Goodbye Beard

Shaved my beard off for a job. I was sad to see it go, but what must be must be.
I had kept it shorter, because I felt it looked less scruffy-nerf herder and more debonair. But now it was time for it to go.

The things I won't miss:

- Constantly stroking it as if I was intelligent
- Pulling out a hair or two by accident (it hurts so bad)
- Accidentally rubbing it the wrong way on a pillow and having my entire face feel weird
- The constant upkeep and care, I combed it every day (I know that's weird)

Befores

Halfway - totally freaked Tiffany out with this

Beardless, yay! (Although I see stubble)

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Delorean

Driving down the Interstate 15 on Sunday, we happened upon a wonderful sight --

Not one, but two DeLorean DMC-12's!!!

This was so unprecedented! I almost spazzed. Even though I was driving I jumped up from my seat and looked around in amazement at the spectacle.

The reply from my wife was a simple- "what's a DeLorean?"
Are you kidding me?!? Okay, granted it's not that common of a thing to know, but I simply informed her of the most popular reference of a DeLorean: the Back to the Future time machine.

A Brief History
Click for full History

John DeLorean was a successful engineer and businessman. He had developed both the GTO and Firebird for Pontiac.
He broke off to form his own company that would soon be known as the "De Lorean Motor Company."
He setup offices in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland and began to create prototypes in 1976.
After several funding problems, the first line of DeLorean DMC-12's rolled off the line and went into mass production and distribution in 1981.
One of the coolest things the company did was produce a limited edition gold-plated DMC-12. They only produced 100, most of which are now in museums.
In late 1982 production halted after serious charges were brought against John DeLorean for drug trafficing. He was arrested and eventually acquitted, but the damage was done and the company had folded.

Read the full story

Nowadays

There were only about 9,000 completed cars that went into distribution. Reports say that there is approximately 6,500 left in existence.
A company out of Houston, TX called DMC Houston purchased the remainder of the DeLorean stock from the factory and began repairing and custom building the machines.

In August 2007 they announced that they would be re-manufacturing the DeLorean line in late 2008. Although this has not yet come to pass, it is still a possibility.

Geeked Out

All I know is, if one day I have the luck to spend a great deal of money on frivolous things, I will be sure to go out and purchase a DeLorean and try and restore it.

Flux Capacitor Optional.

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Free PS3 Shipped!

Got this totally free. Check this out to find out how I did it:

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Diploma

I am official. I got this in the mail the other day:

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Sweetums

Going without sugar is not hard per say. The trouble comes in the little things that you enjoy each day.

This weekend I had opportunity to eat the following items that I enjoy very, very much:

Waffles - (the syrup on the waffles, I don't eat waffles without maple syrup)
Cheesecake - (this was the worst because everyone kept eating it in front of me)
Honey - (for some reason, I only enjoy chicken nuggets dipped in honey)
Wedding Cake - (who doesn't eat wedding cake at a wedding?)

So despite my temptations, I have been pretty solid on this "no sugar" thing. Hooray me! I am only going to continue for one more week. I plan to quit on Sunday. Not really any particular reason for quitting on that day, it's just a date I picked.

Finally, I want to leave you all with a little visual representation of the amount of sugar that we eat in a regular day. Some of these are surprising (the Orange Juice), some of them are not (the Cinnabon).

Click to Enlarge

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Why 3D May Work For Me Soon

I hate 3D.

I hated 3D.

Those uncomfortable glasses that never quite fit over my prescription glasses. The way you could only see part of the screen in 3D and the rest of it was blurry around the edges. So many reasons why it has never been exciting or intriguing to me in the least.

Recently there have been some very innovative developments with the technology that made me notice:

The first - a small company is developing a very large and very amazing 3D HD television that will bring the 3D revolution to the level of home entertainment. This means that me and my Blu-ray disc of Coraline will be able to soon have a delicious affair.

The second comes in the form of recent glasses technology. For those of us with ill-fitted and uncomfortable 3D glasses issues, a Variety article shares a bit of hope -

While Real D hasn't made a formal announcement, Real D topper Michael Lewis tipped the story after Fox Sports chairman David Hill said he thought great-looking glasses would change the picture for 3D. "I have two teenaged girls, and they don't want to go on dates looking like they're going to do some spot welding," Hill said.

Lewis responded that designer Real D glasses, including Gucci designs, will be available "in certain outlets" before "Avatar" opens in December. Prescription glasses are on the way some time later.

I guess this means I will not only need my regular prescription pair, but also a sunglasses version (because it is so darn bright here all the time), and now a 3D version for when I am viewing the latest pandering Hollywood gimmick.

Woah is me.

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A Bit of News

Been away from my usual blogging habits for a while now. My intent is to remedy the situation by sending you bits of news that you probably already know. Later I will add smarmy articles of general apathy towards bits of pop culture entertainment and anecdotes with lackluster attempts of getting my career underway.

- I've been temping at the Rothman Brecher Agency for the last few weeks. My time here will end early next week. I have really enjoyed the experience and wish that I could stay on longer. I feel very comfortable with the assistants and agents, and it has been an overall pleasant experience. I have made some friends along the way and I feel that this has been a very important jumping off point for getting future jobs. If anyone is interested - I am available to be an assistant at either a talent agency, studio or production company starting next week. Do not hesitate to contact me if you have a position available.

- We went out to buy THE BIG BANG THEORY season two as well as FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS season two. The hilarity has not ceased to ensue at our place, as we spend a few hours each night trying to regain our sanity by escaping into our television. Both of these shows will be required viewing and there will be a test that is worth 65% of your grade...so pay attention!

- Day #17 of no sugar and I am sooo craving something sweet. I have been abating my desires with fruit and the occasional cracker/nut of choice, but every time I see something of sugary goodness I instantly fall prey to the oogily eyes of temptation and wonder what it would be like to take a quick nibble. I have stared at a large jar of candy for the last week and a half and it has not been easy to stay my hand from reaching inside and pulling out a most delicious Kit-Kat.
Seriously! I have wanted to eat one so bad that I have stared and salivated while someone else ate one in front of me (they didn't do it to be a jerk, they didn't know I was off sugar.) Hopefully I can make it through the pains of eagerness and successfully abide the temptation for a while longer. I really think it has made a difference. I am weighing myself every day and have found a considerable drop. Now if I could just get my workout routine and writing habit to catch up with my non-sugar eating abilities.

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My/Your/Our Writing Sucks

If you have ever had a piece of literary work that has been brought under close scrutiny you know just how badly it feels to get your guts ripped out from your inside. It is not the best feeling in the world.

We all want validation and we all want someone to tell us that we are doing a good job or that they genuinely liked something we have written.

Unfortunately there are realistic things to be said about your writing and if you don't go into it with this knowledge and become prepared for that eventual determination that what you wrote is maybe perhaps "flawed" or not essentially "good" then you are in the wrong business.

I have (and continue to have) many of my ideas and scripts torn apart and scrutinized, but I revel in it. Okay, maybe not revel, but at least I appreciate it. Whatever it is that I can learn from others about what I had written will help me in making said writing better. It will also save me from a great deal of heartache when I do lay the script on the line and get that feedback from the person(s) who I really want/need to like my writing (like managers, producers, and of course agents).

A few articles have been published lately, one a letter to anyone wishing to send a well-respected industry man their screenplay, the other a list of ten things that you want to try and avoid when trying to submit your work to such people. I hope these two reads help paint a better picture of what it is like to be in their position.

It's not about you, it's about politics and not putting these people in awkward situations.

Josh Olson's "I Will Not Read Your F---ing Script"
(Caution, NSFW - very strong language.)

Script Magazine's "Ten Big Mistakes..."

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Vacation All I Ever Wanted, Part 3

After we rode the train and had our fill at Jamestown, we drove a few hundred miles to Yosemite National Park.

The road was winding and rigid. On one side of us was a gigantic rock wall, on the other side was a thousand-foot drop. We tread lightly through this part of the road.

At one point, we passed by a very gorgeous river that ran alongside the road. Up ahead we could see a bunch of cars that had slowed, some that had stopped. Soon we found out what everyone was stopping for - a large brown bear was making his way along the riverbank on the opposite side. We decided this was pretty cool so we stopped to take pictures along with dozens of other vacationers.

I was able to climb down on a rock and take some pretty rad pictures of it. I wish I had a better zoom, but alas I could only zoom so far.

The rest of the drive was quite scenic and once we had stopped to eat and to check my in-laws in at the cabin they were staying at (we weren't staying the night, we had to head back to reality), I went out exploring on my own and discovered some really cool rock and tree formations (that I took endless pictures of). Enjoy!



Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

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Side Note

If anyone was interested in purchasing this on Tuesday:
...and sending it to me, I would not be ungrateful.

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Sugar - 3, Scripts - 40

Just wanted to give a quick shoutout to day number three of no sugar intake. Things went fairly smoothly with the exception of a small sip of my wife's Jamba Juice (thanks Emily for the hookup). It was a Strawberry Nirvana blend so it didn't technically have sugar, it had Splenda.
Which makes me want to clarify my act of non-sugar. I don't want to have any of the artificial sweeteners either, especially not aspartame. But this doesn't mean that I am completely banning it like I am the sugar. It is just a preferred no want. Like take for instance this weekend when I am planning to travel from LA to Provo, UT... I usually can do that drive no problem with about 64 oz of Mountain Dew. Since soda is way out, I will have to improvise with peanuts, sunflower seeds and water. BUT if needs be, I will stop and get a Coke Zero (or equivalent) to keep the brain juices flowing.

Tell me if I'm being unreasonable in this. I really am new to this whole thing and I am making a lot of it up as I go along.

Side note: The sip I did take of the Jamba tasted too sweet to me when it didn't taste as sweet to my wife. Hmm... could I be experiencing some effects so soon?

And finally, Daily Pre-Script-tion has turned 40 today. We have written forty scripts in forty days. Woohoo! We did it!

It's been really fun to exercise my brain and my writing abilities. It has also resolved me to write more on my own personal blog.

Another advantage is it's given me a lot of good ideas for other projects/films. There are times when I write a one-pager and think about how I could expand it into much more. Sometimes when I write just one page of a script based on a suggestion I get ideas that I can't contain the idea and it pushes me to write down more. Sometimes I don't know what to write and once I start writing my thoughts and ideas take off and it's amazing how much I can write without knowing where it is going to take me.

I think I can honestly say that I enjoyed every one of the scripts that I have written. Some were better than others, but for the most part I enjoyed every single one for many reasons.

Hooray to doing something!
(Only 325 more to go...)

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Updates

- My friend did some updates on his blog and they were sufficiently great to read (not terribly exciting since I knew most of it from his Twitter updates...ah technology, won't you leave anyone alone?) So now you all have to suffer while I do the same. I didn't do it through email which is pretty awesome, but you'll get the same effect I s'pose.

- Still off sugar. It's been two full days. We have a package of Oreo's on the counter that I haven't even touched (even though I so want to). I feel great so far. It's too early to tell how things are going, I just know that I want to eat some ice cream really really bad.

- I need new swim goggles. I broke the last pair. They were lame anyway. I swear I didn't break them on purpose so I could get new ones (although I have been known to do that in the past, like my shoes - wait, no, those are genuinely broken too. I'm just really bad with stuff!) These ones are pretty solid, I'm excited to get them. We just can't afford to buy them right now because money's tight. There's a whole list of consumer goods that we would like to purchase right now but we can't afford (although that didn't stop me to buy a cheeseburger cd wallet for $4 today). The problem is not that they are too expensive, they're actually a great price of $5.95. No the problem lies in the shipping and handling which doubles the price of the goggles and then some!
- Tiffany and I might be traveling up to the motherland (Provo) this weekend. Things aren't completely worked out yet, but if we are going - you are all required to spend time with us by either eating at our favorite food places that aren't in LA or by entertaining us with tales of the pomp and regalia of Utah.

- Bon Iver and The Velvet Underground. 'Nuff said.

Bon Iver

The Velvet Underground

- Farkle. I freaking hate/love this game. Why am I obsessed to play this every minute of the day? Really, please tell me because I am baffled. The only thing I can think of is that I am obsessed at being the best and when my friend Collin is at the top of the charts it makes me want, no need to bump him out of first place. I do this with every game, it's kind of sad. When my wife started playing a bubble game on my iPhone and got the top score I just had to beat her! I played it nonstop until I was at the top of the score marker. WHY AM I CRAZY!?! When playing Castle Crashers with my friend (which everyone should play btw, it's so fun) I was annoyed that he was ahead of me that I spent hours beating the game and getting my character leveled up. I also went out and got all of the expansions and found all the animal orbs and weapons so that I would beat him. We played again the other day and as expected - he was ahead of me again. Yeaaaaargh!! Now I have to play it even more and get even more leveled up. I'm such a tool.

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