I’m back from the UK! I took over 200 photos, so expect a gigantic swell of Flickr posts soon#–the processing should be complete by tomorrow night. It costs a lot to get everything on CD (I still shoot on film, not digitally) and I opted not to do it. I’ll be scanning them manually and that, my friends, takes time.

My favorite thing in Scotland was the surprisingly tasty local dish Haggis. I ate it several times, and each time it was served over neeps (mashed turnip) and tatties (mashed potatoes). It’s made by stuffing a sheeps stomache with the animal’s heart, lungs, and liver, and then adding oatmeal, onion, fat, and seasonings. I didn’t find this out until about thirty seconds ago when I googled the recipe.

I also ate black (blood) pudding… and a quick Google scan tells me that’s made of pig’s blood mixed with fat. And yes, I loved that too.

Oh man, what is WRONG with me?

Scotland is beautiful#–castles, cultre, art, music… it’s been a blast. Tonight I will be seeing Shakespeare at the Lyceum Theatre (As You Like It) and I am very excited. So far, my favorite thing has been touring Edinburgh Castle. I’ll have a lot of photos for Flickr when I get back, and I can’t wait to see how they turned out. It seems everywhere I look there is something to snap!

It hasn’t been all play though#–I finished up a pitch idea I’ve been tooling around in my mind for while (horror movie/vampire flick) that I was prompted to finish by an invite from Tim Cox of Plinyminor to send for production consideration. It seems they are looking for a vampire movie in the same mold as the one I’d been considering… I spent some time working out the step outline and structuring the bits I hadn’t already been mulling over, and emailed it out this morning. The review is on Monday, so keep your fingers crossed for me. It’s a concept that I like, so even if it’s not picked up I’ll probably still write the spec script.

I’m heading out of town on Sunday for about ten days… should I tell you where?

I lucked out and am tagging along on a family vacation to Scotland with my girlfriend’s family. We’re going to Edinburgh and I’m so excited to get out of the US for a teensy bit. I need to recharge my Extreme Nationalism batteries#–after all, the flagwaving of the last several years tends to wear one out, doesn’t it?

Cynicism aside, I’m really looking forward to exploring the landscape and taking a lot of photos. I’ve been working really hard here in NYC for some time now, and haven’t focused on much other than going to auditions, sending out mailings, and writing, writing, writing. I hope to work on my newest screenplay a lot on the trip as well. For some reason, I write better when I’m not at home: even an afternoon session at Starbucks will invigorate my writing.

I fixed the last post about women… I messed up the link the first time.

I’ve been lax in posting this last week, because I’ve been temping#–that’s temporary office work for those not up on the lingo. This week I worked for the American Museum of Natural History#–which was a lot of fun. I worked as an assistant to a head of the Education Department. The best part of the job was walking through the museum every morning, looking at the exhibits, and looking at the exhibits on my lunch break.

You won’t believe me, but they are so out of storage there that they have artifacts wrapped in celophane and stored on shelves in the breakroom#–basically right next to the bathroom. While I was working there, I remembered my first "when I grow up I want to be…" It was an archeologist. When I was a kid, I wanted nothing more than to be an archeologist on a dig, solving the mysteries of time#–I’m probably the only person to have read The Origin of Species at ten years old. So this week was kind of an indulgence in that. And I want to say that my boss’s office was exactly how I would have pictured it#–complete with taxidermied wildlife and a big walnut desk.

I just know I’m going to get creamed by my female readership… but I thought this was pretty funny…

Apparently, a math student has proved that women are problems.

I’m looking at camcorders for a friend for an upcoming trip: I think I’ve settled on the versatile (and tiny) Sony DCR-HC21. I’m amazed at how small camcorders are getting now#–with the size comparable to regular still cameras, I can’t imagine people not using them when on vacation. In the past, I know I was guilty of bringing the camcorder, and then not using it because it was just too big. Those days are long gone…

With, of course, the bigger battery (NP-FP71)…

Some Mini-DV tapes…

And a digital camera for the stills…

The perfect vacation package.

More along the lines of my post yesterday… I’m putting this information here, because I feel these are questions we need to ask of our government#–and questions we need to remember having asked when it comes time to vote. When Clinton made his mega-blunder with Lewinski, we as a country held him accountable.

Our current administration is making mega-blunders as well#–are we going to hold them accountable?

A Can’t-Do Government - New York Times

United States of Shame - New York Times

Hastert Tries Damage Control - Washington Post

Rove Not Entitled to D.C. Homestead Deduction - Washington Post