I'll have to thank my friend Shannon for getting me on the Glee bandwagon. They've actually done a phenomenal job introducing the world to mash-ups, something that I had discovered a couple years ago when my friend Pete who's a disc jockey gave me a copy of his mash-ups. It's the musical equivalent of being able to have fries and onion rings. This mash-up brings Singin' in the Rain together with Umbrella.
From a literary perspective, I've used the mash-up equivalent a lot in my own writing. Luscious Dumplings was a parody of the final court room drama in A Few Good Men but twisted up because I cast a celebrity chef in place of Colonel Jessup. Mash-ups are just the perfect amount of surprise and comic delight that comes from writing punch lines and sometimes it's the collision of disparate ideas that really can create some imaginative material.
Speaking of which, here's the latest daily update on my NaNoWriMo progress:
Nov 15: 5K sprints for three days in a row is a little nutty. Chapter 17 is shaping up nicely and I'm a little anxious to get to the midpoint when the story really starts to take off. (50,110 words)
Nov 16: What an emotional let down after that push to 50K. I need to stay focused on pushing along at least 3K per day for the rest of the month. Also need to find some other writers I can draft along side so I don't lose the competitive edge. Chapter 18 and 19 need a little more girth, too. (52,925 words)
Nov 17: My early morning writing produced probably the most enjoyable 750 words since the beginning of this manuscript. It's the last 750 words of Chapter 19. I'm torn between wanting to go back to the first chapter and begin rewriting with this same voice and to keep it consistent versus pushing forward with the second half, complete that, and then go back to the beginning. Even if I don't reach 80K, by the end of the month, I think I'll be better off crafting the story that doesn't make me cringe. If I produce no more than 750 words each day similar to this then I'd be a proud writer. (55,070 words)
Punchlines
Dear Abby, Lately I've been craving a glimpse of daylight. Just a brief moment once every couple of years. Is that too much to ask?
OMG what a fantastic performance of Teenage Dream this week! Such a breath of fresh air. This one is going on heavy rotation until my ears bleed.
And for those following along, here are some quick updates including an excerpt available for a limited time on NaNoWriMo:
Nov 6: Had fun taking a novel-related detour researching both the history of television in America as well as the history of written languages. Completed writing about my portal to the fantasy world and ended it with a snowball fight. What could be better? (16,435 words)
Nov 7: Weaving subplots within the narrative is starting to get tricky, especially staying on track with the internal journey of the hero. There are too many interesting external dynamics playing out that it seems "louder" somehow. (20,180 words)
Nov 8: Hit a really boring transitional section today so the wordcount slowed. Will probably need to rewrite it to make it more meaningful to the hero. But all is not lost, I came up with a pretty cool device that's relevant, if not a bit sci-fi-ish. Hope to make that part stick. (23,025 words)
Nov 9: Eureka in the bathtub moment in Chapter 9 which was a lot of fun to write. Chapter 10/11 didn't have enough story based on the outline so I had to combine those two chapters and split up Chapter 2 which was too long anyway. (27,201 words)
Nov 10: The early Act 2 chapters are becoming a major problem for me. There's not enough conflict and so I struggle with accelerating reveals from later chapters into these early sections. Perhaps a complicating subplot is in order. It's going to be a low-output day unless I skip ahead and work on a different chapter. (29,227 words)
Punchlines
CORNER CHICKEN SUIT DANCER: So I've been doin this gig for a month now...It's pretty cool.
HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL DEAN: Congratulations. You're now qualified to run Goldman Sachs.
I miss Frasier. I miss great television. So I dug up this old episode of Frasier, which I digg and hope you do, too. Enjoy!
Punchlines
Dear Abby: On the top of my otherwise completely bald head is a single strand of hair about 5 feet long. I'm quite proud of my hair. It took me a long time to grow it. People say I should just give in to the inevitable, but I don't know what to do. Should I yank it or leave it?
So this week, and in fact today, Season 1 of thirtysomething has been released finally! This may be one of the longest DVD release window for a television series which first aired in 1987. Apparently clearing all the music rights was the hold up all these years. The good news is that I will finally be able to get rid of all of the VHS recordings, well at least a quarter of them anyway.
This is such a big deal that the LA Times covered the story in a variety of articles this week. I'm just happy that a new generation will be introduced to Michael and Hope, Elliot and Nancy, Melissa, Gary, Ellyn, and Miles.
Now that I'm thirtysomething, I'm sure the show will resonate in ways it could not when I was twentysomething, so this will be a treat to experience again, especially some of my favorite episodes. Until this point, I've had the published teleplays from Season 1 and the soundtrack to tie me over. Not the same. Fortunately, someone who used to work for me lived near Olin and Wettig and I put him through an especially humiliating torture to retrieve autographs from both. If only he had pulled up into their driveway blasting the soundtrack from his car... Oh well, he was a good sport, and so were Ken and Nancy. Thanks!
By the way, I nearly fell off my seat when I discovered that Paul Haggis (Crash) wrote a few episodes during that first season (Nice Work If You Can Get It, South by Southeast, Business As Usual). All the more reason to go out and buy Season 1 and check out his earlier work.
After a nailbiting match-up with Phil/Todd vs. Sean/John in the finals of AVP Hermosa, the court in the stadium underwent a transformation for the filming of the new reality TV show Shaq Vs. Episode 2 this season which will air August 25th on ABC at 9 p.m. ET will feature Shaq Vs. Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh in beach volleyball. Shaq paired up with Todd Rogers in the back court and it was pretty hysterical to see someone that big move that quickly in the sand. If Shaq lost, he would wear pink speedos up and down the beach! Other match-ups include Shaq Vs. Michael Phelps, Shaq Vs. Oscar De La Hoya, and Shaq Vs. Serena Williams.
It was a sight to behold, so tune-in on August 25th.
Punchlines
I enjoy wine, I'll have to admit, but I am not in love with the stuff. I'll usually enjoy a few glasses...
I'm making my way through Season 1 of The West Wing, which I do every so often. To me, it is unadulterated joy to experience this TV series over and over again. The episodes can range from thundering well-articulated debate to light-hearted banter, and through it all, I feel an emotional connection to these characters.
Following the pilot, the series delved into heady issues about the appropriate military response to an attack on US citizens and an uncertain President who had never served on the line of duty, who became vengeful when he discovered his personal physician had been killed. The three-episode arc was a prime example of drama at its best.
As a sort of palette cleanser, the fifth episode entitled "The Crackpots and These Women" really took a break from the heavy dramatics and changed the pacing and tone of the series, demonstrating the diverse range Aaron Sorkin has available to him.
Plot
The staff participates in "Big Block of Cheese Day," a fictional workday on which White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry encourages his staff to meet with fringe special interest groups that normally would not get attention from the White House. Big Block of Cheese Day also is mentioned in "Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail."
The rationale for the day, as recounted by McGarry, is that America's seventh president, Andrew Jackson, had a two-ton block of cheese in the White House foyer from which everyone was welcome to eat. This symbolized the openness of the White House to the American people. White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler derisively refers to the day as "Throw Open Our Office Doors To People Who Want To Discuss Things That We Could [sic] Care Less About Day", and Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman refers to it as "Total Crackpot Day".
White House Press Secretary C.J. Cregg meets with a group about building a highway for wolves, while Sam Seaborn meets with a citizen, played by Sam Lloyd, concerned about UFOs.
Josh is given a card from the NSC with information about where he is to go in the event of a nuclear attack and becomes riddled with guilt after realizing that nobody else on the staff was given one. He visits his therapist and reveals that his older sister died in a house fire while babysitting for him, and that he survived by running out of the house.
Later, at a reception in the Residence, the President and the men on his staff marvel at the extraordinary strength and integrity of the women in their lives. During the party, Josh returns his NSC card to the President, explaining that he just wants to be with his friends through everything and to be able to look them in the eye in the meantime.
By the way, the Big Block of Cheese Day occurs once more in the series in Season 2 as well during Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail. Once again, C.J. is asked to meet with a group who wouldn't otherwise be able to take a meeting with someone in the White House. She meets with "The Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality," which would like legislation to support a specific map projection, namely the "Peters projection" which corrects the exaggerated representation of North America and Western Europe found in the standard Mercator projection. Believing that placing the Northern Hemisphere on top suggests dominance by the countries there, the cartographers actually advocate rotating the projection by 180 degrees to place the Southern Hemisphere on top.
Incidentally, in this episode Toby Ziegler meets with a group of protestors and the exterior shots happened to be of my office building. How cool is that?
Punchlines
So what's the point of close-circuit cameras when the footage quality always blows chunks?
Especially when the night vision lenses are on the blink! Everybody starts looking like pixelated aliens vaguely resembling Shotgun.
