Since we didn’t send out a Christmas Card, here’s 2016 in review.
Started the year eating Criff Dogs and tator tots in NYC and sleeping in the airport. The next morning we spent in Urgent Care because Jeff had contracted just about every -itis one can contract at the same time. We have plans to redo NYC this year to make up for that.

March we moved into an apartment where we attempted gardening in a box and grew a lot of tomatoes. 

We got to spend Easter in Ohio with the all the Roses watching chicks hatch, riding tractors, shooting guns, and eating custard. 

In April we adopted Ru from Rescue Rovers. She is an Emotional Support Animal to me and a best friend to Jeff and ultimately an essential part of the family. She works part-time at Wallaroo as a professional floor sleeper and jewelry licker. At home she is a full-time snuggler who loves food, belly rubs, and jumping up and down. She is great on road trips and loves playing with her friends whether they’re human, dog, or rabbit. She loves watching horses and sometimes barks at her own reflection in the window. She really loves the snow.

We bought a Subaru.

In May we had our first anniversary and ate at the Melting Pot. I’ve been craving it ever since. Fondue is amazing. I got LASIK for my birthday!! And we made a quick trip to Oregon and went to the coast. 

We got to spend more time with some of the Roses around the 4th of July when they came to visit Utah. 

In October we bought a house and had a grand sum of six trick-or-treaters. 

We went to Disneyland with my sister and her family and Universal Studios with some of our favorite LA friends. 

In November we had a big house-warming and birthday party for Jeff. It was great to fill our new home with friends, laughter, and nachos. 

For Veterans Day. I decided to throw a dance marathon to benefit organizations that help veterans fight PTSD. With the support of some amazing local businesses I raised $1,000.

Over the year we celebrated as some of our closest friends got married and as other friends had babies. We made new friends and got closer to old friends. And we got to spend a lot of time with family. 

We saw several plays and concerts and usually attended our favorite monthly Harvey and the Bird shows. I’ve written a handful of songs with John. I went rappelling for the first time. 

Jeff was assimilated into the world of film production and we’ve been able to work on many shoots together in lots of different roles behind and in front of the camera. Jeff is also a master at positioninb wedding dresses trains when I shoot bridals and weddings. 

Mindy Kaling favorited three of my tweets and replied to one. 

As for growing our family. Besides Ru, we increased by 2 bikes this year and will likely be adding a third in the year to come. 

We have been training our dog, Ru, with the trainers at Maligator Kennels for a few months now and I’ve learned a lot about working with and motivating dogs. In doing so I’ve learned many things that I think apply to working with and motivating humans.

First, I’ll talk about the most obvious one to me: If you reward people when they do good things, they will want to keep doing good things. When I’m teaching my dog to heel I am dropping treats down her throat (she’s not much for chewing when it’s good stuff) every few steps that she walks alongside me. I’m telling her in a happy voice how amazing she is the whole time. As the dog gets used to the task you don’t have to give treats as often.

Now, if someone gave me a Starburst and a compliment every time I did something they wanted, I would be more likely to keep doing the same thing. I would also enjoy being around that person immensely. Once this person gives me a Starburst I will continue to remember that even if the Starburst don’t come every time. I recently worked as an assistant for someone who told me every time we parted ways, “thanks for all your work today.” I felt good about what I had accomplished that day and motivated to come back each day.

With my dog I will sometimes reach like I’m going for a treat and she gets excited enough to keep behaving even if I don’t actually give her something. I do not recommend that with humans, they will almost certainly turn against you.

The Maligator Code, for dog training, is:

1. Honor the hierarchy
2. Maintain order
3. Obey the rules

Honor the Hierarchy

Film sets have taught me to love hierarchy. Things work so well when everyone knows who to report to and who has the final say. This does not mean bosses should be bossy and make all the decisions all of the time. Part of the hierarchy is delegation. When teaching your dog to “heel” the idea is that they will walk on a loose leash next to you. Forcing them next to you on a tight leash only teaches them to walk close when forced into it. The goal is to train them so they will walk next to you whether there is a leash or not. You have to motivate, not force, them to follow you. With humans, part of that is trusting them to do their job without being micromanaged. If you don’t trust them, figure out why and resolve that concern. If you are a leader you have to trust that the people you work with can follow you without you dragging them along. If you aren’t the leader, you want to trust your leader is capable and that they trust you.

Maintain Order

When Ru sees another dog she wants to play with we essentially lose all control. Her brain goes into “get candy, get candy, get candy” mode and she can’t be stopped. The only way we can compete is to be infinitely more entertaining or rewarding than the dog she wants to play with. What incentives are you giving people to stay with you? Is their job engaging? Are they being treated fairly?

Are you clear? Does everyone receive the same kind of treatment? Are some people allowed to do what every they want while others are punished for every little thing they do wrong? Are you paying people different amounts to do the same job? Is it obvious in meetings some people’s opinions are valued over other peoples?

“In those situations the employees believe they are being treated unfairly. So, they only perform the duties they are contractually obligated to perform. Teachers arrive exactly when they are required to and leave as soon as they are able. They do not engage in extracurricular activities or stay late to help struggling students. The community suffers, because the teachers have gone from treating the workplace as a neighborhood to treating it as a collection of strangers.

That is why it is so important to think about fairness. When the morale of an organization suffers, it is important for leaders to think about things they may have done that would push employees from thinking themselves as neighbors to thinking of themselves as strangers. At those times, it is important for leaders to hold out an olive branch and to do what they can to welcome disgruntled employees back into the neighborhood.” (read more here).

Dogs are known for their loyalty but they are not above leaving you for the owner across the field who has better treats. If given the choice between our bed and her bed Ru will always choose our bed. Work isn’t always a super-fun party but if you don’t give your employees a reason to stay they won’t stick around.We had to figure out what motivated Ru, was it toys? Treats? Ultimately we realized that as much as she loves food, she loves playing with other dogs more and letting her loose to play is the best reward we can give her. It’s not just being able to pay the highest salary, it’s providing opportunities to be creative or to grow and learn skills. (See also: 10 Things Employees Want More Than a Raise).

Obey the Rules

The dogs job is obey, but they can’t obey if they don’t know the rules.

Have you ever showed up to a new (or old) job and have no idea what they expect from you or if they even like what you’re doing? Most jobs I’ve worked have been pretty autonomous and there have been times where I did my job, got paid, and never heard from a supervisor. Having the healthy ego that I do, I just assumed they were loving my work but there was no way to know and at times the lack of feedback made me very anxious.

Positive reenforcement is huge and I think it’s far more motivating to people than anything negative. However, course-correction is also important when things start getting off-track. “No” can be a good word if it helps set boundaries. Boundaries are actually really great. They keep everyone on the same page and can help people do their job better. Example: I like cuddling with my dog. I do not like cuddling with my dog when she spreads out and gets her paws all up in my face. By telling her to move or go to her own bed when she’s taking up too much space our relationship stays free of scratched faces and dogs getting unkindly shoved off of the bed. Again, I do not recommend this one on humans because telling someone who wants to cuddle with you to go away and get their own bed will probably not go over well. However, established boundaries that are clearly explained are important in any relationship.

Everyone Has Their Limits

If it is too hot outside, Ru will find shade, lie down, and not get up again. At that point, she is done and will not be productive again until she cools off. Mike Scully, showrunner for Simpsons, Parks and Rec etc. talked about how he would send his writers home by 6 so they could be home with their families, have experiences that could inspire their writing, and come back refreshed. Many  writers rooms work for 12+ hours straight to get more work done but there becomes a point where productivity slows down. Give people breaks. When we let Ru loose to play with her best-dog-friend before class she would be better behaved, more relaxed, and ready to focus.

Learn How to Understand Individuals

Ru was three years old when we got her from Rescue Rovers Adoptions. We knew that we don’t know everything she’s been through and it’s been a process learning about her. Example: slippery floors freak her out. We figured that one out easily enough when we first walked into our building. Everyone is unique and what comes naturally to some people doesn’t to other. It’s easy to say, “I have no problem walking through our hallway, so why does she?” But if you pay attention you can see that stepping into the hallway strikes fear in Ru’s tiny heart. Hopefully, if you’re an employer, you’re employing people with different backgrounds and experience and part of that is learning people’s strengths and weaknesses and putting them in situations where they will be able to perform well.

Every company does things a little bit differently, so even if you hire someone who is an expert in your field, you have to help them understand how things work at your company. Help them understand workflow and procedures or you’ll be continually frustrated that they aren’t doing things “the right way.” Sometimes we assume someone is bad at their job when they just don’t know what we want from them.

Part of this is also understanding that, most of the time, no one person will have everything you’re looking for.

Ru is very smart when it comes to learning new tricks and very dumb when it comes to barking at her own reflection as if it is another dog. But I don’t care that she tries to play with her reflection because she does so much for me and her weird quirks are worth it. Even the geniuses of the world struggle at something in their life. The only perfect person I know of is Jesus and he’s not applying to be your salesperson any time soon. We can’t expect people to do it all and never make mistakes. Create teams that balance out strengths and weakness and everyone will succeed.

I really believe that if we see people for what they give instead of what they don’t do or can’t do, we will be happier. We will love and respect more and the people around us will thrive under our compassion and understanding.

Coveralls. Literally designed to cover all. Everything. All of you. Ghostbusters, male and female, have cast aside the notion that anyone needs to look “sexy” to be a hero. Somewhere along the way we’ve lost that. We’ve sort of created this mindset that sexy and hardcore go hand-in-hand. You’re either cute and quirky or you kick-butt in expensive-looking clothes and a perfectly toned body. James Bond. Cat Woman. Captain America. Wonder Women. These are hot people in spandex or perfectly tailored suits…or both. I would like to argue that coveralls are sexy…

Sexy is not generally used to describe someone’s natural, just-woke-up state. Maybe beautiful or cute, if you’re lucky. “Hot mess express” if you’re not. Being sexy generally involves a lipstick called something like “Vicious Trollop,” a nail polish called “Red-dy and Willing” and mascara that lengthens without clumping. High heels are also required–because one can’t deny they make your legs and butt look more toned. Some sort of effort in getting clothes that flatter your body just right or at least an outfit that all matches with accessories that sparkle in some way. Do you know how complicated finding a good bra is? And then finding another one so you have something to wear when the first one needs to be washed? This doesn’t just happen without thought and effort. Looking put-together at a Hollywood level of sexy is not an everyday occurrence…unless you have a stylist team or are some kind of makeup magician. I’m not one of those people, I cannot relate to Hollywood level sexy. But I can relate to the Ghostbusters.

Image via.

In the actual film these ladies aren’t even wearing matching boots. They’re wearing whatever rubber boots or shoes they had at home. The characters feel like real people, with real homes where they have rubber boots. Boots that they maybe bought at Target on clearance or inherited from their mom. That, for me, 27-year-old, middle-class, white-with-a-hint-of-Middle-Eastern girl, is relatable. They get to pull their hair up! There were straight-up PONY TAILS. I can tell you right now that you will never see me save the world with my hair down. Yet, somehow, most females in action movies are not afforded that luxury. Hair flips and whips are pretty. They look good on camera. They don’t look good in real life when your hair is stuck to your chapstick.

There is no point in Ghostbusters where the nerdy girl takes off her glasses, lets her hair out of the bun and is magically attractive to everyone around her. In fact, Kristen Wiig’s character casts off her heels when she joins the Ghostbusters and gets to wear a sweatshirt and sneakers. Literally. While she does a job and uses her brain, she gets to wear a sweatshirt. This is a luxury formerly only granted to actors who play Mark Zuckerburg or Steve Jobs or the “homely girl” character who eventually gets a makeover.

In Ghostbusters there are even jokes about it like, “How does it feel to walk in those heels all day?” and “Where did you find the world’s smallest bowtie.” Fashion is beautiful, but it can also be ridiculous and it should reflect something about the character and not just “look good.” Now, stepping in green goo while in heels? That’s relatable.

10 Cloverfield Lane is another pretty good example of a movie being made up of entirely “average looking people with realistic amounts of facial hair” but there was the fact that her bra was always perfectly peeking out from her tank top in a way that just doesn’t realistically happen to a person fighting for their freedom from a crazy bunker hostage situation. If you are reading this and know the secret to perfect bra peekage under stressful situations please reveal.

I know movies, I know it’s someone’s job to make sure all the clothes stay in place and it’s another person’s job to make sure every hair stays in place. Actors can wear 6-inch heels in situations that a normal girl wouldn’t because there’s a chair just off-camera where they can sit when the take is over. Actresses can be sewn into their clothes each day because they have someone to assist them when they need to go to the bathroom. They deal with all the pain and suffering because actors are amazing and suffer for their art.

We go to the movies to see pretty people. We can see average people on the street or on television…until those television people get ripped for movies. An entire team of people spend hours planning, buying, and sewing to make sure these actors look good and they do a great job.

I also know there are brave women out there who wear heels all day everyday. I’ve heard some of them even enjoy it. Some of them can even run in heels or walk on cobblestone roads in heels. But I’m sitting her typing this as a woman who has recently converted almost exclusively to Crocs and Vans. And I can only write what I know.

I’m not saying people should wear coveralls head to toe, cover their ankles and shoulders, and never get glammed up. There is a time and place for sexiness and sometimes in movies it is absolutely motivated by character or situation. I just want to acknowledge that there is a movie (which I have seen twice now) that I can watch, in its entirety, without ever feeling uncomfortable for any of the characters or sad about myself and my own lack of put-together-ness. I have a healthy self-esteem, but when I think about how I am not trained in martial arts, can’t walk in heels more than 1.5 inches tall, and will never be Emily Blunt, it is just too much sometimes.

Maybe I notice things too much because I’ve done wardrobe and production design before. Just today I spent 11 hours straight buying clothes for a commercial. For every minute of a commercial, hours are spent looking and thinking about clothes. Studying film has made it almost impossible to suspend my disbelief while watching a film, but I get really excited when a character has chipped nail polish. It’s so real.

Somehow, in a movie about ghosts, I was able to feel like I could relate to all of the characters.

Here’s what I’m thinking during most movies:

“Holy crap, how does she run in those heels in the snow/while stealing that diamond/running through NYC as it’s being destroyed.”
“Is she going to catch a disease by sitting in a public place in that short of a dress?”
“Can she breathe in that?”
“How much tape/butt glue is holding that together/whose job is it to watch and make sure she doesn’t expose herself on camera?”
“Why is she wearing a tank top when she should be protecting herself from explosions/the elements/road rash/the burning sun/all men around her are fully clothed?”
“Oh, here comes the part where he takes his shirt off and just happens to do pull-ups or push-ups.”
“How long in makeup to get that no-makeup makeup look?”
“How many hours in makeup to get his nose to look like that?”
“Would my eyeliner look like that while in the middle of fighting for my life? I wonder what brand that is.”
“Are his cheekbones naturally that defined?”
“I wish I looked like that. I wonder what his/her diet and exercise routine is, who am I kidding I would never do it.”
“How many hair extensions is she wearing?”
“I’m surprised his dress shoes have that much traction.”
etc.

What I thought during Ghostbusters:

“Dang, they all look so cute and comfortable. I wonder if that’s from Melissa’s own clothing line. Kate McKinnon wore a crop top and overalls and when she bends over you can see that there is like, some percentage of body fat on the side of her body.” I was actually shocked that that clip didn’t somehow get cut somewhere in the editing process because you can see bare skin that gets a crease in it when it bends. Creases are unbecoming. A woman’s options are to be perfectly toned, not ever move, or cover up. That’s just what usually happens on the big screen.

It’s brave of actors to put themselves out there. I often wonder if I would want to hide behind fabric and good angles and photoshop if I was in the spotlight. Everyone is judging your looks. It’s in magazines and on social media. I would give a standing ovation to any film that had an actor with a zit on their face, though it would be hard for continuity’s sake and I would never volunteer to be that actor. I’m actually not sure I would ever go out in public in coveralls…But these women are brave. Even when the world showed how cruel it could be to someone just because of how they look.

Other thoughts were, “All these women and Paul Feig and whoever did the wardrobe–I should look that up–are amazing.  Kristen Wiig wore an MIT sweatshirt. How cool is it that these people are saving the city with their BRAINS?”

It could’ve been that I was distracted by the humor and the ghosts but I love Batman for the same reason. He’s just a normal guy…who lives in a cave and works out a lot and has a great, old friend who knows how to make cool things. Realistic. If I lived in a cave and worked out and had a smart old friend I could be like him. I know there is some psychological reason why we’re all obsessed with super-heroes but I like regular heroes. People like me who aren’t fit have to hold on to the fact that maybe having a brain can be good enough to do some good in the world.

It’s also fun to see ladies getting to hang out together to change the world. I love my lady friends and I like the idea of hanging out together and saving the world. You know, when we’re not doing our nails, taking photos of our food, and talking about celebrities we love.

I didn’t miss the high heels. I didn’t miss the hair flips. I didn’t even notice they weren’t there until I started thinking about it. I’m not even upset that Chris Hemsworth never took his shirt off (there’s Google for that). All I noticed that some cool ladies and their unjustifiably confident secretary were saving the city they love, no thanks to the government, and they looked natural while doing it.

Confession: I did lie about never comparing myself while watching it. I did get a little jealous that I can’t pull off the hoop earrings and a necklace with my name in rhinestones like Leslie Jones can. Don’t tell anyone but she was my favorite #loveforleslieJ. I also thought, “Man, why is it so cool to wear glasses now that I got LASIK.”

The layers were amazing. The coats, the graphic tees, I wish I had screenshots so I could invite you all over for a slideshow where I present to you, with a laser-pointer in hand, all the things I loved.

So shout-out to the following people who made our heroines look effortless in Ghostbusters. I tip my metaphorical hat to you. Get it? I used a phrase with “hat” in it because you’re hair and wardrobe people. And to my readers, like when you see a film, you can go ahead and walk away from this post before you read the credits. xoxo

Costume Design By

Jeffrey Kurland (He designed Inception, Ocean’s 11 among many other films)

Costume and Wardrobe Department

Makeup Department

 And also to Paul Feig. I’ll always #keepthefeigth.

I feel like I have to preface this with the fact that I’m not Beyoncé fan, I listen to her music and enjoy it but I do not think she is my queen or god so that puts me somewhere behind her regular fans. That and my dislike of pumpkin spice flavored anything basically makes me a bad American millennial but I can live with that.

I also have only listened/viewed the album once so this is first impression stuff and not a scholarly thesis but it ties into a lot of things I’ve been thinking about lately.

First. Even Beyoncé. My first thought after viewing the visual album was, I hope all the women out there that have been cheated on will realize they’re not alone. I know men and women who have been cheated on or betrayed, whether physically or emotionally, and I’ve seen the damaging effects. The light goes out in people’s eyes when they realize the one thing they trusted and depended on is no longer as sure as they thought. I’ve seen the moments where they think, how could this happen to me?

I hope people can look at this and say, “Even Beyoncé got cheated on. If someone as ‘flawless’ and ‘god-like’ as Beyoncé can get cheated on, this isn’t happening because I’m not pretty enough/successful enough/etc. etc.” Not to make everyone paranoid, but anyone can wind up in a situation and a relationship they never thought they’d be in. We’re not perfect. The people around us aren’t perfect. No amount of trying to make ourselves perfect will change a relationship. And also not everyone is living the life they lead us to believe they are living.

Second. Stop telling females what feminism is. Beyoncé used to be synonymous with feminism for everyone and now people are going around saying she’s not a feminist because of things she may or may not be doing in her marriage. This is interesting to me because I am a believer that vulnerability is what makes us strong (just go Google Brene Brown) so this album meant more to me as a female observer than her dancing with the word “FEMINISM” behind her. It seems really hard to be a feminist in today’s pop culture if you’re not physically strong, sexy, and blowing men’s heads off with a gun. I love that women have feelings. I love that humans are vulnerable. Beyoncé was brave to release this story knowing the whole world would be picking it apart. Please go read/watch/listen to some Brene Brown.

Third. You don’t even know. People do this with Taylor Swift and other songwriters all the time, we think the songs they write are exactly and literally what they’re thinking. Perhaps, sometimes they are but I can tell you this much from personal experience, and I use this example often, I once wrote a song about how you can’t count on anyone for anything and people will always let you down. I wrote that song because someone didn’t text me back when they said they would and ruined my evening plans. Had I really lost all faith in humanity? Just for long enough to jot down a page of lyrics. No one wants to hear a song that’s lukewarm. Things are heightened. So why do we act like we know what’s best for this person we only know through their songs?

And why all the sass about the last song? Not that it matters, but I don’t think Beyoncé and Jay Z will stay together forever after all this. But does that mean she shouldn’t remember the good times? Does that mean she should go on hating him forever? She can’t. He’s the father of her child. I’ve watched enough Jane the Virgin and Nashville to know you can’t get rid of a baby-daddy no matter how hard you try. She cannot just kick him out of her life so why not focus on the positive things they shared? Holding grudges only hurts the person who already has enough to hurt about. She doesn’t have to trust him again but she can’t run him over with a car or set him on fire either.

Fourth. But she’s not telling my story. Good. Write your own. Make your own. Nowadays you can literally talk into your phone and post it to YouTube so there’s no excuse not to share.

I watched Cool Hand Luke as a kid several times with my and I loved it but one part that always kind of scared me was when they bring him back after he’s escaped and he’s all beat up and they want to hear stories of the outside world. He’s all beat up laying on a table and he yells at them, “Go out there yourself. Stop feeding off me. Come on! Go out there yourself.” Why are people upset Beyoncé isn’t telling their story? How could she possibly do that?

I get answers to my life’s questions through music all the time but that doesn’t mean it’s always right. I remember in one relationship I was looking at this person and I had my mom’s advice for breaking up with someone (rip it off like a bandaid) going through my head at the exact same time as Jason Mraz’s I Won’t Give Up on Us. So guess what. Sometimes pop music tells you exactly how it should feel and other times you’ve got to go your own way. Yes, that is also from a song.

So just because Beyoncé had her experience and decided to share it her way that doesn’t make your experience the same or mean you have to live your life the way she does. Again, she’s not god. She’s just a human who has the capacity to share her story through songs that we will all listen to. If you think she’s telling the wrong story or doing the wrong thing, tell what you believe to be the right story. The more honest perspective we have in the media the better.

Even if we are given the exact same lemons there are still a billion different ways to make lemonade.

It completely undermines what it is to be human to assume that any one person can speak for an entire group of people.

I hope her songs with cathartic, empowering, and/or provided perspective for people and if they weren’t for you, well, I’d be surprised if you can’t connect with a single song or a sing lyric or a single chord or visual moment in the whole album, but that’s still your choice.

And I didn’t read that article about how Beyoncé is a bad role model but parents need to be able to sit down with their kids and talk about things that are in pop culture. There’s no escaping it because it’s everywhere and you can acknowledge that there is good and bad in everything out there.

If I had a kid I would sit down with them and say, “It’s okay to have all these feelings when someone hurts you. It’s not okay to run over all those cars with a huge truck because we don’t have that kind of money.” I would also say, “Now it’s not a hard and fast rule but maybe try not to fall in love with people with two initials for their name but one is spelled out.” We can pull important lessons out of any media.

Fifth. Why aren’t more people doing visual albums? Waiting for this to be a trend. Please?

My new life motto and guideline for creating is: If you think you have an original idea, Google it.

I’m glad we have the internet to connect us to people and ideas but sometimes it can be disheartening to realize that your original idea, while original to you, has already been thought of…possibly several times.

John and I recently decided we wanted to explore the story of Ruth Handler, the inventor of Barbie and founder of Mattel. Her life is fascinating and inspiring and she created an icon. We were so excited, but I thought to myself, Barbie is very popular, I bet someone has thought of this before. A quick Google search and we saw that Reese Witherspoon had announced a similar film only a month prior to us thinking of it.

I believe this has caused two trends in creativity.

One is obsession with owning all your creative ideas. There has been a lot of buzz lately with Taylor Swift trademarking some of her lyrics including things like, “I’ll write your name.” The Fine Brothers trademarked “reaction videos” for their YouTube channel. It hasn’t worked out so well for them so far as they’re losing subscribers by the 100 thousands. My friend Devin recently got hit with a lawsuit for using the phrase “People are Awesome” from a YouTube channel that has used his videos without permission. This is the kind of stuff that makes me roll my eyes. I understand wanting to protect your creative ideas, especially when it is your livelihood, but what is the criteria for handing out these trademarks?

Where do we draw the line there? If we over copyright people are afraid of making new things that might be based off someone else’s ideas. If we don’t have copyrights people have no ownership over their own ideas and creating seems pointless. I try really hard not to let the fear of getting sued or having to sue to keep me from creating because it’s a taxing thought. But it’s something real, so I can’t wait until I can just hire a lawyer to worry about these thing for me. For now I just do a Google search and if nothing comes up I figure I’m good.

The second trend in creativity is not bothering to come up with an original idea. On Broadway right now are mostly revivals or musicals based on movies or books. It’s similar in Hollywood. I didn’t realize until doing a bit of research just how unique it is that John and I wrote a musical based off nothing but the brains of people who helped create it. Which is sort of cool, but also makes it a lot harder to sell, because people love what they love already and take a little more convincing to try something new.

This idea of originality is part of what’s so charming about Sundance. For good or bad most of the films are pretty original. We saw films that were original creations of the writer’s brain. Maybe based on their own life or stories of people they knew or from history, but still things that had never been seen before.

Think about Star Wars. It was original. After watching Birth of a Nation yesterday, I read this article. In it Nate Parker mentions his conversation with George Lucas.

I often mention George Lucas — when we made Red Tails together, we talked often about Star Wars and how it wasn’t a slam dunk, and so many people were in opposition to what he wanted to do. And it made him really soul search and think about what he was doing, and it made him stand firmer in his desire to make his film. And he said, “I learned something: When people tell you it can’t be done, that’s how you know you’re on the right track.”

I love movies based on books, if they are good books. I have a small stack of books I would love to adapt into films. I also love stories based off things in history. I think we need to tell these stories so we can remember where we’ve come from. We need to remember the heroes in the past and also the wrongs that were committed so we don’t make the same mistakes.

We also need original ideas and we need to protect creativity. We need to tell our personal stories because the stories of an individual become universal when they are shared. I don’t hate sequels or prequels or reboots but those of us who create need to make sure those aren’t the only stories we are telling or we’ll miss out on what could become classics.

An exception is, of course, if you’ve seen someone do something but you’re pretty sure you can do it better. 😉

Not to be confused with Soylent Green.

Over two years ago I heard an interview on NPR (I thought it was NPR but now I can’t find it so maybe not) with a man named Rob Rhinehart. He had been working on a formula that would replace meals and to prove it he lived off of it, without any other food, for three months.

So naturally several articles came out being like, “Why does this guy hate food?”

But it’s not that at all. The point is, you should eat delicious food, and when you can’t, you should just consume the nutrients you need. So instead of going to get crappy fast food made out of who knows what, or wasting time on making food because you feel obligated, you can enjoy food.

Soylent comes out to less than $2.50 a serving for the premade stuff (Soylent 2.0) and the powder version (Soylent 1.5) is about $1.50.

So Rob got rid of his kitchen and fridge. He drinks Soylent and when he wants good food he leaves it to the pros and goes out to eat. He said with the money he saves he can take people out to lunch and with the time he saves he can focus on other things.

Personally, I think I’ll keep the kitchen, you know, for brownies and stuff, but how cool is it to think there’s something that people on low incomes or no incomes or poor college students could live off of if they had to. I don’t know if it really is something I’d want to live off of for years and years but it’s definitely better than Ramen. So while people are like, “ew gross” or “food should look like food” I think it’s cool someone is trying to solve world hunger.

It’s like dry shampoo. You could go throw the whole effort of showering, or you could just dump some stuff on your head and you’re good to go.

It’s not just vitamins. The formula includes fats, proteins, and Omega-3s and other science stuff I’m not qualified to try and explain. 2.0 is made with Algal oil. “Produced efficiently in bioreactors rather than traditional farms to conserve enormous quantities of natural resources while providing energy and essential fatty acids.” How cool is that? There are some people who find the ingredient list alarming but I’m going to take my chances for the sake of experiment. Weird names on the ingredient list doesn’t stop me from eating Cheetos and in the nutrition world everyone just argues back and forth, somehow the same thing can cure cancer one day and give us cancer the next.

For me, personally, I’m excited to try it because I have grown to hate food. I hate that it makes my stomach hurt. I hate that it takes so much of my time. I hate that I never remember to eat breakfast and sometimes forget lunch and if I wasn’t married I’d probably forget about dinner too. I love food, but it also stresses me out. By eliminating some of the stress I think I’ll be able to enjoy food more. Food should be enjoyed not just endured.

How does it taste? Well, I wanted to get a candid reaction. So here you go in the form of two snaps:

It could be better but I like that it’s not trying to be some fancy flavor and I’m sure it’s kept their costs lower because they don’t have to offer a variety. It just is what it is, with no frills or promises of weight loss. Just something some guy made and has been living off for years now. I’m going to try adding chocolate to it and see what happens. It does have a weird after taste so I had some berries. See? I’m not forgetting about real food.

I ordered the 1.5 and the 2.0 so I’ll let you know what happens and if it makes me feel not hungry or if it kills me or whatever else might happen.

Is it the food of the future? I don’t know, I’m also going to eat lots of popcorn today because it’s national Popcorn Day.

Hello.

It’s me.

I’ve been thinking I should blog more this year than I did the one before. First, I want to sum up the key things I think I learned in 2015.

Lesson #1: Tell Fear to Take a Backseat . Resolution #1: Write More

In this lovely NPR/Ted Talk Elizabeth Gilbert talks about the Border Collie in her brain. I had felt similarly about my own brain before and it was sort of exciting to hear I’m not the only one.

If you know anything about dogs, particularly herding/working dogs it is that they need a job. When not given a job and left unattended they will destroy your house. She explains that when she is not using her brain creatively it has an effect on her relationships and mental well-being. Essentially, if you’re brain wants a job and you don’t let it do that job, it’ll take that energy and put it elsewhere.

I hate that I don’t write more. I have all these ideas in my head and they bug me. They keep bugging me because I don’t let them out and I think if I did I would have room for other ideas in my head, or I’d remember where my keys were, or I’d actually be able to turn off my brain at night and sleep without having crazy dreams about celebrities and war zones. I love to multi-task but some ideas are distracting and need to be addressed individually before they’ll go away.

The blog posts I think of and don’t write haunt me when I have a spare moment to think about them. That freaking screenplay I told everyone I would write always comes back to haunt me. People don’t forget when you tell them you’re writing a screenplay and/or let them read drafts. They’ll haunt you too with periodical, “have you finished that yet?”

So I live life in a constant state of distraction, when I could have just written the thing down and moved on.

People say coming up with an idea is the hardest part, but that’s not the case for me. It’s the actual writing that can be hard.

Writing. Is hard. It’s hard. It’s sexy, but it’s hard.

The reason it’s hard is because there is an active force that works against you when you try and create something.

Once again, Elizabeth puts it nicely,

“I think instead what you have to do is recognize that fear and creativity are conjoined twins. And what I see people doing in their lives is they’re so afraid of their fear that they end up trying to kill it. And when they kill it, they also kill their creativity because creativity is going into the uncertain, and the uncertain is always scary. And so what I’ve had to figure out how to do over the years is to create a sort of mental construct in which I make a lot of space to coexist with fear, to just say to it, hey, fear, listen, creativity and I – your conjoined twin sister – are about to go on a road trip. I understand you’ll be joining us (laughter) because you always do, but you don’t get to decide anything about this journey that we’re going on. But you can come. And I know that you’ll be in the backseat in panic but we’re going – mommy’s driving. (Laughter) And we’re going anyway. And you just take it along with you. And that seems to work for me.”

It doesn’t always manifest itself as fear. Often it’s just a block, but it comes from the same source and ain’t nobody got time for that negativity.

With the recent shootings and other turmoil going on in the world I had a moment where I had to think about what I wanted to do with my life. Legitimately. What if I died suddenly? I realized that I didn’t want to die with the stories that were inside of me. I don’t want that unfinished screenplay to haunt me when I’m a ghost myself. If I can leave behind something that makes people laugh or makes them happy in some way I want to do it.

So out-weighing my fear of doing something is the fear of not doing anything. This feeling manifest itself as quiet confidence rather than panic. There is something I can do and I need to just do that thing.

I’m lucky in the sense that I have found something that brings me great joy. Writing a screenplay/blog/whatever makes me feel the same way falling-in-love feels. It’s an cheap, easy, natural high but for whatever reason (see fear above) I ignore this great love of mine when it’s right there begging for attention. I’ve ignored it for too long and it’s destroyed my brain-couch.

I’m excited for this year because I’m giving up everything else temporarily (or maybe permanently) to focus on writing. I’ve seen clearly this year as people have responded positively to things I’ve created and I know I’m not going to be curing cancer anytime soon so I may as well contribute to society in the best way I know how. John and I have some pretty decent ideas queued up.

Oh and if I fail, then at least I know I gave it a good try instead of always having it as a thing on the side. 

If you’re resolving to write more this year too, here are some helpful tips.

If you hate writing, find what you do love. That’s also a hard thing to do, but tell fear to take a backseat.