Cat in a Christmas Tree

The cats were pretty good at first, but now Mozart has learned that climbing the tree and pawing at the ornaments and bows is more fun than chasing his tail. So far we've lost four ornaments and I shudder to think what we're going to find when we take the damn thing down. And he just doesn't climb the thing, he sits in it and sticks his head out like a monkey. Stephanie says there should be a way of wiring the tree so he gets an electric shock.

After a tumultous two weeks, filming on CHRISTMAS went on hiatus and hopefully the director will pick it up again sometime in January.

In the meantime, I'm busy writing, what else. I'm between and betwixt this script and that, and my co-writer in California is working on a "vomit draft" of our thriller SNOWBLIND. Just before Christmas, I hooked up with a LA manager who wants to bring my rom com ORACLE OF ORCHARD STREET to her contacts. She loved the script and called it a mix of MOONSTRUCK and MBFGW, so I have high hopes that something good will come of it. That was a nice little Christmas present!

Trump to Randall: You Blew It

My dearly beloved PROJECT RUNWAY deserves its own post, so I'll save my thoughts on that for another day as I feel the need to vent about the bizarre finale of THE APPRENTICE last night. I was so upset that this morning I even called The Trump Organization to tell them how disappointed I was.

Up until the last two minutes, I would've been happy with either Randall or Rebecca, although I leaned towards Rebecca. Her street smarts, her ability to think fast, her tenacity, her loyalty, all in my mind, made her the perfect Apprentice.

Randall, for all his celebrated book smarts, showed an appalling lack of common sense. Let's not forget that Randall was the one who put the wrong radio frequency on a poster during one task, and in his final task, had no backup plan in place when the charity softball game was rained out.

Let me also point out that even though the guests at the Yahoo event failed to pony up cash for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, that wasn't Rebecca's fault. The Yahoo execs were skittish about directly shilling for dollars. But in the end, Yahoo did the right thing and donated $100K to be split equally between the two charities. So a case could be strongly made that due to Rebecca, the Autistic charity got an extra $50K.

However, I was willing to let all that slide...up until Randall showed his true colors in the selfish, embarrassing way he declined to co-share with Rebecca. Even more disheartening was Trump's reaction. He seemed pussy whipped, totally befuddled as he stammered. Worse was the way the audience booed. It was a dismal end to an otherwise fine season.

Was I the only one who thought Randall reeked? I guess not, because at MSNBC, the headline was (to paraphrase) "Randall Proved Himself To Be A Selfish Lout And Asshole." Not the headlines Trump was hoping for.

I was also stunned by the vicious remarks by some of Rebecca's female teammates. Allah was so out of line, even Trump cut her off. Marshawn's critical remarks wasn't surprising, because Rebecca had been the one to step up to the plate when Marshawn declined to give a presentation because she was afraid that if her team lost, she'd be blamed. Trump saw through Marshawn's phony excuse and fired her sorry ass.

Even at the end, with the audience booing, Rebecca maintained her poise and grace while Randall cavorted like a greedy buffoon. Her two words to Trump summed it up nicely: "That's unfortunate."

If I had been Trump, when Randall came out with his lame explanation of why there should only be one Apprentice, I would've stopped the show, admitted that I had made a blunder, stripped Randall of the win and awarded it to Rebecca.

A pox on both Trump and Randall. An entire season down the drain in the last two minutes due to Randall's boorish behavior and Trump's waffling. Good going, guys.

Lil Xmas News

Hubby still working on the press release. He needs an updated list from the director as I know one actress had to be replaced at the last minute due to a death in the family. Haven't heard anything more about how the shoot is going.

On a side note, I was interviewed by a reporter from our paper of record, Newsday (and my employer though I haven't been paid since June, still on disability, and they won't transfer me to an office closer to home), so it appears as if they're going to do a story on it. Let's hope its a positive one!

Christmas Updates

I spoke to John the director last night. He sounded tired, but happy. Yesterday he did a script read with the main cast. So far, the feedback from the rewrite I did over the weekend has been favorable (save for my sexy Santa Elf scene) and everyone thinks I'm "brilliant." (John's words, not mine.). And we got a nice little blast of snow last night, only a couple of inches, and today is cold, bright and sunny---the picture perfect backdrop for the first day of shooting.

My hubby is still working on the press release (when he's done tinkering with it I'll post it) and contacting local media, but the cast includes Carol Alt, Matt McCoy, Austin Pendleton and Hunter Gomez. John is trying to get celebrities to show up for cameos for the big Christmas tree/holiday festival scenes. Keep your fingers crossed!

The Town That Banned Christmas

So...finally the director got the rest of the moolah he needed, and everything so far seems to be a go for Monday. I did a last minute revise last night and am still waiting to hear back about it. I had to beef up one character and add two new ones...and naturally they wanted it ASAP.

Next chapter to follow....

Tryptophan Coma

Okay, T-Day is out of the way, along with the amaretto cheesecake. Great recipe but lousy baking instructions. DO NOT BAKE A CHEESECAKE AT 450 DEGREES FOR AN HOUR. The top will burn. And if the recipe says to invert the cake: DON'T!!!!!!!!!!!

Good News: It looks like THE TOWN THAT BANNED CHRISTMAS is a go. The director secured the last of his financing. Shooting should begin on Monday barring last minute trauma or bounced checks.

Bad News: Still don't have my computer.

Good News: The computer is fixed, hubby was just too lazy to get it.

Bad News: Still no moolah from my disability insurance.

Good News: My claim is still "under review".

Bad News: Still no word on INTO THE AMAZON or RANDOM ACTS.

Good News: Agent said he submitted RA to a prodco who invested in NORTH COUNTRY.

Bad News: NORTH COUNTRY tanked.

Good News: I got my hair cut and blown out. I looked great.

Bad News: I can't blow my hair out like the hairdresser did. I look like a moron.

Good News: Our car is now registered and inspected.

Bad News: We got a ticket for driving the car with an expired registration.

Good News: Bush's approval ratings are blowing out faster than the M&M balloon at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Bad News: Bush is still President.

Happy T-Day!

We're trying an assortment of new recipes this year, so we'll see how this turns out. Every year, when I try to vary the menu, everyone has a favorite that they can't live without.

Nov. 28th is supposed to be the start date of my Christmas movie, but I haven't heard from the director in a few days...

Mercury Retrograde

My computer crashed, my car's been in the shop all week, still didn't get the money owed to me from my employer, still didn't get the cat's flea medicine, still didn't get the money from disability insurance, my-cowriter on INTO THE AMAZON hated my revise, still didn't get my haircut, got my period...

What else can go wrong??????????????????????????????

Don't Cry For Me, Judy Miller

Cos I'm gonna make a pile of dough
Going on all the Fox news shows
So what if I gave the wrong info
It's all in who you know
And I knew Scooter
And I knew Chalabi
That little fatty
So what if I drove the New York Times batty
I did my best
The hell with the rest
Cos I'm gonna make a pile of dough
Remembering what I didn't know
I was a jaibird
Now I'm a snowbird
Looking at the leaves in Aspen falling
While reading "The Apprentice's" bear balling
I got my severance pay
But I won't fade away
Cos I got all those Fox news shows in my lap
To dissemble more faux news crap
So don't cry...for me!!!!!!!!!!! (High quivering falsetto)

Life goes on. So Bush had a bad Tuesday, take two Tylenol and resign. Take Peaches Libby with you while you're at it.

I'm almost (I said almost) feel sorry for Frist. Talk about a doctor who can't keep his scalpel straight.

Isn't anyone embarrassed by Libby's fiction? His book, not his fanciful tale about the leak. Who knew Repubs had such filthy imaginations? He should get together with Lynne Cheney and write a sequel. Number One at Amazon with a condom.

In the meantime, Rove is still under Fitz's microscope, more innocent people are dying in Iraq, and the guy who had his ass stuck to the john seems to have a history of this. Talk about a rough patch.

In my world, things are still the same. Waiting, worrying and working.

BTW, my hubby (a writer/editor of many years) and I are launching a little side biz, writing, proofing and editing manuscripts, scripts, articles, queries, treatments, press releases, letters, techo-crap, you name it. We're cheap and fast and you get four eyes for the price of two. Better than a Happy Meal!

If anyone's interested, give me a toot, I mean, a hoot.

Post Hallo-weenie

If all goes according to plan, my THE TOWN THAT BANNED CHRISTMAS is slated to start filming on November 28th. We're going to need extras (unpaid) for the big Christmas tree scene, so if any of you are on LI and want to be in a movie, any movie, drop me a line and I'll see what I can do.

I am very disappointed in my Halloweenies. We decorated the house, bought bags and bags of treats (good ones, too), and our house got egged anyway. Many kids didn't even say "trick or treat", they just grabbed the candy and ran. The little tots looked befuddled. And they started coming late, too. I figured the toddlers would come early in the afternoon, like last year, before the teenagers and their shaving cream. At one point, it was so dead, I went into the street looking for trick or treaters.

Stephanie says she's so over trick or treating; at 17, she's too old for such juvenile antics. Instead, she paid good money to be scared witless at a haunted house.

Oh, to be young...

Hallo-weenie

I must confess, I used to scare my little ones with the Boogeyman. Once, I even got my kids out of the mall by telling them that Michael Jackson in "Thriller" was going to get them.

I was a poor Mom, but in spite of my shortcomings, my kids turned out all right. Not a drug abuser, serial killer, sociopath, alkie or pregnant one in the bunch.

Where did I go wrong?

What Did Bush Know And When Did He Know It?

Our 27 months of hell
By Joseph C. Wilson IV

JOSEPH C. WILSON IV was acting ambassador in Baghdad when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. He is the author of "The Politics of Truth" (Carroll & Graff, 2004). He was a diplomat for 23 years.

October 29, 2005

AFTER THE two-year smear campaign orchestrated by senior officials in the Bush White House against my wife and me, it is tempting to feel vindicated by Friday's indictment of the vice president's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Between us, Valerie and I have served the United States for nearly 43 years. I was President George H.W. Bush's acting ambassador to Iraq in the run-up to the Persian Gulf War, and I served as ambassador to two African nations for him and President Clinton. Valerie worked undercover for the CIA in several overseas assignments and in areas related to terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.

But on July 14, 2003, our lives were irrevocably changed. That was the day columnist Robert Novak identified Valerie as an operative, divulging a secret that had been known only to me, her parents and her brother.

Valerie told me later that it was like being hit in the stomach. Twenty years of service had gone down the drain. She immediately started jotting down a checklist of things she needed to do to limit the damage to people she knew and to projects she was working on. She wondered how her friends would feel when they learned that what they thought they knew about her was a lie.

It was payback — cheap political payback by the administration for an article I had written contradicting an assertion President Bush made in his 2003 State of the Union address. Payback not just to punish me but to intimidate other critics as well.

Why did I write the article? Because I believe that citizens in a democracy are responsible for what government does and says in their name. I knew that the statement in Bush's speech — that Iraq had attempted to purchase significant quantities of uranium in Africa — was not true. I knew it was false from my own investigative trip to Africa (at the request of the CIA) and from two other similar intelligence reports. And I knew that the White House knew it.

Going public was what was required to make them come clean. The day after I shared my conclusions in a New York Times opinion piece, the White House finally acknowledged that the now-infamous 16 words "did not rise to the level of inclusion in the State of the Union address."

That should have been the end. But instead, the president's men — allegedly including Libby and at least one other (known only as "Official A") — were determined to defame and discredit Valerie and me.

They used eager allies in Congress and the conservative media, beginning with Novak. Perhaps the most egregious of the attacks was New York GOP Rep. Peter King's odious suggestion that Valerie "got what she deserved."

Valerie was an innocent in this whole affair. Although there were suggestions that she was behind the decision to send me to Niger, the CIA told Newsday just a week after the Novak article appeared that "she did not recommend her husband to undertake the Niger assignment." The CIA repeated the same statement to every reporter thereafter.

The grand jury has now concluded that at least one of the president's men committed crimes. We are heartened that our system of justice is working and appreciative of the work done by our fellow citizens who devoted two years of their lives to grand jury duty.

The attacks on Valerie and me were upsetting, disruptive and vicious. They amounted to character assassination. Senior administration officials used the power of the White House to make our lives hell for the last 27 months.

But more important, they did it as part of a clear effort to cover up the lies and disinformation used to justify the invasion of Iraq. That is the ultimate crime.

The war in Iraq has claimed more than 17,000 dead and wounded American soldiers, many times more Iraqi casualties and close to $200 billion.

It has left our international reputation in tatters and our military broken. It has weakened the United States, increased hatred of us and made terrorist attacks against our interests more likely in the future.

It has been, as Gen. William Odom suggested, the greatest strategic blunder in the history of our country.

We anticipate no mea culpa from the president for what his senior aides have done to us. But he owes the nation both an explanation and an apology.

Buh-bye Harriet

So sad to see you go...not.

Poor Harriet was a train wreck from the moment she left the station.

I still maintain that if Bush had nominated Harriet BEFORE Hurricane Katrina, in the intial glow of the John Roberts love fest, she would've slipped through on John Roberts' coat tails.

Oh, what a difference one FEMA disaster can make.

Bush is not just a lame duck, his goose is cooked. And by the rightwing lug nuts of his own party, the moonbats that he says don't represent the Republican party.

What does this say for moderate Republicans? Fuggetaboutit. If dopes like Dobson "who supported Miers before they didn't support her" can't get their bulldogs to stand down, what does portend for the moderate wing?

Just last week, the meme was that Senate Repubs had to support Miers lest it weaken Bush's presidency. What's the memo now, that by withdrawing her Bush is flexing his muscle?

What's all the more amazing to me is that Bush owes these looney tunes nothing. He'll never run for office again. But he's so weak that he can't even get the crony of his choice on the Supreme Court. Never mind that she was patently unqualified. Didn't matter to Bush. He saw into her "heart", remember?

And getting rid of her now, on the eve of Fitzmas. Bush couldn't even take the chance of her being humiliated on national TV during her confirmation hearings.

I suspect that poor Harriet crammed until her head hurt, and it was only during her "mock" hearings that somebody at the White House realized just how badly she would do.

Harriet, we hardly knew ye.....

Musings on a Rainy Saturday Afternoon

So much for Indian Summer. It's become an Indian Flood. We sure didn't need another weekend of rain. The only thing getting green around here is the grass.

Am in the initial stages of plotting out new specs with two good pals...it also helps when you already have a VP of Development interested.

My family knows that if I were somehow to become stranded on a desert island, I'd want my computer, brownies, potato chips and Edy's Grand Light Ice Cream. Well, we can add S'mores by Nabisco. Those things are so addicting it should be criminal.

Merry Fitzmas

Keeping my head out of the line of fire (trying to, anyway) and paying no heed to all that background noise. I practice the three W's: waiting, worrying, writing.

Daughter #1 has a new job. I know she'll be fabooo.

Daughter #2 is convinced that she has lupus because some of her hair is falling out. Even her dermatologist is befuddled.

Daughter #3 dressed like a cross of Madonna and Cyndi Lauper today for Senior Something Day.

I wish we had another little one running around (besides cats).

Dear Mainstream Media

Dear Mainstream Media. . . (from Daily Kos)

Yes, this video-conference was fake. Please consider this in the context of the following:


The WMD justification for the Iraq War was fake.

The claim that Iraq had ties to 9/11 was fake.

The Thanksgiving turkey to the troops was fake.

The photo-op on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln was fake.

The Jessica Lynch story was fake.

The Pat Tillman story was fake.

The "compassionate conservative" claim was fake.

The "restoring honor and dignity to the White House" claim was fake.

The proposed cost of the prescription drug bill was fake.

The "ranch" in Crawford is fake.

Jeff Gannon was fake

The town-hall "meetings" on Social Security were fake.

The town-hall campaign "meetings" of 2004 with "real Americans" asking "real questions" were fake.

The domestic terror warnings of 2004 -- particularly the ones immediately following the nomination of John Kerry -- were fake.

The Swift Boat Veterans for "Truth" were fake.

The Niger uranium documents were fake.

Bush's National Guard "service" in Alabama is fake.

White House propaganda masquerading as "news reports" was fake.

The claim that no one in the White House had anything to do with the outing of Valerie Plame was fake.

The claim that Bush wanted to "get to the bottom" of the Plame matter was fake.


Perhaps you now see a pattern and wish to consider this pattern in your future reporting.

Sincerely,

The Reality-Based Community

Waterlogged

Aside from the torrential rains that have hit the eastern seabord with a vengeance, it's been a slow week.

The first casting call for the CHRISTMAS script went well. Close to four hundred people came to audition, I'm told. I was there for a few hours and gave my input on several promising candidates.

Other than that, been writing, waiting and worrying. What else can you do when it's raining so hard that your inground pool is ready to overflow?

Also nice to see the Bush "Presidency" imploding. Each day brings a new farce. My new mantra now is "how low can Bush go."

Kill Me Now, Why Don't Cha

So I have all these scripts out at various places, and a close pal says to me something to the effect of, hey, it's a three day weekend, chances are your scripts are going to be read over it, aren't you excited?

Uh....not really. I told her it meant I would probably get a slew of passes next week.

And she remonstrated me to think positive: I would get a slew of yes'.

All right. I can do that. And that is slew, not stew.

Update on THE TOWN THAT BANNED CHRISTMAS: John the director/producer is holding an open casting call next week for some of the lead roles, supporting and secondary characters. I have been invited to give my input, so I will dutifully report the outcome here. My main worry is what if nobody shows up? Sheesh.

Random Ramblings On A Thursday Evening

Before The Apprentice (the real one) comes on.

So it looks like Katie Holmes didn't keep her vow to remain a virgin until she was married. Guess Tom had the, uh, right stuff.

Jessica and Nick are splitsville. Are too. Are not. Does anyone give a shit? I wish all the Simpsons would get their sorry asses on an RV and hit the road. We have more important things to worry about, like Karl Rove's indictment.

Hurricane Katrina's Latest Victim

The Bush Chimp made a gross strategic error in waiting to pick his latest Supreme Court chump, er, I mean crony, uh, nominee.

If Georgie had nominated Harriet Miers along with John Roberts (before Hurricane Katrina) she would've stood a much better of sailing thru on Roberts coattails. Yeah, there still would've been acrimony from the right, but Bush back then was in better shape politically.

What a difference a hurricane or two makes.

Now, in the aftermath of the disaster that Hurricane Katrina was, and since Emperor Bush has been shown to have no clothes, he's diminished. Buyer's remorse has set in. If Dubyahoo wasn't a lame drunk (I mean, lame duck) then, he certainly is now.

Consider: the Delay indictments, now the upcoming endgame to Plamegame, more bad news in Iraq, consumer confidence low, the White House Spy, FBI wiretapping the wrong phone number, morale sinking, conservative base up in arms....it's been horrendous for Bush. And I predict it's only going to get worse.

They can't even trot Barbara Bush out to calm the troops.

Meh. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.