Monday, January 27, 2014

The Hateful Eight

I am a Quentin Tarantino super-fan. The “nerd” in Nerd Dad could easily refer to my love for Tarantino. I devour his movies, and anything related to him, and starve for more. I remember seeing Reservoir Dogs the first time, alone in my bedroom, when I worked at Blockbuster Video and thinking that I‘ll never see a movie that good again. I still haven’t been as blown away by a single film as I was the first time I saw Reservoir Dogs.

I saw Pulp Fiction 5 times in the theater, and used my Blockbuster connections to obtain a copy on VHS as soon as one was out. This was back when movies didn’t come out for sale right away, and a copy was over $100. I think I got a free screener of it. I love how the film is shown out of order, and the viewer needs to pay attention to what’s going on.

The guy can write. I admire his storytelling ability. I remember when I heard that he was going to adapt a story, Jackie Brown; I was disappointed because I want to see his story. Jackie Brown is Tarantino all the way. He is a huge inspiration for me and my writing, even though I can’t write the subject matter that he does. No matter what I write, it always devolves into comedy. Maybe that’s why I look up to him so much. I wish I could write the way he does.

I love his dialogue. I love the music in his films. I love the look and feel of his direction. I can’t think of another filmmaker who I feel this way about. I do love John Hughes films, but that’s apples and oranges.

Tarantino’s last film, Django Unchained, is a western. He said in an interview that his next film is also going to be a western, something like 'now that I learned how to make a western, I want to make another one.' Then I saw the news that his new film may be titled The Hateful Eight. The title alone makes me want to see it.

Then the script was leaked. All hell broke loose, and Tarantino decided that he’s not going to make it now. Hearing that there is new Tarantino material out there, bootleg or not, made me crazy that I might have the chance to view new material. I don’t care that he’s not going to make it, he wrote it. I wanted to read it.

I obtained a copy of the script (I was going to brag that I got it, and how I feel so cool to have this underground material, but with the pending lawsuit, I’ll just say that I read the script). I had always heard that Tarantino scripts were full of typos and bad grammar, and the script is full of that. It looks like it was written by a high school dropout. Oh yeah, he is. There/their/they're are all over the place wrong, he spells coffee “coffy,” and there are countless other things I could nitpick, but I got to read a new Tarantino script, and I gotta tell ya, it’s awesome.


It is only a first draft, and that is clear. I don’t know how many drafts he usually does, but I know from experience that any finished piece is worlds different from the first draft. I’m sure that the overall theme and story would remain, and it was spoiled for QT. I don’t blame him for his depression that the leak happened. I have a feeling that he just might make the film anyways, and is throwing everyone off the scent by saying he’s not going to make it. We’ll see. Even though I know the story, I’ll be there on opening weekend.




Saturday, January 18, 2014

What's for dinner?

So Megan was tooling around on her iPad the other week and asked me about buying a Groupon for emeals. I asked "what is it?" She said they send you a meal plan every week. I thought it was like Meals-On-Wheels. We seem a little young to have something like that, but Groupon has great deals. It's worth a try.

She explained further. emeals sends you a menu of dinners for a week with recipes for them, and a shopping list of what to buy at the store to make all of the meals for the week. I thought "wait. All they do is send you what to eat? And we have to pay for it?" Then I started thinking about it. We would usually pull out cookbooks and find dinners to make and go shopping. We'd end up having a lot of the same stuff week-in and week-out.

I looked up reviews for emeals and every one was favorable. The Groupon was $39 for a year of emeals. We bought it, and life has been easier since. We picked the "classic meals" plan (which we can change anytime) and I stayed home with Ozzie while Megan took the grocery list to Target, which we picked as the store where we wanted to buy our groceries.

She told me that on the way to Target she felt like she liked me more because the stress and anxiety of coming up with dinners and getting the right stuff for them was gone. All she had to do was stick to the list, which was taylored to Target products. We chose the plan for 1-2 people, and had left overs for every meal to take for lunch the next day.

The meals are awesome too. We had chicken tacos, chicken enchilada soup, a roast with home made horseradish, stir fry, and my favorite thing I've ever eaten at home, cheeseburger bites. The grocery list they send has prices on it too, with a total at the bottom. It's usually $70-$80 in groceries a week. That's not bad to get everything you need for a weeks worth of dinners. It will save us money in the long run. I am so blessed that Megan likes to cook, and has made the meals, but they look simple enough that I think I could throw one together if I had to.

I'm a big fan of emeals. If you're interested, you can check out sample menus on their site. If you want to try it, PM me your email address. I can send you a link to sign up that will save you 15%, and I'll get a bonus too. I guess this turned into an unpaid advertisement, but like I said, it made Megan like me more. How cool is that?


Friday, January 10, 2014

New sitcoms you might not be watching

I only say that you might not be watching these shows because I can't believe that with a six month old baby I was able to catch two new sitcoms of 2013. I'm glad that I saw the first episode of Mom. I saw the commercials for the new show as fall approached, starring Anna Farris. I love her comedic work in the Scary Movies and other comedies she's done. I love when movie actors take TV work, and I'm glad that Ms. Farris is in Mom.

She plays a recovered alcoholic single mother of two. Hilarious, right? Well it is. When I saw Chuck Lorre's name in the first episode, I knew it was going to be good. Two and a Half Men and Big Bang Theory Chuck Lorre. Weather or not you like those shows, the guy knows the half-hour sitcom formula for laughs.

Allison Janney plays Farris's mom on the show. Janney is also in recovery, and the two didn't have a relationship when the show started. They have since grown with each other in AA meetings, and I think Janney even lives with Farris on the show now. The two pair for big laughs on Mom. I remember one scene where I laughed at every line of dialogue. That is rare.

Breaking Bad fans will also enjoy seeing Badger as Farris's ex, and father of her son. Farris's daughter on the show got knocked up by her namby-pamby teenage boyfriend early on too, which will make Farris a grandmother in her 30's. That will keep the show fresh going into its second season.


I just found the other show last week. I took a sitcom writing class where we wrote an episode of ABC's The Middle. When writing a sitcom spec script you must know the show you're writing. You need to write in every character's voice, so I started watching The Middle before that class. It's a good show too, but I don't watch every episode. I was watching it the other night and I didn't know what time it was. I thought it just started.

Turns out it was 7:28 and The Middle was just ending. Megan was putting Ozzie to bed, and she came in the room just as The Goldbergs was starting. I don't know what made us not talk to each other and focus on the TV. Maybe it was the radical 80's clothes, or the narration of Patton Oswalt, but during the first commercial I said to Megan "I love this show." It wasn't until the end that I remembered seeing commercials for it in the summer (and thinking the show looked terrible and wouldn't last).

The show is set in the loud neon decade of the 80's, when I was age 3 to 13. It follows the Goldberg family and stars Jeff Garlin as father Murray, and Reno 911's Wendi McLendon-Covey as mother Beverly. They have three kids, the youngest of whom is Adam, narriated by Oswalt. He's based on the show's creator Adam Goldberg.

Beverly's dad Pops is usually up to something too. Pops is cast well as George Segal. Adam loves to film with his video camera and play Nintendo. He's usually wearing an 80's pop culture tee shirt. Big brother Barry is a dork, and reminds me of me. Everyday Murray takes off his pants as soon as he walks in the door when he gets home from work.

The episodes usually end with an actual video the show's creator filmed when he was a kid that was recreated in the episode you just saw.




The best part of these shoes is you can jump in whenever. They're not serials where you'd be lost without catching up from the beginning. They're just great sitcoms that I'm glad I found, and I hope you like them too.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Parenthood-TV show

I was 12 years old when the Ron Howard film Parenthood came out, and I remember seeing it when it was available to rent on tape. I liked it despite the adult themes of the movie. It's rated PG-13, and I was probably about 13 when I saw it, but I enjoyed it as much as a young lad can. The film was actually star studded. Steve Martin, Mary Steenbergen, and Diane Weist were all stars of the time, but Keanu Reeves, Martha Plimpton and Joaquin Phoenix are big names today; almost 25 years later.



I never watched the 12 episode flop that was the TV version with Ed Begley Jr. that came out in 1990. Did you? Probably not. I mean, Blossom and The Fresh of Bel Air came out that year. No one talked about Parenthood in school, but we could all sing the theme to the Fresh Prince on the bus ride.

The Parenthood TV show that's on now is in its 5th season, and with so many shows on TV now I can't say it's the best of the bunch, but I can say that it's the best of what I watch right now. It has seen its ups and downs throughout its five years. Last season, for instance, was a down one. The writing seemed lazy and it wasn't as gripping as seasons past.

Every character (and there are many) is involved in an interesting arc this year. I feel that Adam and Christina are going to get a breather after Christina's cancer and subsequent mayoral run. And I guess Crosby and Jasmine are laying low. But Zeke realizing how special Camille is while she's in Italy for 5 weeks, to Hank identifying with (Mad) Max and Aspergers, to Sarah finding out that her tenant-crush is a doctor, to Amber and Ryan, and what ever is going to happen with him reenlisting, to Julia and Joel's rocky marriage. Even Drew, who I hoped would get the Haddie treatment, has an interesting story with his two college girlfriends. This season has really hit its stride.

As a screenwriter I watch everything and picture how it's written on the page. My professor said it would happen and can't be turned off in the head. I don't know when it happened to me, but I can't turn it off. However for me, great writing overrides it. Right now Parenthood is doing just that. Megan is out with friends tonight. Ozzie got a dad-bath, and I put him down, and seriously lost myself in the latest episode on my DVR. Not bad for a network show with commercials (that I fast forward).


Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Three years sober

Three years ago-Middle of December

I passed out drunk on the couch in the living room. I woke up when I tripped going up the stairs and caught myself with my left ulna bone snapping in two, like a Kit Kat bar, on the corner of a stair.
Breaking my arm was my rock bottom.

Three years ago-12/30/10

I attended my first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. I didn't introduce myself as an alcoholic at the meeting. I didn't think I was. I guess I didn't want to believe that I was.
The awesome people in the meeting that day sent me home with a Big Book, which I thumbed through the next day.

Three years ago-New Year's Eve

A lot of what I was reading hit home.
I decided that night was going to be my swan song. My last hurrah with the demon alcohol.

I took my last drink of an alcoholic beverage a few hours after midnight.

Three years ago today

I spent 1/1/11 with my last hangover.



I gotta tell ya, these have been the best three years of my life. I love my sober date because every new year is a happy new year.