Estou de volta galera…
Fiquei oFF, por uns dias , mas agora estou de volta…..
Mais acido do que nunca..
ALOHA
abs CEBOLA

Hello fellow blog readers!  As you may have noticed I have been absent from the crazy world of blogging – with posts few & far between… but that is only because I have been MONSTROUSLY busy doing… well the things you are about to read!

So stay tuned and be PREPARED to be blown away with an insane amount of posts.  Okay not really (I don’t want to lose any subscribers) so maybe like one or two a day.  =)

Hope you have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!  I am thankful you are reading my blog!!

Barbie

Essa semana começou a minha última semana de provas, na sexta-feira, a pior delas passou! Agora, posso voltar ao mundo real =D

]]> http://thoughtoverflow.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/ok-lets-try-this-again/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:20:28 +0000 moatom http://thoughtoverflow.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/ok-lets-try-this-again/

I suck at keeping to anything. That much is clear. So let’s see if I can keep up with blogging for more than a few weeks this time.

Some things have changed since I last posted (over a year ago):

For one, I now have a job. I hate it.

My dad had a potentially fatal infection, and now has a condition that may end up taking his life. It’s called Wegener’s Granulomatosis and has no cure, only management. Basically, it causes inflammation of all the blood vessels AND granulisation of tissue. Fucking sucks – the NHS took over a year to diagnose him; i’m fairly certain if he hadn’t been on steroids for another unrelated condition, he would have died.

I want to move to London, but need a new job.

I have a bunch of mates, who live in London.

I am currently lovesick – which is embarrassing and soul-destroying in equal measure (what better thing to do than put it on teh interwebz).

I hate Coventry. Seriously, it sucks.

Is anyone even listening? Does anyone actually care?

THE DARKEST HOUR by Jon Spaihts

117 pages

30 Nov 08

Producer: Timur Bekmambetov, The Jacobson Company for New Regency

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First off, I’d like to thank all of you for your kind emails and comments congratulating me on the expansion of my family.  Bear with me as I try to get back up to speed and resume regularly scheduled programming.

I first read this script a couple years back when it was written by M.T. Ahern & Leslie Bohem – Bohem had something of a career back in the 90’s, getting credits on the Van Damme picture NOWHERE TO RUN, Stallone’s DAYLIGHT, and the better of the dueling volcano flicks DANTE’S PEAK.  That DARKEST HOUR draft wasn’t just bad, it was embarrassing; sometimes you’ll see an early draft of a script in development and think, “Wow, they missed, but they were going for something and there’s a lot here to work with and when you get down to it, they aren’t that far off.”  That wasn’t the case with Ahern & Bohem’s draft.  Had I written it, I would’ve refunded the production company’s money.

Flash forward a year, and this comes across my desk.  Spaihts.  Oh, yeah, I like him.  Bekmambetov?  Not my favorite, but I get him, I understand why he matters.  But this script?  There wasn’t a single thing worthwhile about that last draft, so why even bother with a rewrite?  But this isn’t a rewrite so much as it is an entirely new script with the same title and name for the alien species.  Otherwise?  Nebraska has become Moscow.  8 main characters from all walks of life have become 4 Americans in Moscow for differing reasons thrown together during the invasion.  And drudgery has been transformed into everything but.  This script is great.

The Jacobson Company has the project, producing for New Regency.  Word is they might start making it in March of next year, though that green light is dim according to people I talk to.  Timur is a headstrong guy who knows what he likes, so I’m sure he doesn’t give a rat’s ass what I say, but I think as good as the script is, it actually needs a decent amount of work.  This is a good example of how even a great script isn’t all that great once you start to pick it apart and unlock its secrets.

In Mother Russia, film watches you!

The script follows REX, NATALIE, VIKA, and SEAN, four survivors of an alien invasion.  We’re in Moscow, Rex, Natalie, and Sean are Americans, and they’re all at a nightclub when aliens called spooks attack the planet, and three weeks later they’re some of the last survivors, hiding from the creatures, trying to find shelter and safety that probably will never come.  They rescue Vika from the spooks, they meet up with a platoon of soldiers who have figured out how to kick some ass, and then they make it to the US Embassy where they hope to find sanctuary.  Turns out the bunker at the Embassy is a fool’s paradise, packed, squalid, awful.  The spooks attack and Rex, Natalie, Vika, and the soldiers escape, making it to a sub where they figure out how to use a weather station to make a large electrical surge that kills many of the spooks at once.  Now maybe they have a way of fighting back.

Script’s here, if you’d like to read along.  I’ll cheerfully take it down if you’re the copyright holder and you request I remove the link. (No more z-share!  Apparently some people are having trouble downloading — I’ve switched to SendSpace.  Let me know if you have problems with that site, and I’ll hunt around for something else.)

Timur –

Thanks for bringing me in to work with Jon on the project.  I think there’s a lot going on here, and holy shit you did some great stuff considering where it started back before Jon got his mitts on the project.  That being said, if you want to start shooting in March, Jon needs to get this sucker down to fighting shape.

First off, I’m not a big fan of starting the script in media res, but if you feel like it’s necessary, then it needs to justify itself.  Either the scene needs to ask a question answered later on, or raise a mystery, or lay out the characters and their relationships, or even just provide irony with the rest of the opening.  None of those things happen right now.  It’s not a matter of just shooting everything and then picking a scene to drop in to the open, either – it needs to work in context, as the cold open.

Hi. I'm Jon Spaihts. I'm a talented sumbitch.

And while the set-up is good, I don’t think it’s entirely great – the stuff where Rex is trying to pull off the big deal and he gets screwed at the last minute is interesting, but it overshadows everything else.  Natalie and Anne’s moment is clunky, Vika’s is barely present, and Sean seems almost an afterthought.  These scenes seem like placeholders.  I want something like that argument between Natalie and Anne about the maps, but better than that.  This is a challenge; surprise me.

All that being said, I think the alien invasion has to start sooner, like page 12 or 13 instead of 17.  You’ll get a page and a half just by eliminating the cold open (hint hint).  The bar sequence is cool, but when the script jumps forward 3 weeks and doesn’t tell us anything about what’s transpired in the intervening time, I feel like the story drops the ball in a really big way.  That’s your chance to establish just how bad things have gotten, how frayed they all are, and best of all to set up some sort of mystery or question about what happened in those three weeks.  Did someone betray someone else?  Did a relationship develop?  Did a relationship break apart?  Is someone mysteriously missing who was there?  Where did they go?  Might they show up later in the script?  Utilize those missing three weeks in the plot to deepen the story and the characters.

Moscow!

I also would advocate for starting off the second act (which I’d place at that three-weeks-later place) with a set piece, something that establishes the situation they’re in, what they’ve learned so far about the invasion, and how much they really don’t know.  Let’s see them attempt an ambush or make a daring escape or something.  I’d also like to see them learn about the US Embassy bunker here; I think establishing the bunker’s existence as early as possible will pay greater dividends down the road.  That gives them a goal to aim for through the script, and means that when they finally get there and discover how horrible it is down there, it’ll have a lot more meaning and be that much more disappointing and destructive to their (and our) morale.

The set piece at the open of the second act should solve another problem – until the middle of the department store sequence, I don’t have a sense for how prevalent or dangerous the spooks are.  I need you to set up the rules for how the spooks behave and how to avoid them or chase them off right from the start.

From there, the plot operates pretty well – the Sergei sequence is cool, and Skyler’s betrayal feels just right.  The bunker sequence is simply fantastic, and the showpiece for the script.  Carlin is a great character, fascinating, a great opportunity for a surprising cameo.  I’d ask Tom Cruise, actually, or another A-lister.  That moment when Sean prays as the bunker blows is chilling, beautiful, and damn near perfect.  Work a bit more on Sean’s character, though – he hasn’t earned the elegiac sacrifice quite yet.  Get more subtle with his religious background, and establish why he might connect with a boy like that.  Try not to make Sean an orphan, though – nothing so on the nose.

The US Embassy in Moscow, before the alien invasion.

I sometimes feel like there’s too much conversation about what the spooks are and how to fight them and theories on what might kill them or stop them or whathaveyou.  It’s a little frustrating because I feel like we should see the characters discovering things themselves more, rather than just learn from others like Sergei and Matvei and Nikolai.  That way when they finally do defeat the aliens in the finale, they’ll have earned that revelation.

Once the script introduces the bigger badder alien ‘Seekers,’ I’m not sure what their purpose is or why they’re that important to the plot.  It seems like they’re an attempt to deepen the story or increase the jeopardy, but it doesn’t quite work; too little too late.  The script does need a transformation, where the plot shifts from one thing to another.  I’d like to see it at the midpoint, or perhaps as the bunker is blowing up.  If transformation is going to come, though, most likely I think it’ll be where the first part of the script is about survival and the second part is about fighting back.  That’ll be tough, though, because that will change the tone and content of a lot of those scenes in the first half.  If you have other ideas for what the transformation might be, let me know.

Last but not least, Rex is your headliner so give him more punch, more gut.  I like the simplicity of his attraction to Natalie and how he tries to keep things together and leads the group, but his character arc is slight here.  Deepen it, give it more texture and meaning.  Make him into the star he deserves to be. He starts out a cocky American, but he’s put in his place right away in the script – so what then?  Is this about him gaining his confidence back?  Is this about him realizing that he was going to rape the land just like the aliens are doing? I’m not sure either of those options are interesting enough.  There’s a lot more to find in Rex.

Oh, and that final speech Rex gives?  Nope.

Hope these help.  If you need clarity on anything, feel free to give a call.  I’m up all hours these days – new baby.  I think he’s on Moscow time, actually, which should make our conference calls convenient.

-JCG

I forgot my password, and forgot the email address associated with this blog so it took me a while to take the time and get it all sorted out, but I’m back. Hopefully to not leave for that long again

Hello, dear reader, remember me?  That’s right, I promise I haven’t completely forgotten about the blogosphere.  Instead, I’ve been doing some moonlighting on a couple of other blogs.  It’s on some topics that I don’t normally talk about on this one, so it’s been a nice change-up.  However, I will always have a deep ceded love for pop culture, and so, I always think about this blog. (Don’t let the calendar fool you, I really do think about it.)

A lot of stuff has gone on out there in the world, and I’m working on gathering my thoughts.  Surprisingly, that’s taking me longer than I would have imagined.  There are some great albums I want to write-up reviews, talk about some movies, and all of that good random stuff.  I promise that I haven’t forgotten about the requests that I got earlier.  I’m going to follow through with them.

On a strange twist, I’m about to start a “professional” blog.  No, I don’t mean that I’m going to be paid for it, but I suppose in a round about way I am.  Instead, I’m getting to start a blog for my department at work.  A couple of months back, we were looking at what we could do to extend beyond the walls of the hospital, and the idea hit me for the blog.

I work for a department that is really a joy to be a part of, and it seems like an easy thing to be able to share all of that with the blogosphere.  The only thing that is odd is that I won’t be using good ol WordPress.  (The following is not a commercial, I promise.)  I’ve gotten so accustom to this format, that it is strange to think about what I will be working with.  However, I am thankful because I now have around 20 other writers (i.e. staff in my department) that will have to… I mean can, write posts.  I’ll let you know when it launches.

Well, dear reader, until next time…

The rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated…

Beste bloglezers,

voortaan blog ik verder op www.flabbergasted.be/blog

Kom eens een kijkje nemen.

greetz

Pieter Ophals

————————————-

Dear blogreaders,

From this moment on I will be blogging on my newly installed wordpress blog on www.flabbergasted.be/blog

Come take a look and leave a comment!

Greetz

Pieter Ophals

Neglijat si singur. Asa s-a simtit, blogu’ asta, de o vreme incoace (mai precis 3 luni). Sincer mi-a cam fost dor de el asa ca am “gugalit” numele lui si “iacatal”. Binenteles ca a trebuit sa imi schimb parola ca sa reintru ca administrator, fiindca am uitat-o, dar asta-i alta poveste.

De ce nu am mai postat? pai raspunsu-i simplu: am plecat in prima tabara, unde, desii aveam internet, aveam un program foarte incarcat si somnul batea in fiecare seara dorinta de a posta. Apoi vara a continuat cu alte tabere, intr-un ritm alert si foarte “ocupant” pentru mine si m-am lasat pe tanjeala cu gandul postatului zicandu-mi “las’ bah ca scriu la sfarsitul verii un articol gros cu tot ce am facut in vara asta”. Ha ha. Ce gluma. A inceput scoala si nu mi-am mai facut timp nici atat de al meu singuratic si demult uitat blog.

Ce m-a apucat acum de am “reinceput relatia” cu acest “vechi prieten” ? hmm… un rol important il are profa mea de istorie. Aveam cam mult mult de invatat si asa putin chef incat imi aruncam gandul departe de orice tinea de caietul de istorie. Si cred ca l-am aruncat prea departe si am dat de “Growing Brain” . Si de aicea e simplu. A explodat in mine o pofta de a scrie, sa zicem, nascuta din nostalgie.

Deci de acum inainte, cu siguranta ve-ti gasi posturi noi pe “Growing Brain” pentru ca am de gand sa fiu mai “grijuliu” cu el si sa il vizitez mai des. Godspeed.

Ps: poza emo ar trebui sa ilustreze blogul, in perioada asta de 3 luni ( defapt e pusa la baza, de fun ) nvm :-”

Hey guys! For a few days, my blog was down. Luckily, I’m back and online.

What actually happened………………..

Some illegally copied content was copied without my knowledge (From other authors whose names will not be released) . WordPress had  noticed the content and suspended my blog. When you visited my page, it showed this: 

Now, Once I saw this I contacted WordPress support. They kindly responded to my memo to them. They then Un-suspended my account so I could remove the illegally copied posts so you could view my blog.  I think WordPress quickly and professionally handled the situation.     Thank you WordPress for helping my continue blogging.

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I’m back! And now it’s for real.

Quase chorei quando entrei no meu blog hoje e vi diversos comentários pedindo minha volta, mas juro que voltei cheia de explicações e de novos posts:

1) Uma experência cuase morten vivida pela Desaventurada que vos fala. Sim, eu tive meningite viral, fiquei internada e a tampa da minha cabeça decidiu que deveria se desprender do resto do corpo e mudar pro Havaí. Sorte minha, os médicos conseguiram convencê-la a ficar. De vez em quando ela ainda tenta se desprender. Nada como uma dose extra de Dipirona e uma naninha para que ela desista da idéia de ir atrás de surfistas.

2) Eu tive meu blind date ex ante cuase morten. Essa novidade receberá um post só dela.

3) Meu bode pelas pessoas durante a doença e um pedido de desculpas. Outra novidade que receberá um post só dela.

4) Os planos para o meu aniversário. Como vocês bem sabem, mente vazia é a casa do demônio. Nos dias que eu consegui pensar, só pensei em fejuca com samba pra comemorar meus 23 anos.

5) O médico gato com cara de bebê carente que me atendeu no Pronto Socorro. Um negócio super E.R. que será retratado em posts próximos.

6) Pra fechar com chave de ouro, duas frases d’O Jornalista que ficarão para a memória (esse, com certeza, será o próximo post).

Enfim, tem poucas coisas divertidas, pois ficar internada em um hospital com uma dor de cabeça eterna não é exatamente o melhor lugar para escrever, mas minhas anotações não me deixam (Ah! Esse meu espírito jornalístico!) e eu trouxe algumas coisas pra contar, além de 10 buraquinhos feitos por agulhas em todo o meu corpo (Sim, eu fiz uma punção lombar, isto é, tirei líquido da espinha).

Agora, falando sério: foi muito difícil esse período. O baratinho na cabeça foi bem sério, apesar de até agora não conseguir realmente levar à sério. Somente a cara da minha mãe (que é um ser equilibrado até demais) me fez ficar preocupada de verdade. Mas agora está quase tudo bem e estou praticamente recuperada… Mais alguns dias e eu estou de volta com força total.

Obrigada!

          So, after a slightly longer than I had anticipated hiatus from my blog, I’m back. I told myself I was going to blog throughout the summer, but lets be honest, school ended in May and I was sworn off from all homework-like activities, the blog being one. But I’ve found myself back in the groove of life, homework and all, and the blog is back on my agenda. So keep looking and hopefully keep it updated!

Jenn Brown has 17 unopened law school admission notices hidden in a box somewhere.

Now 28 and one of ESPN’s rising correspondents, she’s in no hurry to open the envelopes from Harvard, Yale and Stanford.

Brown, a 2003 UF criminology graduate, is now the only female correspondent for Showtime’s “Inside the NFL,” as well as a prominent personality for ESPNU’s “Road Trip,” a gig that brought her back to the Swamp Saturday after six years.

“It didn’t hit me until I got off the exit at Archer,” Brown said. “It was like, ‘Wow, I’m back.’ It’s that surreal moment when it hits you. It’s where you spend some of the best years of your life.”

Although she said her four years in the heart of The Gator Nation were some of the best of her life, Brown said her return with ESPN reminds her of all the fun she missed in college by dedicating her time to academics and the varsity softball team.

She said her career in sports broadcasting was an accident. As a criminology student, she intended to go to law school after taking a year off to prepare for the LSAT.

During that time a friend asked her if she could fill in as a model for “Bikini Destinations,” an HDNet show.

Soon, Brown was offered the opportunity to host segments on the show and left her law school dreams behind. She flew to Los Angeles two weeks later to host HDNet’s “The Wild Side.”

“Literally, I would wake up every day, and I couldn’t believe people were paying me to travel around the world and do the most amazing things you could do in any country,” she said.

An ESPN employee approached Brown and said the network was looking for a new face and not “another 30-year-old white guy.”

A self-proclaimed tomboy, Brown admits her job in sports takes her to new levels in a career usually reserved for men.

“I remember being on the playground as a little kid racing the boys. I was always the first picked for kickball,” Brown said.

Brown said women have proven themselves, especially in sports broadcasting. She pointed to Erin Andrews, a fellow Gator and ESPN sports commentator, as a source of inspiration.

“I don’t feel like I have to prove myself. I got the job. I got it for a reason,” she said. “I do more lifestyle pieces. I love the ability to humanize the players that we don’t get to see.”

Guardare per la prima volta una puntata di telefilm doppiato in italiano, capire dal contesto la battuta in lingua originale, capire il gioco di parole geniale che nella traduzione è sparito, riflettere sul fatto che questa epifania la hai avuta solo te in quella stanza. E vaglielo a spiegare.

Comincia a preoccuparmi la cosa.

So I’m back in the blogging world after only 4 days, why you ask…?

#1 I missed all of you
#2 I missed telling you all what’s been going on in my life, even though nothing too exciting has been happening

I also wanted to explain to all my beloved readers, why I chose to abandon my old blog and start up this new one. My old blog had my last name in the title and it always really bothered me. I’m not necessarily anonymous, but I feared that a family member, an ex or a friend I no longer talked with would plug my name into google and bam, you’d find my blog filled with my thoughts and opinions that weren’t meant for them to see. I know this sounds weird considering the fact that I’m sharing my thoughts across the world wide web, but blogging has allowed me to meet some pretty amazing people (you know who you are*) and I’ve come to rely on their input and friendship. Abandoning blogging, felt wrong in the end so I’m back up and running and hopefully the transition for my old pals won’t be that difficult.

So anyway, I’m ready to get back into the swing of things!!! I also wanted to spend a special thank you to Ria who helped me choose the name of my new blog!

setelah sekian lama saya mencoba akun dan password, akhirnya saya bisa masuk blog nie. dah lama aku ga buka, saia terima kasih buat guru TIK saia, Pak Imam yangt sudah mengingatkan saia akan blog nie……………………
“APPLAUSE”
ok, saia sekarang dah smp kelas 8 (casingnya aja kelas 8, dalem masih sd, wkwkw), sudah banyak masalah yang saia lalui, seperti tugas numpuk, dan menggembalakan semut. yah, saia berharap hidup saia selamat sentosa. AMINNNN

setelah sekian lama saya mencoba akun dan password, akhirnya saya bisa masuk blog nie. dah lama aku ga buka, saia terima kasih buat guru TIK saia, Pak Imam yangt sudah mengingatkan saia akan blog nie……………………
“APPLAUSE”
ok, saia sekarang dah smp kelas 8 (casingnya aja kelas 8, dalem masih sd, wkwkw), sudah banyak masalah yang saia lalui, seperti tugas numpuk, dan menggembalakan semut. yah, saia berharap hidup saia selamat sentosa. AMINNNN