I have added yet another blog to my ever-growing list of links.

The last couple of weeks I have been reading the blog of Alex Epstein and have thoroughly enjoying it.  Very smart guy and seems to give out fairly sound advice.

Tags: Alex Epstein

My rapid drop in Blog Proficiency has directly coinciding with the end of my Battlestar Galactica viewing.  It would seem that my brain cannot focus on focusing without having an active television series to watch.  No, I have never actually discussed my analysis of BSG with you, but I feel as though it was the last string keeping my brain from turning to mush.  It was hard enough starting this site smack dab in the middle of summer hiatus with close to no brain-fuel, but now Aneeta and I have officially run out of shows to watch at night and we still have another three weeks until shows start airing again, much less start to develop momentum.  I don’t really know what to do about that, so I guess you guys are on the screwed side of life for now.

 

One could say, “Well, if you were smart, you could use this time to finish the two screenplay drafts that you’re working on” to which I would say, “Narg.”  I don’t even feel inspired to write fictional stories rooted in no actual fact, and in theory, that’s a much easier task than finding mini-essay topics, right? 

 

A lot of good this post has down both of us.  I promised myself that this blog would never turn into a “Today I ate a Sandwich and sorta played checkers” blog, but I guess I’m a liar.

So, to console you and me alike, below I have posted network premiere dates.  Do enjoy.  They are mildly more interesting than what I have to say.  And if that doesn’t suit, go take the “Laura Roslin” Quiz.

A list of the Major Network premieres by Date (not network).  Networks include the four major ones; NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX as well as the CW.

Also, FYI:

Dexter premieres September 28th.  And for those who care, The L Word airs January 4, 2009.

Also, there is no official word on the dates announced for Dollhouse and Battlestar Galactica.  Word says both will go to air in early 2009.

 

UPDATE: By Popular demand… or at least a query…

BMI: 22.61 which puts me just under 61 kg.

Weight to lose: 1.5 kg

Date to lose it by: Tomorrow.

SIgh.

Tags: 2008 Fall Premiere Dates, Battlestar Galactica, Dollhouse, Laura Roslin, Network Television, TV, watching TV, Wii Fit, Writing

I have just added an Articles page to the site.  Go check it out if you’re tired of hearing me ramble on about stuff people have already talked about and you would like to read something straight from the horse’s mouth.

Tags: Site Updates

“Obama Campaign Reaches out to Gay Georgians”

When I first saw this headline, I thought, “what, all four of them?”  Even as a lesbian from Georgia’s neighbor, South Carolina, I still find it hard to grasp onto the idea that there are more than a handful of gays and lesbians in the deep south and I think that it is insanely important (not to mention comforting) that people as politically powerful as Obama are able to recognize that gays and lesbians don’t just live in California and New York.  According to the 2006 U.S. Census analysis by UCLA’s Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law & Public Policy, there are over 280,000 GLB’s roaming the dirt roads of Georgia, and a number that meaty isn’t only surprising, but makes you go “Hm, maybe Obama’s onto something.”   And hey, maybe if this little experiment works out for him in Georgia, he can head on next door to my neck of the woods and see what kind of support he can rustle up over there.

According to the article in Southern Voice, Obama has turned some of his campaigning efforts in Georgia towards the GLB community in hopes of getting the southern st­ate to turn a pretty shade of blue in November for the first time since Bill’s first election in ‘92.

It would appear that Obama’s tactic is so appealing that, according to this article at least, even some of the gay Republicans can’t help being interested in his views on gay rights.

Ah, the controversy of the Gay Republican.  Being born and bred on the buckle of the Bible belt myself, the concept of the “Gay Republican” is not foreign to me, though that does not makes it any less baffling.  So many of my peers and elders alike have lectured me about how “politics has nothing to do with sexuality and therefore doesn’t influence who I vote for.”  I’m sorry to burst any bubbles, but it does and it should, especially once anyone, GOP or otherwise, starts using a particular stance on sexuality for political sway. “Yes, you might be one of the few who gets a tax cut, but you must also resign yourself to wearing a pink triangle on your arm so that we can keep an eye on you.” It becomes unavoidably apparent that sexual and political preferences unquestionably go hand in hand. The question that does remain to be asked, however, is where is the line here? And what trade-offs are we willing to make for these “clear cut politics” so many people speak of?

Tags: Barack Obama, Bible Belt, Democrat, Election 08, Gay, Gay Rights, Georgia, GLBT, John McCain, Politics, The South

I started using the Celtx program in late 2005, I would guess, but I could be overshooting that a bit.  Back then, it was still very much in Beta and nothing but a glorified typewriter, but I have stuck with it and after it’s long awaited 1.0 release, the program has really come into its own as a sophisticated piece of screenwriting software and pre-production tool.  I stumbled across it when I got fed up with using the temperamental Microsoft Word but didn’t have enough money (I didn’t have any money, really) to go out and buy something like Final Draft.  Luckily, there is a group of unsung heroes out on the web that believe in Open Source Software, and that’s how I came to find Celtx. Yes, it is completely, and will always be, free.  I am not  going to do a full review here, maybe one day, but I do recommend the download.  Like I said, it free, and the interface is so simple that you will have yourself writing a screenplay, stageplay or anything in seconds after launching the program.¹  Not only is it great for writing, but the ladies and gents of Celtx have really worked hard to make it a complete pre-production planning tool as well.  It has script breakdown capabilities, calenders for planning, a storyboarding function and so much more.  If you got a few minutes I recommend the download to see what it has going on.

Also, another thing that the developers at Celtx have done is started releasing short films about filmmaking.  They have a channel over at Blip.tv  where they have started releasing quick little shorts titled “Motion Sketches” and I’ll give them credit, they relay a lot of easy to digest information in short amount of time.  I’ve only had time to look through a couple, but if you have any interest in filmmaking or how cinema is evolving, I would check them out.  The current one is about the role of the producer but their first episode is about how the definition of Cinema has changed over the last several years due to what is referred to as the “digital age.” 

I watched the first episode last night entitled “So this is Cinema?,” where the host, Mike Jones (who I will talk about later) starts off by telling us that Cinema is so much bigger than sitting in a big dark room. There is an old way of thinking that a writer writes and a director directs and a cinematographer… cinematograph-erises… but there is room for us writers to be better if we are educated about post production and if editors were educated about pre-production, and so on.  According to this sketch, 21st Century Cinema is about empowerment and being self-sufficient.  Software has started to be bundled together so that any filmmaker, at any level in their career, can start thinking about all the processes instead of just the one stage they’re on now and worry about the next step when they come to it… only Mike says it much better.  If you have five minutes check out the first Celtx episode here.  And if you have more time, visit the channel.

 

MIke Jones, who is heavily involved with Celtx development down here in Australia, also happens to be a friend and mentor of mine.  I am going to let you in on a little secret about Mike; he knows everything.  I am not lying here or exaggerating, ask him how to do anything and he can tell you.  It’s really shocking.  That aside, he is also a fellow geek, and has some great insights on cinema that you might not get from the more wanky variety of filmmakers  – what it is, where it came from, where it’s going, etc.  On his website he has written articles about Cinema as a Spatial artform, an audio AND visual artform and how the old way of “film” is dead.  Though he’s a little bit more in love with the digital age than I and I have some differing opinions on the validity of gaming and cell phones as legitimate forms of cinema delivery, his opinions are worth reading and I promise you you’ll learn something new with every article read. 

I will be adding Mike’s blog to my links as well, something I should have done sooner.

 

As for Wii Fit, it’s a disaster. I didn’t make my goal, so I have started a new one and of course have not exercised since. Sigh.

Tags: 21st Century Cinema, Blip.tv, Celtx, Digitial Age, Film, Film Making, Final Draft, Microsoft Word, Mike Jones, Open Source, pre-production, Screenwriting, Screenwriting Software, Software, writing tools

My resume has now been added to the site.   A full PDF version is available upon request.

Also updated was my About page.

Tags: resume, site update

Recently my girlfriend and I have been getting into Battlestar Galactica and we absolutely love it.  They just completed the actual series and I know there have been rumors of a new movie to come.  So far there isn’t a title for the project, but they have found a writer!  As an avid Buffy fan I was pleased to find an article in the LA Times saying that Jane Espenson will be writing the feature.  I will admit now that I did not read the whole article, as I have only seen up to about mid-season 2 and have an intense phobia of spoilers, but I did read enough to find out this exciting TidBit.

Can’t wait to see it, Jane!

In honor of her accomplishment I will tell you what I had for lunch: A way healthy McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger (no fries).

Tags: Battlestar Galactica, Jane Espenson, LA Times

Well, the good news is that my Pages are all back online, the bad news is that I’m stuck with this gay theme for the time being.  It seems as though the  layout theme that I settled on (one that I actually liked) had issues supporting Pages that wasn’t the homepage.  One of the few things it’s required to do.  Hopefully soon I will able to shed this psuedo-I’m-creative-wank theme and get one a little more sleak.  There might be some more layout changes in the near future so bear with me while I get on my feet; and hopefully then I will be able to concentrate on actual content.

Thanks, Carrie

Yes, we are experiencing our first technical difficulties.  I have been playing around with some things today and I seem to have messed up the topic pages.  Not that there was much there to begin with, but you’ll notice when you try to navigate to other pages they will be all white.  I am working on fixing this, but my lack of knowledge in web design is seriously hindering it.

Comments can now be edited after posting. There is however, a short time limit so changes have to be made relatively shortly after the post has been made. 

Thank you to the Reader’s Appreciation Project for the nifty plug-in.

Tags: new plug-in, Reader's Appreciation Project