High temps on a Weather map.

The temperatures on this weather map are a bit extreme similar to what I would expect from a volcanic eruption.

Weather reports we hope we never see. - 1 min. 

Converting The Singing Volcano screenplay into a novella

The process of converting a screenplay originally titled the Singing Volcano into a novella allowed me to come up with more ideas to insert into the text and become more objective about what to cut.   While writing the book, other ideas to improve the screenplay emerged.  The process of changing format provided another way to break out of a creative rut.

The text to speech option in Windows 8.1 provided help in editing the book.  Hearing the text gave me a better perspective on the naturalness of the dialogue.  It also helped to have several people read and edit the book.

Before publishing the book on Amazon I read Self-Publish Your Novel made Easy by Richard Williams and James Blissett.  The authors provided helpful information on publishing and marketing a digital and paper book.

I took the photo for the digital cover on August of 2002 in a shopping center parking lot.  The light represents truth or knowledge just beyond our reach and comprehension.   Unfortunately, the low resolution image could not be used for the paperback version.  Book cover images for print need a minimum of 300 dpi.

Final cropped version of image for the book cover.

The book The Smell of Truthiness: The future never looked this cool or felt this hot is available at Amazon in both Kindle and paperback. 

Don Knotts Movie - How to Frame a Figg

Don Knotts did a fun series of movies with Universal Studios in the late 60's and early 70's. 

• The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
• The Reluctant Astronaut (1967)
• The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968) (remake of Paleface - Bob Hope)
• The Love God (1969)
• How to Frame a Figg (1971)

My favorite is the last film in the series.  It features the trick elevator, actors Joe Flynn and Edward Andrews and Yvonne Craig.  We also get a glimpse at the dawn of modern computing. 

Opening music to How to Frame a Figg - Vic Mizzy - 2:25 min.

Converting a book into a screenplay - A World Without Time

Last year our family worked on a short children's book A World Without Time with our daughter, Maggie as the primary author.

I am working to adapt it as a screenplay.  I am about 1/2 the way through the process at page 45. They travel to a place beyond Neverland and it looks eerily similar to a Dairy Queen restaurant.  In the land of Dairy Queen...

 Dairy Queen jingle - 6 seconds

Stage 32: Social network for film and theater creatives

I came across a networking site for actors/directors/screenwriters called Stage 32.

The site reports to have over 300,000 members from all over the world.  Because contacts and creative insight often come from people outside of a close group of friends,  it has the potential to be a good experience. 

If others have joined this group let me know your experience. 

Podcast - Ashely Scott Myers from Selling your screenplay.com interviewing Joey Tuccio (Happy Writers at stage32.com)- 31 minutes   This is a transcript for those who would rather read it.

Making Bubbles

A short video on making bubbles with Dawn Soap and hand soap.

Net Neutrality - John Oliver

Comedian John Oliver's 13 minute monologue on Net Neutrality caused FCC servers to crash according to CBS News.  John points out the cozy relationship between the person put in charge of the FCC and the companies he is charged with regulating.  John compares this to hiring a dingo to be a babysitter.   Mr. Oliver notes that Comcast is second only to a large defense contractor in the amount of money spent lobbying congress.

Here is the clip - Warning the clip contains bleeped profanity.

John Oliver - Net Neutrality