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[Jay]

Dear Reader Panni and Dear Reader Charles Pogue:  Will be interested to hear your respective takes on the authenticity of today's L.A. Times Calendar section articles on the life of the Hollywood screenwriter today.

[JoseSPiano]

BK - One more Lent thing... Yes, it does last 40 days, but you have the option to "sacrifice" either every day, or just observe the "Friday Fast".  -I usually do still try to observe a meatless Friday.  And, yes, that's a very lapsed-Catholicism...

As for "American Idol"...

No real shock about LaToya.  But the other two... Well, at least Jon Peter's selection to the top three - even he seemed surprised.

At least LaToya's singing was very good again last night, but the other girl's - sorry, I can't remember her name right now - was worse.  "Roll the credits!"

[TCB]

I think everyone who uses EBAY and/or PayPal has done that at least once.  I know I did - the email makes it sound so urgent...."do this NOW to protect your account...."  And it was a pain in the neck, I had to get a new credit card and change all my accounts....it was mess.  Now I just delete them - or forward them to spoof@paypal.com and ask if it is legitimate before responding.  

OH - I just bought the 4 OMEN movies in one DVD set for about $23!  Whew....I logged on to buy CAMP, and just happened to think of THE OMEN - and there it was!  

I think my favorite is OMEN 3 with Sam Neilll....whew!

I thought there were only three Omen movies.  I know that it was designed to be a set of four films based on the panels found in the first movie, but I must have lost track somewhere along the line, because I think I only saw three of them.

[DERBRUCER]

BK, Re: 40 days being a long time for something--so what are you saying--Moses should have stopped in the desert to ask for directions??  

A. Moses was man and would not be expcted to stop and ask for directions.
B. Moses and his folk meandered thru the desert for 40 YEARS, not 40 DAYS.
C. Jesus, say the Gospels, wandered in the Wilderness for 40 DAYS (the traditional explanation of a 40 day Lent)

(Although Moses did have 2 40 day sojourns on Mt. Sinai were God gave him all the good stuff, Mosaic Legislation, that became Judiac Law. He came back really horny from the second trip up to hill!)

For your furthur penance enlightenment education you could go to the Catholic Encyclopedia, whose excruciatingly detatiled, exhaustively footnoted/hyperlinked exposition on "Lent" runs for too many pages.

der Brucer (thinking this site needs a resident Jesuit)

[JMK]

A. Moses was man and would not be expcted to stop and ask for directions.
B. Moses and his folk meandered thru the desert for 40 YEARS, not 40 DAYS.
C. Jesus, say the Gospels, wandered in the Wilderness for 40 DAYS (the traditional explanation of a 40 day Lent)

Yes, DR DerBrucer, that was my whole point--if fellow Jew BK thinks 40 days is a long time for anything, what about Moses' 40 year detour?  Guess my dry humor needs a little wettening, or perhaps footnotes (C#).

[elmore3003]

40 days would have been a diamond jubilee for Britney Spears' wedding!

[George]

"On Top of Spaghetti" - I preferred this version.

I forgot about this.  I love this song!

[William E. Lurie]

I taped the Judy special to watch over the weekend, but I have the tapes Judy made and they are scary.

From today's NY POST:
Previews for "Raisin in the Sun" are only a month away, but our insiders swear thas Sean "Puffy" Combs has yet to read the script.  "He thinks it will be easy to remember and is too busy right now," our production source says.  The producers are so worried about Combs' ability to handle the rigors of Broadway that they're casting his understudy very carefully.

(My comment): This is what they get when they cast for novelty value instead of talent.  Since Audra is known to miss a lot of performances as well, this could become "Raisin Understudy The Sun".

Also in today's POST is an interesting "blind item".  Most of the time I can figure out who these are about, but this one has me stumped.  Does any DR know who they are talking about?

WHICH Broadway hunk lost his chance at being the next James Bond because of rumors he's gay?  The movie's producers found out he was a little too close to his male assistant, and were worried about the secret getting out and weakening the Bond machismo.

[TCB]

Forty days?  Don't some consider that a Golden Wedding Anniversary for gay couples?

For Brittney Spears it would be The Impossible Dream.

[DERBRUCER]

I thought there were only three Omen movies.  I know that it was designed to be a set of four films based on the panels found in the first movie, but I must have lost track somewhere along the line, because I think I only saw three of them.

Without a TV you'd've missed numero IV.

Omen, The (1976) Omen I –The Antichrist
Damien: Omen II (1978) Omen II – Damien
Final Conflict, The (1981) Omen III – Final Conflict
Omen IV: The Awakening (1991) (TV) (Should be called Daughter of Damien)

Although Damien is done-in at the end of III, so maybe that is where the saga was expected to end.

der Brucer (will there be no end to evil - a C.S. Lewis reference)

[George]

I was sent this e-mail today by a co-worker.  I don't know if they're true, but theyr'e pretty darned funny...unless they're true, then it's just sad:

Subject: LIFE IS TOUGH:

Recently, when I went to McDonald's I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McNuggets.  I asked for a half dozen nuggets.  "We don't have half dozen nuggets," said the teenager at the counter.  "You don't?" I replied.  "We only have six, nine, or twelve," was the reply.  "So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six?"  "That's right." So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets.
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I was checking out at the local Walmart with just a few items and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine.  I picked up one of those "Dividers" that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn't get mixed.  After the girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the "Divider" looking it all over for the bar code so she could scan it.  Not finding the bar code she said to me, "Do you know how much this is?"  I said to her "I've changed my mind, I don't think I'll buy that today."  She said "OK" and I paid her for the things and left.  She had no clue as to what had just happened.
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A lady at work was seen putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly.  When I inquired as to what she was doing, she said she was shopping on the Internet and they kept asking for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM "thingy."
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I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car.  "Do you need some help?" I asked.  She replied, "I knew I should have replaced the battery to this remote door unlocker.  Now I can't get into my car.  Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenience store) would have a battery to fit this?"  "Hmmm, I dunno.  Do you have an alarm too?" I asked.  "No, just this remote thingy," she answered, handing it and the car keys to me.  As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, "Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries.  It's a long walk."
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Several years ago, we had an Intern who was none too swift.  One day she was typing and turned to a secretary and said, "I'm almost out of typing paper.  "What do I do?"  "Just use copier machine paper," the secretary told her.  With that, the intern took her last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make five "blank" copies.
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I was in a car dealership a while ago, when a large motor home was towed into the garage.  The front of the vehicle was in dire need of repair and the whole thing generally looked like an extra in Twister.  I asked the manager what had happened. He told me that the driver had set the "cruise control" and then went in the back to make a sandwich.
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My neighbor works in the operations department in the central office of a large bank.  Employees in the field call him when they have problems with their computers.  One night he got a call from a woman in one of the branch banks who had this question,  "I've got smoke coming from the back of my terminal.  Do you guys have a fire downtown?"
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Police in Radnor, Pennsylvania, interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine.  The message "He's lying" was placed in the copier, and police pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth.  Believing the "lie detector" was working, the suspect confessed.
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LIFE IS TOUGH. IT'S TOUGHER IF YOU'RE STUPID.

[Jrand73]

Yes DRTCB - derBrucer is correct - but according to the DVD info (disc is backordered OF COURSE) - this set is the only way you can get OMEN IV.  I have never seen it either....my favorite is III - but time will tell.

[JMK]

Re:  James Bond.  The only one I can think of is Hugh Jackman, but I know not of his relationship with any assistant.

[Jennifer]

Also in today's POST is an interesting "blind item".  Most of the time I can figure out who these are about, but this one has me stumped.  Does any DR know who they are talking about?

WHICH Broadway hunk lost his chance at being the next James Bond because of rumors he's gay?  The movie's producers found out he was a little too close to his male assistant, and were worried about the secret getting out and weakening the Bond machismo.

I assumed they meant Hugh Jackman (even though he is married), since I heard he was up to be Bond.

I just checked All That Chat and that is also who they say it is.

[JMK]

I just checked All That Chat and that is also who they say it is.

Well, I guess we better go back to the drawing board, then.  

[Jennifer]

As for "American Idol"...

No real shock about LaToya.  But the other two... Well, at least Jon Peter's selection to the top three - even he seemed surprised.

At least LaToya's singing was very good again last night, but the other girl's - sorry, I can't remember her name right now - was worse.  "Roll the credits!"

You mean Amy (girl with the pink hair).

If you glance at the idolonfox message boards, it's actually quite easy to predict who will advance.  There is HUGE support for Amy. And nobody there liked Leah (which is why even though the judges loved her, I wasn't sure she'd even be #3).

Jon (pen salesman) got a lot of good publicity in the audition shows. And he is very popular.  I actually like him a lot. He's got this sweet look, and to me he is 100 times more appealing than the football guy from last week.

There are a lot of little girls who vote and they seem to like to vote for good looking guys (whatever they consider that to be).

[TCB]

I assumed they meant Hugh Jackman (even though he is married), since I heard he was up to be Bond.

I just checked All That Chat and that is also who they say it is.

Hmm, would all of you who live in New York, keep an eye out in case Mr. Jackman decides to hire a new assistant.  I would galdly give up my job of 21 years to work as his assistant!!!

[DERBRUCER]

Dear Reader Panni and Dear Reader Charles Pogue:  Will be interested to hear your respective takes on the authenticity of today's L.A. Times Calendar section articles on the life of the Hollywood screenwriter today.

For those of you who do not have LA Times placed on your breakfast tray:

Calendar



Quiet! Script in progress
By Robert Masello
Special to The Times

February 26 2004

(excerpts)

The trades are Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, and some super-successful screen and TV writers, I'm told, actually get them delivered right to their homes. The rest of us usually meander down to the nearest Barnes & Noble, where we wait in line to read a copy without having to buy it. Professional courtesy dictates that you try not to leave coffee or cinnamon stains on it.


Spotting us is easy. That's us there, in the baseball cap and loose-fit Dockers, grinding our teeth as we read about the latest monster script sale — "Paramount Antes Up $2 Million for Spec Feature by 14-Year-Old Vons Bagger!" Last year alone, the guild registered 50,000 treatments, scripts and ideas — and 182 movies were produced under guild jurisdiction. You figure the odds.
...
And dignity, especially at this awards-crazy time of the year, is never far from a screenwriter's mind. The Writers Guild Awards were last week, and the Oscars are coming up, so there's still a bumper crop of bitterness out there waiting to be harvested. When all of those around you are being nominated and celebrated, you just want to say, "Hold on one darn minute here! You want to know what I could have done if I'd (a) been asked, (b) was self-motivated or (c) had talent?" Speaking for myself, I wasn't up for anything, but that doesn't mean I don't feel robbed. The screenwriter's sense of personal injury is as finely tuned as a bat's radar. [A BK vs DTS and PayPal Scam reference]
...
The one thing we don't like to talk about is our work; it would be unseemly. If you're actually employed, on a paying job, your friends don't want to hear about it. (And for all you know, you're rewriting the script your lunch mate was fired from the week before.) [A CP reference - bolding a BK homage]
...
And now, there's also the big question: Who's going to win what on Sunday night? A decidedly informal poll of the writers I found dining at Jerry's Famous Deli in Westwood voted this way. Best adapted screenplay? "Mystic River." A solid piece of work by a veteran pro, Brian Helgeland. Best original screenplay, the big kahuna? "Lost in Translation," though there was some reluctance to heap any more blessings on Sofia Coppola, a young woman whose life seems too good already. Writers like to rectify, not reinforce, a cosmic imbalance wherever they see it. [A Panni reference?]
...
If you're a screenwriter in L.A., and you play your cards right, you never have to grow up.

Michael Jackson may have moved out of Neverland ... but we're not budging.

der Brucer (full transcript available on request)

[Jennifer]

Quote from: Jennifer on Today at 10:58:00am

I just checked All That Chat and that is also who they say it is.

 

Well, I guess we better go back to the drawing board, then.  

Well the reason I thought this blind item was obvious was because 1) he is really one of the only hunk leading men on broadway 2) i've heard rumors he was gay and 3) i had read before that he was being considered for James Bond.

Me, I wanna know who the former supermodel is who is ditching her husband!

[Jrand73]

Thanks derBrucer....but what exactly does a screenwriter do?  I thought the actors made up the movie as they went along?

[William E. Lurie]

I thought of Jackman too, but in his case I had never heard rumors that he was gay.  However the gay performers I thought of are not big enough names to really be considered for Bond.

George's very funny post above reminds me of a funny story Sid Caesar told in his autobiography.  A few years ago he was making a speech at a University.  When he asked for questions from the students, one of them asked "I know you did a live ninety minute show every week, but how long did it take to perform each episode?".

[Jrand73]

DRGeorge - how much IS one of those dividers?  

LOL.....I read your post...and WEL's...and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

[DERBRUCER]

I would galdly give up my job of 21 years to work as his assistant!!!

A reigning Queen stepping down after 21 years - I don't think so!

TCB explaing to DRs at HHW:


"But you must believe me when I tell you that I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as HHW Queen as I would wish to do without the help and support of the man I love."


der Brucer (TCB gets all the good parts!)

PS For the Dr who asked about "trimming" from Acrobat files, the above quote was lifted (and then edited) from a Royal.gov.uk .pdf file using the free  Acrobat 4.0 Reader.

[Jennifer]

Yes the divider story is funny. That is the one I find hardest to believe. I mean, how could someone working there not know what a divider is!

The one I can unfortunately easily believe is the McDonald's one.  

[Jane]

I was out last night, Dear Readers, and regret that I was unable to join in the vibrant political discussions that took place here.  It feels good knowing that my point of view on the subject of the moment is shared by all the Hainesies and Kimlets who chimed in last night.

I didn’t comment, but I agree wholeheartedly!  But then you probably guessed as much.

[DERBRUCER]

....but what exactly does a screenwriter do?  I thought the actors made up the movie as they went along?

Nonsense (not the musical!). Screen writers follow a simple six step process:

1. By a computer.
2. Learn to Google
3. Learn to cut, paste, and modify
4. Hire a good editor
5. Submit (leave it alone TCB!)
6. Accept first 6 figure option

der WGA-trainee Brucer

[Jane]

My interest in THE DETECTIVE was piqued and I was going to rent it.  But disclosure warning was not posted and I now know the ending.

Tomovoz how is Magnus today?  I do hope he is home and the surgery was a success.  I’m also looking forward to your new parrot photos.

Panni, have a happy & healthy day today.  

JRand53 I agree with QUE SERA SERA.

[MBarnum]

Blah! I am sick as a dog today! I went home sick from work yesterday but today I feel even worse. Blah! I want so much to go to the store and pick up a newspaper but I haven't been able to get very far from the bathroom in the last 12 hours (I will spare you the gory details).

For the life of me I cannot recall any of my favorite children's songs from my childhood. I know I had lots of children's songs on 45s that I listenend too, but I don't recall what they were!

Well, I think I shall lay on the couch and finish watching the Dr. Kildare movie that I started last night.

[Tomovoz]

Glad you caught up on the posts Jane. I was thinking of your interest when I took the photographs.
Magnus should be home in about 5 hours time I hope - I need to telephone the VET in another 2 hours.

Re photographic film and cameras - not all of us have the $$$$ to invest in new technology. Priorities are made and a digital camera is well down on the list. Out time scale for investment on such things has certainly been somewhat lengthened by a sudden change in $$$$ priorities - Magnus.

[Jane]

MBarnum feel better quickly!