was having a birthday celebration downtown at Mas Malo. Hubs and I decided to go early and get dinner. We hopped on the subway and hoped we would arrive before the rest of the crowds. We were told the wait would be a half hour for a table on the main floor, but that there was seating downstairs with the full menu. So that's where we went. We're not big fans of waiting if we don't have to.

Of course, I forgot my camera, so there are no food photos. The photo I used is from their website.

It was a little brighter downstairs than I would have liked it to be, but the music was good and the atmosphere was loud and jovial. The margaritas were very solid, strong and tart with lime juice. We ordered the Salsa Flight which included tomatillo, mole, creamy chipotle, pico de gallo, and a tomato salsa that I think had cucumber in it because it was extra fresh tasting.  That one was my favorite. The chipotle one was excellent, too. It didn't seem too spicy at first but it was sneaky spice (the 6th spice girl); after you swallow, that's when it hits you. Whew, I needed a lot of water. Even the margarita didn't help at first :)

We both ordered tortas. Hubs got the Ahogada which was sweet Coca-Cola carnitas and the sandwiched was doused with a flavorful red sauce with a little kick. It was really good. I had the Goat Barbacoa, which also had a nice little kick and the meat was so tender. Yum.

It's not somewhere that we'll be racing back to, but the food was good and I definitely recommend it.

Sunny

It's taken much longer than anticipated to figure out the spec I'm going to write for "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" for the Nickolodeon Fellowship.  Initially, I thought it wouldn't be so hard. The show doesn't have many limitations. The episodes are all stand-alones, so there aren't any arcs that I need to figure in story-wise. It's pretty straight forward. Degenerates being politically incorrect degenerates.

I decided to write the spec after watching the 6th season which recently aired on FX, which I thought was hilarious. I went back and watched the previous five seasons to immerse myself in the show and learn more about how these characters came to be. I had all of these great ideas for my episode storylines and I'd jot them down. As I watched the five seasons, one by one, my ideas had already been done. Wah-wah. Slowly, I regrouped. I had ideas for my A and B storylines, got them to work together, but was lost for a C story. Then I got the C story and it didn't fit into A and B in their current form. So today, everything was made to work together. Sort of. I now have an outline I feel confident enough in that I can start writing. Tomorrow, dammit.

Glimmer of Hope

I sent one of my screenplays to a friend and I will soon be getting notes. Every part of the writing process is hard for me, and whatever part I'm working on always seems to the hardest. I'm aware of this. I enjoy pushing through. I know that writing is rewriting and I have come to love getting notes from trusted colleagues. If I have a favorite part of the draft process, the feedback part might just be my favorite.

Of course, I know my scripts aren't perfect. Hard work on my part makes them good, but they can always be better. But after expending so much creativity sweat, sometimes it seems like that first draft should be perfect. And even though I know it's a first draft, if it is perfect something is seriously wrong in the universe, there is a little part of me that when I hand it off to get notes, I believe that my only feedback will be that it is great, they love it, it's perfect.

Any good writer knows that this all-positive, nonconstructive feedback is the worst kind of input. It helps no one, and certainly doesn't help the script. I want to know what's not working in the script. Yes, it's nice to hear the good things, and they should always be included with constructive criticism, but it's hearing the bad stuff that will ultimately make the script better. And I want it to be better. Yet, every time, my stomach drops a little when I start hearing the laundry list of dislikes and aspects that aren't working. Until that moment, it might have been perfect. And now it's not. But I will fix it, make it better. Maybe someday, someone will think it's perfect.