Thunderbolt

One of the great pleasures of living in Los Angeles is being able to attend screenings of classic films, many shown in 35mm. I haven't taken full advantage of this in recent years, but I going to make an effort to start taking in more classic (and perhaps not so classic) movies that get screened throughout the area. Last night I went to see Paths of Glory, a brilliant 1957 WWI film directed in glorious black and white by Stanley Kubrick. The motion picture stars Kirk Douglas, who is never better, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready, Wayne Morris and Richard Anderson. The plot involves a French Army division sent on a suicide mission to take a German position called "Anthill." Douglas is regiment colonel in charge of the troops. Despite his protestations, he leads his depleted ranks into a bloodbath. Embarrassed by the mission's failure, Douglas' commanding general (Menjou) decides to make an example of the troops and calls for the court martial of three...

Dope is a new coming of age film written and directed by Rick Famuyima. Famuyima co-wrote and directed the film The Wood , and co-wrote the sensational Talk to Me , starring Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Ejiofor (definitely check that one out). Dope  is one of the most fantastic films I've seen this year. Filled with humor, drama and a real danger, you would be remiss to pass it up if it comes to your neck of the woods. Shameik Moore (I guess best known for Cartoon Network's sketch show,  Incredible Crew ) stars as Malcolm, a self proclaimed geek who lives in "the Bottom," a rough neighborhood in LA, where every corner poses a threat to him and his two best friends, Diggy (Kiersey Clemons from Transparent ), a lesbian who dresses like a boy, and Jib (Tony Revolori from The Grand Budapest Hotel ). All three love comic books, skateboarding, playing original music in their punk band, getting good grades, and 1990s hip hop. Malcolm fashions his hair like Kid from Kid 'n Pl...

The past couple of weeks I've been doing some soul searching about what I want to do next regarding writing. I began one novel, about a teenage girl with CF who loves comics and winds up having to escort a boy on crutches around school as punishment for some stupid behavior. I wrote 30 pages before it got too hard. Not because I didn't know where the story was going. In fact, I have every detail of that story in my head. No, it's getting intimate with their girl's battle with CF that sticks a dagger in my spirit. I'm sure I'll return to this story when I'm in the right frame of mind, which really bums me out because it's the original story I wanted to do before I wound up writing Legendary . After I put that one aside I jumped back on to a script I was writing. The third act. That's all it needs. The third frickin act. Didn't happen. So I waited. Sometimes inspiration comes from nothing, and I found a post-it I wrote five years ago with a title f...

The final amount that Team Jacob raised this year was over $10,000. A stunning achievement. Furthermore, Sophie and Jacob were both in the top five for teens/kids raising money for the walk. The Valencia walk raised over $70,000. That's staggering. Valencia is not a large city, yet our community continues to pull in some big bucks to kick CF's ass.  If you're reading this, thank you for your support and prayers. If you donated, don't worry, chill, cheetah, your thank you note is coming. I made a promise and I will stick to it.   I never realize how stressful the walk is until a week or two after it's done. I feel a weight off of my chest. I've become so accustomed to suppressing my fears and sadness over CF. Yeah, that ain't a good thing. Thanks again. Aloha

Jacob and I went to see the latest Avengers movie yesterday. He thought it was awesome and had a hard time deciding which he liked better than last summer's Guardians of the Galaxy . Before our screening, there were no less than three super hero movie trailers! This wave of comic book movies has no end in sight. Watching the film, though, I couldn't help but think that Iron Man, Captain America and Hawkeye don't hold a candle to the guy who was sitting next to me. While the stories of extraordinary humans with mighty powers are fun and a great way to escape, the real hero in my life is Jacob. What he lives through on a daily basis is more than any kid should have to endure. I wager to say that Bruce Banner wouldn't complain so much about his anger issues if he was living with cystic fibrosis. CF is a pain in his tookus. Besides the obvious traits of the illness, here's some of the stuff he has to put up with. He misses school because his chest hurts or he's coug...

I give you the latest and greatest featuring Lego Jake.  What do you think?

Here I am in the 90s, when I worked for Tony Gardner and never wore a belt. I was also a bit , ahem, skinnier back then. ANYWAY, I post this pic and ask if you've considered donating to Great Strides this year. You haven't? Well, don't be a turkey. Help change the lives of thousands of children, teens and adults living with cystic fibrosis, like this guy... Jacob thanks you. Here's the link: Jacob's Donation Page Aloha

One of the finest shows on TV these past six years has been FX's Justified . Based on an Elmore Leonard novella entitled Fire in the Hole , the series followed the exploits of a Deputy U.S. Marshal named Raylan Givens, as played by the exceptional Timothy Olyphant. Raylan's primary nemesis was Boyd Crowder, an outlaw from the Kentucky hills who once worked in the coal mines with Raylan. Boyd was played to perfection by Walton Goggins. While Raylan and Boyd were strutting their stuff week in and week out, the producers of Justified , led by show creator/showrunner Graham Yost, also created a stellar group of women characters who often stole the spotlight from the two peacocks of the series. In particular Joelle Carter as Ava, Natalie Zea as Winona, Erica Tazel as Rachel Brooks, plus guest stars like Mary Steenburgen as Katherine Hale, Kaitlyn Dever as Loretta McReady (she's an up and comer we should all keep our eyes out for) and Emmy winner Margo Martindale as Mags Bennett....

I know. I've been terrible at sending "thank you" responses to all of you awesome people who have donated to Great Strides in the past couple of years. Please... please, please, please... don't let that affect whether you'll make a donation to Great Strides this year. Want to be pissed at me, that's cool. I deserve it. I've been a jackass and let a general malaise hover over me like a storm cloud that refuses to rain. But this isn't about me. It's about Jacob and the thousands of other children and adults living with cystic fibrosis. What can I do to make it up to you? Want a short story? I'll write you one. A short film? May take a little time, but consider it done. A copy of King's Highway ? Send me your address and it's in the mail. A copy of Basement Songs ? Okay. I love my son more than any words on a blog can get across. I do not have thousands of dollars to donate to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to continue their groundbreaking...

Jacob has pneumonia again. He has a cough that causes him to double over, shaking his entire body. He's had trouble sleeping through the night thanks to the cough. Well, thanks to CF. A simple cold can quickly turn into something else with CF kids, as it did in this case. But Jake is a champ. Although he's in a lot of pain, he still manages to  crack jokes and make us laugh. I bring this up as a segue into the following announcement: The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Great Strides walk for Valencia, CA (which is where I live) will be on May 9, 2015. This post is the beginning of my fundraising for Great Strides. Here are some facts that you probably know, but I'm going to repeat them: Cystic fibrosis is a life-threatening illness that effects the lungs and digestive systems of people born with it. In people with CF, the body produces a thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and obstructs the pancreas. Because of the mucus in the lungs, bacteria likes to grow and wrea...

The 2015 Valencia Great Strides is a little over a month away. Among the things I want to do this year (including personally thanking everyone who donates-- sorry!) is repost some of my CF related posts and columns from the past years. This year is kind of exciting because Jacob and I are working on a special fundraising video that we hope to have completed this weekend. Fingers crossed, Anyway, here is a 2011 BS entry for Coldplay's "Fix You." Every time I hear this song, it's hits me with an emotional wallop, especially the live version. This entry ran in April of that year, so there are references to the Indians already playing winning baseball (they would finish 80-82 that year, bleh). Thanks for reading. Aloha Here are two phrases I never thought I’d say in this year: “The Indians swept the Red Sox” and “Cleveland is in first place.” Hope  springs eternal each spring when Major League Baseball begins its season. We fans are optimistic even when our team is mid-ma...

This was originally published in 2007, when my daughter was 8. Time is a runaway freight train. I worry about Sophie. My concerns run deep ranging from how does her brother's disease affect her to is she receiving enough attention? The greatest fear I have for my daughter is that she somehow feels a lack of love on my part. I can tell her "I love you" until I'm blue in the face, but unless my actions show it, these are just words. Because of these fears, I try to set aside time and activities for just the two of us. I'm excited because today she is coming to spend the whole day at work with me, part of a "bring your child to work" activity the studio is having. Something else we love to do is watching baseball games. We have as been to several Dodgers games in the past couple of years. Sophie really tries to follow the game, asking questions about the players and how baseball is played. It's not all about hot dogs and cotton candy. Sophie is a rema...

Last summer I was pretty ambitious about my serial novel, Legendary, which ran on Popdose for three months. I posted a new chapter every other day, each one with at least one song and an original work of art. I was so excited about it and I had planned to write entries about each chapter here on the BS Blog. What I didn't realize is how exhausting the whole project would be and how quickly my energy was used up at the end of every day. I failed miserably. I apologize to anyone who was paying attention, which may be about 15 people. Hey you 15, SORRY! Anyway, I'm going to do my best to finish what I started and write a little blurb about each music artists I used in the book. By the way, each chapter is still up on Popdose, along with the music and art. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go to this LINK, which explains everything. Links to successive chapters are available at the end of every chapter, if that makes any sense. I may still publish it as a Kindle boo...

One of the columns I used to write on a regular basis for Popdose was The Three Strike Rule. It was a weekly (!) review of some television series, usually new, based on its first three episodes. With the advent of instant opinions available on the web, I started to fall behind on my reviews and, frankly, lost some interest. With binge watching and people discovering shows both new and old every day, I've decided to give it a try again. I'm not out to impress anyone, just offer my two cents and maybe start some conversations. I must also admit that I felt some apprehension writing about television during a period of time when I was submitting spec pilot scripts to managers and agents. But you know what, I'm forty-frickin-five, so if someone wants to hire me they would have done it by now. I'm giving up, mind you, but I'm tired of holding back on writing about the subjects that I enjoy. I love telkevision, and I do enjoy writing about it. I also enjoy podcasting about...

I spent the morning listening the U Talkin' U2 to Me podcast hosted by Adam Scott ( Parks and Rec ) and Scott Aukerman ( Comedy Bang Bang ) and their discussion about The Joshua Tree. I initially turned to this podcast to listen to the late Harris Wittels contributions to the show, but he left halfway through the recording. That's fine because the latter half of this particular episode touched upon side 2 of The Joshua Tree  and the lesser known songs from the album (lesser known by anyone unfamiliar with the band besides their radio hits). Man, that second side is almost perfect. It doesn't contain any of the anthems that side 1 does, and that makes the success of The Joshua Tree  all that more remarkable. New fans of the band may have expected a full album of rousing songs that shook the rafters of baseball stadiums. Instead, beginning with the last track on side 1, the heroin tragedy, "Running to Stand Still," the rest  of the songs have a shade of darkness t...

It's no secret that I'm a diehard Journey fan. Besides growing up listening to their music, the song and story behind their hit from the Vison Quest  soundtrack, "Only the Young," has a special meaning to me and the cystic fibrosis community. I frequently go back to their studio albums featuring Steve Perry, although I tend to listen to the first four with Perry ( Infinity, Evolution, Departure  and Escape ) more than the others. Although 1983's Frontiers  came out at the peak of their world domination (stadium tours! music videos! two video games!), and although I saw them for the first time on the tour to support that album, I've rarely listened to the LP in the past 32 years. It's not that there are bad songs on Frontiers (mind you, I'm speaking as a Journey fan; Journey haters keep your snide comments to a minimum), it's just that the album is so front heavy with the hits and ballads, and there is a cold bitter tone throughout the record, that ...