Ramblings From a Slow Monday

As I've often told friends through the years, I am the world's worst correspondent, which should explain why I have so recklessly neglected my blog for the past couple of months. It's not (a) that I don't have anything to say, or (b) that I'm flat out lazy these days when it comes to writing. Okay, (a) maybe I don't, and (b) maybe I am, but I am pledging, right here, right now, to do better. Honest. No more excuses.

So, what I have been doing for the last couple of months, in addition to not writing on my blog, is not working on my screenplays. The studly, sex-filled epic has stalled out after the fourth draft, so I've had to set that aside for the time being, until I can think of a way to rework it to my satisfaction. The other, about a young mother in peril during the Dust Bowl days in the Oklahoma/Texas Panhandle is in better shape, although completion of the third draft has not been forthcoming.

In essence, life has been happening and I have not deigned to spend time focusing on the things that I should be focusing on. Recently, my sister casually mentioned that she has ADD, a term that I immediately latched onto as the source of my own lack of focus. Of course, it isn't that, not in my case, anyway. It's never that simple, is it? There seems to be a lack of interest lately in the things that I've always loved doing, a general dissatisfaction encompassing everything, a feeling that I'm not where I thought I'd be when I reached this stage of my life. And in all honesty, that's probably the crux of it, the root of the problem, the knowledge that a large part of my life has passed by and I've lived it, even embraced some of it, without really ever understanding it or trying to make it count for something. And now that I'm here, at this certain place in my life, there's this underlying, paralyzing terror, this little voice screaming: What the fuck am I going to do now? Because, you know, it's a little late for me to be pondering what the fuck I'm going to do when I grow up. I'm there, at least in the sense that I'm no longer a kid; but I seem to have grown older without having really grown up. Which really sucks. The only thing I can think of to do is to move forward--I'm going to continue growing older anyway unless, of course, I die, so I'd really like to shake off this creative paralysis and get on with my professional life, and eventually achieve the American Dream. Okay, maybe not achieve the American Dream in terms of having a big house with a white picket fence, and 2.5 kids (how the fuck do they do that, anyway?), but that may not be the standard for American Dreamers anymore. At any rate, I've got to escape this inertia and just get on with it.

The above rambling aside, we went to see the film "Taken" over the weekend. Luc Besson was one of the writers so I expected there to be a lot of action, and I wasn't disappointed. "Taken" is immensely entertaining and instantly forgettable hogwash that, due to the talent involved, is classier and more involving than many films of its ilk. Liam Neeson is cast as the stalwart hero, a former CIA agent whose teenaged daughter (Maggie Grace) is kidnapped by Albanian thugs while on vacation in Paris. Once Neeson is on the bad guys' trail, he becomes a single-minded, deadly nemesis who will stop at nothing to secure the release of his daughter. It's all shaky camerawork filmed in hypervision (ala "The Bourne Ultimatum") an indication that the cameramen need to be in better physical shape than the actors. Neeson's a good performer, but "Taken" does little to stretch his acting chops, or enhance his resume; on the other hand, it's a perfectly respectable, by-the-numbers thriller that he needn't cringe at when the film pops up on TNT--which it inevitably will.

There's a play at the Caldwell Theatre (where I'm working part-time) called "Dangerous". It's a complete reworking of "Dangerous Liasons", with many (but not all) of the female roles rewritten as males, and set in Weimar Germany, as the Nazis are gaining a foothold. Michael McKeever, a local playwright, wrote the play and has done a fascinating job. "Dangerous" is funny, scary, suspenseful, heart-wrenching, and thought-provoking. There's also full frontal nudity (both male and female) and simulated sex, which always works for me (except in real life, where I'd prefer sex to be unsimulated if possible). Wynn Harmon, a great guy who recently played David Frost in the theater's recent production of "Frost/Nixon" is back on hand as one of the few genuinely nice characters in "Dangerous". A New York actor named David Rudd plays a cad named Alec, the sexual centerpiece of the show, and he's all that and then some! There's a sort of dominant sexuality that he projects that seems to leave his co-stars (and many audience members) woozy with desire. He's a fine actor, too! Actually, there's not a bad performance from any of the cast, and it's well worth the drive up to Boca to see it.

I flew out to visit my family a couple of weeks ago, and spent ten days in the Oklahoma Panhandle area. During that brief time, I was able to experience the gamut of all the unseemly weather that Oklahoma has to offer: tornadoes, hailstorms, dust storms, heat, and frigid cold. Weatherwise, Oklahoma is never boring. And I'll say this: if it weren't for an excruciatingly backasswards political climate there that fosters religious nutwings and high ranking government officials who espouse such "family values" as hate, intolerance, and plain, old ignorance for the masses, I wouldn't mind moving back. I adore being around my family, and miss them terribly, and I also miss the high plains desert surrounding their little town, the spectacular sunsets, and even the alarming weather changes. Alas, until the State of Oklahoma drums out the hatemongers, understands the wisdom of separating church from state, and hauls its ungainly self into the 21st Century--or at least the 20th--I'll have to settle for all-too-infrequent visits.

And, on a final note, speaking of hatemongers, I have two words: Rush Limbaugh. Somebody please take his fat, ugly ass out behind the barn and beat the shit out of him, will you? Please. Somebody? Anybody?