Author: anna

  • Musical Pursuits

    Musical Pursuits I had lunch today at a new contract, RightRound– indie music from the inside. Fantastic vocalist and lead editor asked me the eternal question, “What instrument do you play?” and I had a long rambly answer. Basically I suck at them all, similar to my language abilities. Real lessons? Started with piano lessons,…

  • antonioni: a god

    Antonioni: A God This man is amazing. Saw The Passenger first, was not so amazed, but it brought up those questions running around your head afterwards. Then, got L’Avventura from the library the other day. Watched it last night, and then watched it again with commentary. It was great the first time, mind-bending the second…

  • Endings

    street poet/graffiti guy on the Calligraphy street in beijing Endings I revealed my brand spanking new endings to some readers last night and wow, were they unimpressed. In fact, one of the readers who had read at an earlier date said “I like the old ending better.” Argh. Old ending: the American spy sits down…

  • Writing Fiction

    True or False? Who Cares? Two interesting articles/blog entries on the reality of writing fiction. Malcolm Gladwell’s defense of “how opal mehta got kissed… “, and a hilarious review of it. Thanks PSB for the link. (The Opal book has the worst title in the world, can I say that now?), and James Frey admits…

  • The solution is near

    photo of famous 18th century women’s literary professor Ann C The end is in sight, really Right before dropping off to sleep last night, the final scene of the screenplay came into my mind and it was soooo good. So I’m relieved from depression by hope that I can wrap up all the ends of…

  • The end is coming..

    Post-Partum It’s a bit exaggerrated, but true, that (one) gets weird depression after finishing a novel, or in my case the latest revision of the screenplay. Everything seems useless. I mean, there’s nothing else to work on. Now this is done, I feel like I can’t get the energy to start something, or even follow…

  • Movie Update: Hitchcock, Bullitt

    Movie Update My producer is doing a f-ing bang-up job nagging me to finish the screenplay, thanks Tink. I did some “thought work” while doing random errands this morning and landed on two superb ideas: – I’m copping Hitchcock in a bookstore scene: the spy goes to the East Wind bookstore in Chinatown to find…

  • Napping at the Cove

    Napping at the Cove While she napped (she’s not dead, realy, though Dramamine & white wine can be a nasty brew) we talked about evil boyfriends, large parties in national parks, and, Greek-Scandinavian attitudes towards personal space. Such was Sunday, the first day out sailing this season for many. I can’t believe I was out…

  • Spring & Thwarted Gardening

    Spring & Thwarted Gardening I come from a long line of thwarted gardeners and farmers. Maybe all Swedes are like that- our weather or circumstance is never quite good enough to really explore all o the plant varieties and sun that you want to. I visited an East Bay Nursery last weekend and managed to…

  • Amtrak, Earthquakes

    Amtrak This is the station right across from work. It’s one of those things I go by every day and never really look at or recognize. Sure, the first day maybe but after that, nada. A lot of these trains are very pro-American for some reason. I mean, isn’t that a bit of a overdose…