I love love love Ray Suarez.
Today's first installment of Talk of the Nation dealt with the recent upswing in naturalization. It very quickly devolved into a partisan squabble, with naturalization advocates going at it tooth and nail with the advisor from Gov. George W. Bush (TX). This advisor kept talking about the Clinton administration's covert plan to get lots of people registered in time for this election. He didn't use the word conspiracy, but you could just tell he wanted to.
At one point Ray calmly broke in, gave the radio station info, and stopped everyone in their tracks. He's great. He's the best. I hope ABC doesn't hire him for a whole bunch of money and turn him into Sam Donaldson.
Oh great. The second hour is "open phones" -- and completely specious statistics are being thrown around. Save me. Save me now. Chant after me: the more exact the statistic, the less likely it is to be accurate.
Yesterday, I made Tollhouse cookies, I did two loads of laundry, I read the Sunday paper, I saw the movie 2 Days in the Valley.
What I should have been doing is writing, of course. I have a mega-buttload of writing to do for writing class. I made cookies. I need to find some activity for which I can procrastinate by writing.
Best quote from yesterday: "James Spader is the Christopher Walken of our generation." Tiffany says she is always creeped out by James Spader, and when he and Rob Lowe co-starred -- she was seriously out-creeped.
I met up with Tiffany and Edgar at the Century City movie theatres to see 2 Days in the Valley -- Tiffany really liked it, Edgar really didn't like it, I was somewhere in between. (Edgar's review: "I know Quentin Tarantino, I've seen Quentin Tarantino -- and you sir, are no Quentin Tarantino.") It was uneven but entertaining. I'm not going to remember it next week.
Spent last night on AOL chatting with a couple of my screenwriter friends about the Biz. I know this comes as no surprise to either of them, but they really go at one another during discussions like this. I usually end up feeling very uncomfortable. I have to learn to deal with conflict better. Especially *other people's*, when they're both speaking in absolutes -- this IS the way it is.
One part of the discussion: could Jesus be referred to as a rabbi? I said yes -- he was a religious teacher. There was disagreement and a reference to whether converts would listen to a rabbi. I pointed out there were no converts during Jesus's lifetime -- only followers. The converts came along later, led by that wacky Paul.
Problems with this discussion: none of us is a religious scholar. Or, for that matter, Jewish.
I called Darin and he tried to clarify things a teeny bit. At least I know now I have to go find someone in the religious studies dept. at USC.
Today I have another interview. I thought I'd get back to the various production companies today, but I'm going to talk to Brooke Wharton at class tonight and ask for her advice. She's worked in the business end of this industry, I'm sure she knows the gossip.