GEEKEND '08

Did you attend the WFMU record fair? How about the Chiller Theater 2008 Expo? I hope you had a better time than I did...

Slamdance Semi-Finals

Hi this blog is not dead. Well, I didn't make the Top 50 but I sure did make the top 350+ out of many thousands of entries, and that must mean I did something right.
Coming soon: The Horror Competition!!
In November: pitch fests in NYC and LA!

My Flash Portfolio v 3.01

Now with a more interactive and fun kind of face, although the two highlighted pieces - my casino game, and my personal wealth calculator (this may be more universally useful than I had imagined) - may still be buggy. I invite you to play, twiddle, break them and let me know how you did it.

Moondance 2008 Semi Finals

I'm very happy that the Moondance '08 competition nominated The Propeller as a semi-finalist. It also got a Blue Star at Trigger Street - that's an old draft that bears little resemblance to the script as it is today.
I'm traveling to LA in November for the Screenwriters' Expo, with the intent to sell my scripts (and see the Wild West again), so if there are veterans of the Expo or Angelenos out there reading this, don't be shy!

My Flash Portfolio

I've completely overhauled my Flash website. It has five clips nested in an interface which took about 12 and 1/2 hours to create in MX. (Not all at once, as Steven Wright observed.)
UPDATE July 08: I've added a new SWF, a calculator designed to show off my OOP programming. What I would like is for this to load the final page into your spreadsheet, so a user can do a week to week budget of what they save. (Ideally this would be available to Paypal donors ;) but we'll have to see the reaction first.) I also want to add more options for week to week budgeting. This is just a work in progress, as it always is. As for the main menu, I fixed some of the weirdness on the different layers. I don't want to overhaul the whole thing again but I do want the page to have a more active look.
I hope you enjoy my hand-drawn style of animation, because this is just the beginning.

Beverly Hills Film Festival 2008

Have I mentioned that I'm a finalist!? The fest has been running all week, and tonight is the awards ceremony, including honors for writers. I entered on a very old draft of The Bloody Duchess, which has no chance in hell of winning and plus I can't afford the outrageous airfare to LA right now.
If any other entrants followed this link from the online exchange, firstly, welcome to my blog! And congratulations to us for placing, and especially to whoever gets the grand prize. Options and nice weather is what I wish for everyone!
UPDATE: Congratulations to the top 3 winners! The director estimated over 500 scripts were entered, and 69 were chosen as finalists. The top 14th percentile isn't too bad, is it?

Almost An Evening, by Ethan Coen

Hot off winning an Oscar (finally!) along with directing brother Joel for "No Country For Old Men", Ethan Coen hits the mean floorboards of Greenwich Village with a trilogy of plays, now running at the Bleecker Street Theater. And his Beckett influence jumps to the forefront here, although there's still room for his signature slapstick and jaundiced eye.
F. Murray Abraham, who's got an Oscar himself, is the most recognized name in the cast, and (with Lebowski-esque hair, natch) plays God, literally - and then plays playing God. He also delivers a f-bomb laced monologue that had me and the whole theater rolling. Carlin himself would be proud. The whole cast, eight actors playing over twenty roles, is aces. The other leads are Tim Hopper as a shady Briton who has a crisis of character, and Joey Slotnick as a man who can't get out of his doctor's waiting room. Enjoy!
Tickets are readily available, or you can make a reservation and get a cool personalized ticket package at www.broadwayoffers.com. And the requisite link: www.almostanevening.com Maybe one day we'll see that fourth play?