job/ writing tip/ Being Human

Mar. 31 Job: I see that though my hours have been cut and I'm working part-time, I am still making the same amount of money and a little bit more in this restaurant job than the Soup place. When I was working full time at the Soup place, I made a little bit less than right now. That's because I have the tips in this job to make up for the lack of hours.

Writing: Since I have a part-time job, I have more free time. I do productive things like put time and energy into my office job search. Today after taking a month off from typing up anything, I finally buckled down and typed up my Rain script. I typed up 5 more pages and I feel good about it.

Apr. 1 Friends: Today I went out with 3 of my coworkers for lunch at Earls. I had water, and ordered the cheapest thing on the menu, a small cesear salad for $6. When the others didn't finish their food, I ate it. I had a sip of an alcoholic drink that had the Chinese fruit lychee in it. It smells good, but it tastes bad. I don't really like alcohol.

Law of attraction: I thought and dreamed about the actor Matt Lanter (90210) yesterday. Then I checked my horoscopes today, and it turns out today is ML's birthday and he's turning 28.

Apr. 2 Writing tip: I was watching Castle which is about a mystery writer named Richard Castle and he teams with NYPD detective Kate Beckett to solve murders. In an episode:

Castle: If you want to be a writer, you have to be able to grasp at subtext.

This producer Glynis Whiting had told me about subtext, and dialogue and what's being said and what's not being said. Here's a real life example. I was watching Jay Leno and he interviews a 6 yr old Asian boy who is a piano player prodigy. He later played the piano beautifully on the show.

JL: So I heard you recently graduated out of kindergarten?
Boy: No, college! Uh, just kidding!
Boy waves both his hands in front of JL as in a way to stop him from believing it.
There is a little pause as JL looks at him.
JL: Yeah.
There is another little pause, and then JL asks him another question.

What is not being said is JL could have said: "I know", but he doesn't want to embarrass the kid. Though I'm sure a couple of years from now the boy will watch it and be thinking: "Why did I add 'just kidding'? He knew I was joking around." lol. That was so cute.

Dialogue: Here's a good writing example from Law and Order: SVU ep called "Trophy." It aired in Nov. 2010. Det. Olivia Benson finds a ring which is a trophy from the perp. She's able to link it to this rape victim from the 1970s. She talks to the 30 yr old daughter.

Woman: You're not telling me something. What is it?
Benson: I'm not from the robbery department. I'm from Special Victims Unit.
Woman: That's sex crimes. Was my mom raped?
Benson: Yes.
Woman: When?
Benson: Feb. 1970.
Woman: I was born in Nov. 1970.

So she learns she was a product of rape, and Benson confesses that she's a product of rape too.

Later the psychologist Dr. Wong asks Benson: "Why did you tell her that? She didn't force you too." I was thinking the same thing. When I got tips from writers, readers, and producers, it's to make the characters work for information. However, B says she thinks that woman may be her half sister. Later it turns out after DNA test, she isn't.

Apr. 3 Titles: On Mon. nights I want to watch the TV show Being Human, while my little brother wants to watch Be the Creature (an animal/ nature show.)

That reminds me back in 2004 I was watching TV and he asked me what I was watching.

Me: Right now I'm watching Missing because there's a commercial break on Lost.

lol. Unintentionally funny. Missing was about FBI looking for missing people while Lost was about people stranded on an island.

Being Human: This show debuted a couple of months ago, but here's my review. It's based on the British version. A vampire and a werewolf move into a house that's haunted by a ghost. I've seen a few episodes and it's really good.

The vampire Aidan is played by Sam Witwer. Coincidentally, I have seen him play a vampire-like character on the TV show Dark Angel back in 2002. He's pretty handsome and athletic. The werewolf Josh is played by Sam Huntington. He's a regular guy who you want to be friends with. Sam is a nurse and Josh is orderly and they work at the hospital together.

The ghost Sally is played by Meaghan Rath. They're all in their 20s, well the vampire's a hundred years older but he looks like he's in his 20s. Here's a storyline: Aidan helps Bernie, a little kid who was being bullied. B lives in the neighborhood and he had forgotten his keys. Aidan lets Bernie in his home so the bullies won't get at him. Aidan plays Go Fish with him. It was so cute.

Later they start spending more time together and A tells B that he can pick up some dvds that are in his room. However, B picked up this dvd that had this sex tape on it. One of A's enemies had sent him it. B's mom is furious and tells A to stay away from B after she sees the dvd.

The next episode B is getting bullied again, and A walks away and doesn't help him. Then B gets pushed into the street and a car hits him. B lands in the hospital and A feels guilty for not protecting him from the bullies. B dies and a vampire Rebecca turns him into one of them. R does it because she's in love with A, and doesn't want to see A sad. B then kills the two bullies. A then has to kill B. So there is more guilt on A.

Apr. 4 Look alike: I was thinking about this yesterday. The actor Sam Huntington from Being Human kind of looks like AJ Buckley from CSI: NY. They kind of look like brothers.

Sam Huntington:
http://photogalleryactor.blogspot.com/2010/09/sam-huntington-photo-pic.html

AJ Buckley:
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3115615232/nm0118568

Pretty Little Liars: This is another example about characters working to get information. Hannah wants to get to know this new kid Caleb. They make a deal. Caleb will tell something about himself whenever Hannah gives a kid's name out and what they are interested in buying from Caleb. That is a good and creative way to give information and reveal character.

Repetitive: Also with dialogue, avoid being repetitive. I will admit Glynis Whiting read The Fighter 2nd draft and pointed out how I repeat the same things. The rule is, it's okay to be repetitive, only in comedy.

There's this South Park episode where they say the swear word s--- multiple times in one episode. There is this thing on the corner of the screen counting how many times they say it. If you watch some Saturday Night Live sketches they repeat the same word to be funny.

I got a flashback from watching Blind Date, back in the days of 2005/2006 before I quit. There was a "Hall of Shame" clip where a man and a woman are riding in the back of a van and they're swearing at each other. There was this thing on the corner too where it counted how many times they swore at each other.

However, it's not good for dramas like Secret Life of the American Teenager.