Anyone else following this amazing Bay Area Story?

The one about the seventeen year old San Rafael kid, Max Wade? (And what a great name?)

The seventeen year old, who, allegedly, mind you, stole the Food Network celebrity chef, Guy Fieri's Lamborghini?

The kid busted in to an elite San Francisco car showroom, through the ceiling window, repelled his way down to the showroom floor, cut the locks, and drove off with Guy Fieri's car.

Here is where it gets really ugly.  Allegedly, a month later, he attempted to murder his crush and her "date" in a drive-by.  Both were barely scratched, thank goodness.  She reported this to the police, natch, and the wheels were in motion.

But Wade let his vanity undo him.  Less than two weeks after, allegedly, attempting to murder his crush, he texted her, asking if she'd like a ride to the City in his "Lambo"! 


Wade was apprehended, of course, and is in custody.  When he was caught, he allegedly reached for a Glock, and had fifteen-hundred in cash on him, and a fake ID.

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It was all for the love of a girl, a minor girl.  The prosecution believes the thing that finally set Wade over the edge was something hateful the crush's "date" posted about Wade on facebook! 


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I already know the first scene for this screenplay.  And you will see it here soon.  So, do not let anyone else steal it from me.

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Crucial Books:  Screenplay The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field, 1979.

And, by the way, SFChron, Peter Fimrite, who is covering this story for you, is an amazing staff writer.  He deserves a raise, or a promotion, or both.







All my love,
Michael

Being a "boy", as it were,

And a nice boy, I think it is fair to say, my favorite story arc of Lena Dunham's new series for HBO, Girls, is going to be the one involving Marnie and Charlie.  Charlie is obviously the sweetest guy in the world, affectionate to a tee, and perhaps a little too sweet to his Sweetie.  Naturally, in Dunham's Universe, Marnie is "repulsed every time [Charlie] touches me" and presumably will be threatening to end the relationship once or twice every episode.

The Marnie/Charlie arc is an opposite twin of the Hannah/Adam arc, and some in the audience are left to wonder, Is there no "boy" out there who can fit the (Mythical?) Happy Medium?

"Mom, give Jess a chance.  He understands me."

(When Renee and I first started going out, one of the things she said she liked best about me was that underneath my sensitive, feminist, nice guy exterior I was "still just a dude."  High praise, indeed.  And I completely mean that.)

It was the first episode of Girls last night, so, sure, some of the writing seemed a little show-offy, and some of the pop culture references fell flat. (And speaking of which, why is it that no one seems able to drop facebook in to the conversation of a film or teevee show without embarrassing themselves? Or is it just me? The only time I have seen facebook successfully incorporated in to conversation is when Anna Chlumsky does it in In The Loop.  But of course, those guys have a writer who's only job is to add pop culture references and swear words to the finished scripts.  *sigh*  More on the In The Loop/The Thick of It/Veep team in a minute.)  But despite that, it is plain to see that Girls is going to be the teevee event of the Spring and Summer, and will be a fine addition to Blockbuster Sundays, alongside Mad Men and Game of Thrones.

It is especially nice to see that Whit Stillman's lovable, difficult cad, Chris Eigeman, now has credits in both Gilmore Girls and Girls.  I have a really decent Gilmore Girls joke here but no one outside of a few people at the Food Hole Walnut Creek would get it, so, I am going to skip it.

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Man, does Veep look awful, or what? My heart sinks and I cringe every time they show those crummy clips.  I will be there, seven PM on Sunday, but I am really expecting the absolute worst. (At least Girls is on right after it!) And, I think I have figured out why Veep is going to stink.  Peter Capaldi.  The Thick of It and In The Loop are completely hung on Peter Capaldi's character, Malcolm Tucker.  (And Malcolm Tucker is based on Tony Blair's infamous Press Secretary, Alastair Campbell.)  It is not just a cultural barrier, moving from UK politics to US politics, it is the fact that without a US Malcolm Tucker equivalent the show will fail.  Plus, you have Capaldi's talent to match, as well.  Capaldi's performances in The Thick of It and In The Loop make for an absolute tour de force.  Malcolm Tucker completely overshadows Capaldi's entire career.  He will always be known as Malcolm Tucker now, full stop.

I would love to be pleasantly surprised on Sunday but I am doubting it.

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Meanwhile, the Rangers are an American League wrecking crew with a four game series with the Tigers in Detroit this weekend.  Fabulous stuff.

And my staycation is over.  It is back to work tomorrow.





All my love,
Michael

... off-handedness ... (UPDATED! 4/10/12)

So, after Josh Hamilton put on a baseball clinic last night, Yu Darvish faces real-life Major Leaguers in a game that counts for the first time ever.  The fantastic Ranger blog, BBTiA is holding a contest to pick Darvish's "line" for tonight.  Here was my entry:  6 2/3 IP -- 3 H -- 0 ER -- 5 BB -- 9 K -- 0 HR -- 70 Game Score.  (Game Score is a fun integer stat invented by the stat geek master, Bill James.  Below 50 is below average.  Above 90 is crazy good.  Below 30 is very bad indeed.)

And, also, in baseball related news, Les Bonnes Femmes, my fantasy baseball team is off to a very good start and currently holds down first place.  It is still v early, though, and anything could happen.  Matt Harrison, the Ranger pitcher who I yelled at last year at a Rangers/A's game, was Les Bonnes Femmes' big star last night w/ six shut-out innings (and a game score of seventy-five!)

It is Springtime -- I am feeling very twee and Postcard Pop today.

But, I will have to follow Darvish's debut tonight on my new toy (if the Hyatt will give me the password for their wi-fi) because I am going to a trade tasting tonight with my rock star buddy, Justin G.  Justin will get to see what a trade tasting is like:  spit buckets, rinses, crappy cheap wine, stunning good wine, wine that is being poured even though it should still be resting comfortably in its bottle, obnoxious tasters getting wasted, obnoxious tasters pushing and shoving, exasperated and tired vendors, schmoozy annoying suit-wearing Southern Wine and Spirits Reps, decent snacks, and oh so much more! Listen, working in the Wine Industry is an absolute joy, with tons of fantastic perks, but trade tastings are not one of them.

I also just received my latest edition of OOTP, OOTP 13.  It looks better than ever even though I have not been able to really devour it yet.  I just started a fictional league that will start play in 1968 (the year I was born.)  I will be managing the Memphis Soul.

Things are looking up!

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Just read that facebook bought Instagram for one billion dollars.  Zuckerburg maintains that Instagram will run independent of facebook and that users will be able to post their photos to Twitter, still, and keep their Instagram friends completely separate from their facebook friends.  I love Instagram.  So does my Wife and many of our friends.  I really hope Zuckerburg is being honest and does not fuck this up.  But it would not surprise me, either.  That is life in the big-time Capitalistic future-shocked world we live in.

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I just started folding laundry, and suddenly two very sleepy kitties, who had been passed out, comatose on the bed, are most interested in hanging out with me in the "fun" room, helping me "fold" laundry.

Mavis, "folding" clothes.

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Looks like Mittens has this thing all wrapped up now, hunh? And the rumors are flying about when Santorum and Newt will drop out.  Soon, Mittens will get a chance to shake that Etch-a-Sketch and veer back to the center.

My fave strategy of the Mittens Campaign, though, is sending out his wife to appeal to women voters.  This is after over two straight years of the GOP's official War on American Women™.

Ever since the Teabaggers took over the House, our fine Public Servants of the GOP have been hell-bent on doing the following things:  Defund Planned Parenthood, investigate any frickin' thing they can to tar Obama, and bring up idiotic budget votes that have absolutely no chance of even getting cloture in the Dem controlled Senate.

Meanwhile, in states where the GOP controls the legislature, they are hacking furiously at a woman's (still) Legal Right to Choose as quickly and invasively as they can.

This has got to be about the stupidest, most inane general election strategy I have seen in all my years.  They can trot out all the wives they want, all repeating the same Fox News Talking Points, that Women care not about birth control or their legal right to choose, and are really worried about gas prices, but women ain't gonna fall for that crap.  And they will lose a lot of GOP women, to boot, with this ridiculous rationale.

Good luck in November, guys.

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I will end with two more Women Michael Loves:  Fay Weldon and Caryl Churchill.  Ms Weldon gets her spot here for her delicious, tart, spare, anti-style novel, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil.  (Skip the film, just read the book.) (Plus, I am convinced Weldon's novel was the inspiration for PJ Harvey's monster classic song, Man-Size.)

And Ms Churchill gains her spot for all her work, but in particular her sexual-role busting play, Cloud 9; and her feminist masterpiece play, Top Girls.

Both these women tackle feminist issues head-on every day of their lives and are supreme stylists that have created each their own distinctive voice that can not be confused with any other.

Ms Weldon's book is very easy to find, and very cheap.  And Ms Churchill's plays, naturally, are best enjoyed in a theatre but also read a treat, and are very easy to find, as well, and cheap, too.

This is from a Broadway production of Top Girls, and that is Marisa Tomei on the right.

All my love,
mds




UPDATED! 4/10/12:  Darvish struggled mightily last night, gave up five runs, walked five batters, but he hung in there, calmed down, and did not look too bad before leaving the game.  The Rangers won and Darvish did last long enogh to get the Win, his first Major League Win.

And re The GOP's intriguing General Election strategy:  Here are some polls that kos shared on his blog today.  Yeh, that strategy's going to work a treat come November, hunh?

mds

There must have

Been reasons why I did not see The Social Network in a theater but I cannot recall them now.

Anyhoo, I saw it over this past weekend.  The movie is great, the first scene is amazing.  The Howard Hawks-like speed w/ which characters speak is invigorating and thrilling to watch.  The script by Aaron Sorkin is smart, spiked w/ sour wit, and still always moves the story forward.  There are good performances all over the screen but my favorites are Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer (as the Winklevoss twins), & Rashida Jones.

In fact, my favorite storyline in The Social Network is that of the "Winklevi".  I love how they are set up as WASP Supermen.  What is the quote, "I am 6' 5", 220 pounds and there are two of me"? The twins are uber-privileged, part of a dwindling old-money American aristocracy, who are first shown lapping their crew competition and then towering over a gawky, socially awkward Zuckerberg.  We never see the twins win anything again.  They always come up short, yet try to remain gentlemen.  Cameron Winklevoss finally snaps when his Harvard crew loses the big race in England.  There is something so correct and perfect and honest and lovable about the twins that goes against most traditional class-struggle movies or arcs, whathaveyou.

I am not rooting for Zuckerberg in this film.  It is brilliant that Sorkin found this class-turnabout in this Facebook story.  Zuckerberg is not likeable.  He is so socially awkward, so narcissistic, so loathesome, so condescending, etc, ... My skin crawls when Eisenberg asks Rashida Jones' lawyer out for dinner.  And the scene where Zuckerberg keeps trying to pull his ex-girlfriend away from her friends,  to "talk alone, for a minute" (everyone in this splendid script is seeking a private conversation at one point or another, yet so many are connected to this extremely non-private social network creation), well, folks, I have been there before and it is chilling and uncomfortable to watch.   Rooney Mara as Erica plants her feet firmly in the ground and tells him off.  Good for her.

I am not going to ruin the ending.  It is brilliant like the rest of the film.  But everybody involved here seems to have nailed it.  It had to be perfect to succeed and that is v dangerous territory to be playing around in.  The Citizen Kane references are correct.  Not in any way related to the film itself re how it looks, how it was shot, etc, ... but that they took on a media giant by telling his story as a big-budget Hollywood entertainment (and they weren't v nice to their "hero".)  People as talented as Sorkin and David Fincher had to be anxious and excited to tackle this remarkable real-life, real-time story:  One of the most socially awkward, icky guys around, who has  no friends at all creates frickin' Facebook.  Sorkin & Fincher dived in and nailed it.  Good for them.  


Actually, now that I think about it, there may be another way this film is like Kane.  There will be arguments over the decades about who was more integral to The Social Network, Sorkin, the screenwriter, or Fincher, the director.  Personally, I am in the Sorkin camp at this early juncture.  Just like I am in the Kael/Mankiewicz/Toland camp re Kane.

Winklevi & Zuckerberg.

P.S.  One more thing, it was so lovely to hear a real Beatles song in a movie.  I am sure they had a pay a mint but it was worth it.