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Thoughts on blogging

How Would Jesus Celebrate?

Posted by Bill on March 14, 2009 – 6:42 pm

Today I turn 33 years old. It has been brought to my attention that this is the age Jesus was when he died.  I have not yet decided whether I will let this fact depress me or fill me with gratitude — but I must say, I’m trying my best not to do the compare/contrast thing:

What have you done with your 33 years, Bill?  Healed the lame and the sick?  Started the world’s largest religion?  Why not?  Too “busy?”  Didn’t want to wake up that early?  Had some TV shows you just had to watch?

Yeah, that’s a game you don’t win.  And I’m told it’s bad form to compare yourself to Jesus, even for the sake of self-deprecating musing, so I’ll stop that line of thought right here.  Anyhow, I shouldn’t be too hard on myself.  I actually have a lot to be thankful for on this birthday. Between getting married and publishing my first novel, this has probably been the most eventful year of my life.  I will be hard-pressed to match this level of excitement and good fortune in my 34th year.

But then, I like to give myself lofty goals …

In the meantime, we have the day to day.  I’m still making ends meet by teaching at a wealthy private school on the west side of Los Angeles. I’ve been filling vacancies, hopping from one maternity leave to another, in an effort to avoid the complications of full-time employment such as report cards, take-home grading, and time-sucking extracurricular faculty pow-wows.  Does this allow me enough time to write?  There’s never enough time.  That said, it’s better than many other day jobs I’ve had and infinitely more fulfilling.

Up until recently, I’ve been spending my time in the kindergarten, which has been good for the soul if bad for the immune system (I was sick for the first month-and-a-half of 2009).  Now I am in the 6th grade, where I will stay for the remainder of the school year.  It’s a whole new, challenging, grade-conscious, puberty-ridden world, and I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it in future posts.

Speaking of future posts, I do plan on writing some.  I’m working on another book review, and I have a lot more things I plan on sharing once I get the time to do so.  Apologies for the continued blog neglect.  These next couple months should be busy ones.  I’m hoping to have this new screenplay squared away soon, which will mean starting my film agent search sometime in the next couple months.  Then, on June 2nd, the paperback version of The Scandal Plan will hit bookshelves near you.  More on these stories as they evolve.

For now, I’m 33.  Given the alternative, I’ll take it.  Jesus didn’t make it to 34.  God willing, I will. Thanks to all those who’ve sent me birthday wishes this week.  I feel the love.  It’s warm, and I dig it, and I dig all of you.

Much love,
b

Categories: Blogging, Day Jobs, Life & Death & Serious Stuff, Teaching|Post a comment

Aaaaaaaaand we’re back

Posted by Bill on January 19, 2009 – 12:54 am

The blog is back to its old and beautiful self, and I’m too busy to write on it.  I’ve been working full weeks doing the teaching thing, trying to write at night, and nursing a cold, so blogging has not been foremost on my mind.  Here are a few things that have been:

- My new screenplay.  This holiday season, I finally had a draft that I was ready to show others.  I’ve already given it to two of my usual readers, one of those being my wife.  I’m not too far from the finish line with this one, and that’s exciting.  It’s a romantic comedy, not at all political, and perhaps that’s for the best, given the current climate.  More on this, to be sure …

- Israel.  I don’t have time to do justice to this subject now, but the recent conflict has certainly been foremost in my thoughts.  Specifically, I continue to be outraged at the double standard the international community applies to Israel’s self-defense. If a European country were under rocket attack from one of its neighbors, nobody would be talking about “proportional” responses.  On the other hand, I continue to be frustrated by Israel’s inability to properly anticipate and shape world opinion.  5.5 million Jews and not a single PR genius?  Why didn’t the world know about these rocket attacks before Israel’s counter-attack?  Why wasn’t Israel screaming bloody murder in the UN and the international media?  The terrorists know how to work the press.  Why not Israel?

- MLK.  If Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today, I have no doubt that he’d want us all to go to work on Monday and skip work Tuesday to watch the inauguration.  Sigh.  The idea of a Tivo-ed inauguration just doesn’t seem as romantic.

- Football.  Is there a more exciting offensive player right now than Larry Fitzgerald?  Is there a more exciting defensive player than Troy Polamalu?  Very much enjoying the playoffs, even though I no longer care who wins at this point.  I’m also looking forward to the end of NFL madness so I’ll be able to be more productive with my Sundays.

- Weather.  Has been wonderful.  Highs in the low 80s in LA all weekend.  This makes me happy.

- Lyrics.  I recently bought Seal’s album “System,” and I really want to like it.  I love his first three albums and much of his fourth, but I’m having trouble with this one.  Part of it is the electronic clubby danciness of it, but a big stumbling block is the lyrics.  Example: “What have we done? One of us came undone. Which one?”  Urg.  And what about the radio track: “I want you to always feel amazing”  Really, Seal?  The word “amazing” is about as lyrically imaginative as the word “great” or “nice.”  Lyrics like these feel phoned in.  And while we’re on the subject of lyrics, I am irked every time I hear that Killers song that asks: “Are we human, or are we dancer?”  What? Is that supposed to be playful like Beck or deep like Radiohead or just specifically designed to annoy me like Howie Mandell?  Perhaps this lyric wouldn’t bother me so much if only I could get it out of my head.

- Slumdog Millionaire.  Finally saw it.  Loved it.  Danny Boyle rocks me.  Great script too. Simon Beaufoy plays two of the most classic story archetypes to perfection: the rags to riches story and the love conquers all story. Add in an electrifying score, the rich canvas of India, and stellar performances, and you have a prescription for a worldwide phenomenon, the sort of movie everyone will tell their friends to go see.  Go see it.

Categories: Blogging, Middle East, Movies I Didn't Make, Movies I Make, Music, Stupidity|Post a comment

All I Want For Christmas Is Technical Issues With My Blog

Posted by Bill on December 24, 2008 – 2:31 pm

Yeah, the blog page looks all messed up now.  I did the really smart thing of trying to upgrade to the newer version of WordPress on Christmas Eve.  I disabled my plugins as requested, but as you can tell, things didn’t come out quite right.  I’d love to figure out how to revert to my backup version for now, but my web hosting company is closed for Christmas.  I don’t want to pester my blog tech guru on Christmas either.  In any case, I hope to have this issue resolved by the new year, if not before.

In the meantime, sit tight, party hard, and have yourself a rich and meaningful ChanuChristmaKwanzAuldLangSynica.

Categories: Blogging|Post a comment

HuffPo #5 – Maybe You Shouldn’t Vote

Posted by Bill on October 29, 2008 – 12:28 am

Check out my latest on the Huffington Post.  If you like it, please forward this one around and buzz it up.

Here it is:

MAYBE YOU SHOULDN’T VOTE

Voting is a skill. It’s like basketball. Not everyone is good at it. Sure, everyone likes to think he or she is a good voter, just like everyone likes to think he or she is attractive and has a sense of humor. Sadly, the numbers do not support these claims. If everyone was a brilliant voter, we would never elect bad leaders, and the last eight years might have turned out quite differently. So this election year, before you step into a voting booth and possibly screw things up for the rest of us, I ask that you take a moment to answer the following questions and determine whether you have the skill and the know-how to vote responsibly for our next president.

Read More »

Categories: Blogging, POLITICS, The Media|6 Comments

HuffPo #4 – Let’s Be Blue – A Plea for Partisanship

Posted by Bill on September 17, 2008 – 9:53 am

Here’s my latest article on the Huffington Post, where I argue for Democrats to use the word “Democrat” again.  If you like it, please buzz it up.  After a few posts, I finally have my own login information at HuffPo, so I’ll now be able to post directly to the site whenever I choose. This will be much nicer than my old method of posting, which involved a long e-mail chain and sometimes meant significant delays between when an article was written and when it got posted.  This should mean more posts from me as well.  Very exciting.  Thanks to those who made this a reality.

If you happen to be reading my blog and have not yet read my book (a small demographic, I’m sure), you may suspect the book to be quite the polemic–particularly given my last two posts. Rest assured, this is not the case.  I take great pains to avoid beating anyone over the head with a political agenda in my fiction.  The book is meant to be enjoyable for readers of all political persuasions, and my goal as a satirist is to raise questions rather than answer them.  So please forgive me if I get a bit heated in my blog posts these days. We’ve reached that all-too-familiar moment in the political season where I start to fear the rest of the country is living in a different reality than I am, one in which facts are subjective, where up is down and down is up and who wears lipstick is more important than who lives or dies.  It’s crazy season.

Categories: Blogging, POLITICS, THE SCANDAL PLAN|Post a comment

The Satirists Dilemma

Posted by Bill on August 21, 2008 – 2:51 pm

Check out my guest essay on Beatrice.com by clicking here.

I’ve included the text here:
Read More »

Categories: BOOKS AND PUBLISHING, Blogging, POLITICS, Press, THE SCANDAL PLAN|Post a comment

10 Days to go …

Posted by Bill on August 21, 2008 – 2:50 pm

I’ve been a bad blogger this month.  I’m getting married in 10 days, and blogging has not been foremost in my mind.  More soon.

Categories: Blogging, Relationships & Such|Post a comment

HuffPo #3 – I’m Going To Sue John Edwards For Plagiarism

Posted by Bill on August 12, 2008 – 9:03 am

Read my latest on Huffington Post here.  This is where I call out John Edwards — not just for lifting many elements of his sex scandal from my book — but also for having the audacity to do it so terribly.  I provide advice on how politicians can make the most of their sex scandals.  If you like the article, forward it to a friend.

Categories: Blogging, POLITICS, Press, THE SCANDAL PLAN|Post a comment

My blog, my girlfriend, and George W. Bush

Posted by Bill on May 4, 2008 – 6:34 pm

Some time before I proposed to my girlfriend, I found myself in the following conversation with my aunt:

“It’s not that I have a fear of commitment,” I said. “I want to commit. I’m just afraid of making the wrong commitment.”

She looked at me and laughed. “Bill, you do realize that’s exactly what fear of commitment is.” I couldn’t argue with such wisdom.

Commitment has always been a tricky subject for me. I’m reminded of this today, as I take the leap with a new commitment: a blog. Can I really commit to being a blogger? The lifestyle? The attitude? The wardrobe? And what about the hours? I’m always complaining to my friends that I never have enough time to write. Do I really want to cut into that precious time for the sake of a blog?

If there’s one thing I learned from our current president, it is the importance of setting expectations low. George W. did this in 2000, most notably with respect to debating, where he was reputed to be at a terrible disadvantage against the more experienced Al Gore. The pre-debate spin set the bar so low for W. that all he had to do was show up and deliver a semi-competent performance to be declared winner. And that’s exactly what happened.

I’ve applied this Bushian lesson of low-expectation-setting (both consciously and unconsciously) to many aspects of my life, including my relationships. From early on in my relationship with C, I adopted the decidedly unromantic strategy of telling her exactly what was on my mind. This included all the doubts and anxieties and assorted crap that most girlfriends would rather not hear. Did she lose sleep over this? Yes, and for that I’m sorry. But the strategy worked. Because she knew me to be a commitment-wary boyfriend, she expected very little of me, and I made sure to more than meet those expectations. Then, when I finally proposed, it was a wonderful surprise (well, almost, but that’s another story…).

So what does this have to do with my blog? I’d love to use this inaugural post to promise you daily dispatches brimming with insight and wit, regularly scheduled updates on my adventures as a writer, and constant commentary on politics, entertainment, and the peculiarities of life. But I can’t do that. While I hope to entertain, inform, and amuse through my blogging, I think it is important for me to set some realistic (some may call them “low”) expectations up front. If you are about to enter into a blogger/reader relationship with me, you need to know what to expect:

I won’t buy you flowers.
I won’t call the next day.
I will occasionally be crude.
I will use sentence fragments. Frequently.
I will sometimes write just to hear the sound of my own voice.
I will sometimes not write at all.
I will sometimes tease you with entries almost every day, and then, out of the blue, you won’t hear from me for almost a month.
There’s a chance I might show up drunk.
I will probably make fun of your relatives.
Sometimes, you may hate me.
Sometimes, it will seem that all I really care about is the sex.

But if all that is okay with you, if your eyes are open, if you’re fully aware of the choice you are making, and don’t mind entering into this kind of blogger/reader relationship, then I say let’s get this thing started.

Let the fun begin…

Categories: Blogging, POLITICS, Relationships & Such|Post a comment

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