Swan Dive Of Sense

He went on to say, "I cringe when I realize that there were children all across this nation watching this program. They were exposed to the violence of multiple gunshot wounds, vile language, full frontal nudity, and irresponsible sexual activity."

The insanity of whether Schindler's List could be considered your typical TV fest o' sex and violence aside, I wonder if the good Representative (the kind of guy who, sad to say, gives a bad name to Congresspeople, Republicans, and Southerners in one fell swoop) realizes that there is no kid out there who's going to sit still for three hours during a black-and-white movie about the Holocaust when he realizes that there are no velociraptors int it unless his parents made him sit there and watch it?

(And, while we're on the topic: was Schindler's List shown letterboxed or pan-and-scanned?)

Good Lord. Wednesday already. Where does the week go?

I didn't go into Babylonian today, because a)I didn't sleep well last night, so I'm tired and groggy today and b)I think I'm coming down with something. Again. My throat has started to feel itchy and coated. I've started horking up furballs again.

In Film History today we watched Adam's Rib, a Tracy-Hepburn romantic comedy. Heresy approaches: I thought Hepburn's motivations for getting involved in the murder case were a trifle forced and the bit at the end about making each other see the other's side didn't work at all. Also, Tracy annoyed me by being grumpy through two-thirds of the picture. I am willing to be convinced otherwise about this film (which was very witty and stylish and funny, no matter how completely implausible within the confines of its own little world -- don't write me and say, But no movie's realistic, 'kay?).

Previously, in the lecture portion of class, the prof went over the great societal changes of the post-war years 1948-1962, including the advent of television. And he went on to extol the "Golden Age" of television during the Fifties and how its like will never be matched, nay, never be approached again, despite having 500 channels. The students had a spirited talk during the break about whether any age that has receded into the rosy past automatically becomes a Golden Age. We've had the benefit of time to cull the wheat from the chaff, and I'm willing to speculate here and now that it wasn't all wheat. I am also willing to go on the record and say that there's quite a bit of wheat right now.

Monday: went to Babylonian, ran around most of the day, came home a little early. I didn't have Directing class Monday night, which I appreciated because I wanted to work on my outline for Writing class. I worked on that.

Tuesday: I kept working on my outline for class. I went over to Babylonian to drop off the copy of FrameMaker I'd borrowed overnight and nearly ran smack into Harlan Ellison in the hallway. (Took me a second to realize who he was.) He also left at the same time I did, so I got to see what kind of car he has: yes, it's a Geo.

In Writing class, we went over my outline and the teacher tore it apart. Let me say that his ideas were good ones. Let me also say that I was left feeling frustrated, like I'm not getting the concept of how to form a story, at least for the movies down.

Darin had no time for this whining when I talked to him about this later that night. He reminds me to focus on the work and not on how I feel about the work. I have so much of my self-image tied up in how well I'm doing and how well other people think I'm doing and not enough in what I'm doing.

Sometimes I really resent how clear-minded Darin is.

In Business class, we had a midterm and then Brooke talked about query letters, the usual spiel about query letters and professionalism: act like a normal, decent human being; type your letters; no gimmicks.

After class I talked to Brooke about ageism in the Industry, and her basic advice was: Don't go there. Don't even worry about it. Writers have it somewhat easier: it's what's on the page that counts. Not what year you were born or how many wrinkles you have. She said that she's talked to writers who have complained about ageism and sexism, and inevitably their writing was marginal and their attitudes were huge, and who wants to work with someone with attitude?

The biggest problem with being a writer in Hollywood is probably that you actually have to write something and then you actually have to show it to someone. Producers aren't just going to take you on your word, dammit.

Does anybody else love the Packard-Bell "do your banking at home" ad? It doesn't make me want to buy the product, but it's fun nonetheless. The people growing old in the gothic bank, waiting for a teller...I think it's great. Pointless, but great. I mean, like Packard-Bell's the only make of computer you can do banking at home on?