Guns before Butter

We can do without butter, but, despite all our love of peace, not without arms. One cannot shoot with butter, but with guns.
—Joseph Goebbels

Guns will make us powerful; butter will only make us fat.
—Hermann Goering

The old Guns or Butter model. Fleeting comfort, or stopping power? Defense versus civilian spending. What does the nation want? What does the nation need? It begs you to look at the bigger picture. The longer road.

Now, I'm not a Nazi about it, but right now I've got to choose guns. My focus is entirely on survival. Sure, I cannot wait till I can afford to laugh it up. But for now, I'm still operating on the assumption that I can lose this entire game in the blink of an eye. And I can't let that happen.

Because this is all I have. Lest we forget.

So, the official word from the Western Winds is that we're still waiting... but it's unlikely that our production will go pre-strike.

Let me recap, class. There's a general, perfect-storm threat of strikes from the three major screen guilds: Writers, Actors and Directors. The deadlines are a bit all over the place right now, but the general idea is that the (potential) strike zone would be around June of 2008. So there's a scramble in Hollywood to focus on the productions that would go BEFORE that.

We've been gunning for a pre-strike greenlight, but we don't have a director in place. And that could take some time. And then we'll have to develop the project further with the director.

So... while it's unlikely at this point that we'll get a "pre-strike" production, let me emphasize—they still want to make this. "We'll just have to wait a few months," I'm told.

Just a few more months...

I'll admit, I was pretty psyched up at the idea of running-and-gunning full-force into production. And while somewhat disappointed, I'm still at a uniquely advantageous spot. With a sniper rifle. And I am not alone.

Thursday, I spoke with an agent from PARADIGM and set up a meeting for Monday. A manager from Circle of Confusion also called to check in with me. I've got enough reps interested in me. I wish it didn't take so long to set up these meetings. It'd be a lot easier if I could teleport instantly between here and L.A. That would help oh so much. Especially when I'm sick of this cruel, ailing, godforsaken city...

Goodbye to you...'ve been wasting all my time...

I do hope you office-jobbers who don't watch the vids @ work are watching these at home. In this one, you've GOT to wait until they whip out the kazoo. It'll fracture your jaded little hearts.

I love how serious they are in all these videos. They are not just having laughs: they are focused on performing these numbers properly. And any time little kids sing songs ripped from the hearts of world-worn adults, it is fucking solid gold. Two little English girls, doing their condensed song-covers for the camera tripod. Well played, little women, well bleeding played.

"Nazi politics and underage British girls?" sniffed the Gay Horse. "Scavenging along the borderline of propriety today, are we now?"

Fat of the Land Shuffled 5:
1. "Victory (NIN Remix)", Puff Daddy
2. "I Would Die 4 U", Prince
3. "Go To Sleep (Little Man Being Erased)", Radiohead
4. "Banquet", Bloc Party
5. "Bingo", M.I.A.
Firestarter Bonus:
"L.A. Woman", Billy Idol

Here's an extra vid, for MERILLON:

Poor People Gonna Rise Up...

... take what's theirs...

Nick(/Emma) enjoying the Wii I've granted them. It must be nice to be in a loving relationship *and* have fun with the Wii.

Of course, everything I love betrays me eventually...

No word yet from the Western District, so don't ask.

Spoke with my lawyer briefly, he told me about an agent at Paradigm who's interested in me. In passing, he also mentioned agents at two other agencies who *weren't* interested in me based on the script—but he reassured me that "it was just personal"... Personal taste, I think he meant. He tried to explain further—that these two agents just weren't looking for "genre-writers"—but the damage was done.

This is my problem. It's the people who DON'T want me that I fixate on.

Some scattershot links for you today, and I'm not even going to try to make them relate:

Food Network Fires Mario Batali!

New York City restaurants are like that Pixar movie!
(Hint: not Toy Story.)

This one's older, but: UGLY QUEER FAMILIES NEED NOT APPLY!

Don't you know, you better run run run run run....

I Predict a Riot

No word yet. Which is still the speed I was expecting. Hope to hear something this week, but it's a funny business. Another payment just came in, which is good enough news for me.

Did a spot of snooping on the stats of that other blog I keep, and it appears that last month persons from Paramount, CAA and New Regency checked it out. I get so embarrassed when these people GOOGLE me up and find all the internet detritus.

I just hope The Powers That Be don't make me shut down the other blog. It may be lame but it's fuckin' mine!

Help Me If You Can

Goodbye Summer. Hello Fall.

And now we wait, helplessly, on news of our immediate future.

Will it come today? Will it come next week?

These are the days to lose sleep.

It's encouraging that Rob Zombie's Halloween Remake took top honors at the box office this weekend. The horror genre's still got some life in it, naysayers.

Whether that helps us or has no effect on us... all we can do is wait and find out.

The Broken Hearted People

Correct me if I'm wrong, but nothing beats Labor Day. A gift to the working men and women. The laborers. A long kiss goodnight to summer. One last, gasping fit of laughter.

This could change as everything changes, but I'm trying to crank out a spec script on the side called "The Broken Hearted". An action movie, mixed up with a romance. Or anti-romance. I was kicking it around a few years ago, in a different form. Then things changed. And now I'm trying to reimagine the idea while retaining the core premise. A bad breakup that comes back to haunt the protagonist.

Let's give it up for Fiona and Emily, playing Misanthropy Central ALL WEEK...

September Dawn

I can't ruddy well believe it's come to September already, O My Brothers. Honestly—September? Really? I barely touched Summer. (And I wasn't quite desperate enough to touch Spring...)

Autumn in New York is the half-skip and a jump between Summer and Winter. I've got a lot to accomplish before this year's done for, and I've got no idea what that entails at the moment.

How do you think I do it? (I DON'T KNOW!) What makes me so good???

Life is about to get stranger...