Dec. 28 Clean: So I got into those angry moods again, so I did something productive and that didn't have anything to do with it. I went through my scrap paper, 2 old school agendas, and my current agenda to throw out papers on my writing. It's from Legal Issues for Writers class, talking about copyright. You can file for copyright at cipo.com, and it's also good to keep drafts of your writing.
I kept printed hard copy drafts and 3.5 floppy disks drafts of The Fighter, so I decided to throw out the handwritten notes earlier.
Serious tortured hero: I was thinking about Fighter, and how the lead isn't a serious tortured hero. I wanted him to be a regular guy who was well-adjusted, though he does get into bad things.
The leads in The Mentalist, Dark Angel, and The Listener are serious, tortured heroes, but they do all manage to have a sense of humor. Patrick Jane from Mentalist, his wife and daughter were murdered. He is still a quirky guy solving crimes with the California Bureau of Investigations. Max from Dark Angel was born and raised in a government facility to become a super soldier, before she escaped with 12 others. She is funny in a sarcastic way.
Toby from The Listener, his mom had to abandon him in a foster home. His little brother is out there somewhere. He is a little funny. Tru from Tru Calling, her mom was murdered when she was a kid, but she seems well-adjusted. To make a hero, something traumatic has to happen to him like death and murder.
Writing: I'm going through my old agendas, and there has been a lot with the vampire script I worked on. It had the serious, tortured hero who has to solve his sister's death. I remember back in 2005, I wrote a script where this guy's parents were murdered right in front of him. It was too much of a downer. I was also inspired to write it from Batman Begins which is what happened to Bruce Wayne.
Blast from the past: I was at work and I see this guy I used to go to school with Mitchell Shaw. We were in the same gr.9 homeroom. He was with a woman, and he had a daughter who looked like she was 2 years old. He then put her on his shoulders, and she was playing with his hair. Aww..
I didn't go up to him and talk to him, because we weren't really friends. We were classmates. I don't know if he would even remember me. We went to the same high school, but we didn't have any classes together. Well it was still nice to see him.
I wasn't shy when talking to other guys I went to school with like Chris Kreiger and Shane Goden because we had classes in jr. high and high school. We were friendly acquaintances.
Tyra Banks: I just read on Yahoo that Tyra will be ending her talk show after it's 5th season this year. She will be focusing on her film production company Bankable Studios instead. I'm kind of sad to hear that her talk show is ending. Now where am I going to get my teen pregnancy and prostitution episodes from? There is that new MTV show Teen Mom.
If you like TB, there is going to be America's Next Top Model 14th season next year. I was kind of surprised about her news. I remember reading somewhere that T didn't want to do Top Model anymore, and wanted to focus more of her energy on her talk show. Good for her.
Dec. 29: I was still thinking about TB. Who's going to prevent teen girls who want to get pregnant? Oprah's leaving. Well there is still Maury and Dr Phil doing those eps, so we'll be fine.
News: Did you know that the cd store A&B Sound closed down last year? I was reading about how music has changed in the past decade and how cd stores are closing down. I know Music World closed down and when I first read about it in the newspaper, I was shocked.
Characters: I have my characters fit together in Fighter. The characters fit together in Rain, though I have writer's block. I looked at The Hunter, and I realized none of the characters fit together. It can be as simple as the names, and then the use of the characters.
Michael: It's too common of a name. I used it because I like Michael Trucco.
Julie: I like the name. I had that character name since 2001.
Corrine: I like the name. It was from the winner of the summer reality TV series Next Action Star. That show came out in 2004, it was to cast an actor and an actress for a TV movie called You Bet Your Life. The show and the TV movie was good.
Hyacinthe: Pronounced Ya- sing. It's named after my friend from that staffing agency. The guy looks like the actor Matthew Lawrence.
Boz: He was named after the aspiring singer Frankie Boz. He worked with the singer Donnie Klang. Check out www.myspace.com/nyboz to listen to his music.
Jason Kent: It was the name of the boss of the corporation. Jason was the name of one of my Legal Issues for Writers teacher.
Dr. Russo: She's kind of like Dr. Sarah Tancredi from Prison Break. In my script, it seems she's bad, but she's actually good.
Agenda: I've been lusting for this agenda since Dec. 27. I saw it at the Calender Club in Bonnie Doon. It's 50% off, and there is lots of paper so I could use it for my script. It's from June 2009- Dec.2010. There are these two dragons on the cover. I didn't buy it then. Just wait.
Then I went to City Centre on Dec. 28, and I saw it at Calender Club. I compared it to the others. I then went to Kingsway today and saw it at the same store again. I then went to the one in City Centre and bought it. I went to Carlton Cards and Grand and Toy, but none of the agendas they had I liked.
David Anders: I have been hitting writer's block, so I did everything to cure it. I did something totally different from writing scripts, by writing my email, shopping at Kingsway, taking a nap, and watching TV. I decided to revisit one of my favorite actors David Anders. I've been of his since I first saw in Jan.2002 where he played Sark on Alias. I went on Youtube and heard him sing.
He did an interview with Arden Myrin (MadTV) and I heard him do Russian and German accents. He did a British accent on Alias and Heroes. I read on the internet that he did work at the GAP before he got successful in acting. In the interview he said: "I was peddling khakis at the GAP." I'm getting a flashback, where I did write a character that was like Sark.
This is how I can get inspired to write, by imaging a hot actor in my script.
Dec. 30: I remember all these things about DA. He has a big brother Jason who is African- American, and was adopted. Then he has a biological brother Arik who looks like his dad. Then he has an adopted Asian sister Maili. Then it's David which makes him the youngest in his family. There was a family portrait, and he looks like his mom with the same blond hair.
His full name is David Anders Holt. It's because there was already an actor named David Holt, so that's why he went by his middle name. He's from Grants Pass Oregon, and he does a really good British accent. I haven't seen anyone do a good accent like that since James Marsters who plays Spike on Buffy. The characters are similar as in Americans playing blond British bad boys.
He was 20 years old when he first appeared on Alias. I saw a Left in Darkness interview.
D: I turned 21 on the Alias set. People were saying: "What? You're turning 21? You look like you should be turning 31." I'm like: "Thanks guys."
His age was always mentioned in the Alias audio commentary. The actress Merrin Dungey said in the season 1 finale ep: "Aww...he's like the baby of the show."
Well he does stand out because of his age. If you look at the cast, everybody is in their late 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and then there's a 21 year old guy.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
sayings/ Wishmaster 4/ 48hrs
Dec. 24 Sayings: Last month I wrote about the 2004 TV show called Black Sash. Then I was on Youtube and I decided to check out the pilot. I may have seen it, because I remember the scene where Russel Wong's character sees his daughter figure skating. Unless that was from another ep. Yeah, I think it was another ep because I remember the shot of the ex-wife and her new husband in a shot, that's not part of the pilot.
The sayings are this: "Win by patience, not by pursuing." -RW says that to Sarah Carter's character who has a crush on Ray J's character. Then RW adds "Play hard to get." lol.
"Performance is always the best path to achieving your goal." Mako says that to RW.
Black Sash: Okay, so I checked out the pilot, and it was good. Missy Peregrym's character talks about her dad being a cop, and the killer being out there running free for a year. RW finds the killer, and MP follows him. They are able to get the bad guy in the first ep. You may think it's anti-climatic, but not really. MP does say it didn't feel good that they caught the bad guy. There's still lots of drama.
There were great fight scenes in it like how RW's first scene is that he fights off 8 guys at the same time. Then there is a scene where he chases a bad guy down by jumping on a bus, and they're fighting on a moving bus. RW fights Corey Sevier's character's abusive father. There is RW and MP fighting off the cop killer and his friends.
Dec. 25: Then I re-watched the first half of the 5th episode called "Prime Suspect." Now I look back and it's kind of like Veronica Mars where they have to solve the mystery of who stabbed and killed this student.
RW is the serious, tortured hero. He was a cop, and then he was set up by his partner. He then had to go to jail for 5 years in Hong Kong. Now he's out, and he's divorced and doesn't see his daughter a lot. He's no longer a cop, and opens a martial arts studio to start over.
I was thinking about that SNL joke: "The soap opera Guiding Light got canceled after 72 years. Now that white people got real problems." The audience laughs. I feel shows like Gossip Girl doesn't seem to have as many real issues to deal with.
Dec. 27: Gossip Girl does have problems like Chuck's dad dying in a car accident, Nate's dad getting arrested for embezzlement, and Nate had to deal with not having money for awhile. Throw in a pregnancy scare for Blair. She seems pro-choice, so she can't get pregnant because you can't show abortions on TV.
Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled: Does this title sound like a crappy horror movie? Because it sure is. I could have watched 48hrs about a cop and a criminal teaming up together. The producer John recommended that I watch it. I had to choose the horror movie because Michael Trucco was in it. He played a big role.
This movie came out in 2002, and MT plays a lawyer. Tara Spencer- Nairn plays Lisa who accidentally wakes up the Wishmaster with this stone. The WM has to grant 3 wishes from her and then he can release his other demons onto earth. First everything seems cool, Lisa moves into a new house with her boyfriend Sam. Cut to 3 years later, S is in a wheelchair.
S seems to pity himself, and is pushing L away. L is working with the lawyer MT to get $10 million for the motorcycle accident. MT then gets killed and is possessed by WM. WM asks L to make a wish. L wishes to get the lawsuit settled. WM then makes the other Lawyer to sign it by torturing him. Lawyer is cutting himself up, his two co-workers are outside banging on the glass. They should have the workers having a phone and calling 911. This kind of reminds me of another TV movie where the girls are trying to get in the door to save someone, and I was like: "Kick it open!" Lawyer then signs the paper, and kills himself. Lots of tension.
L makes another wish that Sam could walk again. S does. Then L makes this wish about MT. "I wish I could love him for who he really is." However, it's ironic because WM can't grant it, only L can. L has to fall in love with the demon WM. Let's fast forward to the ending where L does manage to kill WM. Then we assume L gets up and leaves and moves on.
Actors: The first 1hr and 20min of this movie, Tara Spencer-Nairn looks so familiar, but I couldn't figure it out. Then I realized it's the cop Karen from Corner Gas. lol. You got Victor Webster making an appearance in it. He was on Harper's Island and Mutant X.
Thought: The only good thing besides Michael Trucco, was that it did make me think of what would happen if I was in a wheelchair. I can still work at a call- centre, and I can still write. What would suck is that I can't dance anymore. Don't pity yourself.
Flashpoint: They re-aired the Flashpoint pilot. Maybe I don't remember watching the whole thing. It was based on a true event. I saw it on W-Five. A guy holds this woman hostage in this public square, and a police sniper takes him out. I noticed that there was good continuity. Danijel Mandic played the son. He was talking to his dad on the subway before the shooting, and the dad hugs him hard like it's the last time he's going to see him.
Then DM makes an appearance in the middle trying to talk his dad down by putting the gun down. However, the dad does get shot. Even better continuity, is that next season DM is in a whole episode. It's where he tries to get back at Ed Lane (Hugh Dillon) because he's the one who made the shot that killed his dad.
DM was so good in it. I was really looking for a serious, tortured hero who is damaged. His character is from a war-torn country where there are snipers everywhere. He was trained as one in a young age. When he moved to Canada, he was able to walk the streets without looking at the building roofs to see if there's a sniper. Then his dad gets killed by one.
Dexter: I then caught an episode of Dexter that I haven't seen before, which is good. It's some inspiration. It's how Dexter's new girlfriend Lila is taking over his life and ruining it. This is from season 2. If you don't want to be spoiled, skip this paragraph. L burns her apartment down to D could help her out. L also gets D's mom's killer to attack D. D will then become closer to L because of it. D figures it out and tells L to stay away.
D is a serious, tortured hero. His mom was murdered right in front of him when he was young. Veronica Mars from Veronica Mars is the same. Her best friend was murdered, then her mom left. Her dad was the sheriff and he didn't solve the case of how her friend died, so then he became a PI and doesn't make much money. Throw in VM being dumped by her boyfriend and no longer being popular in school.
48 hrs: Looks like I got to have my cake and eat it too. They replayed this movie today, so I got to watch it. I didn't like it. The most memorable actor or one that I know is Eddie Murphy. It was a little funny with EM. A few surprises here and there. I guess I was mainly distracted because it came out in 1982, and the technology was so old.
They used pay phones, the guns are old school, the hotel had a book where they signed it without a computer at the front desk, no ankle monitor for the bad guy to track him down, etc. Throw in the clothes and hair from the 80s, and I have a hard time focusing on the story. It's about a white cop played by Nick Nolte and he gets a black guy Eddie Murphy to help him catch some bank robbers.
Kind of interesting to see Annette O'Toole before she played Clark Kent's mom on Smallville. The movie wasn't that good to make me want to watch the sequel Another 48hrs that played right after it. There is lots of gratuitous nudity in it. I already saw that in Wishmaster 4. If you're interested, then go watch it.
The sayings are this: "Win by patience, not by pursuing." -RW says that to Sarah Carter's character who has a crush on Ray J's character. Then RW adds "Play hard to get." lol.
"Performance is always the best path to achieving your goal." Mako says that to RW.
Black Sash: Okay, so I checked out the pilot, and it was good. Missy Peregrym's character talks about her dad being a cop, and the killer being out there running free for a year. RW finds the killer, and MP follows him. They are able to get the bad guy in the first ep. You may think it's anti-climatic, but not really. MP does say it didn't feel good that they caught the bad guy. There's still lots of drama.
There were great fight scenes in it like how RW's first scene is that he fights off 8 guys at the same time. Then there is a scene where he chases a bad guy down by jumping on a bus, and they're fighting on a moving bus. RW fights Corey Sevier's character's abusive father. There is RW and MP fighting off the cop killer and his friends.
Dec. 25: Then I re-watched the first half of the 5th episode called "Prime Suspect." Now I look back and it's kind of like Veronica Mars where they have to solve the mystery of who stabbed and killed this student.
RW is the serious, tortured hero. He was a cop, and then he was set up by his partner. He then had to go to jail for 5 years in Hong Kong. Now he's out, and he's divorced and doesn't see his daughter a lot. He's no longer a cop, and opens a martial arts studio to start over.
I was thinking about that SNL joke: "The soap opera Guiding Light got canceled after 72 years. Now that white people got real problems." The audience laughs. I feel shows like Gossip Girl doesn't seem to have as many real issues to deal with.
Dec. 27: Gossip Girl does have problems like Chuck's dad dying in a car accident, Nate's dad getting arrested for embezzlement, and Nate had to deal with not having money for awhile. Throw in a pregnancy scare for Blair. She seems pro-choice, so she can't get pregnant because you can't show abortions on TV.
Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled: Does this title sound like a crappy horror movie? Because it sure is. I could have watched 48hrs about a cop and a criminal teaming up together. The producer John recommended that I watch it. I had to choose the horror movie because Michael Trucco was in it. He played a big role.
This movie came out in 2002, and MT plays a lawyer. Tara Spencer- Nairn plays Lisa who accidentally wakes up the Wishmaster with this stone. The WM has to grant 3 wishes from her and then he can release his other demons onto earth. First everything seems cool, Lisa moves into a new house with her boyfriend Sam. Cut to 3 years later, S is in a wheelchair.
S seems to pity himself, and is pushing L away. L is working with the lawyer MT to get $10 million for the motorcycle accident. MT then gets killed and is possessed by WM. WM asks L to make a wish. L wishes to get the lawsuit settled. WM then makes the other Lawyer to sign it by torturing him. Lawyer is cutting himself up, his two co-workers are outside banging on the glass. They should have the workers having a phone and calling 911. This kind of reminds me of another TV movie where the girls are trying to get in the door to save someone, and I was like: "Kick it open!" Lawyer then signs the paper, and kills himself. Lots of tension.
L makes another wish that Sam could walk again. S does. Then L makes this wish about MT. "I wish I could love him for who he really is." However, it's ironic because WM can't grant it, only L can. L has to fall in love with the demon WM. Let's fast forward to the ending where L does manage to kill WM. Then we assume L gets up and leaves and moves on.
Actors: The first 1hr and 20min of this movie, Tara Spencer-Nairn looks so familiar, but I couldn't figure it out. Then I realized it's the cop Karen from Corner Gas. lol. You got Victor Webster making an appearance in it. He was on Harper's Island and Mutant X.
Thought: The only good thing besides Michael Trucco, was that it did make me think of what would happen if I was in a wheelchair. I can still work at a call- centre, and I can still write. What would suck is that I can't dance anymore. Don't pity yourself.
Flashpoint: They re-aired the Flashpoint pilot. Maybe I don't remember watching the whole thing. It was based on a true event. I saw it on W-Five. A guy holds this woman hostage in this public square, and a police sniper takes him out. I noticed that there was good continuity. Danijel Mandic played the son. He was talking to his dad on the subway before the shooting, and the dad hugs him hard like it's the last time he's going to see him.
Then DM makes an appearance in the middle trying to talk his dad down by putting the gun down. However, the dad does get shot. Even better continuity, is that next season DM is in a whole episode. It's where he tries to get back at Ed Lane (Hugh Dillon) because he's the one who made the shot that killed his dad.
DM was so good in it. I was really looking for a serious, tortured hero who is damaged. His character is from a war-torn country where there are snipers everywhere. He was trained as one in a young age. When he moved to Canada, he was able to walk the streets without looking at the building roofs to see if there's a sniper. Then his dad gets killed by one.
Dexter: I then caught an episode of Dexter that I haven't seen before, which is good. It's some inspiration. It's how Dexter's new girlfriend Lila is taking over his life and ruining it. This is from season 2. If you don't want to be spoiled, skip this paragraph. L burns her apartment down to D could help her out. L also gets D's mom's killer to attack D. D will then become closer to L because of it. D figures it out and tells L to stay away.
D is a serious, tortured hero. His mom was murdered right in front of him when he was young. Veronica Mars from Veronica Mars is the same. Her best friend was murdered, then her mom left. Her dad was the sheriff and he didn't solve the case of how her friend died, so then he became a PI and doesn't make much money. Throw in VM being dumped by her boyfriend and no longer being popular in school.
48 hrs: Looks like I got to have my cake and eat it too. They replayed this movie today, so I got to watch it. I didn't like it. The most memorable actor or one that I know is Eddie Murphy. It was a little funny with EM. A few surprises here and there. I guess I was mainly distracted because it came out in 1982, and the technology was so old.
They used pay phones, the guns are old school, the hotel had a book where they signed it without a computer at the front desk, no ankle monitor for the bad guy to track him down, etc. Throw in the clothes and hair from the 80s, and I have a hard time focusing on the story. It's about a white cop played by Nick Nolte and he gets a black guy Eddie Murphy to help him catch some bank robbers.
Kind of interesting to see Annette O'Toole before she played Clark Kent's mom on Smallville. The movie wasn't that good to make me want to watch the sequel Another 48hrs that played right after it. There is lots of gratuitous nudity in it. I already saw that in Wishmaster 4. If you're interested, then go watch it.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
disk/ James Franco/ Merry Christmas!
Dec. 22 Disk: I was working on my The Fighter script. It's on two 3.5 floppy disks. I then went to save it all onto one disk, but then one of my disks stopped working on me. It's that Maxwell disk that I bought in 2005. This is the second one that stopped working. Well I still got 20 others.
Rant: I asked Patrick for my USB key back because I lent it to him for school. He said he lost it at school, but he will look for it at the lost and found. He will also pay me $30 back because that's how much it cost. I should have gave him the necklace that it came with to put the key on it. Or give him the box that it came in. I carried the key in the box so I won't lose it.
I bought it in 2005 and used it for school.
Computer Applications-2005
Mac Skills for Writers- 2006
Basic HTML- 2008
Well it only had my old school assignments, and I hadn't used it since 2008. My name is written on the USB key. If it had my script on it, I would be mad. This is a mild rant. I talked to my co-worker Lisa and she says they sell those for as low as $10.
Writing: Today I emailed the producer John Kerr again, and tried to get him to be attached to my script. I sent him the newest draft with the changes listed in another document. I hope to get this produced in 2010.
News: I read in the Journal about a woman who didn't know she was pregnant and she gave birth. She didn't gain any weight, no morning sickness, and she kept getting her period the entire time. Then again, there is a TV show called I Didn't Know I was Pregnant. I never saw an ep though.
Analyze: I was thinking about my script Rain. It's about how one person takes over another one's life and ruins it. It made me think of The Hills where Kristin is taking over everybody's lives. It's not really that bad. It's not like the TV movie Lethal Obsession where the protagonist's brother was murdering people.
Then I thought about the other TV movie called Selling Innocence. It's about a teenage girl played by Sarah Lind and she becomes a model. Then it turns out the guy who runs the place (played by JR Bourne) is a bad guy. The girl can't get out of the contract she signed and is trying to find a way out of it.
James Franco: I saw him on SNL last week. His monologue was funny.
JF: I'm here to promote my movie Hope's Promise.
The audience cheers.
JF: Just kidding. I'm not here to promote a movie like the last time I hosted. I'm here to promote the fact that I'm on the soap opera General Hospital which I have been on for the past month. A lot of people think I have made a big career step back like my family, my agents, the people at General Hospital.
The audience laughs.
JF pulls out this big wheel of pieces of paper in there and draws out one.
JF: "Play a corpse on Law and Order." Okay.
JF pulls out another one.
JF: "Do another Spider-Man movie."
The audience cheers.
Dec. 23 Writing Contest: Today I submitted The Fighter to Super Channel's contest called Super Catalyst Emerging Screenwriter Award. I have submitted that script to them before, but they rejected it. This time, I got an email from my school account, and they were advertising this contest.
I then sent the revised screenplay. They needed a 1 page synopsis so I worked on that all morning. They pick 4 screenplays, and 1 out of them will be discussed in front of a panel of professionals.
Progress: Well it's the end of the year, and now I can review what progress I have made in my writing.
1. I got my college diploma in Professional Writing. I found that out in January, but I didn't get the diploma until April. (April)
2. Completing a 90 page script for the first time. (March)
3. I emailed it to the producer Josh Miller. I pitched to a lot of producers, and they often pointed me to his direction. Though, he did reject it. (April)
4. Kit Cope is the first one to say yes to my script and wants to be in it. (June)
5. The first time I met up with a TV producer John Kerr and discussed my script. (July)
6. I emailed Josh Miller the new version of the script, and he rejected it again. It did force me to improve it more. (October)
7. I entered Super Catalyst Emerging Screenwriter Award. (December)
It's been about two years of pitching since I started in Jan. 2008. The above is the list of the biggest steps I made. I have made many steps and experience a lot of rejection. I don't spend all my time wishing and dreaming. I work a lot and 2009 has been good.
Dec. 24 Good news: I read in the Journal that there is more police in Canada than ever before. 20% of police are women.
I read in the Metro that there has been a 10% decrease in murders in the US. A 4.4% decrease in violent crimes, 6.1% decrease in property crimes, 19% decrease in car thefts.
Teen pregnancy: I saw an ep of 90210 I missed. The character Adriana got pregnant as a teenager, and gave the baby up for adoption- of course. On this kind of show, it's about rich teenagers having fun and doing sexy things. If there is a baby involved, than it really puts a wrench on things.
Adriana is a regular character on the show. What if the lead character Annie got pregnant? Would that mean she has to keep the kid and raise it as her own? No, there still wouldn't be a baby on the show. Talk about recycling, Dixon meets a college age woman and she gets pregnant, and then she gives the baby up for adoption.
Unlike Secret Life of the American Teenager, it's not about rich teenagers doing fun and sexy things. It's a poorly written show, which I predicted that Amy was going to keep the kid and raise it as her own. If she didn't, there wouldn't be a show.
Writer's block: I typed up a scene for my script that I had earlier written down. I wrote another scene. I have writer's block and I'm still trying to cure it.
Karma: I was thinking about that mean co-worker I had at the Soup place. She was yelling and swearing at me, but I could have easily dissed her for getting pregnant as a teenager. However, I didn't because I never dissed a girl for getting pregnant as a teenager, why should I start now?
Also, it did help my case when I told the manager what she said to me. If I retaliated by dissing her teen pregnancy, then I look bad. I didn't diss her at all, and I looked like the sympathetic person. Karma will get you. I feel like if I diss a girl for getting pregnant as a teenager, I'll end up on an episode of I Didn't Know I was Pregnant.
The only time I would ever diss pregnant teen is if I'm in the Maury audience and a girl says: "I'm going to have a baby, and all of you guys are going to pay for it." I would boo her with the audience. That doesn't count as bad karma, not because everybody booed her. She is the one who's going to get bad karma for getting pregnant on purpose to live on welfare.
The co-worker's life is already a train wreck because she kept the kid and raised it as her own. She was rude and mean to everybody at work, and it was down to one person who actually liked her. I didn't even talk s--- about her behind her back, except to complain to the manager. Eventually her karma and behavior caught up to her, and she ended up quitting after 3 months. She hated the job, and nobody liked her.
Merry Christmas!: Today the Soup place called me and I worked for a few hours. I also got some free apples and food from them. It was pretty busy in the mall for the last- minute holiday shopping for others, and for themselves.
Merry Christmas!
Rant: I asked Patrick for my USB key back because I lent it to him for school. He said he lost it at school, but he will look for it at the lost and found. He will also pay me $30 back because that's how much it cost. I should have gave him the necklace that it came with to put the key on it. Or give him the box that it came in. I carried the key in the box so I won't lose it.
I bought it in 2005 and used it for school.
Computer Applications-2005
Mac Skills for Writers- 2006
Basic HTML- 2008
Well it only had my old school assignments, and I hadn't used it since 2008. My name is written on the USB key. If it had my script on it, I would be mad. This is a mild rant. I talked to my co-worker Lisa and she says they sell those for as low as $10.
Writing: Today I emailed the producer John Kerr again, and tried to get him to be attached to my script. I sent him the newest draft with the changes listed in another document. I hope to get this produced in 2010.
News: I read in the Journal about a woman who didn't know she was pregnant and she gave birth. She didn't gain any weight, no morning sickness, and she kept getting her period the entire time. Then again, there is a TV show called I Didn't Know I was Pregnant. I never saw an ep though.
Analyze: I was thinking about my script Rain. It's about how one person takes over another one's life and ruins it. It made me think of The Hills where Kristin is taking over everybody's lives. It's not really that bad. It's not like the TV movie Lethal Obsession where the protagonist's brother was murdering people.
Then I thought about the other TV movie called Selling Innocence. It's about a teenage girl played by Sarah Lind and she becomes a model. Then it turns out the guy who runs the place (played by JR Bourne) is a bad guy. The girl can't get out of the contract she signed and is trying to find a way out of it.
James Franco: I saw him on SNL last week. His monologue was funny.
JF: I'm here to promote my movie Hope's Promise.
The audience cheers.
JF: Just kidding. I'm not here to promote a movie like the last time I hosted. I'm here to promote the fact that I'm on the soap opera General Hospital which I have been on for the past month. A lot of people think I have made a big career step back like my family, my agents, the people at General Hospital.
The audience laughs.
JF pulls out this big wheel of pieces of paper in there and draws out one.
JF: "Play a corpse on Law and Order." Okay.
JF pulls out another one.
JF: "Do another Spider-Man movie."
The audience cheers.
Dec. 23 Writing Contest: Today I submitted The Fighter to Super Channel's contest called Super Catalyst Emerging Screenwriter Award. I have submitted that script to them before, but they rejected it. This time, I got an email from my school account, and they were advertising this contest.
I then sent the revised screenplay. They needed a 1 page synopsis so I worked on that all morning. They pick 4 screenplays, and 1 out of them will be discussed in front of a panel of professionals.
Progress: Well it's the end of the year, and now I can review what progress I have made in my writing.
1. I got my college diploma in Professional Writing. I found that out in January, but I didn't get the diploma until April. (April)
2. Completing a 90 page script for the first time. (March)
3. I emailed it to the producer Josh Miller. I pitched to a lot of producers, and they often pointed me to his direction. Though, he did reject it. (April)
4. Kit Cope is the first one to say yes to my script and wants to be in it. (June)
5. The first time I met up with a TV producer John Kerr and discussed my script. (July)
6. I emailed Josh Miller the new version of the script, and he rejected it again. It did force me to improve it more. (October)
7. I entered Super Catalyst Emerging Screenwriter Award. (December)
It's been about two years of pitching since I started in Jan. 2008. The above is the list of the biggest steps I made. I have made many steps and experience a lot of rejection. I don't spend all my time wishing and dreaming. I work a lot and 2009 has been good.
Dec. 24 Good news: I read in the Journal that there is more police in Canada than ever before. 20% of police are women.
I read in the Metro that there has been a 10% decrease in murders in the US. A 4.4% decrease in violent crimes, 6.1% decrease in property crimes, 19% decrease in car thefts.
Teen pregnancy: I saw an ep of 90210 I missed. The character Adriana got pregnant as a teenager, and gave the baby up for adoption- of course. On this kind of show, it's about rich teenagers having fun and doing sexy things. If there is a baby involved, than it really puts a wrench on things.
Adriana is a regular character on the show. What if the lead character Annie got pregnant? Would that mean she has to keep the kid and raise it as her own? No, there still wouldn't be a baby on the show. Talk about recycling, Dixon meets a college age woman and she gets pregnant, and then she gives the baby up for adoption.
Unlike Secret Life of the American Teenager, it's not about rich teenagers doing fun and sexy things. It's a poorly written show, which I predicted that Amy was going to keep the kid and raise it as her own. If she didn't, there wouldn't be a show.
Writer's block: I typed up a scene for my script that I had earlier written down. I wrote another scene. I have writer's block and I'm still trying to cure it.
Karma: I was thinking about that mean co-worker I had at the Soup place. She was yelling and swearing at me, but I could have easily dissed her for getting pregnant as a teenager. However, I didn't because I never dissed a girl for getting pregnant as a teenager, why should I start now?
Also, it did help my case when I told the manager what she said to me. If I retaliated by dissing her teen pregnancy, then I look bad. I didn't diss her at all, and I looked like the sympathetic person. Karma will get you. I feel like if I diss a girl for getting pregnant as a teenager, I'll end up on an episode of I Didn't Know I was Pregnant.
The only time I would ever diss pregnant teen is if I'm in the Maury audience and a girl says: "I'm going to have a baby, and all of you guys are going to pay for it." I would boo her with the audience. That doesn't count as bad karma, not because everybody booed her. She is the one who's going to get bad karma for getting pregnant on purpose to live on welfare.
The co-worker's life is already a train wreck because she kept the kid and raised it as her own. She was rude and mean to everybody at work, and it was down to one person who actually liked her. I didn't even talk s--- about her behind her back, except to complain to the manager. Eventually her karma and behavior caught up to her, and she ended up quitting after 3 months. She hated the job, and nobody liked her.
Merry Christmas!: Today the Soup place called me and I worked for a few hours. I also got some free apples and food from them. It was pretty busy in the mall for the last- minute holiday shopping for others, and for themselves.
Merry Christmas!
Monday, December 21, 2009
bloopers/ Brittany Murphy/ Olympics
Dec. 18 Bloopers: I was watching some Criminal Minds bloopers. Here's one from season 2. Fast forward to 3:10 into it. I noticed that the people dressed up as deputies start moving away, then the actors Mandy Patkin and Shemar Moore turn around and it's a guy dressed up in a white sasquatch outfit. Everybody is laughing and clapping. It was very infectious. lol. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TohMITmuMg0
No Authority: As usual, I always seem to revisit boy band past. I haven't in months. Well I felt like listening to No Authority's "Don't Stop" song, so I typed it onto Youtube. I have gotten a video of these other guys performing that song in their talent show. Instead I got the music video. I haven't seen it in years. I know the member Eric was gay. I typed it into Youtube last year and I saw his stand- up comedy routine where he says he is.
Now I checked out the other guy Ricky and he was on Extra. Here's a 1 min clip of him. NA opened up for Britney Spears, and R says: "Britney did actually watch one of my shows." That's cool, I think he's telling the truth. Ricky does appear to be gay. Look at the video, and look at his www.myspace.com/harlowmusicrocks.
Then I had to read everybody's comments about them. Josh was one of the original members, but he quit. One of the comments was that he had to drop his acting career to be in the group. He chose acting, and I have to say he's way more successful in acting than he was in music.
NA was good. They were on Michael Jackson's label MJJ when they first came out. Then they moved to the Maverick label, and went from R&B to pop. I just looked up the other member Danny Zavatsky and got his Facebook page. I then emailed him and made a friend request. I told him he was talented, and asked what's he up to and if ever talk to or look up the other guys in the group. lol.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AKItG60y60
Party: Today I went to the call centre party. It was fun. I had some lasagna, cheese, meat, veggies with dip. I was having a late lunch, and not to get too full because I have another Christmas party at the Soup place. We all got presents at the call centre. We got Tim Horton's gift cards, and we got to pick wrapped presents.
I got a DVD, and it was a action movie that I'm actually interested in watching called The Sentinial. Other co-workers got DVDs, soap and bath stuff. The manager Jaspal joked around saying the presents were like Deal or No Deal. Alcohol was available too, though I didn't drink any.
Dec. 19 Magazines: I read in The Globe and Mail that 60% of the profit that magazines make are from advertisers putting their ads in the magazine. I thought it was only people buying the magazines that are the main source of the profits. I was then reading in the Metro about the decade and how magazines are fading away.
The recession has people using the internet more instead of spending money on something that they don't need like a magazine.
Dec. 20: I was talking to my 16-yr old friend Ray yesterday.
Me: Did you know that Cosmogirl folded?
R: Really? No wonder I can't find it.
The magazine folded on Dec.2008/Jan.2009 issue. I remember back in 2004, the teen magazine YM folded because too much competition. Then Teen People folded because of the same reason. Also it came out monthly, when there are celeb magazines come out weekly. Elle Girl folded after 5 years due to same reason.
Brittany Murphy: Did you know that Brittany Murphy died today at 32 years old? She was an actress in Clueless, and 8 Mile. I was just thinking about her at work. I've never seen her movie Little Black Book because it's a romantic comedy. She was also in the movie Just Married with Ashton Kutcher. They dated each other and AK twittered her death. I feel sad. I'm not really a fan of hers, but I did like her.
Gifts: I was reading this advice column in The Globe and Mail about this woman who doesn't like how her boyfriend is giving her these raunchy gifts. First it was these raunchy dvds, then lingerie, etc. The advice was tell you boyfriend firmly that you don't want these gifts. The other part of it was you could buy him a blow up doll and say: "If you keep buying me these gifts, this will be the only girlfriend you have." lol.
Here's a good saying from it: "Gifts are supposed to benefit the recipient more than than the donor." There are gifts like 2 tickets to a show, and both of you go together. I remember my high school and college days where I give pictures of celebs to my friends, and they're always so happy to get them.
The pics were from magazines that I got for free from my sister, so it doesn't cost me anything. It's still kind of like that now. I met Mark who looked like the actor Kyle Gallner, and he didn't know who I was talking about. I printed two pictures of KG for him, and he burst out laughing and said: "Oh my God, you rock!" It didn't cost me anything, but it's the thought that counts.
Writing: At work I mainly read and wrote. I felt kind of sad with my script Rain. It has like 40 pages and nothing much happens. It reminded me of reading a comment on the Secret Life of the American Teenager thread where a whole episode of nothing happening.
However, I went home, I turned on the computer and buckled down and worked on The Fighter script.
Dec. 21 Saying: Psychic Miki from 24 said: "It takes guts and determination to succeed, but it takes even more to let go and free yourself from the trappings of comfort."
Job: Today I got called in and worked 9hrs at the Soup place. Everything balances out for the hours I lacked at the call centre.
News: I read in the Metro that in "developing countries, about one person in eight is a girl aged 10-24." An educated woman puts 90% of their income into their families, unlike men who put in 30%.
I read a letter in the Journal about this woman who said something about the stabbing of an ME Lazerte student. Her son is friends with the stabbing victim. The kid who got stabbed is okay, and he got stabbed at Londonderry mall which is close to the school. My friend Ray goes to the school. She says she knows the kid, but the name can't be released to newspapers because he's under aged.
The Inner City High School will be torn down and be rebuilt with $15 million in 2012. There will also be student residences. It says 17% of the students are homeless, and 44% are living in unsafe conditions. Now I think back of my high school. I don't know if anyone was homeless because there are 1300 students. My school was in a safe neighborhood and not in the ghetto.
Olympics: I saw a pic in the Metro with those Olympic rings, and it's spray painted with faces with frowns. It was spray painted in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, the infamous ghetto in Canada. I told Ray that.
Me: I don't know why people are so against the Olympics. (I've read about protests about it.)Ray: That's because the Olympics bring a lot of debt.
I typed "Olympics bring debt" into Google and got a University of Toronto Professor Helen Lenskyj saying that it brings debt, evictions of low-income renters, and abolish civil rights.
Naked sushi: I heard about this on Jay Leno like a year ago. I woman pretty much lies half- naked on a table, and people eat sushi off them. I saw this on a CSI: NY ep. It's big in big cities like New York and San Francisco.
It's now available in Kai Asian Grill in downtown Edmonton. The women get paid $300/hr for this kind of job. I find this job in a way kind of like prostitution.
No Authority: As usual, I always seem to revisit boy band past. I haven't in months. Well I felt like listening to No Authority's "Don't Stop" song, so I typed it onto Youtube. I have gotten a video of these other guys performing that song in their talent show. Instead I got the music video. I haven't seen it in years. I know the member Eric was gay. I typed it into Youtube last year and I saw his stand- up comedy routine where he says he is.
Now I checked out the other guy Ricky and he was on Extra. Here's a 1 min clip of him. NA opened up for Britney Spears, and R says: "Britney did actually watch one of my shows." That's cool, I think he's telling the truth. Ricky does appear to be gay. Look at the video, and look at his www.myspace.com/harlowmusicrocks.
Then I had to read everybody's comments about them. Josh was one of the original members, but he quit. One of the comments was that he had to drop his acting career to be in the group. He chose acting, and I have to say he's way more successful in acting than he was in music.
NA was good. They were on Michael Jackson's label MJJ when they first came out. Then they moved to the Maverick label, and went from R&B to pop. I just looked up the other member Danny Zavatsky and got his Facebook page. I then emailed him and made a friend request. I told him he was talented, and asked what's he up to and if ever talk to or look up the other guys in the group. lol.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AKItG60y60
Party: Today I went to the call centre party. It was fun. I had some lasagna, cheese, meat, veggies with dip. I was having a late lunch, and not to get too full because I have another Christmas party at the Soup place. We all got presents at the call centre. We got Tim Horton's gift cards, and we got to pick wrapped presents.
I got a DVD, and it was a action movie that I'm actually interested in watching called The Sentinial. Other co-workers got DVDs, soap and bath stuff. The manager Jaspal joked around saying the presents were like Deal or No Deal. Alcohol was available too, though I didn't drink any.
Dec. 19 Magazines: I read in The Globe and Mail that 60% of the profit that magazines make are from advertisers putting their ads in the magazine. I thought it was only people buying the magazines that are the main source of the profits. I was then reading in the Metro about the decade and how magazines are fading away.
The recession has people using the internet more instead of spending money on something that they don't need like a magazine.
Dec. 20: I was talking to my 16-yr old friend Ray yesterday.
Me: Did you know that Cosmogirl folded?
R: Really? No wonder I can't find it.
The magazine folded on Dec.2008/Jan.2009 issue. I remember back in 2004, the teen magazine YM folded because too much competition. Then Teen People folded because of the same reason. Also it came out monthly, when there are celeb magazines come out weekly. Elle Girl folded after 5 years due to same reason.
Brittany Murphy: Did you know that Brittany Murphy died today at 32 years old? She was an actress in Clueless, and 8 Mile. I was just thinking about her at work. I've never seen her movie Little Black Book because it's a romantic comedy. She was also in the movie Just Married with Ashton Kutcher. They dated each other and AK twittered her death. I feel sad. I'm not really a fan of hers, but I did like her.
Gifts: I was reading this advice column in The Globe and Mail about this woman who doesn't like how her boyfriend is giving her these raunchy gifts. First it was these raunchy dvds, then lingerie, etc. The advice was tell you boyfriend firmly that you don't want these gifts. The other part of it was you could buy him a blow up doll and say: "If you keep buying me these gifts, this will be the only girlfriend you have." lol.
Here's a good saying from it: "Gifts are supposed to benefit the recipient more than than the donor." There are gifts like 2 tickets to a show, and both of you go together. I remember my high school and college days where I give pictures of celebs to my friends, and they're always so happy to get them.
The pics were from magazines that I got for free from my sister, so it doesn't cost me anything. It's still kind of like that now. I met Mark who looked like the actor Kyle Gallner, and he didn't know who I was talking about. I printed two pictures of KG for him, and he burst out laughing and said: "Oh my God, you rock!" It didn't cost me anything, but it's the thought that counts.
Writing: At work I mainly read and wrote. I felt kind of sad with my script Rain. It has like 40 pages and nothing much happens. It reminded me of reading a comment on the Secret Life of the American Teenager thread where a whole episode of nothing happening.
However, I went home, I turned on the computer and buckled down and worked on The Fighter script.
Dec. 21 Saying: Psychic Miki from 24 said: "It takes guts and determination to succeed, but it takes even more to let go and free yourself from the trappings of comfort."
Job: Today I got called in and worked 9hrs at the Soup place. Everything balances out for the hours I lacked at the call centre.
News: I read in the Metro that in "developing countries, about one person in eight is a girl aged 10-24." An educated woman puts 90% of their income into their families, unlike men who put in 30%.
I read a letter in the Journal about this woman who said something about the stabbing of an ME Lazerte student. Her son is friends with the stabbing victim. The kid who got stabbed is okay, and he got stabbed at Londonderry mall which is close to the school. My friend Ray goes to the school. She says she knows the kid, but the name can't be released to newspapers because he's under aged.
The Inner City High School will be torn down and be rebuilt with $15 million in 2012. There will also be student residences. It says 17% of the students are homeless, and 44% are living in unsafe conditions. Now I think back of my high school. I don't know if anyone was homeless because there are 1300 students. My school was in a safe neighborhood and not in the ghetto.
Olympics: I saw a pic in the Metro with those Olympic rings, and it's spray painted with faces with frowns. It was spray painted in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, the infamous ghetto in Canada. I told Ray that.
Me: I don't know why people are so against the Olympics. (I've read about protests about it.)Ray: That's because the Olympics bring a lot of debt.
I typed "Olympics bring debt" into Google and got a University of Toronto Professor Helen Lenskyj saying that it brings debt, evictions of low-income renters, and abolish civil rights.
Naked sushi: I heard about this on Jay Leno like a year ago. I woman pretty much lies half- naked on a table, and people eat sushi off them. I saw this on a CSI: NY ep. It's big in big cities like New York and San Francisco.
It's now available in Kai Asian Grill in downtown Edmonton. The women get paid $300/hr for this kind of job. I find this job in a way kind of like prostitution.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
safety/ long shot/ blog
Dec. 15 Safety: Here are some safety tips I got from Cosmopolitan.
1. Think like the hunter, not the prey. That will instantly build confidence and make you more alert.
2. Always take the same route home. You would then be able to pick up on something different.
3. Have an escape plan. Know the business to run into for help, and the exits.
4. Look at body language: "subtley clenched fists, reddening face, heaving chest, flaring nostrils."
Writing: I was watching The Hills the other day. Let's for a moment think that this is a reality show, and not written. I've been told by a professional reader, a producer, and my friend Ray to work on the dialogue in my script. Say The Hills is how people talk in real life. The dialogue on the show isn't that good, but it's how people talk.
Dec. 16 Job: Today the Soup place called and I worked there for 4.5hrs. I still got a shift at the call centre so that's good.
Dec. 17 News: I was reading in 24 about how a 17-yr-old girl who texted the police after a sexual assault. The police were able to catch the bad guy really soon afterward. The rapist was actually doing door-to-door sales, so be careful about answering the door. I think I read a couple of stories where people did text people during a kidnapping and all that. Way to go technology.
Long shot: Yesterday I took a long shot by applying for an intern position at this publishing company. I was going through my school email and I decided to send in my resume and writing samples. It's the saying: "You miss all the shots you never take." I thought about how I wouldn't get a job at a big company, and then I did. Then it didn't work out because I wasn't good at it, but it was proof that I could get one.
Today I'm going to take another long shot. I'm going to email this TV producer again. He gave me the short answer of no, but he did say my main competition is that there are a lot of fight movies out there. I'm going to convince him that my movie is different from the others.
CSI: NY: It's sweeps, so they had 3 big guest-stars like MTV host Vanessa Minnello, reality star Kim Kardashian, and music artist Pat Monahan. After I saw the ep, I realized I read about this crime before in the newspaper a long time ago. It turns out VM and KK pick up a homeless guy off the street, and help him get off the street. Give him a good apartment, nice designer clothes, and jewelery.
One of the woman pretends to fall in love with him, buy life insurance for them. A couple of years later, they go and kill him and make it look like an accident. The women then are the beneficiaries of the life insurance. PM was going to be the next victim. I remember in the newspaper two women did the same thing, but they were in their 40s and 50s. They don't pretend to fall in love with the men though.
Saying: At the end of CSI: NY, there was a saying (paraphrasing):"Temptation will always ring the doorbell, but opportunity only knocks."
Guilt: The other day my shift was canceled. Today I got a call from work to go in when it's my day off. I went in, and basically I was there for 2hrs reading the newspaper. I guess I could have stayed longer, because I was getting paid. There was something wrong with the project, because for 2hrs, the people in charge were trying to get it fixed. The numbers we're getting we're already finished surveys. I went home instead so I could eat pizza.
Food is tempting. Last night I thought Criminal Minds was a repeat, but it turns out it was new and I missed it. I was so mad. I got home today and was able to catch it at 6pm, and it wasn't on any other time today. I also wanted to watch a new ep of The Mentalist.
The pros are that I did work for 2 hrs and get paid for it. My sister said that I would be getting paid for another hour too because something about the Legislation saying that. So yay for me.
Jonathan Torrens: The last time I saw this actor was in a drinking and driving education video over the summer during my driver's ed. He has his own TV show TV with Jonathan Torrens. I read about it in the paper. The other day I checked it out. The episode was how he analyzed news magazine shows like 20/20, and Dateline.
He is funny as usual. He gushes about how he has a crush on the host Elizabeth Vargas from 20/20. He asks: "What's the point of these shows? To scare us?" I find these shows are informative, interesting, and entertaining. Usually after an ep, I write about it in my weekly email/ blog.
20/20: The other episode I saw, they talked about how tanning salons are bad. Dermatologists say if you want to tan, do it naturally with the sun. You can get skin cancer by the tanning salon. You can also get skin cancer from the sun, but wear your sunscreen and moderate how much.
Host: How much time is enough when going into a tanning salon?
Dermatologist: Zero.
There was also this website that advertised self-injections to your face. Don't do it. They showed a video of a woman injecting stuff into her face like botox, and she looked like she knew what she was doing. There were interviews with three women who did it, and there were bad allergic reactions to it.
A doctor said by putting the needle in the wrong place, could result in blindness. I remember way back in 2004, I watched the show Growing up Gotti, about Victoria Gotti (daughter of mob boss John Gotti), and her three teenage sons. She went to the doctor to put botox in her face, and when I was watching it, I was cringing. I remember her assistant Jen was crying when she saw the procedure.
Dateline SNL: I was watching Saturday Night Live and they did a parody. What if the host of Dateline: To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen got to be a late night host? It was so funny. They really got CH's personality down. CH was interviewing celebrities like how he was interviewing internet predators.
CH had the same tone of voice, and was asking questions like the celebs did something wrong by appearing on this late night talk show. CH confronts them with an email: "You said you're just here to talk? Or are you here for something else? I have an email from a producer that says you're here to plug your new movie."
Blog: I was reading in The Globe and Mail about how a person started a blog, and two months later got a book deal. Look at me, two years later, and still no book deal. I advertise my blog on my Facebook status update. I told the TV producer John and he read at least one entry.
Tip 1: "Write about something that interests you." I got that down by writing about my life, TV, and movies.
2: "Don't over promote." "People can honestly see when you're trying to do something to do something else." I was upfront to John about it. I told him that the Juno writer Diablo Cody wrote a blog, got discovered, wrote Juno, and now she's a successful screenwriter. That's where I want to be at.
3: "Post your email address." I just did that right now.
4: "Resist get- rich quick offers." You may get money to put ads on your site, but you could wait until later when you get even a bigger check from someone else. Jessica Hagy wanted her site to be ad-free, and the she got a bigger check from Viking than she would have from previous ad offers.
5: "Don't be picky with media." Do interviews for small blogs and media. Eventually big media will find out about you. Here's my Christmas present you can give me, that doesn't cost anything. The tips are email all your friends to go to my blog called www.badcb.blogspot.com.
Say this in your email:
"Hi, I have a friend named Tracy Au and she wants to be a screenwriter. Go check out her blog at www.badcb.blogspot.com. She writes about TV, movies, funny things she saw or heard, or things that happened in her life. After you read it, tell all your friends about it too. Thanks."
1. Think like the hunter, not the prey. That will instantly build confidence and make you more alert.
2. Always take the same route home. You would then be able to pick up on something different.
3. Have an escape plan. Know the business to run into for help, and the exits.
4. Look at body language: "subtley clenched fists, reddening face, heaving chest, flaring nostrils."
Writing: I was watching The Hills the other day. Let's for a moment think that this is a reality show, and not written. I've been told by a professional reader, a producer, and my friend Ray to work on the dialogue in my script. Say The Hills is how people talk in real life. The dialogue on the show isn't that good, but it's how people talk.
Dec. 16 Job: Today the Soup place called and I worked there for 4.5hrs. I still got a shift at the call centre so that's good.
Dec. 17 News: I was reading in 24 about how a 17-yr-old girl who texted the police after a sexual assault. The police were able to catch the bad guy really soon afterward. The rapist was actually doing door-to-door sales, so be careful about answering the door. I think I read a couple of stories where people did text people during a kidnapping and all that. Way to go technology.
Long shot: Yesterday I took a long shot by applying for an intern position at this publishing company. I was going through my school email and I decided to send in my resume and writing samples. It's the saying: "You miss all the shots you never take." I thought about how I wouldn't get a job at a big company, and then I did. Then it didn't work out because I wasn't good at it, but it was proof that I could get one.
Today I'm going to take another long shot. I'm going to email this TV producer again. He gave me the short answer of no, but he did say my main competition is that there are a lot of fight movies out there. I'm going to convince him that my movie is different from the others.
CSI: NY: It's sweeps, so they had 3 big guest-stars like MTV host Vanessa Minnello, reality star Kim Kardashian, and music artist Pat Monahan. After I saw the ep, I realized I read about this crime before in the newspaper a long time ago. It turns out VM and KK pick up a homeless guy off the street, and help him get off the street. Give him a good apartment, nice designer clothes, and jewelery.
One of the woman pretends to fall in love with him, buy life insurance for them. A couple of years later, they go and kill him and make it look like an accident. The women then are the beneficiaries of the life insurance. PM was going to be the next victim. I remember in the newspaper two women did the same thing, but they were in their 40s and 50s. They don't pretend to fall in love with the men though.
Saying: At the end of CSI: NY, there was a saying (paraphrasing):"Temptation will always ring the doorbell, but opportunity only knocks."
Guilt: The other day my shift was canceled. Today I got a call from work to go in when it's my day off. I went in, and basically I was there for 2hrs reading the newspaper. I guess I could have stayed longer, because I was getting paid. There was something wrong with the project, because for 2hrs, the people in charge were trying to get it fixed. The numbers we're getting we're already finished surveys. I went home instead so I could eat pizza.
Food is tempting. Last night I thought Criminal Minds was a repeat, but it turns out it was new and I missed it. I was so mad. I got home today and was able to catch it at 6pm, and it wasn't on any other time today. I also wanted to watch a new ep of The Mentalist.
The pros are that I did work for 2 hrs and get paid for it. My sister said that I would be getting paid for another hour too because something about the Legislation saying that. So yay for me.
Jonathan Torrens: The last time I saw this actor was in a drinking and driving education video over the summer during my driver's ed. He has his own TV show TV with Jonathan Torrens. I read about it in the paper. The other day I checked it out. The episode was how he analyzed news magazine shows like 20/20, and Dateline.
He is funny as usual. He gushes about how he has a crush on the host Elizabeth Vargas from 20/20. He asks: "What's the point of these shows? To scare us?" I find these shows are informative, interesting, and entertaining. Usually after an ep, I write about it in my weekly email/ blog.
20/20: The other episode I saw, they talked about how tanning salons are bad. Dermatologists say if you want to tan, do it naturally with the sun. You can get skin cancer by the tanning salon. You can also get skin cancer from the sun, but wear your sunscreen and moderate how much.
Host: How much time is enough when going into a tanning salon?
Dermatologist: Zero.
There was also this website that advertised self-injections to your face. Don't do it. They showed a video of a woman injecting stuff into her face like botox, and she looked like she knew what she was doing. There were interviews with three women who did it, and there were bad allergic reactions to it.
A doctor said by putting the needle in the wrong place, could result in blindness. I remember way back in 2004, I watched the show Growing up Gotti, about Victoria Gotti (daughter of mob boss John Gotti), and her three teenage sons. She went to the doctor to put botox in her face, and when I was watching it, I was cringing. I remember her assistant Jen was crying when she saw the procedure.
Dateline SNL: I was watching Saturday Night Live and they did a parody. What if the host of Dateline: To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen got to be a late night host? It was so funny. They really got CH's personality down. CH was interviewing celebrities like how he was interviewing internet predators.
CH had the same tone of voice, and was asking questions like the celebs did something wrong by appearing on this late night talk show. CH confronts them with an email: "You said you're just here to talk? Or are you here for something else? I have an email from a producer that says you're here to plug your new movie."
Blog: I was reading in The Globe and Mail about how a person started a blog, and two months later got a book deal. Look at me, two years later, and still no book deal. I advertise my blog on my Facebook status update. I told the TV producer John and he read at least one entry.
Tip 1: "Write about something that interests you." I got that down by writing about my life, TV, and movies.
2: "Don't over promote." "People can honestly see when you're trying to do something to do something else." I was upfront to John about it. I told him that the Juno writer Diablo Cody wrote a blog, got discovered, wrote Juno, and now she's a successful screenwriter. That's where I want to be at.
3: "Post your email address." I just did that right now.
4: "Resist get- rich quick offers." You may get money to put ads on your site, but you could wait until later when you get even a bigger check from someone else. Jessica Hagy wanted her site to be ad-free, and the she got a bigger check from Viking than she would have from previous ad offers.
5: "Don't be picky with media." Do interviews for small blogs and media. Eventually big media will find out about you. Here's my Christmas present you can give me, that doesn't cost anything. The tips are email all your friends to go to my blog called www.badcb.blogspot.com.
Say this in your email:
"Hi, I have a friend named Tracy Au and she wants to be a screenwriter. Go check out her blog at www.badcb.blogspot.com. She writes about TV, movies, funny things she saw or heard, or things that happened in her life. After you read it, tell all your friends about it too. Thanks."
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
job search/ Lethal Obsession/ baitcar.com
Dec.11 Job search: Today I set up a job account at Epcor.ca and applied for a professional writing intern position. The other 10 positions I wasn't applicable for. I applied for 4 jobs this week. That's a little progress. Last month I applied for 22 jobs.
Dec. 12 Lethal Obsession: This TV movie came on, and it kind of reminded me of my Rain script. In LO or also known as No Brother of Mine, this woman lives a good life, until her brother comes along and turns it upside down. In my script, it's the same thing with a bad guy coming from her past and finding her and turning her life upside down.
Nina (Kellie Martin) is a successful career woman. She's married, has 2 kids, lives in a big house with a nanny. She calls her grandma, a neighbor answers and she says the grandma is in the hospital.N is hiding out from her little brother Drew (Adam McDonald) for the past 15 years. In the first scene, this house window blows up as someone in the car outside watches. Twenty- two years later, show Nina at work. Show N's husband Stuart who's a doctor. He's flirting with the nurse, but doesn't make any moves on her. He makes the moves on this female doctor.
N takes a flight to see her grandma in the hospital. N runs to her car, and drives away. D sees that the car belongs to a rental and he looks for it. He then shows that he's a bad guy by intimidating this woman at the car rental to get N's info. N changed her name, moved a dozen times. D finds her. D talks to the husband S at the hospital. D says he went to juvenile hall because he killed a guy who was hurting his sister. Then D gets a place in town. N warned S about him. N owns a gun, and hires a PI.I thought it was kind of funny to see Conrad Pla play the PI. He was in another TV movie I saw recently False Pretenses where he plays a bad cop.
PI then finds out that D's records are clean. N goes through D's place and finds fake IDs. PI then researches and D isn't that good. D kills the nurse that he thinks S is cheating N with. D ties up the nanny to take the kids away. D makes moves on N's co-worker. He's infiltrating her life. N knows S is cheating on her, N then dumps S. D is about to kill S and female doctor that S is cheating with. N calls 911, N gets in there to talk D out of killing. N shoots D in the leg as Female Doctor hits him with her elbow.
FD and S run. N and D talk. N says she's going to get him help like a mental hospital. It goes full circle. In the movie they mentioned they were abused by their parents. It turns out in the beginning of the movie, there was an explosion in the house. The flashback is that D saw N turn on the stoves to release the gas so it would fill up the house all night. As soon as the dad lights up a cigarette, the parents are killed.
N is still a sympathetic character because she kills the bad parents, and she have always felt guilty about it. The happy ending is that N takes her kids to see their great- grandma. This will be my 3rd favorite TV movie after Obituary, and False Pretenses.
Dec. 13 Actors: I recognized the actors like Dylan Neal playing the husband. He was on Blood Ties. I've seen Adam McDonald way back in 1999 on The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo where he plays a high school student. He was also in Vampire High back in 2001. I totally forgot about that credit. I did remember seeing him on the TV show 1-800-Missing.
Writing: Today at work it was boring as usual because it's a Sunday. I managed to get a lot of writing. I have to think of the big conclusion where Rain defeats the bad guy. I thought of the Prison Break series finale, but I also thought of Pink's first music video "There You Go."
If you remember the video, at the end, Pink drives her motorcycle into her ex-boyfriend's loft and totally trashes the place that way. It's funny. It's big budget. It's not totally realistic, but it's very original, because I've never seen that done before. However, Rain has to get into a penthouse. Pink just destroyed the place, without going inside it.
Job: I talked to my dad and he said I could do whatever I want. I told him the call centre isn't giving me enough hours. I could talk to my boss about it. If he won't give me more hours, then I might as well go and get another job.
I am revisiting my past. I emailed Dani who used to work at Ardene's. She was the manager there. I originally got hired back in summer 2008, but then I told my dad, and he told me to not take it. Three weeks later, I asked, and he said I could work there. I worked there for three weeks, and was told three people were going to get fired.
Two people got fired because they worked once a week, and last one hired gets fired, which was me. Dani didn't fire me, the person above her did, D had to deliver the news. I'm even going to go back to work at Treats at Epcor, or really any Treats location. I worked there in summer 2007 and met my manager/ friend Aziz. Then in summer 2008, I went back, and he wasn't there anymore.
Then in 2009, I bumped into him at City Centre. He said he got fired himself from Treats, and was removed.
Dec. 14 Job review: I kept a a meticulous record of my job search this year. From Jan.2009-Aug.2009, I passed out 110 resumes. I only got two job interviews, and it only lead me to the call centre job. I passed them to banks, hotels, colleges, travel agencies, salons, to all work as a receptionist. There were some writing positions I applied to.
Then I rebooted my job search in Nov.2009- Dec. 2009. It's 26 resumes in total to the same places. It's 136 resumes I passed out this year.
Job talk: I called my call centre manager up and we talked. It was good. He said there is no such thing as part-time or full-time at the call centre. It's all based on what projects we have, how many projects, and when people are available. He says he cares about his employees and takes care of them. I believe that.
Jaspal: Well I'm sure when you worked at call centres, there is always a busy time, and then it gets slower later.
Me: Not at the other call centres I worked at.
J: That was then when the economy was good.
At Ipsos 2005-2006, we all got hours consistently. Same goes for Leger in 2006. I was brutally honest and said that if he doesn't give me more hours, I will start looking for another job and it may be restaurant and retail, and not the office job I want. As long as I get hours that's good.
J did say he's getting a lot of resumes, and he will be hiring more people in the new year. He's hoping there will be a lot more work to do, and I could get more hours that way. The only other thing I could do is instead of getting Fridays off, I will add that to my work schedule that I can work that day.
He says in the beginning of the month we get new projects, there's lots of work. If you notice, hours start decreasing by the end of the month. I guess I'll have to wait until Jan. to see how it goes. Also the psychic did tell me I'll get an office job by Feb. or Mar.
Dec. 15: Well Pyschic Nadia could be right. I don't know. I only saw her once back in Jul. This office job prediction is the only thing I can see if it will come true or not. The TV script being produced in a few years, I'll have to wait if that comes true too.
Radio: Have you ever heard of the radio station Hot 107? I never heard of it until my sister told me about it two weeks ago. She said there is a lot mentioning The Bounce 91.7 radio station. It does advertise that they don't play Nickelback which is good.
Baitcar.com: Have you guys ever heard of this website? I learned it when I was watching the news. Police set up these cars so they could get stolen, there's a hidden camera, and the police chase down the criminals that way. I think I saw this a few years back when I used to watch Maury's "crazy things caught on tape" show.
The video on the front page is kind of eh. You should fast forward to the 3min mark when things get interesting.
Dec. 12 Lethal Obsession: This TV movie came on, and it kind of reminded me of my Rain script. In LO or also known as No Brother of Mine, this woman lives a good life, until her brother comes along and turns it upside down. In my script, it's the same thing with a bad guy coming from her past and finding her and turning her life upside down.
Nina (Kellie Martin) is a successful career woman. She's married, has 2 kids, lives in a big house with a nanny. She calls her grandma, a neighbor answers and she says the grandma is in the hospital.N is hiding out from her little brother Drew (Adam McDonald) for the past 15 years. In the first scene, this house window blows up as someone in the car outside watches. Twenty- two years later, show Nina at work. Show N's husband Stuart who's a doctor. He's flirting with the nurse, but doesn't make any moves on her. He makes the moves on this female doctor.
N takes a flight to see her grandma in the hospital. N runs to her car, and drives away. D sees that the car belongs to a rental and he looks for it. He then shows that he's a bad guy by intimidating this woman at the car rental to get N's info. N changed her name, moved a dozen times. D finds her. D talks to the husband S at the hospital. D says he went to juvenile hall because he killed a guy who was hurting his sister. Then D gets a place in town. N warned S about him. N owns a gun, and hires a PI.I thought it was kind of funny to see Conrad Pla play the PI. He was in another TV movie I saw recently False Pretenses where he plays a bad cop.
PI then finds out that D's records are clean. N goes through D's place and finds fake IDs. PI then researches and D isn't that good. D kills the nurse that he thinks S is cheating N with. D ties up the nanny to take the kids away. D makes moves on N's co-worker. He's infiltrating her life. N knows S is cheating on her, N then dumps S. D is about to kill S and female doctor that S is cheating with. N calls 911, N gets in there to talk D out of killing. N shoots D in the leg as Female Doctor hits him with her elbow.
FD and S run. N and D talk. N says she's going to get him help like a mental hospital. It goes full circle. In the movie they mentioned they were abused by their parents. It turns out in the beginning of the movie, there was an explosion in the house. The flashback is that D saw N turn on the stoves to release the gas so it would fill up the house all night. As soon as the dad lights up a cigarette, the parents are killed.
N is still a sympathetic character because she kills the bad parents, and she have always felt guilty about it. The happy ending is that N takes her kids to see their great- grandma. This will be my 3rd favorite TV movie after Obituary, and False Pretenses.
Dec. 13 Actors: I recognized the actors like Dylan Neal playing the husband. He was on Blood Ties. I've seen Adam McDonald way back in 1999 on The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo where he plays a high school student. He was also in Vampire High back in 2001. I totally forgot about that credit. I did remember seeing him on the TV show 1-800-Missing.
Writing: Today at work it was boring as usual because it's a Sunday. I managed to get a lot of writing. I have to think of the big conclusion where Rain defeats the bad guy. I thought of the Prison Break series finale, but I also thought of Pink's first music video "There You Go."
If you remember the video, at the end, Pink drives her motorcycle into her ex-boyfriend's loft and totally trashes the place that way. It's funny. It's big budget. It's not totally realistic, but it's very original, because I've never seen that done before. However, Rain has to get into a penthouse. Pink just destroyed the place, without going inside it.
Job: I talked to my dad and he said I could do whatever I want. I told him the call centre isn't giving me enough hours. I could talk to my boss about it. If he won't give me more hours, then I might as well go and get another job.
I am revisiting my past. I emailed Dani who used to work at Ardene's. She was the manager there. I originally got hired back in summer 2008, but then I told my dad, and he told me to not take it. Three weeks later, I asked, and he said I could work there. I worked there for three weeks, and was told three people were going to get fired.
Two people got fired because they worked once a week, and last one hired gets fired, which was me. Dani didn't fire me, the person above her did, D had to deliver the news. I'm even going to go back to work at Treats at Epcor, or really any Treats location. I worked there in summer 2007 and met my manager/ friend Aziz. Then in summer 2008, I went back, and he wasn't there anymore.
Then in 2009, I bumped into him at City Centre. He said he got fired himself from Treats, and was removed.
Dec. 14 Job review: I kept a a meticulous record of my job search this year. From Jan.2009-Aug.2009, I passed out 110 resumes. I only got two job interviews, and it only lead me to the call centre job. I passed them to banks, hotels, colleges, travel agencies, salons, to all work as a receptionist. There were some writing positions I applied to.
Then I rebooted my job search in Nov.2009- Dec. 2009. It's 26 resumes in total to the same places. It's 136 resumes I passed out this year.
Job talk: I called my call centre manager up and we talked. It was good. He said there is no such thing as part-time or full-time at the call centre. It's all based on what projects we have, how many projects, and when people are available. He says he cares about his employees and takes care of them. I believe that.
Jaspal: Well I'm sure when you worked at call centres, there is always a busy time, and then it gets slower later.
Me: Not at the other call centres I worked at.
J: That was then when the economy was good.
At Ipsos 2005-2006, we all got hours consistently. Same goes for Leger in 2006. I was brutally honest and said that if he doesn't give me more hours, I will start looking for another job and it may be restaurant and retail, and not the office job I want. As long as I get hours that's good.
J did say he's getting a lot of resumes, and he will be hiring more people in the new year. He's hoping there will be a lot more work to do, and I could get more hours that way. The only other thing I could do is instead of getting Fridays off, I will add that to my work schedule that I can work that day.
He says in the beginning of the month we get new projects, there's lots of work. If you notice, hours start decreasing by the end of the month. I guess I'll have to wait until Jan. to see how it goes. Also the psychic did tell me I'll get an office job by Feb. or Mar.
Dec. 15: Well Pyschic Nadia could be right. I don't know. I only saw her once back in Jul. This office job prediction is the only thing I can see if it will come true or not. The TV script being produced in a few years, I'll have to wait if that comes true too.
Radio: Have you ever heard of the radio station Hot 107? I never heard of it until my sister told me about it two weeks ago. She said there is a lot mentioning The Bounce 91.7 radio station. It does advertise that they don't play Nickelback which is good.
Baitcar.com: Have you guys ever heard of this website? I learned it when I was watching the news. Police set up these cars so they could get stolen, there's a hidden camera, and the police chase down the criminals that way. I think I saw this a few years back when I used to watch Maury's "crazy things caught on tape" show.
The video on the front page is kind of eh. You should fast forward to the 3min mark when things get interesting.
Friday, December 11, 2009
job search/ Teen Mom/ comedy rules
Dec.8 Job search: I picked up a new issue of Job Classified. Did you know that Save on Foods has benefits like medical and dental? It's filled with jobs I don't care about, but at least some interesting articles. I went to Matrikon.ca, it's with oil and gas. They only have one job posting in Edmonton for being a manager, and I don't qualify.
I deleted that bookmark. I emailed 4 production companies, and emailed 1 resume to the Citadel.
News: I read on Yahoo that CBS will be canceling the soap opera As the World Turns after 54 years. CBS canceled Guiding Light 3 months ago after 72 years (57 on TV. Prior to that, they were on the radio.) CBS still has The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful.
Teen Mom: I am totally overdosing. Not only am I reading 16 and Pregnant on twop.com, MTV is debuting the new show Teen Mom which is a spinoff about 4 of the 6 profiled in the first show. They're also airing True Life "I'm Pregnant" in 5 min so I have to watch that too. At least I'm avoiding Secret Life of the American Teenager on Muchmusic, only because I've seen those eps. TL is about 2 young women who are adults who got pregnant, and are staying with their boyfriends.
I don't know why I'm obsessed with this topic. It's like how Patrick is obsessed about gambling and lotteries. He doesn't gamble, he just reads books about it, watch the TLC show about winning the lottery. He does like to watch card games on TV even though it's on a fictional show Lie to Me.
Dec. 9 Research: I was going through my bookmarks that I created when I was deleting my MacEwan emails. I deleted that Matrikon bookmark because there was only 1 job posting and I didn't fit it. Have you ever heard of Alberta Union of Provincial Employees? There weren't any jobs on that site.
Have you ever heard of Alberta Public Research Group? It's for students and located at the University of Alberta. The job posting said it starts working from Dec.7.
Have you ever heard of International Association of Business Communicators? There are lots of job postings in Canada and the US. It's mainly for people with a business degree.
Funny: I decided to be more proactive. Yesterday I emailed John Kerr: "You don't call, you don't write, I was beginning to think you were seeing other writers. Just kidding." I got that line from CSI: NY where Det. Flack (Eddie Cahill) was talking to a criminal. He says "detectives" where "writers" is.
I then called him today and asked if he read the monthly email that says: "Have you read the changes yet?" I told him I'm working on the rewrite.
Business: This is unintentionally funny. I went to downtown to drop off my resume at Western Canadian Bank. Then I checked out that new restaurant that sells healthy food. Good atmosphere, prices seem kind of high.
Then I checked out the Book Outlet store. There is this letter on the window that the store has closed down since November because the store hasn't been paying rent worth $40,000. I've been there a couple of times. They sell books at discount prices, but the books are new and not used like the Wee Book Inn.
That kind of reminds me of that Chinese butcher shop that closed down for awhile because the food inspectors shut it down. The lesson is play by the rules, or you'll get remanded for it and be humiliated. I remember talking to the owner at the bookstore, and he said only three people work there.
Comedy rules: Comedy can break rules on believability and repetitiveness. You can be unbelievable and repetitive in this genre. On SNL, they were doing a sketch about selling porcelain fountains. They said "porcelain fountains" a dozen times in this 4min sketch. That's okay, because they were trying to be funny.
I remember way back in 2002, I heard the SNL sketch with Tobey McGuire where they used the phrase "simma down now." They said that a dozen times too. Unlike Secret Life of the American Teenager where they repeat one or two words like 30 times in one episode. They weren't trying to be funny, so it's poor writing.
I remember also in 2002, I was watching the British boy band Five interview. Rich was trying to be funny by phrasing the question by repeating when the single and the album is going to be released multiple times. I thought it was funny, but the other members Abs and J didn't laugh.
Abs (to Rich): Why did you say that? You know they're just going to edit it out.
Well they didn't edit it out, because I the viewer got to see it.
Dec. 10 Confess: Yesterday when I got back home, I got a message from the call centre saying that I could come in at 3pm and work. I didn't. Yesterday we left early because there wasn't any work. They canceled our shift today.
Instead I stayed at home and watched Gossip Girl, CSI: NY, Glee, and Criminal Minds. They were all new episodes. I could go to work, but my life revolves around TV. Look, at least I'm not staying home to watch bad daytime talk shows like Dr. Phil and Maury. That's some progress.
On Mon. and Tues., they cut our shifts short. Then next week I only work 12hrs. Now I feel really guilty for not picking up that shift. Will this be the last time I put TV in front of work? Well having fun, does make me want to put more energy into my job search later.
Writing: Today I spent a good 1hr and 40min working on my script. I wrote down all the rewrites I made and to what scenes, and what pages. That phone call to John Kerr kind of motivated me.
Dec. 11: Yesterday I also managed to not read anything about 16 and Pregnant. That's discipline.
Saying: The old saying: "The grass is greener on the other side." I got the call centre job that I've wanted, and it pays $12, so that's good. They don't give me a lot of hours. I still want to work at the Soup place. It's because when I worked there during the week, I felt overworked because they really needed another person there.
Now that I'm gone, they have two people there, and they rarely even need anymore. I don't get paid a lot at the Soup place, but at least I got guaranteed hours there.
Castle: It was funny when I saw this show. This actor comes on, and my sister and I both recognized him at the same time.
Me: Ah! Riley from Buffy!
S: Yeah, Marc Blucas.
In the episode, MB's character doesn't have his memory. I was so guessing that MB was the guy who did it. Well it's always the big name actor who did it when they guest- star on shows like Law and Order: SVU and CSI: NY. Then it turns out I was wrong!
I will give points to Castle for being creative on that part. I was right about the gun being planted in MB's place. Same goes for the dead guy who was married to two women episode, and it was different from CSI: NY's two episodes where they had two similar story lines.
I will also give points for one time Castle did an ep where one of the group of teenage friends committed a crime. On The Mentalist, the whole group of teenage friends committed the crime.
I deleted that bookmark. I emailed 4 production companies, and emailed 1 resume to the Citadel.
News: I read on Yahoo that CBS will be canceling the soap opera As the World Turns after 54 years. CBS canceled Guiding Light 3 months ago after 72 years (57 on TV. Prior to that, they were on the radio.) CBS still has The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful.
Teen Mom: I am totally overdosing. Not only am I reading 16 and Pregnant on twop.com, MTV is debuting the new show Teen Mom which is a spinoff about 4 of the 6 profiled in the first show. They're also airing True Life "I'm Pregnant" in 5 min so I have to watch that too. At least I'm avoiding Secret Life of the American Teenager on Muchmusic, only because I've seen those eps. TL is about 2 young women who are adults who got pregnant, and are staying with their boyfriends.
I don't know why I'm obsessed with this topic. It's like how Patrick is obsessed about gambling and lotteries. He doesn't gamble, he just reads books about it, watch the TLC show about winning the lottery. He does like to watch card games on TV even though it's on a fictional show Lie to Me.
Dec. 9 Research: I was going through my bookmarks that I created when I was deleting my MacEwan emails. I deleted that Matrikon bookmark because there was only 1 job posting and I didn't fit it. Have you ever heard of Alberta Union of Provincial Employees? There weren't any jobs on that site.
Have you ever heard of Alberta Public Research Group? It's for students and located at the University of Alberta. The job posting said it starts working from Dec.7.
Have you ever heard of International Association of Business Communicators? There are lots of job postings in Canada and the US. It's mainly for people with a business degree.
Funny: I decided to be more proactive. Yesterday I emailed John Kerr: "You don't call, you don't write, I was beginning to think you were seeing other writers. Just kidding." I got that line from CSI: NY where Det. Flack (Eddie Cahill) was talking to a criminal. He says "detectives" where "writers" is.
I then called him today and asked if he read the monthly email that says: "Have you read the changes yet?" I told him I'm working on the rewrite.
Business: This is unintentionally funny. I went to downtown to drop off my resume at Western Canadian Bank. Then I checked out that new restaurant that sells healthy food. Good atmosphere, prices seem kind of high.
Then I checked out the Book Outlet store. There is this letter on the window that the store has closed down since November because the store hasn't been paying rent worth $40,000. I've been there a couple of times. They sell books at discount prices, but the books are new and not used like the Wee Book Inn.
That kind of reminds me of that Chinese butcher shop that closed down for awhile because the food inspectors shut it down. The lesson is play by the rules, or you'll get remanded for it and be humiliated. I remember talking to the owner at the bookstore, and he said only three people work there.
Comedy rules: Comedy can break rules on believability and repetitiveness. You can be unbelievable and repetitive in this genre. On SNL, they were doing a sketch about selling porcelain fountains. They said "porcelain fountains" a dozen times in this 4min sketch. That's okay, because they were trying to be funny.
I remember way back in 2002, I heard the SNL sketch with Tobey McGuire where they used the phrase "simma down now." They said that a dozen times too. Unlike Secret Life of the American Teenager where they repeat one or two words like 30 times in one episode. They weren't trying to be funny, so it's poor writing.
I remember also in 2002, I was watching the British boy band Five interview. Rich was trying to be funny by phrasing the question by repeating when the single and the album is going to be released multiple times. I thought it was funny, but the other members Abs and J didn't laugh.
Abs (to Rich): Why did you say that? You know they're just going to edit it out.
Well they didn't edit it out, because I the viewer got to see it.
Dec. 10 Confess: Yesterday when I got back home, I got a message from the call centre saying that I could come in at 3pm and work. I didn't. Yesterday we left early because there wasn't any work. They canceled our shift today.
Instead I stayed at home and watched Gossip Girl, CSI: NY, Glee, and Criminal Minds. They were all new episodes. I could go to work, but my life revolves around TV. Look, at least I'm not staying home to watch bad daytime talk shows like Dr. Phil and Maury. That's some progress.
On Mon. and Tues., they cut our shifts short. Then next week I only work 12hrs. Now I feel really guilty for not picking up that shift. Will this be the last time I put TV in front of work? Well having fun, does make me want to put more energy into my job search later.
Writing: Today I spent a good 1hr and 40min working on my script. I wrote down all the rewrites I made and to what scenes, and what pages. That phone call to John Kerr kind of motivated me.
Dec. 11: Yesterday I also managed to not read anything about 16 and Pregnant. That's discipline.
Saying: The old saying: "The grass is greener on the other side." I got the call centre job that I've wanted, and it pays $12, so that's good. They don't give me a lot of hours. I still want to work at the Soup place. It's because when I worked there during the week, I felt overworked because they really needed another person there.
Now that I'm gone, they have two people there, and they rarely even need anymore. I don't get paid a lot at the Soup place, but at least I got guaranteed hours there.
Castle: It was funny when I saw this show. This actor comes on, and my sister and I both recognized him at the same time.
Me: Ah! Riley from Buffy!
S: Yeah, Marc Blucas.
In the episode, MB's character doesn't have his memory. I was so guessing that MB was the guy who did it. Well it's always the big name actor who did it when they guest- star on shows like Law and Order: SVU and CSI: NY. Then it turns out I was wrong!
I will give points to Castle for being creative on that part. I was right about the gun being planted in MB's place. Same goes for the dead guy who was married to two women episode, and it was different from CSI: NY's two episodes where they had two similar story lines.
I will also give points for one time Castle did an ep where one of the group of teenage friends committed a crime. On The Mentalist, the whole group of teenage friends committed the crime.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
looks/ vamp joke/ adoption
Dec. 6 Commercial: I just want to say I really like the commercial for the Charm jewelery store. There is this young guy wearing a black polo shirt and he is holding up this engagement ring and practicing his proposal by saying "Michelle." He's cute. lol.
Looks: I was watching The City with my sister.
Me: That guy is too movie star handsome. It's like he's too good- looking.
S: I know what you mean. Yeah, well Jon Hamm (Mad Men) is movie star handsome.
In my opinion, JH actually looks like a real guy. I think I have a problem with The City guy because there is skepticism to "Is this a real reality show or actors?" I remember reading an interview with Garrett Hedlund (Four Brothers). He said: "People have turned me down for roles and have told me I was too good- looking for some of them, but that's okay." lol.
GH is good looking, but he can still pass off as a guy who can walk down a street. I think the problem is that The City guy looks like he went through hair, makeup, and wardrobe before getting filmed so that's why he and the show came off as fake. Though he may really just be that good-looking.
Dexter: Bravo is now airing the second season of Dexter. I saw the first 9 eps on dvd, but it's good to see this show now. You can watch it on Bravo at 8pm on Fridays or 11pm on Saturdays. It's a good show, go watch it. That's good. I'm sure my friend Leslie will be thinking: "Good, now Tracy will stop emailing me about me lending the dvds to her."
Well I only asked her about it 3 times. Once in July for her bday so I could go to her place. She had plans though. Once in August for my bday. There's a third time somewhere, but I'm not sure.
News: I read in the Journal about this woman who was a prostitute, and then she wrote a book about it. She says she misses the life of being a prostitute. The feeling of going into a hotel and having a purpose in her job. I know there is a book series called Secret Diary of a Call Girl. It was turned into a TV series starring the singer Billie Piper. She had the songs "Because We Want To" and "Girlfriend." Then after 2 albums, she then turned to acting and is way more successful with the above show and Doctor Who. Coincidentally, Call Girl was also on Bravo.
Analyze: I was watching The Vampire Diaries awhile back and the character Caroline decides to go into broadcast journalism. Her mom says: "You don't even read the paper." I'll admit when I was in high school, I didn't read the paper a lot. Now, I read 24 and Metro like everyday. I also have to read the A- Section of the Edmonton Journal. When I was in college, I did read the paper. I didn't read the free newspapers, but I did always need to see the front page because it's the most important news. It's important to know what's going on in the world.
Vegas: I was watching Lie to Me and they're in Vegas. I always wanted to go there to party. I never really got into the show Las Vegas about people working in the casino. It was an alright show. CSI is set there, but I don't really watch it. I don't watch TV shows for the locations, I watch it for the characters and storyline. It's weird. When I was watching LtM, I realized that why I would go there? I don't like going to casinos. You can go there to shop.
Kingsway: I went to downtown today. It's better than staying at home and going stir-crazy. I went to see Justin, but it was his day off. I then went to Kingsway mall. All the renovations are done for the holidays. Well Gymboree is still being made. Stores have moved. The food court has the Thai Express, Shumka (Ukranian food), and this Korean food place. There is even a Pook kiosk. There is a Pook store at City Centre. Push Mobile closed down and is replaced by Earthwear that sells coats for kids. There are hats and gloves too. I also noticed if you buy gift boxes at Garage and Urban Planet, the money goes to children's charities. That's good.
Stacy Champagne: This is a book series written by Joan Lowery Nixon and her daughter Kathleen Brush. I have weird flashbacks that come out of nowhere. This book series came into my mind because I remember reading one of the books back in gr.10. It's mystery series. I don't remember much, but a happy ending with her boyfriend there. The 3 book series is set in a hotel where Stacy solves murder mysteries there. I researched it and Stacy is called on by her family to come back and help run the hotel. I thought it was kind of interesting that a word can be a last name like champagne.
Dec. 7 Job search: I emailed 2 production companies today. A production company emailed me back and rejected me. She apologized for getting back to me way later since I emailed her in Sept. I looked at Job Classified newspaper today. My co-worker Lisa at the Soup place told me to. I hadn't picked up a copy in a long time. I went through it and applied to flightcentre.ca. I think I applied in person, and they directed me to the website, but I didn't go.
It was back in summer 2008 if I remember correctly. I was looking through Job Classifieds, and there were ads to go to school to become a paralegal, or a medical administrative assistant. I wouldn't go to school to become an administrative assistant because I don't want to spend more money on college. I also want to study things I'm actually interested in like writing. If I'm not really interested in it, then I'm not going to do well. Then it would be a waste of money.This is a sign that I must not really want to be an administrative assistant if I don't want to go to school for it.
Saying: I was reading 24 and in the psychic section, someone wrote a letter. I'm going to paraphrase the saying: "Don't spend your whole life dreaming and not making your dreams come true."
The person who wrote in got the advice from Psychic Miki that: "I would suggest you start with a short film and get to grabbing some grants from the national film board etc. This will help you get attention and move on to the next level. If you don't make some changes you will stay where you're at and kick yourself for having done so. You have the creativity so now put it to work."I didn't write to her, but this is some good motivation.
Vamp joke: Today on Conan O' Brien, they did the sketch again with the vampire assistant Cody (Eric Callero).
Conan: Hey Cody, did you pick up my dry cleaning?
Cod looks away.
Con: What's wrong?
Cod looks the other way.
Con: Well I did hire Wolf Boy.
Wolf Boy enters and howls.
Con: Last weekend, the #1 movie wasn't New Moon. It was The Blind Side about how a young man overcomes obstacles to become a football player.This black guy wearing a football uniform stands by them.
Cod makes this scream.
Con: What's that?
Cod: That's the sound of my heart breaking. I thought I was your only one, I don't want to live anymore!
Cod runs out into the sunlight and bursts into flames.
Andy Richter: Hey, I thought it was raining outside.
Con: So after the 10th time, this is when the sketch loses it's credibility for you? Let's show where Cody is.
Cut to Cody standing right out the door and he's wearing a long brown coat. He's holding a cup of coffee and a cigarette.
Con continues to tell who's on the show, and they cut back to Cod, Wolf Boy, and the football player. lol.
Adoption: I was reading 16 and Pregnant on twop.com and it lead me to this article where they interviewed the girl Ebony who was on the show. Then I found another article about this woman who's 19 and she found giving the baby up for adoption to be really easy. She was carrying her ex-boyfriend's baby and she was 26 weeks along.
She never thought of abortion either. She was living pay check to pay check. She tells a friend, and she said she knows a couple who wants to expand their family (they had 17-yr old son.) It's on www.babble.com.
Looks: I was watching The City with my sister.
Me: That guy is too movie star handsome. It's like he's too good- looking.
S: I know what you mean. Yeah, well Jon Hamm (Mad Men) is movie star handsome.
In my opinion, JH actually looks like a real guy. I think I have a problem with The City guy because there is skepticism to "Is this a real reality show or actors?" I remember reading an interview with Garrett Hedlund (Four Brothers). He said: "People have turned me down for roles and have told me I was too good- looking for some of them, but that's okay." lol.
GH is good looking, but he can still pass off as a guy who can walk down a street. I think the problem is that The City guy looks like he went through hair, makeup, and wardrobe before getting filmed so that's why he and the show came off as fake. Though he may really just be that good-looking.
Dexter: Bravo is now airing the second season of Dexter. I saw the first 9 eps on dvd, but it's good to see this show now. You can watch it on Bravo at 8pm on Fridays or 11pm on Saturdays. It's a good show, go watch it. That's good. I'm sure my friend Leslie will be thinking: "Good, now Tracy will stop emailing me about me lending the dvds to her."
Well I only asked her about it 3 times. Once in July for her bday so I could go to her place. She had plans though. Once in August for my bday. There's a third time somewhere, but I'm not sure.
News: I read in the Journal about this woman who was a prostitute, and then she wrote a book about it. She says she misses the life of being a prostitute. The feeling of going into a hotel and having a purpose in her job. I know there is a book series called Secret Diary of a Call Girl. It was turned into a TV series starring the singer Billie Piper. She had the songs "Because We Want To" and "Girlfriend." Then after 2 albums, she then turned to acting and is way more successful with the above show and Doctor Who. Coincidentally, Call Girl was also on Bravo.
Analyze: I was watching The Vampire Diaries awhile back and the character Caroline decides to go into broadcast journalism. Her mom says: "You don't even read the paper." I'll admit when I was in high school, I didn't read the paper a lot. Now, I read 24 and Metro like everyday. I also have to read the A- Section of the Edmonton Journal. When I was in college, I did read the paper. I didn't read the free newspapers, but I did always need to see the front page because it's the most important news. It's important to know what's going on in the world.
Vegas: I was watching Lie to Me and they're in Vegas. I always wanted to go there to party. I never really got into the show Las Vegas about people working in the casino. It was an alright show. CSI is set there, but I don't really watch it. I don't watch TV shows for the locations, I watch it for the characters and storyline. It's weird. When I was watching LtM, I realized that why I would go there? I don't like going to casinos. You can go there to shop.
Kingsway: I went to downtown today. It's better than staying at home and going stir-crazy. I went to see Justin, but it was his day off. I then went to Kingsway mall. All the renovations are done for the holidays. Well Gymboree is still being made. Stores have moved. The food court has the Thai Express, Shumka (Ukranian food), and this Korean food place. There is even a Pook kiosk. There is a Pook store at City Centre. Push Mobile closed down and is replaced by Earthwear that sells coats for kids. There are hats and gloves too. I also noticed if you buy gift boxes at Garage and Urban Planet, the money goes to children's charities. That's good.
Stacy Champagne: This is a book series written by Joan Lowery Nixon and her daughter Kathleen Brush. I have weird flashbacks that come out of nowhere. This book series came into my mind because I remember reading one of the books back in gr.10. It's mystery series. I don't remember much, but a happy ending with her boyfriend there. The 3 book series is set in a hotel where Stacy solves murder mysteries there. I researched it and Stacy is called on by her family to come back and help run the hotel. I thought it was kind of interesting that a word can be a last name like champagne.
Dec. 7 Job search: I emailed 2 production companies today. A production company emailed me back and rejected me. She apologized for getting back to me way later since I emailed her in Sept. I looked at Job Classified newspaper today. My co-worker Lisa at the Soup place told me to. I hadn't picked up a copy in a long time. I went through it and applied to flightcentre.ca. I think I applied in person, and they directed me to the website, but I didn't go.
It was back in summer 2008 if I remember correctly. I was looking through Job Classifieds, and there were ads to go to school to become a paralegal, or a medical administrative assistant. I wouldn't go to school to become an administrative assistant because I don't want to spend more money on college. I also want to study things I'm actually interested in like writing. If I'm not really interested in it, then I'm not going to do well. Then it would be a waste of money.This is a sign that I must not really want to be an administrative assistant if I don't want to go to school for it.
Saying: I was reading 24 and in the psychic section, someone wrote a letter. I'm going to paraphrase the saying: "Don't spend your whole life dreaming and not making your dreams come true."
The person who wrote in got the advice from Psychic Miki that: "I would suggest you start with a short film and get to grabbing some grants from the national film board etc. This will help you get attention and move on to the next level. If you don't make some changes you will stay where you're at and kick yourself for having done so. You have the creativity so now put it to work."I didn't write to her, but this is some good motivation.
Vamp joke: Today on Conan O' Brien, they did the sketch again with the vampire assistant Cody (Eric Callero).
Conan: Hey Cody, did you pick up my dry cleaning?
Cod looks away.
Con: What's wrong?
Cod looks the other way.
Con: Well I did hire Wolf Boy.
Wolf Boy enters and howls.
Con: Last weekend, the #1 movie wasn't New Moon. It was The Blind Side about how a young man overcomes obstacles to become a football player.This black guy wearing a football uniform stands by them.
Cod makes this scream.
Con: What's that?
Cod: That's the sound of my heart breaking. I thought I was your only one, I don't want to live anymore!
Cod runs out into the sunlight and bursts into flames.
Andy Richter: Hey, I thought it was raining outside.
Con: So after the 10th time, this is when the sketch loses it's credibility for you? Let's show where Cody is.
Cut to Cody standing right out the door and he's wearing a long brown coat. He's holding a cup of coffee and a cigarette.
Con continues to tell who's on the show, and they cut back to Cod, Wolf Boy, and the football player. lol.
Adoption: I was reading 16 and Pregnant on twop.com and it lead me to this article where they interviewed the girl Ebony who was on the show. Then I found another article about this woman who's 19 and she found giving the baby up for adoption to be really easy. She was carrying her ex-boyfriend's baby and she was 26 weeks along.
She never thought of abortion either. She was living pay check to pay check. She tells a friend, and she said she knows a couple who wants to expand their family (they had 17-yr old son.) It's on www.babble.com.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
news/ crazy trip/ 1408
Dec. 3 News: I read in 24 that people 18-30 years old are more likely to get angry. They are more likely to experience "time pressures, economic hardship and interpersonal conflict at work." So with women raising young children.
In other news the cop killer who shot 4 cops at coffee shop has been shot and killed.
Then there is all this news about Tiger Woods and him cheating. I can't believe the Edmonton Journal put that on the front cover. Maybe the Edmonton Sun, but not the Journal. I'm not really a fan of his because I don't care for golf or many sports at all. It really belongs in the entertainment section. If it's about celebrities deaths, then I would see it in the A section.
H1N1: I read in 24 that 33% of Canadians got their H1N1 shots.
Book: Once again, I was reading 16 and Pregnant on twop.com. Someone mentioned the book The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler. It's about in the 1950s, when teen girls got pregnant they were sent away to have the baby, and quickly give the baby up for adoption. I read some comments about the book and it seems really good.
Dec. 4 Health: It was kind of crazy today. I set my alarm at 9am, and woke up. Then I went to bed and woke up at 9:40am which I usually do. I had a doctor's appointment at 9:30am. Fortunately, the place is like a 2min bus ride, and the waiting room wait can be up to 45 min long.
It was snowing a lot outside, and the bus came a little later because of it. I caught it after a 2min wait. I then waited for 10min for the doctor. He checked out my hands and he says there aren't any warts. Maybe this time, they will be gone. I hope so, come the new year. Usually he removes the warts off my fingers, and it's good for a few weeks. Then it comes back. This time I really do believe it's gone. Then I went home and helped my grandma shovel snow.
Crazy trip: I ate lunch and then I went to downtown so I could go and take the LRT to the Stadium to get my H1N1 shot. I didn't have to wait for the bus at all, because it came when I got to the stop. When I got to downtown, I realized I forgot my AB healthcare card. Damn. Yeah, well at least I remembered it then, instead of taking the LRT there and then realizing it.
I went to the Stanley A. Milner library to wait for the bus, and read the paper. I did a little shopping at Second Cup. They sell a big jar of hot chocolate mix for $6.95. I waited 10min for the bus, and went home. I got the AB healthcare card. I saw the #1 bus to downtown by at 12:20pm. I then went out and waited at 12:35pm. The bus doesn't come until 12:55pm. I was annoyed, but somehow I kind of knew my luck was going to run out for the 4 times I took the bus to and from somewhere today, with short wait times.
I did do something constructive to pass the time by reading the newspaper. I took the LRT to the Stadium. At the LRT station it said the H1N1 shots are available in Gate 2 at the Stadium. All of my life, I've been living in Edmonton, and yet never been to the Stadium. It's kind of like it wasn't until I was 15 before I actually used the LRT. I was coming home with my sister from the O-town concert. lol.
I see Gate 10, and then I had to do a 15min walk to get to Gate 2. I went in, there wasn't a wait in line. I got the H1N1 shot and the flu shot. I did the usual of wait 15min after getting a shot in case you have an allergic reaction. The guy who gave me the shot asked me if I had "hysterical fainting." I said no. lol.
I did talk to this other guy when I was walking back if there is a shorter walk back to the LRT station, but there was a road to residential areas, and then a fence. I had to do the 15min walk back to the station.
Rant: I was looking for my photos on the computer, when I realized they were deleted back when the computer was getting fixed last month.
Me: Did they delete all the files like the pictures?
Patrick: Yeah, remember I asked you that. Do you have any documents you want to save onto a disk before everything gets deleted.
I said no because I save all my documents onto a disk. I totally forgot about the pictures of myself. Yeah, well I took the photos and put one up on Facebook. The important thing is, there is still more photos on this other site. Then I thought about how I deleted the photos of my ex-boyfriend back in Oct. If I didn't delete them then, they would have been deleted now. Okay, I'm cool. I have calmed down. I can still take more photos. The most important thing is, I have multiple drafts of my screenplay on disks, and printed copies of it.
Dec. 5 Thralls: This movie is on tonight again. I saw it a couple of years ago on TV, and I remember adding it to my list of mediocre movies that entertain me, like Romeo Must Die. I remember gushing about it in my email. It's shot in Canada about a young girl Ashley (Siri Baruc) who moves to live with her big sister played by Leah Cairns (Kyle XY).
LC runs a club with 4 other friends. It turns out that they are vampires. Ashley figures it out when everybody in the club is partying full swing. A meets a guy played by Canadian actor Shawn Roberts. He's the guy who kissed Rogue in the first X-Men movie, and got the life sucked out of him.
It's intentionally funny. It's fun to watch if you like vampires, and hot women. There is some sexual content. It's not a movie for everybody though. It's not scary, it's not trying to be anyway.
1408: Instead, I watched the movie 1408 starring John Cusack. It was really scary and creepy. It was supernatural. I find those kind of movies scarier than a serial killer running around. You can't control the supernatural. You can kind of control a serial killer because the characters can run and fight. I thought the movie was kind of slow and long. It takes 30min to set up the JC's character that he's a writer and he got some books published, but he's not really that successful. He writes books about haunted mansions and hotels by staying in their rooms. He gets a postcard to stay in room 1408, and the character Michael adds up the numbers to 13.
I will give points to JC for holding the movie because he's alone in it most of the time. You may think: "How can a guy staying in a room by himself be interesting?" Well it's weird things start to happen and I did jump. It gets really interesting with the suspense and fear as he tries to get out of the room.
Then later you think it's going to be an anti-climatic ending, but then it isn't. This is based on a short story by Stephen King so I'm sure he can write something better than that ending. Though I have never read any of his books. I'm not really into reading horror, just watching it.
Writing: Today I went through my old emails and I was looking for this email about me pitching to this production company. I found it and it said: "We're not producing movies this year." That was in Jan. 2009. I guess I have to wait until 2010. It will be soon.
Yesterday I was busy with work, and watching a movie. Today I finally buckled down and actually worked on the script because the producer Josh Miller said my dialogue was "unnatural." There wast this one scene where the lead character's ex- girlfriend makes an appearance for a min. and a half. I was working on it for 5-10min. and then I decided to delete it.
It wasn't necessary because the scene was to reveal what Shawn is like before. If you want to know more about him, you can see how he interacts with his brother and his family.
Work: I'm kind of sad because my co-worker Ray will be leaving the Soup place after this month. She's busy with school and extracurricular activities and can't work. Then since she can't work, I won't be able to hang out at Sorrentino's to talk to Justin.
In other news the cop killer who shot 4 cops at coffee shop has been shot and killed.
Then there is all this news about Tiger Woods and him cheating. I can't believe the Edmonton Journal put that on the front cover. Maybe the Edmonton Sun, but not the Journal. I'm not really a fan of his because I don't care for golf or many sports at all. It really belongs in the entertainment section. If it's about celebrities deaths, then I would see it in the A section.
H1N1: I read in 24 that 33% of Canadians got their H1N1 shots.
Book: Once again, I was reading 16 and Pregnant on twop.com. Someone mentioned the book The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler. It's about in the 1950s, when teen girls got pregnant they were sent away to have the baby, and quickly give the baby up for adoption. I read some comments about the book and it seems really good.
Dec. 4 Health: It was kind of crazy today. I set my alarm at 9am, and woke up. Then I went to bed and woke up at 9:40am which I usually do. I had a doctor's appointment at 9:30am. Fortunately, the place is like a 2min bus ride, and the waiting room wait can be up to 45 min long.
It was snowing a lot outside, and the bus came a little later because of it. I caught it after a 2min wait. I then waited for 10min for the doctor. He checked out my hands and he says there aren't any warts. Maybe this time, they will be gone. I hope so, come the new year. Usually he removes the warts off my fingers, and it's good for a few weeks. Then it comes back. This time I really do believe it's gone. Then I went home and helped my grandma shovel snow.
Crazy trip: I ate lunch and then I went to downtown so I could go and take the LRT to the Stadium to get my H1N1 shot. I didn't have to wait for the bus at all, because it came when I got to the stop. When I got to downtown, I realized I forgot my AB healthcare card. Damn. Yeah, well at least I remembered it then, instead of taking the LRT there and then realizing it.
I went to the Stanley A. Milner library to wait for the bus, and read the paper. I did a little shopping at Second Cup. They sell a big jar of hot chocolate mix for $6.95. I waited 10min for the bus, and went home. I got the AB healthcare card. I saw the #1 bus to downtown by at 12:20pm. I then went out and waited at 12:35pm. The bus doesn't come until 12:55pm. I was annoyed, but somehow I kind of knew my luck was going to run out for the 4 times I took the bus to and from somewhere today, with short wait times.
I did do something constructive to pass the time by reading the newspaper. I took the LRT to the Stadium. At the LRT station it said the H1N1 shots are available in Gate 2 at the Stadium. All of my life, I've been living in Edmonton, and yet never been to the Stadium. It's kind of like it wasn't until I was 15 before I actually used the LRT. I was coming home with my sister from the O-town concert. lol.
I see Gate 10, and then I had to do a 15min walk to get to Gate 2. I went in, there wasn't a wait in line. I got the H1N1 shot and the flu shot. I did the usual of wait 15min after getting a shot in case you have an allergic reaction. The guy who gave me the shot asked me if I had "hysterical fainting." I said no. lol.
I did talk to this other guy when I was walking back if there is a shorter walk back to the LRT station, but there was a road to residential areas, and then a fence. I had to do the 15min walk back to the station.
Rant: I was looking for my photos on the computer, when I realized they were deleted back when the computer was getting fixed last month.
Me: Did they delete all the files like the pictures?
Patrick: Yeah, remember I asked you that. Do you have any documents you want to save onto a disk before everything gets deleted.
I said no because I save all my documents onto a disk. I totally forgot about the pictures of myself. Yeah, well I took the photos and put one up on Facebook. The important thing is, there is still more photos on this other site. Then I thought about how I deleted the photos of my ex-boyfriend back in Oct. If I didn't delete them then, they would have been deleted now. Okay, I'm cool. I have calmed down. I can still take more photos. The most important thing is, I have multiple drafts of my screenplay on disks, and printed copies of it.
Dec. 5 Thralls: This movie is on tonight again. I saw it a couple of years ago on TV, and I remember adding it to my list of mediocre movies that entertain me, like Romeo Must Die. I remember gushing about it in my email. It's shot in Canada about a young girl Ashley (Siri Baruc) who moves to live with her big sister played by Leah Cairns (Kyle XY).
LC runs a club with 4 other friends. It turns out that they are vampires. Ashley figures it out when everybody in the club is partying full swing. A meets a guy played by Canadian actor Shawn Roberts. He's the guy who kissed Rogue in the first X-Men movie, and got the life sucked out of him.
It's intentionally funny. It's fun to watch if you like vampires, and hot women. There is some sexual content. It's not a movie for everybody though. It's not scary, it's not trying to be anyway.
1408: Instead, I watched the movie 1408 starring John Cusack. It was really scary and creepy. It was supernatural. I find those kind of movies scarier than a serial killer running around. You can't control the supernatural. You can kind of control a serial killer because the characters can run and fight. I thought the movie was kind of slow and long. It takes 30min to set up the JC's character that he's a writer and he got some books published, but he's not really that successful. He writes books about haunted mansions and hotels by staying in their rooms. He gets a postcard to stay in room 1408, and the character Michael adds up the numbers to 13.
I will give points to JC for holding the movie because he's alone in it most of the time. You may think: "How can a guy staying in a room by himself be interesting?" Well it's weird things start to happen and I did jump. It gets really interesting with the suspense and fear as he tries to get out of the room.
Then later you think it's going to be an anti-climatic ending, but then it isn't. This is based on a short story by Stephen King so I'm sure he can write something better than that ending. Though I have never read any of his books. I'm not really into reading horror, just watching it.
Writing: Today I went through my old emails and I was looking for this email about me pitching to this production company. I found it and it said: "We're not producing movies this year." That was in Jan. 2009. I guess I have to wait until 2010. It will be soon.
Yesterday I was busy with work, and watching a movie. Today I finally buckled down and actually worked on the script because the producer Josh Miller said my dialogue was "unnatural." There wast this one scene where the lead character's ex- girlfriend makes an appearance for a min. and a half. I was working on it for 5-10min. and then I decided to delete it.
It wasn't necessary because the scene was to reveal what Shawn is like before. If you want to know more about him, you can see how he interacts with his brother and his family.
Work: I'm kind of sad because my co-worker Ray will be leaving the Soup place after this month. She's busy with school and extracurricular activities and can't work. Then since she can't work, I won't be able to hang out at Sorrentino's to talk to Justin.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
The Girl Effect/ harassment/ medical
Dec. 1 The Girl Effect: I was watching Oprah today because they were talking about charities and how to help women who are suffering in the 3rd world countries. She interviewed Pullitizer Prize winner Nicholas Kristoff and his wife Sheryl Wudunn about their book Half the Sky.
To paraphrase NK: "To fight war lords, people in the UN use guns. I use little notebooks and pens." He was the journalist who originally reported about the genocide in Darfur. They showed how George Clooney learned about it, and GC and his dad went to Darfur. GC also talked to the UN about. I remember that, because in 2008, I was in Writing for the Ear class.
I had to write a speech where I compare GC's speech with Hilary Clinton's speech.
GC: I get to meet a Pullitizer Prize winner (NK) and he gets to meet a Two- Time Sexiest Man Alive.
The audience laughs.
There was this kind of weird moment in the show. The Cambodia police are demanding higher bribes from this brothel. The brothel owner realized that he can't make a profit off this anymore because of the bribes. He then turned the brothel into a grocery store. In a way, the problem kind of solved itself. The episode really moved me.
NK talks about how he bought two teen prostitutes from a brothel for $300. The next time he visited to see them, one of them has gotten married and is going to have a baby. The other one was addicted to meth because of the brothel. Days after being released, she went back. It is more complicated than opening a door.
The Girl Effect means that you have help one girl, she is able to help the entire community. If you donate some money to her, she can go to school. She can learn and be less likely to get pregnant and have kids that she can't take care of. She can buy a cow, and sell milk, and she can help her family. If 60 million girls do that to help their community, they can help the world.On Christmas Day, Oprah is going to interview a woman from Africa. The woman was mentioned in the book Half the Sky. She was living in Africa, and now she is getting her PhD and raising her 5 kids. You should check it out.
Below I have listed the links to Oprah's website and Half the Sky website. You can donate to the charities and help women and girls.
http://www.oprah.com/package/oprahshow/oprahshow/pkgregistry/20090925-tows-registry-girls-womenwww.halftheskymovement.org
News: I read in The Journal about another "Mr. Big" operation. I mentioned this months before about how the police created a fake criminal gang and we're able to recruit Dennis Cheeseman and Shawn Hennessey into it. They were then able to get them to admit to the Mayerthorpe crimes.
Today, this article mentioned about police becoming a fake criminal gang. They were able to get this other guy to confess to a murder of a 14- yr- old girl.
Writing: The "Mr. Big" story kind of inspired me. I could write about it. I just need to think how. It did make me think of Rain about how a girl is recruited back into a gang after she quit.
H1N1: Today I read the poll in 24 about how the majority polled, said they won't be getting the H1N1 shot. That's weird because I read that when the shots were about to be available the first time around, the majority said they won't be getting it. Then there are 4hr lineups. Now the high risk groups are done and the lineups aren't long.
Job search: I was reading 24 and it gave me some motivation about doing a job search now. There is less competition. You can reach hiring managers easier. People are happier because of the holiday spirit. People who look for jobs in Nov. and Dec., are more likely to get a job by Jan. There is less of a rush.
Dec. 3 Harassment: I was thinking about harassment in the workplace. If you diss a co-worker for their race, gender, or sexual orientation, then you are racist, sexist, homophobic. You could get fired for it. However, if you diss someone for getting pregnant as a teenager, then you're mean and judgmental.
You're dissing this person for making poor life choices. As for race, gender, sexual orientation, you don't choose that. Well, I'm sure you can still complain to the manager that: "So-so is dissing me for being pregnant as a teenager," and then that co-worker could get fired.
Change: I read my horoscopes yesterday and it said that change is good. I was really resistant to working 5pm-9pm. It was good, because then in the day time I managed to delete 200+ MacEwan emails and look for a job.
On Fri. night I went through my old Yahoo emails from my professional account. I then emailed all these production companies that rejected me earlier. This time around could be good. The other day I went to Capital Health to look for a job. I passed my resume there twice already. I read this one non-nursing job posting, and it did say you need some post- secondary accounting experience. I think I applied to those positions before, but still no call back.
Then I went and voted for the best Gingerbread decorated house contest there. I voted for the one that had Oreos as the fence. It seemed creative, because no one else did that. lol.
Job: Yesterday and today I worked at the Soup place from 11am-3pm. If you want to get extra cash, go work at the mall for the holidays.
Motivation: I was at Bonnie Doon mall on Mon. I saw this picture with all these cars in this garage. There was a beautiful pink sunset. It said: "Justification for Higher Education." It's pretty self- explanatory. If you go to college, you will make a lot of money to buy all these cars.
Glee: Yesterday everything else was reruns, but there was Glee, so I decided to check it out. It was very well- written and acted in this climatic scene. Mr. Shuester's wife Terry has been faking her pregnancy since the beginning of the season.
Mr. S: What were you going to do when the due date came?
T: I found a woman who didn't want to have her baby. She was going to give the baby to me and I was going to keep it.
Mr. S: What about the ultrasound?
T: That was her baby.
Mr.S: Why did you lie about it?
T: I really did think I was pregnant. I went to the doctor and he said it was hysterical pregnancy.
Medical: I actually learned what hysterical pregnancy is on Law and Order: SVU. It's where a woman thinks she's pregnant, and has these symptoms of pregnancy, even though she really isn't pregnant.
I remember seeing that on The Simpsons.
Mr. Burns: Do I have juvenile diabetes?
Dr.: Yes.
Mr. B: Hysterical pregnancy?
Dr.: Yeah, a little bit.
The first time I saw that, I thought it was a joke they made up. I didn't know it was real. Then again, I was 13. lol. Same goes for the one with Homer having night terrors. It's where someone is having a really bad nightmare, and he is is screaming and yelling in his sleep. I thought that was a joke too, but then I saw it does exist on a Dr. Phil ep.
Rant: Here's a mild rant. I don't like the fact that Muchmusic is airing the crappy TV show Secret Life of the American Teenager. I don't want our Canadian teenagers exposed to this crap. It's only been watched by American teens and that's it. MM does play good teen shows like Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries. They're good in my opinion. They do play One Tree Hill. I saw some of it. It's not really that good, but it's not really crappy either.
Shoplifting: Right now I'm watching CBC's Doc Zone called The Secret World of Shoplifters. They talked about shoplifting rings. Did you know that men and women shoplift equally? 25% are children. Now, I'm getting some flashbacks of working at the $1 Store.
There were a lot of shoplifters there. I talked to 2 other people who worked at $1 Stores too, and they both got a lot of shoplifters. I did do a little training in shoplifting back at Roots.
To paraphrase NK: "To fight war lords, people in the UN use guns. I use little notebooks and pens." He was the journalist who originally reported about the genocide in Darfur. They showed how George Clooney learned about it, and GC and his dad went to Darfur. GC also talked to the UN about. I remember that, because in 2008, I was in Writing for the Ear class.
I had to write a speech where I compare GC's speech with Hilary Clinton's speech.
GC: I get to meet a Pullitizer Prize winner (NK) and he gets to meet a Two- Time Sexiest Man Alive.
The audience laughs.
There was this kind of weird moment in the show. The Cambodia police are demanding higher bribes from this brothel. The brothel owner realized that he can't make a profit off this anymore because of the bribes. He then turned the brothel into a grocery store. In a way, the problem kind of solved itself. The episode really moved me.
NK talks about how he bought two teen prostitutes from a brothel for $300. The next time he visited to see them, one of them has gotten married and is going to have a baby. The other one was addicted to meth because of the brothel. Days after being released, she went back. It is more complicated than opening a door.
The Girl Effect means that you have help one girl, she is able to help the entire community. If you donate some money to her, she can go to school. She can learn and be less likely to get pregnant and have kids that she can't take care of. She can buy a cow, and sell milk, and she can help her family. If 60 million girls do that to help their community, they can help the world.On Christmas Day, Oprah is going to interview a woman from Africa. The woman was mentioned in the book Half the Sky. She was living in Africa, and now she is getting her PhD and raising her 5 kids. You should check it out.
Below I have listed the links to Oprah's website and Half the Sky website. You can donate to the charities and help women and girls.
http://www.oprah.com/package/oprahshow/oprahshow/pkgregistry/20090925-tows-registry-girls-womenwww.halftheskymovement.org
News: I read in The Journal about another "Mr. Big" operation. I mentioned this months before about how the police created a fake criminal gang and we're able to recruit Dennis Cheeseman and Shawn Hennessey into it. They were then able to get them to admit to the Mayerthorpe crimes.
Today, this article mentioned about police becoming a fake criminal gang. They were able to get this other guy to confess to a murder of a 14- yr- old girl.
Writing: The "Mr. Big" story kind of inspired me. I could write about it. I just need to think how. It did make me think of Rain about how a girl is recruited back into a gang after she quit.
H1N1: Today I read the poll in 24 about how the majority polled, said they won't be getting the H1N1 shot. That's weird because I read that when the shots were about to be available the first time around, the majority said they won't be getting it. Then there are 4hr lineups. Now the high risk groups are done and the lineups aren't long.
Job search: I was reading 24 and it gave me some motivation about doing a job search now. There is less competition. You can reach hiring managers easier. People are happier because of the holiday spirit. People who look for jobs in Nov. and Dec., are more likely to get a job by Jan. There is less of a rush.
Dec. 3 Harassment: I was thinking about harassment in the workplace. If you diss a co-worker for their race, gender, or sexual orientation, then you are racist, sexist, homophobic. You could get fired for it. However, if you diss someone for getting pregnant as a teenager, then you're mean and judgmental.
You're dissing this person for making poor life choices. As for race, gender, sexual orientation, you don't choose that. Well, I'm sure you can still complain to the manager that: "So-so is dissing me for being pregnant as a teenager," and then that co-worker could get fired.
Change: I read my horoscopes yesterday and it said that change is good. I was really resistant to working 5pm-9pm. It was good, because then in the day time I managed to delete 200+ MacEwan emails and look for a job.
On Fri. night I went through my old Yahoo emails from my professional account. I then emailed all these production companies that rejected me earlier. This time around could be good. The other day I went to Capital Health to look for a job. I passed my resume there twice already. I read this one non-nursing job posting, and it did say you need some post- secondary accounting experience. I think I applied to those positions before, but still no call back.
Then I went and voted for the best Gingerbread decorated house contest there. I voted for the one that had Oreos as the fence. It seemed creative, because no one else did that. lol.
Job: Yesterday and today I worked at the Soup place from 11am-3pm. If you want to get extra cash, go work at the mall for the holidays.
Motivation: I was at Bonnie Doon mall on Mon. I saw this picture with all these cars in this garage. There was a beautiful pink sunset. It said: "Justification for Higher Education." It's pretty self- explanatory. If you go to college, you will make a lot of money to buy all these cars.
Glee: Yesterday everything else was reruns, but there was Glee, so I decided to check it out. It was very well- written and acted in this climatic scene. Mr. Shuester's wife Terry has been faking her pregnancy since the beginning of the season.
Mr. S: What were you going to do when the due date came?
T: I found a woman who didn't want to have her baby. She was going to give the baby to me and I was going to keep it.
Mr. S: What about the ultrasound?
T: That was her baby.
Mr.S: Why did you lie about it?
T: I really did think I was pregnant. I went to the doctor and he said it was hysterical pregnancy.
Medical: I actually learned what hysterical pregnancy is on Law and Order: SVU. It's where a woman thinks she's pregnant, and has these symptoms of pregnancy, even though she really isn't pregnant.
I remember seeing that on The Simpsons.
Mr. Burns: Do I have juvenile diabetes?
Dr.: Yes.
Mr. B: Hysterical pregnancy?
Dr.: Yeah, a little bit.
The first time I saw that, I thought it was a joke they made up. I didn't know it was real. Then again, I was 13. lol. Same goes for the one with Homer having night terrors. It's where someone is having a really bad nightmare, and he is is screaming and yelling in his sleep. I thought that was a joke too, but then I saw it does exist on a Dr. Phil ep.
Rant: Here's a mild rant. I don't like the fact that Muchmusic is airing the crappy TV show Secret Life of the American Teenager. I don't want our Canadian teenagers exposed to this crap. It's only been watched by American teens and that's it. MM does play good teen shows like Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries. They're good in my opinion. They do play One Tree Hill. I saw some of it. It's not really that good, but it's not really crappy either.
Shoplifting: Right now I'm watching CBC's Doc Zone called The Secret World of Shoplifters. They talked about shoplifting rings. Did you know that men and women shoplift equally? 25% are children. Now, I'm getting some flashbacks of working at the $1 Store.
There were a lot of shoplifters there. I talked to 2 other people who worked at $1 Stores too, and they both got a lot of shoplifters. I did do a little training in shoplifting back at Roots.
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