This week…

+ Despite the circumstances under which it happened, I am happy I got to see some family yesterday at my aunt’s service.
+ Finished the latest rewrite of Queen To Be!
+ Caught a couple of Golden Globe movies, including Midnight in Paris and The Iron Lady.
+ Did some brainstorming on my new short film, Breakfast at Gerardo’s.

This weekend I have nothing planned except to hang out with my wife and catch Red Tails. Hope you all have a great weekend.

If you’re a writer and struggling with a project, watch this. It’ll pump you up. Hopefully.

There’s something about sitting down at my desk after a vacation. An anxiety to get back to work. It’s like my batteries are charged and I’m ready to rip through my freelance work, knock out my personal screenwriting lessons and dive into my own scripts.

So after an early morning run, I plopped down in my chair and my fingers were ready to fly.

Yeah… too bad my computer didn’t get the memo.

It’s now 11:30 on the West Coast and I’m finally able to get to work. Supposedly today was the official update-every-piece-of-software-on-my-computer day. Because the processing power on this baby is so lame, it’s unusable whenever anything is updating. I guess the updates are my computer’s version of a morning run.

So now it looks like my computer and I are on the same page. Hopefully I will successfully avoid all of the Cyber Monday emails flooding my inbox.

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My personal screenwriting development last week featured:

* Watching: Moneyball, The Muppets and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1.
* Reading: The Debt & my friend’s absolutely awesome family action/adventure feature script my friend she sent me over to read.

This week I’ll be reading Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and watching two of the 99 flicks I currently have saved on DVR.

With the Sly Sylvester craze starting to slow (speaking of, I just received the printed film stills this week and they look awesome – I’ll show you them soon), I’ve gotten back on my game in terms of reading scripts and watching movies. My goal is to read one script and watch two movies per week. Over the last nine days, I watched Easy Rider (weird), Saturday Night Fever (surprisingly entertaining) and Moneyball (one of my favorite films this year) and read the scripts for Pariah and The Debt.

Some thoughts:

1. After watching Easy Rider, I’ve conclused the drug craze of the 70′s was likely larger than I originally imagined… both because the film is filled with drug references and also because people must have been loaded to like this enough to make this a blockbuster success. My dad may disown me if he ever reads this.
2. John Travolta could move when he was younger. I think my wife and I were doing pelvic thrusts around the living room for 30 minutes after that movie was over.
3. Brad Pitt needs to be nominated for an Oscar for Moneyball. And Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin better be considered for Best Screenplay. Hi-five to Jonah Hill for the work he did as well.
4. After reading the script for Pariah, I’m a little worried it’ll come off as another, “Woe is me, I’m a lesbian and life is terrible because of it.” Feedback so far has been good, so I’m crossing my fingers.
5. I need to rent The Debt… like now.

- til next time – Kim

+ Spending last Saturday with my family and some friends as my sister hosted a scrumdiddlyumptious BBQ.
+ Watching Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. I’m thankful that I got to cozey up with my wife for an evening. I’m also thankful I now know never to watch that movie again.
+ First tomato showed up!

+ Got some new Field Notes Steno books. These will soon be filled with million-dollar script ideas.

+ My rec league hoop team stepped it up this week! We got our first win, thanks to the shooting of Kelly, the hustle of Sammy, the beautiful touch of Kasia, the rebounding madness of Melissa and the leadership of Lish. I’m proud of the whole crew.
+ An article I wrote about the San Francisco Film Society’s Young Filmmaker’s Camp was published on SF360.
+ Had dinner and wine one evening this week with a close friend.
+ Ran the local reservoir with that same close friend, then rode our bikes to a local coffee shop where we worked all afternoon.
+ Joined my neighborhood online message board community. I’m excited to get to know our neighbors and to keep up with what’s going on in my hood.
+ Jay-Z and Kanye West released their album, Watch The Throne. Many prematurely claimed that it was over-hyped, but I’m enjoying the project.

This weekend? It’s going to be epic.

Tonight – I’ll be making dinner for some friends.
Saturday – Listen to live music and eat some tasty grub at my neighborhood street faire.
Sunday – I get to spend the evening with my beautiful wife, close friends, and this woman:

Hope you all have a great weekend.

- til next time – Kim

At the computer I find it hard to fight the temptation to click on Outlook or start in on my freelance article quota. When the afternoon shows its face and it’s time to pull out the script, my energy levels are at their lowest and that, “this can wait until tomorrow,” thought squeaks its way into my head.

Not today folks! I had chalked up my two hours of screenwriting time before breakfast.

Who saw movies this weekend? My wife and I supported a couple of our local theaters and caught THE documentary of the year, Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest, as well as the huge blockbuster, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II. Both flicks are worth your $10, though I’d be at risk of growing a Pinocchio nose if I told you I wasn’t a little disappointed with Potter. But it’s entertaining, looks unbelievable, and watching strong performances such as those by Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith makes me excited to write for the screen.

So yes, it was a first-class weekend. The belt on our dryer broke, but I own about 90 pairs of underwear and I think I’ll be able to fix unit myself as soon as the replacement belt comes in the mail. The USA Women’s Soccer Team wasn’t able to shut the door against the Japanese, but if another country is going to take the World Cup, I’m glad it was Japan.

The week has started off on a great foot. I woke up to clear skies after a weekend of fog and it feels good to work. Plus, I received a beautiful tee from Mr. Phillip T. Annand and the Award Tour crew. Thanks for the quality piece and the handwritten note Phil!

Two years ago we were there and one new player in particular caught our eye. There was an intensity to him, even when he completing the most minor of tasks. He’d be stretching and bouncing, acting as if he were about to march into the batter’s box as the last hitter in game seven of the World Series, when really he was simply waiting for his turn to step in for batting practice.

That player was Andres Torres.

After struggling in the minors for over ten years, in 2009 Torres found himself on the Giants’ roster as a back up player. An early season injury to starting center-fielder Aaron Rowand gave Torres an opportunity and he has excelled ever since.

Despite that many would consider him too small and too old, Torres remains a starter for the Giants. He made an enormous impact on them taking the 2010 World Series Championship. He was named the team’s Most Inspirational Player and received the prestigious Willie Mac Award.

Torres’ work ethic, determination, perseverance and heart are unmatched.

When he first came to the States, Andres didn’t have much. Didn’t have a command of the language. Didn’t have a car. Didn’t have a clue how to cook. Didn’t have any money. Didn’t have any furniture or electricity in his apartment. But he had his ingenuity. So when he couldn’t afford a batting cage, he made one; he put up his mattress and had friends throw soft toss so he could practice his swing. Use what you have, have what you use.

This summer, filmmaker Chusy Jardine is releasing a documentary on Torres and his struggle with ADHD. The film is called Gigante and you can view the trailer for it below.

Gigante from Anthony Haney on Vimeo.

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EDIT: Chusy Jardine recently presented at the TEDxSF conference, where he discussed Andres Torres and the making of the film.