Emergency Row Issues.

Every few months I go on rants about how there is no method or madness to airports or TSA regulations. Every airport in America seems different. Every airport seems to follow a different set of TSA rules. Every airport seems to be confused and hoping nothing goes wrong. It’s all a bunch of confusing bullshit. To add to that list is the emergency row… This will be quick and truthfully I once wrote something about the emergency row but it’s worth mentioning again.

I just booked a ticket on Virgin. I upgraded to main cabin select which happens to be a seat in the emergency row, which means I get free TV, free internet, free movies, unlimited free drinks, I pay more money, and OH, I get to fucking save some lives if shit hits the fan. Did I mention that I get free drinks and will most likely be partly drunk on this flight?

This is all so confusing. It’s a blatantly obvious trap to pocket more money and screw over consumers. If airlines really cared about the emergency exit and saving lives no drinks would be allowed and I’d think the ticket would be cheaper. Right? Yet, it’s a flawless system. I just upgraded to the emergency row for the hope of free stuff and leg room! I just paid money to be put into a row where I can either be a hero or a total drunken loser who doesn’t know how to open the emergency row.

Best case scenario -- a slightly drunk hero who had a ton of leg room until shit hit the fan. Goddamn you airlines.

The Greg Jennings Fall From Grace.

Image Ahhhhh, yes, football season, welcome back. I feel good about things. I’m ready to overly engage in minute details and look at everything as absolutes. This is the life of a football fan. I’m not proud of it, but it’s just the way it is. Oh, in case anyone has forgotten I’m a Green Bay Packers fan. Lets just jump right into this…

Greg Jennings recently signed with the Vikings. Cool. Happy for the guy, I’d take more money too. Then he started to talk about Aaron Rodgers and that he’s basically unapproachable due to his stigma and the Packer organization is basically afraid to point at him when things go wrong. Okay, fine, that’s cool. But now this —

A quote from an article I read on NBC:

“When I came over here, I was kind of brainwashed, there’s no ‘kind of’ to it. Being over in Green Bay, you’re brainwashed to think anyone in the division is tiers below. And so coming over here I meet the people within the organization and I’m like, ‘Wow, these are really great people.’”

And —

“It’s like everything that you know in Green Bay is like the best, the best, the best, the best, the best,” Jennings said. “And it’s like total brainwashing. And I think you don’t open your eyes to see what other teams have to offer unless you are in that position.”

Dude, what? What happened to this guy? How much did he hate being in Green Bay?

First off, this quote about meeting great people in another organization and seeming like he’s surprised. Huh? You’re a grown man that travels to play football for a living; you never met cool people in other places?

Secondly, I’ve been to Green Bay just once for a Packers game. The place is small as shit and I feel that being in the smallest market in the NFL an organization needs to implement some form of mindset like “win win win.” The Packers (fortunately) have been good or fun to watch for the last 18 years (give or take a few years). If you’ve ever been Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, which is a suburb of Green Bay, and also the location of Lambeau field then you’d know that the Packers are the pride and glory. That mindset Greg Jennings is cutting down is crucial.

I still like the guy, he seems like a good dude and is a good football player. But come on, let it go. He’s starting to seem desperate.

-Enter girlfriend analogy about having remorse so you keep cutting her down because you secretly love her still-

I love Football season.

That One Time I Started To Hate Dogs.

383088_10150957763585005_1679889685_n Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be possible to hate dogs. I love dogs. I’m that guy who goes out of my way to play with dogs. When I’m at a party and someone has a dog, I find that dog. My sister has a dog, his name is Summit, he may be man’s best friend, and when I say “may be” I mean he IS man’s best friend. Greatest dog ever 10 years running, and he’ll continue to be the greatest dog until the end of time. But, lets not go down that road, I can’t think of a life without Summit.

So I love dogs, great, fantastic, who doesn’t? Ohhhhh right. Me! But how, how could this possibly happen? What the fuck? I’m so conflicted in my dog loving life. I’ll tell you how it could possibly happen… Los Angeles happened.

This may not be totally accurate but it seems as though 95% of Los Angeles owns dogs that are smaller than the size of my 10.5 foot. These little dogs are running crazy, they’re maniacs. Never have I seen so many Chihuahua’s in my life. For the record I just had to auto spell “Chihuahua” – even the spelling seems insane. But it’s not just Chihuahuahuhhauha’s, it’s other small dogs. How could there be so many small crazy dogs. Well that part is kind of obvious, to me at least —

I live in West Hollywood / Hollywood area. It’s so small and condensed. People who want dogs end up getting small dogs and since there are so many people BOOM there are so many dogs, simple. But still, that doesn’t add up to why I hate these things. So let me peel back another layer and try to save face. It’s not the dogs that I hate… it’s the owners of the dogs.

As of right now it seems as though my anger is unjustified and is totally all over, it is, and that’s only because I feel bad writing this. I feel bad hating things. So here we go, here’s my justification:

My problem is when dog owners find it okay for their dog to just jump up on you, bark, run past your office door, or really anything that people find cute just because. The things that people find cute, I find it totally annoying. I don’t care about other dogs, and PEOPLE don’t care about other dogs. I don’t think. But really, why do dog owners think just because their dog is cute then everyone thinks it’s cute? What is that?

People treat their dogs like they’re the second coming just because it successfully sat down or didn’t take a shit on the street. These dogs are getting away with societal murder.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on people being able to travel with their dogs on airplanes as “helper” dogs because they need “emotional” support. Fuck off. What an insult to people who actually need a dog with them. It’s a slap in the face. Emotional support? Really? You’re not emotionally equipped to be without your dog for a weekend?

Taking a breath…

Trying to make sense of why I even started to write this…

Oh right! So my problem is with dog owners and it’s starting to transfer to the dogs. I know it’s happening and I can’t stop it, that’s the scary part. Sometimes when I see a dog minding its dog business some negative thought enters my mind and I try to stop it, trying to think of other reasons why I like dogs, but negativity takes over like some kind of virus. But I guess that’s what negative thoughts do; they can easily take over so much faster than anything positive.

Maybe I need to get out of this bubble that is Los Angeles and get back to seeing what I consider normal dogs — Dogs that you can actually play with, dogs that I feel like I can’t physically harm with my one hand just by petting it, dogs that don’t have a size complex, and dogs that sound like they’ve hit dog puberty when they bark.

I remember Bob Barker used to always sign off the Price is Right by saying, “Don’t forget to get your dogs neutered.” My God was he ahead of the curve.

What a strange rant this has been. I was hoping to talk through my current day totally-out-of-the-blue-dog-hate. I kind of did, it’s the owners…

For the record I need to say that to all my friends with small dogs. I love your dogs.

Art and Adventure.

Image

 

As I’m writing an outline for a script I’m drifting off and thinking about adventure. It’s underrated.

On a personal writing level I like to put a relatable individual in a highly unlikely situation and thrust him/her off into some form of an adventure. More times than not it’s usually a very exaggerated situation. But it always comes back to the adventure. Part of me thinks that most writers kind of follow this idea, especially if you’ve ever read Joseph Campbell.

However, the great thing about adventure is that it doesn’t have to be something exaggerated and I think people forget that. Adventures can be small and contained. They can be a night. They can be a drive. They can be quick. They can be a day. If you learn something new from an experience and it takes you mentally to some place you’ve never been then I’d chalk that up to an (mini) adventure.

The great thing about adventure is that it feeds into what’s amazing about life. The majority of us live pretty standard lives in the sense that we know how our days are going to unfold – coffee, work, work, work, home, dinner, TV, internet, sleep - Rise, lather, repeat. But adventure changes that. Adventure allows our brains to respond to something it doesn’t expect - it keeps us fresh.

I like to think that our minds and bodies need new experiences to keep us new and young. Adventure offers us that. AND I’m not even touching on the amazing stories created, new people we meet, and many regrets we secrets don’t regret that adventure offers. Underrated right?

BUT… As amazing as small adventures are how great are the ones where you take a monumental trip to Italy, sleep with a foreign diplomat and find yourself in the middle of a terrorist plot.

Adventure.

"I’ve always sa...

"I’ve always said there are – to oversimplify it – two kinds of writers. There are architects and gardeners. The architects do blueprints before they drive the first nail, they design the entire house, where the pipes are running, and how many rooms there are going to be, how high the roof will be. But the gardeners just dig a hole and plant the seed and see what comes up. I think all writers are partly architects and partly gardeners, but they tend to one side or another, and I am definitely more of a gardener. In my Hollywood years when everything does work on outlines, I had to put on my architect’s clothes and pretend to be an architect. But my natural inclinations, the way I work, is to give my characters the head and to follow them.”

R.R. Martin

A really great quote...

The Cloud

The Cloud

I’m flying over Utah, maybe Colorado. I just stared at a series of clouds that are scattered, one stuck out. This cloud (pictured above) seems so random; I can’t help but wonder what he’s up to. Maybe this lone cloud got into a fight with another cloud and he’s being punished. Maybe he’s old and doesn’t give a shit. Maybe he’s lost. Maybe he’s brand new and is looking down to earth for the first time ever… Or maybe it’s just a cumulus cloud formed from heat rising from the surface of the earth and connecting with a cooler atmosphere.

Damn. Science wins again.

Ignoring science for one second…

If this cloud is anything like me he’s being stubborn right now. He’s by himself trying to prove a point to someone, maybe himself, and he’s simultaneously wondering if he’s just being a total asshole and doing more harm than good. Either way, he’ll figure it out. I have faith in this cloud.

Being Grateful?

I had an interesting conversation with a friend, he was talking about someone he knew who passed away (I swear this is the most depressing it gets) and we were talking about the time and how fast it goes by. We were wrapping up the conversation and I made a comment, something along the lines of --

“Be grateful for what we have, be careful not to take things for granted.”

Annnnd then the can of worms opened up. I should also note that I have my own issues in life, it’s not like I’m the guy who tells people how to life. This conversation was with a buddy, not some random guy.

After my comment our conversation went a little something like this:

Him: “You know what dude, I am grateful, and I don’t really take things for granted, but how does somebody stay aware of not taking things for granted?”

I kind of thought about it for a bit and then I thought about it even longer until he jumped back in --

Him: “Honestly, I know I’m lucky to have an active mind, working legs, and working arms. I don’t get sick, I’ve been fortunate with my health. But how the fuck do I show that? How do you do something more than just remind yourself?”

I was about to answer until he said --

Him: “How do you not take things for granted? I mean listen, I wish I could travel the world and see amazing things so I don’t waste life, but how can I do that with no money?”

He then proceeded to say he’s just blurting out thoughts and that he really is appreciative, he was trying to justify what he said, but I basically blacked out because my friend had a very good point. I was busy trying to find an answer and a proper segway into more conversation but it wasn’t happening. We said our goodbyes but I’m still thinking about it.

How do you stay grateful? And how do you maximize life if you don’t have a lot of money but the things you love cost money? Listen, I know you can do fun things in life without money, and you can be happy as shit doing them, but you get what I’m saying, right?

I haven’t come to a conclusion on this conversation but I really wish I could. Do we need people to constantly tell you “hey, you’re doing a great job!” - we shouldn’t. But, it still feels good when people say that, and I wish I knew how to bottle that feeling. I wish I knew how to contain the feeling of total happiness. A few weeks ago after the Boston tragedy I was just happy to be alive. I had total appreciation for everything around me but truthfully; I may have lost that feeling of appreciation. I wish I didn’t lose that feeling. I hate that terrible things have to happen in the world for people to be reminded of how awesome it is to be alive.

I’m currently sitting in an office looking at a palm tree on a 70-degree day in Los Angeles. Let me say that one more fucking time so it can maybe stick to my head, I’m currently sitting in an office looking at a palm tree on a 70-degree day in Los Angeles. How could anyone take this for granted?

I have some thinking to do… 

The Purpose Of Life...

Mothers Day, the day that we celebrate the existence of the woman who gave us life. Or, in many unfortunate cases, it’s the day we celebrate the absence of the woman who gave us life. Either way, moms are awesome. Even if you’ve severed ties with your mom there’s no denying that the ability to give life is a cool thing.

This mom thought is a perfect transition to a conversation a friend and I had this weekend. Somehow we may have cracked a few codes to life and I want to reopen that conversation but only touch the surface because I really don’t think there is any real way to recreate this conversation. This brings me to, the purpose of life…

Creation.  Specifically, the creation of LIFE.

We were talking about the ability to create in life. We can all create anything we want… ANYTHING! And hopefully our creations impact someone to do the same thing, so suddenly we have a ripple effect of creation, and before you know it – you’re creation is changing things. Your creation begins to change the world.

You start to think about the most unique creation that one can offer to the world… Life. It kind of blows my mind that two guys can have a child with the same woman yet that child comes out 100% different. It doesn’t blow my mind on a DNA level, but rather on an individualistic level.

We can argue that art (film, paintings, music, etc...) can be recreated. It may not be true… but we can sure as fuck argue about it.  The one thing we do know for certain is that creating a specific human is something that cannot be replicated… by anyone. A person’s ability to create life is so totally unique for everyone.

Then, on another level you have to wonder why there is this lone thing in the world that you need someone else for. You need another person to crate this life. You can do anything in the world that you want but in order to create life you need someone else, that’s trippy, right?

When I think about it my mind wraps like I’m entering a wormhole and truthfully I wish I could articulate this better. I wish I could ramble and use my hands to try and express myself… both of which I’m very good at.

It comes down to creation. I believe creating is what enhances the world and makes it a better place. It what makes us evolve. It just so happens that the ultimate thumbprint of evolving is creating life.

By my logic I should have a litter of children running around me. My current child count is 0. I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to change any time soon… I need to stick with trying to create other things.

Life is awesome. 

Tackling Notes...

Image Probably the lamest blog title in the history of blog posts but really I’m not sure it can be engaging or exciting because the reality is, I’m not sure how exciting this post is going to turn out. This is a post about approaching notes you receive when writing a screenplay (insert explosions and something else cool to hold attention).

A handful of posts that I write are formed from procrastination but really are formed from me needing to mentally work things out. I talk my friends ears off so I take to this blog to really help myself. Right now I currently have maybe one of the greatest problems of all time – I have too many notes.

First, I should mention that I’m in two different writers groups. I’ve been in one for years with a group of friends and the other I’m fairly new to. Both consist of opinions I trust, and both consist of screenwriters. The groups meet at different times and function differently than each other. The jist is that you submit your writing and then everyone discusses/dissects it. Pretty standard protocol for a writers group.

It’s rare that I’d submit a feature to both groups at the same time, but in this case, it happened. For the first time ever I have an overload of notes. I’ve been staring at them for about a week to try and make sense of things. Trying to figure out which people overlap in their critiques, which notes are good, which aren’t, which notes I’m not incorporating because I’m stubborn, etc…

I’m curious as to how people deal with a ton of notes. I suppose the basic way to deal with them is to just break them down and throw out which notes ultimately work for you, that seems to make the most sense, right? Looking at notes is like looking at a massive puzzle that’s only sort of put together, but I suppose that’s what writing is. Fuck, I suppose that’s what any creative process is.

Notes on something you create are very interesting; they’re basically saying do this, instead of that. They have the ability to get in your head. They’re also a constant reminder that you don’t actually know everything in the world… Well, for me at least.

Note to self: I don’t know everything.

Off to tackle these notes (may be back on here writing about not incorporating notes).

Back To The Future Appreciation

Last night I went to the Arclight Theater in Hollywood and watched Back To The Future. If you’ve never been to the Arclight you’re doing yourself a disservice. I love this theater - Assigned seating, good popcorn, ushers who announces the movie to you, people who respect movies, soundtracks playing when you walk in… Basically a great movie going experience. I should note that I had never seen Back To The Future on the big screen, only part 2 and 3, so this was somewhat of a great experience for me. I’m not just saying this to say it, but somehow the movie was better on a big screen, seriously.

While I was watching the movie for the 198th time I really appreciated how I thought this was a perfect movie. From an entertainment point of view it is near perfect and from a structure point of view it is basically perfect. Fuck! I love this movie.

In honor of me seeing the movie for the first time in a theater, below are some links to things that I consider relevant for Back To The Future. If nothing else this is an appreciation of sorts…

Tom Wilson’s (Biff) Back To The Future Song:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwY5o2fsG7Y&w=420&h=315]

Tom Wilson’s podcast on Nerdist talking about recasting Marty McFly: Podcast.

Video of Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly before being recast. BTW – How crazy is it that Michael J Fox wasn’t Marty McFly for any moment in time? I think there should be a documentary on this actor switch. I’d love to know where Eric Stoltz stands on this whole thing: I almost can’t take it.

A reunion video 25 years later: Reunion central

Back To The Future Pedia: This is a crazy website

Claudia Wells (Jennifer aka Marty’s girlfriend) interview on why she left Back To The Future. It’s weird because it always seems like Elizabeth Shue was in these movies: Claudia!

Crispin Glover (George McFly) talking about leaving Back To The Future. It’s also strange to think that original George McFly wasn’t in the sequels: George!

Eric Tan conceptual artwork: Tan

How to Reboot Back To The Future! Shameless plug. Don’t care, I love this trilogy: 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE8QLR8KLwk&w=560&h=315]