Disney - Oh My.

Well, THIS should make my next Disneyland visit more interesting!

(Seriously - just kidding. I would NEVER. But who knew rampant toplessness was such a problem that The Mouse had to hire Propriety Police?)

Malibu Saturday Afternoon, with Horse.

Well, if you DIDN'T hear my friend Louise's concert last night in La Mirada, CA, you really missed out!

Louise played the famous (and famously tough) Beethoven Triple Concerto with her father, Marlin Owen, on cello, and pianist Menahem Pressler. Behind them: the excellent Biola Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Shawna Stewart. I drove down with Lori to hear the concert -

MAN what a night! And what a triumph for Louise.

I had a whole day of cheering people on, in fact. Kerri, who I've written about here in this space, had her very first LIVE show taping yesterday for Nick Jr. - so I went up to the studio and watched the filming of the show (and the music video).

Now: concentrating on some writing of my own here at the Malibu Starbucks. Oh wait: just looked out the window to see... a HORSE. A big white horse with a shaggy equestrian, who must have ridden up the highway. Ok, weird.

I'm refocusing this blog on my own writing, as well. So you can check back here to read updates about my writing work and writing life - which is the same thing as my LIFE-life, of course, so I figure it's a legit catchall for pretty much anything.

But please do check back here frequently, for updates and changes. Expect a WHOLE lot of cool new stuff coming in the next few days and weeks.s

Suddenly Sunday...

Some new updates...
Went to the Getty with Kerri... And rolled down the hill! We decided that that was the start of a new chapter in our lives.
Now awaiting Louise and Jorge on JetBlue...
Plus: I am updating this post on my new.... iphone!!!!

Look for lots of changes in the blog, and lots of updates coming soon!

Script Frenzy!

As some of you know: last year I participated in "NaNoWriMo" - otherwise known as "National Novel Writing Month," in which a whole lot of people churn out a whole lot of words in 30 days or less. The goal was to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. And... I did it! I blogged about it at Extra Criticum, Part I HERE and Part II HERE.

Now, overcome by spring fever - and succumbing to peer pressure from my friend Deirdre, as I so often do (thank you, Deirdre!) - I have decided to partake in the next act of overwhelming pressure from the creators of "NaNoWriMo": it's SCRIPT FRENZY, in which writers commit to churning out a 100 page script in the month of April.

Oh, I know you're thinking: ED! How are you gonna manage it? Are you totally insane for taking this on right now?

And yes, honesty, I AM working on a stack of other writing projects, too: I'm polishing my pilot script, readying some TV show pitches, finishing the screenplay, the brief collection of avant-garde puppet plays... oh, and writing by day at my job, where we're closing out the writing season.

Well, luckily, this time around I won't be alone in my writing frenzy: I'm writing the Frenzy project as a team with my good buddy JIM, with whom I've reconnected after over a decade.

More on Jimmy later, but I'm sure some of you in NYC remember him from our last stunning collaboration, "Wicked Pudding: A Christmas Anti-Spectacular" - a revue which delighted literally six live theatergoers during the Christmas season of 1997. (OK, so four of them were my family, and two others wandered in by accident and were kind enough to stay, even though they didn't speak English very well.)

All joking aside, I'm proud of the script of "Wicked Pudding" - maybe as proud of that piece as of almost anything I've ever done - and I'm honored and excited to write with Jimmy again.

I'll post back here from time to time about how our Frenzy is going. (In all my free time, ha ha.) In the meantime: KITTY WIGS! Happy April.

Followup: Kerri's Obama Spot makes the Wall Street Journal!

As you may have read in my previous posts, Kerri's adorable Black History Month spot on President Obama was (and is no longer) up on the Nick website and was (and is no longer) airing on the network during February.

Well, surprise! This lovely, innocuous, and wholly apolitical spot attracted the snarky attention of the Wall Street Journal's Opinion Page. The WSJ's op-ed page is ultraconservative, and this author stays true to form: taking issue with the spot on Obama and accusing the network of indoctrinating impressionable youth. (Plus, the columnist seems confused: why didn't G.W. Bush get the royal treatment in a Black History Month spot of his own? Gee, I can't imagine...)

Anyway, check out the nonsense at the following link. And enjoy the full text of the Obama spot, printed in its entirety without attribution to Kerri. Perhaps the columnist thinks "shrimp linguine" is code for "socialism." Sigh.

One more spot from Kerri!

Check it out: Kerri's final Nick Jr. Black History Month spot premiered, and it's now my favorite one of them all. It features a certain 44th President of the U.S.of A. and his family. I think you'll find it lovely and adorable. (I especially love the red, white and blue color scheme the artists used.)

Click here for Kerri's Obama spot.

So, CONGRATS, KERRI! I am so glad you're sharing your words with the world.

Kerri's Nick Jr. Black History Month Videos!

Howdy, all - and happy February!

Please check out the 5 short and very sweet Nick Jr. Black History Month videos, with scripts written by my dear friend (and former fellow Fellow at Nickelodeon), the fabulous KERRI GRANT!

This year's focus was African American inventors and their inventions: Garrett Morgan (who invented the traffic stoplight), George Crum (invented the potato chip), Jack Johnson (invented the wrench), Lonnie Johnson (the father of the Super Soaker), and Alfred Cralle (inventor of the ice cream scoop).

Congrats, Kerri!