Embarrassing Admissions

Today I watched Manhunter, which, given the Hannibal Lecter character (for some reason spelled "Lecktor"), somewhat continues the Anthony Hopkins marathon. Manhunter is pretty good but suffers from the "I must give some exposition now" problem too many times. And I don't agree with those who think that Brian Cox makes a better Lecter--Cox is just nasty.

Tonight I watched The Thorn Birds, Part I, on the Romance channel. Pretty cool: no commercials. I remember watching it the first time, and I know I didn't notice that every single character in it has a different accent, including several different American accents. This is amusing, given that it's set in the back country of Australia.

I asked a friend to read my Thesis Script, and she gave me a ton of feedback--most of which points to a total rewrite. She assured me that she loves my main character (everybody loves my main character; I'm assured I have a great main character, which is something, I guess), I just need to restructure a few things and tweak the Bad Guy's character, because he's too flat.

I really appreciated her feedback. Honest. I felt disappointed that there was anything to criticize, and I wallowed a bit in the mire of, "Am I ever going to do this right?", but then I decided that that kind of attitude was not going to help much.

Yes, folks: I'm changing my attitudes. I can only work on how I feel about things, and being stubborn and not listening to criticism isn't going to be helpful.

This week's self-help book is, scarily enough, one that I'm embarrassed to own but can actually recommend: Awaken The Giant Within by Anthony Robbins. He's way into self-promotion--he has his own jet and he wants us to know that, several times--but many of the things he talks about in there are, actually, very helpful.

I think Darin, who is allergic to the entire self-help movement despite being a poster boy for the self-motivated, might even agree with a few of the things, most notably that changing your life is doable and it is your responsibility.

The Diane Patterson Earthquake Scale:

• Mild (3.0 and below): Is that refrigerator shaking? Is that wind hitting the windows? Did a truck go by? Oh, wait: that's an earthquake.
• Noticeable (3.0-7.0): Hey, the house is shaking. I don't even have to go ask Darin on this one--this is an earthquake.
• Newsworthy (7.0 and above): Gee, I'd better investigate that whole thing about getting under a table or into a doorway.

(Yes, there are some earthquakes that make me go ask Darin, "Was that an earthquake?" I once said to him, "How will we know when they start dropping bombs?" Because that's what it sounds like: a bomb went off several dozen miles away.)

We just had a mild earthquake, and I can't find anything on the news about it! (Which clearly means it's less important than the weather or the Dodgers. Or, this election we had today.)

Aha! I have found the place to look: Recent Earthquakes in California and Nevada.

I didn't vote today. I suck.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics