Category: Uncategorized

It’s been a while, so….time for a meaningless bit of blogginess, lifted entirely from James Maliszewski’s Livejournal:

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE ME:

01 | Losing my kids

02 | Spiders

03 | Depths (hard to explain–think of it as the opposite of being afraid of heights)

THREE PEOPLE WHO MAKE ME LAUGH:

01 | Bill Maher

02 | Eddie Izzard

03 | My Fiancee, Laura

THREE THINGS I LOVE:

01 | Laura and my children

02 | Writing

03 | Genre fiction (fantasy, sf, horror, etc.)

THREE THINGS I DON’T UNDERSTAND:

01 | Conservatives

02 | Willfull (even proud) ignorance

03 | Religious fundamentalism

THREE THINGS ON MY DESK:

01 | Blueberry iBook

02 | Vanilla-scented candle

03 | Souvenir skull-shaped glass mug from Treasure Island casino, filled with Coke.

THREE THINGS I’M DOING RIGHT NOW:

01 | Taking a day off from work.

02 | Watching the latest reports from Iraq on CNN

03 | Taking notes on new game design.

THREE THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE:

01 | Return to writing full-time, but this time as a novelist.

02 | Sell a screenplay

03 | Travel in Europe

THREE THINGS I CAN DO:

01 | Write

02 | Compose and produce electronic music

03 | Fight in archaic styles, both Asian and European

THREE WAYS TO DESCRIBE MY PERSONALITY:

01 | Engaging

02 | Brash

03 | Occasionally Charming

THREE WAYS TO DESCRIBE MY LOOKS:

01 | Imposing

02 | Handsome (or so I’m told)

03 | Anachronistic (apparently, I can pull off most “looks”, except modern)

THREE THINGS I CAN’T DO:

01 | Play Guitar

02 | Tolerate Idiots

03 | Keep my mouth shut

THREE THINGS I THINK EVERYONE SHOULD LISTEN TO:

01 | Film scores

02 | Electronica/Techno

03 | 80s music

THREE THINGS I DON’T THINK YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO EVER:

01 | Conservative talk-radio

02 | Country Music

03 | “Inspirational” (read here: Bible-thumper) music

THREE THINGS I SAY THE MOST:

01 | “Basically…” (someone pointed out to me that this is my “verbal pause” word)

02 | “God damn it.” (Good, generic catch-all expletive)

03 | Heavy, exasperated sigh (unfortunately, growing more and more common with every passing year)

THREE OF YOUR ABSOLUTE FAVORITE FOODS:

01 | Pizza

02 | Lobster

03 | Steak

THREE THINGS YOU’D LIKE TO LEARN:

01 | How to live with the burden of vast wealth

02 | Whether or not there is life on other worlds

03 | To play guitar

THREE BEVERAGES YOU DRINK REGULARLY:

01 | Coke

02 | Water

03 | Tea

THREE SHOWS YOU WATCHED WHEN YOU WERE A KID:

01 | Doctor Who

02 | Creature Feature (hosted horror movies)

03 | Star Trek

There ya go–I’m sure we all feel a lot closer now.

GMS

The problem with being a liberal who largely supports the war in Iraq is that occasionally, the Bush administration comes up with something so ass-rapingly obvious in its shady crookedness that one’s suspension of disbelief is not only strained, but torn bloodily out of socket.

The Bush junta has awarded the contract for post-war oil well construction to Halliburton—-the corporation that until 2000 had Dick Cheney as its CEO.

Come on guys….if you’re going to pull that kind of criminal BS, at least be subtle about it.

I’m not sure what’s worse: the fact that they did it, or the fact that the obviousness of the move is such an insult to my intelligence.

Of course, the media in this country is largely ignoring this—they’re too busy breathlessly supplying us with ’embedded’ reports and live shots of Baghdad. So far, the best coverage of this issue has come from Comedy Central’s Daily Show, with John Stewart.

GMS

Oscars…

So, as I do every year, I watched the Academy Awards last night, even with the surreal “War Commercials” (the updates from Peter Jennings that were placed during the commercial breaks, so that we wouldn’t forget, apparently). My reactions:

1) It was good to see awards going to “newbies”….Chris Cooper, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Adrien Brody, Nicole Kidman. It’s good to see genuine emotion in their responses. If I have to sit through YET ANOTHER award given to someone like Jack Nicholson or Meryl Streep, who fawn and demure over the experience, even though they’ve been up there before….

2) Adrien Brody—grab that moment. Lip-lock on Halle Berry (her husband sitting in the front row, fer chrissakes), Shout down the orchestra, and make a statement on the war that is heartfelt, wishing for peace, and at the same time supportive of the soldiers over there. THAT’S how you do it.

3) “Fictional election results, giving us a fictional President…” OK, Mike, Look– I *agree* with you on that point, but come on, man: there’s a time and a place. This was neither. So, congratulations: in a room full of people who largely share your political leanings, you managed to be boo’ed off the stage. Fat-ass loudmouth.

4) Best Director to Roman Polanski: Given the fact that Peter Jackson, who has succeeded in filming something that people thought was unfilmable, did three films back-to-back-to-back, and pulled it all in under-budget wasn’t even nominated, I suppose that I shouldn’t be too surprised that the Academy gave the Oscar to an unrepentant child-raping sexual predator. Doesn’t mean I have to like it, though.

5) I find it delicious that for the rest of his life, Marshal Mathers now has the right to be called “Academy Award Winner Eminem.” “Lose Yourself” *was* the best song of that bunch—it was a perfect distillation of the film, but I was stunned that it actually won.

…aside from the above thoughts, the main result of watching the awards was, as is the case every year, a rise in my desire to actual get a screenplay finished and sold. Which is a good thing, I suppose.

GMS