Layla's Dark and Foreboding Weblog

I left my damn book in Ireland. I realized after I had gone through security in Dublin that the book I am reading is sitting on my nephews nightstand, dog-eared at page 193 of 700. Man was I pissed. So, despite the fact that I had tons of entertainment for the plane: my laptop with Battlestar Galactica, Entourage and a few movies on DVD, my iPod, the script to work on, I needed a book. So, I bought a book that I thought would be light and fluffy airplane material. These are the times where I normally read Nicholas Sparks books. Usually under 300 pages, I can knock them out in the first few hours of flying. But I fly a lot, more than Sparks writes, so the only thing I saw to buy was James Patterson's newest Alex Cross book, Cross.

Let me begin with: I am not a James Patterson fan. M loves him, as do his father and sister. I've read a few of them, but mostly liked them for their audio book-ness. You don't need to pay much attention, and if you have an hour long commute each way to Denton as I did a few years ago, they make great fluff.

I plan on sending the book back to the publisher. A bad book is a bad book. You read bad books in life, it's just par for the course. But this was hands down the most offensive shit on earth. Let's forget that the story sucked (it did). I'm talking about a new trend in mind-numbing fiction: product placement.

Alex Cross committed the following sins in this book, and if you haven't read it, these won't give anything away (except that you now know that the book sucks):

Alex buys a car: “So we stopped at the Mercedes dealer…Jannie and Damon ogled a silver CLK500 Cabriolet convertible, while Ali and I tested out the spacious front seat of an R350. I was thinking family car — safety, beauty, resale value. Intellect and emotion.” That is a direct quote from the book.

Alex is staking out a house: As the Papa John's delivery boy got out of the car with a piping hot pie... Not verbatim, but that was the gist. Funnier still, it's in NY. As if anyone in NY would order fucking Papa John's.

Alex is waiting in the car: this Dunkin' Donuts coffee is really hitting the spot.

Alex is hungry: He loves Au Bon Pain pastries, but not what it does to his waist!

Character in book: My wife and kids are just crazy for the Sirius Satellite Radio!

This is bullshit. Who told me that by reading a fictional story, I would be assaulted with ads? Complete and total crap. I hate it in movies, but this is worse.

As much as I thought James Patterson was "ok" before, I think he sucks balls now. For authors to sink to this really blows my mind.

End rant.

Posted by layla at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's a bit chilly here in Dublin. I'm leaving back for the States tomorrow. My neice has a posh Irish accent. My nephew is fighting it, though he says "brilliant" and "your man", like "Your man was by the house just the other day." I love it. Even my brother said garage in the Irish way, GAH-ridge.

Mission Accomplished. We finished the script. It's good. The first draft is done, and we're going to be doing a reading this evening. 138 pages, which is about 30 more than we would have liked. Hopefully the reading will give us an idea of what we can cut out. There's lots of swearing. Death. Not a lot of sex. It's good. Really good.

Wish us luck, and look for us in a theatre near you.

Posted by layla at 06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I haven't written about me lately. My progress, that is, in my personal and professional endeavors. So, to start off this New Year, here's what's happening.

- Happy! Speaker Pelosi began her history-making career as the first woman Speaker this week, so, yay!

- A few months back I started my own company. I won't talk too much about it here, mainly because this blog is so un-anonymous that I'd rather keep the two separate, thanks. But I'll say that things are moving right along. It's amazing how many people from my past have really stepped up and supported me professionally, with new referrals and great ideas. Also, M has been extremely supportive of this step. It's something that I had been dreaming of for a long time, so to actually have it come to fruition is really awesome.

- Creatively, things are going better than I could have hoped. I've been working on a screenplay with my brother J for the past few months, and the momentum is really picking up. Both he and I are getting really positive feedback from people based on what we have so far. Actually, we're at the point now where it's a "shit or get off the pot" situation and we're going to pick up the pace. So, to that end, I'll be leaving for Ireland in 2 weeks to spend a week locked in my brother’s house in Dublin writing as much as we can (maybe even re-writing a good portion of it). After that, we'll be tapping into our network of entertainment industry friends and family for feedback. Even if this goes nowhere, and seeing as there are about 13,000 screenplays written each year without being made, there's a good chance of that, I'm really loving the whole experience. The writing is coming very naturally for me, with none of the problems I've encountered in the past with fiction.

- I started volunteering with a group here in Dallas that provides after-school programs for elementary aged and some middle school aged kids. I'm currently working with a class of 2nd and 3rd graders, and having the absolute best time with it. It's pretty intense. The place is housed within the projects here, and we're dealing with some tough little cookies. The kids are absolutely amazing. I need to now train myself to not become emotionally attached to each and every one of them. I'll post about my experiences there as time goes on.

- M and I have been in our house for a year! That blows my mind that I actually own a house. I know, it's not that big of a deal, but I never thought it would happen. It's rad.

So, those are all the good things that are going on right now. I'll save the bad for another day. Right now, Happy New Year, and I hope that this year is better than last, cause there's always room for more happiness.

Posted by layla at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)