Shakespearean tragedy

The more I observe Hillary Clinton's mess of a primary campaign, the more I see her as a victim of her own tragic flaw, a kind of Shakespearean hero. Take this amazing remark Friday about RFK's assassination. If you are going to give examples of primaries lasting into June, there are many, many possibilities without bringing up this one. What are earth was she thinking of? In context, how can you not read the subtext as, Anything can happen as late as June, the leading candidate can even be assassinated. And she is perfectly right. In our unfortunate culture, assassination has often changed everything. So you can't fault her for lying, the way she lied about being under sniper fire. This time her fault is incredible insensitivity and crassness. I have to go all the way back to Nixon to find a remark so out of touch with the context of the times: Nixon asking Vietnam protesters how their football team is doing. Say what? Your mouth drops open when you hear that. The same with HC's remark. What was she thinking? Even her non-apologetic apology was out of touch, and she never did apologize to Obama. She probably doesn't even get it.

HC reminds me of Nixon in other ways. Both love being victims. Both see vast conspiracies against them (the Clintons even gave it a name). Both are apt to say anything to gain political advantage. Both are skilled politicians, neither even close to being a statesman. Both eventually fall victim to their own paranoia, which is what seems to be happening to HC in her current meltdown. At least one of her advisors, speaking on the record anonymously, has observed this and is worried about her.

Oliver Stone already made a powerful dramatic story based on Nixon, portrayed brilliantly by A. Hopkins. Surely someone will do the same regarding HC. She's a character of Shakespearean proportions. A victim of her own unbridled ambition. As more than one commentator has put it, it's an increasingly sad story.

Personally, I think if she had kept to the high road after the shock of O's popularity, she still could have won the nomination. But then that would require her to be someone she is not. Part of her flaw is this inability to stick to the high road. Or did she just get bad advice? Sad in either case. And no one else put those spontaneous remarks about assassination in her mouth. That was HC all the way. I suspect this will prove to be the nail in her coffin.

Luxury

What a luxury today has been! Usually I am in a great panic Friday morning because I'm not ready for my piano class, so I cram practicing the week's tune all morning to get ready. With class canceled, I've been able to do errands, writerly chores, and the usual things we do to avoid work we should be doing. It's been a great morning! I even bought a terrific mechanical pencil. Not a bad day's work ha ha. I also found two great music books in the library that are just what I need, so I ordered copies. If last summer was my digital summer, this one is my musical summer. Summer after next might find me videotaping an original short chamber opera. That would be very cool indeed, especially if it's located out in the world and not in a theater. My notion is to tape in acapella and then add music later.

A grad student never got her papers signed for her Masters orals, and I think she's going to need my signature today, her deadline, so I need to be available. Otherwise I might skip work entirely and head off somewhere with the dog. Just as well I stay home, though ... I may get some real work done yet today.

The strongest Democrat

One of Clinton's arguments for the nomination is that she is stronger against McC. The data at
RealClearPolitics does not back this argument. Rather they are equally paired against the Republican. RCP averages all the polls, and here are some highlights:

Both O and C beat McC in Ohio in a close race, O by more.

Both O and C beat McC in Penn. with a comfortable margin, C by more.

McC beats O very closely in Florida, C wins.

McC beats C very closely in Mich, O wins.

If you go through the average polls thus far for the "battleground states," neither Dem candidate emerges stronger against McC than the other. The C and O spins are not backed by data. But I guess that's the definition of "a spin": a claim not backed by data.

Good timing

Tomorrow's piano class is cancelled, which is great because I can spend the morning editing the review instead of catching up on this week's piano piece, now pushed back a week. And I've fallen behind again in editing. Primus is giving me a ton of poetry videos -- a special section, I think -- having a little bit too much fun with his Flip camera ha ha. But for next issue he's going to video some jazz musician friends, too. Let him have his fun, the review benefits! But I do have a lot of the usual editing chores to do before we are due out July 1, and it's time to put a lot of energy under my editor's cap.

I've forgotten how nice it can feel to have a class cancelled ha ha.

June 19-21, Pittsburgh, Hypertext 08 Conference

My videos are first up. The head of the workshop will host the session since I won't be there.

He's going to try to put together a "visiting writer" gig for me next spring where I'll "put on a show" testing my design for a hyperdrama theater. This would be very cool if we can pull it off. It actually wouldn't be that hard, using computer projections on screens. If you had 3 or 4 computer-screen arrangements, you could communicate the concept. I'd really love to do this.

clipped from steveersinghaus.com Hypertext 08 Workshop on Creating out of the Machine: Hypertext, Hypermedia, and Web Artists Explore the Craft The Program Session 1 CHANGING KEY: A hyperdrama Video and Lecture-demonstration :: Charles Deemer, Portland State University, USA. 9:15-10:15 AM More Information "CHANGING KEY": A hyperdrama Video and Lecture-demonstration :: Charles Deemer In “Changing Key” I will introduce the dramatic principles of hyperdrama, illustrate them with a short dramatic video, and discuss the “nuts & bolts” of writing and producing hyperdrama both for live performance and for film. The entire package will be a structured video accessed through a website with embedded videos that are hosted at YouTube.

All this material is available online.

Finale class

My class last night was far more useful than I anticipated. From the syllabus, I thought the subject matter might not be an area I'd actually work in but I was very wrong. Another good class in this outstanding sequence of them. Only two more to go.

Past as future

clipped from news.yahoo.com High gas prices drive farmer to switch to mules MCMINNVILLE, Tenn. - High gas prices have driven a Warren County farmer and his sons to hitch a tractor rake to a pair of mules to gather hay from their fields. T.R. Raymond bought Dolly and Molly at the Dixon mule sale last year. Son Danny Raymond trained them and also modified the tractor rake so the mules could pull it. T.R. Raymond says the mules are slower than a petroleum-powered tractor, but there are benefits. "This fuel's so high, you can't afford it," he said. "We can feed these mules cheaper than we can buy fuel. That's the truth." And Danny Raymond says he just likes using the mules around the farm. "We've been using them quite a bit," he said. Brother Robert Raymond added, "It's the way of the future."

Weather::Funk::Dog

This return to gray wet weather has zapped my energy. Woke up in a Great Funk. Often, at such times, I hang out with the dog, trying to absorb his vibes, and so today. Sketch is only in a funk if he's sick. So after hanging out with him for an hour, I felt the return of some energy, and I think H's return this afternoon will be another battery charge, so maybe I can combat this gray blah we call weather here after all.

Tonight's Finale class doesn't sound all that exciting. Learning things I likely would never use. But one never knows. Struggling with the week's piano piece but I think I'll get there. We're treading water in theory, waiting for everybody to get up to speed on 11th and 13th chords.

I am ready for summer. Eager to dive into several projects all at once, multi-tasking, getting a ton done. Feels like a special summer.

The rest of the story

clipped from seattletimes.nwsource.com "Extreme Makeover" recipient in Idaho selling home SANDPOINT, Idaho — A Sandpoint man whose family received a house from the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" television program is putting it up for sale. Eric Hebert said maintaining the home is too expensive and time-consuming as he raises his late sister's 11-year-old twins, Keely and Tyler. Hebert is worried that community members who helped build his home in November 2006 will think he is selling it to make a profit. "I'm doing it not to lose money," he said. "I just hope people understand the reality of it." Maintaining the 3,600-square-foot home is expensive, he added. Since moving in, Hebert said, his bills have tripled.

Screenwriting

In less than a month, I'll have my grades in and another school year ends. Onward to summer, when I expect to get a lot of work done. I'm at the age where I treat each summer as my last, just in case. I'm also revising my syllabus for next fall, adding a textbook to complement mine, WRITING FOR EMOTIONAL IMPACT. This book is strong where mine is weakest, and vice versa, so they should make an excellent pair. And both use the same language, which is helpful. Most of the disagreements between screenwriting books end up being semantic but it can be confusing to beginning students of the craft. This will be the most major revision I've done in quite a while. It helps keep the class fresh to me.

Gray drizzles, the Oregon mantra, are back. My mood turns gray with it. Damn, the hot sun was nice! Rumor says it will be back. Another Oregon mantra, the rumor of sunshine.

We workshop scenes in class today, usually a lot of fun.

How to lie with statistics

Over half a century ago, as a "senior elective" in high school, I took a class called
How to Lie with Statistics, using a recently published book of the same title as our textbook. A remarkable class! And the book is still in print.

This rushes to mind as Clinton has become a textbook example of using these techniques in her misleading claim of winning the popular vote (which I've commented on before). Here is what she is doing:

• She cites an accurate but meaningless statistic: at this point in time, there are more popular votes for her than for Obama. She is ahead by 26,967. (See
  RealClearPolitics).
  
• The statistic is meaningless because she counts Florida and especially Michigan, where O was not even on the ballot. However, in Michigan 238,168 voted for "Uncommitted" rather than for her. It is highly likely that over 27,000 of those would have voted for O had he been on the ballot, removing her lead.
  
• She does not consider the popular votes of IA, NV, ME and WA, caucus states which did not report them. In other words, for all her rhetoric of including "everyone," i.e. FL and MI, she doesn't want to include the four caucus states won by Obama. If you project their popular votes based on delegate distribution, O again takes a commanding lead in "popular vote." Clinton uses the logic of Orwell's Animal Farm: "all states are equal but some are more equal than others."
  

In other words, the genius of this kind of blatant manipulation is that she's not "lying," strictly speaking, but everything she insinuates from citing a meaningless statistic does not follow from a neutral observation of all the data. This is how one lies with statistics. Politicians are doing it all the time.

I wonder if anyone is still teaching this class in high school?

Maybe in two weeks all this primary posturing will end and we can enter the arena of a new kind of posturing, the national election. Or will Clinton, still claiming the popular vote, take the fight to the convention? If she does, I think it ends her career -- so she probably won't. But we'll see. I wouldn't put anything past her, or past any politician.

Weather

Overcast and cooling off rapidly. The forecast has it 30 degrees cooler tomorrow. That's Oregon for you. And to think I've lived here 30 years. I can't explain it.

Mary Flower

Mellow Monday

It's our last warm day ... by the time H returns Wednesday, it'll be 50 and raining. So I plan to enjoy today. Leisurely scene work, some music study, some yard work. First things first, though, and off to Nobby's for breakfast. Breakfast is the best meal to eat out. When I visited my favorite teacher, Bob Trevor, in Honolulu back in the 80s, not too long before he died, I admired his routine of breakfast out at the same cafe, the same booth, the same waitress. I like routine like that. A crazy life demands some kind of routine ha ha.

I took lit classes from Trevor at Pasadena City College after the Army, as I prepared some credits before transferring to UCLA. He got me interested in literature and in writing by his mere presence and respect for the written word. I kept in contact for years after leaving his classes. I stayed with him in Kansas City, where he'd become VP of a college, when the Univ of Mo awarded me a playwriting award very early in my career. It was great to visit him, semi-retired in Hawaii. We always remember our favorite teacher.

Expanding the novel

clipped from www.npr.org First-Time Novelists Make a Splash on the Web All Things Considered, May 18, 2008 · After Marisha Pessl finished her first novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, she got to work on a side project: Calamityphysics.com. The Web site is a companion piece to the book, designed as a window into the life — and dorm room — of the young protagonist, Blue van Meer. It's more and more common for a debut novel to have elaborate homes on the Web, complete with blogs, chatrooms, videos and games. Oftentimes the sites are richly illustrated, almost cinematic. "I think that we're just scratching the surface in publishing," says Ferdman. "As writers get to understand that they can use this medium to basically further their art and their craft in terms of storytelling, then I think we'll see things that go a lot further than Marisha's site."

Workshop prep

Tuesday in class we'll workshop scenes, a lesson in storytelling efficiency. Tomorrow I'll look at the scenes and edit them as needed, which I'll present after we do the scenes as written. The contrast often makes my point quite nicely.

I also have some music work to do tomorrow. I need to write the final exam, but I know what I'm asking so this won't take long.

One more warm day before we go back to our usual cool rain.

Portland made the national news with the Obama rally, which is being called the largest rally of the primary season.

True believers: "Record Obama Crowd, the Size of a City"

An even larger crowd estimate -- 75,000!

clipped from www.kgw.com 75,000 gather for Obama rally at waterfront park PORTLAND, Ore. -- A huge crowd flocked to Portland's waterfront park to see democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama speak at a campaign rally on Portland's waterfront Sunday afternoon, as part of his latest campaign swing through the state. Portland Fire and Rescue estimated that 60,000 people were gathered inside the bowl at waterfront park and another 15,000 were outside, listening to the Senator speak Sunday.

Oregonian blog on Obama

Excerpts. Only crowd estimate I've heard is fifty thousand. Impressive. The line to get into the park was from the waterfront nearly to PSU! That's a damn long line.

clipped from blog.oregonlive.com At 1:30 p.m. the line was within a block south of the Portland State campus, snaking down Salmon toward the waterfront. The line was still growing with just one hour until Obama's appearance Some in line said they didn't even expect to get in; they just wanted to say they'd been here. clipped from blog.oregonlive.com What better way to spend a spectacular Sunday than to come to a political rally. That's apparently what the 50,000 or so folks here at Waterfront Park thought. Can a park be standing-room only? Guess we'll see. clipped from blog.oregonlive.com And when he took the stage after Springsteen's "The Rising," he flattered the crowd, saying he'd spoken at a lot of rallies. But this was the "most spectacular setting and the most spectacular crowd." clipped from blog.oregonlive.com They may not have heard anything new, but lots of Obama supporters I've talked with today were happy just to hear his familiar stump speech live. Like Tiffany Keenan, 32, of Portland, who said Obama's speech was "very powerful."

Wow

clipped from blog.oregonlive.com Obama rallies tens of thousands at Portland waterfront Illinois Sen. Barack Obama urged tens of thousands of supporters under sunny skies at Portland's waterfront to send a message in Tuesday's primary that the time has come for change. "We are tired of business as usual and we are going to change America," he told the crowd, which filled the bowl south of the Hawthorne Bridge and spilled into boats on the river.

Obama visits

Obama is talking at waterfront park within the hour, and thousands began gathering around noon, so it should be a huge audience. I thought of going down there but then came to my senses. If I had more ambition, I'd go across the river to check it out and shoot some video -- but it's easier to putter and listen to the ball game.

No accounting for taste

I would say 4 a.m. must be the loveliest hour of the day.

The way the mop flops

clipped from seattletimes.nwsource.com University of Washington rejects a record number of applicants Any other year, Matt Sims probably would have been a shoo-in for the University of Washington. The 17-year-old is an Eagle Scout and has lettered three times for the Mercer Island High School swim team. This year, he received an "A" in his Advanced Placement physics class and reached the summit of Mount Rainier. He scored a combined 1,280 on the SAT critical reading and math, far above the national average. If there was a weak spot on his application, it was his 3.5 grade-point average. But with a record 20,000 freshman applications to the UW's Seattle campus, Sims was among the nearly 8,000 students who were not accepted. He was offered a spot on the wait list, but he has opted to attend Washington State University come fall.

Remembering Paul deLay

A mellow day

Today was a slow, relaxing, dabble-here-and-there kind of day, enjoying the rare heat of the day, not getting much of anything done but somehow always doing something. Tomorrow I need to get some results from doing something. Especially yard work because rains, of course, are soon returning.

I've decided to study counterpoint. My piano teacher suggested it, and my own snooping around the field for what I need to know suggests this is a good place to begin. So I ordered the classic text. If last summer was my "digital summer," shooting 8 videos, this will be my musical summer, studying but also seeing if I can compose anything remotely interesting.

The Mariners won tonight. Something else rare about the day.

Etc etc

clipped from www.todayinliterature.com "The Genius They Forgot" On this day in 1873 Dorothy Richardson was born. Pilgrimage, Richardson's life-long experimental novel, began appearing in 1915, at about the time Joyce and Proust were engaged in similar experiments. While Richardson may or may not be "the genius they forgot" (the subtitle of one biography), her writing was the first to be described as "stream of consciousness," and Virginia Woolf credited Richardson with the invention of something that Woolf herself would go on to make famous -- "the psychological sentence of the feminine gender."

Count down to Belmont

clipped from news.yahoo.com Big Brown cruises to another easy win in Preakness BALTIMORE - Big Brown charged to the lead turning for home and then cruised down the stretch to win the Preakness on Saturday, still perfect and squarely pointed toward thoroughbred racing's first Triple Crown in 30 years.

Americana

The dog and I took a summer evening cruise, ballgame on the radio, all windows down, into my old NW bohemian neighborhood long since gentrified so that dozens and dozens of sidewalk tables were filled with the younger wining-and-dining set, oh how times change. Back home and glad to be here.

Heat

Actually got into the 90s. I love it. Feel like my battery is charged. A big day of yard work tomorrow.

It's a miracle

Forecast is 80s today, 90s tomorrow and Saturday. I'll believe when I start sweating. But if true, I can catch up on yard work this weekend! Come on sun!

Finale class

Last night was a great class! We added a four-part sax harmony to our score. I learned a ton, which I'll make great use of this summer. A great class! Working my tail off, of course, but a great class.

Popular vote spin, or "F***ing c**t is ruining the party!"

In the Dem primary zoo, H supporters are beginning to hallucinate. They now are saying, perhaps hoping to get back the spotlight after the John Edwards endorsement of O, that H leads in the popular vote. They figure this way: count the votes of MI and FL. If you do that, H leads the pop vote by 29,471. The trouble with this is O was not on the MI ballot, so he gets zero there! If you give him even a small portion of the 40% who voted for "Uncommitted" rather than for H in MI, O leads again. Even more important, if you count MI and FL, then also count IA, NV, ME and WA, caucus states who did not report popular vote because they're not required to! If you estimate their pop vote based on delegate distribution, O has a commanding lead -- in other words, he leads in pop vote if all states are counted. The H folks never seem to worry about IA, NV, ME and WA pop vote when they bring out the crying towel about MI and FL.

All these facts and figures are neatly listed at
RealClearPolitics, a non-partisan site that takes away the spin. Here's a summary of the popular vote:

Playing by the rules: O leads by about 594,000 without estimates for the 4 states whose votes count but who did not report popular vote; by about 784,000 if you add them.

H's rules: Add MI and FL but not the 4 above, H leads by 29,471.

Who said this was going to stop getting ugly? Well, maybe it actually will be over in a couple weeks. We can hope so.


My dear mother-surrogate in Idaho, 87 years old, lifelong Democrat, former Clearwater County Demo chair, former mayor of Orofino, who grew up in logging camps, who used to drink with the best of them and still can swear like the best, uses that forbidden "C word" when describing Hillary. She hates her! The ruination of the beloved Democratic Party. In a recent phone conversation, my ears were turning red. Love that woman's energy. Frail, weak body, mind sharp and even dangerous. You don't want to get on the wrong side of Esther. "Fucking cunt is ruining the party." I don't know another 87 y/o woman who talks like that.

Not with a bang but a ...

clipped from hosted.ap.org Ants swarm over Houston area, fouling electronics DALLAS (AP) -- In what sounds like a really low-budget horror film, voracious swarming ants that apparently arrived in Texas aboard a cargo ship are invading homes and yards across the Houston area, shorting out electrical boxes and messing up computers. The hairy, reddish-brown creatures are known as "crazy rasberry ants" - crazy, because they wander erratically instead of marching in regimented lines, and "rasberry" after Tom Rasberry, an exterminator who did battle against them early on. "They're itty-bitty things about the size of fleas, and they're just running everywhere," said Patsy Morphew of Pearland, who is constantly sweeping them off her patio and scooping them out of her pool by the cupful. "There's just thousands and thousands of them. If you've seen a car racing, that's how they are. They're going fast, fast, fast. They're crazy."

The day ahead

Reading student scripts all morning ... off to the dentist ... back for a bit and then off to Finale class, for which I'm ready. Ought to be a challenging class, we do a 4-part sax arrangement to input to our score.

Politics

Since it's the season ...

Politics is pissing in public.
--Norman O. Brown

A politician is a statesman who approaches every question with an open mouth.
--Adlai Stevenson

At least two thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity, idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political idols.
--Aldous Huxley

What we need is a rebirth of satire, of dissent, of irreverence, of an uncompromising insistence that phoniness is phony and platitudes are platitudinous.
--Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.
--Confucius

The Democrats seem to be basically nicer people, but they have demonstrated time and again that they have the management skills of celery. They're the kind of people who'd stop to help you change a flat, but would somehow manage to set your car on fire. I would be reluctant to entrust them with a Cuisinart, let alone the economy. The Republicans, on the other hand, would know how to fix your tire, but they wouldn't bother to stop because they'd want to be on time for Ugly Pants Night at the country club.
--Dave Berry

Anyone that wants the presidency so much that he'll spend two years organizing and campaigning for it is not to be trusted with the office.
--David Broder

Madness is rare in individuals - but in groups, political parties, nations, and eras it's the rule.
--Nietzsche

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
--George Orwell

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.
--Groucho Marx

A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in.
--H. L. Mencken

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.
--John Adams

Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.
--John Kenneth Galbraith

Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hardworking, honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them.
--Lily Tomlin

The political and commercial morals of the United States are not merely food for laughter, they are an entire banquet.
--Mark Twain

A politician is a man who will double cross that bridge when he comes to it.
--Oscar Lavant

Public opinion, I am sorry to say, will bear a great deal of nonsense. There is scarcely any absurdity so gross, whether in religion, politics, science or manners, which it will not bear.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.
--Sinclair Lewis

A politician looks forward only to the next election. A statesman looks forward to the next generation.
--Thomas Jefferson

Elections are a good deal like marriages. There's no accounting for anyone's taste. Every time we see a bridegroom we wonder why she ever picked him, and it's the same with public officials.
--Will Rogers

Oregon primary

I left the Democratic party in disgust years ago and have been a registered Independent ever since. In Oregon's closed primary, therefore, I didn't get to vote for Prez. I wasn't even tempted to re-register so I could, my dismay over the Democrats in general being pretty strong. Indeed, I'm not a fan of the two-party system. An early primary fantasy, seeing the enthusiasm for Obama, was that Hillary would get the nomination but Obama would lead a walk out and found a new progressive party, which would get 30% or more of the vote and lay the foundation for being a viable permanent party. If this had been done in the 60s, we wouldn't be where we are now. I think we have one party, called Corporations.

I was wondering if ...

clipped from news.yahoo.com STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. - Hours after being routed by Hillary Rodham Clinton in West Virginia, Barack Obama picked up two more superdelegates, offering fresh recognition from Democratic leaders of his inevitable nomination.

West Virginia

To hell with the election, I'm blown away that there's somewhere in the country where you can rent a studio apartment for $250 a month! A starving young writer's paradise. Go work in Alaska for a summer and live 9 months writing in WVa on what you save up. At least that was the strategy when I was a struggling young writer. Live as cheaply as possible so you have as much time to write as possible. Do young writers still do this? I haven't seen many but then I only see the ones in my classes. Many of them drive a better car than I do ha ha. And when I was their age, I was living in a tree house in Berkeley!

Hyperdrama CD-ROM

I made a CD-ROM based on my recent hyperdrama project, called Hyperdrama: A Video Introduction, and I got my test copy today. It looks good. I'm selling it at cost, hoping to spread the word a tad (giving some to libraries, for example).

Attention starving writers

Trying to exist on little income? Check out West Virginia! In all the news regarding the primary today, I read that it has the lowest average income -- so I figured rents must be cheap. Indeed they are! I was looking through a Charleston paper and found lots of 2 BR apts in the $350-500 range, which is astounding by Portland standards. There were studios under $300!! So get yourself a grant, move to WVa, and write away! You don't have to LIVE there, just write there ha ha.

Major screenwriting gripe

Something that upsets me in the world of screenwriting is the pitchfest that charges writers to pitch a script. The screenwriters' union, the WGA, does not approve of agents who charge a reading fee. Now tell me -- what is the difference between an agent charging a reading fee and a producer charging a pitch fee? Both say, I'll look at your story idea if you pay me. It either case, it's asking a writer to PAY for the opportunity to show you something that might make you a lot of money. The wGA really disappoints me by not condemning these pitchfest affairs the same way they do agents who charge reading fees. It's the same kind of conduct. Shame on the WGA. End of sermon.

Tough term

Remind me not to take three courses in a term. Well, I'd do it again because I'm learning so damn much but this clearly is a tougher term than I prefer. I'm too old for this ha ha. But the summer is close now and then I can put all this recent learning to practical use. I can't wait. This is going to be a very productive summer indeed.

One of our local newscasters, whom I happen to watch all the time, has written a screenplay, so I agreed to look at it and give him some feedback. I was shocked to glance at it: it looks like a screenplay! Most beginners' scripts look like a novel. So I'm encouraged.

Obama picked up four more superdelegates today and is only 150 short of the nomination. He ought to do well in Oregon.

Silent movie test clip

Except I haven't taken the sound out. Testing "the look." Maybe too yellow, change the blue setting from 70 to 80 or 85 to move more toward B&W. Hmm.

Silent movie

Fiddled with some short video clips, changing saturation, color balance, and speed, and finally got "a look" that I like for the summer silent movie. I noted the settings and put them in the new project file. I still need to get back to the script but might not until the term is over. But it's satisfying to get the look I want.

Home boy

Well, instead of driving 100 miles for chicken and dumplings, I paid bills, practiced the piano, and started a new screenplay, which actually is a variation of an old screenplay, which itself is based on a novel of mine. So I'm tweaking this story concept all over the map.

I still may go for a cruise, despite gas prices.

Goofing Off Suite

Pete Seeger used to pick a little ditty with this title. Reflects my mood. Having caught up with my reading of student work, I feel like goofing off rather than editing or practicing the piano or yard work or a jillion other things I could do. Grab the dog and head up the gorge. Maybe have lunch in Hood River or The Dalles. There's a great chicken and dumpling joint out that way. Hmm.

Sniper fire!

In a democracy, we get the leaders we deserve. This can be unfortunate.

Like most people in Mingo County, West Virginia, Leonard Simpson is a lifelong Democrat. But given a choice between Barack Obama and John McCain in November, the 67-year-old retired coalminer would vote Republican.

“I heard that Obama is a Muslim and his wife’s an atheist,” said Mr Simpson, drawing on a cigarette outside the fire station in Williamson, a coalmining town of 3,400 people surrounded by lush wooded hillsides.

Here's what Wayne Morse had to say about the electorate:

MORSE

So if you asked me, Wayne Morse, name
the one thing in our country that you
think will do more to strengthen
American foreign policy in the next
half century, you might be surprised
at my reply. I would say, Do something
to protect the educational standard of
American boys and girls. Do something
to protect American brain power.
Because the only sure and lasting
defense of peace is a highly educated
and enlightened citizenry.

(From my play, American Gadfly.)

Alas, some would say it's elitist to be educated. How many? I guess we'll find out.

Taste, strokes, and other variables

We went to Aida this afternoon -- and mutually decided to leave at intermission. I'm not a great fan of Grand Opera (it's not the length: I recently saw Wagner's Tristan..., almost 6 hrs. long, and was on the edge of my seat the whole time), with all its spectacle, and H is not a fan of Italian opera in general (H on Aida: "two beautiful women in love with the same short fat fuck -- who cares?"). H also was stressed because she flies out tonight and her suitcase handle broke -- so she's off the buy a new suitcase, and this gives her more time.

But I came home to learn that a producer is looking at my screenplay Sad Laughter, which I've been marketing forever and forever because I believe in it so much, though it's a spendy historical piece, and one day maybe someone will agree with me. It's always exciting when a producer is at least intrigued to look at it.

I have a lot of class work to catch up on tomorrow! And piano work, too. I should be able to do it.

Dog parks

There are dog parks, and there are dog parks. Often we just go up the street to a Middle School and let Sketch run around there but as the weather gets better, the soccer teams take over the grounds. I don't like either of the two closest parks with dog-running areas. Our favorite is at Mary Young State Park, about ten miles away, because it has a large unfenced area for dogs to run in, it's usually not very crowded, and the sprawling park on the river has lots of trails for human exercise as well. And it's just a beautiful park. We took Sketch there today, then stopped by the Tillamook Creamery in Lake Oswego for lunch. A nice break.

Now to get back into a work rhythm. Or not. At least I got a lot of student work read this morning, though I have more to do.

Thesis script

Spent the morning with a grad student's thesis script. She's a rewrite away from a solid screenplay. Her defense is in early June, so plenty of time for a final rewrite. I've really enjoyed seeing this script develop.

Renewal

The killer week is over. Got through it. I still have tons of work to do, of course, but the frustration of the week is gone. Back to more normal tasks.

H takes off Sunday, east to yet another family affair.

Supposed to rain this afternoon, so I'll try and get some yard work in first. Have some advanced student work to read, first on my weekend list of tasks. The term definitely is on the downhill side now.

I'm ready for warm weather. Rumor has it some is coming next week. I'll believe it when I start sweating.

Married life

A man and a woman who had never met before, and were both not married to other people, found themselves assigned to the same sleeping room on a Trans-continental train.

Though initially embarrassed and uneasy over sharing a room, they were both very tired and fell asleep quickly.....
He in the upper bunk and she in the lower.

At 1:00 AM, the man leaned down and gently woke the woman saying :
'Ma'am, I'm sorry to bother you, but would you be willing to reach into the closet to get me a second blanket? I'm awfully cold.'

'I have a better idea,' she replied . 'Just for tonight, let 's pretend
that we're married.'

'Wow! That's a great idea!' he exclaimed.

'Good,' she replied. 'Get your own fucking blanket.'

After a moment of silence, he farted.

Thanks to H. for the link.

Popular essay

I didn't realize my essay on the boozing life was so popular. I guess there's a built-in audience ha ha.

clipped from coudal.com Liquor and Lit The single most-requested Friday Drink Link. "I quickly met my second wife, a brilliant graduate student who liked to brag that she had never met a man who could drink her under the table. Then she met me." Liquor and Lit, by Charles Deemer. -jc.05.09.08 #

Downhill side

Good theory class today. Finish and discuss Sideways in class today, always an interesting discussion. Tomorrow morning I still have a lot of work to do on this piano piece that's stumping me -- but it's coasting now compared to earlier in the week. Some student work to attend to on Saturday (my advanced students), then regroup to see what priorities my various tasks have. Editing the journal is moving front burner, I know.

Personal Brain

Software program for visual information management. I've used it for years and absolutely depend on it. I don't own stock. I just love the program.

Webinar

Now here's a free webinar I don't want to miss. I've used PersonalBrain software since version 1 when it was called just TheBrain. I mainly use it for organizing my syllabi but should use it for more. Maybe this will give me incentive.

clipped from www1.gotomeeting.com Big Thinker Web Series: The Knowledge Web Special Web Event with Best Selling Author and Famous Historian James Burke Join us for this special event where James will take you on a tour of his new Knowledge Web, built with PersonalBrain, and share his vision of how new information technologies are changing the meaning of knowledge and what we can do with it. Topics Covered Include: • How the connections approach to information will change the way we use knowledge. How it will redefine what we call ‘education’ and ‘intelligence.’ • James Burke’s K-Web knowledge-mapping project: how it was built, how it is to be used, and how the technology will revolutionize the way we interact with our information and each other. • The future as shaped by knowledge mapping. Will knowledge-mapping be a tool for prediction? When: Thursday, May 22, 2008 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM PDT

Mom's favorite country singer

My mother, who's been gone over 30 years, loved Eddy Arnold.

clipped from news.yahoo.com Country music superstar Eddy Arnold dies at 89 NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Eddy Arnold, whose mellow baritone on songs like "Make the World Go Away" made him one of the most successful country singers in history, died Thursday morning, days short of his 90th birthday. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966. The following year he was the first person to receive the entertainer of the year award from the Country Music Association. The reference book "Top Country Singles 1944-1993,'" by Joel Whitburn, ranked Arnold the No. 1 country singer in terms of overall success on the Billboard country charts. It lists his first No. 1 hit as "What Is Life Without Love," 1947, and for the following year ranks his "Bouquet of Roses" as the biggest country hit of the entire year. Other hits included "Cattle Call," "The Last Word in Lonesome Is Me," "Anytime," "Bouquet of Roses," "What's He Doing in My World?" "I Want to Go With You," "Somebody Like Me," "Lonely Again"

Comedy of errors

Literary writers in Hollywood! My oh my.

clipped from www.todayinliterature.com Faulkner in Hollywood On this day in 1932 William Faulkner reluctantly arrived in Hollywood to begin work as a screenwriter, a labor that would last, on and off, for twenty years. Faulkner was thirty-four years old at the time, and had already published four of his Yoknapatawpha County novels (including The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying). Though far from a popular success, he was regarded by his peers as one of America's most talented young writers. As told by biographer Joseph Blotner, Faulkner's first days in Hollywood were portentous. He arrived on a Saturday, not long before quitting time. His boss, Sam Marx, noticed that he had been drinking, and that he had a bleeding cut on his head. Faulkner said he had been hit by a cab while changing trains -- in New Orleans -- but that he was fine and wanted to get right to work: "We're going to put you on a Wallace Beery picture," Marx told him. "Who's he?" asked Faulkner. "I've got an idea for Mickey Mouse."

Finale class

Finally back up to speed in the Finale class. At least at home. The class is more complicated because we use the 2007 version on a Mac in class, and at home I use the 2008 version on a PC. Just enough differences to drive you crazy. So I give priority to my home project since this is what I'll be using. I learn the steps in class, then figure them out at home. At any rate, I'm up to speed on the home project now. Our latest work was using layers and adding a drum part. Next week, I believe, we add a horn section arrangement.

I'm in pretty good shape for theory class today but I still have scripts to read this morning. I also have a lot of work to do before piano tomorrow. But I feel like I'm on the downhill side of the week.