Action Hero Dreams

When I finally did wake up, I thought: Hey, I didn't dream last night! Then snippets of the dreams I do remember flooded in, and I realized how silly that idea was.

1. Tommy Lee Jones was in one dream. One sequence involved TLJ, me, and a friend of mine going to a movie at an art house where tickets cost $12 a piece. (Clearly a prophetic dream about next year's movie prices.) TLJ got into the theatre; my friend and I were locked out. We had to get in to join him in the theatre. This doesn't sound exciting, but I think there was some espionage/action-oriented subplot I've forgotten.

2. Then I was in some bizarre situation that involved someone else blowing up my nice new house. I thought, I have to rescue my paper diary, because I won't be able to keep my diary online, now that the cops are looking for me. Arnold Schwarzenegger and I were on the run, trying to get to the airport, where tickets and fake passports awaited us. Much gunfire and ducking through alleys.

3. And then the weirdest one: my character was dating Superman (Nicolas Cage), but my character realized that that this wasn't working out and the perfect match would be...my character's father (Harrison Ford). So the two of them started dating (off-screen, thankfully). I blame Tim Burton for this dream.

One reason I slept so late is I was up so late -- I needed to take care of some annoying administrative business and it was going to keep me up until I did it. So I did it. Because I'm currently using AOL as my ISP (note to anybody out there who chooses AOL as their ISP, rather than being forced to by current circumstances as I am, all I have to say is -- GET A REAL ISP!) I noticed that several of my friends were online, all in the same chat room. I joined them in the chat room.

And chatted. And chatted. Made new friends. (One, a produced screenwriter and director, wants to read one of my scripts.) Discovered that 1am is the happening time for Industry pros to be chatting on AOL.

Something I've discovered amongst drivers here in SoCal: if you are in the left turn lane, preparing to turn left, and the light turns to yellow or even red in some cases, on-coming cars will flash their headlights at you, saying, "Don't do anything, because though I know it's wrong, I'm going to barrel through this intersection and you'd better not make any moves."

Let me reiterate: no one is this important. The next time you see a yellow light, slow down and stop. Let the other person go. Take a deep breath, and remind yourself that seeing your children or grandnieces grow up or finding an AIDS vaccine or just seeing a good movie this summer is far, far more important than shaving a few minutes off your travel time.

Remember: it's not Zaire, it's the Democratic Republic of Congo. I had thought that Congo was the colonial name, but clearly the people who live there don't think so. Does anyone know why they don't like the name Zaire? Is that a reminder of Mobutu?

Does the US refer to Cambodia as Cambodia or Kampuchea?

I'm pretty sure we don't recognize Burma's change of name to Myanmar.

Time, time, time: on All Things Considered there was a discussion of the time orientation of our society and how it affects our ideas of accomplishment and lifestyle. Next, on Terry Gross's Fresh Air, she discussing a book entitled The Time Bind about the growing reliance of Americans on work for their friends and social life rather than on the home.

I'm definitely feeling pressured for time just listening to this.

Today's factoid (actually, yesterday's): Variety estimates that the cost of Titanic, including costs of prints and distribution and advertising, may go past $285m. TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY FIVE MILLION DOLLARS.

I saw the preview before Breakdown. It looks cool. But this is crazy.