My New Desk Chair (and the End of an Era)

I've used the same desk chair for the past eleven years. A black folding chair that served me through college, through my QUALCOMM days, through to my days as a writer. Considering how much of my life has been spent in front of the computer writing, it's not an exaggeration to say I've spent the equivalent of months in that chair. The chair has literally been a piece of me. A cold, hard, uncomfortable piece - but nonetheless, a piece of me.

I've kept hearing about writers and bad posture and all the awful things they have to deal with as they get older - and it really became clear that it wasn't good for me and my career longevity to depend on a piece of furniture that I bought because it was the cheapest chair they had at Target. So I did a little bit of asking around and found many professional writers recommend the Aeron chair... which retails for $700 to $800.

A bit out of my price range. For that much money, it'd have to be one freaking AMAZING chair. I'd need the chair to have magic powers and the ability to serve up chilled Diet Pepsi on command. Sigh - that would be sweet. Maybe science will come through for me on that front.

Anyways, I ended up getting a new desk chair. Nothing special, just a leather task chair with some wheels and arm rests. It's much more comfortable than my last chair - but it's still going to take some getting used to. In the meantime, the old folding chair goes into the closet. Here's a picture of the changing of the guard.



The folding chair is dead! LONG LIVE THE FOLDING CHAIR!

Set Your Tivos!

Two new television shows that you should know about-

Disney's The Replacements

Dan Santat's new show is going to be sneak previewed Friday night, July 28th at 9:30pm on Disney Channel. It's listed on the network listings only as "Sneak Preview". I can't wait to see it.

Life On Mars

Unless you've been hiding from me, you've heard me talk your ear off about this great show. Its American premiere was on Monday night - but the pilot reruns this Sunday night at 6pm and 9pm on BBCAmerica.

First Spec Script Deja Vu

So a friend of mine asked me to read someone's animated spec script. The script wasn't bad. I sent it back with some thoughts and some suggestions to improve it, but it wasn't a bad outing and definitely shows signs of some good writing chops.

Which reminded me of years ago and the animated spec script that I wrote to get my foot in the door. I wrote a Jackie Chan Adventures spec, entitled "Phone Tag". In it, Jackie and family discover a cursed statue - but before an evil billionaire computer tycoon can get his hands on it and its power, the curse is accidentally spread to Tohru. Sounds good, huh? This was the script that was my main sample script and it got me my first two writing gigs.

After reading this other spec script, I was curious to see how my Jackie Chan script stood up over the years. After all, it was the script that helped launch my writing career. So I dug out my old script to read what I'd written and bask in the nostalgia of my great writing in its earliest stages. In its raw form. In all its glory.

Kill me.

It was awful. No one likes to think of themselves as ever having been a total incompetent NOOB at anything - but the indisputable proof was staring me in the face. I'm not exaggerating - this script was really terrible. A really weak B story, WAY too much talky dialogue, mediocre action set pieces, structural decisions that looked like they were made completely at random with no rhyme or reason. Deranged madmen after a 24 hour Cocoa Puffs-bender would make more sense than my script did. And there were jokes that I must've thought were HILARIOUS at one point - but they were just sad and pathetic now. I cried "oh no" with every turn of the page.

I suppose the best way to look at this script would be to smile, remark on how far I've come, and let my old script be a reminder never to be too judgmental and never to buy into my own hype. The worst way to look at it is to let this old script eat away at my confidence until I'm curled up in the fetal position under my desk sucking my thumb and wondering when the smart people will realize I'm untalented. Seeing as I don't know when was the last time I cleaned under my desk (or my thumb, for that matter), I think I'll just laugh at my old script and know that I've got better scripts ahead of me.

Oh man, I hope I've got better scripts ahead of me. On an unrelated note, I've got a roaring fire in the fireplace right now. Sure it's 99 degrees outside, but I have some, um, things that need burning. BURN SCRIPTS, BURN!

Weather Update for Southern California

Still murderously hot.

Comic Con 2006 Wrap Up

Another Comic Con has come and gone. I got more sleep last night than in the previous four nights combined. It's going to take me a good week or so to get my equilibrium back from all that food and drink and walking and the 190 degree weather.

Thoughts and observations that leap to mind-

-Quote that best sums up Comic Con came from one of the Hasbro guys. "I LOVE THIS PLACE."

-I spent much of the weekend stalking the "My Friends Tigger & Pooh" crew. After having dinner with Jeff & Brian on Wednesday night, I spent the rest of the weekend downing Industry Lounge lemonade with Brian, the Brazilians Eileen and Erika, Dean, and Nicole. And after hearing the story behind it, I want to see Jeff's tote bag.

-Geeked out meeting Mark Boudreaux - a Hasbro toy designer who was with Kenner 30 years ago working on the original Star Wars line. Tremendously cool guy... and he designed the original Millenium Falcon toy. The mind boggles.

-I loved the swag from the party, but what exactly does one DO with a bag that says, "Hooray for Captain Underpants"?

-Snoop Dog was on the guest list, but too bad he didn't show up at Rama on Friday. Snoop missed a great party-izzle. Fo shizzle dizzle.

-Worst costume I saw was a lazy Stormtrooper. He had a helmet and arm gear, but with t-shirt and shorts.

-Best costume I saw was a Princess Leia in Slave Gear. Now, over the years, there have been MANY women who try to pull the look off, but can't do it. This one actually pulled it off. She must've had a crowd around her at all times.

-Grossest costume was the boyfriend/girlfriend who went as Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia. Great costumes... but the two were holding hands and making out.

-Dwayne McDuffie got a big ovation when Bruce Timm propped him during the WBA Animation panel on Friday. Unfortunately, Dwayne walked in five minutes later and didn't get to hear it.

-At the Warner Animation bash, I finally got to hear John Rogers' stories from the sitcom trenches. Yikes. I'll never look at Jello Pudding Pops the same way again.

-Saturday was... um, very crowded. Seeing as Comic Con gets bigger every year, I can only wonder what Saturday will be like in the future?

-At Saturday night's AWC reception, I got a little badge with my name on it and "Steering Committee Member". My head swelled with pride. I got the badge and a couple drink coupons, but I never got to try any of the food. Oh well.

-Despite the chivalrous nature of people I know, if I have recent heart surgery, the last thing I'm doing is walking all over downtown San Diego to help out a friend. Sorry friends-o-Eugene, it ain't happening. Consider this your warning.

-The Ben 10 panel on Sunday was terrific - filled with kids who went up and asked great questions. Nice to see a panel for its intended audience being popular with its intended audience.

-The poor employees at the restaurant "Rockin Baja Lobster" must have to hear the B-52's "Rock Lobster" about forty times a day. A friend of mine said it best - it's like that Simpsons episode where it's New Year's every hour, and the employee says, "Kill me."

-Leaving Comic Con on Sunday night, a friend and I chatted with some nice people from Wisconsin. The lady told us how much she loved the cartoons of "Chuck Avery" - I hope she gets around to ordering cable tv, so next year she might actually have heard of some of the shows we've written on.

-The great capper to the weekend was Sunday night at Nicole & Ian's post Comic Con party. I must find some way to convince Jack Shrimp to open up a franchise here in Los Angeles.

-I love that I got to see so many old friends that I never get to see often enough - I wish I'd had more time to spend with them all.

-On the flip side, in addition to seeing old friends, it's great meeting new people and making new friends. The animation industry really is a small place and after seeing the same names over and over attached to great projects, it's exciting to meet them, put a face to their name, and in most cases, become friends.

Paraphrasing Mark Evanier, Comic Con is tiring, its exhausting, and draining... and I can't wait for next year.

July 2006 Music Diary

I have a quick moment before I turn in my script. Hopefully later this week I'll have time to blog some Comic Con stuff. In the meantime, here's what iTunes tells me is what I'm listening to-

Black Swan - Thom Yorke
Is It Any Wonder - Keane
Nothing In My Way - Keane
Leaving So Soon? - Keane
Hamburg Song - Keane
Put It Behind You - Keane
Crystal Ball - Keane
Pictures of You - Cure
It's Tricky - Run DMC
Movies - Alien Ant Farm
Babylon II - David Gray
Start Now - Rancid

I'm not the biggest Radiohead fan in the world because I don't love everything that they do (I still prefer their old Bends/OK Computer stuff over their more recent stuff). But everything they do is interesting. Not sure if I like Thom Yorke's new solo album yet, but just like Radiohead, it's not boring.

I'm a HUGE Keane fan and was terrified that the new album would be a letdown compared to their first great album. Thankfully, the new album is terrific. Is It Any Wonder and Crystal Ball are my two favorites, but most of the tracks are getting a lot of play this month.

The other tracks are just random tracks that came up several times this month - which is why Babylon II made the list but Babylon I is no where to be seen. And with all the writing I've been doing, let me tell you how really distracting it is when you're trying to write and It's Tricky by Run DMC comes on. You get very little writing done when you're bouncing around to that song.

It's 3 a.m.. Do you know where your Blogger is right now?

Your blogger is cranking on a script. So don't expect any updates this week. If I get time later this week, terrific. But don't hold your breath... primarily because you need oxygen to live, but secondarily because it's unlikely I will have time.

One quick observation. When I graduated from high school, I had a teacher ask me what I was going to study in college. I told him Literature-Writing - and he argued that I didn't need to go to college to be a writer. I disagreed with him, but he made a pretty sound argument as to why a writer doesn't need a college education.

But now I really disagree with him. Because from my few years as a working writer, I have to say that nothing prepares you to write hunched over a computer in the wee hours of the night with little-to-no sleep, running on pure caffeine and sugar, all while living in abject squalor and poverty... like college.

Back to my script.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog... at Comic Con

So the Comic Con website has put up tentative schedules for Thursday and Friday. As always, lots of good programming - but this one buried down at the end of Friday night might be the hardest one to get into-

7:30-9:00 SNL: Saturday TV Funhouse with Robert Smigel— Join the Emmy Award–winning writer, producer and creator of Saturday Night Live's hilarious animated “TV Funhouse” segments, Robert Smigel, for a presentation and discussion about the upcoming DVD release of SNL: The Best Of Saturday TV Funhouse. Featuring clips of "The Ambiguously Gay Duo", "X-Presidents", "Saddam and Osama", "Mr. T" and other favorites, as well as notable "lost" cartoons, banned from the airwaves forever. Q & A to follow! With appearances by animator/director Robert Marianetti and—possibly—Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog. Note: Ladysmith Black Mambazo will not be present. Room 6B

The chance to watch TV Funhouse with Smigel in the audience? Sounds like a blast. I don't think I can be there, since I'll (hopefully) be at a couple other dinner parties Friday night.

If Smigel is at Comic Con, that means TRIUMPH is at Comic Con. And as we've all seen from his spots on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Triumph has appeared at freakshow houses-of-horror such as-

-a Bon Jovi Concert in New Jersey
-in line for the first screening of Episode 2 : Attack of the Clones
-the spin alley after a Presidential debate
-the crowd outside the Michael Jackson trial
-Hollywood Squares

And as you can clearly see, all of those places COMBINED would hardly equal the madness that is one day of Comic Con. You think maybe, JUST MAYBE, Triumph will find something to make fun of at Comic Con? JUST MAYBE?!?!?

It's not a question of IF Triumph is going to show up, it's a question of WHEN.

If you're interested in Robert Smigel, there's a great interview with him at the TrioPlus.tv web site. It's in Real Player, unfortunately, but it's a fascinating interview with a guy who went to school to become a dentist - and then somehow became the guy who invented the catchphrase, "for me to poop on".

All Apologies

Sorry for the lack of updates. I have an outline due this week. If I don't get it done now, then I'm going to be writing the script on the dealer's room floor of Comic Con.

Want to know the only way to look DORKIER than an overweight 55 year-old cosplayer with a Naruto headband covering up his bald spot? Be the Asian guy lugging a laptop computer around the floor of the San Diego Convention Center trying to finish up a script.

In the meantime, enjoy this video. Every year, the NFL hosts their draft in New York City - and every year, the place is packed with boisterous Jets fans hoping that their team will draft the next superstar that will bring them a championship. This video is a collection of past NFL drafts for the New York Jets and their fans.



Listen for the ones screaming "OH NOOOOO!" before they even say the player's name.