Work in Progress

So the house has been taking up a lot of time, unpacking and getting things comfortable. There is enough improvement for a few pictures.

The library now has books on the shelves. Only about half of them are organized, though.


The kitchen still needs some work. I have cooked a few meals on the stove top. Right now, there is shelf paper everywhere from where we were papering the shelves.


The dining room now has a place where you can sit down.


Same goes for the living room. Both are still in progress, but look much better than they did a week ago.

Here is my office. Yes, it is typical for me to have dual monitors and a laptop going all at once.


And the other half of my office which contains a futon, a lamp, and more shelves.

After the Move... Before the Cleanup

We're in the new house and have sort of unpacked.

Now all we need to do is start cleaning up the mess.

Living room


Library


Looking out into the front yard


Dining Room

More Sonogram Pictures!

I will not do something no one else in the history of the internet has done . I will share cute photos of my kid.

Internet, meet the Critter!

So I haven't been posting as much as I would like, and when I post it is usually a YouTube video instead of something strange and wonderful that has been rattling around in my head.

Not to make excuses, but I've been busy. On July 10th, we placed our house on the market and on the 16th, we got an offer. So all we need to do (as of this writing) is find a new house. That was a lot of work, but that is not all!

I also wrote and published the best book in the universe, and spent three weeks in California for work, but that is not all!

I still have grad school starting this fall, but, seriously, that is NOTHING compared to news about the Critter.

Yes. That is right....

The Mrs. and I are having our first kiddo - a little girl that we have not named yet. Before we knew the gender, we started calling it the Critter, and that name stuck, much to the chagrin of people who do not like to think of children as crawly animals, only bigger.



We are pretty excited, and it is about time the internet in general knew about this.

Oh, and if Facebook is any indication, this baby thing is going to be fun.

Reminds me of Some Parts of My Childhood

The Book is Out!

I am proud to announce that my book, 26 Short Screenplays for Independent Filmmakers, is available now exclusively from the website www.26screenplays.com. The book is a collection of Creative Commons screenplays that filmmakers can use to make their own films. Each screenplay is tied to a type of film project. For example, there is a project called "The Meet Cute Scene" and it consists of two characters meeting in a really cute way. Other projects include "The Car Chase," "Pseudo-Documentary Style," and "The Horror Short." The idea is that an independent filmmaker can use these scripts to develop a portfolio showing his or her versatility.


I know everyone who reads this blog wants to support the book in whatever way possible, so here is a list of things you can do to show your support.

1. Buy the book. I know it is stating the obvious, but the more people who buy the book the more money I make. And I like having money. www.26screenplays.com

2. Tell people about the book. To the best of my knowledge, there isn't a book like this out there. There are a lot of "how to make your film" books and "so you want to be an independent filmmaker" books, but there aren't any other "screenplay cookbooks" out there. And feel free to mention the website. www.26screenplays.com

3. There are snarky T-Shirts on the website, too. Thanks to the power of Cafe Press, they cost more than the book. But, hey, T-shirts are cool and cool is priceless.

4. Make a short film using one of the screenplays and send it along. Every film made from one of the scripts gets featured on the www.26screenplays.com website.

I know some people are not made of money and don't feel comfortable sending hard earned cash to an exciting and vibrant website. Not a problem, because there are things people can do to support the book for free.

1. Follow the blog at blog.26screenplays.com. I will use this as a bully pulpit to talk about films, screenplays, and intellectual property law.

2. Follow the Twitter stream at www.twitter.com/26screenplays. This will be like the blog, but more fine tuned for those of us with ADD.

3. Follow the 26 Screenplays YouTube channel www.youtube.com/26screenplays. Everyone who submits a short film from one of the screenplays will be featured here.

So there you go. This is why I haven't been writing on this blog as much as I wanted to and why I probably owe you an email. Thanks for your interest and I hope you become as excited about this new book as I am.

Photographic Obsessions

There is no way to truly know how you are going to react in a stressful situation. You can mentally prepare for it, you can train for it, but when the actual moment happens, there is a moment of spontaneous, unrehearsed reaction.

And sometimes people take a picture of this. We call them mugshots.



There are some websites that specialize in mugshots. The Smoking Gun has a regular feature where they display police mugshots. I have followed this for years and have even used the for photoshop experiments.

For example, this mugshot of an angry young K-Mart employee:



Becomes a motivational poster.



And this fella who has had a hard life:



Gets a little love after a trip to Olan Mills.



So you can imagine the joy that shot through my cynical heart when the Denton police got its own mugshot twitter feed.

http://twitter.com/DentonPolice

I am completely obsessed with this. Every time someone is booked, a new photo is posted. I have been known to click through these pictures for hours.

Part of me wonders why I am so obsessed with mugshots like this. Is this sense of entitlement and superiority because they are criminals and I have not been convicted of anything? Is it a celebration in the way people don't really look like Hollywood starlets or Glamor Shots? Or is it because I am awaiting the day I see someone I know in one of these line ups.

Maybe it is a combination of all three.

This is Me Every Time I Get In Front of My Computer

We've Traced All of 70s Fashion to Patient Zero

Really Want this Video Game

I Miss the Days When Music Videos Never Even Tried to Make Sense

As Much as I Hate Sequels, I Have to Admit This Gets Me Excited

I wish I could quit you.

Discussion from a Recent Trip to Austin

"So what was it like to relocate to Austin?"

"Austin has everything. Cowboys, hippies, nerds, and politicos."

"And those are just the school mascots."

Today is Going to be a Good Day Thanks to Swine Flu

It is amazing how little things can make you happy.

This week has been a particularly stressful week. There is a lot of jobstress and bookstress happening right now (the book is in the final final editing phases just about ready to go to press). On top of that, yesterday, I got a speeding ticket. (Which is not THAT big of a deal - I just need to take defensive driving and fill out some paperwork and it is stricken from the record. It is just the hassle of going through the motions of penance when I know I am going to drive the same speed on the same stretch of road at the same time of day in the same levels of traffic and not get a ticket. This is why it is called a daily commute. I think that is why most people get so angry at speeding tickets - I have done the same thing I always do without consequence, why are there consequences all of a sudden. The only thing that is different about this situation is you, Mr. Police Man. And because you are different, I will not heap all of my frustration on you. But I have digressed...)

Today, looks like it is shaping up a little, though.

I have a twitter feed (http://twitter.com/gamookie) that I use as a steady stream of casual venting. I use it to complain about the jobstress or to make jokes about popular culture. It is really there to amuse myself (and/or the Mrs.) and to communicate with some friends who send me those @ replies.

Today, though, the local neighborhood website neighborsgo.com featured me as their Twitter friend of the day. May 6, 2009.

Wow! That just makes me happy.

Here is the exchange:

https://twitter.com/neighborsgo/status/1716750994

neighborsgo

@gamookie is our featured Twitter friend up top on neighborsgo.com. Who wants to be next?


https://twitter.com/gamookie/status/1716883974

gamookie

@neighborsgo Wow! How did that happen? Wow... Thanks! All I did was be me.

https://twitter.com/neighborsgo/status/1717124489

neighborsgo

@gamookie You had us at "the first rule of swine flu is that you don't talk about swine flu."

***

So there you go. Make a joke about swine flu comparing it to Fight Club, and people love you.

I learned something new. It is going to be a good day.

"Witty" Banter with a Fifteen-Year Old Kid on Facebook

I am a Facebook friend to the children of some my friends, including this lovable fellow who loves music by U2 and The Smiths yet somehow hates the 80s.

Too bad I am not a KISS fan, otherwise I would have continued the banter.

Write about What You Know

Or rather... what I've heard happen to a friend of mine once or twice back in Middle School.

Office Meeting

So I went and made one of the Xtranormal films myself.

My Friend Sherri Makes Movies about Her Life

From Sherri. The final one, "What Are You Thinking About?" is my favorite.

This Reminds Me That I Married During Troubled Economic Times

Not Quite Sure What to Make of This, Either