Monday, November 23, 2009

psychic dream/ Kyle Riabko/ weird

Nov. 21 Psychic dream: I have an urge to see a psychic. Last night I had a dream that I saw Psychic Nadia at the Russian Tea Room. I felt like I wasted my time with her because she didn't give me any good answers. Then I woke up. Then I had a second dream with her in it and I asked her good questions, and there were a few other psychics with her.

Writing: I read my Rain script that I haven't looked at in a month. I had hit writer's block and to get rid of it, you should get away from your script for awhile. I then read the 40 pages I wrote, and I found it to be boring.

I've been reading the newspaper, trying to find a story and inspiration. I went shopping and I still didn't really find anything interesting. Except did you know that Push Mobile store has closed down after some months? You thought the recession was over.

Rant: My sister told me that I should try to fix the answering machine and maybe there might actually be messages for me for work. After like a good half hour with going through this whole menu on the phone and setting everything up, I got to hear 20 expired messages. Half of them were hang ups and it was mainly meaningless stuff.

Stuff like the eye doctor calling me to remind me of an appointment, and how this Young Drivers ed says there isn't a location in Edmonton to teach me how to drive. That self- publishing company Xlibris called. A sales phone call, the library calling to tell S to pick up her book. Grand and Toy telling my dad to pick up his toner, and a phone call for work for Patrick.

I'm really mad because one of the phone calls was for me for work. I'm thinking about Psychic Nadia saying: "You put obstacles in front of yourself." I didn't know that we couldn't access our answering machine until S told me about it last month.

I went and looked at my records, and I passed my resume to the location way back in Apr. 2009. I don't know when they called, but I feel that the ship has sailed. Now that's putting obstacles in front of yourself if you don't call back. I will call back and check the website.

Now I have a weird flashback of working at Ipsos. This woman on the phone claims she's a psychic and she says: "Do you believe that everything happens for a reason?" Yes, I suppose maybe I wasn't supposed to get that job. However, I will still look into it. I just set up my profile on their site and uploaded my resume to Sunlife Financial.

Job search: I went to the Shaw.ca and looked for a job. There are only 2 positions in Edmonton. One of them needs a valid driver's licensce, and the other says I need technical abilities to fix stuff. I can't apply.

Nov. 22: I filled out my profile on Westin hotels. I dropped my resume there months ago, but I never went to the website until now. I applied at one administrative position and one server position. Well the server is kind of like a garbage job. Maybe it'll pay more.

Phone: I called to get my voicemail, and then it didn't work. Now I called Shaw, and now it does.

Productive: Everything I do, I have to think: "Am I doing something that matters?" I am allowed to do fun and unproductive things like watch TV as a break. It's only after I do all these other productive things.

Now as usual, I must compare my life to TV. If you watch reality TV shows like The Hills and The City, I feel like they don't really do productive things. Well maybe when it shows the people working it's productive. Right now, when I'm not working, I'm either watching TV or looking for a job.

Inspiration: I finally let my friend Ray read my script. Usually at work, we talk about it, but I only discuss some of it and some ideas. I let her read the full- length script because I had hit writer's block. Other producers have told me to show it to a friend.

Ray is the third person to tell me to work on the dialogue. She did say: "It's believable and unpredictable."

Degrassi: Right now I'm watching this show, and how it applies to my life. The character Kelly is talking to Emma.

K: I got a job at an engineering firm, it would be crazy for me to turn it down.
Me: That ain't no garbage job.

Emma is doing this volunteer work all summer. It's where they donate bikes to 3rd world countries so the people could get to school and get water easier. Also no pollution. That's good. However, she's working all summer without pay. I wouldn't do that.

There was a little recycling with Emma and how her first year at college didn't work out, because she was skipping. They did this storyline with Paige, it's where she goes to college, but it's really hard. She gets panic attacks and drops out.

Flashback: It kind of reminds me of the first year of college. I wasn't in the right program at NAIT. Today my sister told me I should go take an administrative assistant program at Grant MacEwan. I know there's one in CDI. The thing is, I'm not really interested in going to school.

I have to be really interested in something if I'm going to spend so much time and money. Professional Writing was worth it.

Kyle Riabko: The Lead: During commercial breaks of The Simpsons, I saw this documentary. It's about musician/ actor Kyle Riabko whom I met twice. He was in the musical Spring Awakening and I have seen clips and interviews of it. They also talked to people who are obsessed with the musical.

Job info: I was talking to Justin and he told me about his friends working at Superstore. If you work there for 500 hours, you can get a raise. Yesterday, S told me the same about Safeway.

Nov. 23: The store Urban Planet does the same thing, but you have to work for 6 months, and they'll add an extra $1 for all the hours you worked.

Economy: I saw that ZZ Style clothing store has closed down. Too bad, it opened some months ago just like Push Mobile did. They both closed down, like Horizons did all at City Centre. However, Flaming Wok opened during the recession, and they're still open. Maybe Kiwi Kiss will stay open because it's in the food industry.

Shopping: In other news, today I finally bought two pairs of black dress pants at Jacob Connexion. Whoa, big spender. Most dress pants were $40, these were on sale for $20, so that's why I bought two. I bought a pair of black pants months ago, and later realized it's too baggy and mainly only wear it at home.

Writing comments: Ray said that the characters do have distinct voices which conflicted with what the producer Josh Miller said. R did mention that I should be careful about mentioning outside sources like TV shows and songs. That does cost money to mention it.

Overall she said it was good. I have told her the harsh comments I got from producers and readers. I can take the pain. lol.

Weird: It was weird yesterday. I was watching Family Guy, and Quagmire was always this womanizer. Then he got some character development in this one episode. He actually becomes a sympathetic character.

He lets his sister stay at his place so she could hide away from her abusive boyfriend. He reveals that he has deaf brother. It's revealed that he really wanted to go on a date with this one woman because she was "the one who got away." He's a womanizer because he has this hole in himself, and the only way he can fill it is with women.

Then he goes and tells Brian why he hates him. He points all these flaws in Brian's character that B is always hitting on Peter's wife, though Peter is the one who lets B stay with him and feeds him. Basically dissing B for being disrespectful. It's weird that I learned some writing tips on this show. FG is show where it's fun, and you don't learn anything.

Friday, November 20, 2009

vamp joke/ job search/ motivation

Nov. 18 Vamp joke: The other day, Conan O'Brien did that vampire assistant joke with Cody (Eric Callero.)

Conan: Hey Cody, I left my cellphone in my car. Can you get it for me?
Cody: No!
Con: Why not?
Cod: I have to tell Bella Swan that I love her.
(Kristen Stewart from Twilight was on that night).

Con: Bella isn't a real person. She's a fictional character.
A Werewolf appears who looks likes a Latino guy with his shirt off.
Werewolf: Maybe you need a werewolf.
A Mummy appears and he's a guy with his shirt off with some paper wrapped around him like a Mummy.
Mummy: Maybe you need a hot Mummy.

As usual, Cody runs outside and bursts into flames when he's in the sunlight.
Then Conan had a hard time continuing talking because of the ridiculousness of a Werewolf and a Mummy standing there.

Nov. 19 Nelly: I was watching CSI: NY last night, and I saw that the rapper Nelly was going to be a guest- star. Then halfway into the ep, he shows up. It was so cool. Det. Flack (Eddie Cahill) was getting beaten up by two guys on the subway, F fought back. When F is on the ground, the bad guy pulls out a knife.

Then Nelly grabs a gun and points it at the two bad guys. So N saves the day. I haven't seen or heard of N in a long time. I listen to the radio all the time, and they never play his music.

In other news, EC looks hot with his 5 o'clock shadow. It's okay to have a little stubble. lol.

Job search: Right now I opened an account on cibc.com and uploaded my resume and applying to a bunch of positions in Edmonton. I did the same to Scotiabank. Yesterday I did at RBC. I already have a profile on Telus.com. I uploaded my profile on HSBC and applied for 6 positions.

This job search is going to be different. Besides the timing of passing resumes in November instead of January, I actually set up profiles on banking websites. I didn't do that before.

Life choices: I was thinking about life choices. I know one friend Heather, and she doesn't have the perfect life when growing up. Her dad left her when she was 6, and her mom kicked her out of the house when she was 16 after being a single mom for 10 years. H still managed to go to college and become a massage therapist.It's about what you make of your life. Unlike some people make poor life choices, like getting pregnant as a teenager. Everybody makes mistakes, but some can be colossal.

Crazy cat lady: I was watching 20/20 about cat ladies. They talked to this one woman who is depressed. She spends $3000 on cat food a month. If you are unhappy with your life, do something about it.Rant: My mild rant is about my job. The thing with call centres are that the supervisor can eavesdrop on your conversation, and you don't know it. Well it's a call centre, and they need to know how you're doing on the phone, but I just don't really like it.

I might as well throw this one in too. My friend Justin told me that he got the H1N1 shot while at work. Well it was prior to them saying: "If you're not a high- risk group, you can't get your shot." Well what's done is done. What would be really unfair is that he got his shot when he was specifically told that he didn't fit the group.

Neptune Noir: This is a book that I'm rereading. I bought this and Screenwriting for Dummies way back in Dec. 2007. Neptune is a book of essays about the TV show Veronica Mars. I love the show, and the essays are really well- written like the show.What's interesting is that the book mentions Robert McKee and his book Story. Over the summer I met the producer John Kerr and he told me to read him and his book. Then I got a producer Aaron James Sorenson who said the same thing. In an essay, RM says: "A character is revealed when they are under pressure."

Analyze: I was thinking about reality TV shows like The Hills and The City where they have people working at cool jobs like at fashion magazine, and record companies. No one works at a bank. Banks are respectable occupations, but it's not really entertaining enough to watch.

Dramas all have cops, doctors, and lawyers. That's entertaining. I was also thinking about my friend Angela. She has a career, but from how she described her job to me, it doesn't seem entertaining enough to watch on TV. Same goes with my friend Sonia with being a nurse, but she works at a nursing home.

It made me think of my script where Shawn works at a "garbage job" (as my dad would call it) at a call centre. Then S gets an illegal job which is way more fun, exciting, and pays really well which is what the movie is about.

Motivation: I found motivation in my horoscope today: "You know what needs to be done and you know if you don't make a start soon the chance to change your life for the better could pass you by. You have plenty of time to do the things that matter- just stop doing the things that don't!"

Nov. 20: Today I passed out 5 more resumes to banks.

Charity: I was watching some Much on Demand, and the Glee actor Cory Monteith was on. He promoted the charity called www.raisingtheroof.com where you can buy toques and the money goes to help homeless teens.

I also got this flier in the mail where you can buy stuff from Unicef and it can help the charity, while at the same you're getting a product in return. I also read in Metro this Gift Giving Guide with other charities like Free the Children.

Saying: I was reading in 24 yesterday about Epic Mickey creator Warren Spector. He created this video game of Mickey Mouse which is grittier for Wii. He says: "It's better to fail at something cool, than to do something you've already done."

That made me think of my job at the bank. It's good to try and fail at a good job, than do another garbage job that you've already done before. I was also thinking about Psychic Nadia where she said: "You put obstacles in front of yourself." The thing is I'm not really blacklisted from working at TD. I'm going to get a job there, I just need to avoid the branch that I worked at earlier.

News: I was reading in Metro that Melinda Mattos wrote. She got the from a blogger Meg Stone asking: "What if we did as much to prevent rape as we do to prevent H1N1?"

Thought: Another interesting line I read in Sofi Papamarko's article is this: "Because it's better for you to be genuinely happy than for us to believe you are."

Ryan Ross: I read in the Metro about this 8- yr old kid Ryan Ross who has made $900, 000. He had 60 chickens, and sold a dozen eggs for $3, and made $15 a day. Then he started a lawn mowing business where he charges customers $20/hr for business. He hires teens to mow lawns and get paid $15/hr. R gets the $5 for planning the business. Easy money.

Ninja Assassin: I saw this trailer on TV and it's from The Matrix producers. The lead is played by Korean pop star Rain. I have never heard of him. I have a character in my script named Rain. The story says that the lead character wants to stop the clan from kidnapping children and teaching them to be assassins. Maybe I'll rent it when it comes out on dvd.

Dance: I read that the So You Think You Can Dance Canada auditions are being held in Edmonton on Nov. 30. I don't know, after that last audition back in April, I feel very turned off. After I auditioned, I was like: "I'm going to keep auditioning." Cut to 8 months later, and I'm not very interested.

Oprah: Did you hear that Oprah will be ending her show by 2011? Well good for her.

The Office: I was thinking about boring jobs on TV again. If you watch The Office, it's about a company that sells paper. That's boring. However, the show isn't about the job, it's about the funny occurances and whacky characters that work there.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

writing/ Criminal Minds/ job

Nov. 14 Writing: Today I'm kind of in a bad mood. So that producer Josh Miller finished reading my script. I sent it to him back in March, and he rejected it. Then I sent the new version to him in October, and today he got back to me. He said:

"On a positive note, I think you have a sense of narrative and were able to provide some insight into this sub-culture.

As a critique, your main weakness is dialogue. It is expository, unnatural and you haven't discovered each characters' 'voice.'"

That is the second time that someone told me that I needed to work on the dialogue. Yeah, the truth hurts, but I need to hear that to improve. He told me what Conni Massing said; write shorter stories before you do big ones.

Nov. 15: It did make me think of TV shows like The Sausage Factory. It was on Comedy Network and I loved it back in 2002. There was only one season of 13 episodes, and I watched it multiple times. I even got Patrick into it. However, my sister didn't like it.

It was a half- hour sitcom without a laugh track and they have so much going in a 22-min. story line. It reminds me of how TV shows like 7th Heaven don't have much happening in a 45- min. episode. I also saw that awful Freddie Prinze Jr. movie Down to You on TV. Two hours of nothing happening. It was mainly a string of scenes put together.

Funny: So yesterday I asked Justin this question: "Which is worse? A teenage girl who gets pregnant by accident or on purpose?"

Justin (laughs): On purpose. They're like those girls on those TV shows where they say: "I want to have a baby."
That's another vote for on purpose. My friends Ray, Leslie, Angela and I voted that.
By accident have been chosen by my little brother Patrick, friends Silvia, Jennifer.
Maygen was in the middle saying it was a case by case scenario.

Crazy: I remember reading the "Ripped from the Headlines" thread on twop.com about the show Law and Order: SVU and how they always steal story headlines for their episodes. One post said about throwing in the headline of that 10- yr old boy being a father, and mixing it with Octomom and how he's a father to all 8 of her kids.

Criminal Minds: Here's how to brainstorm. Think of one thing and add a whole bunch of other things into it. I can imagine how I would write a TV show. What if the Behavioral Analysis Unit from Criminal Minds went to my old jr. high school Ottewell? It's about that girl who's in a religion that doesn't allow her to talk to boys. Apparently, the teacher who told one class of students about this girl, the teacher has been murdered and it's a student who killed her.

The reason is that the student wanted to know who the girl was, but since the teacher won't give up that information, she was killed. The BAU unit has to find the girl before the student finds her. The BAU team finds the girl and is able to protect her. However, the student ends up kidnapping another girl, and the team has to find out who the student killer is. They catch the student, however, it's the wrong student. Then later they are able to figure out who the student really is, but the problem is trying to find him and the kidnapped girl.

I don't know about you, if you even watch Criminal Minds, but that is kind of the format of the show. A murder or a missing person occurs. They have to find the killer, protect the next would-be victim, and throw in a red herring and go in another direction. Another crime is being committed at the moment, and the BAU team have to find where it's occurring and be able to stop another murder from happening.

You could say it's too ludicrous to have FBI come. Maybe the Law and Order: SVU team could be handling this case instead.

Nov. 16: Looking back, a good writer asks questions: "Why does he go and kidnap the other girl instead?" Because he found a file on her and what her secret is.

Rant: So I tried to sell my Careless in Red book to Wee Book Inn, but the book wasn't in good condition so they wouldn't buy it.

Job: Well I don't really like this call centre job. I know that if I quit this job, I can never come back. If they fired me, I can't come back. I would be more likely to come back if they fired me, then if I quit.

My mom asked me if I wanted to go to Europe with her and dad. I would have to pay $2000 to go there for two weeks. I would rather go there, than Hong Kong as they often have asked and gone by themselves. She did say that I can't go if I have a good job, and not the one I have now.

I passed out over 100 resumes this year to get this call centre job. I'm probably going to have to start the whole job search again this month to get that bank job. It's a good thing I didn't quit the Soup place because I still like it.

Today at work, I called up this guy, and he started yelling and swearing at me. I told him that he was rude and then he kept disrespecting me. I then hung up in the middle of his spiel.

Afterward:
Rob (supervisor): Tracy.
Me: Yeah, I know.
I had a talk with him and Jaspal.

Winter festival: The other day there was a winter festival at Churchill Square and I managed to watch the fireworks. It was beautiful. I haven't seen fireworks in years.

Sarah Palin: She was on Oprah today. I haven't seen that show in months. SP is alright. She talked about how when she first came out, there was a lot of research done into her past like how the media was able to find out that her daughter Bristol was pregnant though they didn't tell the media.

SP says she likes Levi Johnston, the guy who knocked up Bristol. She says she doesn't like shopping. They showed her house and her family. It was a good ep.

Relapse: I'm going to admit that I watched the first 12 min. of Dr Phil today. It was because my shifts this week are 5pm-9pm and I managed to watch this. It talked about that family way back when the show first came out in 2003. I quit in 2006, and the last I saw of them was where everybody was happy and the issues seemed to be worked out.

Cut to three years later, and the oldest daughter's life is back to being a train wreck. She did get pregnant when she was 15 and kept the kid and raised it as her own. Now she wants a divorce from this guy. This is a sign to stay away from this show.

Nov. 18: I did watch the first 10 min. of Dr Phil yesterday too. However, it was about investigating a rape case where one high school girl Margarita called the cops and saved a girl's life. Then I went to work.

Job search: Today I went and passed out 10 resumes this morning. I did pass them to banks, travel agencies, an insurance firm. I passed them to the same places months ago, but it's good to have tenacity. Pass the resumes the second time around.

I was reminded of CSI: NY. There is this character played by Sarah Carter and how she was trying to get on the team and she passed her resume to them 3 times. She was very persistent.

Job rant: It annoys me that when I didn't have any completes in 3 hours, they send me home. Yesterday, I didn't have any completes, and I was moved to another project so I could get completes and I managed to get 3. I was offered that I could go home at 8:30pm, but I stayed until 8:45pm like I was supposed to. I needed the money.

Yesterday I also worked at the Soup place because they needed me. I got to know the new worker Lisa well. I passed my resume to the World Health Club and they're looking for casual workers. By all means, I could probably end up working there if Malatest keeps giving me these night shifts.

50 Cent: The rapper/ actor 50 Cent was on Conan O'Brien last night. He was funny. Cut to a picture of 50 Cent with Bette Middler.

50 Cent: When my grandma saw that, there was a new energy to it. She said: "That's when you know you finally made it."
The audience laughs.

They talked about his cologne called "Power." Also how he suspects that a guy at the record company leaked his music before the release date.

50 Cent: It's probably a guy who makes $25,000- $30,000 a year, and leaks my music so he could make money off me.
Conan: What are you going to do?
50 Cent: I want to kill him.
The audience laughs.

Friday, November 13, 2009

False Pretenses/ rant/ good

Nov. 9 False Pretenses: I saw this TV movie starring Peta Wilson (Nikita from Nikita). It's really good. I'll put this right underneath Obituary. It's about a woman Diane who is married to this rich business guy played by Anthony Lemke (a cop on The Listener.) The bad guy swindled him and a lot of people out of their money like a Ponzi scheme. This came out in 2004 and airing it during the recession.

Diane and her husband are moving out of her mansion and she says they'll get through this. Then later, he shoots himself. There is a funeral, and D drives to live with her parents. She gets stuck in Texas when her car brokes down. She talks to the Mechanic and he lets her drive out of there, as long as she pays him back eventually.

D gets a job as a waitress at a cafe and meets this black woman Cherise who works there. They end up getting along. Diane then goes by the name of D because the manager won't shell out a new name tag. Later she meets the bad guy Mark under a new name and she calls police.

Fortunately, D sees M at a party earlier in the film, and knows how he looks like, and he doesn't know her. She also goes by a new name, She meets this Latino deputy Nando and they become friends. D talks to M and meet him for drinks and they decide to work together.

D tells N about it and they put a tape in her bag to tape the convo. Later when D shows the tape to the sheriff, the tape is blank. The tapes were put right by this thing that deletes surviellance tapes. D and M are in a underground parking garage, and a Robber comes. M beats up the guy, turns out he was in Desert Storm.

Later D and N bond, and they hook up. D sees N's tattoo with the same bird like M does. D investigates and finds a box of photos. N comes and D hides under the bed. N talks to M, and it turns out D and M are in this together.

D then goes to the airport with M with this Texas Ranger guy. M had already threw out the evidence in a dumpster. In the lounge, you hear a black woman yelling and you know it's Cherise. Then D touches one of the two brief cases in the bait and switch. M doesn't let her take it.

D goes to the washroom with her bag. M checks on D, and she's gone. Police and FBI come with Nando. They open the two briefcases and there's no money, it's papers. Then they use M's cell phone and it calls N's phone. They go to the police car and there's the case full of money. N get arrested.

FBI woman is talking to D on the phone. Show D's friends C and Mechanic sifting through garbage to find evidence. D moving briefcase with the money to Mech. Show C yelling at the lounge. Show C and Mech putting briefcase in cop car. C and Mech get into D's car. It turns out D and FBI woman have met, when D served her and gotten her number during a reservation.

D gets money out of M's safe deposit box. C gets her money and laptop for her kid. Mech gets his money for his work. Cut to D driving in the highway to her family.

Nov. 10 Cold: Today I stayed home from work because of this cold. On Wed. I felt really sick, but then I felt like I was recovering. Then on Mon. I felt really sick again. Today and Remembrance Day, I'm going to work on a full recovery.

Careless in Red: This is a book written by Elizabeth George. It's like 700 pages. The longest book I've ever read. I haven't read something this long since 600 something pages The Rainmaker by John Grisham for Legal Studies in high school back in 2002. I do read the newspaper everyday, just not books. This old lady Lucy who is a customer at the Soup place gave me this book. I read it after I finished reading Screenwriting for Dummies back in Sept.

Now onto the actual book. It's way too long. It's well- written about a cop named Thomas Lynley who finds a dead body as he was on his long nature walk. T was grieving over his dead wife that got killed the book before. He meets this woman Daidre Trahair and they go to the police. T meets some more cops and try to figure out if the 18- yr- old guy Santo Kerne died by accident or if it was murder.

I'm used to 1 hr dramas on TV. Maybe even ongoing mysteries for a whole season. Basically, I like TV more than books. If you like mysteries, and don't mind reading long books, check this book out.

Dilbert: I wrote this line where Dilbert (the comic strip) said this: "Well, obviously I'd have to weigh the benefits of sharing it versus the risk of getting caught."It's an interesting line about what to reveal, and what to conceal. I could use this for my own writing.

16 and Pregnant: So I was annoyed that all my bookmarks got deleted like the Secret Life of the American Teenager thread on twop.com. Then I decided to bookmark the other TV show about teen pregnancy 16 and Pregnant. Mainly people were saying that this show is depressing.Interesting comments about Maci and Ryan.

1 person: "Ryan is 21, he's an immature 21. He's more like 15."
2nd person: "Well it's a lot easier to get a high school kid and impress her, than find a 21 yr old with life experience."
3rd person: "That's why he's prowling around the local high school."

lol. Funny, but at the same time I'm kind of skeeved. It's been months since I see that ep, so I guess I forgot what his age was. Though I certainly remembered that he was immature and irresponsible. There was Ebony and her boyfriend who was the same, but less annoying.

Nov. 12 Rant: I missed work on Tues. because I was sick. Wed. was Remembrance day so I stayed at home. Today I went to work and I called up people for 3 hours. I got some people's email addresses to do the survey. Then I went to the washroom, and when I came back, my computer was turned off. The supervisor turned it off because I wasn't getting any completes.

I told him how one morning I didn't have any completes (one of the days I was sick). He said that the more completes you get, the more hours you get. He basically sent me home. You know what? I told you this before, they jerked me around the first time by giving me that one day of training, and then decided not to hire me.

They're jerking me around again. However, I still got a job on the side. I actually stopped by the Soup place to see if they needed my help today, and they didn't. Well see how the call centre is going. I'll admit that calling people up is boring, and I was kind of glad to have a cold to get out of work. I can't play hooky and be dishonest. Well if they do end up firing me for not being good enough, you'll know from me that this is a bad call centre to work at.

Nov. 13 Good: Today at work, I got 5 completes because this is a new survey where it's less than 5 min. long and not like the 20min surveys. Work was done earlier and I got to leave at 2:45pm.

The main highlight today is that I actually feel good today. I hope this time my cold is really gone unlike last week when I thought it was over, and then it came again at the beginning of this week.

I picked up my paycheck from the Soup place, and I went and got a haircut in Chinatown. It only costs $16.

Saying: "If you don't like something about your life, do something about it." I went and emailed the TV producer if he has read my script yet. I also emailed the actor Giles Panton to see if he has decided to be in my movie or not. It's been about a month since I heard from either of them.

I was thinking about my jobs when I was having a cold. I would make it everyday to my movie set even if I had a cold.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

news/ analyze comedy/ crazy news

Nov. 5 News: I read in the Metro that guys like girls who laugh at their jokes. Girls like guys who make them laugh. That's interesting. I remember this time way back in 2005, I was working at Roots.

Jordan: So what do you think of that new guy (Jason)?
Me: He's cool. We worked a shift together and we talked the entire time.
J: You should go out with him.
Me (burst out laughing): Yeah right!
J: No, seriously.
Me: No.
J (stomps his foot): No, I'm serious!

Look, Jason and I didn't really click because I told him all these jokes, and he didn't laugh at any of them. Sheesh, even my sister laughs at the occassional one here and there. I guess I'm like a guy who always tries to make people laugh with these jokes I hear.

In other news, I was reading in 24 that bike messengers make 30-40 deliveries a day, and can make $150 in a day. Good money, but I don't know about respect. You're athletic to do that, and it's fun to ride a bike all day, but no one is going to say to you: "Wow, that's really good."

Cold: I had a really bad cold yesterday, but now it's gotten better. I went to work and stayed there for the whole shift. My voice is very hoarse and raspy, but I still managed to get two completes.

I was kind of in a bad mood about how there are a lot of things lost in lustre. Like how I used to like working in retail like Roots, but then didn't like Urban Planet. How I liked working in a call centre like Ipsos, but Malatest isn't that good. The pay is well above min. wage. Throw in how Tosh. O isn't that good, and Heroes isn't as good either, though I watch both of them.

James Frain: In other news, it seems this actor James Frain is making appearances everywhere. I first saw him in In Plain Sight where he's a good guy, but then turns out to be kind of shady. Then he's on Lie to Me playing a bad guy. Then I saw him on Law and Order: SVU playing a bad guy again. Of course, the biggest name guest- star is often the guy who did it.

I did get this random flashback. You know how I said I liked The Listener ep where they caught a rapist? I then remembered way back when Las Vegas came out, and I liked the ep where they caught a rapist too. Very Law and Order: SVU.

Unintentionally funny: I was watching The City with my sister, and she says: "You know, this is what The Hills is missing. Showing people at work, and having their bosses yell at them." Come to think of it, on The Hills this season, I didn't see anybody work.

Funny: Here is something that is supposed to be funny. I checked out Comedy Network, and South Park was on. They did a parody of Patrick's two favorite reality shows Whale Wars and Deadliest Catch about two boats out at sea. In the first one it's about Greenpeace trying to stop the Japanese from killing whales and dolphins.

In the second one, it's about fisherman catching fish. These two boats bump into each other out in the ocean and start a fight with each other and the Japanese.

Nov. 6 Analyze comedy: You know how I said earlier where Michael Phelps said: "I used to get picked on a lot when I was in school. Actually it's kind of funny, when I go out to dinner with my mom, the people I used to go to school with are now servers there." The audience laughs.

I am trying to write a joke. What if MP had said: "This girl used to pick on me a lot when I was in school. And then she got pregnant as a teenager, and then everybody picked on her." I don't know if the audience would laugh at that. People will want to know what happened to the baby.

If M said: "Then she got an abortion." Well abortion's not funny.
If M said: "Then she miscarried." Well that's not funny either.
If M said: "Then she kept the kid and raised it as her own. Now she lives on welfare and we're all wasting our tax money on her." That's still not funny.

I was like: "C'mon, I'm sure you've heard teen pregnancy jokes before." Yeah, there was sketch on MadTV where they had Jamie Lynn Spears appear on the Dancing with the Stars show. Arden Myrin dressed up like her, and was dancing around with a huge baby bump. Not really funny, at least to me. Or the one with comedian Daniel Tosh talking about the TV show 16 and Pregnant: "I'm sure all the episodes are shot in Utah." Well that's more of a shot at Utah than pregnant teenagers.

I just went and typed into Google "Teen pregnancy jokes" and here's a link: http://www.unwind.com/jokes-funnies/sexjokes/teenpreg.shtml

I find it mildly funny because of the stupidity and misinformation about it. Here's a joke: "Make sure all your teachers know you are pregnant, so they will have reduced expectations for you, allowing you to skate through junior high."

Dark jokes:
I then thought about how I heard jokes about statutory rape and pedophilia and that can be funny. It's weird that you can make fun of something illegal and laugh at it. Remember the joke:

Ed the Sock: So you're 17 right?
Avril Lavigne: Yeah.
Ed: Yeah, well I guess you're a little too old for R. Kelly.

I told this joke to my friend Jessica way back in 2005. She had to cover her mouth when she was laughing at it.

Or the MadTV sketch where they made fun of Maury and his wife Connie Chung on the TV show A Moment of Truth.

Maury: When I'm with Connie, I imagine I'm really with Dakota Fanning.
The audience says: "Ohhhh."

Crazy news: I was watching 20/20 and it talked about the massacre that occurred yesterday at that military base. The killer was a military psychiatrist of Palestinian descent. There were signs that he was suicidal because he gave away all his furniture and things to this woman who lived in his apartment building.

In August he legally bought a gun. He got poor performance reviews, and he got a lawyer to try to get him out of the military. He started dressing more in his traditional religious garment. He was being bullied by the military because of his race. I would have suggested he get as much money as possible, and run away or fake his death to get out of the military. Sure, that may sound stupid, but he isn't hurting anyone that way.

They talked to this military woman Kira who had a bullet graze the top of her head. She showed that there was blood on top of of her head. The killer is in a coma at the hospital.

Nov. 7 Rihanna: The other half was about Rihanna and how she got assaulted by her boyfriend Chris Brown way back in Feb. I'm not really a fan of either of them, but I learned a lot. R did grow up with domestic violence. She saw her dad hit her mom. I did know that CB grew up seeing his stepdad hit his mom.

R didn't stay with C, because she thought about her fans and other girls would see that to go back to their boyfriends who hit them. It was kind of interesting this one part:

Diane Sawyer: You know the average statistic is that it takes a woman 7 times to leave her boyfriend for good.
R: Actually it's about 8 or 9 times.

Compound W: In other news, there is this product called Compound W that removes warts. I tried it on my finger, and it wasn't very effective. I showed this product to my doctor, and he said the same thing. I just wanted to make sure so he won't say: "Yeah, it is effective if you have a small wart" or "Stay away from that product, it makes it worse."

You guys should go to the doctor to have the wart frozen and removed. That product is like $12.99 at Shoppers Drug Mart. Not worth it. Or my sister says use duct tape on the wart. She said she got them from reading Ann Landers.

Oct. 8 Stupid criminals: I read on Yahoo that this 23- yr- old wanted criminal didn't like the Wanted pic in the newspaper of himself. He then sent the newspaper a better mug shot. They printed it. However, he still has not been found.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

dating/ job tips/ safety tips

Nov. 2 Dating: Since the route with J didn't work out, I'm back on the online dating circuit. Yeah, it is work and does take effort. I have to look at pictures, read profiles, tailor emails to people. I'm going to put about half an hour into this. I need to make this fun by listening to music, and making myself think by doing this I can prevent writer's block.

Charity: Today the Children's Leukemia Research called me for donations. We did the same song and dance of the "dream donation" which is $97 or as the guy on the phone said: "A week's worth of groceries." Then he goes and asks for the $10 I donated last time. I told him I donated a lot of money to other charities which is true.
Also throw in the fact, that I had given a substantial amount of money to somebody that I won't get back. At least it helped his rent. I did tell them that I'll tell my friends about it. So go donate to them if you want.

H1N1: It's weird. Back in May, my sister was traveling and she said she was scared of it. Now it's November, and now I'm feeling the fear. I can't get the shot because all the clinics are closed, and when it does come back it's for pregnant women, children are under 5, people with chronic health conditions. 400,000 people did get the shot.
Job tips: I read this in 24: "Do not bring your friends or parents (yes, this actually happened) to sit in the lobby while you are having your interview because you have plans afterwards." That is so bad. That reminds me of the old TV show Street Cents where it said don't bring your family or friends to cheer you on during the interview.
Do not exaggerate on your resume that says you're "the sole proprieter of a landscaping company" when you mowed your neighbor's grass.
When asked why you want this job, don't say: "because it's good company."
Don't say you like your past job because it wasn't too much work.

Nov. 3 Happy: I was thinking about Degrassi: The Next Generation where Anya was talking to Holly J.

Anya: You can never be happy, can you? You're student president, you're a local hero, and you got a guy and you're still not happy.

Well it's something to think about.

Rant: Here's a mild rant. I was thinking about Kanye West at the MTV Music Video Awards about how Beyonce should have won, and not Taylor Swift. This is from 1999, but I still want to say it.

It was for the same award show, but the category was best dance choreography. Ricky Martin won for "Livin' La Vida Loca." The dancing was good for the video with the energy. Ricky wasn't doing the same dance moves as his dancers were. RM was 28 at the time now that I checked imdb.com.

Who should have won was old New Kids on the Block member Jordan Knight's video "Give it to You." I loved the dancing to it because it was so creative, and to the beat. I was really impressed with it. JK also did the same choreography as his 20- something year old back dancers were doing. JK was like 30. I had to check to make sure.

Well check out the videos and go compare it.

Teen pregnancy: Here's my favorite topic again. It's interesting when I asked Ray this question: "Which is worse? The teen girls who want to get pregnant on Maury or the ones on Tyra?"

Ray: The ones on Tyra are good because they actually get to the issue, and stop them from getting pregnant.

I have deliberated a long time on it. The girls on Maury are misbehaved, but at least they're smart enough to know that they're going to live on welfare. The girls on Tyra are well- behaved, but they aren't smart enough to live on welfare. I'll give it to Tyra, because she can prevent these teen girls from getting pregnant. It could be as simple as a girl watching herself on the show and realizing how stupid she sounded.

Writer's block: I've been reading the newspaper, and doing other forms of writing like email. It's kind of funny, I was watching The Mentalist and they did an episode that reminded me of something I wrote way back in 1997. In the ep, the CBI team have to figure out who murdered this person or is it a ghost. It occurred in an old mansion.

I wrote a TV show about a family moving into this old mansion. The show was called The Ransom Mansion. It was a mystery about finding a treasure in it, kind of like The Mentalist ep. However, I never really developed the story.

I haven't had these kind of flashbacks since the summer when I was watching The Listener. In one ep, Toby and Oz have to get $100, 000 to save Oz's parent's restaurant. They decide to solve a murder mystery to win the cash reward.
Nov. 4: Wait, I know what my favorite Listener ep is. It's where they catch a rapist. It was like Law and Order: SVU.
Safety tips: I read in the Journal where they go more in depth about how this 16 year old girl was kidnapped and raped by a guy who posed as a cop. She said she watches CSI, and she tried to leave as much evidence as possible.
She went and touch everything so she could leave her fingerprints for the cops to find it. She pulled out strands from her hair and left them everywhere. She also made herself seem more human by telling the captor about all the good qualities of herself like how she was on the honour roll. Eventually after 3 days he did let her go. She called her dad and now the guy is behind bars.
News: Today I read about the Calgary Flames getting H1N1 shots and they're not the high- risk group. What's weird, is that I'm not really annoyed. Maybe because I don't care about hockey. What annoys me more is teen girls who get pregnant so they could live on welfare. That's an ongoing thing. As for this, the hockey players did this for one pandemic. It's bad, and somebody did get fired. A lot of people hate them and everybody knows about it, so it's taken care of.
Cold: In other news, I have a cold. I had gotten a sore throat at the end of the day at work. This morning, I went to work. I was coughing. I even asked the supervisor Rob for medicine.
Rob: I don't have any, and even if I did, I can't do that.
Me: Because it's illegal to give drugs to your employees?
Rob: Yes, go ask your co-workers.
I asked Mary, and she gave me a couple Tylenols.
I thought I could tough it out because it isn't like working at the restaurant where I have to move a lot. I'm sitting and calling people. However, at 12:30pm, I was allowed to go home. I took some more cough medicine like I did when I woke up at 3am this morning. Then I called the local doctor's clinic, but they were booked solid. I went and slept for a couple of hours.
Took some Cold FX. Drank some chicken noodle soup and mushroom soup. Last month I did have a cold, but I took some Chinese medicine and everything worked out in a couple of days.

My sister did say if I have a shortness of breath, that's when I go to the hospital. I didn't get the H1N1 shot yet because I have work and I'm not a high- risk group.
I'm also using the old computer, because Patrick doesn't want me using the new one because he doesn't want to catch a cold.
Good: In good news, Malatest is the only call centre that doesn't require everybody to work a weekend shift. At Ipsos, you have to work on a Fri., Sat. or Sun. At Leger, you have to work on a Sat.

Tosh.O: It was kind of weird on this show. They showed a clip where 2 Arab guys are rollerskating, and they're holding onto a car as the car is driving down the highway. That's really dangerous. I thought it was weird, because I've seen teenage boys do this on TV.
Daniel: I thought they rode on magic carpets. Send in your videos doing that same thing too. No, I'm just kidding, don't do that!

Enzo: This name seems to be popping up. I see a 6 yr old boy on The Hills have that name. I then was watching Law and Order: SVU, and a teen boy had that name. I looked it up, and Enzo is Italian, and it's short for Lorenzo.
Enzo was the name of a character on the old kids TV show Reboot.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

costume/ kidsploition/ cathexis

Oct. 30 Costume: Today I was on the bus, and I saw a guy dressed as the Kool Aid jug. You know he's pink with a smiley face. He was on the street. lol.

Joke: I was thinking about that online dating guy who asked me sexual questions. It reminded me of a joke I heard on the TV show 2gether about a fictional boy band. Chad (Noah Bastian) and Mickey (Alex Solowitz) in a scene together.

Chad: I never kissed a girl before.
Mickey: But you've had had sex right?
lol. That was stupid, but it gets a pass because it's fictional and it's trying to be funny.

Stupid criminals: I read in 24 yesterday about how this guy was dressed up like a clown, and he was driving drunk. Then he hit a police car. Stupidity.

Unintentionally funny: Today I did a survey for MacEwan. I did one a couple of weeks ago, but this time this a different survey. It's kind of funny. I go to work, and I get people to do surveys, and now I'm on the receiving end of one. lol. You should all do surveys. Maybe it's because I've done call centres, so I do feel sympathy.

Nickelback: It's weird, I never really liked this rock band since they came out in 2001. I remember writing in an email back in 2005 and just talking to Justin about it last weekend. It was about how I like 91.7 The Bounce radio station. In 2005, there was the radio station 96X and then it changed from Top 40 to country. 96X always played Nickelback.

I had changed to the Bounce because they play Top 40, but more dance, R&B, and no rock. 96X changed, and then the Bounce started playing Nickelback. It's like I can never get away from them. Well I don't hate them, I'm not interested.

This morning I was checking what's on TV tonight, and then Nickelback came on. I decided to stay. The vid was "I'd Come for You." I liked the vid because there's a good story with it. You got drama, tension, and action. You can look it up on Youtube or I'll spoil the story for you in the next paragraph.

Cut to a teen girl leaving her house, and her dad is at the door. She says goodbye, and he asks "Who's that?" She doesn't answer, so she just enters the car. She and the guy are driving and then they pull over. They kiss a bit, but then he pushes her to do more. She then calls her dad's cell phone, he picks up. There is no answer. Then he hangs up, and gets a text that says 77. I thought it was really creative, because then the dad looks at the framed pic of the daughter, and the guy. They're both wearing baseball jerseys that have 7 on them. Dad gets into his truck and drives and pulls up to the car.

The dad pulls out the boyfriend, and punches him in the face. He pulls the key out of the ignition, hugs his daughter. Boyfriend comes at him with a tire iron, dad turns around, blocks the bf's hand with the tire iron. Dad then punches him again in the face, and throws the car keys away.

Dad takes his daughter home. Simple story, but I liked it. It kind of reminds me of 3 Doors Down video "Let Me Go." I told you about it, because Ed the Sock made fun of it. How a guy finds out his gf is a stripper, and he acts like he's not happy about it. Well then it turns out the gf is doing this, because she has a baby to support.

Kidsploition: I was reading an article about "Kidsplotion" about kids being exploited for TV. It's because of that balloon boy. They talked a bit about Kid Nation. I only saw one ep of the reality TV series where you get 50 kids living together on this small town and see how they run things.

People like to watch kids, because they're cute, funny, and unpredictable. But they don't know about being exploited. In the article it said something about some kids were recruited so they could get exposure because they're actors and models. Some kids were recruited from private schools because they're smart and were told they could change the world if they do this kind of show.

I remember watching Jay Leno, and sometimes they have kids as the guests. I don't feel the kids were exploited. They were in for a short time showcasing talent. They had one 9 yr old boy who wrote a short book and got it published. They interviewed this 6 yr old Asian boy who plays the piano beautifully. The interview was kind of funny.

Jay: So I heard you recently graduated out of kindergarten?
Kid: No, college! Uh, just kidding.
It's so cute how he had to quickly add "Just kidding" in case anyone believes a 6 yr old can really graduate out of college.

Jay Leno: I read in the Journal that his show is doing 30% less ratings than his competitors. However, it's okay because his show is cheap to produce.

In other entertainment news, I read that the Flashforward supervising producer has been fired, and now they're going with more of Heroes- esque show. Make it more sci- fi instead of a soap opera.

Russian Road Roulette: I read this in 24. It's where people bet on cars to speed through red lights in busy intersections and not hit other cars or pedestrians. That is really bad driving. It kind of sounds like a good idea for a movie, but it has been done: The Fast and the Furious.

Recession: Burger King isn't doing really well during the recession. However, McDonald's is good with their $1 menu. Though I have read all 3 locations in Iceland is now closing. The newspaper the National Post hasn't been making a lot of profit since it came out in 1998 and may have to lay off 277 employees.

Dance: Remember in So You Think You Can Dance season 4? The runner up was Twitch (Stephen Boss.) He's in a movie playing the antagonist Taz in Stomp the Yard 2: Homecoming.

Oct. 31 Unoriginal: I was watching Flashpoint yesterday, and Gina Holden was in it. She played a woman who tried to leave this cult. GH has been on many Canadian shows like Blood Ties, Flash Gordon, and Harper's Island. I felt this ep was unoriginal with the cult leader going to murder everybody by putting them in a building and setting ammonia in it.

I've seen this on Dollhouse, but where they were setting the place on fire. Also on Criminal Minds where everybody drank this poison. Well it's probably based on real life story of Waco about a cult and the place was set on fire. Though I will say Flashpoint, Dollhouse, and Criminal Minds are all very well- written shows.

The Listener: During the commercial breaks, I watched The Listener. Then it occurred to me that I don't really have a favorite episode of this show. I was talking to my friend Ray about it and she says it's "well- written." It's on Fridays at 5pm on Space.

Nov. 1 McDonald's: I told you earlier that all 3 McDonald's in Iceland are closing down. Well I read that everybody is rushing to get their last Big Mac before it's gone forever. lol. It kind of reminds me of when I bought the last British boy band Five cd. They had three in total. I always liked them when they first came out.

In light news, I read that the TV show Trauma has gotten canceled. I did in read the Journal when it first came out, it got a bad review for their stock characters.

Cathexis: I learned a new word today. From dictionary.com, it means "the investment of emotional significance in an activity, object, or idea."

Pook: There's a new store at City Centre. It sells everything made of socks, like monkey stuff animals. It sprung up overnight this week. Maybe it's only temporary for the holiday season. I don't see how it could last longer than the holiday season.