REMEMBERING THE WRITERS STRIKE

Thomas Lennon as Officer Dangle. Look closely and you'll see Rainn Wilson staring me down.

Someone brought up the Writer's Strike the other day and we both agreed that in the end it severely weakened the TV landscape (I'm looking at you NBC & Jay Leno at 10:00PM) and gave us one Summer of really shitty blockbusters (I'm looking at you Summer 2009).

When Writers Strike!

As we were reminiscing, I suddenly felt weirdly nostalgic for the feeling of solidarity among my fellow Writers during the whole ordeal that began on November 5, 2007, and ended on February 12, 2008. Yes, I attended all the rally's wearing my blood red shirt. I always felt that wearing Red Shirts was a bad idea. Everyone knows that the "Red Shirt" is the sacrificial lamb on Star Trek. The person that always bites it before the credits roll. How very apropos that the Studio Chiefs were more than willing to sacrifice writers so they could keep their bottom line intact. Writers are the Red Shirts of the Entertainment Industry. This will never change.

The rally in front of Fox studios was insane. It was the largest collection of Millionaires on one city block I've ever seen. It was probably some kind of Guiness World Record. Everyone was there. The cast of the Office. The cast of Reno 911 (in full costume, no less). The Governator. Judd Apatow. Larry David. Rage Against the Machine did a set. It was insane. I managed to snap a few pics. But in the end it was a lot of sound and fury amounting to no major gains or changes for Writer's in general.

Attack of the Red Shirts. Irony not lost on the Writers who know the significance of being a Red Shirt.

This is why I encourage all Writers to envision themselves in a Trinity of roles: Writer first, producer second and Director third. But you must be a storyteller above all else or the other two roles will ring hollow. I've done the first two, now I'm working on the third.

Only then will destiny be in my and your hands.

My advice: If you want it. Take it!

Your Friend,

D.

THE RAW POWER OF A MONTREAL WINTER STORM

The aftermath of a powerful storm.

The above photo is a 3 car tarp that covered the front motorcourt at my parents home in Montreal. Three years ago when I went back home for the holidays, a massive wind picked up the tarp - which weighs at least two tons - flipped it around destroying 5 cars before settling in between my parents home and the neighbor's house like a shipwrecked vessel.

When I say the wind picked up the tarp, I mean that the tarp acted like a parachute and was pushed upwards of 20 feet. When it came down it crushed 5 cars like tin cans. It was like a scene right out of Jan De Bont's awesome popcorn flick TWISTER.

Fortunately, no one was hurt. But during the entire ordeal my dad was insane enough to think he could hold the tarp down ( the aforementioned two ton tarp made with towering steel girders and such) with his BARE HANDS. The tarp almost lifted him 20 feet into the air and he narrowly avoided getting his head splattered like a watermelon. That's my dad. The man with no fear and dubious common sense.

The photo is the aftermath of the storm and always made me think of a downed pirated ship with it's shredded sails.

The sound the wind made that day was like a beast from 65 million years ago. Beyond frightening.

Your Friend,

D.

WALK-IN TOILET BOWL

Only in Los Angeles will you find a massive Walk-In toilet bowl... in a clothing store, no less. Gives new meaning to the term Golden Showers. You gotta love LA.

Tried to get my Wife to stand in it for a cool pic moment. She wasn't going for it.

Your Friend,

D.