We're Quarterfinalists

Just got an email today. One of the screenplay contests that I entered Iain's and my script (s) in has just announced that one or more of the scripts that I entered has advanced to the Quarterfinalist round. 3411 scripts were entered, so that's a pretty big pool. Only thing is - you're gonna love this - I don't remember which 2 scripts I entered.

D'oh!

I narrowed it down to 3 possible scripts, but I don't remember which 2 of those 3 I entered. See, I entered tons of contests, castin the net far and wide. But due to my limited cashflow, I mixed and matched which scripts I sent where. So I don't remember which ones I sent to 'em (there were sooooo many contests). AND I don't know whether one or both scripts advanced. The email didn't specify. It just said one or more of the scripts you entered. Lovely.

It's funny, cuz Terry always says to send your stuff out and then forget about it. He always warns against ridin the emotional rollercoaster. But I never ever woulda thought I'd actually forget which scripts I entered.

Anyway, the semis will be announced on July 30th, so wish us luck!

Meanwhile I havta finish my short story for the anthology, and I also havta get back to work on Iain's and my low budget horror piece. We're aaaaallllllmost done w/ the first draft. Yay!

Mariama

Shame The Devil

I finished the first draft of my short story which I wrote for the Retreat Anthology http://retreatanthology.blogspot.com/

I wrote it in longhand in one of the moleskins I just bought. I prefer writin in longhand. I mean, in addition to its bein more convenient, it's also easier on my fightin off carpal tunnel syndrome right wrist.

My piece is a fantasy short, and it's still in rough shape. But that's okay, because rewritin is infinitely easier (to me) than writin that first draft. Writin the first draft is a summmmmbitch.

To ease the flow, I usually write to music. With my iPod strapped to my left arm, I wrote away to a playlist which I created specifically for this story. I used Guns N Roses Greatest Hits, 2 songs by Metallica (Enter Sandman and Unforgiven), and Linkin Park's Meteora. I set the playlist on repeat and wrote away. Last night I finshed the first draft.

I'm currently calling it Shame The Devil.

And in other news I switched my eharmony settin and asked 'em not to send me anymore matches right now. I'm gonna focus on my writing for a bit, before really diving back in the pool.

Oh and I also bought my ticket for my trip back to DC. Whenever I'm able, I like to spend my birthday w/ my twin sister, since it's her birthday, too So the first week of September, I'll be home w/ my fam. I haven't seen 'em since April, when I went back for my Momz birthday. So it's time.

Mariama

Premonitions

I'm officially single again. Yup, the guy that I was seein - we recently broke up. It wasn't an angry or fiery kinda break up. It was pretty calm. He's just not ready to commit the way I want him to. He admits he's bein selfish, but at the same time he isn't ready or willin to change his behavior. So we're just gonna be friends. I'm glad we're still gonna be friends, cuz I do consider him a friend, albeit a selfish one :-P

I would say it took me by surprise, except the night before we broke up I had the oddest dream. I dreamt I was back on eHarmony and out on a date w/ one of the prospects. The guy I was with was diggin me, but I wasn't digging him. I felt repulsed, and guilty - like I was cheating on my then b/f.

I woke up and was like, wtf? Later that day we broke up.

What's really weird is I rejoined eharmony and one of the matches looked *exactly* like the dude in my dream. I was hesitant to respond to his request to communicate, but I did anyway. I don't think I'll pursue that one much longer though, not based on how I felt in my dream.

As one of my girlfriends just reminded me, dating can be scary. And dangerous. I've seen (and avidly watch) those forensic shows, where tons of women innocently go out w/ guys, only to be discovered a coupla days later - hacked to death in their homes… or not discovered at all. No doubt that weights on my mind, as I venture back into the land of the dating.

I'll try to be cognizant of the warnin signs, especially their eyes. One thing I've noticed about those murderers from the forensics shows is their eyes don't lie. They may seem charmin, handsome, suave, caring, considerate, etc. But they *all* had eyes that were ... dead. No warmth, no humanity. Just coldness. Evil. So I'll be sure to pay special attention to their eyes. And also to my dreams.

My celebrity Look alikes

So I'm Odysseus?

Your Score: Odysseus

66% Extroversion, 33% Intuition, 100% Emotiveness, 47% Perceptiveness

You are a generous entertainer, an observer of tradition, and you are an enthusiastic leader. You are most like Odysseus. You meet transgressions with swift retribution but you are, in the end, just and fair. You're also pretty astute -- it's hard to pull one over on you.

You're a very detail oriented person, you take your responsibilities very seriously, and you're highly dependable. You aren't particularly idealistic, and are more apt to practice a kind of situational morality, albeit a pragmatic one that you ensure is amenable to the situation at hand. Your externally defined morality also means that you have a lot of regard for law, tradition, and social structure.

Because you're a sense-oriented person, you may lack the ability to weigh your externally defined morality on a theoretical basis. This can be harmful if you aren't versed enough in the ways of the world to compare the value-system you were raised in against some of the other social and ethical systems in practice around the world. On the other hand, if you were nurtured in a non-sociopathic setting, you will find that you can be a very fair and just leader. Because your ethical code is so contingent upon your upbringing, you may find yourself in staunch and violent opposition to other Odysseus types, as well as the more analytical personalities (such as Hermes, Prometheus and the Oracle).

Leadership and tact are your strongpoints. You are adept in exploiting these to such an extent that, when you make a strategic or ethical error (as the Odysseus type is prone to do from time to time), you can recover and regain your footing in short order. This makes you a natural head of state or military brass.

Famous people like you: Bill Clinton, George Washington
Similar Personality Types: Atlas, Apollo, Pan
Personalities to Avoid: Prometheus, The Oracle, Hermes

Link: The Greek Mythology Personality Test written by Aleph_Nine on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Baah Bah Black Sheep

One of our New Zealand Wordplayer buddies did something that my writer friends and I would also love to do. He had a movie released this past weekend. It's a horror-comedy called BLACK SHEEP and he didn't just write the film, but he directed it, too. To celebrate this great achievement we got together this past Saturday up in LA to catch his film.

It didn't disappoint. It was really well made. It was bloody, but in a funny way. Hard to believe but it's true. The actors played it straight, which helped, I think, w/ the humor. There's something inherently funny about a mad weresheep that's chasin after you. We laughed and laughed and laughed s'more.

After the movie we were invited up to Terry's, where we got to kick back, chat and just enjoy each others company. We laughed, we debated (something about the plausibility of an iPod connectin to a vibrator), we danced … well, Terry danced, his girlfriend danced, but the rest of us … we sorta just nodded our heads and tapped our feet. I woulda danced if I had a drink or 3. But I only drank water that evenin, so my shyness ruled the night.

Funny thing about goin up to Terry's. I was reminded of just how long I'd been out here in Cali.

(It's easy to lose track of time out here in the land of sunshine.)

I was also reminded of how Terry used to throw these fabulous parties at his house - and we'd all go up there and drink and dance and have a really good time. I saw a remnant of one of the parties – and this was a toga one that he threw about 7 years ago. I saw a remnant from that night. It was a wreath, one of many which Mel made for a bunch of us to wear durin the toga party. I spotted that wreath, sittin on one of his shelves, and I smiled. Then I pointed it out to Mel. She smiled, too.

I've been out here for seven years, y'all. Maybe soon we'll have a movie up on the big screen, too. Lucky number 7?

Oh and before I forget, here's a link to the pics from the party:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=5ssimamh.4jqmun3d&Uy=q39qic&Ux=0

Corkboards

Iain and I are makin good progress w/ our low budget horror piece. Since he leaves next week, we've been tryna spend every moment we can workin on our script.

It's much easier to work on the script when we're in the same room, as opposed to doin it via email. Cuz when you figure in the time difference, it could easily take us a coupla days to resolve things which are now takin us no more than an hour. So we're scramblin to get as much done as we can before he goes back to England.

To that end, we finally hopped on the Corkboard wagon and bought us a corkboard. Though it's not as big as the one that TnT use (4'x5') it's big enough (3'x4').

The moment the cards went up, I knew that I'd never flesh out (or write) another script w/out one. Yeah, it's THAT good.

I can't believe how valuable it's been in terms of helpin us see our story. It's enabled us to more accurately determine when somethin is missin, superfluous, or in the wrong place. Had I known it was gonna be this useful I woulda bought one years ago.


TnT also use these boards to pitch. We haven't gone in to pitch any ideas yet, but you can bet that when we do, we'll be usin one of these boards. They're tremendously helpful.


Mariama