Telling It Like It Is: 24, Politics, and more Rants O' Doom

So here I am, rocking like a hurricane.

Last night a few fellow aspiring writers and I got together for a first-ever writer's group meeting, and despite pouring rain and the usual inclination to go home after work and collapse in a shriveled heap of immobility, we did get a small handful of people out and about to discuss all things writing-related.

And you know what? Sure, I wish more people had come. Sure, I wish we'd had a better location to meet. And sure, I wish that people were more centralized here so it'd be easier to get a group of people to actually come together on a weekday. But in spite of that, just the sheer act of talking creatively for a change, of talking about structure and characters and plot as if they really matter - well, that in and of itself was great. Because that's what I'm here for, isn't it?

I mean sure, moving to LA is a LIFE decision. It involves living in a new city, meeting new people, and getting adjusted to a whole new environment. But why am I living here and not NYC or Boston or Alberquerque? Because I want to be a writer, and this is the place where I'm trying o do that. So here's a little pointed wake-up call to anyone who has plenty of time to party at any given chance but no time to actually get down to business and get things done - it's time to make it happen. But of course, so many of the people out here just somehow fall into entertainment. They love showbiz because of the parties, the gossip, the allure of celebrity and the contact high of being around all of it. Honestly, I could care less about any of that stuff. And I hope that I can get back in touch with my real reasons for being out here and find more like-minded people who live to CREATE STUFF. I mean, at BU I have to say that I got so much out of my time as a member of OVEREXPOSED, our student sketch comedy show. To an outsider looking in, the whole thing was kind of pathetic. We had no actual TV station, barely shot anything, and had to struggle to assemble a barebones crew for every shoot. But for the writers of O/X, it was a different story. We met every week, and every week at least a few people had new material. Because we all loved to write, we all loved comedy, and we all got a kick out of having our stuff read aloud and sharing our ideas and being creative. So THAT is what I'm trying to recreate here - a little of that old O/X magic. I mean, if a bunch of guys can write stuff every week with little to no hope of any of it ever actually being made, then why can't we get people to write stuff when it is actually an integral part of our career goals, and we've come this far, to LA, why become complacent now?

I once read somewhere that the only way to make it as a writer is if you can't imagine yourself ever doing anything else as a career. So for those on the fence, there's something to think about.

There's my rant of the day.

Speaking of rants, sometimes you just need a good-old-fashioned head-bang-athon, you know? If you're feeling in the mood to jump around your apartment, thrash the devil horns and play some air guitar, I recommend the song "45" by Shinedown, which has just the right amount of anger and angst with which to channel all of one's rock n' roll energies. Another older song I've recently come across is "Bed of Nails" by Alice Cooper - man, that guy knew / knows how to rock. "I'll drop you like a hammer on a bed of nails!" Yeoooooow.

And again, speaking of rants - man am I tempted to go off on Bush. Once again, I feel like it's kind of pointless because, really, what more do I have to add to the discussion that hasn't already been said. But if you can still stand in support of our President - after his comments regarding how the matter of Iraqi withdrawel will be for the next President to decide ... I think it's clear to most at this point that whether you approved or disapproved of the war - Bush had ALWAYS planned on taking up arms against Iraq from the moment he got into office. Everything else - terrorism, the threat of WMD's - all of that was just after-the-fact justification for a war that was always in the cards. And you know what? Maybe people would have supported the war in a circumstance where our sole reason for it was to remove Saddam from power. You can certainly make an argument for that war. But at a time when we had a real, legitimate threat in the form of Al-Quaida, the less imminent threat of Saddam became our number one priority simply because it had always been in the cards. As we can now see thanks to recent documents printed in the NY Times, Bush had long settled on his decision before issues of UN resolutions had ever even come up. So a finger of shame on the American public for being so quick to listen to whatever the President, the media, or their friends tell them without scrutiny. And another finger of shame to Bush, but hey, he doesn't need me to tell him.

- An aside from all this ranting - I am now in a better mood after an excellent chicken sandwich from koo-koo-roos. Tasty and healthy? Sa-weeeet.

- I am also in the midst of watching a demo DVD of Real Housewives of Orange County for work. All I can say is ... Holy Lord. If I ever become a millionaire I am totally living in a NORMAL community, just my house will be filled with really sweet stuff.

Okay, enough about that ... here's what you've all been waiting for:

PRISONBREAK / 24 DOUBLE POWER-HOUR OF SCOFIELD AND BAUER:

Prison Break:

Man, yet again a GREAT episode. Lincoln's near-execution was brilliantly done, and the back-to-business approach of Michael following the trauma sets the show back on a steady course towards the long-promised break out. Plus, ya gotta give props to an episode which so prominently features THE PSYCH WARD. Great performances all around as usual, and a lot of intriguing story possibilities beginning to open up. Looking forward to next week's flashback epsidoe, which should give some much-appreciated context and history to some of the characters. As for this episode, My Grade: A -

24:

Once again, this episode was more than deserving of a hearty cry of: "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn!" Great stuff with Jack confronting Audrey, with Jack finally displaying a rare hint of emotion. While a part of me was kind of hoping that Audrey would turn out to be evil, it did set up a very intense conflict between Jack and the Homeland Security people that proved very entertaining. Gotta love Jack Bauer's uncanny ability to RUN FASTER THAN FIRE in the closing sequence, and man, what an ending! We barely have time to grasp what had just happened, with Jack and his nemesis Bierko seemingly trapped in an exploding car and appearing to be blown to smithereens, when the familiar 24 countdown pops up and the episode is over - as always, to be continued. Awesome stuff, and the last 10 minutes or so, which crammed in more action than LOST has seen in a year in between two sets of commercial breaks, was simply great. Worthy displays of villainy by Bierko, awesome comradery in the field between Jack and Curtis (that look they gave each other to signal that it was ass-whupping time was great). And hey, Aaron Pierce, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., had possibly his greatest moments yet as he singlehandedly took out an army of terrorists and rescued Wayne Pierce from certain doom, all the shile sporting a stoic, bemused look of pure badassness. BTW, where did Wayne get that BFG?!?! Dayum. Nice to see that one girl form Jack and Bobby (RIP) finding work at CTU, although do we really need yet ANOTHER wacky side character? Hmmm, in any case, awesome stuff, pure intensity, overflowing with gravitas. My grade: A

Tonight: LOST is back -- will it be another good episode or another letdown? The previews looked promising, and Terry O' Quinn as Locke looks to feature prominently, so that's usually a good sign. We shall see. VERONICA MARS is also new, and let's hope the ratings begin to rise as the show preps for its move to Tuesdays. Thursday, SMALLVILLE is finally back!

What else?

That's about all I've got right now. Busy weekend coming up and I've gotta get a new driver's license sometime soon. Ugh. But a lot of fun stuff coming up as well, and in a short matter of weeks I'll be home in CT for Passover. Thank god, because I have a hard enough time providing nourishment for myself under normal circumstances, let alone during an eight day period where I'm trying to keep kosher for Passover.

Alright. Time to ball, shot-call, regulate, playa-hate, drop rhyme, do time ... you know, the usual. Peace out, suckaaaaaaaaaaaaa.