Good ideas

I haven't seen Australia yet--the run time's a bit daunting, considering I spend 40 hours a week watching about 5 to 6 hours worth of television, but I love the idea of a national epic and was already thinking of movies that could someday might make a nice box set with Australia when Vanity Fair beat me to the punch with this. Who wouldn't watch a Lorne Michaels-produced epic starring Alanis Morissette and Dan Aykroyd? I just hope Enrico Colantoni gets to be in it. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams might be too big to get, but the greatest TV dad since Bill Cosby should definitely be in it. You know, assuming it were a go.

Also, I never eat cinnamon buns. Most are too gooey for me, but I saw the large square fluffy ones at Porto's in Burbank today, and I had to have one. For $1.50, it was a no-brainer, and damn was it good. More bun, less stickiness. Completely balanced. Mmm.

Tomorrow, friends from out-of-town are stopping by on their round-the-country trek, and I'm thinking of hitting up the Christmas lights at Griffith Park and maybe the Paris Review celebration thingamajig Tuesday night. What else? Hmm...

thankful for

I'm alive. Number one.

Great books. I'm reading The Flaneur now, and it's fascinating.

Veronica Mars on DVD. I didn't watch it back in the day due to a disinterest in anything starring Kristen Bell. I was wrong, and now I get to enjoy this awesome show.

Good friends.

David Lebovitz's blog. Totally entertaining.

Hulu.com. It doesn't freak out like thewb.com and abc.com.

Christmas. It's a weird frigging holiday, but it's dang seductive.

horrible day

Car accident. Don't want to talk about it. My eye's twitching. Not eating dinner. Going to go broke in all likelihood.

Feel like crying and I don't have any shoulders to do so on.

question about meaning

I have heard a lot of people talking about how our American soldiers are protecting our freedom abroad. And I would like someone who believes this to explain to me what they mean. I'm not baiting here. I'm just confused. Do you mean freedom from fear by fighting terrorists? Because I would buy that. But if you mean you think if they're not over in Iraq and Afghanistan, our nation will be enslaved by those governments, um, I have some news for you. Iraq and Afghanistan have enough trouble governing the square mileage they already have. They're not looking to expand. What precisely do you think will happen when we leave those countries? I haven't forgotten 9/11, and it's entirely possible that our presence overseas has changed hearts and minds, and secretly, the people who wanted to kill Americans are either altering their perceptions or are dying BECAUSE our soldiers are over there, but that's not what's being presented to us. What's being presented to us is not that we have more friends than enemies than we did seven years ago. As far as I can tell, there is no thesis statement to this war. Are we aiding the nation-building process? Are we hunting Al Qaeda in the hopes that one day we'll actually eliminate all of them, or that one day, Osama bin Laden's going to come out of his cave and say, "Look, you're right. I've realized the error of my way. Jihad's off"? Or that he'll kill himself a la Hitler and his groupies will just slough off their worldviews?

So if someone could explain to me what freedom specifically the soldiers are protecting, that would really help things because right now, I don't get how I'm more free than I would be if they were here instead.

the TV obituating continues

Oh, sadness. Pushing Daisies has officially died. That was a truly sweet show. Great "procedural."

Went to San Jose earlier this week for my faux Thanksgiving. Was yummy. I won Monopoly. Jealous yet?

I'm gonna see Bolt tonight. Left my cell phone at my internship. Must go pick it up now. This is my friggin' life.

a thing

I'm actually disappointed about Lipstick Jungle's cancellation. Sure it's got an offensive title, but it was entertaining television.

Things That Scare Me--A Series

Scary Christmas decoration only the rich and brave can afford.

Discoveries

Green apples, brie, french bread--how did I know not about this awesomeness? Thank you, Aroma Cafe!

You know that song "Love Me Dead" by Ludo? It sounds familiar in part, and I finally figured out why. It's kind of like the Grinch song! Think about it. Listen to them. You'll see what I mean.

MIT's open courseware

Yale's list of online classes looks measly in comparison to MIT's.

today

I bought soft, fluffy iris-colored towels today and a Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas stocking. Pure luxe. Razor blades are absurdly and almost prohibitively expensive. I'm starved for Christmas.

Writing a story partly based on personal circumstances, partly based on a heightened, improved reality where the fictional shoves its sticky fingers up the nose of the actual.

book excitement

I've been a little grouchy lately, but something to keep my spirits up is the imminent release of an English translation of Roberto Bolano's 2666. I haven't been this excited about a new book since... I can't remember. I'm not sure why I'm so excited about it, considering I haven't read The Savage Detectives and considering Jonathan Lethem's piece in the Times absurdly waits until the fourth paragraph to mention Bolano's name and through sheer force of egoism could all but wipe out any desire any person might ever have to delve into this massive tome.

Still, I want the book badly. I may even buy it for myself. At a bookstore.

By the way, I know my reading list hasn't been updated lately, and that's not because I'm not reading. I'm reading about 1,000 pages a week, roughly, but it's for my internship, so it doesn't count. Right now, for my own pleasure, I'm reading The Eye in the Door, the second book in Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy. So far I prefer the first, but it's still engrossing.

Also, in other books news, Alan Bennett is a total class act.

Open Letter, Part 8

Dear Peter Tolan,

I know, I know, my open letter has been on hiatus. And it happened with no warning... kind of like on network TV. So bravo to you for skirting the troublesome big five (yeah, I include the CW) for delicious, nutritious Showtime.
Now sometimes a creative project works immediately (as I'm sure The End of Steve will) but sometimes the audience a project was meant for just doesn't seem to be finding it, whether it's because of poor PR, constant shuffling of time slot, or because the show sucks. In my case, I'm sure it's because I'm blogging to an infinite void, so for now, I'm going to shut down production, not because I don't still desperately want to be your show's Writers' Assistant or a Writers' PA or something! -- but because I understand that I can only do so much. If you find me and order a back 9, I'll be happy to let you know more, specifically, about my skills. Until then, consider this little experiment dormant.

After all, it was a little absurd.

Cheers,
Kati

inverted silver linings and such

It feels like a dream, doesn't it? Obama's win. It's too beautiful a thing that I keep readying myself to wake up. All day, I've been in a low-calorie haze of disbelief. I knew he should be voted in, but for it to happen so effortlessly at the end, for it to be a LANDSLIDE, was just too much.

Of course, reality is, this beautiful state with its beautiful 55 electoral votes to our President-Elect also managed, despite a smart, passionate, but fair ad campaign against it, to approve Proposition 8 to ban gay marriage. I find this astounding. I know the OC is a bastion of rich conservatives and that there's a healthy Catholic population thanks to the Hispanic contingent, but I never thought that they were enough to pass this horrifying and presumable unconstitutional piece of legislation. Our ads made it clear that it's not about religious beliefs, which should never come into matters of law, but about civil rights. Stunning that.

open letter, part 7

Dear Peter Tolan,

Tonight is not about me. Tonight is about Ohio. Hooray!

Knock on wood.
Kati

devoted

Voted today in the garage of a private residence. Wasn't murdered. That's why America's so great.

open letter, part 6

Dear Peter Tolan,

Sometimes you put yourself out there, trying to get a job not just because you have a passionate desire to do that job but because you think the world would be a better place with you in that job, that somehow you and that job belong together. Sometimes, you're a guy running for President, and sometimes, you're a girl blogging an open letter to a producer who may never read it for the position of Writers' Assistant. Of course, one is of international importance, and the other is a little more local and personal, but what's the good of an election if you can't exploit it for personal comparisons?

Cheers,
Kati

Open letter, part 5

Dear Peter Tolan,

It's November. That means cold weather is on its way, and while I know LA is not a place that knows cold like we New England-born types know cold, hot chocolate is an integral part of surviving the winter. I make fantastic hot chocolate, not to mention tasty pumpkin treats. Writers need good, sugary sustenance. By Aristotelian logic, that means writers need me. Do we really want to flout Aristotle after everything he's done for us? I think not.

Cheers,
Kati

open letter, part 4

Dear Peter Tolan,

Look at me. I've missed the whole point, haven't I? That's okay. Consider the first three parts character development. Now we get to the point--why I want to work on your show.

I love risk-taking stories that care more about relationship and the organic, committed building of a world than contrived special events and arbitrary coupling-up and tearing apart. Ferocity and spirit are rare in television. You, Perry, Showtime, Rochester? That's some drama I want to be a part of. I know I haven't earned baby writer status just yet, but I'm smart as hell, cool as hell frozen over, and one hungry, original, awesome, generous, spirited, and did I mention tall before? woman.

Oh, and bonus: I have an eye for detail that really pisses people off. Who likes being told that they forgot about a character, didn't resolve a situation, or resurrected an object in Act 4 that was broken in Act 2? No one, but I don't mind being that person. It's for the good of the story, for the integrity of the show, and nothing matters more than treating the audience like they deserve the best.

Best,
K