Obits

Here are the obituaries for Grandpa Sam, Aunt Mim & Seth:

From Today's Washington Post, a nice article -
Samuel Snyder, 96; Broke Codes And Designed Early Computers

NY Times -
Miriam Borko

NY Times -
Seth Palmer

They always come in 3's

I'm leaving one shiva house for another. Today my grandfather died. Granpa Sam. My last remaining grandparent. First Miriam Borko, then Seth Palmer and now Sam Snyder. These deaths always come in 3's. My sister said to me yesterday that it must seem to me like I leave the East Coast and then something awful happens to a loved one. It doesn't just seem that way, it actually happens that way, unfortunately. Not to jinx my whole L.A. existence, but it IS an eerie pattern; one which I'd like to stop repeating immediately, please.

I picked up the flute because of my Grandpa Sam. And thought computers were cool because of him. And watched him surf the tsunami that was my Grandma Pat's personality. But that's just a fraction of my memories and love. 96 years of amazing gone.

There's just a lot of ache where Mim & Seth & Sam used to be. Sucky sucky week.

Red Eye

I took the red eye. I'm back East in the worst way possible. On Dec. 22 both my Great Aunt Mim and my good friend Seth died. Mim was just one day shy of her 92nd birthday and Seth was way too young fighting leukemia. Both their funerals are this morning, Xmas Eve. I wish I could attend both. I can't do either of them justice here; just to say I am heartbroken at the loss and grateful for the laughs, love and wisdom we shared. I hate the Mourner's Kaddish.

A Working Writer

telling it from the gut...

This is my small contribution to the AWorkingWriter.com project. Much better if you check it out on the actual website. Watch Michael Seitzman, Jack Kenny, Dawn DeKeyser, Jessica Bendinger, and Eva Saks, too. (And some press from the Huffington Post, too...) And, although picketing is on hold through the holidays, don't forget to support, in whatever way you can, the striking WGA members and all the below-the-line folks who have been effected by the strike.

Happy Holidays, folks.

Walking the Walk

Today we walked, danced and cheered our way through 7 miles of Burbank/Toluca Lake studios. It's the most exercise I've had in a year! Our fearless leader Josh Singer kept the 70's tunes flowing, the supportive traffic kept on honking, and we kept putting one foot in front of another, making our way from one WGA-picketed gate to another. It was great to see my Team Jaguar peeps @ Universal Gate One! When my sweetie & I made it back to the car sweaty and spent, we could barely move. Thanks to all the folks along the way with water and treats. (And thanks to Drew Carey for picking up the breakfast tab this morning @ Bob's Big Boy!)

Today was a very visible and vocal show of support, but yesterday I participated in a film project spearheaded by Maria Maggenti and Michael Seitzman called AWorkingWriter.com, that, while more understated, is no less critical to the fight for visibility of writers. Check it out in the coming days to see me and several others talk about what it means to be a working writer. Hey, that's what I moved all the way across the country to do, right? Write.

Jodie, Jodie, Jodie...

Jodie Foster Comes Out - sort of...

*yawn*

She thanked her life partner, co-parent to her children. That's what you're supposed to do at awards shows. I'm supposed to yawn. This shouldn't be a news story. Am I post-gay, yet? Too bad the rest of the world isn't.

Indie Film Gate

Top: Bill Condon, Left: John August, Right: Harlan Ellison

I did my time at Universal, then drove over to my own 'hood of H-wood, to represent as an Indie writer. Above pics from today's Independent Writers Caucus rally at Paramont aka Indie Film Gate. My sweetie & I will be lacing up our sneakers for the Striker's Studio Walk-a-thon on Monday!

Strike One!

That's Maria Maggenti & I braving the cold shadow of NBC/Universal on the WGA picket line. It was my first day walking the walk, and I was greeted by the enthusiastically jaded writers of "Team Jaguar" headed by strike captain John Gatins. Buoyed by holiday fliers printed-up and delivered by Justine Bateman (see her Speechless entry below w/her brother Jason), we tramped across the front entrance to Universal City, taking pictures with tourists from China, Australia & Texas. Being a WGA babe, I just soaked up stories from the vets about the last strike, various TV & film set debacles and home lives disrupted indefinitely by the strike. Tomorrow brings Indie Film Gate @ Paramount. I've joined the union at an historic time, so it's time to help make some more history...

Festivus quoted

Coincidentally, while back in NYC last week, a friend working for Time Out New York asked what disappointed me most about the Big Apple this Holiday season. My answer made it into print here. (scroll down past Charles Busch and Seth Rudetsky...)

Flush with warm-fuzzies upon my East Coast return, I blurted out “Nothing much disappoints me about New York City. It’s still sooo much better than L.A.” I have to admit, I felt bad dissing LA for the first time since moving here (I'm back on the West Coast, now). Truth is, now that the subletters are moving into the NYC pad, Los Angeles is home for the next while, and my search to find something new each week to love about the City of Angles is on again.

Right now? Love my car. ;-)

Shoot me now

Neither snow, nor rain, nor gloom of NJ Turnpike kept me from joining the 3rd day of shooting on my latest script, here in NYC. From one emotional roller coaster to another, happily.