slowly but surely gets you there way behind everyone else.
Oooh, I want a kitchen like that. Which I guess is the point of this show.
I spent most of today updating my Going and Going 'burb (note to would-be Web archivists or 'burb starters: Don't do it) and finishing the latest update to my "Why Web Journals Suck" essay, in which I expound on how to maximize your hit count.
I could do this today because Sophia was agreeable. The past few days I've gotten bupkiss done because her schedule, which shifted radically on me. I thought I had it figured out -- then, kablooey! That nap from 10 'til noon? Fuhgeddabouddit. Late afternoon sleepiness became late afternoon perkiness (sadly, not for Mommy as well).
I can see redoing my entire site is going to take that literal month of Sundays.
Forum: Why Web Journals Suck (and that essay does too)
I am just thrilled by this upswing in trailers for movies being made available on the web. Given that I may never set foot in a movie theater again and we fast-forward through all commercials, it's the only way I get to see these ads.
The first movie Sophia's going to see in the theaters, however, is going to be Ridley Scott's Gladiator. Even in the teeny-tiny Quicktime preview, it definitely looks to be the kind of movie one should see on the largest screen possible. Of course, we will have to see it in the middle of the day on a Tuesday, when no one else is in the theater and minds hearing the scuffling of a baby inside a sling. (Provided, of course, that Sophia is on something of a schedule by then...please. Please.)
Whether or not Daddy is coming along with in the middle of the day on a Tuesday now that he's not a consultant anymore remains to be seen.
Today's book recommendation (since I haven't had one in weeks): Which Lie Did I Tell? by William Goldman. This is the sequel to Goldman's famous Adventures in the Screen Trade, which is one of the classics of the film memoir genre, canonized Goldman as a saint of screenwriters, and gave this journal its name (because "Nobody Knows Anything" is one of Goldman's two important rules of the game).
I think William Goldman is often overrated as a screenwriter. ("Yeah, and how many Oscars do you have?") However, I think his observations of the business are dead-on, and his advice about what makes a selling screenplay are absolutely right. The way he talks about the importance of the star role, the roadblocks he's run into, how he's seen the business work...sounds pretty right to me.
I also just love some of his anecdotes about the business. He's a chatty fellow.
(One thing you should be aware of when reading these "insider" books is: The writer of said book doesn't want to piss off anyone who might be able to help him, now or in the future. So you're not going to get a lot of dirt from Mr. Goldman in this book or any of his Premiere essays, or from John Gregory Dunne in Monster: Living off the Big Screen, or in a host of other Hollywood books. Look at the names Goldman names; look at the number of places he kisses ass; look at the number of people who go nameless. He wants to work. Be that as it may: read between the lines, glean what you can.)
Goldman's nonfiction needs an editor -- sometimes his informal style is, how shall we say, incomprehensible. You have to stop and reread the sentence a few times to parse what he meant -- whereas if you were talking to him and he'd said the same thing, you'd understand immediately.
I have not brought myself to read the rough-draft screenplay he's included in the book. This should be the best part of the book -- Goldman's written a screenplay, shows you the screenplay, and then gives you the notes that several other pro screenwriters in Hollywood (the Farrelly brothers, Callie Khouri, John Patrick Shanley, Scott Frank) gave him on how they'd rewrite it.
Problem 1: this isn't going to be his best screenplay. If it were a really good screenplay, he wouldn't be giving it away here, he'd be selling it somewhere in Hollywood.
Problem 2: Goldman's screenplay style is annoying -- like fingernails on a blackboard. For one thing, he uses a CUT TO between every damn paragraph (just about), which is wrong wrong wrong (but he's William Goldman, so he can do it).
We had more guests this week -- Darin's brother Mitch came to stay for a few days. He cooked dinner for us one night (stirfry citrus chicken, peas with tofu). And he and Darin made their mother's banana chocolate chip cake, which is a fine, fine dish:
FANTASTIC BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP CAKE
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar (cut back to 1 1/4 cups)
2 beaten eggs
1 cup mashed bananas (I usually use more, 4 or 5 bananas,
very ripe)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour milk (use 1/2 teaspoon vinegar in fresh milk to
make sour milk)
1-12 oz. package of chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla
Put baking soda in sour milk. Cream butter, add sugar, beat well.
Add eggs, beat well. Add mashed bananas. Alternate dry and wet
ingredients and beat well. Add chips and vanilla. Bake in greased
8 or 9 inch pan in moderate oven (350) about 40 minutes.
Sophia has reacted badly to all these visitors -- we thought she had baby acne but we're relatively sure she's got a facial rash that's now spreading, and she's been vomiting up huge quantities of milk at least once a day. Yes, we're taking her to the doctor, tomorrow morning at the newborn drop-in time. We're probably just paranoid parents. (Okay, I'm just a paranoid mommy who's dragged her spouse into this nonsense.) But I'd rather hear I'm paranoid than "My God, didn't you suspect something was wrong?"
I am doing my part: as of today I've given up milk products (because cow's milk is a big allergen) and as of tomorrow (since it's too late today) I'm giving up chocolate. Heh. My favorite dessert: chocolate ice cream. Ouch. Well, it's not just about me any more.
Forum: "Can't you talk about anything except that stupid baby?"
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Copyright 2000 Diane Patterson
Send comments and questions to diane@spies.com