Phillies Phever!!!

Congrats to our Fighting Phils, who came from 7 games back only a short time ago to the champs of their division. Certainly, it helped that the Mets completely C H O K E D, but the Phillies kicked all kinds of ass to win their division. Sweet! Jimmy Rollins - MVP!

Before The Devil.........

I need to add this to my list of "must-sees," this is the new film from Sidney Lumet. Sweet poster.

Also, the Wes Anderson short film (prequel to Darjeeling) called Hotel Chevalier is a FREE download on itunes (co-stars Natalie Portman (she gets nekkid!!!). Check it out.

"Union" countdown - I'm into the 80s, I should have an updated page count for my next post.

Go Phils! Goodbye, Mets.

Script countdown - UNION

Finally finishing this one. Been creeping and crawling around my head for a few years, got it started last year but put it on the backburner while I did other scripts.

It's called Union, and is a sorta comedy/drama about a family, set around Christmas. I won't divulge the rest yet, the actual plot is pretty high god damn concept.

I'm on Page 74 now, and plan to wrap it up within the next week.

TV

Some cool stuff coming up this season. The shows I'm looking forward to most are Chuck & Reaper, and the return of Lost, Weeds, Dexter and Heroes. Californication is holding my interest, but Tell Me You Love Me is a snooze. It's supposed to be so "real." Try lame. Bunch of whiners.

It'll be interesting to see where Heroes goes after their limp finale - some showdown. They should have just had a rock/paper/scissor battle royale. But it's a good show that should get better.

Thought the first K-Ville was decent, although I'm not sure that an escaped convict could join the Army & be a cop, just because records were lost in New Orleans from Katrina. Wouldn't his social security number come into play?

Bionic Woman could go either way, but I think it'll be decent. Can't promise I'll watch though. I'll check out Pushing Daisies, at least it sounds different.

What will get canceled? Hmm, there's no way Life will make it past a few epdisodes. It's a so-so premise, and too much other stuff on for people to care. Big Shots will probably have a big premiere then die. Journeyman looks blah - people didn't dig Daybreak and that had Taye Diggs. And Dirty Sexy Money might make it, but it's got a shit title and a lesser Baldwin.

What will U be watching??????

Can't Wait To See This

Hot Veggie

Back 2 Work

Thanks, team, for all of your condolences. It means a lot. Some day I'll meet y'all and buy you many drinks.

Been a rough week, but the services are over, things are slowly getting back to normal. It's a pretty horrible feeling I'm left with though, thinking I could've done more - even though I did the most really. But I just hope my mom is in a good place - a place without fear, pain, and lame remakes. Maybe Heaven is a constant Coen Bros, Weir, Spielberg and Scorcese marathon. Could be!

I'm slowly getting back to writing. I'm working with my manager on my Laid re-write. Need to re-work the beginning (to similar to Superbad - how was I to know 4 months ago when I wrote the beginning!!!???) and get some character work done.

Other than that I'm going to work on some stuff that aren't comedies, namely my horror script Route 66, my crime drama called Dakota, and another new idea callled Rollin' Thunda.

Just trying to keep busy, and finally sell one of these puppies.

K.R. 1944-2007

So, my Mom died yesterday at around noon. She had been a heavy smoker most of her life, and had battled horrific emphysema for many years.

(Hey kids - Stop smoking - Yes, it will KILL you. Chew some fucking gum.)

The real tragedy of this was the life she led. I'm won't get into specifics too much (this is a LONG story), but I'll say it involved her deteriorating health (mentally & physically), which began when I was young, at a time when people who suffered from mental health problems were labeled as simply "nuts."

The main thing she suffered from was depression, which I think began as a form of post-partum depression that went un-noticed, then spread into other things as a lack of understanding & frustration from her family basically made her an outcast. Her disintegrating marriage couldn't have helped, either. She had been diagnosed as bi-polar, with psychosis n.s., depression, and schizophrenia.

Yeah, that's a pretty bad hand to be dealt.

Note: When someone is suffering from depression, get them help (!).

I'm sure some relatives attempted to help at first, but it certainly wasn't enough, so it was left up to me. But by the time I got her the help she needed, it was too late really. Like I said, this is a long story, this only scratches the surface.

And even though 90% of childhood was a living hell, I knew that deep down she was still a good person and a loving mother, and I made my peace with her before she died. But seeing her get worse as the days passed was heart-wrenching, and although her passing has hit me like a ton of bricks, I am glad she is finally at peace. The last 30+ years of her life sucked.

She was 63.

Austin Newz

My family comedy, That's How We Roll, made it into the 2nd round of the Adult/Family portion of the Austin Screenplay Competition, but did not make the Semi cut.

Still, they say 2nd rounders are in the top 10-12 %, so I can't complain.

What Summer?

Damn, that was fast. My oldest heads back to school on Wednesday, I feel bad because his Summer was lightning quick. I hope his year goes fast, and I hope by the end of it I've got a script sold and in production.

On that end of things, there are some rumblings. My Agent pitched my family comedy A Couple Of Joes to a producer who liked the idea and wanted to read it, so we sent it to him before Labor Day. And my Manager and I went over Laid and I've been tweaking it over this past week, and am almost done Draft #2.

For music fans: Check out recent releases from The National, Editors, The Bravery, and Interpol. Good music to write to.

Late!

PS - Pic is from Hotel Chevalier, the short film that will play before The Darjeeling Limited, and stars Jason Schwartzman (as his Darjeeling character) and Natalie Portman. Super cool. Can't wait to see this!