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No time today as I'm heading out to have coffee with the head of the Austin Film Festival who is in town. She's a really nice woman who took particular interest my script that won the festival in October, and wants an update on my career. (Don't tell her, but I'm trying to get an invite to speak on a panel at the festival this year. Or at least pimp the movie I just wrapped, hoping to get it in.) Anyway, I just wanted to say that the email response to yesterday's entry has been wonderful. I don't just mean all the kind words and all, but just to sort of get an idea of who's out there. I read personal sites for over a year without sending a single email. I did it just because I was embarrassed, I think. Embarrassed because of the intimacy breeched. Embarrassed that an email would just sound like a fan letter, and that's not my thing. Embarrassed just to make contact. Anyway, the point is, it's nice to hear from people who've been reading for a while but have never written, for whatever reason. Even if they just tell me a tiny bit about themselves. And even if for some reason I can't respond (which I always try to,) know that I'm smiling while reading the words you write (unless you're Peter Brun and hate me) and I appreciate it. Oh, and I just learned that someone stopped reading me because of my use of the word "bitch" in its various forms. I was told that I use "gangsta" language and that is unacceptable to them. Man, that's so fucking silly I don't know what to say. Word to your mama's mama. Moreover and more seriously, what actually bothers me is that this person, who I had tons of respect for, chose to share this opinion with their journal. I have two-thousand and forty-seven opinions about fellow writers, and yes, some of them are bad. What I don't do is talk shit about people here. I try keep the shit talking off this page. To do otherwise, I think, is terribly unclassy. You know, this does bring up a larger point, and then a much larger point beyond that, which I don't have time to really get into right now. But I will say this, there are people in this little community who talk a lot of crap about people -- even occasionally kicking them when they're down. It will be interesting, I think, to see what happens when personal trauma hits them, to watch their cries of "Unfair! Poor me!" when people poke fun of their misfortunes. There are spaces I've seen where people are gleefully asked to talk shit about people... but then are told, "Well, you can talk shit about everybody except X or Y." To me that doesn't make a whole lot of sense... while at the same time I can understand saying something like that. I'm really not trying to preach, I just think it's an interesting point. And to prove I'm not being holier-than-thou, I will admit this: the even bigger point, then, is the fact that if I do become well-known in any capacity, to see if I'll be able to handle the kind of ribbing I constantly and gleefully give celebrities here and in my comedy group and in my MBTV writing. That, I'm not sure. Hey, the scaffolding above the Oscar red carpetway just broke and crashed down. Man, why couldn't it have waited three days until Jennifer Lopez was under it? (Kidding, J.Lo! You know I love you.) Oh, really quickly. Can we all agree that we're officially done with Jennifer Lopez ass jokes -- along with All Your Base Are Belong To Us? Thanks.
(I drove by local Improv comedy club ACME last night. They name their shows with funny pop-culture references, and their new one is the best yet: |