48 of the 97 scenes in the movie are edited. this first pass is a "rough" edit, the kind of thing where you watch the scene, laugh a little, then grimace at the mistakes you’ve made. at the pace we’ve been working, we’ll have a finished cut next week; however, at the moment, i’m having trouble finding the inspiration to work. it’s the paradox of being self-employed: without a boss looking over your shoulder, there’s no impetus to work besides self-motivation#–and when you’re feeling unmotivated, you don’t work. instead, you blog. or you go to Sonic where they serve breakfast sandwiches all day long; at my sonic, if you order a combo they give you a free newspaper (another distraction).

i’m heading to st. louis this weekend to attend the final day of the st. louis international film festival#–there is a showing of Kinsey that i’d really like to see. contrary to the perceptions of many americans, one cannot drive under the st. louis arch#–so that part of the trip is out (for now).

i’m also trying to meet up with dan chilton, the bravest guy i know, who is in the process of creating an art cinema in midwestburg (also known as springfield, mo). if you haven’t checked out the moxie, you don’t know what you’re missing. if you live in springfield and you enjoy movies, you had better let your two cents be heard about this endeavor#–we need to help make dan and nicole a success if we want to see quality movies in this part of the country. the only beef i have against dan is that he uses firefox instead of avant browser (sigh), but we’ll forgive him.

45 scenes of 98 edited…

have you noticed how outspoken bill cosby has been lately? it’s funny to hear him blast wanda sykes when she asks him how his shows were so successful ("we spoke english"), but it’s also a little bit sad that he’s telling the truth. and i’m not talking along race lines. while cosby is focusing on african american society and youth, there’s a bigger problem facing all of our youth. i can’t remember as a teenager ever feeling comfortable cursing, talking about having sex, or acting rudely towards others#–at least not on purpose#–and it’s strange to see the trend in people my sisters’ age doing all of these things; and i don’t think it’s the natural progression of time (argument: hey, rock and roll was just as offensive in the 50’s as rap is now).

before buying a new computer component, check your manual. read what you’ve got. make sure you’re buying the right thing.

we’d be a little further along in the editing process had i done just that.

the formula for buying RAM:
Find out the bus speed of your computer (i know, it sounds technical, really, it’s not). Look for the thingy (in your manual) called the "front side bus". no, this is not something the "slow students" ride: it’s the channel that your RAM uses to speak to your computer. mine is 400mhz. now, find out what processor you have (Intel or AMD). If you have Intel (Pentium) divide the "mhz" number by four. If you have AMD divide the number by two. This is your "real" bus speed. Yes, computer geeks make it harder than it needs to be. I have an AMD, so my "real" bus speed is not 400mhz; it is 200mhz. Now, to find the right RAM, use this formula:

("bus speed" x 2 x 64)divide by 8 = speed of RAM.

it appears larva finally has an air date. if you’ve ever wanted to see me meet an untimely and disgusting demise, this is your chance. january 8th on the sci-fi channel.

that should be around the same time we’re ready for test screenings of The Suburban Seven, so look out.

speaking of looking out, i’m looking outside at the leaves falling off the trees here in springfield. it’s amazing how winter, regardless of geographic location, looks the same. the clouds aren’t as pretty, until snow falls the landscape isn’t pretty#–in order to appreciate beauty you have to look very, very close: at the microscopic details in frost, snowflakes, and even the veins of fallen leaves. yup. i’ve got cabin fever. according to the weather channel, the golf index is a 7 (good) but i just don’t feel like chasing a ball through a pile of leaves.

back to the story…
james and i started searching for some stars. we sent the script through channels we knew (friends, ex-girlfriends, old acquaintences) to a few "name" actors/actresses and received positive response. "sure, I’d love to do this script. you can’t quote me on that though. once you raise the money, you can quote me on that."

for some reason, the last of these was popular…