Saturday, June 30, 2007

DON’T TOUCH ME!

I’m a fan of New Jersey 101.5. It’s a talk radio station here in the Garden State. I’m at a point in my life where I prefer talk radio to the mass-produced corporate product that passes as music these days that top 40 radio stations continue to spit out. Just whatever happened to musicians who actually played an instrument and could make a harmony? It will come back, I’m sure but until then I’m hooked on talk radio.

I’m not so much a fan of the morning drive but come 10:00 AM, my radio is usually set for the Dennis and Judy Show. The same can be said for 2:00 PM, when the Jersey Guys, Craig Carton and Ray Rossi hit the airwaves.

Anyway, I don’t always agree with them (either show) but I am always entertained and informed on the goings on in the state that I call home.

I added a new link that has become a Panic Button for me lately. I find if I just click on the “DON’T TOUCH ME!” I feel better. It is from the Dennis and Judy Show. You can click on the link right here to your right under Evil Chicken’s Favorite Places. Not fer nothin’, you’ll feel better too.

Joel Siegel has Passed

Here is the Yahoo story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070630/ap_en_mo/obit_joel_siegel_18;_ylt=AsS0nsvB3Ac0EdYZxyttNsME1vAI and here is the ABC write-up: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3331709.

This struck me this morning when I read of his passing. What a loss. He was accessible, genuine and had such joy about him as he shared his passion for film with the rest of us. The way he faced life and death is not only a lesson for Dylan it’s a lesson for us all.

My sincere prayers and condolences to both his family & friends at this time of grieving. He was one of the good ones and he’ll be missed.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

I’ve been crazy busy…

17,000 words plus on the screenplay, thus far; (see Script Frenzy link to the right). My writing partner has been great and we have slipped into a very natural working relationship. It's a good thing and it’s rocking. But that’s not what I wanted to pass along to you Gentle Reader… No. As it turns out I wanted to drop a tidbit about the “Iron Man” movie that will be coming out next year…

It’s a good one.

Samuel L. Jackson is going to be Nick Fury.

Yeah… more perfect casting there has never been (looking at Ultimate Avengers that is). I am torked for this flick. Then again I’m also stoked for Indiana Jones IV and “Batman – The Dark Knight.” …Have you seen the publicity shots? Entirely too cool.

2008 is looking very good.

All right, I’ve got to get back to typing.

Take care!

Monday, June 18, 2007

389.6

…Miles that is. It is the distance from The Chicken’s Nest, here in the Swamps of Jersey to Assateague Island, Maryland and back give or take a few miles for pit stops and Starbucks runs. This has become a family tradition for us. Every Father’s Day we camp on the beach with the wild ponies and go to the Maryland Geocachers Association’s Bonfire on the Beach. The fires and ponies are all well and good but the real crazy stuff happens when the girls and me hit the beach. You see Gentle Reader, the waves there are not like the waves that we are accustom too down here at the southern end of the Jersey Shore – oh no; these are WAVES and they will take you out. Somewhere down deep there is a gene that pulls me (and the three chicks too) to water. It is magnetic. Being in and ultimately a part of the shear force and energy of the ocean is an amazing experience. Being caught up in an 8 to 12-foot wave, riding the swell like a cork as it passes you by on its way to break against the beach is something that just must be experienced to truly appreciate. What an undertow! We read about the riptides but didn’t experience any – which I am pleased about since being caught in one could sweep you out hundreds of yards into the Atlantic Ocean. No – none of us are that good a swimmer so we just play in the waves. We absolutely love it.

The campsite was great and we shared it with friends from New Jersey – geocachers and friends all. As a family the five of us camp in a tent usually without electricity or water, but this year we had the luxury of having an electric site, which was great since I could plug in my C-Pap and breath through the night.

Oh yeah, good times.

My early Father’s Day present, Maggie (a dash mounted Magellan GPS unit), performed amazingly once again. Mother Hen can now sleep without me asking when our next turn will be; that’s a good thing since she got a pretty good sun poisoning on her leg and did a lot of sleeping on the ride home. Come to think of it, she’s sleeping now as I write this.

The kids and I, after packing, took one last look at the ocean. I stood there with my babies and thanked them for such a wonderful Father’s Day weekend. Priceless.

Thanks also go to the wonderful woman I married. I would have told her on the beach too but she was busy applying aloe to her blistered and weeping leg.

Good times, good times.

I love you lady.

Signed; the luckiest man alive, Evil Chicken

Friday, June 15, 2007

Happy Father’s Day

My writing partner and I are well underway on the Script Frenzy project. June we write it, July we edit, August we film, September we edit (the film this time) and October we will be premiering the movie. I see the film as “Deliverance” meets “Blair Witch”. It focuses on the misadventures of a group of poker buddies who get caught up in a series of events in the Pine Barrens in between the forces of good and of evil.

It’s happening. No kidding.

If there’s anyone out there who wants to be in a movie, have a good time and probably some coffee and donuts STAY TUNED. Understand that it’s not a paying gig. My partner and I can’t pay you dime one BUT we can say that you will walk away from the experience being able to say that YOU were an actor in a film that can be purchased on DVD and is registered with the Library of Congress; that's right YOU will be able to say that YOU are an actor - and really mean it. Yes Gentle Reader, it will be coming soon.

Just let me know. You can do so right here. If August is good for you – wonderful; we’d love to have you aboard. It will be quick and reasonably painless. : ) ...Resonably.

In other news... The EC-5 are heading down to Assategue Island to camp on the beach with the wild horses. We’ve done this now for the last 4 or 5 years or so and it’s a blast. We’ve seen the horses raid campsites and let me tell you it’s not easy trying to shoo a 600-pound animal away from a box of gram crackers when it’s got a mind for snacking. The ocean is wonderful. The waves are bigger and the water clarity is better than here in New Jersey – although, to be fair the clarity has improved greatly in our water over the last decade or so. It’s also the Maryland Geocacher’s Bonfire on the Beach. Nice people – big fire, good times.

It should be a blast. I won’t be bringing the laptop since getting sand in it and having it not working would bring me to tears. The next phase of the script will be hand written so that I can transfer it over to proper script format when my laptop and I are reunited.

…And it will feel so good.

The kids have already given me my cards and I was given a roof sack (?) for gear, which is on the truck and ready to rock. I am blessed with, dare I say, the three best girls in the world and the woman who gave them to me. For them I thank the Man upstairs.

Happy Father’s Day, Gentle Reader… (if you’re a dad that is.)

Saturday, June 09, 2007

AARP – Where Is Thy Sting?

My oldest daughter, the first of the Three Chicks, is having her eighth grade graduation tonight. She’s going to be entering high school. She and her mother are out right now getting her hair cut for tonight’s ceremony. Three nights ago they came home with a dress – something that my tomboy daughter had sworn off and only begrudgingly agreed to wear. Her mother asked her to try it on so that I could see her in it and she obliged. When she came out of the bathroom I was stunned. My little girl is now a young woman. There is no denying the fact.

And so it goes.

My daughter and I have done nothing but joke about the eighth grade graduation. We have giggled about it – telling ourselves that it’s “not that big a deal.” I’m beginning to feel that I was wrong; wrong in encouraging the laughter at the night’s expense. I’m beginning to see that it is a bigger deal than I suspected.

My oldest daughter is entering High School. In four years time there will be another graduation and another daughter entering High School and THAT is only four years away…

Four years.

Tempus Fugit, gentle reader. Enjoy it for all it’s worth while you can.