Jury Duty and Parties

Yesterday left me with no real time to write down a blog post, though I knew well what its subject was apt to be. All this week, I've been on call for jury duty here in LA County. I knew this would be coming late last year, when I sought and received a postpostment. Every night starting Sunday, I've had to call a hotline to see if my presence was required at a courthouse downtown. Each night, the voice assured me that it was not. I guess I got complacent about it.

Thursday night I was out with a friend to hear a speech he gave about his faith at a church. When it was through, I was quite tired, and didn't really think of calling. The following morning, I woke up miraculously early. Around 7:30, it occurred to me that I should call to make sure I wasn't needed. Instead of that expected outcome, I was told that in fact I was required to be down at the courthouse at 7:45. Even if I had been driving myself, that would have been insufficient time. As it was, depending on public transportation as I do, I was awfully late. The whole way, I was very concerned that they would be mad at me, and I would be in trouble.

I can take it

I'd just like to say at this juncture that I'm prepared to receive all constructive criticism on the name and layout of my blog.

Scripts; then I ramble on about a variety of other subjects

As short a time as I have been involved in film and tv production, I have had occasion to read a lot of scripts; a particularly high number of them have been short films. Something that most of the films, short and feature-length alike, have had in common is that they have been pretty bad. Even excluding the ones I turned down, most were awful. That's not to say that all were, but even among the ones that I myself wrote, most were not good. I usually decide that the ability to write a good script is just one skill of many required to realize a film, and if the people I'm working with lack that one, it's probably all right if they have the rest.

I'm happy to report that I have just read the script of a film being shot by a friend, and was delighted to discover that the script is good. I expect that there's no money in this one, but there's nonetheless enough reason to be a part of it. I very much like the director (and the script, as indicated above), and anticipate that the set will have something that my kitchen does not: food.

Nausea/Fast Food

Fast food makes two promises- Firstly, that it will be ready for consumption fast. Secondly, that it is food. Often, a fast food establishment fails to keep one or the other. All too often, they fail on both scores.

A particular burger chain fails me on a regular basis. Each burger is a fresh reminder of the vow I made to myself never to eat there again. Why do I return? It's just a few steps from my door, and is open all night on weekends.

Debut

Imagine my shame when I start a new blog and find myself at a loss for what to write. Sometimes I'm going to have to force myself to write something (like now), and I don't guarantee that the result will be terribly entertaining. All that I can make sure of is that it will be there.

As I was racking my brain, Charles Foster Kane's declaration of principles came to mind:

"I will provide the people of this city with a daily paper that will tell all the news honestly. I will also provide them with a fighting and tireless champion of their rights as citizens and as human beings."

I guess that what I wrote at the top of the post is sort of my declaration of principles. Well, that's the start of the blog. If any soul other than myself reads it, I'll consider it a success.