An Inconvenient Poop

I got in touch with the co-producer of An Inconvenient Truth today so she could help me with an email campaign for The Unforeseen. It's just bizarre. I sent off this email to a woman who made millions for this documentary and I got a reply in less than ten minutes.

It makes me feel good about the industry, I guess. I guess I know that some of these people still check their email, aren't dicks, etc.

I dunno, I just thought that was neato torpedo.

Ah, Folklore. If you like a more strategic Devil May Cry with Pokemon/Kingdom Hearts elements and stellar dialogue and art design, then the game is probably for you. I'm enjoying it a lot.

I think I'll get Lost Odyssey when it comes out next week. I actually enjoyed Blue Dragon quite a bit, so Mistwalker hasn't totally left my radar as far as good 360 JRPGs go. And can you really go wrong with Uematsu? I hear the story is pretty fucking trite, but show me a good RPG that hasn't already been done to death in some fashion and I'll show you twenty more where that came from. It's ultimately all about writing and design for me at the end of the day. Ultimately at the end of the day. Come on.

Anyway!

I've had a love/hate thing with the Devil May Cry series. I'm intrigued about the new entry (as well as the new Penny Arcade strip about the PS3's installation thing, which I approve of, by the way), but definitely not enough to buy it until a drop in price. I enjoyed the first entry and the third entry (which I haven't played through yet), but the second was so absolutely vanilla, but gross and heavy vanilla, that it's been hard for me to go back to the series with open arms.

Also, listen to The National. Please. Thanks, Peter.



"Slow Show"
The National

Seeking Brass Bolts

Maybe the honeymoon will be over soon, but so far I'm actually quite happy to be back in Sherman. I hooked up my computer to a little TV monitor so I could have my iTunes on one screen and the rest of my shit to the computer monitor itself. I like this setup. I actually think it'll help me be more productive.

Cool story, John!

I'm really happy that everyone (except maybe whiney Pats fans, of which there are many of those in the known universe) is finally seeing Belichick for the sore loser shit he is. Even Randy Moss was being a gracious loser. Incredible. Having said that, I could probably go forever without seeing either of those teams win another Super Bowl. Here's to hoping the Cowboys wise up and try to sign Randy Moss out of free agency instead instead of trading Marion Barber to the Dolphins for a totally untested rookie RB. Jesus.

My plan is to have a totally finished, "not gonna touch it again until after I hypothetically sell it to a big movie studio" copy of my first screenplay, tentatively titled Nerdy Hopeless Romantics, ready for everyone's reading pleasure by next weekend.

Cool story, John!

Oh yeah, maybe you can answer me this one, Ben, but why the hell would anyone actually do Prestige Mode in COD4?

That Big Scary Moment of Thinking You're Shit

I know Shelley can empathize here. I'm sure most of you can empathize, but I've heard Shelley echo some of the following rather recently. I'll make it rather short.

I don't want to be a TV writer because I know I'm not Ricky Gervais. I don't want to be an actor because I know I'm not Clive Owen. I don't want to be a novelist because I know I'm not Kingsley Amis. I don't want to be a musician because I know I'm not Stephen Jenkins.

I know all of that is just fucking stupid, but it's really hard. Complain, complain, complain, I know. But Jesus, I'll never be that funny or insightful or piercing. I'm not even sure I want to be that funny or insightful or piercing because they do it so well.

It's just hard to get over that. Admiration is just hard to get over.

I definitely still want to be a TV writer, though. I just need to get some tougher skin.



"Can't You Hear Me Knocking"
The Rolling Stones

Flat Panels and Terraforming

Did anyone else here recently wake up and realize your childhood vision of the future was coming to fruition?

How many of your life goals can you mark off at this point?

Does anyone have life goals?


"Sleep"
Azure Ray

Oh Goodness

This thing is going to be about 30% longer than I initially expected.

I guess that's not a terrible thing, just a...

NARM NARM NARM NARM NARM NARM.

*strokes. dies.*


"Yours to Keep"
Teddybears

FOOTBALL ARF ARF ARF

The Pats certainly looked like a beatable team tonight. If the Boys see the Pats in the Super Bowl, and I think that's probable, it'll be a tight contest. I've never rooted for the Eagles before, but I found myself cheering for Emo Quarterback of the Future, AJ Feeley. McNabb is done in Philly. He'll be in Chicago this time next year, giving the Bears a breath of fresh air in the QB department.

Speaking of the Bears and quarterbacks, Rex Grossman didn't throw the game away against the Broncos at home today. Color me impressed, but color me even more impressed with Devin Hester. Goodness gracious. 27 games in the NFL with 10 return touches, come on. He passed Gale Sayers as the Bears' all-time return man. Good company.

I could probably write a novel about everything that's wrong with the NFL Network and the fact that millions of football fans will miss Thursday night's game between the Pack and the Boys. The biggest issue, no surprise here, is Jerry Jones. He's the new President of the NFL Network. He's the one going around telling people to drop cable and switch to satellite so they'll get the NFL Network. Now, if my team were 10-1 for the first time ever, and we're going into a home-field-advantage-deciding game against the 10-1 Packers, I'd want as many people as humanly possible to see the game. But no, not Jerry. Jerry wants you to switch to Dish Network so you can see the game on the NFL Network. It's a crock of shit and the NFL should be way fucking embarrassed about this. I'm not torn up about missing the Indy-Falcons game the other night, but someone is somewhere in the United States. If the NFL wants to branch out to China, Mexico, London, and so forth, they should reach out to their American fans first. I was a rabid supporter of the NFL Network before they started buying rights to more and more games each season. I think guys like Chris Collinsworth and Brian Baldinger, who work for NFL Network as well as NBC and Fox, respectively, should be embarrassed that they're playing both sides of this thing.

It's bullshit and it needs to stop, end of story.



"Money for Nothing"
Dire Straits

Remember Those Old Xanga Rants?

It does worry me, admittedly -- the idea that I can't write shit unless it's the low light of winter, I'm exposed to extended interaction with many people at once, or I'm depressed.

Of course, I'm certainly more content with being happy than depressed. There isn't much I can do about the people thing. I'm working from home, I have no desire to spend time on campus, and writing in a coffee shop really is a laughable move. I'll only have about a month of the low light of winter before I have to close shop and send everything in to UT.

Then, my stuff actually has to be good enough to get in.

Not much I can do about that, either. Not much I can do about not being 28, the average age of applicants to the schools which I'm applying.

I haven't felt this powerless in a while. Not much to get depressed about here, though. I'm planning a wedding with the woman of my dreams and watching the Cowboys have the best season they've had in nearly 25 years.

There just isn't time to be moody and nostalgic with all of this happiness floating around. Maybe I missed my shot back in 2004 to be a stellar writer. Did I miss my shot to be moody and nostalgic for a lifetime and make oodles of cash doing it?

What am I going to do? It's not like I woke up and couldn't express the things I want to express. I'm just not terribly concerned with expressing them. I think about them, sure, but when it comes time to strap down and write -- that's a losing battle most of time.

Chances are, this bout of new-found honesty here will fuel some good writing. It couldn't come at a better time. I'm just so worried about blowing my chance to get into grad school. Maybe I'll swallow my pride and start writing at a coffee shop. I should probably just embrace that part of me that gets a jolt from working in public. Who knew I was such a voyeur?

Peter did say something to me the other night after watching Knocked Up and discussing the future DVD release of Superbad. He expressed disappointment that he'd never be able to write anything as funny as those movies. That prospect totally terrifies me -- it's definitely something I think about every time I see something I love (the aforementioned, Six Feet Under, Arrested Development, etc.).

I just need to clear my mind of the irrelevant. I need to remember why I wanted to write in the first place. I need to start thinking in terms of who would see/read what I write instead of those I'm writing it for. Does that make sense?

I think maybe I'm terrified of what the people I'm writing it for will think. I need to abandon that.

Quickly.


"Savannah Smiles"
Okkervil River